As for me and my house we will serve the Lord....



Monday, March 18, 2024

Monday

 Monday was a busy day for Garry, apparently the septic system at our house quit working the day before he arrived, and Monday morning they discovered they needed to dig a new one. 

Around 2 pm the rain started, Garry said it's been dry this spring, so rain is good. Not sure when he'll be able to shower at home. I guess they are using the outhouse. 






As you can see lots of help digging.


Garry says it was quite hot, so he let one of the students cut his hair, instead of going into the city. I'm a little disappointed in the look, but he says he doesn't look at it. He sent some photos from Julia's 29th birthday party that took place Monday evening. As you can see, she prepared a feast. 


Here he is with the birthday girl.




Sunday, March 17, 2024

He's there!

 


Garry arrived in the village Saturday afternoon. Max picked him up at the train station. His trip went well except for his missing carry-on bag that he checked which did not get on his plane in Toronto. It arrived in Warsaw after he got on the train with our friends, so he will get it in April on the way back. Now that he's in the village he has a change of clothes. Unfortunately, some people will not get presents until next time he goes to Ukraine, as some were packed in there. 

His big suitcase was the first off the plane when he got to Warsaw, because his plane from Winnipeg took off 30 minutes late, which meant he only had a half hour to get on his connecting flight in Toronto. Which caused the missing bag. At least all his replacement parts for the farm equipment made it there.



Anyway, he's there I got a photo this morning of him at church in the village, and Saturday he had already bought some stuff for the building project, moved calves around, and handed out some of the gifts I sent that got there. Apparently he needs to check out the septic system at our house because it was plugged. I'll let you know when I hear how that went. 

He sent me a couple photos yesterday. Looks like my crocuses are blooming at the house. Planted them about 14 years ago. 


Sunday, March 10, 2024

Sad news

 This past week we learned of the death of another friend from Ukraine. Andreii Shpak was in the army, he leaves behind his wife and two children- his son is in his early twenties and his daughter must be about 16 or so, we met her when she must have been 3 or 4, not long after going to the village. Andreii felt a calling to ministry and did VBS and ran a youth group program in the village that many of our students attended over the years. 

Garry had discovered that he was mostly serving as a cook last year, but was training to be a chaplain in the army. Before the war, he was a well known builder of outdoor BBQs of brick, and often worked in Israel.


It is so sad to hear of the many losses of life and horrible injuries to those brave people who choose to defend their homeland over the last two years.

Packing and almost ready to Go

 


Garry flies out Wednesday evening to start his trip to Ukraine through Poland, we're busy getting his bag packed with the various things for Max and the farm (like parts for equipment they can't get there) and gifts for people. Which means I am trying to figure out how to pack a grain shovel and handle, some heavy  replacement "knives" for the hay mower, and the presents I'd like to send around them. 



He's planning to head to the lake for a little more fishing before he leaves, so I'm trying to get organized. Hopefully all goes well, he meets the other guys in Warsaw he will be traveling with on the trains. 

The farm's cheesemaking enterprise was featured on the news in Ukraine, here's a link to it on YouTube; although there is no English translation, you can see Oleg and Elena and one of the ladies who help make cheese and the students milking. Click on the headline- Cheesemaking on the News 

Highlight translation- The household is self-sufficient and produces cheese, cream, butter and curd (cottage cheese) from surplus milk. There are dozens of adults working on the household with various deficits. All live in houses owned by the farm. When you hear moloko, that's the word for milk!


Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Two years, or ten

 Last weekend marked two years since the official Russian war on Ukraine began, just as we were getting ready to fly back. I have only seen our staff and "kids" there over video chat since, although Garry has been back three times for visits and is busy getting ready to leave again in two weeks. Of course this marked ten years since the Russian army moved to take over Crimea and the eastern part of Ukraine, so most think that was the real start of the war. 

Thursday morning I had a delightful conversation with almost four year old Angelina, who likes to swipe her mom's phone and call us on messenger. With the time difference this can happen in the middle of the night sometimes, but its fun to try to communicate with her. She always starts with "hello! " many times since it's one of the two or three English words she knows. Eventually she carried the phone into the kitchen, so I got to say hello to all the girls who live in our house, as she turned to all of them, before her mom hung up. 



Yesterday one of the new girls in the house (she came in the summer of 2022) celebrated her birthday, Yulia is the one holding the doll, so I was able to get some photos from Oleg's facebook post.  Valentina is holding baby Nazar, who was born in November. If you have visited our project, you will recognize Sasha and Leila. 








That's Angelina on the right, Alona's and Nikolai's  kids Sofia and Danil
 in the center between Oleg and Elena's boys


It is strange looking at the house you used to live in, seeing all your plates and dishes and all our "kids" (or young adults) in the program, including the little ones I haven't seen since they were born in the last two years. 


Garry called Max this morning to check on the building plans for when he's there, they hope to get started tomorrow by drilling holes for the corner poles for the dry cow shed they plan to build, and start pouring cement soon.

Garry leaves here the evening of March 13th and will be traveling from Warsaw by train with two missionary friends, his return flight is on April 6th, but he lands after midnight in Winnipeg, so that's officially the 7th. We'll have to have family Easter later like last year, since he will be in Ukraine March 31st. I haven't looked to see when Easter is in Ukraine this year, it always followed the Orthodox calendar. Officially Christmas was December 25th instead of January 6th this year, as part of the distancing Ukraine from Russia, so I'll have to check that out. 

It's not until May this year, although public holidays are suspended due to the war, I read, so government offices remain open. I remember another year when it was the end of March here and May in the village. Last year I think it was only a week difference in dates. 

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Good news



 Thanks to all who have been praying about the problem of some of the boys in the program having to report for the the draft into the army. Yesterday Garry was talking with Max Rudei and found out that the army came to interview them and was reported to have said that they don't know why anyone would have given them their names because they are not suitable to serve. So the guys are still safe in the village. Please keep Vlad (and all the soldiers serving) in your prayers. He's in the photo above with Garry, taken in November, he's a former student who joined the army. 

Garry is planning a trip in mid- March. Max says that he'd like to pour more concrete and build a better shed to replace the small dry cow sheds that are falling apart this spring. It gets very muddy in the barn yard where they are. 

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Happy New Year

 Here's a photo from the celebration that they had in the village.


This week they had snow, we had snow... Victor tells us that he was talking to them and some of the boys that do not have papers saying they have a disability received draft notices, however Oleg is working to keep them out of the army. 

When Garry was there in March, there were three graves in the village of men who were in the army, in November there were eight. We heard about the death of one of our former group home parents who was serving in the army. He and his wife Ira were with us at the boys house until 2015, they went to work with Dorcas International. He also is survived by their young adult daughter.