We're Weirdos and Photos

It is early morning here. Yesterday, you could say my rose colored glasses changed colors a little bit. I noticed some things that I haven't noticed before and perhaps it was due to the different people that were around...or maybe it was just because I was reflecting on missing home the other day. Whatever it was, things were different. Not bad, just different.

It's interesting, you would think that we would encounter more difficulty with older folks if anything. Or more dislike of our country of citizenship. They are the ones that would be more apt to remember the days of...unfortunate relations with the US. That would be my thinking and I would understand if the older folks had a little bit of hard feelings toward us from the "S" days that we don't talk about.

Strangely, the older folks are kind and helpful. We enjoy going through the outdoor market and buying things from the vendors that range more in the age of our parents to grandparents. They are easy to work with and helpful even though we don't speak the language. We can make things work with a pen and paper because numbers look the same. We can say "kilogram" the same way they do, so when buying by weight we can do okay. (But make a note, you don't want to buy a kilogram of bacon. That's a lot. Remember that a kilogram is a little over 2lbs.)

It's when we go into the normal stores...the ones inside buildings, that things are different. I wouldn't say we look that different from the people here, but we definitely stand out. It could be, and probably is, quite a number of things that make us stand out. What happens? When we walk into a store it's like we are wearing clown suits. It's kind of funny actually. The people will call other people over to show them the Americans, they find us amusing. Last night we went into a store and the young woman at the register was weird with us. She kept making glances toward the other girl in the store and either smiling (as in laughing), or a glance similar to eye rolling. It's quite strange and I don't understand. But what can you do =D. This is Ukraine.

I wonder what it will be like when we have Ana out of the orphanage. I wonder what they will look at us like then. What will they think when we are toting around one of the children from their country, one that is not typical to have out and about here on their streets. What will things be like then? Please do not judge the people, for really, they are not unlike our own. 50 years ago, we put our kids with DS in the institutions. 50 years ago, we didn't treat our people with special needs with care. And today, well, today we still don't treat all of them the way that God intends. Today, in our country, we abort them if we know they are coming. Today, we "spare them" of a life that is "not worth living". Today we believe that lie.

I have only known Ana for a short time, but I can tell you that she loves living her life. She is just like our other two children. Seriously, I have never been around a child with DS before. I have zero experience with her diagnosis whatsoever, so I am not "used to it", and there is nothing different about Ana from her siblings. I keep saying, she is very much like your average two year old, and she is. So...I would ask- if your four year old were two, would that make her life not worth living? I just don't get it. I don't understand what makes people think that this little wouldn't be worth having around. I don't understand how not giving her the option of life would make sense.

Sure, she has a heart issue...which is mild in her case, but either way- if someone were pregnant with a child with a heart defect, would the doctor push abortion at them? By no means! They would give all the options available and treat the condition. It's just confusing to me...what makes people so afraid of DS?

Okay, I will climb off that horse now.

Let me end this interesting post about random not beautiful things with something more pretty. I will share some new photos of Ana girl with you =D. Will that make up for the rest of the post? Please excuse, but the room is dark, I have my iso set high and my lens open all the way...still not enough. SO... you have to view them with harsh on camera flash. Yuck! But, she still makes it look cute ;-).