Rain, rain, go to Ukraine

Well, its fall in Ukraine and the guys need rain so they can plant the winter wheat. Every year, they work up the ground where the sunflowers were planted to plant winter wheat on for next year, but wait until there's moisture to plant so it will germinate well and grow. Of course,  they want it to grow a bit (but not too much) before winter arrives. This can happen anytime from September through the end of October, even early November,   as early winter is usually cool and drizzling. 

However,  the corn still needs to be combined, so hopefully  the rain doesn't come with a big  windstorm.  I'm sure its dry enough,  but they haven't been able to sell the sunflowers,  and both sides of the storage shed are full of the sunflower seeds they combined back in August. Garry was sure that it would be done while he was gone.

Garry will be back in Ukraine next week Monday,  we booked his ticket this week. I am sure he has bought more parts than will fit into his suitcase already. This week he hopes to help the guys make more corn silage,  but its not looking good at the moment.  Sunday afternoon and evening it was pouring rain, again.

His vacation plan to come help the guys make corn silage has not gone as planned. This past week he got to drive truck two days. Thursday it dried out enough to chop before more rain came.

Photo by 2 year old
 Andromeda 

Friday he helped Micah install a new door on his house, because it was too wet to work in the field. We had lunch there with Matt,  Kari and missionaries with AIM (they went to Nepal with them last year).

Saturday our youngest son was on a tractor helping pull the trucks that got stuck in the mud all day. They went until 10:30 Saturday night and then covered the pile with plastic because they knew the rain was coming. At least it hasn't frosted here yet, although I have seen some fields that have driving out to Morden. 

Sunday morning found most of the family in church in Piney, for our son Matthew and family's farewell service and potluck with pig roast.  They will be moving at the end of the week and next Sunday Matt will be preaching at his new church.

  It's hard to believe that the two little granddaughters we left behind nine years ago are taller than me now, but we have photos.  At least their two younger sisters,  and all their cousins will be little for a while longer.

She's only eleven! 

This week Garry's going to World Dairy Expo in Madison Wisconsin, so he'll get to do one thing he planned when he booked his trip home  (Garry and I debate where home is, for me home is here in Manitoba,  for him, he says in Nikolaipolia).

Today he's helping Josh and Matt with herd check in the barn in the morning (some of the younger guys headed to Madison this morning) before we go to meet with Doug and Marcie Rempel, who will be organizing the mission trip next spring from Steinbach.

Wednesday evening we met with the prayer group at Emmanuel EFree, and Garry could not resist heading into choir practice with Doug and Marcie afterwards.  He's booked his ticket back on December 3rd, so he can practice with them and sing in the Christmas Eve services again this year.

Family time

We have had some family time of the four generations kind this past week.  Garry's dad arrived on Tuesday morning  (he drove up after visiting Garry's sister near Chicago).  Tuesday and Wednesday they tried some fishing and on Thursday and Friday until the thunderstorms came through,  Garry finally got to drive silage truck like he planned to do here in Manitoba. 

The weekend has been family time with great grandpa as it was too wet to do much! We had family dinner with most of the family Saturday night and celebrated a birthday this afternoon. 

The sun is supposed  to come out tomorrow,  so they hope to go fishing again before Garry's dad heads back to Ontario on Tuesday.  It will be a few days, or longer, before its dry enough  to get back in the fields. 

2020 spring work teams

We met with three guys from the global impact committee (former mission committee) from church Monday afternoon to talk about the project Garry would like to get some work teams (hopefully from several churches) to help build next spring. 

Ten years ago

Not in the village this time, but in the city of Dnepro,  its an addition to Morningstar church's house that will become the sanctuary or meeting room. Morningstar is one of the two Evangelical Free Churches in Dnepro,  and was formerly known as the International Church. It has almost had a new church building a few times in its history. We started attending the church after moving  to Ukraine.  A number of members speak English. At the time, they met in the auditorium of a military truck driving school.  We attend the church in the village more often recently but still go there at least once a month. The Crawfords attend regularly since they arrived, Scott has preached with a translator a few times.

Not long after we came to Ukraine,  they had money to build a church of their own. Unfortunately the builder they gave the money to invested it in building some houses first and lost it all in the economic downturn.  Eventually they got his home in place of the lost money, and for the last couple years, instead of renting a building to meet in, they have met in the house, after opening a wall downstairs to make a larger room.  They continue working on turning the upstairs into Sunday school classrooms.  It is very crowded,  especially during praise and worship time before the children go upstairs to Sunday school.

If you're interested in coming to Ukraine to help with this project next year please contact us! 
We are also considering another VBS or camp in the village during spring break, like we had in 2017, and a small home build in the village for one of our married couples.

Open Farm Day, part two

We had a busy day, Garry was out to the barn early and I visited with Abby and her parents from six thirty am until eight (she's an early riser). Then we got changed and drove to Steinbach for church.

We talked to lots of people before and after church, some of them said they were coming out to see the farm in the afternoon.

When we got home, the guys had already been doing tours for almost two hours, the hotdogs were almost ready and it was warming up fast.

Garry ended up giving several guided tours of the farm, some to people from church, some with the pickup truck (there's a lot of walking for the regular tour). Some of our friends went off with one of the boys. The official count (based on registration for the steak knife giveaway) was about 200, but I don't think that included all the kids. There was a steady stream of visitors all day, from ten to six pm. Josh went out on his last tour with an RCMP officer at quarter to six.

I was out there most of the afternoon,  helping greet people in the hot sun. It was suddenly summer, after days of cool and often wet weather.  There was a number of families from our granddaughter Alethea's class from Sprague and area, she was celebrating her sixth birthday,  so those kids and her cousins got goodie bags, over and above the food and dairy promotional items.

 The ice cream machine was very popular with everyone.  Some people started and finished the tour with a cone. It was a mix we bought,  not from our own cows, but made with real milk from cows.

After most of the crowd was gone we started the family party and Alethea enjoyed dinner, presents, and cake (made by Aunt Crystal),  with her other grandparents coming to celebrate.

 Before the end of the party, the Philadelphia Eagles game started, and Garry managed to stay awake until the end, as different families headed home with tired kids.

Open Farm Day

Since Garry arrived Thursday,  he's been busy so he's quickly adjusting to Manitoba time.  He spent Thursday afternoon with Adrien, and bought a new pair of boots to wear to the barn. Friday morning he helped the guys a bit and drove around the farm (for many miles) checking out the cornfields on our old four wheeler.  He got wet driving back home in the rain.

Friday evening we had dinner at Doug and Marcie and played board games. Saturday Garry helped out the guys in the barn and mowed the lawns to get ready for Open Farm day Sunday.

We had all the family out to the farmhouse for dinner, which will be much more difficult to do after Matt, Kari and the girls move to Saskatchewan next month.  Jess, James and Abby took the two hour drive to St Labre for the weekend. We had NJ porkroll sandwiches,  potato salad and baked beans for dinner. The kids were having fun playing  with the frisbee rings for farm day.
They also tried out the soft serve ice cream,  the machine is all ready for tomorrow.

If you're in Manitoba,  it's Open Farm Day, the boys have participated all ten years. They plan on serving up free hotdogs,  coffee, chocolate milk, doughnuts,  and ice cream cones. There are Dairy Farmers of Manitoba frisbees, and of course, farm tours for visitors in either English or French.  So come out to St Labre Sunday from ten am to six pm. Garry and I will be there after church.

 

Coming home

Garry is on a plane flying from Kiev or Kyiv (the new preferred official English spelling ) to Toronto.  Unfortunately its Wednesday morning and I  won't be heading out to pick him up in Winnipeg until Thursday morning,  because he accidentally booked his ticket that way.

He's already had a long trip, Monday evening when I talked with him he was packing and there was at least a half dozen students at the house saying goodbye to him and hello to me via computer.  Then very early Tuesday morning he was off to Dnepro with Max to get the morning train. He had gotten a second class ticket like I did,  and really noticed the smaller legroom.  We had decided to buy the much cheaper train tickets this trip, they were less than half the price of first class. Then he spent the afternoon and night in a hotel room in Kyiv, before taking a ride to the airport for his flight. He's flying Ukrainian airlines,  because it was cheaper and one less connection,  but he was not impressed on his way there in January.  No seatback entertainment system,  no plug to charge his phone,  and the flight was ten hours long. We packed him two different phones, and a couple power banks to recharge them so he can play bubble pop. He also upgraded to an exit row seat,  so I hope it's going better this time. In January he was astonished when a man in the row ahead of him lit up a cigarette,  in spite of the rules.

Anyway he'll be here for a couple weeks,  his dad is driving out next week,  so they'll be going fishing,  he plans to help the boys make silage,  visit with people,  and he'll be here in St Labre Sunday for his first (the farm's tenth) Open Farm Day (the guys will have free hotdogs and icecream this year, along with farm tours). Plus he hopes to go to Wisconsin for World Dairy Expo and help Matt and family move to Saskatchewan on October 4th before flying back to his Ukrainian home.

What am I doing, besides getting ready for Garry to arrive? Busy with my second overnight grandma job this week,  hanging out in St Labre this time. On the weekend I was in Morden.  Little girls are fun to hang out with. I also ordered new glasses, so I'll have them before going back to Ukraine. 

Baby Matthew

Baby Matthew Mazhara came home on Wednesday.  He weighed 2.78 kilos at birth, just over 6 pounds, and as you can see both mom and baby look great. Kolya had to get a chest xray on Monday before he could meet his baby and so the baby could come home. Makes you wonder how much TB is around in Ukraine, or maybe it's just an outdated policy.

Garry has been busy moving heifers around, the little ones off milk moved from the milking barn site to our yard, a bunch from the tent barn in the yard went over to the new heifer barn. Of course, to make room, the biggest heifers there moved into the other outdoor pens.

He'll be leaving the village next Tuesday morning and arriving in Manitoba next week Thursday, after overnighting in Toronto.

I have been busy with home, family (babysitting) and doctor appointments.  Tomorrow I'm off to the dentist to check out the tooth that was filled in June and hurting in July when I was teaching English.