For those who are “at school” (both teachers and students), life is divided into periods of study and vacations. Right now we are looking forward to summer break. We are all so ready for it!

But for some students this is quite a responsible time of exams –both leaving school and entering college.

I have probably mentioned before that we have two candidates here for such great life experience this year: that is Snezhana who is finishing secondary school and who’s ambition was to enter pedagogical college and study to become an elementary school teacher; and Anya whose dream is to study languages.

In Anya’s situation we just have to use literally every moment to study for the exams and we are really doing this every moment we can.

Whereas in Snezhana’s situation, things have proved to be more complicated than we thought.  The problem is that she does not have a passport (which every person is supposed to have in our country when you turn 14). The bigger problem is that she and her sisters cannot even start that procedure of getting a Belarusian passport because they are not even registered in Belarus. I knew that they lived in a place which was considered not livable –it used to be storage or closet in a dormitory- but I didn’t know that the girls are without any citizenship. The thing is that their mother came to Belarus from Russia (she is Russian) with her two older daughters and then gave birth to Snezhana, Vika and Nastya here in Belarus without being married to their Belarusian father. That makes everything complicated. They have to get Russian citizenship according to their mother’s citizenship. At the Russian Consulate, we were told that the process would take at least half a year. This ruins all plans to enter college and makes Snezhana mad at everyone and everything in life. Very discouraging. There is some good news. A lawyer from The New Life church believes that there is a way to get Belarusian passports for the girls, though it is quite a long process. Definitely, worth trying. So, right now we are getting all the papers done for that. And it gives us an opportunity to trust God and His good plans for our lives. And try not to be angry.

At the same time, our everyday routine continues as usual. We meet for tea and snacks, do the laundry, take showers and have most precious time talking about everything that is going on.  Cooking classes have been a great blessing and very popular not only with the girls, but even Sergey can cook now. We are glad we have started a tradition of “Sunday sandwiches”. It is when someone comes to my place in the morning before church and makes sandwiches to take with us for other kids. I see it as a good way to serve. I have been thinking a lot recently about how to find that right balance between keeping the kids entertained and happy and also teaching them how to serve others. This Easter we took an effort and prepared a meal for everyone at church (our church is very small). The girls set the table, served the food and did the dishes afterwards. That was a very nice experience for everyone.

There is one thing that I would like to share with greatest pleasure- orphan graduates Katya Malkovskaya, Ira and Kristina Anton – all got the keys to their new apartments! Now they are in the process of doing the work necessary – like getting paint and wallpaper and other basic things, so that they can move in soon.

Thank you to each and every one for your prayers and support. It is wonderful to know that our little community here in Syomkovo and around that we are part of the big family in Christ and have many brothers and sisters who care about us so much.

Love and Peace to you.

-Vita.

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