Adventures in Ukraine

I had one of my first REAL Ukrainian experiences this year. I got on a van that was FULL and even more people got on after me! The van is an 18 passenger van…18 seats…there were 18 people sitting…and 7 people in the aisle….and two people in the doorway (Olga and ME)…and several more people got on after wards! No air at all. The windows did not open and there was not a vent hole in the ceiling! It was hot, stinky, and very crowded…I LOVE this country! We had a long trip to get to the Baby House and since we had not seen that number of van (135) in over 25 minutes, we took the crowded one and held on for dear life!

The morning started out bad for me! I put my money in a safe place…Rick…DO NOT START WITH ME…and could not find it. Then I remembered the suitcase we had moved in was now at the church building so we had to go there and get the money (I needed some to buy diapers for the Baby house). After getting to the church building, I discovered that it was not all there. Then I started racking my brain for where my other “safe” place was. We went back to the flat, tore it apart, and GRACE of God, found the other money! Thank you for your continued prayers!

THEN…we exchanged money…left on the crowded van…walked 1/2 mile from van stop to the Baby House…visited with my babies…and…I’ve got great news! Lena, the little deaf girl is only waiting on some paper work, they have found her a family from Italy. We were so excited for her! Sorry Debbie! And we also learned sad news. Joanna is not considered adoptable because she is “sick”. I don’t really know what that means, but the doctors said no, so the family that desparately wanted her, could not adopt! God has plans for that little girl, let us all keep her in our prayers!

After the Baby House, we went to visit with Natasha and her twins. It was a much needed visit as she has been house bound so often with the babies! She welcomed the fellowship so much. She shared a wonderful fruity cake and tea. Then we went to Tanya Strukulenko’s flat and visited with her and her daughter, Nastya. She is a delightful lady and we enjoyed the fellowship there. She “made” a wonder fruit tart and an ice cream cake. Not the way LaVern Baker “makes” things…but the way I make things…the “WalMart” way! She bought them at a little market and we all laughed about her culinary skills! After we left there, we visited Alexander, Irina, and Vasily Feldman. Vasily is a child prodigy. He is delightful, strong willed, creative, and quite a handful. He has composed and written lyrics for several pieces of music. He is quite accomplised in English, painting, sports, literature, and the piano. He played several classic pieces and sang very “opera” like (laughing all the way). It was an interesting concert. He is the only child of an artist and and an architect. They homeschool him because they do not like the school system here.  He was precious. And all of this at 8 years old!

We left there after having cherries, strawberries and water. I was about “sugared” out! I got home after 10:30 p.m. and fell into bed!

This morning I was up at 6:30 because I needed to buy flowers for Jayne. Her best friend passed away from cancer and she was going to the funeral. In fact, she had to plan it because the woman had not other family. She appreciated the thought, and I didn’t want her to go with out some kind of beauty for a terrible day. I did learn that in funeral the number of flowers have to be able to be divided by 2, so any even number is for a funeral or sad occasion. Any other type of occasion can have an odd number of flowers, but not a funeral. Very interesting.

Well it is time to go to class now. I hope to blog again before I leave here…hoping to have a WIFI moment again. I love you all!

peace and love in HIm,
Jackie