Thanksgiving Fest

I am slowly getting less itchy. After the IVs there was a nice jump in comfort level, and then the rest of the week has been slow progress. I was happy to switch from shots to oral medicine a few days ago. Most of the spots are finally gone, and pretty much only my hands still really itch badly.

Saturday I went to the Thanksgiving Fest put on by the churches here. It was so good to get out and see so many people. We hadn't been planning on it, because I'm really avoiding crowds and germs, but I just couldn't stay home. I wore a mask in the bus, and then sat on the edge at the park and felt happy and thankful. We even saw the doctor who had prescribed the antibiotics there.

Jaan ran a game where kids crawled through a spider web. His friends were nearby with a box labyrinth that Bogdan really liked. Raia came with the Americans she had been translating for all week. Asya went to the park with us, and we brought one of her friends along, and then she disappeared with a whole group of friends for the rest of the time, so I didn't get even one photo of her.

Also my flowers at home are still really flourishing:

We've set my next appointment in Kyiv for Friday, so please pray that all the itchiness will go away and that I can stay well and go!

Difficult days

Yesterday and today have been really difficult.

First, though, we had a lovely dinner out on Saturday night. That was the calm before the storm, and I'm so thankful for it!

Saturday morning I woke up covered in a very itchy rash. Very! Itchy! And very covered. Will started contacting doctors. My wonderful doctor in Kyiv answered right away, but she's too far away to help. She told us to go straight back to the doctor I had seen for the complications of my cold. That doctor--and most doctors--don't work on Sunday mornings. We signed up for the first apointment with her this morning. Then I started in on everything my Kyiv doctor could suggest for comfort, plus an oatmeal bath, and finally an evening with our English-speaking group of friends to distract myself. (That was the bright eye in the middle of the storm. So thankful for them, too!)

This morning when I got up, it was much worse. By the time we got to the clinic, I looked bad enough that they were talking about calling an ambulance, instead of waiting for the doctors to get there. But we waited, and I ended up with several doctors taking care of me. After a very traumatic IV situation (that should have been easy; IVs are a big part of life for me lately), and a shot, I'm feeling somewhat better. I still look like a leopard, but not very itchy, and I can breathe normally! And fit my glasses on to my face!

We're not entirely sure what caused all this. It was either a delayed reaction to the antibiotics I took last week, or a very delayed reaction to Keytruda, or as one doctor said, something like a "combined reaction." Whatever it was, please pray that it will go away and never, ever come back.

I think we're back to Will giving me shots twice a day for at least a few days now, depending on how quickly the rash goes away. Since I'm healed from the 5-per-day hospital shots, I don't know how he'll find the right place to inject. You can pray for both of us. Thanks!

This week, next week

The first photos are from art school this week. The elderberry is from our long nature walk Tuesday morning; it's almost ripe.

His butterfly is carnivorous; I doubt that the girls' are.

We have definitely learned how important it is for me not to get sick and what a miracle it was that I went so long without picking anything up from the children! This cold and complications from it have hung around for almost three weeks now. I am still not well enough to travel, but my doctor in Kyiv wanted to see current blood work, so we had that done yesterday and sent it to her. It all looked good. Other than bronchitis, a sinus infection, and cancer, I'm really healthy. Tonight Will and I are going to go out to dinner, "just because." I needed something fun to look forward to. Plus, we never really celebrated my good results almost a month ago. Next week I won't be going to Kyiv, and I'll get to be here for Asya's birthday. Please pray that I'll get well, though.

Also, please pray for Raia next week. There is a group coming from our church's sister church in America. They're foster parents, and they're coming to let the foster parents at the church here go on a vacation. Each American is going to have a personal translator, and Raia has been asked to be one of them! She'll be on duty all day, every day for a week. Pray for health, stamina, and language skills.

Children's ministry

Do you recognise this person?

Raia loves serving in the kids' club at church. They started a new season for this new school year with a watermelon quest, which included painting some of the helpers (Raia!) and sticking stuff on their heads. By the way, her face was supposed to look like a watermelon, but she had the youngest group of artists working on her; they were very thorough and worked with a very impressionistic style.

Jaan's birthday

On Tuesday Jaan turned 16. He wanted to have his friends over and play computer games with them, but our electricity was off all day, so they went to a place where they could pay to play games. That means I don't have many photos. But then they came here for hamburgers that Will had made. We had a really nice dinner together.

Bogdan had to show Seryozha his bandura.

Then I brought out our attempt at ice cream cake, after a day without electricity. It turned out to be a melty volcano, but they liked it.

And presents!

It was a fun, simple day to celebrate someone who is really amazing.


(And we've been on this side of the world for 18 years. Jaan's birthday coincides with the anniversary of when we moved.)

A bump

Everything has gone so smoothly with my treatment so far, but now there's a little bump in the road. It's a very little one; I think I'm just disproportionately upset by it. 

I had a cold, and it has turned into bronchitis and a sinus infection. When we wrote to my doctor in Kyiv yesterday to find out if I could come on Monday as planned, mostly well but still coughing some, she said that I needed to see a doctor here right away before she could say yes or no. So, we did that this morning. The doctor here was very nice. She looked at x-rays of my head and chest, and decided that I should get well first here, then go to Kyiv. Boo. I'm supposed to take several medicines and drink warmed Georgian mineral water. I'm really not terribly sick, but she said that with my immune system fighting this, it would be better not to add more immunotherapy on top, which makes sense.

So, we've rescheduled Kyiv for September 23. I'm really grumpy about that, since it means I'll be traveling back on Asya's birthday. (It was so perfect to have Keytruda #6 scheduled right between Jaan and Asya's birthdays, the way we had it before.) I still have to switch out my train tickets, and that's probably not going to be easy. Please pray that I'll get well soon and that all this will work out well.


(P.S. I got decent new tickets.)

First week of school

We have had a wonderful and hard first week of school. It's been hard, because we've had colds, and they're really hitting some of us hard. Wonderful because, well...

Monday I had planned to do photos, the part of school we all do together, go over schedules with everyone individually, then go on a picnic for lunch. Music teachers started calling and asking kids to come in, though, so we put the picnic off for dinner. (That was good, because it was hot in the middle of the day.) Bogdan had his first meeting with his new music teacher to prepare him for his (terrifying!) entrance exam. And our evening hike and picnic was great.

Tuesday the older three and I did school, while Will took Bogdan to the doctor to get his health paper to start music school. Then Bogdan had his first art classes for the year, followed by his exam, which he survived.

Wednesday turned cold and rainy, and our electricity was off all day. Midmorning and it was almost completely dark in our house! We still had a pretty good morning of school. After lunch Asya had her first meeting with her new flute teacher, and I went with her. She was very happy that her friend from church was scheduled at the same time as her. They're at almost exactly the same level, and they picked all the same new pieces to start learning.

I am really amazed by how everyone is mostly settling right back in to the school routine. Thursday, after lunch Bogdan had his first real bandura lesson, and then more art. This year it's Jaan's job to take him everywhere, and I think that will go well. Raia also started into art, but she's still trying to figure out her schedule and maybe switch it around some.

Today... also good. It's definitely not easy, but we're getting a good start to the year.

Joy and rest... and more

I hope everyone read Will's post on Facebook from when we were still in Kyiv. We are so thankful and so happy. All week I've felt like the good news is slowly sinking in: 50% less cancer in my body! Praise God! Most of this week I've been resting and and rejoicing and recovering from the trip. Will, too. His seasonal allergies are really bad, so he's also having to rest some. Our kids might be resting? But in a different way. They've been squeezing out every last drop of summer in running around with their friends, riding bikes all over (Jaan and his friends), visiting back and forth (Raia and Asya and friends), and sleepovers.

This morning I read a short chapter about joy and rest in Champagne for the Soul. I have been amazed by all the joy all through all of this journey from the very beginning, and the idea that joy and rest go together really resonated with me. "The Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds" (Psalm 149:4-5).

So, what's next? Like I said before, my doctor was out of town. The doctor we saw is the head of the chemo department (not the oncologist they had scheduled us with). I know her, and I think she's a little more cautious and optimistic than my doctor. This one said two more Keytrudas, then another scan. (Ugh. I've already had three this year.) I think my doctor might want to do a few more before checking again. We'll see. But we're continuing on, as we have been. I have tickets for my next trip Sept. 16. Please keep praying!

More immediately, we need to start into the school year. The First of September is the traditional opening day for school, but since it's a Sunday this year, we'll just celebrate that day, then get to work on Monday and Tuesday. Bogdan has his "entrance exam" for music school on Tuesday, so please pray for him. Please also pray that we can easily get his medical paper for starting.

Toddler conversation

Our littlest neighbor is really taking off linguistically, and I love talking to her.

A few days ago, Asya spent the night with a friend, so she wasn't home in the morning. I was outside with all the younger kids, and Raia joined us. She greeted the little one. Little One crossed her arms, pouted, and said, "Nyet!" (She likes the rest of us, but Asya is her favorite.) I told her that Asya isn't home, and she replied, "IS!" She just wouldn't believe that we weren't hiding Asya somewhere. And she spent the rest of the morning repeating in their language that Asya IS at home.

General update

Happy Ukrainian Independence Day!

Jaan and Raia had a great time at the beach, but their stomachs were pretty upset for a few days afterwards. I don't know if that was something they brought back from the sea or if they took it there with them. The little kids in this house were also kind of sick while the older ones were gone. Jaan was able just to lie around at home when he came back, but Raia was off at that amazing South Point Youth Festival. Every time she would call me to tell me that she wasn't feeling good, I would try to talk her into coming home, but she didn't want to. So, she had a wonderful time, but came home looking like she had lost weight and hadn't slept for a week. Then she did sleep most of that day on our couch with tons of noise going on all around her, and that was enough for her to recover fully.

The festival organizers are posting lots of photos, but I only found Raia in a few of them, and I'm posting those here:

Today Jaan is helping with a wedding at church, Raia is getting ready to go out to holiday festivities with people from the youth festival, and Asya and Bogdan are playing all day with friends; there are at least four visiting children running around, beyond the 4+3 who live in our house.

As for me, I hope you've read Jeanne's ninth update. We need lots of prayer, especially over the next few days. 

We went this morning to do blood tests, to get that out of the way in advance. They needed a whole lot of blood, and I passed out, so I've been feeling pretty yucky since then. (I think the clinic in Kyiv combines some tests that they did separately here.) At least they were very nice, though, and I'll be okay, of course. We got really good coffee at a coffee shop afterwards, too.

Tomorrow Will and I will head to Kyiv, and Monday morning we'll have to hurry from the train to the clinic to get there in time for my scan. That's why we decided to do the blood work in advance: one less thing to fit in on Monday. I would like to get everything done in one day at the clinic. Ideally, we'll have the scan, wait for results, have the consultation with this oncologist that I haven't even met yet (my own doctor is a chemotherapist, and she's out of town), hear good news from him (I hope!), eat a nice lunch at the restaurant there, get Keytruda #5 (if the news was good), and be done. It is possible that some of that will have to be put off until Tuesday, though. Please pray for us every step of the way.

(From last time in Kyiv)

Oh, I've also been trying really hard to get everything ready for school, so that I can just be tired next week, if I need to. Will got Bogdan tentatively registered for bandura at music school (hurrah!), and we have everything set for art school. I just have a little more left to do at home, and then I think we'll be as ready as we can be.

A fun week

We had several busy days this week. Tuesday was Bairam. Then I rested on Wednesday. And Thursday was the yearly picnic. This is a highlight of the whole year for many of the kids we work with at the orphanage. This year was different, because the whole meal was in the restaurant where we have had dessert the past few years. Our kids went early to meet the bus from the orphanage and help with everything, while Will and I just went for lunch and the end of the festivities. Because of that, I only have a few photos. When Will and I arrived everyone had already played games, done crafts, listened to a story, and walked around the park. Raia and Asya led them in some songs, and then we went into the restaurant.

On Friday our kids joined our English group for a work day at Stephen's House. They worked hard and had a great time. The house is almost done; the grand opening will be September 6!

While they were on their way home from that the youth pastor called Jaan, said they were at the sea for a few days, and would he like to join them? So, Jaan walked in the door asking if he could go to the beach. I suggested he rest some and wait until the morning, but he checked the bus schedule and found that there was still one last bus that evening. He took off to buy himself a bathing suit, get a bus ticket, and go. I have heard rumours that he slept through where he was supposed to get off, and the whole youth group walked to the next bus stop to meet him late, late last night.

After Jaan left, one of Raia's friends called her, also from the sea. She said that another friend was getting baptised, so Raia had to get to the beach, too! It was too late last night, but Will took her down to get on a bus early this morning. He said that he's used to being flexible, but this was all almost too much. They'll come back tomorrow, and she'll go straight to a 3-day youth festival that she's really excited about. (That's why she had stayed home from the sea trip in the first place, I think. She apparently knew about it, but didn't even mention it to us, until she heard that Liza's baptism would be there.)

Kurban Bairam

Yesterday we joined our friends at their Kurban Bairam celebration. (For those who don't know, we share a house with a Crimean Tatar family.) It's called something else in the rest of the world, I think, but that's what it is here: the holiday to remember Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son. It lasts for several days. First our neighbours had lots of guests, then their father spent a day out making sacrifices, then yesterday there was a big celebration at the park. Asya wore her very best dress, as is proper for that day.

When we got there, we saw two boys we know from church. They do martial arts and were asked to help with that part of the event, but they weren't too sure about it all. I think they were relieved to see that we were there, too.

There were trampolines for the children to jump on, bikes to ride, games to play, cotton candy....

I was trying to get a photo of all three. B had to tell 
me something urgent, L couldn't stop jumping, 
and N flopped over in the background. But they're all there.

The one in the darker dress is our girls' friend.

At some point, Bogdan knocked out a loose tooth, and Will took him off to get cleaned up and find him some ice cream, since his mouth was bleeding a lot. We had been sitting on the edge watching everything. A drunk man walking by flopped on the bench where I was and almost fell on me. Our neighbour and her friends saw, and didn't like that, so they pulled me back into the women's side and started feeding me.  I stayed with them for the rest of the time and thoroughly enjoyed it all.

Then, this was the funny part: about the time we were leaving they announced the winner of the wrestling. It was one of the boys from our church. They called him up to the front and told him to wait while they get the ram. They brought a ram out from somewhere, put it on his shoulder, and had him walk around with it, alive and kicking! The ram was his prize. He was as surprised as we were. Then he started asking, "Now what? Do I call a taxi?" He and Jaan had come across town on their bikes. We left at about that point, but I was imagining him and Jaan trying to carry it between them, or one of them riding two bikes, or something. Jaan says that the organizers of the event ended up keeping it for him, and telling him that he could come get the meat from it later.

Just a sweet photo from this morning to finish up with:

She loves her "AsYA."

Quote

A friend sent me the book None Like Him, and I wanted to share this long quote from it:

     I was twenty-seven when I learned that my days were numbered. My insight came in the form of an unexpected phone call. Holding my six-month-old son, two months pregnant with my daughter, I listened uncomprehendingly as the doctor explained I had malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. They cut a section of skin, deep and wide, from the wall of my swelling abdomen.
     Once you hear a cancer diagnosis, you can't unhear it. Even with successful treatment, it changes the way you number your days. I had been given an opportunity not many twenty-seven-year-olds could claim: the opportunity to count each of my days as precious. Any illusions I might have had that this life would last forever were effectively removed. I learned a perspective that many don't grasp until the aging process begins its faithful instruction in universal human frailty. I didn't have to wait for crow's feet or hip replacement. My eternal Father taught me young to pursue the sacred calling to "live this day well."
     The experience marked me. Perhaps you can relate. Unlike my sister-in-law and the thousands of others of my generation who ink their credos into their flesh, I won't get a tattoo—not because I disapprove of them, but because I'm already sufficiently marked. I have a satin-slick scar which, if you were to see it, traces no apparent pattern. But to my eyes, more legible than any tattoo, it forms the words, "Tomorrow, if the Lord wills."
     We live differently when we regard the future as a place we will go "if the Lord wills." God does not owe me the seventy or eighty years of which Moses speaks in Psalm 90. Every year he gives is a gift, gracious and undeserved. Thanks be to God, not just for the years he has preserved me but for the years he has ordained for me, perfect in number and known only to him....
     Here is a remarkable truth: God is able to bring eternal results from our time-bound efforts. This is what Jesus intimates when he tells us to store up treasure in heaven rather than on earth. When we invest our time in what has eternal significance, we store up treasure in heaven. This side of heaven, the only investments with eternal significance are people. "Living this day well" means prioritizing relationships over material gain. We cannot take our stuff with us when we die, but, Lord willing, we may feed the hungry and clothe the needy in such a way that an eternal result is rendered. We may speak words that, by the favor of the Lord, transform into the very words of life. This is the calling of the missionary, the magnate, and the mother of small children: spend your time to impact people for eternity.
     Long after the beloved generations that debate tattoos around my table have gone to dust, long after your generation fades like grass, the God of all generations will endure. Thanks be to the God for whom "a thousand years are but as yesterday," the God who is from everlasting to everlasting. Thanks be to God for the limit of time, by which we are bound and he is not. Eternal God, establish the work of our hands.

From None Like Him, by Jen Wilkin. I don't know the page number, because I'm reading on Kindle.  

Photos from yesterday

Our kids had a wonderful time yesterday! The plan had been to go to a park on the other side of town, walk around the island there, visit the petting zoo, and go swimming. But after walking and visiting the animals, our friends saw the boat that goes across to their grandparents' dacha, so they changed their minds, and took everyone over there to swim and eat and spend more time together.

When they got home, Bogdan instantly started drawing all the animals, while everyone was trying to tell us every detail of the whole adventure.