Miles and More

Whoo! (That's the sound of a sigh of relief.) Been there and back. The flights over the ocean and across the countries went better than normal. By God's grace a lot was accomplished and visited a lot of very important people.
Here's the car I drove--a rental seemed the wiser choice when Dave, the mechanic, wasn't along. In case you can't tell what those droplets are in the picture, they are sweat.
In sixteen days, this little car travelled 4543 miles. It was a work-out for the car and the driver.
Some of the important people I saw (but not all because I didn't use the camera enough!) follow.
My mother and father. This picture is almost a year old. Mother has lost many, many pounds since then.
My children and grandchildren. I didn't get pictures of everybody but here are David, Davey and Daniel. David has just got them out of bed.
Dave's mom.
While I was gone some major changes were made in our house. One room went from this
to this.
While I was gone from Nova Odessa, Faith Hamilton wrote that she might come see us to help out again this summer and planned to arrive a day before I did in Kyiv. What a nice surprise to hear, "Boo" in the Frankfurt airport and look up to see her standing there.
After a good night's sleep, we've been sweeping and mopping all the dust left around the house from the changes. We're looking forward to a good Sunday.

Getting Ready

I'm making a quick trip to see my family on the other side of the Atlantic and take care of some other matters. It's amazing what all needs to be done before I leave for a couple of weeks. . . laundry, leave stories, verses and a craft idea for kids' klub, cut hair, leave a minimal amount of homeschooling . . . and so forth.

I tried to take some pictures of our village service but they weren't good enough to post.

In the middle of everything, we received a call that Dennis, (Allona and Vova's little brother) had two broken fingers. In the light of all the previous history, it needed to be checked out. The officials said they would but were awfully slow getting around to it. We made a quick trip and here he is with Allona.

Allona and Vova also had a talk with their birth mom about her spiritual condition and her life. She says she wants to change. Pray that God will work a miracle.

In the meantime we got a notice that the president of Ukraine had received our letter concerning Dennis' situation. What all the results will be are in God's hands.

As of now, I have a few more things on my list to do, before I consider my packing finished, so I'd better get at it.

Mnoga Monday

I was gone most of the day yesterday and when I was home the computer was occupied, but there are words that begin with "c" that I'm thankful for.

1. Christ and Christmas . . . words don't express how glad I am that God came to take a place among us.
2. Canned foods . . . makes cooking a whole lot quicker
3. Cocoa . . . a warm cup of hot chocolate is perfect fall through spring
4. Cookies . . . a soft, warm chocolate chip cooky fresh from the oven- um-m
5. Caring .. . comes in many combinations.
6. Candles for quiet meals with tasty food
7. Computers which make communication with others so much easier.

"Christ arose!!"

Do you know the right answer? It's stlll used in Ukraine today by Orthodox, Baptist and atheist alike in honor of the Easter holiday, April 27th, 2008.

"Indeed He is risen!"

Among other things that make Easter, Easter to this country is a special bread called "Easter." Easter and Passover are the same word here. Easter eggs have a more major meaning that make some believers refuse to dye them. Eggs were painted, blessed and placed in parts of the home where the family wanted a special blessing. People will get up in the middle of night to stand in line at the Orthodox temple for a blessing on their bread and eggs the first thing in the morning.

Here is the Ukrainian Easter bread and eggs in front of little Angelina.

I'm so glad Jesus let the corn of wheat of His life fall into the ground and die. I'm glad He endured the emotional pain when His very best friends, deserted Him, denied Him and sold His life. I'm glad He endured the public pain when the crowds He had fed and maybe healed cried "Crucify Him!" and the soldiers He came to save, mocked Him and whipped Him with the metal studded thongs. I'm glad He endured the overwhelming spiritual weight of our sin. I'm glad that in the midst of all that pain, He still heard the one cry for help from the cross beside Him and reached out to rescue, beyond His own pain.

Our group this Easter morning.

I'm glad for the hope the Resurrection represents for those trapped in the living grave of sin. . . We saw a man walking on the shoulder of the highway, his face covered with blood. Probably he had fallen in his drunken state and the gravel in the shoulder did the damage to his face. He could have a beautiful new life, no matter how strong the chains of sin. I'm glad for the hope represented for those who surrender their life's essence to Jesus' hand to see it wither, turn brown and completely die and then rise again in flowering, fruit-bearing beauty. I'm glad that even death could not hold our Saviour! What can hinder His glorious power? Nothing except our unbelief! Even then, God declares He will be faithful when men are unfaithful.

Our Easter memory verse.

He is risen!! I don't know how to convey the meaning of the resurrection to other people. I'm praying that the same God will give the annointing needed for others to thrill with the victory, the hope and the new life of the resurrection. Happy Easter!

Mnoga Monday

Mnoga in Russian means "much" or "many" On Mondays I try to work on a grateful attitude.

Things I'm grateful for that start with B--hmm-m. This is what I wrote down while Dave ran into the grocery store to see if they had popcorn this week.
1. Bathrooms--something very important to know about, where the clean ones are and where it's better to stop by the roadside
2. Bazaars--where bits of everything can be found for a little bit less than in a store
3. Beans-- a blessing in a place where meat is the most expensive buy on the grocery list
4. Brevity--short and sweet and hard to beat!! my favorite kind of conversations, to the point
5. Beauty-a breathtaking sunset, the bright upturned face of a child, the blossoms of a spring flower. Here's a sunset on the river behind our house.
6. Brown sugar--not a European product that makes cookies taste a lot better!
7. Boats--I love to paddle in a small boat or canoe out on a lake.

For years we've noticed elderly women here who can't walk in an upright position. I haven't seen women like this in Romania, Poland or America. I don't know if it's caused by osteoporosis or too much digging of potatoes. Dave calls me a "camera spy" trying to catch pictures. But this time I did it. It took two tries. The first time she stopped to adjust her load, just the moment I snapped.

I'm glad I serve a God who cares and calls "come unto me all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." I'm glad serve a God who is worthy of all my trust and obedience.

Here's a part of a poem from Streams in the Desert that speaks of trusting.

When the frosts are in the valley,
And the mountain tops are grey,
And the choicest buds are blighted,
And the blossoms die away,
A loving Father whispers,
"This cometh from my hand";
Blessed are ye if ye trust
Where ye cannot understand.

Reward Week

This time's activity didn't take half as much preparation but the children thoroughly enjoyed it. We had a smaller group so we took them ice skating. The Bible principle: let him that standeth take heed lest he fall!!! : ) Seriously, it made an appropriate spiritual lesson along with the verse in Jude, about God being able to keep us from falling. The children are working hard on learning verses for the next time.