Visiting 'the girls'

In an earlier post we introduced you to two very special girls, Sasha and Natasha and their cousin Sergey.

They live in a small village called Ivanovna but go to school in Bagerova, where we saw them today.  It was great to see the girls with hair after we needed to shave their heads in the summer due to lice.  I honestly can't tell the difference between them but the mischievous looking one on the right ran up and gave us hugs as soon as they saw us - which is always a good feeling.

We saw their cousin, little Sergey too but he's a bit camera averse and not nearly so photogenic as the girls.

This is Sarah now....

 Earlier in the year, I got a chance to see the girls.  Once a week we take fruit and snacks to about 25 kids at the school, and these girls and Sergey are included in that.  I know a lot of you from Camp 3 grew attached to these kids so I wanted to give you an update.

Tanya told me that the teachers are amazed at the change they've seen in the girls.  Last year, they were extremely shy, had poor hygiene, and did not know how to play with the other kids.  They were thought of as "weird" because they would hide and did not know how to interact with others.  This year is completely different.  They are now the popular ones in school.  When I got there they seemed very confident in themselves, giving us lots of hugs and pulling me everywhere to find the room I was supposed to be in.  They have big smiles and seem very happy.  The difference?  They went to summer camp.

I got to see Sergey too.  I wish I could say that he was doing just as well.  It's hard to say exactly what's going on inside because he's so shy and doesn't like to make eye contact.  Keep praying for him.  I know his home life is very difficult including violence from his mom's boyfriend.  The most we saw him smile was certainly at camp.  I can't wait for him to come again!