We just had the most amazing road trip here in Ukraine. I was actually dreading this trip. I am not really sure why, but I am so glad that I listened to Pastor Clay, Bill, Alex and most of all God.
We took American Andrey with us as an interpreter. He would like to start interpreting for other American's that come to Ukraine. It was a good deal for both of us. We did not have to pay as much as a trained translator would cost, and Andrey was able to learn from us the things that American's would want.
We first headed to Kramatorsk. We visited a house that is a possibility for a new Center for transitional orphans. I was not looking forward to another small village. As it turns out the village was bigger than anticipated and it was very clean and friendly.
We first met up with Pastor Leo and the contractor, Vladimir. We walked through the house, which is in very bad condition. We were hoping that the foundation would be in good shape so the house could be repaired and updated, but as it turns out the foundation is not safe and we believe in the long run it would cost more to repair than to build new. With that thought in mind, we went with the Pastor and Contractor to a newly built house that was constructed more like an American home than a Ukrainian one. It was absolutely beautiful. The outside had log siding, the inside had wood everywhere; the walls, the floor and the ceiling.
The best part of Kramatorsk was the hospitality. Pastor Leo and Vladimir took us back to their lumber yard, but the great thing is, it is also a rehabilitation center for men and women that are recovering from alcoholism and/or jail. They rehabilitate them through God, love and patience. The construction is part of the rehabilitation for many reasons; it teaches the men and women a skill, plus it keeps them busy and teaches them how to be a part of a family. They have a woman that cooks all three meals a day, and some of the women in rehab are her cooking assistants. Everyone that we met seemed very happy. We were fed dinner in their cafeteria, and I have to say it was some of the best food that we have had since we got here. We had small pieces of beef that were in an aju' that when put over the mashed potatoes was fantastic. There was also chicken and a burrito with a meat inside that was interesting but good. We sat around ad talked for a while and with Andrey translating it was sooooooooooo much easier. They put out some candy and there was one kind that was so yummy, Bill and I kept eating them. I even put a wrapper in my pocket so we could look for some later. The cook noticed and when we got ready to leave she emptied the whole bowl into our hands. Yummy! Needless to say, they did not last very long and we have not found them again yet.
The next morning we met the Pastor, Vladimir, the Pastor's wife and a couple of other gentlemen for breakfast. It consisted of cookies, candy and tea. Bill and I thought it was a very interesting breakfast, but then later learned from Andrey it was more like a tea because we said we had to get going in the morning and not have breakfast. So our own fault and we were looking forward to breakfast after the dinner we had. Oh well.
After Kramatorsk we headed to Berdyansk. There are three more centers there, one being Ruth's house that Grace Place bought last year. Wow, wow, wow what a difference from Joshua's house. At Joshua's house there is much yelling from the house parents to force the boys to do what the house parents want done. At Ruth and Mel's house it is all done with love. At Ruth and Mel's house they are living together as a real family, and they help each other with daily tasks willingly. The house chores are divided differently; instead of a rotation of chores, each person is in charge of a particular task each day that if possible, goes along with that person's interest. For example, Losha (that loves to cook) is in charge of the kitchen every day. He does the cooking as well as the cleaning of the kitchen, but what is nice that we do not see at the Joshua house, is he can ask for help from the others and they all jump up willingly and happily to help.
It is amazing to see God's work at these houses. God even helped us out the first day. We knew that we were going to cook an American style dinner for the kids, but we were planning on doing it on Saturday night and for no particular reason Bill and I decided to do it Friday night when we arrived. We cooked an amazing amount of roast beef, green salad and everyones favorite potato salad. The God part about this is that is was Stas' birthday and I think it is a birthday that he will never forget because the American cooked dinner. We found out later that no other Americans have cooked for them, so it made it extra special.
We had so much fun with the family, and that is what they are; one big 20 person family. The house parents, Vova and Tonya, have three small children of their own and everyone is treated the same. They do not do special things for their kids just because they are birth children. Of all the boys and girls at Mel's and Ruth's house there is only one girl that is not in school or working. We started a game of Uno at about 3:00 p.m. and we found out it continued until 1:00 in the morning. It was great. If you won and had no cards you could just grab 7 more cards and join back in the game. They had a lot of fun giving Bill all the cards that said pick 4 cards, or even using their card that skipped him. Bill ended up with a whole handful of cards... pretty funny. They did take breaks for dinner and praise & worship. It was great - they were not made to join in, but it was great to see they all wanted to join in. Slava Bog (Praise God).
The energy in Berdyansk was so positive, I wish we could have spent more time there. One house I have not told you about is Elisha house. They broke off from Mel's house and have an apartment in the city. Oh, Mel's and Ruth's houses are out in the country about 20 minuets away from the city. Elisha's house has house parent Andrey and he has four boys with him. The cool thing about this house is they have a wood workshop that everyone works at, with Andrey being the boss. They make many things from souvenirs to canopy beds. None of them have formal training. Andrey got inspired to start the business and they have been learning from books and the internet. Andrey lets the boys be creative and come up with designs of their own. Grace Place was blessed with a card basket that we are bringing home with us. It was the first time that they have made this basket and it turned out great.
We've seen that all the houses have a lack of vegetables, so before leaving we left a bag with each house filled with fresh vegetables, sausage, cookies and fruit. They were so excited that they started cutting it up right away.
After Berdyansk we headed to a small village (I cannot remember the name) to David's house. We visited this house in October. David's house is the newest house and just got new house parents. The house parents were orphans themselves and had recently married. The girl comes from Ruth's house. Boy, the difference from October to now is amazing. They have cleaned it up considerably and made it a very warm home. At the moment they have two boys. We talked with both box them and they are very happy there. One of the boys was at Joshua's house for a couple of days when we first got here and he loves being at David's house because he has responsibilities and is encouraged to fine tune natural skills. They have 15 pigs right now. They would have had more but the mother pig that gave birth to 8 babies squished 7 of them. I got to hold the baby. Oh boy, when they were handing him to me he started to squeal and what did I do? I screamed! I had it in my head that he was going to bite me and I don't even know if pig's bite. I did eventually hold him and he quieted right down.... pretty funny. They are raising the pigs for meat for all the centers. Each center will pay David's house for the meat and in this way the meat is cheaper for the centers and David's house makes money.
They boys, Michael and Sergey, like to help elderly people in the village. They will turn their gardens over for them, shovel snow, what ever they see needs to be done. The elderly will try and pay them, but the boys turn them down saying they were doing God's work. The house parents are going to start having the boys preach for short times occasionally so that at some point they will be comfortable preaching for a whole church session. They hold church at the house and they have about 20 members that come over on Sunday. It is wonderful to hear about the evangelism they are doing in their small village. Even though we think they have nothing being so far way and in such a small village, they know they have everything and they don't want to leave. God is at work in David's House.
We left after a couple of hours, leaving them with a bag of groceries and enough money to buy 3 pair of muck boots (badly needed). Thank you Grace Place.
We are back in Kherson, spending the last couple of days with our boys. We will be taking them out to Celentano's, Ukraines pizza chain, tonight for a fun family dinner. Then tomorrow we are packing to catch the 7:45p.m. train to Kiev.
We will see everyone soon.
God Bless
Karen
Monday, April 2, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Nearing The End
This last week has been crazy. We had a wonderful time in Poland. If you ever get a chance to visit Krakow, take it. The people are friendly and courteous (something that is badly lacking here in Ukraine), the food is terrific, the sites are beautiful, and it is rich in history.
Unfortunately their history is, in large part, about the horrific treatment the Poles and the Jews received from the German army in WWII. We spent an entire day visiting the death camps in Auschwitz. Call me naive.... I honestly had no idea that mankind could be so cruel. The German's killed 1,500,000 people in these camps in 5 years. That's over 820 people a day, every day, for 5 years. Most of them had done nothing wrong; they were just simply Jewish. We also spent a day visiting a pharmacy that was in the heart of the Jewish Ghetto that the Nazi's established in Krakow, as well as a tour through Schindler's factory. Fascinating, and sobering.
Our trip back to Ukraine was a long one. We started at 3:00 a.m., caught the hotel car to the airport at 4:00, and then sat in the airport for 3 1/2 hours because our flight was delayed. After arriving, we caught a cab to go get our car, and then had an 8 hour drive to Kherson. After 16 hours of travel we were "home".
Since we were unable to obtain our Visas in Poland, we've searched our hearts, and prayed for God's direction. It has become increasingly difficult to accomplish much of anything here because of the resistance we face from the house parent (who also happens to be in charge of all of the houses). He clearly resents the fact that we are here, and has tried to impede our influence on the Agape ministry. We learned to deal with that weeks ago, and decided that as long as we could continue to love on the boys we would stay. Unfortunately, he has now made it almost impossible to do even that.
So, we believe that our work here is nearly done. We will leave the day after tomorrow for Kramatorsk, to visit the house that the Green children own. We hope to meet with a builder there, and get a comprehensive bid to remodel the house for its future use as a transition home for orphans. We will then drive to Berdyansk and spend a few days at Mel's and Ruth's houses. We've been told by Alex that they are completely different than the Joshua house we now live in. We certainly hope that's the case.
We will then drive back to Kherson where, after a day or two, we will catch a train ride to Kiev, and then find a flight home. This should get us home by Easter Sunday, which we look forward to spending with our family and friends.
Sorry this is so short. I'm not nearly as long-winded as my bride. That being said, I'm sure Karen will post some good stories in the next day or two.
God Bless,
Bill
Unfortunately their history is, in large part, about the horrific treatment the Poles and the Jews received from the German army in WWII. We spent an entire day visiting the death camps in Auschwitz. Call me naive.... I honestly had no idea that mankind could be so cruel. The German's killed 1,500,000 people in these camps in 5 years. That's over 820 people a day, every day, for 5 years. Most of them had done nothing wrong; they were just simply Jewish. We also spent a day visiting a pharmacy that was in the heart of the Jewish Ghetto that the Nazi's established in Krakow, as well as a tour through Schindler's factory. Fascinating, and sobering.
Our trip back to Ukraine was a long one. We started at 3:00 a.m., caught the hotel car to the airport at 4:00, and then sat in the airport for 3 1/2 hours because our flight was delayed. After arriving, we caught a cab to go get our car, and then had an 8 hour drive to Kherson. After 16 hours of travel we were "home".
Since we were unable to obtain our Visas in Poland, we've searched our hearts, and prayed for God's direction. It has become increasingly difficult to accomplish much of anything here because of the resistance we face from the house parent (who also happens to be in charge of all of the houses). He clearly resents the fact that we are here, and has tried to impede our influence on the Agape ministry. We learned to deal with that weeks ago, and decided that as long as we could continue to love on the boys we would stay. Unfortunately, he has now made it almost impossible to do even that.
So, we believe that our work here is nearly done. We will leave the day after tomorrow for Kramatorsk, to visit the house that the Green children own. We hope to meet with a builder there, and get a comprehensive bid to remodel the house for its future use as a transition home for orphans. We will then drive to Berdyansk and spend a few days at Mel's and Ruth's houses. We've been told by Alex that they are completely different than the Joshua house we now live in. We certainly hope that's the case.
We will then drive back to Kherson where, after a day or two, we will catch a train ride to Kiev, and then find a flight home. This should get us home by Easter Sunday, which we look forward to spending with our family and friends.
Sorry this is so short. I'm not nearly as long-winded as my bride. That being said, I'm sure Karen will post some good stories in the next day or two.
God Bless,
Bill
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Poland
Bill and I booked a flight to Krakow Poland a couple of weeks ago because we were told that it is easier to get Visas here. One key to getting our Visas was to get a couple of letters of invitation, one for where we were living and the other for what we were doing in Ukraine. Well, two weeks later, when we left for Poland, we did not have any letters.
Bill and I had been praying for the two weeks before we left that the results of the Visas would be our answer from God as to what we should do; stay until July or go home in April. Not having the documents before going to Poland we knew that we were going home in April, so our to trip to Poland became a holiday. We have never been to Poland and we knew nothing about it, but the moment we got to the city center and saw all the activity, restaurants, the cleanliness, etc..., we extended our stay before we even unpacked. We have found out since being here that our friend of Grace Place, Karen Springs, was unable to obtain a Visa as well. She has been here for 7 years and this is the first time they did not give her an extension. The new Visa regulations are making it harder and harder to stay in Ukraine.
We landed in Katowice Poland early Sunday morning. We thought that we had booked a bus to Krakow (1 1/2 hours away). We got on our bus and realized that the bus only went to the train station in Katowice. There was a gentleman sitting in front of us on the bus that heard our concerns and offered his help when we got to the train station. As it turned out, at the train station there were mini-busses that could take us to Krakow, so the gentleman helped us change some money for tickets and we were off. It was amazing to see so many helpful, smiling faces. In Ukraine it is very rare to have someone approach you and offer their help.
The bus ride opened our eyes to Poland. We saw beautiful buildings that were not in disrepair. The streets were smooth, they even had white lines for lanes. And people were actually following the traffic rules! We saw green grass in yards, dogs as pets, laughter, and much more.
We arrived at the Krakow train station and got directions to our hotel, which was only supposed to be a 10 min. walk. Well, I thought I had the directions good enough to get us to where we were going, but as it turns out I did not. We were supposed to go out of the station and turn right, okay that was easy. Then we were supposed to come to some kind of circle. I assumed it was a round-a-bout; nope, that is not right. We were supposed to go under two tunnels. Well, we found a tunnel that was the tunnel for the trains, but it ended in an amazing underground mall. We started getting excited because we were seeing food that we recognized; signes for McDonalds, KFC, steak, mexican, WOW!!! WOW!!! WOW!!!
We knew we were lost so we asked another lady for directions. She said to go out of the mall, head straight and go under the tunnel and follow the signs for "Old Town". Okay we found the tunnel, but there were no signs that we saw for Old Town. We were walking through a beautiful park and in the middle was an information booth. Yep, we asked for directions again. He gave us a map and drew where we were supposed to go. Yeah! We got to the city center plaza; another WOW. There were people everywhere. The sun is shining, there are outdoor cafes everywhere, there are clowns on stilts doing balloon art. We see families playing, kids are running around chasing pigeons, we got to watch flocks of birds flying up into the air then swooping back down to the plaza. I felt like I was watching a movie.
At this point we knew the name of the street that our hotel was on so of course we asked for directions again. We had to walk through the plaza and continue on for a couple of blocks and there is our hotel. It is a nice quaint hotel. We have a porch where we can sit and watch all the activity. The only problem that we are having is the internet is very hit or miss, even if the computer is plugged in. So today we are moving to a different hotel for the last two nights.
After we checked in we went walking. Our main goal - EATING. I think Bill and I are going to weigh 10lbs more when we leave than when we got here. At our first cafe (outside of course) we drank a bottle of wine, ate beef carpaccio, vegetable soup, and pasta. Oh so yummy.
We walked around the plaza for a bit, but then exhaustion crept in. We had been awake since 2:00 a.m. so we walked back to the hotel for a quick nap; well Bill napped and I read. We left the hotel again and went walking around the plaza. We were trying to find a spot at a table in the sun to relax, have a drink, and people watch. All the restaurants were packed, but we got lucky and found a table, and sat facing the sun watching people. The most fun was watching the 10 or so horse drawn carriages taking people on rides around the plaza. When we got back to our hotel for the evening I realized that I got a little sunburned on my chest.
Tomorrow I will tell you about our excursions. For now, God Bless and happy dreams.
Karen
Bill and I had been praying for the two weeks before we left that the results of the Visas would be our answer from God as to what we should do; stay until July or go home in April. Not having the documents before going to Poland we knew that we were going home in April, so our to trip to Poland became a holiday. We have never been to Poland and we knew nothing about it, but the moment we got to the city center and saw all the activity, restaurants, the cleanliness, etc..., we extended our stay before we even unpacked. We have found out since being here that our friend of Grace Place, Karen Springs, was unable to obtain a Visa as well. She has been here for 7 years and this is the first time they did not give her an extension. The new Visa regulations are making it harder and harder to stay in Ukraine.
We landed in Katowice Poland early Sunday morning. We thought that we had booked a bus to Krakow (1 1/2 hours away). We got on our bus and realized that the bus only went to the train station in Katowice. There was a gentleman sitting in front of us on the bus that heard our concerns and offered his help when we got to the train station. As it turned out, at the train station there were mini-busses that could take us to Krakow, so the gentleman helped us change some money for tickets and we were off. It was amazing to see so many helpful, smiling faces. In Ukraine it is very rare to have someone approach you and offer their help.
The bus ride opened our eyes to Poland. We saw beautiful buildings that were not in disrepair. The streets were smooth, they even had white lines for lanes. And people were actually following the traffic rules! We saw green grass in yards, dogs as pets, laughter, and much more.
We arrived at the Krakow train station and got directions to our hotel, which was only supposed to be a 10 min. walk. Well, I thought I had the directions good enough to get us to where we were going, but as it turns out I did not. We were supposed to go out of the station and turn right, okay that was easy. Then we were supposed to come to some kind of circle. I assumed it was a round-a-bout; nope, that is not right. We were supposed to go under two tunnels. Well, we found a tunnel that was the tunnel for the trains, but it ended in an amazing underground mall. We started getting excited because we were seeing food that we recognized; signes for McDonalds, KFC, steak, mexican, WOW!!! WOW!!! WOW!!!
We knew we were lost so we asked another lady for directions. She said to go out of the mall, head straight and go under the tunnel and follow the signs for "Old Town". Okay we found the tunnel, but there were no signs that we saw for Old Town. We were walking through a beautiful park and in the middle was an information booth. Yep, we asked for directions again. He gave us a map and drew where we were supposed to go. Yeah! We got to the city center plaza; another WOW. There were people everywhere. The sun is shining, there are outdoor cafes everywhere, there are clowns on stilts doing balloon art. We see families playing, kids are running around chasing pigeons, we got to watch flocks of birds flying up into the air then swooping back down to the plaza. I felt like I was watching a movie.
At this point we knew the name of the street that our hotel was on so of course we asked for directions again. We had to walk through the plaza and continue on for a couple of blocks and there is our hotel. It is a nice quaint hotel. We have a porch where we can sit and watch all the activity. The only problem that we are having is the internet is very hit or miss, even if the computer is plugged in. So today we are moving to a different hotel for the last two nights.
After we checked in we went walking. Our main goal - EATING. I think Bill and I are going to weigh 10lbs more when we leave than when we got here. At our first cafe (outside of course) we drank a bottle of wine, ate beef carpaccio, vegetable soup, and pasta. Oh so yummy.
We walked around the plaza for a bit, but then exhaustion crept in. We had been awake since 2:00 a.m. so we walked back to the hotel for a quick nap; well Bill napped and I read. We left the hotel again and went walking around the plaza. We were trying to find a spot at a table in the sun to relax, have a drink, and people watch. All the restaurants were packed, but we got lucky and found a table, and sat facing the sun watching people. The most fun was watching the 10 or so horse drawn carriages taking people on rides around the plaza. When we got back to our hotel for the evening I realized that I got a little sunburned on my chest.
Tomorrow I will tell you about our excursions. For now, God Bless and happy dreams.
Karen
Monday, March 19, 2012
Mixed Feelings
Today is Sunday, March ???. I have no idea what date it is, but I do know that we missed St. Patricks day. We did not even know it until Pastor Clay sent us a picture and a greetings. Pretty weird. I wish we would have remembered so we could have greened up the house for the boys.
A lot has happened since the last time that I wrote on the blog. First of all I realize that I really don't like writing a blog. It is like a journal, and even though I know that journals are supposed to be a good record of your life, plus a way to release energy, I still struggle with it because of a trigger I have with my past. But that aside I will catch you up on our happenings.
I was away for awhile visiting my friend Tiffany in Nikopol Ukraine. Tiffany's husband had to go home to the States and she was struggling with staying here by herself. I had only met Tiffany one time at church before we came to Ukraine. I believe the Grace Place Family bond is an amazing thing. We became fast, close friends. Please continue your prayers for the Degnan family. Their quest here has been a very difficult one.
Bill and I had planned to visit Tiffany on Sunday, but after calling her on Thursday night we left the next morning and I stayed with her for the next 5 days. I would not say it was all fun and games, but I know we both needed each other at that exact time. God's timeline is not to be questioned. I have to save all my thoughts regarding this visit until after their time here is done. But, if you would like to visit their blog go to degnangirls.blogspot.com
I do know that while I was in Nikopol Bill had 33 extra teenagers from the church at the house on Sunday night, and I am pretty sure he told me he went and read pretty early that night.
In the meantime, Bill and I are in Poland. We decided a couple of weeks ago to come to Poland to try to obtain our Visas, and we asked Alex to get the documents that we needed. Well, he was not able to get them, so Poland has turned into a wonderful vacation.
I have been thinking about it and I am so torn. Am I supposed to be disappointed that we cannot get the Visas, or be overjoyed that I get to come home. Bill and I have spent many hours talking about it. At first, when we started this endeavor, we said prayers to God to please make the Visas happen. Then we changed them to; "Please God, let Alex get the documents that we need for the Visas." Then the prayers finally came to; "Well God, we are going to Poland in two weeks. If Alex gets the documents we know we are supposed to stay, and if he cannot get the documents we know we are supposed to go home by the end of April." We have our answer now, but we have very mixed feelings about coming home sooner, rather than later. We know that we have had an inpact on the boys lives, but there were things we were hoping to accomplish while here and now there is no way to accomplish them. It must be God's way of saying "Karen and Bill, you are not supposed to build a greenhouse here."
Way back when Alex came to Grace Place, and said that they would love to have some Americans come and be house parents, Bill and I both got the call at the same time. We knew that this was what we were supposed to do. We had no idea how long we would be here, but six months kept coming into our heads so we went with that. I wish sometimes God would yell just a little louder for me to hear. Or maybe I just need to be a little quieter.
Well it is now Monday the ???? I still don't know the date. We are having a great time here in Poland. Tomorrow I will tell you some amazing things we are learning about Krakow Poland.
Hugs and Blessings,
Karen
A lot has happened since the last time that I wrote on the blog. First of all I realize that I really don't like writing a blog. It is like a journal, and even though I know that journals are supposed to be a good record of your life, plus a way to release energy, I still struggle with it because of a trigger I have with my past. But that aside I will catch you up on our happenings.
I was away for awhile visiting my friend Tiffany in Nikopol Ukraine. Tiffany's husband had to go home to the States and she was struggling with staying here by herself. I had only met Tiffany one time at church before we came to Ukraine. I believe the Grace Place Family bond is an amazing thing. We became fast, close friends. Please continue your prayers for the Degnan family. Their quest here has been a very difficult one.
Bill and I had planned to visit Tiffany on Sunday, but after calling her on Thursday night we left the next morning and I stayed with her for the next 5 days. I would not say it was all fun and games, but I know we both needed each other at that exact time. God's timeline is not to be questioned. I have to save all my thoughts regarding this visit until after their time here is done. But, if you would like to visit their blog go to degnangirls.blogspot.com
I do know that while I was in Nikopol Bill had 33 extra teenagers from the church at the house on Sunday night, and I am pretty sure he told me he went and read pretty early that night.
In the meantime, Bill and I are in Poland. We decided a couple of weeks ago to come to Poland to try to obtain our Visas, and we asked Alex to get the documents that we needed. Well, he was not able to get them, so Poland has turned into a wonderful vacation.
I have been thinking about it and I am so torn. Am I supposed to be disappointed that we cannot get the Visas, or be overjoyed that I get to come home. Bill and I have spent many hours talking about it. At first, when we started this endeavor, we said prayers to God to please make the Visas happen. Then we changed them to; "Please God, let Alex get the documents that we need for the Visas." Then the prayers finally came to; "Well God, we are going to Poland in two weeks. If Alex gets the documents we know we are supposed to stay, and if he cannot get the documents we know we are supposed to go home by the end of April." We have our answer now, but we have very mixed feelings about coming home sooner, rather than later. We know that we have had an inpact on the boys lives, but there were things we were hoping to accomplish while here and now there is no way to accomplish them. It must be God's way of saying "Karen and Bill, you are not supposed to build a greenhouse here."
Way back when Alex came to Grace Place, and said that they would love to have some Americans come and be house parents, Bill and I both got the call at the same time. We knew that this was what we were supposed to do. We had no idea how long we would be here, but six months kept coming into our heads so we went with that. I wish sometimes God would yell just a little louder for me to hear. Or maybe I just need to be a little quieter.
Well it is now Monday the ???? I still don't know the date. We are having a great time here in Poland. Tomorrow I will tell you some amazing things we are learning about Krakow Poland.
Hugs and Blessings,
Karen
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Another Week......
It's Saturday evening, and I can't believe another week has gone by. The last few days have been fairly busy, but for the most part, it's been o.k.
Karen and I each had our massage Thursday. That was a real treat. I've never had a 2 hour massage before, and certainly not for $37.50. I tipped the masseur 100 grevna ($12.25), and he was so appreciative I thought he was going to cry. Nice!
Yesterday, Karen and I drove to a town about 2 1/2 hours from here, to visit Tiffany Degnan. On the way there, I was pulled over by a policeman. This is the first time I've been pulled over without someone in the car that speaks Russian or Ukrainian. He started asking me questions, and I just played really dumb (obviously that was easy for me to do). I kept saying "no Russian, English". He eventually got tired of this and waved us away. No harm, no foul.
Today was frustrating, in that both of the house parents took off for a few days without telling me that they were both going, and left the kids here with no supervision and very little food. Half of my "day off" was spent driving kids around, and buying them groceries for lunch and dinner. On the bright side, I bought each of the boys a new table tennis racquet, and they are having a great time with them. I even bought a good one for myself, and was surprised that it actually improved my game considerably.
Blessings from Ukraine,
Bill
Karen and I each had our massage Thursday. That was a real treat. I've never had a 2 hour massage before, and certainly not for $37.50. I tipped the masseur 100 grevna ($12.25), and he was so appreciative I thought he was going to cry. Nice!
Yesterday, Karen and I drove to a town about 2 1/2 hours from here, to visit Tiffany Degnan. On the way there, I was pulled over by a policeman. This is the first time I've been pulled over without someone in the car that speaks Russian or Ukrainian. He started asking me questions, and I just played really dumb (obviously that was easy for me to do). I kept saying "no Russian, English". He eventually got tired of this and waved us away. No harm, no foul.
Today was frustrating, in that both of the house parents took off for a few days without telling me that they were both going, and left the kids here with no supervision and very little food. Half of my "day off" was spent driving kids around, and buying them groceries for lunch and dinner. On the bright side, I bought each of the boys a new table tennis racquet, and they are having a great time with them. I even bought a good one for myself, and was surprised that it actually improved my game considerably.
Blessings from Ukraine,
Bill
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Stari Zburivka Orphanage
As many of you know, the Degnan family is in Kiev trying very hard to adopt a 6-9 year old girl. They have run into may problems. I know that at one point Tiffany was ready to go home (boy I know that feeling). They are staying with Karen Springs (I mentioned her in our last blog), and Karen is doing everything she can to help the Degnan's find a child. While Karen was here in Kherson filming the Joshua house she mentioned that there was a 9 year old girl at the Stari Zburivka orphanage.
The orphanage is only about 1 hour away from Kherson, so Bill and I volunteered to go there and visit with this girl. Karen called the director of the orphanage to make sure it was okay for us to visit and evaluate the girl. We took Andrey Kisorets (American Andrey) with us to translate and we had a wonderful time. Not many visitors go to Stari Zburivka so even the teachers were curious about us.
We were ushered into a classroom that was very small (probably about 12' X 20'). We started with at least 20 kids and one teacher - that would make 25 people, 8 desks, and 18 chairs. It got crowded quickly. We were trying to not make it obvious that we were there to see one specific child. We started off putting dominos onto 6 desks that were pushed together. All the kids grabbed some and hesitated. It seemed as if they did not know what to do with the dominos. The teacher showed them how you put them end to end with the number matching, but they did not seem very interested. Instead we stood them up front to back etc... and knocked them down, lots of laughing.
I had decided to stand next to the girl that we were there specifically to see, while Andrey, Bill and Natasha (Andrey's girlfriend) stood at various spots around the table. At first the kids were barley talking to us; well that lasted all of 2 minuets. After about 5-10 the young girl we were there to see pulled me over to a different desk and wanted to play with Barbie dolls. I realized that I was spending all my time with her and decided I had better play with some of the other kids. The girl (sorry I cannot say her name) followed me and even though I was playing and talking with other kids she kept a hand on me. She is very affectionate. I would say she was a little passive, but it is better than some of the aggression that we witnessed. It is so sad to see the damage that has happened to these young kids. By the time we were ready to leave the little girl that we came to see was hugging me tight and telling me niet, niet (no, no). She desperately wanted me to stay. Natasha had two children hanging on her and Andrey had a couple on him as well. Once we got the car turned around Bill had to put on the gas and drive out of the gates quickly because the kids were running after the car and we were afraid that we might run one over. It was so sad to look back at 20 or so faces waving at us and knowing they did not want us to leave.
It is so heart breaking I just asked Bill if we could visit the Kherson orphanage on Saturday morning and then the Stari Zburivka orphanage in the afternoon. It will be up to Andrey, since he is the one doing all the translating.
Today is Sunday and we had a great day as well. House parent Andrey took three of the boys to another city in the van, so to get to church we squished four boys into the back seat of our little car. Bill and I decided to cook another american meal; a beef roast and mashed potatoes. We got a beautiful 5lb roast for $17.00 U.S. (136 grevna).
As you know it takes a while for a roast to cook and most of the boys got impatient waiting so they took off for town. Kola is the only one that waited around with us, so when it was time to eat the three of us sat at the table and had a very wonderful, quiet, pleasant, YUMMY dinner. I am upstairs and I can just hear all the other boys coming home. We will have to see how they enjoyed the dinner.
The orphanage is only about 1 hour away from Kherson, so Bill and I volunteered to go there and visit with this girl. Karen called the director of the orphanage to make sure it was okay for us to visit and evaluate the girl. We took Andrey Kisorets (American Andrey) with us to translate and we had a wonderful time. Not many visitors go to Stari Zburivka so even the teachers were curious about us.
We were ushered into a classroom that was very small (probably about 12' X 20'). We started with at least 20 kids and one teacher - that would make 25 people, 8 desks, and 18 chairs. It got crowded quickly. We were trying to not make it obvious that we were there to see one specific child. We started off putting dominos onto 6 desks that were pushed together. All the kids grabbed some and hesitated. It seemed as if they did not know what to do with the dominos. The teacher showed them how you put them end to end with the number matching, but they did not seem very interested. Instead we stood them up front to back etc... and knocked them down, lots of laughing.
I had decided to stand next to the girl that we were there specifically to see, while Andrey, Bill and Natasha (Andrey's girlfriend) stood at various spots around the table. At first the kids were barley talking to us; well that lasted all of 2 minuets. After about 5-10 the young girl we were there to see pulled me over to a different desk and wanted to play with Barbie dolls. I realized that I was spending all my time with her and decided I had better play with some of the other kids. The girl (sorry I cannot say her name) followed me and even though I was playing and talking with other kids she kept a hand on me. She is very affectionate. I would say she was a little passive, but it is better than some of the aggression that we witnessed. It is so sad to see the damage that has happened to these young kids. By the time we were ready to leave the little girl that we came to see was hugging me tight and telling me niet, niet (no, no). She desperately wanted me to stay. Natasha had two children hanging on her and Andrey had a couple on him as well. Once we got the car turned around Bill had to put on the gas and drive out of the gates quickly because the kids were running after the car and we were afraid that we might run one over. It was so sad to look back at 20 or so faces waving at us and knowing they did not want us to leave.
It is so heart breaking I just asked Bill if we could visit the Kherson orphanage on Saturday morning and then the Stari Zburivka orphanage in the afternoon. It will be up to Andrey, since he is the one doing all the translating.
Today is Sunday and we had a great day as well. House parent Andrey took three of the boys to another city in the van, so to get to church we squished four boys into the back seat of our little car. Bill and I decided to cook another american meal; a beef roast and mashed potatoes. We got a beautiful 5lb roast for $17.00 U.S. (136 grevna).
As you know it takes a while for a roast to cook and most of the boys got impatient waiting so they took off for town. Kola is the only one that waited around with us, so when it was time to eat the three of us sat at the table and had a very wonderful, quiet, pleasant, YUMMY dinner. I am upstairs and I can just hear all the other boys coming home. We will have to see how they enjoyed the dinner.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Evil Spirits
I guess it has been a while since our last blog.... the days are going by quickly.
I have been doing a lot of thinking lately. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior about 3 years ago and was baptized in July of 2011. During that time I've heard many stories in church, from a variety of people, about how they were being attacked spiritually. They've told us how they would pray and tell the evil spirits to leave them. I really did not know what to think about this, and it felt very foreign to me.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been feeling very depressed and lost. I could not figure out why I was in Ukraine. I was irritated at Bill all the time for some really silly things, and all I wanted to do was just come home. I was teary eyed all the time and could cry at the drop of a hat. When Bill and I would talk there were times I would have to tell him we needed to change the subject because I could not handle the discussion. Then there were times I just did not want to be in Bill's presence, and many times I did not want to be around the boys. I would go up to our room as soon as I felt I could get away with it. I would absorb myself into my book to be somewhere else.
Bill and I decided to go away for a few days to recoup and I thought that would make me feel all better. Well, I was still getting very irritated with Bill, for no reason. It was now Saturday and I knew Grace Place would be taking prayer requests, and I wanted to get on the list. I e-mailed Pastor Clay my request and he not only put in the request, he sent me a wonderful e-mail back. It was full of encouragement and some helpful advise about being spiritually attacked. One of the things that Pastor Clay said to do was to verbally tell the evil spirits to leave.
I had to ask Bill what this really meant. Am I just supposed to say a prayer? I'd been doing that and I did not feel better. Did it mean to yell at the devil, or what? He said no, just talk out loud, and tell the evil spirits to leave. I still felt very foolish. I know I shouldn't feel that way but I did. I waited until Bill was in the shower and I started telling the devil to go away. At first I was timid, and then I realized I was getting angry at the evil one for even being there. It was not until we had been back in Kherson for a couple of days that I realized I was at peace again.
While I was growing up one of the arguments that I had with religious people was that I wanted proof. This week I got proof. My plea to anyone reading this blog is to use the gifts that God has given us to maintain your Christian course, and if yelling at the top of your lungs to get the evil spirits away from you is what you feel like you need to do, then DO IT.
I am very thankful everyday that Bill and I found Grace Place and that the pastors and everyone that I meet is helping me to become who God wanted me to be all along.
Now that I was feeling better the evil spirits decided to attack Bill for a while. This week has been extremely hard on him. Today he is much better and our relationship is thriving better today than it has ever been.
We have four new boys at the house. One of the boys (Arteom) goes to college in Kiev so we only see him every few weeks. The other three boys are Kola (not pronounced like the soda), Losha and Vlad. All of them are great boys. Kola and Vlad both speak pretty good english and it is fun talking to them because when we are all laughing we all know why.
Other than what I've shared, things have been pretty normal around here. Normal for Ukraine any how. Karen Springs from CBN has a film crew here to do some filming of the Joshua house and we were informed that she wants to film Bill and I teaching English. Boy I hope I don't make any bad mistakes.
Karen is a wonderful lady, and everyone coming here from Grace Place usually gets to know her. Part of her ministry is a hospitality ministry. She opens her home up to anyone that is coming to Ukraine to adopt or work with orphans AND she speaks English. She is from Seattle, and has been in Ukraine for 7 years. Karen has a huge heart for people.
To end the blog today we are attaching some pictures from our Odessa trip.
God Bless,
Karen
I have been doing a lot of thinking lately. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior about 3 years ago and was baptized in July of 2011. During that time I've heard many stories in church, from a variety of people, about how they were being attacked spiritually. They've told us how they would pray and tell the evil spirits to leave them. I really did not know what to think about this, and it felt very foreign to me.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been feeling very depressed and lost. I could not figure out why I was in Ukraine. I was irritated at Bill all the time for some really silly things, and all I wanted to do was just come home. I was teary eyed all the time and could cry at the drop of a hat. When Bill and I would talk there were times I would have to tell him we needed to change the subject because I could not handle the discussion. Then there were times I just did not want to be in Bill's presence, and many times I did not want to be around the boys. I would go up to our room as soon as I felt I could get away with it. I would absorb myself into my book to be somewhere else.
Bill and I decided to go away for a few days to recoup and I thought that would make me feel all better. Well, I was still getting very irritated with Bill, for no reason. It was now Saturday and I knew Grace Place would be taking prayer requests, and I wanted to get on the list. I e-mailed Pastor Clay my request and he not only put in the request, he sent me a wonderful e-mail back. It was full of encouragement and some helpful advise about being spiritually attacked. One of the things that Pastor Clay said to do was to verbally tell the evil spirits to leave.
I had to ask Bill what this really meant. Am I just supposed to say a prayer? I'd been doing that and I did not feel better. Did it mean to yell at the devil, or what? He said no, just talk out loud, and tell the evil spirits to leave. I still felt very foolish. I know I shouldn't feel that way but I did. I waited until Bill was in the shower and I started telling the devil to go away. At first I was timid, and then I realized I was getting angry at the evil one for even being there. It was not until we had been back in Kherson for a couple of days that I realized I was at peace again.
While I was growing up one of the arguments that I had with religious people was that I wanted proof. This week I got proof. My plea to anyone reading this blog is to use the gifts that God has given us to maintain your Christian course, and if yelling at the top of your lungs to get the evil spirits away from you is what you feel like you need to do, then DO IT.
I am very thankful everyday that Bill and I found Grace Place and that the pastors and everyone that I meet is helping me to become who God wanted me to be all along.
Now that I was feeling better the evil spirits decided to attack Bill for a while. This week has been extremely hard on him. Today he is much better and our relationship is thriving better today than it has ever been.
We have four new boys at the house. One of the boys (Arteom) goes to college in Kiev so we only see him every few weeks. The other three boys are Kola (not pronounced like the soda), Losha and Vlad. All of them are great boys. Kola and Vlad both speak pretty good english and it is fun talking to them because when we are all laughing we all know why.
Other than what I've shared, things have been pretty normal around here. Normal for Ukraine any how. Karen Springs from CBN has a film crew here to do some filming of the Joshua house and we were informed that she wants to film Bill and I teaching English. Boy I hope I don't make any bad mistakes.
Karen is a wonderful lady, and everyone coming here from Grace Place usually gets to know her. Part of her ministry is a hospitality ministry. She opens her home up to anyone that is coming to Ukraine to adopt or work with orphans AND she speaks English. She is from Seattle, and has been in Ukraine for 7 years. Karen has a huge heart for people.
To end the blog today we are attaching some pictures from our Odessa trip.
God Bless,
Karen
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