APRIL GREETINGS

Marina is getting ready for her baptism this Saturday, April 7th at Sacred heart Catholic Church. She has learned a lot in CCD at Sacred Heart Catholic Church this past year and is ready to make this important next step in her life. She will wear one of the nice dresses given as a gift to her by some residents of Seward upon her arrival here last year. Thank Heavens they bought a larger dress size as she has grown so much in one year. Her godparents are Ivanka and John of our same parish and have known the children since they have arrived from Ukraine. Andrew will be able to make his decision on all of this after he completes the study he has yet to undertake. He is coming along nicely with his schoolwork now that he has new contact lenses. As he commented, "It really makes a big difference".

Greg rode on a dogsled this past week in the Mayor's Race here in Seward and actually stayed on all the way. There were 21 teams participating and he took 7th place. Pretty good for a guy who had never even stepped onto a dogsled before in his life!!! He is a little sore today but earned good bragging rights in this effort.

I am busy with Easter choir rehearsals and will again play for St. Peter's Episcopal Church and Sacred Heart Catholic Church this week for Easter masses. My youngest music student will share one of the two organs with me at Sacred Heart on Easter so that is a life-long dream to be able to turn the keyboards over to another within the church!!!!

Happy Easter to all our friends out there and Thank You for viewing our blog again. "The Carpenter's"

A Long Way In A Year

At this time of year we can be so thankful for the time we have had this past year with our children from Ukraine. We look back now at just where we were at this time last year and were doing some mighty long traveling back and forth between Kiev and the orphanage. As we approach St. Patrick's Day on March 17th I think of how surprised we were that no one wore 'the green' or even cared about St. Patrick's Day....then came our traditional Easter and still there was no mention of Easter while we were in Ukraine ......it was then we truly felt that we were indeed far from the USA. Not this year. We are enjoying the return of St. Patty's Day and Easter (as we know it) and have the children back here.

Marina is getting ready to make her first communion; working hard in school; participating in just about every sport in school; took her first snowmachine ride with PaPa (and just loves it).

Andrew is getting great kudos from his teachers in school and his grades are doing very well. He
is adjusting to his special training he is receiving in modifying his behavior and his instructors and staff feel he will continue to progress well as long as he has a positive outlook.

Greg is sooooooo happy that Marina's Girl Scout cookies have arrived here in Seward today so he can fill up the freezer again with his portion of cookies he bought. Marina earned a badge at a recent Girls Scouts program for doing so well with her cookie sales.

We are all busy this season with local activities but that sure keeps things more than interesting.
It is truly amazing when people say, "Is there anything to do in Seward in the winter?" Even Marina finds she has to take a break to rest up for the next weekday or weekend project.

Have a Happy Easter everyone.....this year we certainly will do so too!!!

A HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2007

Hard to believe that time has passed so quickly with our children, Marina and Andrew.

A first American Christmas for our children was quite a new experience. Some of our time
this past holiday season was spent visiting the children's new cousins, aunts, uncles and their cherished grandparents in Minnesota.

This week finds Marina busy with learning the 'art' of selling Girl Scout cookies; volunteering to help at a kid's carnival by helping set up and take down games and Andrew is 'dealing' with his new haircut after taking 5 inches off. Andrew made a football bet and unfortunately it turned out that apparently he lost so the deal was that he would 'cut his hair' IF he lost. WOW, we are
so glad to be able to see his face again!! In order to compensate, a friend treated him to a BIG
hamburger.....one of his favorites!

Andrew and Marina continue to progress in their own individual ways....which is another story in itself. Andrew loves to become submerged in any Harry Potter books he can get his hands on AND in fact that is how his English is coming along so well now....doing a lot of reading. He has
had to take 'time out' with getting over the flu bug and now he is being tested for a possible asthma concern....so while awaiting testing he is really learning to read English well.

Marina is enjoying her busy school schedule, sports and is turning into a little artist. She won 2nd place in a local contest held by one of our town banks. Her prize was a cute ceramic piggy bank with a big cork for his nose. She is pleased to put some of her allowance in her own savings account for something she may really want one day.

We have acquired a new pet.....his/her name is Skippy (Marina named it) and it is a 2 month old parakeet given to Marina by our local barber who raises many of them.

Greg and I have been enjoying the quietness of the winter here in Alaska and busy like many parents trying to keep up with different events the children are involved in. Summer really is not far away so that means that this family will be getting ready for all our summertime guests who may be checking in with our Lodging while visiting Alaska.

Hope to post a little more regularly in the next few months. Thanks for visiting our blog!!!