A Sunday in Kiev
kimnjed
November 18, 2013
Happy Monday everyone!
We had a great first weekend. Jet lag remained a beast, but I think we have just about defeated it. All the kids slept through the night last night and didn’t wake up till 5:00am! Thank you, Jesus because I haven’t yet found a good coffee to brew at home, and {no sleep + disappointing coffee = the pit of despair}. BUT- we all got to sleep last night, and today we bought new coffee that was recommended by a friend and fellow Northwesterner, so things are looking up! PTL!
I think our trip to Kiev yesterday had a thing or two to do with our kids’ exhausted state, so add that to the list of reasons why I love Kiev. ๐
A trip to Kiev is no small task for a family of 6. Let me lay it out for you.
We started out from our house at 9:00am and walked about 15 minutes to the city center where we caught the bus to Kiev. Buses go back and forth between Kiev and Zhitomir all day, so it’s pretty easy to get a seat.
The bus ride is about 2 hours long and it takes us right to the edge of town. Normally at this point Jed and I would hop on the metro and then walk quite a ways to church, but we figured with all the littles it might be easier to take a taxi. Our friend Olya (THE BEST) ordered us a taxi and we were off!
We arrived at church around 11:45, just in time to visit with friends we love before church started at noon. The kids were big fans of Kiev Vineyard right away as our friends bribed smiles out of them with candy and cookies and tea with milk. Ukrainians are buying the hearts of our children right and left and the kids don’t mind it a bit. ๐
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Oh man, arriving at the Vineyard in Kiev was like comfort food of the best kind. I think Jed and I both let out all the breath we’d been subconsciously holding since we touched down on Wednesday. We are family there. And the crazy thing is, we didn’t even feel like guests this time. It was grand. Ezra got to play soccer and wrestle with our friends, Addy made a little friend named Ruslana, Seth got his fill of cookies and juice, and Hava got carried to her heart’s content. Kiev Vineyard speaks our love language very well. At Salem Vineyard (our home) the kids have a few guys that they love to harass and wrestle every week at church. It’s one of the highlights of their week. Their favorite wrestle/tickle/tease church friend is Jesse. As we left Kiev Vineyard I heard the kids discussing “Hey, let’s make Elvin, Max, and Sasha our Jesse for now, okay?” ๐ We love you Jesse!
Learning Russian from a new friend
After church, we headed by bus and then by foot to our favorite Sunday lunch spot: Puzata Hata! Woot! While at Puzata we got to meet up with an adoptive family we’ve been in touch with for several months now. God actually worked it out that they arrived in Kiev the same day as us last week and they’ll be there for several weeks adopting a sweet baby. They are dreamers like us and we were SO HAPPY to meet! We’re hoping to spend more time together in a couple weeks. Thank you friends for coming to meet us! All our mutual stalking paid off! Hehe
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We lingered at lunch/dinner for several hours and finally decided we better start our long trek home. We went back to the bus stop by the metro and the kids were SOOOOO excited to finally use their escalator skills. Oh yeah, all our practicing paid off and the kids handled the escalators like champs.
Ready to get on the metro!
The bus ride home to Zhitomir was a bit of a doozy. It was pretty warm (I’m a hot person. If you didn’t know. It’s my cross to bear.), but there was a Ukrainian variety show on which kept Addy and Ez occupied for quite a bit of the drive. Seth and Hava fell asleep almost instantly, but they were on our laps, and at some point, Jed had the nerve to shift his position, and all hell broke loose. Seth was half awake, half asleep, and started screaming for some unknown reason. We couldn’t fully wake him up and he continued to scream for a looooong time. It was super painful…I’m sure the rest of the bus really loved us at that point. Oy.
By the time we arrived back in Zhitomir all the kids were asleep and we didn’t have the heart to make them walk the 15 minute walk back home, so we hired a taxi and somehow managed to tell him where we lived. Success!
All in all the day was fantastic. We had lots of laughs, lots of hugs, and lots of adventure. Thank you Jesus for family in Ukraine.
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You all are amazing!
(What’s your coffee? Ours is Carte Noire.)
The new one we tried is “Jardin” Dessert Cup. It’s better, but I’m still not convinced it’s The One. Ha! I’ll try yours next. ๐
Ah, yes. Jardin is also good. I think we like most of theirs.
We went to West Suffolk Vineyard Church on Sunday!
Ooooh what did you think??
Hi Kim, Just catching up on your last few posts. You made it! Congratulations. The house looks great. The kitchen is definitely cheerful!
Oh hi Sue!! I’m so happy to hear from you!