Bad day for the dollar

Last night at Kiev Theological Seminary, Talbot professor Dr. Doug Geivett presented a lecture on the problem as evil. Because this is such an important topic, especially in this society, we opened the event up to nonseminary folks, too.

Since some people would be seeing the seminary for the first time, we wanted them to feel warmly welcomed and well-fed. A friend and I were charged with supplying tables of coffee and yummy snacks, so I spent a good part of the day carrying bags of cookies, pretzels, fruit, serving dishes, candles, etc., over to the seminary.

The first time I went out, in the morning, the casino across the street was changing dollars into 4.63 hrivna. That's a pretty bad rate, much lower than the 5.05 that we were accustomed to until about a month ago.

The next time I went past the casino, the dollar had dropped to 4.50. At about 10 p.m., on the way back from the event, it was at 4.36.

I know the casino is just trying to capitalize on people who didn't manage to find a better rate earlier in the day, but who MUST GAMBLE NOW, but I still found it unsettling.

Most Interesting redux

So, last week I thought the fish jumping from the tank was kinda cool. Today, however, when we arrived at the grocery store, one fish was already flopping about on the tile. Soon after he was rescued, another one made a break for it. And it scared the cool right out of me. I shrieked a little bit. It was embarrassing. Now I think they need to put the lid back on the tank.

This week's Most Interesting Moment

I've blogged before about walking to the supermarket to check out the fish. This remains a favorite pastime for our little guy -- plus they've added a tank of crawdads.

In fact, we visited the fish this week, and as we were watching them, one jumped out of the tank (which is taller than me; the fish wranglers have to stand on a chair to scoop the fish out when someone buys one).

Poor fishie started flopping around on the floor just a few feet from us. We and another shopper explained the situation to the lady who was in charge of the fish counter that day. She finished up the transaction she was in the middle of, then calmly walked over and tossed the fish back in. He swam right away, so I guess the journey to the air-breathing world didn't hurt him. Dietrich, of course, found the whole incident utterly fascinating.

Annual visit to the Botanical Gardens

The lilacs are in bloom here, so we took a break recently to enjoy them, and to enjoy an excursion with our very pregnant friends Oksana and Zhenya. These pictures are all thanks to Zhenya's excellent eye. I'm thrilled to have such a lovely version of this iconic Kyiv image.



The gardens are pretty big, so I had never seen the plot of magnolia trees.



It rained earlier in the day, and the long worms crawling all over the sidewalk were a source of fascination. Dietrich insisted on calling them snakes.



We went to the gardens about the same time last year. Last year's baby is this year's big boy.

The week in work

Last week, I made a brochure, thus completing Step One in a fund-raising push for Kyiv Theological Seminary that should keep me occupied through December. The seminary has been offered a $450,000 matching grant, and we have until Dec. 31 to raise funds.

Meanwhile, I'm feeling rather out of my league.

I keep kicking myself for not paying more attention in the one public relations class that was required in my undergrad journalism program. I know a lot about presenting news. In a newspaper. Brochures? Letters to foundations? These are unfamiliar ground.

But exciting ground! I don't think I would have said that two weeks ago, before I started talking to people, gathering information, trying to gain a sense of where the seminary is and how it hopes to grow. At the beginning, I mostly just felt overwhelmed and frightened (my general responses when I try to lay all the responsibility on myself rather than focusing on doing my best for the Glory of God).

The seminary's story is a good one, and I'm going to get the chance this year to tell it in many different ways to many different people. I'm looking forward to the process.

Thank goodness for washable markers

Happy Easter!

Ukraine celebrated Easter on Sunday, so I got the delight of putting together Dietrich's first Easter basket. Displaying goodies is one of the things I really enjoy about being a momma. It's so fun to see his little face when something new and interesting shows up someplace unexpected.

We'll be home for Easter next year, so I didn't use a conventional Easter basket that we'd use again. Instead, I stuffed a hand-me-down wooden toolbox with superballs, a CD, a new book, sandbox toys and some sweets. Probably my favorite item was a handmade little item that I spotted in the outdoor market on Saturday — a knit chicken who sits on top of a chocolate egg.

Dietrich found the sweets first, so it was a little hard to get him to concentrate on the rest of the box. I was interested in his basket-unpacking technique. He was very methodical: Find an egg full of candy, take it to dad, wait for a candy, go back for another egg. Only once the eggs were done could he move on to the toys.



We celebrated the holiday with our friends Jon, Andrea and Joy, whose return to Kremenchuk was delayed first by a lack of tickets and then by a sick baby. We dined on pizza, since I hadn't planned on making a big meal just for the three of us. It was one of those Easters that I think we'll remember for a long time ... like the Thanksgiving when my Aunt Donna served lasagna. Although, I'm pretty sure that wasn't due to lack of preparation, just a love for Italian food.

We also celebrated our five-year anniversary this weekend, and we enjoyed a delightful dinner at our favorite restaurant, watching the fish jump in the lake and relaxing in the warm spring evening air.