the haps...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

I should be asleep....

because it is almost two a.m. in America. I have been home almost a month and it has been stressful, yet magical. I have been able to step back, destress and just breathe again. I go back to Ukraine on August 12th. It will be bitter sweet. I so miss my friends there but it feels amazing to be back again with the family and friends here. I have a whole new group of teachers to meet and I will miss the ones from the past two semesters but it is a new chapter, with twists, turns and craziness and for that, I am thankful and excited.

home james....

I am back in Idaho as of last Sunday. It was very emotional leaving and very difficult. Yura is in a good place and I am so proud of him for all of the changes he has made and for how far he has come. We had a barbecue the last night I was in town with all of the teachers and students and it was fitting. I miss everyone alot but am having fun here. I am back in Boise currently and got the nails done yesterday and am getting tattooed and a new haircut today. It has been so much fun seeing friends and family and everyone has changed so much in almost five months. On a final, specifically pray for my friends Ashley and J.C. as they have thier court date for Grisha today...www.fumia.blogspot.com P.S. back in Ukraine August 12th...see you all soon. :)

the end of a trek....

It has been over five months and I cannot believe it has really gone that fast. I am leaving next Sunday and it has yet again, been a growth period here but in the same breath, amazing. It will be strange to be back in America and Idaho. It is always hard to say good bye and I will miss the boy terribly and all of my friends here. I have learned some hard lessons and had some amazing moments that are written across my heart forever. This last week is a little crazy and I cannot believe that in one week, I will not be waking up to someone remonting, someone yelling in russian outside my window and cold showers...shashlevo...

answers in Norway

I had to get out of Ukraine for a little while. We have a week long break and being there was starting to wear on me. I threw this trip together within a matter of days and it has been the best thing. I was ready for more adventures and time away. I flew in to Torp last Friday waited two hours for a little train to the next town where my hotel was. I got there and wandered around and had one of the best burgers that I have ever had from a pakistani resteraunt. I found my hotel and fell asleep. Woke up and found my ten hour train to stavanger. The countryside is so amazing here and I am so glad that I came. I finally got off the train and met my dad's cousin and his family. My sisters and I are almost all norweigan and it has become increasingly important for me to know about where I came from. There is something magical when that happens. As it turns out, we think my father has a half brother here that we have never met. The pictures of him look so much like my dad and the details fit. I sat down and spent a good hour talking to my grandmother's only living sister and got details. I had a thousand questions. It filled in a lot of gaps and the details helped to explain some things. I am going back there today to talk with her while my second cousin's family is at work and school. We went out fishing on the North Sea yesterday and took Siri, their youngest child with us. It was so awesome to be on the water. It is hard though, because there are three little girls here that are so amazing sweet but they do not speak any english and only norweigan...and guess who does not speak any....yep me. Anyway, stay tuned for details and photos.....

with a melted heart....

I write this. It has been a really interesting week. We have one more week of classes and then a week long break. I so need it. I was going to travel but I found out that as long as I am under the six month mark, I can get in and out of the country without a problem. I will be going home in June for a while (maybe a semester as student levels dramatically drop in the summer) and will return mid-summer. I tried to call the number for oxana to go and see my kids and it is not the right number. I have searched on youtube and google for some sort of lead as the where the center is. I have seen my kids in those videos being interviewed. It feels a little like part of me is missing. I really need to take the morning and go to the last location where they were (the were in the process of moving last sept.) and start asking questions. The metro stop is about an hour away and then there is the walk to the building...but it will be worth it. In other news, we did shots last friday with the doctor and they seemed to help. I stopped counting after the first one (which was lidocaine to numb the area). We did them at the base of the spine in my back and it does feel better. We are going to hit the front this Friday and hopefully....On a final, I spent the night with the boy on Sunday. We are learning to care about each other and bare our souls to each other. It is work every day because of the language barrier but it is so worth it to me. We stayed up late watching a movie in Russian and sitting next to each other on the couch. It was sweet. He was so honest and I so love him for that. It hasn't gotten physical (more than a brief kiss or an arm around me) and it probably won't for a while by our choice. He was falling asleep, so I sent him to his bed and I slept on the devan in his front room. This is so hard to explain....I feel like I am really getting to know him on such a deep level and that we have something to build on. The physicality will come later. Every day, I love him a little more. He worries that I will judge him for his past but I always tell him...we all have a past and it is what makes us who we are. Also, without our pasts, our paths probably never would have crossed and I am so thankful every day that they did. I so love this boy....:)

I suppose.......

that I should write. It has been a crazy week. We had mid-terms and I am just thrilled that they are over. We have another month and then I will have another week off. I am excited. The sun showed itsself two days ago but today it is pouring rain. I went to get pizza with my friend Julia and then we went and got all of my other little errands done. She is wonderful. :) I met up with Yura a Friday night and we talked for a long time about us. I am really in love and I feel like I have met my match. We match each other on intellect and the chemistry is definitely there. He asked some hard questions though like would I leave him and go back to America? It proved to me that he had thought about us. I understood everything that he said in Russian and I really just need to get busy reviewing russian. I went to two out of four lessons. The Ukranian roots are still there so I have a good foundation. On a final, I spoke to the doctor and the shots that he has prescribed me to give myself are a medicine that I have allready taken in America that did not work. I e-mailed him my x-rays and he has not responded. I have been researching bone graft sites and healing time and have not found much that is helpful. I am still praying about that one. Pictures soon as I am buying my new camera tonight...and I promise to update more...