A View That Takes Your Breath Away

On the second day at ROJ we decided to hike up to the top of this rock.  It was no big deal for Sasha who is in excellent shape or Julia who has endless energy and a competitive spirit-- but for me it was one of the hardest things I have done in a long time. 

I'm sure we surprised this goat as much as it surprised us.

Every few feet of the steady hike up, I had to stop and rest. I turned around and took pictures of the village around us. Here is a home right next to the river. After an old retired prosecuter.bought it-- up went the cold, ugly cement fence.

Isn't it picturesque?

These grottos were nice and cool.  The perfect place to stop and rest. 

At the top of the rock

Right below Julia is ROJ property.

Here is a house across the river from ROJ.  It is quite palatial.  On one of our walks, we stopped and had a refreshing drink from the spigot outside the gate.

Here is a closer look at ROJ.  The tent is where everyone met during children's camp.

Someone had big plans for these buildings,  They hoped they would be nice apartments but now they sit abandoned.  Some foreigner bought them for a few thousand dollars but has yet to do anything with them yet.  What a waste if you ask me.  I can think of so many good uses for them.

Climbing to the top of this rock took my breath away.  So did the view.

This is the river on the walk back to ROJ. 

This is what the walk looks like to ROJ.  It is not like any other experience we have had in Ukraine on previous trips.

I miss it already.

Finally... About Camp

When David (the founder), Julia, and I arrived at ROJ, the second children's camp was in full swing.  David thought that our arrival towards the last few days of camp would allow us some time to do other things like discuss the future of ROJ, spend time getting to know those that help out at ROJ, and visit the Semochkov family who is currently fostering a houseful of kids.

So.... this is what we saw upon our arrival-- after Sasha helped carry in our bags.  In case you didn't know, Sasha is the young man smiling at the camera.  Feeding close to sixty people everyday was no easy task-- but the serving hearts at ROJ sure made it look like it was.

The children's camp was much like a long overnight VBS.  In the mornings and evenings everyone would meet in this tent to sing songs of worship, go over the days' activities, hear a new message, do skits, pray, etc.  The worship leader on the guitar named Avenir was full of energy.  Avenir, a seventeen year old from Bulgaria is currently living in Moldova-- and he came all the way to ROJ for camp in Ukraine-- imagine that!

The leaders of this camp are so full of life and on fire for the Lord! Here is Maxim with his arms out wide who was married just a few months earlier here at ROJ.

One evening we witnessed majority of the kids step forward to repent and give their lives to the Lord.  Repentence is what they call becoming a believer in case you were wondering. 

The kids kept busy during the day playing games, going on walks, doing crafts...

playing house under this tree canopied room...

and taking turns jumping on the trampoline.

Julia and I had fun getting to know the kids.  It was obvious by their smiles and laughter that they were having a wonderful time. 

Starting From the Beginning

 Even after twenty hours of traveling, Julia was all smiles to finally land in Ukraine.  We made it!

Though I had tried to get some sleep during a four hour layover, I was still very tired when we first arrived.

Bogdan and Allosha showed us where the store was across from the orphanage.  There we were able to get something refreshing to drink.

This hat display right outside the door was very pretty.  Hats varied in price from 15 up to 60 grivna.

Inside the orphanage that Bogdan works with seems to be in wonderful condition.  I love the set up-- very open and inviting.  Here I am with David the founder of  River of Joy.  Click on the name to check out the minstry.

This puzzle was on display in the eating area so we took a picture.

Here are some of the eating areas in the orphanage.  This particular orphanage houses older kids with slight delays.  Here they go to school and learn how to make something out of their lives often times sticking around to help out within the organization.  I do not explain his amazing minstry very well, but it is very apparent how vital Bogdan's ministry is to this area of Kiev and to the children.  Please continue to pray for this minstry-- it is in constant battle with the government and people who see the land that this orphanage takes up more suitable for apartment buildings in the ever growing Kiev.

Here is another eating area. We didn't get to see many of the kids who were away at camps.

The orphanage kitchen is open and cheery.  Here the kids learn to cook, clean, and serve-- one of the kids works in a restaurant as a result.

The kids were shy, but very proud of the meal they served.  Like I had said in a previous post-- it was very delicious.

Here is Allosha, the guy who picked us up from the airport.  He has aged out of the system but has not let that stop him.  He drives, he mentors the younger kids, and honestly I couldn't be more impressed with a young man.  He is one of the countless examples as to why it is so important to invest time and love and money into orphans.   They have so much potential!

For dessert we had cheese verenki with smetana.

Here we are on the train down to Simferopol, Crimea.

Time to Head Home

This is the last post I will be making from Crimea... Ukraine for that matter. In a few hours we will begin our trek to Simferopol. An hour by car, a seventeen hour train ride, and then the plane. Two different stops-- all I know is that we get in early, early Wednesday morning.

And all is good. God is good.

I look forward to sharing once we are home.

Today

I am so glad that I saved some of the donations. I am not sure why I should but I had a feeling that I shouldn't hand out all of them to the kids at camp. Now I know why. Today weet are going to visit the Semochkov family. They are a very unique family in that they have ten foster children that they are raising. You can read a little more about them on the ROJ site. I am very excited to be an encourager to them... and I trust that we will learn so much from them.

In case you don't know, ROJ is an NGO whose goal is to take in orphans to prepare them for family life-- teach them love, nurturing, education, purpose, and about the Lord's salvation. This has not happened as of yet.... for many reasons. That is one of the main reasons we came. I have had many discussions with the founder on how to move forward and begin taking in orphans-- the idea is that the people around us will see the value of doing this and begin embracing the children themselves. The Semochkov family is already doing this.... but they are very unique. Over here they just don't normally do that.

Anyway, I will share more about our exciting day. After, we have an appointment to look at some property for sale. Finding families that are willing to become a fostering home is only part of the plan. It is logical to expect that a bigger family would need bigger housing and financial help in caring for the kids. As ROJ's vision is playing out-- it needs more buildings and to renovate the old ones. I didn't realize how much fun drawing up plans and seeing first hand building going on can be.

Please pray. Amazing things are happened here. But that also means that the enemy is having a field day trying to interfere.

Building Relationship

Good morning.

It was brought to my attention that it appears that I am on vacation. Isn't God amazing like that? I do feel like I am on vacation-- it is that inspiring... incredible... spiritual. Maybe you want to vacation with me here next year on mission trip to help raise a home that can start housing orphans?

A wise missionary recently told me when I told him how useless I feel at the moment-- "The first mission trip is more for the missionary than it is for the mission." Aww-- more words of wisdom.

Relationship building is key over here. That in itself is a mission. Encouraging the missionary is also important. Fellowship is something that took me a long time to understand and yet it is vital to any ministry. What value is building up a house or spreading the gospel if you don't have relationship?

I will share that this area has quite a few Muslim Tartars. One of the granddaughters came to the second camp. What a spunky gem she is! Another Muslim Tatar helps do construction here at ROJ. It is such a blessing to get to know him and all the others.

My mission for this trip if nothing else is to share about ROJ, about Ukraine's people, and about the beautiful simplicity of living life outside the umbrella of "The American Dream." My hope is to encourage you to get involved. I am blessed to declare that prayers are answered.

There is even more. But pictures... videos... need to accompany the story to make them come alive. I promise-- God willing-- they will come once we are home.

Be blessed my friends and family. Be blessed.

A Snake in the River

Today we got up very early to make sure we made it to the bus stop so that we could head into Simferopol today. The bus ride was long and bumpy-- something one would have to get used to day in and day out. It probably doesn't help that it is nearing three digit numbers-- can't wait till it comes back down to the mid 80's by this weekend.

The grocery store was not half as interesting as the flea market, but we got stuff to make a good ol' sandwich so I am happy. The sweetest and cutest thing was watching Sasha buy things for Rachel-- his one and only sweetheart. :) Even Julia thought he was adorable the way he carefully picked out things that we suggested she would like.

Anyway, we rode a taxi home to fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and a refreshing summer salad made up of cucumbers, tomatoes, dark leaf lettuce, parsley, and dill. It was fantastic but not as delicious as the warm homemade ciabatta bread that Marina the cook served.

Now we are listening to Julia's music that she brought--- Sasha wants the names of all the artists. He particularly likes Britt Nicole!

Julia never even got a read mark from the tick and before I could explain unpasturized milk to her she had gulped down a whole glass! David was enjoying it with his cherry vereniki so I went ahead and drank some too. Not bad... not bad. I mention these two things since they seemed to draw some concern--- DON'T WORRY! Oh... and we saw a snake in the river yesterday. It swam right past us. Sasha freaked out because his brother said that they can bite-- but if Sasha is willing to jump from rock to rock high up on a mountain and scare us half to death then a little ol' snake shouldn't scare him.

Only five more days here. It is bittersweet. Learning much about the culture, the people, and the different beliefs that people have. Can you believe that a deck of cards that we put in one of the older boys' gift bags was discussed?

The Wash

I slept well last night. Peaceful. I didn't get up once to go to the bathroom. That's a first for me. Finally woke up to knocking on the door. John was on Skype and wanted to connect before he headed off to bed. It was nice talking with my other half... I sure miss him. It s wonderful to hear that the kids are doing great. I miss them too.

Anyway, we had some sort of hot cereal with raisins and a scoop of ice-cream in it in place of milk. Though you could not tell by how much was left in our bowls-- we thoroughly enjoyed it. David was able to find a neighbor that would give us some milk and Sasha walked over with a big empty jar. Dare I drink unpasturized milk? I think I will boil it first just to be on the safe side. I am not too concerned with getting sick or else everyone else would get sick too, but the thought is what gets me... not enough time to grow on me. Yet.

Sasha decided to wash his clothes today. There are at least two washing machines that I know of here that work, but Sasha filled a wash basin. Old habits are hard to break... and perhaps he doesn't feel comfortable asking to use one of the machines. Either way my motherly instincts kicked in and I sat down and washed his clothes for him. It was very therapeutic... and made me think. I encourage you to try washing a few pieces of clothing by hand the old fashioned way... if nothing else it will get you to appreciate your washing machine a little bit more.

The guest cabin we are staying in is built up against a hill. One wall is all rock... keeps the cabin nice and cool. However, the water runs down the side of the hill and causes moisture to seep into the cabin through the rock. If that happened back home I would not be so calm... and yet it is what it is. Today the construction workers are out digging dirt away from the house. Shirts off, no protective goggles, working in flip flops... interesting.

We are surrounded by nature. I just knocked down all the cob webs in and around the bathroom and yet I am still never alone when I am in there. Always a moth or two... and a beetle of some sort crawling up the wall. The men's side is blessed with a green tree frog in the shower... no bugs for them. Speaking of shower-- I had David explain what a four minute shower is. At first Sasha said that he should just go bathe in the river then because he could not shower in four minutes. But when I explained that hot water is money and more water doesn't make you cleaner... Sasha appeared about five minutes later drying his hair... proud that he showered in only four minutes. It may sound strange... but Sasha craves for a mother and father-- I can tell. Sasha treats Julia and I like we are his family. Likewise, it is hard to not feel like he is a part of the family.

In the late afternoon we are going to walk around the village. Hopefully it will be cooler then. Thankfully it is not as humid as it was yesterday.

I leave you with words of wisdom according to Sasha. Eating three walnuts is good for you. Eating more than that and it all goes down the toilet. This only applies to walnuts-- not the hazelnuts he cracks open with his teeth and eats by the handfuls. Go figure.

An Unexpected Blessing

After I published the last post we all joked around that I should have titled it, "She's Ticked Off!"
Ha-ha! Thankfully we woke up with no surprises this morning. We had a late night laughing our heads off watching one of the kittens playing with a giant horned beetle. We were quite naughty putting the beetle on the kitty's tail and watching it whip around playfully. The interaction between the two was hilarious! It was so entertaining! As Julia and I went off to bed, Sasha finished up his midnight snack of plov before heading off to bed with the kitty to keep it warm.

Thank you for all of your comments-- I am amazed that so many of you know Bogdan. I think I will share the story about him.

Go back a few days.
Leading up to the last few days before we left to come to Ukraine, I got an email from Debbie over at Slava Bogu asking if I would be willing to return Bogdan's phone since he lives in Kiev. Sure, why not. So Debbie overnighted the cell phone and I emailed with Bogdan about our meeting. I happened to give him David's phone number so that perhaps they could connect at the airport ahead of time.

Connect they did. It was actually Allosha, Bogdan's right hand man that met up with David. He is an energetic young man with an amazing enthusiasm to serve the Lord-- and he offered so much more than just picking up the phone.

Excuse me a second, Julia just reported to me that Sasha was quite startled after she and David poured water all over his tent and shook it. He had slept in for the longest time and they thought he should get up!

Now back to the story.

Allosha offered to drive us over to Orphanage 12 in Kiev to rest until we caught our train late that night. What a huge blessing. At the orphanage we met Bogdan and a few of the young adults that he works with that have aged out of the orphanage. They were all so nice and friendly... like old friends. They showed us where the market was, fed us a great meal, and gave us a ride to the train station. So gracious... a true example of Christ's unending love.

The meal was memorable. Hot dogs, plain macaroni, bread, tomatoes and cucumbers were served. Honestly, I expected it to be bland and boring. I would eat it because the kids had made it. As I took the first bite, I immediately felt guilty for assuming that it would be bland. It was the furthest thing from. The love and preparation that went into the food is what seasoned it-- and it was absolutely delicious.

As we talked, I was so blessed to hear what they were doing at that orphanage for older kids with slight mental delays. Amen.

God's family is everywhere!

Our Sunday

Camp is officially over. It finished strong... I will share when I can upload pictures. God continues to show me that there are better ways... simpler ways... to worship Him. Even in a hot tent with little media, everyone was singing for the Lord as if a fire was lit under them. Perhaps that is why the tent was so hot! :)

The most exciting news that I don't have a picture to go along with (because Julia wouldn't let me)so I can share, is that Julia woke up with a big tick on her stomach. I did not freak out but I also would not pull it out. We got dressed quickly and went out to show someone. They quickly took it off--- actually not a big deal. A tick encounter was one of my biggest fears about coming here-- I guess God had to show me there is nothing to fear afterall.

The weather has been hot... nothing a quick dip in the river can't solve. Nights are chilly... mosquitoes not as bad as I thought.

Life is extremely simple here. Maybe poor is a better word. Not sure. I'm leaning towards simple because in many, many ways the people seem richer than I do.
Shoes are mended or glued... meanwhile go barefoot.
Gum is a treat among adults... so savor it.
So is coffee creamer... who needs it.
There aren't fitted sheets.
So what if cats has fleas... people here don't buy cat food so why would they buy flea repellant.
Conversation takes the place of tv. So does washing the dishes by hand, tending to the chickens, shelling walnuts, and walking to the store.

When my head hits the pillow, it doesn't take me but a few minutes to fall asleep.

P.S. Feel free to ask questions.

A True River of Joy

I can't believe how quick we adjusted to Ukrainian time. We slept a few hours on the plane arriving around 1 o'clock in the afternoon. We were walking zombies or so it felt that way-- we were so tired. But we pressed along and did not sleep until almost 11 pm once the train was moving. We slept all night, woke up the next morning with everyone else and have been fine since.

The camp is going great. I wish I could say that I am doing a lot to help, but I am not. The men and women who came to serve are doing an amazing job with the children-- so we just watch-- and wipe a few tables-- and talk with the kids. Many of the children invited God into their hearts last night-- such a beautiful thing to witness.

Today I walked up the huge mountain I showed you pictures of. If it wasn't for Sasha's help I don't think I could have done it. He is so athletic... and so darn polite taking my hand-- as if I was his future mother in law or something. :) I so approve of this young man. But more about him later.

We went swimming in the river today-- what a treat.

So refreshing... fun... peaceful...

I imagined the whole family playing in it.

I have so much more to share...

We are Here!

We are here at ROJ! David the founder, is neater in real life than just Skyping. It is more beautiful here than we imagined. The ice-cream is just as good, and Sasha looks great! Other than payin an extra baggage fee for our 3rd bag, the trip was uneventful. All donations got here, and customs in Kiev couldn't have gone smoother. I didn't have to say one word and Ukraine doesn't require a registration card to be filled out on the plane anymore. Lots to blog about... I'll try to find time. :)

Thanks for your prayers. Already we are meeting amazing people and making new connections.

P.S. Debbie... Bogdan was a godsend. So is Alosha. Who knew delivering a phone would be such a blessing!

Cooking Fun

What a fun day! Can't you see the excitement in their faces?

This is my new haircut. It is growing on me.

Anna is learning to dance through an online dance site. She would have

done this all day if I let her.

Julia made a triple batch of cookies last week. One batch went in the freezer for us to take to Ukraine-- the other two batches were for eating. My instructions-- hands off the cookies in the freezer. John was the first to sneak-- Adam was the last. One of his siblings snitched on him-- half the cookies were gone by then. I was not happy. My solution was for him to bake more.

So he did.

I made Russian Coltyetes. Annalyn's exact words, "This meat is the best in the world!"

We had so much fun making them today.

Annalyn crushed corn flakes and Sveta mixed up the meat.

Rachel grated the potatoes.

I coated the meat patties.

Galina formed the patties.

I fried them up.

They turned out delicious. I'll share the recipe when I get back.

Julia wanted to play pirate.

Rachel was just being goofy!

Sometimes it can be so much fun cooking in the kitchen!

Julia shoving a donut in Galina's mouth.

Does this at all remind you from a pose in Napoleon Dynamite?

We are ready to go bright and early in the morning.