Part II of our Trip to Belarus in July 2013

These are some of my favorite photos from our trip to Minsk sightseeing for the day. It was so much fun to see the city! Minsk is the capital of Belarus. 

Rommy was so happy to find a McDonalds! If you look closely through the window in the background you will see a TGI Fridays across the street. 

A day spent sightseeing in Mogilev. Population about 300,000. Ihar used to go to school in this town; Tatiana's family lives here. These are a few of my favorite photos.

Our favorite pizza place. We go to this restaurant every trip to Belarus...sometimes several times during the trip! No complanints from Ihar!

Dinner at Tatiana's daughter's apartment.

Sightseeing around Krychev. This town is about 2 1/2 hours from Mogilev...close to the border of Russia. Krychev is where Ihar was born and where he goes to trade school.

What does every parent do with their child before taking them back to college? Buy groceries of course!

It was so hard to say goodbye to him this time. We miss him so much!

Our trip to Belarus in July 2013 Part I

Hugs after 4 long years of separation.

Family!....Papa has only been to Belarus twice while Mama has been 4 times..

I (Marta) always make a trip to the baby orphanage...this time we took toys, diapers and wipes. 

 Celebrating Ihar's 17th Birthday! Wish I could say I made the cake! It was yummy!

We are so grateful for friends like Tatiana and Sasha who always open up their home to us and Ihar. Language or country doesn't matter. We have become a family.

Tatiana is like a sister to me.  

This is Anzhelika....we always try to visit her and her family. This was my (Marta's) first host family in Belarus.  

The Atroshkin kids and Grannie (Anzhelika's Mother) from Siberia. Ihar is great friends with this family as well. Left to Right Luba, Grannie, Masha, Liza, Dasha, Ihar and Angelica. All of these kids are former ABRO kids with the exception of Luba. 

We met with many of our former ABRO kids this visit. This is Anastashia. 

They are great friends!

 This is Lena who works at the ABRO office in Belarus. 

She is also very special to us!

 Vlad and Anton (both former ABRO kids)..

 Masha and Liza are also part of our ABRO family...!

These kids are Tatiana's grandchildren! Anna on the left and her brother Maxim on the right are part of the our ABRO family! There are many more children we were able to visit with but for the sake of keeping my posts shorter...we'll skip ahead to Part II of our visit.