Oct 20. Third day in Ukraine

The day started early.  Bill was in charge of waking up all the boys.  He even woke up one boy that did not need to be woken up.  The kids are very good at getting going in the morning; they even clean up after themselves.  

We went with Andre to drop the boys off at school then we came back and had some breakfast.  Afterwards we went to Alex's office.  We were able to get onto the internet for the first time so our posts are going to be late each day until we get the internet situation figured out.

A bit later we went to Oskar's for lunch.  It is a mini mall, cafe and grocery store.  Lunch was very yummy.  We were able to get away from cabbage, potatoes and carrots for awhile.

After lunch we were suppose to go to a handicap orphanage, but they called and told us not to come because there was an outbreak of chickenpox.
We decided to go to another house (center) instead.  We drove for a couple of hours to get to the center.  They have only had this center for about six months so there is still a lot of work to be done.  The house is pretty small with only five rooms and it is much more primitive than the house we are living at. There is one bedroom for the four boys living there, a bedroom for the house parents, a dining room/sanctuary and a sitting room.  The bathroom is an outhouse with a squat pot, but without the porcelain (welcome to Ukraine).  I needed to use a bathroom but I just could not get myself to do so.  I waited until we drove back to our house, four hours later.  The rest of the house is not much better.  The kitchen only had a stove and refrigerator.  The tub is in a room with the wood burning stove and it serves as the sink as well as a tub.  While these living conditions seem deplorable to us, they are a much better alternative than living on the streets.
  
Alek asked our input for starting a business.  A couple that have adopted five orphans (hallelujah) have a house behind the center.  They were the temporary house parents until they found permanent house parents.  This couple has 27 acres that sit between the two houses, and they are willing to lease this to Agape.  We are all thinking along the lines of milk cows or pigs.  We think it would also be a great spot to put a greenhouse.

The Lord is doing wonderful work here with the orphans.  When they find Jesus they become very strong, committed Christians. One of the hardships is getting them to fully find Jesus.  Unfortunately, one boy we have become very fond of has been doubting for quite a while, and will be leaving our center on Sunday.  It is so sad knowing that he is packing up all that he owns and will just walk out the doors without knowing where he is going or where his next meal will come from.
Please pray for Serge's safety.

Until tomorrow, God Bless and good night.
K & B