Christmas in Full Circle

Hey y’all! 

So this year for Christmas I’m doing something different. Many of you know that I was adopted 10 years ago from Odessa, Ukraine, but 12 years ago during Christmas I came to US for the very first time. My younger sister and I, and a lot of other kids landed in Dulles airport not knowing anyone, we were terrified. So this year I got an opportunity to help out with 2 sweet girls from Ukraine. So lets meet them. 

Ira (left) and Sveta (right)

Ira and Sveta are sisters from an orphanage #2 in Mariupol, Ukraine. This is their first time in the United States or really anywhere outside of the orphanage. Ira is 10 years old and she’s in 5th grade. She loves to draw, sing, and dance. Sveta is 14 years old and she’s in 9th grade. She loves to play soccer. And their favorite subject in school is PE. Sveta is graduating this year and she doesn’t know what’s gonna happen to her, but she wants to go to a trade school. 

They have 3 older siblings, one brother who’s in the army, and two sisters. They also have a grandmother but they don’t see her or their siblings much. The girls’ mom died, and they don’t really know where their father is. 

I asked them how they felt when they found out that they were coming to US for Christmas and the answer was kind of funny. Sveta said that they were very surprised specially because she wasn’t behaving very well :) Which is hard to believe, because both of them are very well behaved.

As I'm writing this post down, I realize how my and their stories are very similar. And I'm so happy that Vinny (from Frontier Horizon) gave me this opportunity to give back. I'm honored to have this chance to meet these two lovely girls and spend Christmas and the New Years with them.