Last day of first round of VBS

Today was the last day of the first round of VBS.

We were supposed to have an outdoors picnic. Because of the rain we had it inside. We were all pretty tired, most of us going home to take naps afterwards.

But the kids who got to break the Pinata had lots of fun.

These smaller tykes are peeling boiled potatoes for Russian potatoe salad which includes, carrots, potatoes, pickles, bologna, corn, onions and sometimes peas.

Back to Nova Odessa

We thought about waiting for an air-conditioned bus in order to get away from the heat. But with all the nodding we were doing after about 24 hrs of travelling, I wasn't sure we could stay awake to get on another bus.

This picture shows what we all felt and what we all did most of the last eight hours riding a bus from Kyiv to Nova Odessa.

Faith is the one I caught with the camera.

Diane's Back

She doesn't do herself justice and hates her picture. But I wanted you to know she is here and is busy!!

Here she is slicing bread.


Here she is enjoying a twosome back rub.


Here she is washing dishes, again! We by "special accident" got more than her back this time.

Here she is watching the children play during VBS in the rain.

mission accomplished

After a lot of walking and riding various types of buses and scanning every sign on every bus that went by, and going into a couple of offices, it's in my hands.

God graciously allowed me to have a Ukrainian residency permit, which should take away the need for visas or registering every few months.

I thank Him

On the Road

We've had services in Indiana, Missouri and Kansas so far. Here's our home away from home. We've enjoyed several different state parks between services.

We've made new friends. Here's Vova with Albert Randolph.

We've had to tell new friends good-bye.

We've had new experiences. Elden Hunter let Vova go for a run in his wheelchair, while he braced himself against the wall of the dumpster. Thank you, Elden!!


And here's another friend that we had to day good-bye to because we couldn't accommodate him in . . .


the middle of this!

End of School

I won't try to catch you up on every detail. But the end of school time became pretty interesting for our family.

Dave flew to Ukraine.

Nathan Purdy's parents arrived from Ireland. One day they went on a picnic with the Gordons and me.


I picked Dave up in New York.

Then Vova graduated from sixth grade.


You can see how elated the students were to be done with these years!!

We had a graduation reception at our house for Seth, Vova and Nathan. Here are some of the guests that we caught with the camera.

Jack Waro from New Guinea.

Sarah and Natalie Seeley with Nathan S in the background.

Brother Barry Mander, Nathan Purdy's pastor from Ireland, with Charlie from New Guinea in the background.

Matt and Christina Maloyed, the youth pastors at Beavertown.


Others were around but we didn't get pictures of everyone!!