Friday, March 01, 2024

Another good thing

We're going to Lithuania! We have wanted to do a family trip since last year, but it just hasn't been possible. Now we're going to go for Spring Break and Bogdan's birthday. I have worked really hard to pull everything together to find the cheapest and best travel options. Travel is so complicated here now. We'll be gone for eight days, and a full half of that is travel time. I made a dated checklist of when the different kinds of tickets for each leg of the trip would go on sale, and I finally worked through all that. When Raia first started talking about LCC it was just a few hours on a low cost airline to hop to Lithuania. Now it's all this. But we're going, and we're excited.

Yes, we're going to have to leave this poor little fluffball behind again:

Can you see how he's clinging to Bogdan with both front and back paws? That was just about going out into the scary stairwell. Leo doesn't know about the trip yet. But he had a wonderful time with friends when we went to Kherson, and he'll be staying with different friends this time.

Friday, February 23, 2024

Good things

Facebook shows me that the last photo I posted before the full-scale invasion was snowdrops in Kherson. Here are some snowdrops in Ivano-Frankivsk:

Tomorrow will be two years since we've had a day without war.

I tend not to write much here when there’s nothing good to say, and there’s been too much of that lately. Well, I can always find little good things, but they might not be much to write about. However, lately we’ve had a few big good things. 

Raia made the honors list at LCC! And actually Jaan’s grades are also just a fraction of a point behind hers. I’ve never thought grades are a big deal, but after raising them basically without grades, it’s fun to see success there. 

We’ve made contact with a lawyer about Raia’s Ukrainian documents. Any time I ask a document question online, the sharks circle in. I had given up on finding a lawyer who doesn’t start off by asking for a ton of money. This time, though, a nice Christian woman wrote to me and offered to help. We hope and pray that she might be able to get somewhere with this. 

I’ve been able to help with the Young Life club for kids with disabilities a few times. Last week I was supposed to be there, but got sick. Their craft was making picture frames, and each kid got a photo of himself or herself from an earlier meeting. One boy who I had worked with before got a photo of himself with me. Apparently he went around asking where I was by pointing at me in it. (He doesn’t usually speak.) And then the club leader sent me a video where he actually did say my name! I cried. 

Asya and I are going to the first part of a volunteer program today. We will be studying one weekend a month at the Christian college, learning to be better wartime volunteers. 

And Bogdan won a first place award in a music contest!

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Advent 2023

I was going to put an Advent photo in our prayer letter, but the activities of the church here in Ivano-Frankivsk aren't secret, so I can add some more and post them here. Asya and I have been doing the baby/preschool Sunday school group here in Ivano-Frankivsk. We usually have 5 little displaced Khersonites (although 2 of them were born here) to enjoy on Sunday mornings. Advent with Sunday school was a special treat this year.







Thursday, January 25, 2024

Camp(s)

I saw Bogdan off to Young Life winter camp this morning. He loved this camp last year. This year we didn't think he would be able to go, but it worked out beyond what we expected. The only problem is that his friend from here--the one he was so looking forward to going with like last year--came down with chicken pox and had to stay home. But a friend from Kherson, who was here then went home at the start of the school year, is back now for this camp, so Bogdan has her and his friend's sister to keep him company. Plus, he makes friends well. I'm sure he'll have a wonderful time. All the rain we got here last night apparently came down as snow in the mountains, so they're all looking forward to sledding and other snow fun.



The ice we braved to get to the train

There are no "OPSEC"* challenges for this camp, no threats of various military strikes, only fun, snow, and mountains. I'm taking my morning off from homeschooling Bogdan to go back through Kherson camp memories and photos, the ones that can't be shared here. Hopefully I'll get something written up to share in email. It's so hard to know what to say.


Edited to add: I’ve already gotten two photos from camp. That’s Bogdan in the lead, rolling down the hill:


*Almost all my military-type vocabulary is in Ukrainian, but that actually popped into my head in English, so I used it.

Friday, January 05, 2024

The holidays



Here's the beginning of an article (from Єдині) I read today: 

Probably, this year, each of us heard the phrase from acquaintances that the Christmas holidays passed too quickly, and the mood is not festive at all... Perhaps this is connected with the shift of the holiday period in connection with the transition of the Ukrainian church to the New Julian calendar. Maybe because there was no snow or frost. Yes, I think it is because Ukraine is losing its best sons and daughters in the war every day, and the news from the front, unfortunately, does not add optimism. But, despite everything, we should celebrate. Not loudly and pompously, but quietly, in the family circle, thanking those who give us such an opportunity. We must preserve our traditions not only for ourselves, but also for future generations....

The article then goes on to tell about the holiday of the Baptism of Christ, which used to be towards the end of January and now is January 6, tomorrow.

So, yes, our holidays are already coming to an end, and yes, they felt short and strange and mixed up. (Although, here in Ivano-Frankivsk, it seems like the Catholics are really trying to hold on to the old calendar, so we might not see Baptism until January 19.) Yesterday we returned from Kherson, today Raia left for Lithuania, Monday will be the start of lessons, homeschool, and the next semester for our university students.

I will plan on sharing more about how we spent our holidays, but a good part of that needs to be more private, so be sure that you're signed up to get our prayer letters, if you want to hear about that.


For now, I hope you have had a wonderful holiday season and wish you all the best in 2024! Thank you for your love for us and for supporting us here.

Sunday, October 01, 2023

The birthday puppy

 

 

Last week Asya turned 16. She has wanted to have a dog for a long time, and she knew that was the plan for this birthday. She had been saving her money, we had been researching what kind and where to get it, and we consulted with our neighbors about if they would be able to live with a dog back in our shared house in Kherson. But we were still able to surprise her. I found toy poodles online. Will started calling back and forth with the lady selling them, but Asya didn't know anything about what we were doing. This breeder had available an older puppy and one that was almost two months old. We knew Asya wanted a baby, so we choose the little one. A week before her birthday, the lady brought him into Ivano-Frankivsk on a long bus ride. We met her, talked for a while, and got the puppy. Asya was still asleep when we brought him back, so we just put him in bed with her. I think it was love at first sight.


After that excitement earlier, her actual birthday was mostly a quiet day: church, coffee with her best friend, and a nice dinner. The puppy, Leo, is exactly what she wanted. We're all enjoying him.


 

This was her second wartime birthday. We were talking about how we celebrated last year, and she couldn't even remember. Looking back at photos, we remembered that Will grilled meat, and we ate in our yard. She said that's exactly what she would have chosen this year, too, if we had been at home. But this year she has her best friend nearby... and now a puppy.

Saturday, September 02, 2023

День Знань 2023

10th and 6th grades

Yesterday was a strange first day of school. Strange because it was Friday, here (not Kherson), just after I got back from Lithuania, and strangest of all, because there are so few of us. But we did our traditional photos and started. 


Afterwards we went out to celebrate/cry with friends. (That was how my friends worded her invitation to me, and it was just right.)



And while we were starting here, the older two were finishing their first week of university in Lithuania.

I have done lots of hard things in my life, but leaving them was the hardest.

Here's to a good 2023-24 school year for all! And victory!