Hoverla

I had the best birthday celebration ever! My actual birthday was back on August 18, but on August 27, we climbed Hoverla, Ukraine's highest mountain, to celebrate. The climb was hard, but so worth it. And our little blind dog heroically kept up with us. Bogdan only carried him for a few minutes, when it was absolutely impossible for Leo to get through the boulders he couldn't see, and Leo cried that whole time, because he wanted to be walking by himself.

This is something I've wanted to do for a while. At first I had thought that I would have to hire a guide and just go by myself, or with Bogdan. But then we found out that our Ivano-Frankivsk friends have done this before (of course!), I asked them to show us the way. That made it all so much more fun. We started out early on a bus to the town closest to Hoverla. There we hired a transfer car, went to the base, and ate our breakfast. Will and Asya stayed there. The rest of us went up, and yes, it seemed like straight up. Tanya planned for us to take the shorter, steeper way up, then the longer, "gentler" way down. That worked well. 

Leo and I were the last of our little group to make it all the way to the summit, and our friends greeted me with a Hoverla medal, a cupcake, and a birthday candle. Then we took tons of photos and started back down.

My view for most of the day

Coming out of the tree line

Berries!

Lunch break, almost at the top

We made it!

Bogdan's friend slept like this most of the way back.

I should get more of Asya's photos. She and Will had a great time in the beautiful forest around the base.

Many thanks to my parents! This trip was their birthday gift to me.

Book recommendations

In case anyone doesn't know, I read a lot. I say that books are my love language. And I thought I would share a little of that love here now. I'm actually writing this in Kherson, which calls for some Kherson books. I'll say where we are, now that the main event we came here to help with is over. (More on that in an upcoming private newsletter.) 

Recently I've gotten to read several books connected to the time of occupation in Kherson specifically or the beginning stages of the full-scale war in general. I highly recommend them. Two aren't out yet, but will be soon. Save up your money for this first one. It's going to be expensive, but it's worth it. 

Serving God Under Siege: How War Transformed a Ukrainian Community, by Valentyn Syniy 

(Ukr/rus title: The Person Whose Home Was Stolen) 

This is my personal favorite. It's about the community that we've been around for many years. We know people and places on almost every page of this book. They evacuated to Ivano-Frankivsk while we stayed under occupation. This book tells the story of that move and how they served God in all of it. It's the view from the other side of the line that we were behind. (If you read want to read it now, before the translation comes out, like I did: link.)  

Finding Home Again, by Sharon Markey 

Another excellent book. Sharon and I have been friends online for years, although we've only met once in person. I've read her book several times now, as she gets it ready for publication. It's a work of art and really shows the emotions that can come with war and displacement. (Not about Kherson, but still close to my heart. Sharon's writing helps me sort my own feelings.) There's not a preorder page, as far as I know, but there's more info here. 

And then a different type of book: 

Walking Past Tombstones, by Timothy Morales 

Don't read this one if you're offended by swearing or typos. (The latter bothers me! But I could actually get past them here.) The author is a great storyteller and really gets across a picture of what occupation was like. See if you can find Will in his story. There's a chapter name specifically for my Dad, even though I'm sure that's unintentional. I devoured this book in two days, while listening to Kherson artillery pounding outside as the perfect soundtrack for it. 

And, along with reading, you can do what I don't usually like to do: watch. Please watch Zarina Zabrisky's documentary about Kherson. Also, please watch this interview to go with it. 

Asya's hand

I'll put this up here, because I looked back through the blog to remember when was the last time Asya broke a bone. 

On Sunday she was running around after church, playing with kids, and she slipped. I didn't see what happened, but I hear that she flew. She jumped up and ran on. But then a little later her hand started hurting, and her finger was obviously swelling and bruising. The general opinion was that it was too dangerous to go to the hospital. (We're not in Ivano-Frankivsk now.) She was in a lot of pain, so a doctor who goes to our church sent directions on how to cut up a syringe to make a splint. That worked beautifully for the night. 

In the morning it was still getting worse, though, so we went on a wild ride to the hospital. We got x-rays, diagnosis of a minor fracture in her middle finger, and a cast put on, all in a few minutes. She's doing much better now that it's immobilized, but she's going to have to learn to do everything with her left hand for four weeks.

Vacation

Soon after Raia left we had another wonderful adventure. A missionary pastor in Mukachevo had written to Will, saying that he had been lying awake praying for us, and God had prompted him to use a financial gift that had come in to offer us a vacation in the mountains near them. We were absolutely floored. Who can turn down an offer like that? So, on March 19 we got on a bus and headed that way. Joel and his family met us at the bus, took us shopping for groceries for 10 days, got us dinner, and then drove us out to the place they had reserved for us. Wow. Like I said, we were wonderfully overwhelmed. I don't even know how to express it. 

It was dark when we got there, but the next morning we discovered that we were in a really lovely place. We settled into a pattern that was usually Bogdan and I hiking in the mornings, maybe getting coffee together, then showing Will and Asya a place that we had discovered. Ira, Asya's friend from Kherson, had planned to spend her spring break with us, so she came and joined us there for a few days, too. 

Also, a family that I had met many years ago when they adopted now lives in Mukachevo. We got to spend time with them, too, and our kids--who hadn't met before--really hit it off well. Even Leo found a friend among their many dogs. We went to church with them, visited two castles, and spent time in their home, too. And someone we had spent time with many years ago in Luhansk actually serves now right near where we were staying, so she came over for a short and sweet visit, too.

In the bus

From the bus

First morning in the mountains

And there I run out of time to keep sorting through these photos, at least for now. That was a taste of some of them from beginning of our time away, plus Leo and his friend.

Raia's visit (and Bogdan's birthday)

A highlight of the whole first part of this year for me was Raia's spring break visit to us way back in March. I can't believe how few photos I have from then, though. 

When Raia didn't come for winter break, she comforted us by planning to come in the spring. But then it looked like not even that would work out. It's such a long, hard trip, and she was so busy. Then at some point she wrote and said that I could go ahead and get tickets for her. She asked if I could keep it a secret from Bogdan, so that her presence could be a birthday present for him. At the time, I was buying tickets for one of Asya's trips to Kyiv, too, so I thought I would just get all the tickets, and not say anything at all until I got Asya sent off. Will would know, because he would see that I was spending money and calling back and forth with Raia. But he didn't notice. (Raia and I were also doing a lot to renew her residency in Lithuania at the time.) And I didn't say anything to Asya before she left. So, pretty soon Raia and I realized that we were the only ones who knew she was coming, and we liked that, so we left it that way. 

After all the grueling travel, Raia got here on a Sunday morning, way earlier than scheduled, so she just walked to our house, and I let her in. Bogdan was very happily surprised. Will was still asleep, and he woke up to a surprise, too. That night Raia sent a photo of Will and me with Leo to our family group and thought that she messed up the surprise for Asya, but somehow Asya didn't notice. The next morning Asya's train from Kyiv got in about the same time as Raia's friend came in from Kherson, so Raia surprised Asya at the train station. It was all a lot of fun. 

Raia's photo

Then, on Bogdan's actual birthday, Raia went with him on a hike, which was exactly what he wanted. That night we had a little celebration with our small group. 

Then, the next evening Bogdan's friends came over to celebrate more. Will grilled meat for them, and they ate and played outside until it was really dark.

We really appreciated Raia making the effort to come all this way for a relatively short visit, and we treasured every moment with her here. Bogdan had a great 14th birthday, too.

Christ is Risen!

Oops. I haven't written here since January. Will has pretty much taken over with chronicling every single day on Facebook, but he doesn't usually include our photos. I find more and more than I go back to old blog posts to look up pictures or dates from our family history, so I still want to record things here "for posterity."

Amazing sky the night before Easter

I will start with yesterday. Easter is my favorite holiday of the year. To prepare our hearts in the week leading up to it we watched the videos from the God on Mute series. They're based on a book that I highly recommend, and I wanted to share that with the rest of my family.

Then Easter! After lots of late snow, we now have full spring weather and flowers everywhere. The leadership team at church had been really busy lately with setting up foundational ideas and documents for this young church, so we didn't meet about Easter plans until the Sunday before. We decided on a minimalist celebration. That doesn't mean we didn't celebrate, though. I think we had kind of a minimalist version in our home, too, but we touched on all our traditions, remembered Christ's resurrection, and enjoyed our day very much.

Of course, the blind dog decorated the eggs.

At Sunday school the younger group made a beautiful photo zone and took photos:

Afterwards we headed out to a church picnic at a park.

Will and I were some of the last to get there, and as we approached where the rest of the church group was, I just loved this tree:

But then I didn't get many more photos, because my hands were full:

(Oh, yes, that's the baby we were waiting for way back when I last posted here.)

We also really enjoyed having one of the young guys from the Capernaum club with us. He came to church by himself, sat with us, and then got permission from his mom to go on to the picnic with us, too. Asya took this photo; apparently we didn't get anything with our family. That's Bogdan, me (with Leo), Will, Lyusya, and Andriy.

I hope everyone had a beautiful Easter day and will continue to bask in the Easter season, remembering resurrection every day.