Hi Friends!

It’s been some time since I’ve given you the lowdown on who lives where here on the Homestead. I know there are a lot of us here and even some people have similar names, so I can definitely see how things could get confusing. During our last board meeting for Wide Awake I told our Directors that I planned to make this post and even they were happy about it. They hear the names of these people every week and sometimes still find themselves confused about who’s who. Let’s get it all cleared up, shall we?

The Homestead Property. Our Homestead is about 4 acres of property located in a village not far from the nearest city. It takes about 7 minutes by car to reach the edge of the city, so we aren’t super remote. There is a major highway that goes all the way from Kyiv to the border of Hungary and our street is directly off that highway. We would love to be a little more out in the boonies, but this is where God has us, so we’ll just appreciate the convenience of it and try our best to continue ignoring the sounds of highway traffic. 😆

People have asked about our neighbors and what they think of us, our boys, and our work. I honestly can’t answer that. Our neighbors are, for the most part, pretty unfriendly and uninterested in what we do here. There are a few people who are kind and we have built some relationship over the years, but for the most part, our neighbors ignore us and our boys. Our kids have made friends with many neighbor kids over the years (especially Seth), so I know many more children than adults. It’s sad and I wish it was different, but after this many years I honestly just don’t really think about it anymore.

Offices, Out Buildings. Besides the homes, which I’ll write about last, there are several other structures on the Homestead that allow us to do our work.

1. We have three small, moveable offices buildings where our interns and office staff work. Two of the offices are small, one room units, and one is an A-frame building with a bathroom and kitchenette.
2. The barn, chicken coop, and animal enclosure are on the back of the property. In the enclosure are 2 horses: Gloria and Myshka, 2 goats: Suzy and Karen, and 12ish? chickens.
3. Near the animal enclosure is a big old shed/garage/whatever-people-decide-to-call-it building. In that garage are all the tools and equipment for building projects, bikes, an extra refrigerator, dry goods, camping gear, pool gear, sleds…all the extra stuff that doesn’t need to be in houses.
4. Right next to our house is a wood shop that Oleg and Vlad are currently remodeling to make into a nice area for the boys to do work projects. We have used it like that off and on for years, but Oleg and Vlad are working on it now to make it more accessible and organized. This month Oleg plans to restart individual project time in the wood shop for each of the boys!

The Homes. Now on to the part you probably care about the most. Who lives where and with whom? Let’s get to it!

Johnson Family Home. When we purchased the first parcel of land back in 2016 it was the parcel with our house on it. It was an old farmhouse with no indoor plumbing and a hayloft as the second floor. It was stripped down to the first floor walls and foundation and rebuilt into the beautiful home it is today. I love our house! It’s my favorite place and has been such a wonderful space for raising our family. Thank you to all of you long-time faithful donors who helped make this home what it is today. It’s truly a place of peace and comfort for all who enter.

Who lives there? All the people who’s last name is Johnson, plus Boris (aka Bmo) and Christiana. Bmo has lived with us in this home since 2017. We consider him one of our children, he just doesn’t have our last name. 🥰 Christiana is an American member of our team who was a house parent in the duplex for 2 years. Once her role of house parent was completed she realized her time here in Ukraine wasn’t quite done, so she decided to stay on until the summer. She is living with us in the meantime and we love having her! We also have three pets in our home: Bluebell, the 10 year old English Shepherd, Betsy, the 2 year old dachshund, and Lucille, the 5 month old Maine Coon.

Duplex Side A. This side of the duplex is called “Side A” because it’s the side of the building closest to the road. Our team here in Ukraine calls the different sides of the duplex by the last name of the house parents to remind ourselves that it’s a home, not just a work place. But for our purposes here, it’s easier to say “Side A” and “Side B”. Side A of the duplex was completed just before the full scale invasion began in 2022 and was used as a sort of Noah’s ark during the first several months of the war. Several mothers and their adult children with disabilities lived there and during those first couple of weeks we hosted more than 100 people who were fleeing west from Kyiv to safety. In the summer of 2022, after we all returned from our time in Germany as refugees our boys began to live in the home.

Who lives there? Yaroslav, Vova, and the Mosiichuk family (Ruslan, Nina, and Lia). Ruslan and Nina, along with baby Lia moved into the duplex last October. Up until that time we had had different variations of volunteers living with Yarik and Vova. All the volunteers were amazing! And now we finally have Ukrainian house parents, which we have seen from previous experiences is the best case scenario for our boys.

Duplex Side B. Side B of the duplex is the side closer to the horse barn. It was completed back in 2021 and was our first go at community living here on the Homestead. I think for that reason Side B will always hold a special place in my heart. It’s the place where our dream of more boys living with house parents on the property was realized. I love it.

Who lives there? Anton, Sasha, and the Semenyuk family (Oleg, Masha, and Dem’yan). Oleg and Masha were team members who got married in 2022 and then a few months later decided to be house parents and moved in with the boys. Dem’yan was born last June and completed the fam. Oleg and Masha have walked hand in hand with us along this journey for so many years and they are a great example of how to love our boys day after day. Masha and Oleg also have three pets: Bonya the cat, Richie the dachshund (our Betsy’s brother), and Lois the cat. Lois is actually the Homestead cat and has been with us since before the duplex was completed, but she eats at Side B and sleeps there on cold nights.

Both sides of the duplex have space for one more boy from the institution, so we are just waiting until the babies are a little bigger before bringing the next boys out. Please pray for us for wisdom and courage in that!

Building 7. The newest parcel of land was purchased just last year and had an existing old farmhouse on it. We call it “Building 7” just because 7 is the street address. Much like our home, it needed to be stripped down to walls and foundation, but is on it’s way to being the next and final home on the Homestead. It’s a smaller home and will have space for house parents and two boys. At this point we are planning for Max and Lesya to live there with Ruslan. They currently live with Rus in a house close to town, so we are looking forward to the time when they are here in the village with us. Once they are settled there they will be able to bring another boy home to live with them and their two cats, Bella and Carlos.

Dajana’s House. Dajana is our team member from Germany who cares for the horses and does horse therapy with the boys. Until last October she was a house parent for Yarik and Vova on Side A, along with Christiana. After moving out of the duplex she decided to build herself a small modular home on the back of our property so she can continue to live in close community with all of us here on the Homestead. Her project is in process and hopefully will be completed this spring! In the meantime she is living in the A-frame office building with her two dogs, Buddy and Lilo.

So there you have it! That’s all of us and all of our many, many animals. So.many.animals. 😂 I absolutely love living here on the Homestead. There is always someone nearby to talk to, help if you need it, or just be present for companionship. The work we do isn’t easy. It’s not a 9-5 job, but a complete lifestyle. I can’t imagine doing it in isolation! We are so blessed to have the gift of each other.

If you have any other questions about our Homestead, ask away! I hope this helped you get more names and faces straight in your head. Thanks for loving us and for caring about our lives here with our boys. We could never have built this beautiful community without your support. 💙

Wishing you sunny and peaceful skies,

Kim

If you want more a visual, here’s a video tour of the Homestead.

Yesterday we had the most amazing opportunity to witness the birth of our new foal! Gloria, one of our horses who we unexpectedly found out was already pregnant when we purchased her in October, gave birth to a sweet baby boy. New life never ceases to amaze me. It was an incredible day!

We always assumed that Gloria would give birth during the night or in the very early hours. And since we didn’t even know she was pregnant for most of the pregnancy, we didn’t know exactly when to expect the new arrival. Every morning I would look out my bedroom window to see if Gloria was waiting for her breakfast at the fence. If she was ever absent in those morning hours I would eagerly check to see if we had a baby. But…she decided to do it right smack in the middle of the day…and in the middle of the mud!

Jed and I were inside clipping our weiner dog’s nails (I promise we don’t only take care of animals here…😆) when Tonya, one of our team members ran into the house screaming our names. My heart about stopped- something terrible must have happened! We ran down the stairs “What? What happened?” “She’s giving birth!!!!!!” “Who?” (We also have a pregnant goat) “Gloria!!! Come quick!” Apparently, a neighbor was walking past our back fence on her way home from the little village store, saw a horse in the middle of the birthing process, and began screaming her lungs out to get someone’s attention. Tonya heard and we all started running to the barn. It was quite dramatic. 😁 We arrived on the scene to see a freshly born foal lying in the mud, still partially in the amniotic sac! Its legs were stuck in the sack so Jed pulled it away and then we all just watched Gloria and her mothering instincts take over. Ahhhhh it was so beautiful and special. We got to see our new colt stand for the first time on his stick-skinny, looooooooong legs, we saw how Gloria guided him to learn to nurse, and how she protected him from the curiosity of the other horses. All of us who live with the boys here on the Homestead just stayed with them for hours, watching the new life unfold. So much fun. Dajana, our resident “horse person”, is actually in Germany right now and was so upset to miss the birth! We were sending videos, Facetiming, and wishing so badly that she was with us on the special day. We miss you, Dajana!

Once we established that he is actually a “he”, we started the name convo. We hadn’t discussed names at all and I’ll tell you what, two Ukrainians, a German, and a few Americans all agreeing on a name is a great “experience” in honesty, team building, compromise, and kindness… and is about as easy as herding cats. Ha! We had to agree on a name that sounds good in all three languages (German, Ukrainian, and English) and with all three accents. In the end, at 11:00pm, we decided to use rank-order voting in order to make a fair choice. Thankfully, Christiana was once a voting official and was able to guide us through the process. 😂 We each submitted two name ideas and then we each ranked them according to our likes and dislikes. For your amusement, here is the list of names we were voting on:

The List (in no particular order)

1. Ryan Gosling
2. Horse Named Sioux (inspired by the Johnny Cash song “A Boy Named Sue”)
3. Bjorn
4. Johnny Cash
5. Marty
6. Kev
7. Uhtred
8. Josh of the Woods (inspired by our board chairman and US Director of Operations- Josh Woods)
9. Carl
10. Keanu Reaves
11. Clint
12. Woody
13. Seastar
14. Chandler
15. Johnny Go Lightly

And the winning name is….”Horse Named Sioux”!! He will affectionately be referred to as “Horse”. We think it’s absolutely hilarious that that name won. But, in a country where English is not the commonly spoken language, it’s actually quite cute and funny to hear Ukrainians calling him “Horse”. I love it so much. It makes me laugh.

Anyway, we wanted to introduce you to our sweet Horse, the newest member of the Wide Awake Family. He is already and will be well-loved. Welcome to the world, Horse Named Sioux! ❤️

Here is a beautiful intro from our team’s Instagram

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A post shared by [ΔᎥм]ГᎥдностᎥ | Dignity Home (@dim_hidnosti_ukraine)

Last week Ruslan and Jed returned home to us at long, long last. Oh, the sweet relief and joy of having them safe and sound, back in our arms. Annnnnnd they brought home with them our dear Christiana! Christiana is a friend of ours and of Wide Awake/Dim Hidnosti for many years. Her dream (and ours) was that once she finished grad school she would come spend a longer period of time here with us as a house parent, living with the boys. At long last, she finished and now she is here! It still doesn’t feel quite real that she’ll be with us for a full two years. I think we all feel a bit of the “pinch me” feelings. 🙂

Now that Jed is home and Christiana is here we really do have what we have always dreamed of. We have our boys living in our beautiful homes and we have amazing house parents living with them, building family. And a huge bonus is that all of us living here on the Homestead truly love and like each other! What we have is something special and right now I’m really feelin’ all the feels about it.

Dajana and Christiana love the boys and are feeling inspired to finally make Side A of the duplex a real home. Just in time for the coziness of the holidays, too! Dajana has such a calm, intuitive way with the boys that you would never know this work was absolutely, completely new to her just a few short months ago. She’s a natural and I’m pretty sure she’s happily surprised by that. 🙂 Christiana is new to us but is already thoughtfully considering how she can create meaningful time with the boys in the evenings when it’s family time. I love that! Oleg and Masha have done a really great job of making Side B into a true home for Anton and Sasha. They are dream house parents and are an example to us all of how to live life not just physically “with” the boys, but to really and truly live with them. To invite them into family, to look at them as equals, and to consider their wants and desires as humans in this world. I, for one, am inspired by them all the time.

What we have together here on the Homestead is a living, breathing, loving community and I feel so honored to be a part of it. Masha recently wrote her thoughts about community life on our team’s Instagram and Facebook pages and what she wrote was so beautiful it made me a little teary. Here’s the translation (Just a reminder, “Dim Hidnosti” translated “Dignity Home” or “House of Dignity” is the Ukrainian arm of Wide Awake. It is the name of Wide Awake’s work that is done here in Ukraine, simply because “Wide Awake” doesn’t translate well into Ukrainian) :

Life in Community
“In this era of individualism, people have begun to lose their sense of community and interdependence with others❌. In a society where no one owes anyone anything, unfortunately, there is very little room left for creating a community where all move in the same direction.

But do people need community now?
As we have already verified over the past year and a half – community, for us, is a huge driving force💪! Without community in various forms of its existence, it would not be possible to achieve goals for the benefit of society. Therefore, the development of local communities right now is very important for the further development of our country.

In a society where ‘no one owes anyone anything’, deinstitutionalization, saving children and adults from institutions, would not be possible. If ‘I don’t owe anyone anything’, then the innocent suffer. People remain defenseless at the hands of the institutional system and there is no one to help them 💔. Would we want such a fate for ourselves, our children, our relatives? Then why should others be condemned to loneliness and a life without a family? We cannot choose to exist only for ourselves – we simply do not have the right to do so while there is such injustice in the world. We must act, join local communities that are already helping people, or create them ourselves 🙌🏻

Would it be possible for the ‘House of Dignity’ (Dim Hidnosti) to exist without community? We can say with confidence: NO. Only in community and unity is it possible to achieve the goal we have set for ourselves – to give dignity, hope, and love to people with disabilities ❤️‍🩹.
The community of Dim Hidnosti is protection, support, and family for the men with disabilities who live with us. Moreover, we are their only family forever.

Community is a calling. Not every person can choose such a life for himself, because it requires full disclosure of your personality to other members of the community 🫣. To see imperfection in yourself and others and to have the courage to forgive, recover, recognize your right to make mistakes, and give this right to others 🤝….
We appear before everyone as we are, without decorations – and there is always a risk of not being accepted or being rejected. But, is it worth taking the risk and finding out what community acceptance and love can be like and how lifelong friendships can realize and fulfill dreams? 🙌🏻

Dim Hidnosti is a place of restoration and healing, not only for our boys but also for those of us who have dedicated our lives to them.
This healing and restoration is possible when every member of our community gives their heart to the work.
We are grateful for every person who has been with us, who is with us now, and who will come to Dim Hidnosti because each has given a part of their life and heart to our boys and this community ❤️.”

The longer I am a part of this community/family God has brought together the more beautiful it becomes and the more thankful I become. Is it always an easy life, living in close community where your actions affect everyone and their actions affect you? Heck no! Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it’s tiring. Sometimes it’s disappointing. But is it worth it? Yes, a thousand times yes. I wouldn’t give up the gift of my Dim Hidnosti family for all the world. They are God’s gift to me and there is nowhere else I would rather be.

Please don’t live life alone. Seek out community. Open your eyes, your heart, your arms, your home. I am certain there is someone who needs what you have to give and your life will be so much richer for having given. We were not meant to walk this life alone. Life together is so much more beautiful.

I didn’t grow up close to nature. Sure, we would go camping as kids, and those times are some of my fondest memories, but I wouldn’t say we were a “nature family” by any stretch of the imagination. We were more of an after-school activity, church, sports, Saturday-morning cartoon family. We had a couple cats when I was little, but they either ran away or we had to give them away when we moved…I can’t remember. And I had a few guinea pigs over the years. Fun fact: my first guinea pig’s name was Hudson Taylor. I was a weird kid, but I knew where my life was headed, I guess. What I’m getting at, is the extent of my childhood knowledge of farm life was limited to my heavy consumption of Little House on the Prairie (the TV series, not the books, thankyouverymuch).

When we lived in the US, before we were aware of Ukraine at all, Jed and I talked and dreamed about having some land, homesteading a bit. It wasn’t anything we were ever ready to seriously look into, but we dreamed of it someday in the future. I’m not even sure what sparked that dream. I guess we liked the idea of planting and growing things, of having space for our kids to run, of getting our hands dirty and caring for animals. Jed had a bit more experience with all that than I did, but not much. For whatever reason, it just sounded cool and it sounded very “us”. I liked to cook from scratch. We were always kicking our kids outdoors. We had backyard chickens. Baby steps toward the dream…

Then came that fateful night in the summer of 2010 when our eyes were opened to the horrors of institutional life in Ukraine for people with disabilities and all other dreams flew out the window. There was the agonizing time of not knowing how to respond to the new information we had discovered. Then the decision to adopt. Then when that fell through, the first visit to Ukraine. Then the founding of Wide Awake and the selling of almost all our worldly possessions. Gone was our beautiful craftsman on a quarter acre (huge to us), our backyard chickens, our bunnies, our cook-from-scratch, grain mill-using, kefir-making kitchen. The homestead dream took a backseat to the urgent need to get to Ukraine and DO SOMETHING to relieve the suffering of those languishing in institutions.

Now we’ve been in Ukraine for almost ten years (pinch me) and this past week a thought hit me like a ton of bricks. Our homestead dream is coming, has come true. Say what???? Our land here in the village has slowly become the thing of our dreams. And it has happened so slowly, in the midst of so many more important things that I somehow seemed to have missed it, or forgotten that we had once, long ago dreamed of it.

When we decided it was time to buy land here, that it was time to start getting people out of institutions we debated about what was better- to be in the city or in the village. We didn’t want to hide our friends with disabilities away, out of sight, like they always had been, but at the same time, we wanted them to be able to touch nature, to walk freely outdoors, to have space to breathe. We eventually decided the village would be better suited for deinstitutionalization, so we bought a little bit of property and the Homestead took its first breath.

I always thought that we were in the village because it was better for the boys. And I do believe it is. I can’t imagine trying to do what we do in the middle of the city. But now I am starting to notice a sneaky truth, that God placed us in the village not just for the boys, but for me and Jed too. I truly believe that God remembered that long laid down spark of a dream and in his kindness he has made it a reality.

Living on the Homestead, working in our massive garden, caring for our chickens, goats, and dogs- it brings me so much life. It’s like therapy for me. For reals. Sure, with Jed gone it can feel a bit overwhelming, but I still love it so much and I know Jed does too. Many of our Facetime convos, while he’s in the US, consist of me showing him the garden and the animals. 😆 I like learning new things, trying new things, planting, growing, harvesting, and preserving our own food. I love watching baby chicks grow and change. Our one little chick that recently hatched has two mama hens and the three of them are just the cutest little trio there ever was. Now we have another mama hen brooding on 4 eggs and I can’t wait to see what will happen with her. She’s an aggressive one. Ain’t nobody gonna mess with her babies! One of our hens, Kelly Cluckson, broke her leg and I thought we were going to have to put her out of her misery, but after a few weeks of making sure she could be left alone with food and water, I’m happy to report that now she can walk and jump and kinda/sorta limp-run. It’s so great! I’m so proud of her! 😆. Soon we will have horses and that will take everything up a notch. I have no idea what to do with horses, but I’m eager to learn. Dajana and I have a plan to take the horses to the forest after she teaches me to ride. Can you imagine? So cool.

One of my favorite moments of the day is late at night when I go out to the barn to lock up the goats and chickens for the night. It’s suuuuuuuuper dark. Our village doesn’t have street lights so the only light is from the moon. On clear nights there are so many stars. It’s incredible. I love to stand out there, look at all the stars, listen to the bazillion barking dogs. It’s like my soul can take a deep breath in that moment. In the midst of dealing with the trauma our boys carry, hard parenting moments, and living in a country at war, our little Homestead brings me life and joy. It steadies me a bit. I’m thankful that God placed that kernel of a dream in our hearts all those years ago and that he brought it to fruition in a way we could never have imagined. He is so good and kind to us.

Making our garden accessible, and fun moments from the past couple of weeks ❤️

For everyone following the journey, we’ve done a lot of building during the last 6 years. Jed gives a tour of the new barn, cargo bikes, walkways, and his best attempt at keeping the chicken eggs clean. Enjoy.

www.wideawakeinternational.org

Here’s a little tour of the Wide Awake/Dim Hidnosti property for you. ☺️ I think it helps to see the bigger picture of the Homestead and how it has changed and developed over the years. Plus, exciting new developments are underway! 👏👏
PS: Sorry my voice sounds annoying and Jed’s is so quiet. I’d redo it, except it’s raining…so…no. 😆

Life at the moment feels especially full. I’d love to take the time to be reflective and self-aware, but I just don’t have it in me. Life is just happening and I don’t have the time to think much about the deeper things. But, what I can think about is what is bringing me joy!

Pinky Malinky. A couple of weeks ago our sweet Wendell dog died. We don’t know why. We don’t know what happened to him. He was neutered on a Tuesday and all seemed well and good, but then on Friday he was found in the trees behind our house and he had died. Oh, our poor Seth. He was so devastated. Wendell was his dog and Seth had found him as a small puppy on the streets of our village. He was a naughty, but sweet dog. Seth’s little heart was broken.

Enter…Pinky Malinky! Seth had a puppy-shaped hole in his heart, and it needed filling. We found a local ad about a puppy who had been found in a dumpster on New Year’s Eve and needed a home. So, we brought that little pup home and Seth named her Pinky Malinky. 🙂 She is so sweet and the perfect addition to our family. She’ll be more of an inside dog than Bluebell. Bluebell is a worker, but Pinky is happy to cuddle. She’s good for us.

Survivor Night. Friday night at the Homestead is “Survivor Night”. We all look forward to it in eager anticipation. 🙂 Around 8pm Max and Morgan make their way over from the duplex and we cozy on in for our weekly dose of Jeff Probst and island drama. There’s usually some sort of treat included (of course). I think we started watching Survivor when we were trying to survive jet lag, and then it became a tradition. Seeing as how there’s like 40 seasons of Survivor out there, it’s a tradition that should carry us for a good while. You can read Morgan’s thoughts on Survivor Night here.

Garden Dreaming and House Plants. The snow has melted (for now) and we’ve got the garden on our minds. During the long, snowy wait I decided to try my hand at house plants (everyone who knows me in real life is shaking their head and laughing at me right now). In the past I’ve been pretty vehemently opposed to house plants, simply because I was so overwhelmed with keeping the humans and animals in my life fed and watered, I couldn’t imagine trying to add needy plants to the mix. I have one house plant that has survived for like 3 years here in this house and I honestly have no idea how that is even possible. I don’t even remember where that plant came from, but it is one determined plant! This year, as the snow lasted on and on and refused to melt, I started thinking I had the mental capacity to try out some plants. Annnnnd so far so good! Our friend, Christiana, who is here visiting, has helped me a ton, and I’m finding joy in seeing my plants not die. Haha. Jed and I are beginning garden talks and scheming how we want to switch things up this year. So exciting! Bring on the sun and the dirt. We’re ready.

The Fence. What a glamorous life I lead. When things like a finished fence bring you immense joy you know you’re deeeeeeep in country livin’. Oleg finished our fence and we now have a fully enclosed back yard. The reason this makes me unreasonably happy is because we have approximately 226 stray dogs in our village and they were all making our back yard their personal playground. Poor Bluebell was working from sunup till way past sundown, chasing them out of our yard. I was throwing shoes at them. It was super annoying and super loud. But now, thanks to a finished fence, they are no longer making a party pad out of our back yard. Thank the Lord!

What’s been bringing you joy lately? Do tell!