Can it Get any Hotter?

If you haven't read Allen and Michael's latest blog entry then you probably don't know that Zaporozhye is experiencing their hottest weekend (for this time of year) since 1930...I kid you not!   We've managed, up to this point, to keep Nadia happy in spite of the heat, mainly because we usually have access to the music room which allows her the freedom to run around away from the heat (relatively speaking).

Today we didn't have that option so we started out our morning with a nice stroll around the orphanage grounds.  Michael likes to push Nadia so we happily let him while Jim and I start feeling the back-pack sweat stains forming on our backs.

She started getting tired of being in the stroller so we stopped under a shaded pavilion and tried to play a few of our "standard" games with her.  She loves finger play like "the wheels on the bus", the "itsy bitsy spider" and those types of songs.  So far so good.

Of course we always have to stop for some hug time--another of Nadia's favorite things to do. Even though we're literally sticking together by the end of our visits, we all enjoy these precious hugs.

A little silly time with Mom!  We're still hanging in there at this point.

Our time together wouldn't be complete without reading Nadia's favorite book. We're about 45min. into our visit now and still have at least that much time to go.  Not sure what the thermometer said at this point but my sweat stains say it was about 90 in the shade!!!

The tide starts to turn at this point so I pulled out the wet wipes and rub them over her arms and legs--she loves this and it works for about 5 min.

Time for a change of scenery and some walking time.  Her red shoes are a little too big so this can be a little tricky with trying to keep them on.  I'm bringing some shoes I brought tonight to see if they'll work a little better.

Hurray!  She's smiling again!!!

All done!

Daddy takes over and works his magic for awhile.

There are so many gorgeous flowers on the grounds of the orphanage.

Since we still had about 15 min. left and Nadia was very fussy at this point, we decided to strip her down and go for another stroll.  None of the kids are wearing clothes outside here at the orphanage, so we figured it was ok for her to be in just her underwear like all the rest!

She was only in the stroller for about 1 min. before her little head started to bob.

Going...

...Going...

GONE! 

We let her have a 5 min. catnap before waking her up to take her back to her room for lunch.  We're hoping this heat breaks soon or that perhaps the music room will be available tonight!

After our visit with Nadia tonight, we'll be going to a Ukrainian Family's house for a barbecue.  Vova, who was pictured in a previous post with our missionary friend, Ken Sears, has invited us over to meet his wife and 2 children (ages 5 and 3) for dinner.  We're very excited to experience life in a Ukrainian Family's home.  I was actually surprised when Ken told us they live in a house with a backyard because all we've seen in Zaporozhye are tall apartment buildings.  However, Ken said there are quite a few little "pockets" of homes throughout the city.  I only wish we could take Nadia along with us!