The Scherbina’s family

Here we are — a family of four: two girls and two guys. Our family was officially born on November 4, 1995, when we had exchanged our vows in front of our friends and relatives. It all happened a long time ago in a beautiful Odessa city.

Exactly two years before, we went on our first date and spent three hours walking and talking nonstop. At that time we both were students at the Odessa State Economic University learning to balance debit and credit. I remember in one term when I had to take Ukrainian legislation course the Constitution changed so many times that made it became impossible to pass an exam using our notes from the lecture…

This is a reality of the country we lived in — a country where our precious daughter was born and raised up to the age of 2.5. Masha takes a huge place in our lives and hearts. She exemplifies the combination of all our best qualities and strengths, or at least that is what we think and feel, as probably all loving parents do. She brings joy and challenges and fills our day-to-day lives with beautiful and difficult questions about the meanings of Russian words, general «why’s» and «when’s» and a couple years ago became curious about love and sex. She is a gentle soul and even with her teenage stubbornness one can see her beautiful insides and intentions.

When she was six Masha asked 'what does this mean'? The only difference is that, as almost every child of Slavic immigrants in Canada, she speaks Russian at home with her relatives, English with her friends on the playground and French with her classmates at school. We moved to Canada for a better life on March 27, 2001. There are lots of reasons why we decided to do it and Masha future was one of the biggest factors forcing us to do so.

Luka is another cutie pie who brightens our lives. He was born in Canada and he is the most amazing boy to have around. We survived ‘terrible twos’ when he was pretending to be a dinosaur or a lion and roared at the playground. Parents who did not have a strong sense of humour did not take it that well. We are honestly enjoying his ‘terrible fours’ which as many parenting books promised wouldn’t be that terrible. It is only partially true in our case. He is a natural leader and it is not always easy to make him follow directions or stop when he is asked to do so. He does have a sweet tooth and gets pretty upset when there is no sweets at home which happens quite rarely I should admit. But he is so curious about the world and so sincere in his thirst to explore! He is simply adorable and so beautifully naïve and we are so lucky to have him around.

Back to parents. Having finished their graduate degree in Economics, (Oleg also got a degree in Business Law) and having worked in a number of companies, we decided to move to a country that will provide us with freedom, security and fair opportunities, where a hard work, a decent education and ambitions 'to achieve' are rewarded with a better quality of life.

And yes, it is true — we chose Vancouver for its beauty. We were not original in their choice — mountains, ocean, and mild climate attract lots of people who immigrate here. We were lucky enough to meet some good friends in this country of opportunities and you know how difficult it could be, when you are not 15 anymore? All our friends have something in common with us — they moved here for a better life and they are ready to do what it takes to make their dreams come true.

As a family, we share common interests. We love dancing, doing outdoor activities and «doing-nothing-drinking-mocha-kind-of-thing». Although in the last a couple of years the latter dominates. We watch movies together — a very banal thing but makes us feel very happy together. At the same time we have our own 'passions' or if you wish 'comfort zones', — Masha loves dancing and she is totally adorable at acting. Oleg keep surprises our friends with his profound knowledge in history, geography and current news. He also owes a quite impressive collection of music from any possible music generations or styles. Olga enjoys dancing, photography and free style writing. Luka is great at singing and drawing. Although we are so different, we love each other for simply who we are because we are a family.