Maxime's 11th Birthday

"Can we eat now?"

Saturday was Maxime's 11th birthday. We celebrated by taking him to McDonald's in Kyiv on Friday. It was just the five of us, so we had a little cake and kept it simple. Afterwards, we walked through the mall in the center of the city and let Maxime take in all the sights that a mall has to offer. That was of course until Security asked Maxime and Joshua to stop riding the escalator after about the tenth time. It was all worth it to see the wide-eyed look on his face as we walked around the city.

Joshua and Maxime trying to look cool

Maxime and Joshua, two boys in a fountain

On Saturday, the day of his birthday, Edna took Maxime and the boys to the amusement park in the center of town to go on a few of the rides. We did our best to give Maxime a nice birthday. His parents didn't do anything special for him except to give him the equivalent of about six dollars. We made sure he got some new clothes and a new pair of shoes. Our hearts broke to know that in the two months we were gone, he hadn't bathed or had his clothes washed. Instead of going to church each Sunday, his parents had been sending him to work in the village where his grandparents live.

Joshua and Maxime sharing a roller coaster ride together in the center of town. Of course it's safe! They had chains around their waists to hold them in, I think.

Maxime sporting the Old Navy look.

Maxime had to go to the village today to work at his grandparents, so we decided to send Dominic and Joshua with him to help. Earlier we got a call from Dominic saying that they had spent the morning picking all the potato bugs off the potato plants. He reluctantly admitted that they were having fun despite the work. I let Dominic take our camera with him so that he could go on "photo assignment" for us. I'm expecting some good photos to share once the three of them come back on the bus tomorrow afternoon. I'll keep you posted.