I started packing today. We’re moving! YIPPEEE!
(That yippee wasn’t intended for the move itself, but more for the end product of where we’re moving to)

On Saturday we are moving to a new home here in Zhytomyr. It all happened really fast, hence me just starting to pack today. Yikes.

When we moved here almost a year ago we moved into a home that suited us really well for this first year in Ukraine. Our current home is super close to Mission to Ukraine, it has plenty of space for guests, it was in our budget, and it has been fine for the past several months. But, we have known all along this wouldn’t be our place to settle down in. It was a stop along the way. 🙂

We decided to start looking for something that had a yard. Oh how we have missed having a yard and a garden!! Our current home has no land or yard at all. Any and all of the land outside our door belongs to the neighbors and is a constant construction zone. We also wanted some place that could be more easily wheelchair accessible. If possible, we really wanted a house, not an apartment.

Last week we looked at two houses and the second one seemed just perfect! So, we’ll move in on Saturday!

Pros:
-It is a one-level house. I LOVE one-level houses.
-It’s really well built and nicely insulated. Ukraine is supposed to have a crazy winter on the way, so this is very good.
-MORE COUNTER SPACE!
-It has a living room! Our current home has a big dining/kitchen area, but no living room. We’ve missed having a couch. 🙂
-It’s cozy and compact. I don’t like a lot of house to clean.
-Here’s the kicker: It has an ENORMOUS space for a garden. I mean HUGE! We thought we would have to move out to the village to get land like this, and we were willing to, but finding it in town is even better! There is a big front yard/driveway and then in the back there is garden space that just goes on and on. We are happy, happy, happy.
-We’ll be about 3 blocks from a small bazaar, which is super convenient for shopping.

Cons:
-We don’t know anyone in the part of town we’re moving to. We don’t know the shops or any neighbors…starting from scratch in that way is kind of intimidating.
-The new place quite a bit further from Mission to Ukraine. No more 3 minute walks to MTU- now it’s a bus ride away. Boohoooooo
-It’s a two bedroom house, so there’s no guest room. But don’t worry, friends! The couch turns in to a bed. We’ll still have room for you!

We’re happy and thankful to have found a cozy place that looks like it can be a real home. We’ll make sure to post pictures when we’re moved in!

Now, back to packing. Yayyyyy…..sorta.

We are rapidly approaching our one year anniversary of life here in Ukraine.

Has it already been one year?  Has it been only one year????

So much has happened in this past year it feels like a million lifetimes have passed since we touched down in Kyiv that cold November night.

Before we moved we’d been warned by other missionaries and in missionary books and missionary blogs that the first year overseas is a beast. We tried to prepare ourselves for that, but how can you really prepare, emotionally and spiritually, to leave everything you have ever known and held dear- and start over? How can you prepare to go from being a pretty smart person to feeling pretty much dumb pretty much all the time? How can you prepare for what it will be like to watch your children hurt and struggle and feel lonely? How can you prepare to go from being a vital part of a vibrant community of like-minded people to living on the fringes of society?

You just can’t. You can try, but you just can’t be prepared. You just have to jump and trust that your loving Father will catch you.

This first year has been the hardest time of our lives. It has stretched us and jostled us and turned us upside down.

And yet…

How can you prepare to have your heart invaded by 80 boys tucked away in the middle of nowhere? How can you prepare for the joy of knowing young men and women with special needs who can light up the room with a single smile? How can you prepare to watch God fling open doors that have been shut for years? How can you prepare to feel the absolute smile of God and joy of the Father as you walk right down the center of His will? How can you prepare to watch young men and women loving your children with utter abandonment?

You just can’t. You can try, but you just can’t be prepared. These things are what you experience in that catch of the Father.

My heart came to a new place this past week. I was washing the dishes and thinking about our upcoming Ukraine-iversary, and I realized that I’m good. I’m okay. We will most likely live here for a very long time, and I’m okay with it. When we moved here we sold everything except what we packed in our 12 suitcases (and a couple tubs in storage). We came here with the mindset that this is our new home until God says otherwise. We knew then that if we came for a set amount of time we would forever be looking at that deadline and we wouldn’t settle in for the long-haul. We know that about ourselves.

I can’t know the heart of God, and His ways are higher than mine. Maybe He’ll have us leave here next month, but I highly doubt it. I can’t say I know the future, but I can say that the dreams God gave us are big HUGE dreams that are going to take a loooooooong time. So, as things stand now, I expect us to live in Ukraine for many, many years.

We are here for the long-haul, and I’m good. I’m sad, but I’m good. Thinking about the long-haul a few months ago only made me cry. I’ll be honest. Now it makes me cry and it makes me smile. It makes me cry because I miss my family and my friends across the ocean. I saw pictures of a bunch of my family all together last weekend and I bawled my eyes out. I should be there with them. How can I not be there with them? How can we raise our children so far away from family? How can we bear all the missed holidays, all the missed birthdays, all the joys of daily life? Christmas is coming. How will we bear it? I don’t know and I don’t even want to think about it. I guess I have to trust that God will catch us then too. It’s so hard, but we just have to trust Him that He will fill those empty places- for us and our family in the US.  That part is incredibly hard.  I can’t even tell you how hard.

The long-haul also makes me smile. It makes me smile because of our dear ones here. How could we ever leave our Boys???? How??? How could we leave and not be a part of their lives? How could we walk away and not know what happened to them, where they lived out their days? How could we stop fighting for them? And what about our young adults with special needs? We love them! How could we leave? And what about all our friends? Our church? Leaving here would be just as devastating as it was to leave Salem. I’ll even dare to say it would be more devastating deep down, simply because our loved ones in America are daily loved and care for by many, but our Boys are not.

Sigh. There just aren’t any simple fixes. It’s just painful and joyful and trustful and tearful. All we can do is trust and keep hold of the hand of our Father.

So, I’m in a new place. I’m in a place of seeing the long road stretched out before me and feeling okay with walking in that direction for many more years. There will be plenty of tears and joys along the way, I’m sure of that. But oh the peace that comes from saying YES to Jesus- one step at a time. There’s just nothing like it.

Today marks 6 months in Ukraine.  Happy Anniversary to us!  YAY!

The past 6 months have flown by, yet so much has happened and so much in life has changed in that time that I can hardly believe we’ve only been here for 6 months.  Crazy.

My heart is so full right now as I look back at all God has done, and as I look at what He is doing right now.  I think about the ones who helped send us here and continue to send us and I am overwhelmed with love.  All our friends, family, and supporters that are so far away- we love you so so much.  We cherish every email, every Skype/Facetime date, every Viber message, every Facebook message, and every postcard more than we can even express.  THANK YOU for your continued prayer and encouragement.  It is necessary and such an enormous blessing to us.  We know we aren’t “out of sight out of mind” and that means a lot to us.  🙂

Then I think about all our wonderful friends here in our new home and I get all gushy and teary-eyed again.  How is it that we can be so blessed??  I’ve decided that we are just stinkin’ spoiled rotten.  Our Ukrainian friends love us and our children so very well.  Our lives are so much richer because of your presence in our lives.  THANK YOU for loving us despite our toddler vocabulary.  You are too good to us.  We love you!

Okay, I’m done with my speech now.  I could say so much more, but it’ll get all mushy and you all don’t want to read that.  Let’s just say, God is good and saying YES is worth it.

Annnnnnd for your viewing pleasure, here are some of my favorite pics of the past few weeks, just because I can.  🙂

First S’mores of the season

Romaniv Sweetness

“Mama Nina”

Fun at our friends’ farm, i.e Seth’s Heaven

Football!! (Soccer)

Addy and Hava helping babysit Zakhar, their fave Ukrainian baby doll 🙂

Fun with friends

Flying kites with cows. Hahaha

Free-Range Sethers

Making friends in our neighborhood. Slowly but surely!

Ezra found a pet at the park…meet Slimey!

Bob, a Vineyard pastor in California, came to visit and we made a great new friend. We can’t wait till you come again!

Olya, my Ukrainian Mama 🙂 Я люблю тебе Оля!

Semi-scary ooooooold carnival rides are right up Ezra’s alley

I can’t wait to see what the next 6 months hold.  Woohoo!

In ten days we’ll have been in Ukraine for six months.  Crazy.  On one hand it feels like “Where did the time go?”, but mostly it feels like a whole lot longer than that.  I don’t say that in a negative way, just in an honest way.  Every thing has changed.  Everything.  In Ezra’s words, “Everything about Ukraine is different…except McDonalds.”  It feels like a very long time since we and our 12 suitcases (TWELVE!!!) crossed the ocean. It feels like much more than 6 months ago.

In many ways, I feel great right now.  I feel like we’re in our groove with MTU.  We are loved there and we love many people there.  We have a bit of a schedule there and are able to be a very practical help to them.  Of course, the work at Romaniv is AWESOME and we are loving that.  We are pretty good at shopping now, we know the bus routes, and we were able to actually communicate with our landlady last week without calling any English speakers for help.  In some ways, we have really grown and feel at home here.

In other ways, we struggle.  I won’t speak for Jed about his struggles, but I thought I would share a bit of my own.  I think I have a tendency to always write about the good and neglect sharing about the bad or the difficult.  I don’t want to be a complainer, and sharing your struggles is really putting yourself out there.  Not many people enjoy doing that…but I feel like I need to do it.  It’s not a fair picture to only paint the good.  This is real life, and I’m determined to be a real person.  So, here ya go.

The past few weeks were hard for me, probably the hardest yet.  Things are getting better now, but it was a bit rough, internally.  Let’s just say I’m having a harder time letting go than I had anticipated.  My Mommy heart has been struggling in big ways.

Of course, when we were preparing to move here I anticipated that I would experience loneliness and isolation.  I knew I would miss my family and friends, my church, and the familiarity of everyday life.  I do miss all those things, but I can deal.  I know that I know I’m exactly where God wants me to be.  I am learning that He is enough, and He continues to give me the strength to say yes.

I guess what I didn’t anticipate was how difficult this road would be as a mother.  Really, how could I anticipate it?  I had no one to talk to who had followed this path before, and anyone with a bit of a similar situation experienced their story in a different culture than this.  I still have no one to talk to who has walked this road before in Ukraine.  But, I’m learning to be okay with that.

The thing is, I’ve been subconsciously trying to recreate my childhood, a middle-class American childhood, in Ukraine.  Ummmmm yeah….not gonna work.   I KNOW THAT.  I know we don’t live in suburban America.  I know that EVERYTHING is different (I said that already).  But knowing that, and living that are two different things.

I’m just now learning how much of my mothering expectations and family expectations are based on American culture.  It’s all I know!  Of course, I expect what I know.  I don’t know anything different.  I don’t know how to mother my children in this place.  Jed and I chose to come here.  Our children didn’t get a choice.  I don’t know what to do when they’re on the playground and they are surrounded by children they can’t speak to.  Do I push them to go try to make friends or do I let them just be their own little island, playing only with each other?  I don’t know what to do when my Hava comes up to me crying at a picnic full of kids because she has no friends and no one will play with her.  I don’t know how to continue to build their English reading and writing skills when they are in Ukrainian school.  Ezra was just really learning how to read and write in English, and now his day is spent reading and writing a language he doesn’t understand.  What do I do with that?  I’m not sure any of my favorite homeschool books cover that scenario.

Everyone says,

“The kids will be fine!”

“Kids don’t need language to play!  Just put them out on the playground and they’ll make friends in no time!”

“Kids learn language so fast.  Before you know it your kids will be translating for you!”

If I had a dollar for every time I heard those words…

Let me tell you, it’s not as easy as all that.  It just plain isn’t.  Maybe in some cultures, kids don’t need language to make new friends, but in this culture they do.  This isn’t the most open culture.  Kids are shy.  Kids are more closed.  We are the oddity in our town.  We are like a walking zoo.  Ha!  There is no one like us that I know of in our town, and it shows.  Our kids are understanding more all the time, but they can barely speak to other children.  I know, I know, it’s only been 6 months, but I can vouch that 6 months feels like an eternity when your kids’ hearts are involved.  It’s just plain hard, and for the past few weeks, I’ve felt tired and discouraged.

I want my kids to be able to talk to other kids, just chat and goof around.  I want other kids to know them.  They are great little people, but no one knows that because they can’t speak.  I want them to have friends and to be able to respond when approached by other children.

I want those things, but then I wonder, how many of my expectations are based on modern American culture, and how many are really essential for their health and happiness?

The kids are happy.  Sure they are awkward in social situations, but otherwise they are happy.  They have each other and they love each other deeply.  They are happy to run and play together, regardless of what other kids around them are doing.  They are like a little tribe, oblivious to anyone else.  So I find that I’m putting expectations on their childhood that they don’t even have for themselves!  They don’t know what my childhood was, so they don’t have that expectation of their own.  They don’t see other kids’ lives on Facebook and compare them with their own.  What they are experiencing now is their own childhood, and it is shaping them just as my childhood shaped me.

For instance, right now we’re reading through the Little House on the Prairie books as a family.  In Little House in the Big Woods, I was struck by how infrequently Mary and Laura had contact with other children.  They were mostly just home with Ma and Pa, yet according to the books they were as content as can be!  They weren’t pining away for sleepovers and play dates…the Big Woods was what they knew and it was enough.  When they drove into town for the first time Laura described how they saw children playing outside the houses.  Never was it mentioned how she wished she was one of those children with tons of neighbors all around.  They had the security of their family.  They knew they were loved.  They had each other and they were content.

My children don’t pine away for sleepovers and play dates and homeschool co-op, but I find myself pining away on their behalf.  I guess it’s because I know that’s what their American friends are doing and I feel they are missing out on what “should be”.  In my mind, those things are what make a childhood.  BUT, there are plenty of varieties of “happy childhood”.  Of course, they miss their friends, and if given the option they would love to be a part of that life again, but they rarely talk about it.  Their life is here.  They have each other.  They have our love.  Their life is rich here and most of the time they seem content.  But then there is the occasional Skype or Facetime with a friend back in the US and things begin to unravel.  I want them to be able to keep those friendships, but it is hard on their little hearts.  Sigh….I think that’s another topic altogether.

Those are the thoughts and ramblings that have been tearing at my heart.  My heart knows that my children were called here.  My heart knows that they need to live here and this needs to be their life experience in order for God to make them fully who He intends for them to be.  But knowing all of that doesn’t make this easy.  It’s hard to watch your children struggle.  It’s hard when everyone blows it off and makes it sound like all of this adjustment will come easily to them.  Maybe in the long run we’ll look back and see that the struggle was brief and it did, in fact, come easily, but in the meantime, it doesn’t feel easy at all.  Just because a pregnant woman had a quick labor doesn’t mean the labor didn’t hurt.

So, I continue to work at letting go.  I give my kids over to God and trust that He knows what is best for them.  I trust that He will give us wisdom when no parenting or mothering book seems to apply (because none of them seem at all relevant right now).  I trust that this will get easier and slowly they will find their place in this culture.

Most of all I am working at letting go of my priorities and desperately seeking God’s priorities.  Who cares about sleepovers and play dates if their little hearts are far from the Lord?  This world is not all that there is.  We were made for eternity!  This life is a blink of an eye compared to what we were really created for.  Our main job as parents is not to find our kids more friends on the playground or ensure they are happy and accepted at school.  Our main job is to point them to Jesus.  I want my kids to see that He is all that matters and that living abandoned to him is worth it.  It.is.worth.it.  On the hard days when we are lonely and feel like we don’t fit anywhere- He is worth it.   I want to end my race having absolutely spent myself- holding nothing back.  I want that for my children.

The American dream is not what I was created for.  I was created for Him.  Our children were created for Him.  He is the priority.  May I never forget it.  May I let go of myself and my wants and cling to Him.  May our children live lives of YES.  Isn’t that what truly matters?  I’ve learned from experience that saying YES to Him brings the greatest happiness EVER.  That is the variety of happy childhood I want for my babies.  I just need a reminder of that every day or so.  🙂

Hello!  Today’s Thursday, hence the title “Thursday”.  Today is a normal day.  Addy and Ezra went to school.  I guess today was a little special at school because their class got to go over to the bigger school down the street and watch the teenagers put on a play.  They were so excited, and I’m happy to report that they weren’t disappointed.  They had a great time on their first “field trip”.

Hava, Seth, and I took the bus to the big grocery store at the mall and did some shopping, Jed worked at MTU- meeting about the volunteer program development and helping in special needs classrooms.  Life as usual for the Johnson fam.  🙂

At a birthday party in Kyiv…guess what mug they saved for me?

I’ve kind of neglected this spot lately.  My last post was 10 days ago!  No bueno.

Lots has been happening and it seems there’s always something to write about, but then when the end of the day comes and I have time to write I’m utterly exhausted.  I really want to enjoy writing here, and good posts never come out of compulsion.  But, I still need to attempt to be more faithful here.

Babes at Maidan

So…here’s my attempt at a bit of a catch-up post so I can give myself a clean slate and a fresh start. Mmmmk?

1.  We switched to learning Ukrainian.  Oy.  Don’t get me started.  Okay, I’ll explain.  We started out learning Russian long before we even moved.  I’m pretty sure I’ve explained why we have been studying Russian (more useful worldwide, there are boys we would love to get to someday that live in the south where Russian is more widely spoken, our dreams are bigger than only Ukraine…).  BUT, we are realizing more and more each day that for our everyday life here and now in Zhytomyr, we really need Ukrainian.  Ukrainian is spoken at Romaniv.  Our kids are learning Ukrainian in school.  All their homework is in Ukrainian.  Classes we assist with at MTU are taught in Ukrainian.  Our church is in Ukrainian.  Yeah….not so much Russian.  However, most people you meet on the street are speaking Russian.  So, I guess picking one language and sticking with it is the most important decision.  Most people here in Zhytomyr mix the languages together, so I’m assuming that’s what we’ll begin to do as well.  My poor, poor brain…  🙂

Fast Fact: When we were studying Russian we spelled the town we live in like this: “Zhitomir” – the Russian transliteration.  Now that we’re learning Ukrainian we spell it like this: “Zhytomyr”- the Ukrainian transliteration.  Same goes with “Kiev” vs. “Kyiv”.  🙂

2.  We had some amazingly wonderful special guests this past weekend!

Okay.  Jed’s parents are missionaries in Kosovo.  They are volunteers for a German relief organization called Humedica.  Humedica does amazing work in disaster relief worldwide.  They have huge numbers of medical professionals in their database ready to respond to need at any time.  Awesome, awesome organization that does big work really well.

Wolfgang Gross, the founder and director of Humedica, has become a close friend of Jed’s parents over the past 14 years they’ve been working together.  We’ve been wanting to meet him since forever!  Numerous times Jed has tried to plan a way to meet his parents in Germany to meet Wolfgang and it just never worked out.  Well, this past weekend we got the treat of a lifetime!  On Thursday we found out that Wolfgang and his dear friend Jurgen were invited to Kyiv to deliver much-needed medical supplies to hospitals that were assisting injured protesters.  Wolfgang contacted the parents, who contacted us and let us know that we would have a chance to meet!  We rushed off to Kyiv on Friday after school and spent an amazing weekend with two men who will always have a piece of our hearts.  Jed got to help take them around Kyiv on Saturday to deliver their supplies.  Then we all visited Maidan on Sunday. They joined us at Kyiv Vineyard for church on Sunday and then came to little ol’ Zhytomyr to stay the night at our house!  Wolfgang and Jurgen got a tour of MTU and they even got to visit Romaniv!  Super cool and fun.  We were so sad to see them leave.  Having them here felt like family visiting, even though we were meeting for the first time.  It was glorious.

Wolfgang and Jurgen at Maidan

Visiting an Occupational Therapy session at MTU

Wolfgang, Jurgen, and Ira, the Director at MTU

3.  Our boys at Romaniv are FINALLY out of quarantine!  We get to resume our visits tomorrow at long last.  Woot!

Welp, there’s a bit of an update for you.  We are doing pretty well, in general.  Every day is different, and some days are better than others.  We feel some loneliness setting in these days and are really missing our sending church, so, we’re learning in a whole new way what it means to find our hope and peace in Jesus alone.  The kids are doing well and Addy and Ez really enjoy school a lot.

Anywaysssss…I feel like a bit of a bore, so here are some pics to reward you for sticking it out till the end.  🙂

Maidan

At this spot on the morning of February 20th, many men were killed by snipers. Here is the memorial to Ukraine’s “Heaven’s Hundred”.

Maidan

Addy, taking it all in, history in the making…

Looking down the hill toward Maidan

Independence Monument

Welp, I officially feel like we moved to Siberia.  Sure, our address is in Ukraine, but I’m still pretty sure we’re actually in Siberia.  …Or maybe it just seems so for the girl who comes from a town that gets maybe 2 snow days a year.  Where I come from, school is canceled if there is even a chance of a snowflake hovering.  If the ground is white, forget about it.  Life is canceled and snowmen are attempted out of the inch of snow that barely reaches the tips of the grass.

Not so in Ukraine.  Life goes on and it is quite the adventure!  It snowed quite a bit here last week, and now it’s been snowing for about 3 days straight.  It’s beautiful!  I’ve never had to live in snow before so I have a lot to learn.  Add not having a car to the mix and you learn pretty darn fast.  🙂

After one of the children (who shall remain nameless) laid down in the middle of the sidewalk in the middle of town to make a snow angel we realized that we probably needed to teach the kids about “snow play time” and “snow errand time”  The two snow times are not created equal.  When we are on “snow errand time” we don’t make snow angels in the middle of the sidewalk and we don’t throw snowballs at each other as we walk down the street.  There are at least two reasons for this: we don’t want to get chewed out by babushkas for getting cold and wet, and we don’t want to enter stores and shops cold and wet.  Oy.

“Do you see anyone else making a snow angel in the middle of town????  Get up right now!!!!”

When it’s below freezing it’s imperative to pay close attention while on the bus.  The windows of the buses are covered in ice and the inside of the bus isn’t cold enough to thaw them, so it’s pretty much impossible to see out the windows at all.  Riding the bus at this point is like crowding into an icy cave full of fur-clad strangers.  You must remain on close lookout for neon light landmarks along the route that help you see when you should get out.  Another method would be to count how many stops it is from one place to another, but I haven’t mastered that yet.

I’ve learned to properly bundle my children and it feels like a strange form of child abuse.  I basically render the little ones incapable of independent movement by the amount of clothing they’re wearing, but it can’t be helped!  I’m becoming a Ukrainian.  There’s no such thing as too much bundle.

First undies, then thick Ukrainian tights, then regular pants, then wool socks, then long-sleeve shirt, then short-sleeve shirt, then snowsuit, then Ukrainian wool vest, then coat (with attached shell), then mittens, then scarf, then hat.  It may seem like overkill, but when you’re in waaaaaay below freezing weather, and you have to wait for the bus you don’t really care about the mobility of your arms, you mostly care that your arms don’t freeze off.  Bundling in Ukraine is like an art form.  Everywhere you go you see mom’s breathless as they stuff and pull and wrap and tug.  Who needs a gym membership when you have 4 kidlets to bundle?

 Though it FREEEEEEEEEZING outside, our house is warm and cozy.  We have plenty of yummy food (and warm coffee) to fill our tummies, and we are happy.  Though things are in upheaval in this place we love, our hearts are full of peace.  We’re finding joy in experiencing a snowy Ukraine for the first time.  Snowy Ukraine is beautiful 🙂 

Yesterday was such a great day! A little stress, a little food, a lot of fun.

We started out the day bright and early with breakfast at our little Bed and Breakfast. I can’t say enough about the place we stayed. It was just perfect! Clean, fresh, bright, super friendly owner, a five minute walk from the train station, walking distance to the embassy, and about half the price of a hotel in Bern. The owner graciously let us keep our bags there all day till we left on the train in the afternoon, so that was great!

We knew the embassy was only open from 9-12 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so we were determined to be first in line since we only allowed ourselves 2 embassy days in country.

With google map picture in hand we headed on our way!

We took a little funicular down the hill from Parliament.

Along the way…

Purty, isn’t it?

Wow! It’s so busy! Good thing we got up at the crack of dawn! 😉

All our paperwork was in order and the visa applications and loads of documents were handed over. We then had to walk to a bank over by Parliament to pay for the visas and return to the embassy with our receipt. We didn’t realize we had to pay for the visas with cash and just BARELY scraped up enough cash to pay. That was a nail-biter, folks! Apparently, the people we heard of who had their visas done in just 2 hours either got really lucky, or they paid to expedite them and we just didn’t know that part. In order to have our visas done in time for our return flight to Ukraine on Tuesday we had to pay double and expedite them. Ouch! But, when you figure in how expensive it is just to eat and sleep here, it’s actually less expensive to pay the expedited fee. So, we chose the lesser of two evils and our visas should be ready for pickup on Monday at 11:30! Pray that is the case! Thanks.

After the visa stuff was done for the day we had about 3 hours to kill before we would leave on the train to head to a town about 40 minutes away to stay with my friend Sandra and her fam. So, we explored Bern and it was fabulous.

We had to hit up Starbucks for the wifi to update our parents on visa stuff. See this whole, huge, spacious room?

…this is the spot Jed where Jed chose to sit. HA!

Swiss photo bomb

We just walked around the corner and bumped in to this church. WOW!

It was open so we took a peek inside.

In search of lunch…

We settled on this deliciousness. So goooooood.

Soon it was time to head to meet our friends. 🙂

The countryside on the way from Bern to their town looked just like the landscape on HWY 99 from Salem to Corvallis. Really! It was the most familiar thing I’ve seen since leaving the US. It even seemed more familiar than Starbucks! (hehehe) There was a lot of green farmland and lots of pine trees. Hallelujah for pine trees! I miss them very much. It was beautiful. 🙂 I tried to take a picture but it didn’t really turn out.

We arrived at the train station where Sandra would meet us and found her easily. YAY! It’s always fun to meet people in person that you’ve communicated with for a couple of years. It was also so surreal. What are we doing here? Ha! This is hilarious that it actually worked out!

We took the bus to Sandra’s village and then walked to their apartment. It’s cozy and welcoming and we are having a great time here. Walter and Sandra are originally from Singapore, but Walter’s job brought them to Switzerland 11 years ago. Sandra cooked us delicious Chinese food that made us very happy. You can’t really get any type of Asian cuisine in Ukraine, so it was a major treat. SO GOOD! Then we talked, played Wii Fit (Which, by the way, gave Jed a Wii Fit age of 30 and me a Wii Fit age of 36. I hate the Wii.) It was a great time to get to know each other better.

Sandra was talking some about Singapore and I admitted that I really know nothing about Singapore or the culture there. I remarked to them that we only really know one person who ever had a tie with Singapore. Some of my parents’ best friends are named Joe and Janet. Joe’s sister Eileen was a missionary in Singapore for many years before we met her. I was mentioning to Jed that I think Eileen is the only person we know who has spent any time in Singapore. Walter and Sandra perked right up. Come to find out they knew Eileen! They were friends with her and worked in ministry with her in Singapore before they were even married! SHUT UP. You have got to be kidding me! At first, we thought they were joking. I mean, out of all the millions of people in Singapore, the one person we know who lived there was their friend. What a crazy small world we live in, I tell ya. We were laughing our heads off about it. God is just too funny.

Now we’re getting ready to head out to explore the little Swiss town we’re in. It’s Jed’s birthday today so we’ll need to make sure we find lots of treats.- I’m just looking out for Jed, mind you. This has nothing to do with my personal need for treats. 😉

Thanks for your prayers for our visas! Keep ’em coming! I’ll let you know as soon as we have them in our hot little hands.

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Here we are!

We are here!

After a full day of travel we arrived in Bern, Switzerland and we are as happy as can be.

Little bus from our house to city square.

Big bus from Zhitomir to Kiev.

Metro to big train station.

Bus from train station to airport.

Direct flight from Kiev to Zurich. Woohoo!

Train from Zurich to Bern.

Walk from train station to lodging. YAY!

I’m sleepy and tomorrow is a big day, so I’ll just share some pics and call it good. Mmmk?

At the metro in Kiev, feelin’ fresh.

METROOOOOO!

On the bus to the airport.

Santa at the airport! I tell ya, Christmas is still going in Ukraine. You can hear Christmas music in all the stores STILL! I was made for Ukraine.

We arrived in Bern! Jed loves this chair. He hasn’t even let me sit in it yet.

We walked around in the rain tonight and it was beautiful.

I’m a sucker for twinkle lights. We had dinner down this street at a restaurant that serves traditional Swiss food. Yes please!

The prettiest bottle of water I ever sipped.

This was AMAZING. It was leeks, cream, sausage, and potatoes. Shut the front door.

That’s a big ol’ bowl of fondue!

Fondue. Again, shut the front door.

Dippage for the fondue.

 

This makes me laugh. I was positively giddy about my coffee! HA!

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This weekend is a weekend for adventure!  Jed and I are going to Switzerland!

I know, I know, the things we suffer as missionaries.  It’s okay, really, It’ll be rough, but we’ll make it.  😉

Really though, Switzerland??  I never thought I’d get to go there!  This is such a fun, unexpected blessing!

Quick recap:

1.  We have to leave Ukraine and go to one of their consulates in another country to get our visas to live in Ukraine.

2.  There is a Ukrainian consulate in Bern, Switzerland.

3.  There is a church near Bern that wants to support Wide Awake and they have asked us to share about Wide Awake at their service on Sunday.

4.  A passionate orphan advocate and encourager of Wide Awake attends the church and invited us to stay with her family and get some good face to face time.

5.  Sharing Wide Awake + Getting visas + Meeting a big time encourager IN PERSON = Killing three birds with one stone and a whole lotta fun.

Jed’s parents have been here visiting from their home in Kosova where they have lived as missionaries for the past 14 years.  We have had the best visit!  It’s been so fun to show them our new home and see Ukraine through their eyes.  They offered to stay here in Ukraine with the kids while Jed and I make the trip to Switzerland.  For one thing, the kids don’t need visas, so they don’t have to come to the consulate.  For another, taking all four kids around a country we don’t know at all, standing in line at the consulate and figuring out public transport sounds less than super fun.  Annnnd for another, two plane tickets is aheckofalot cheaper than six.  BAM. Decision made.  The kids get Grammy and Papa time and Jed and I get a little Swiss Adventure.  Everybody wins!  We’ve got to be killing at least ten birds with that one stone.

Here’s how the weekend will look (if all goes as we hope it should):

Thursday: Fly away to Zurich, find train and take train to Bern.  Explore, change money, drink coffee.

Friday: Hit the Ukrainian Consulate bright and early with documents in hand.  HOPEFULLY we’ll get our visas by the end of that working day…pray pray pray!!!  That afternoon we’ll take the train to another town to meet our friend and gracious host, Sandra, who will take us to her house.

Saturday:  Jed’s Birthday!!!  Hopefully we can explore our hearts out this day.  We’ll do birthday dinner with Sandra and her fam. 🙂

Sunday:  We share Wide Awake at Sandra’s church in Lucerne.  It’s an international church that sounds pretty stinkin’ cool.  We are excited to meet the people.  Please pray for hearts and eyes to be wide open to what the Father wants to do that day.

Monday:  Head back to the Ukrainian Consulate if things didn’t get wrapped up on Friday.  The Consulate is only open for visas Monday, Wednesday,and Friday, so we wanted to make sure we gave ourselves two working days- just in case.  If we have our visas we’ll just explore some more!

Tuesday: Home again, home again, jiggety jig.

So that’s the scoop!  We would love your prayers for a quick and easy time at the Consulate.  Also please pray for our kids and Grammy and Papa back home in Ukraine.  We’ve left our kids before when they were back in the US and we were visiting Ukraine, but this is the first time we’ve ever left them in Ukraine.  It feels very strange.  But, God has been so good to us, we know we have nothing to fear.  We just want their little hearts to be settled and peaceful.  Also for our time at the church on Sunday, pray that God would have His way and we would only speak His words.  Pray that people would be encouraged to say YES to God in their own lives- whatever that may look like.

Thanks friends!  Your prayers and encouragement are such a blessing to our family!  All of you saying yes and partnering with us is a huge part of what makes this journey so sweet.