Hrenko Family

May 6, 2008

Sight Seeing Day

This morning Nick and I went to a gift shop across the street from our apartment. Mariya had shown it to us before and most of the items in the shop are made in Petro from the birch trees in the area. We had decided to purchase a few items to bring home that would help us to remember our time in Petro. The man in the shop spoke English fairly well and was very helpful. After making our purchases we went to the grocery store to pick up a few items.

Mariya applied for our court date yesterday. The date assigned is May 15 at 11:00 am. Alyona will attend court with us, but Victor and Kristina do not. It will be one step closer to uniting our entire family.

Mariya and Sasha picked us up at 2:00 and we were on our way to get Alyona. When Mariya arrived she had warm pancakes (Americans call them crepes) that her mom had made. (I ate them when we returned and they had eggs, cinnamon and raisins and they were delicious!) Today we were not going to the orphanage as we were going sight seeing around Petro. Our first stop was the Birch Forest. Sasha pulled off the road and headed down a dirt road into the forest. There were several dirt roads that wandered around in the forest. We drive by the forest every day and have always thought it was beautiful. Nick and I both really enjoyed being in the forest and walking around as there is just something so serene about it. Alyona found two lady bugs and we enjoyed taking pictures. We headed out of the forest and back onto the road. We drove by an area with dachas (pronounced da•chas) which are gardens in Russian. Many people have a dacha that is located out of the center of town where they plant a garden and grow much of their own vegetables. Each dacha was about 50 x 50 feet and had a small shed to hold any gardening items needed.

We then stopped along the river that flows through Petro. There were people along the banks fishing and enjoying a beautiful afternoon. Then we headed back through the outer part of town towards the Church of Peter and Paul, a Russian Orthodox Church. Petropavlovsk means Peter and Paul in Russian. Petro was founded in the mid 17th century as a military fortress. The Church of Peter and Paul was built in 1803 and is currently under renovation. We were able to go in the church and it was beautiful. Mariya and Sasha told us today is the day people can light a candle for recently lost loved ones. Nick and I lit a candle for Nanny and Pappy (Nick’s mom and dad) and we knew they would like that. After that we stopped by a well and pumped water. The houses on the outer parts of town do not have running water and they use the wells to get water each day. We drove around looking at different areas of town and stopped by the railway station and walked around. We also stopped by a Memorial for the soldiers that fought in WWII. While we were driving through town Alyona showed us the shelter where she and Victor stayed for about six months before being place in the orphanage. Because of Kristina’s age she went directly to the orphanage.

It seemed like our trip had just started and it was already time to bring Alyona back to the boarding school. We missed Victor and Kristina today but enjoyed our day with Alyona, Mariya and Sasha and seeing the beautiful sights of Petro.

The Hrenko Family

Adoption Journey to Kazakhstan