The candles were lit, and white lights twinkled overhead.  The room was decked out in red and white, tablecloths smoothed, plates laden with treats.  We were ready.  I looked out the window to see the ones I love gussied up in their finest, smiling for the cameras like the stars that they are.  Moms surrounded them with pride in their eyes, snapping photos left and right, attempting to capture this moment and never let it go.

It was our last night at camp and time for our “Ladies and Gentlemen” evening.  A night created to honor our campers and let them know how we cherish them.  A night without parents, a night to feel young and free, grown up and proud.  A night made for them to take with them for the rest of their lives.

We opened the doors and applauded our dear ones as they entered the room arm and arm with their precious volunteers.  Oh, how their faces beamed with pride and excitement.  They looked absolutely stunning- each one.  Pure magic.

Every volunteer had written something special for their camper, and as each one was called up we cheered and hooted and hollered.  We told them they looked beautiful.  We read beautiful words about them, telling them how they are seen by their friends.  Some had grins you couldn’t wipe off if you tried, some blushed furiously, shy with the praise, a few wept, and I know I joined them.  🙂

Oleg shared a poem and dessert was served.  I flitted from table to table, wanting to savor each face in my mind, wanting to cement this night in my heart.  Volunteers, the waiters and waitresses for the night, served our guests like royals.  Feeding those who couldn’t feed themselves, holding hands and pushing wheelchairs, wiping drool and crumbs, smoothing skirts and jackets, refilling cups, and sharing conversation.  The cream of the crop was there that night- Zhytomyr’s finest- young people who have chosen to ignore their culture’s definition of value and choose to see with eyes of the Kingdom.

A waltz was shared and all were invited to join.  A tall volunteer bends low as he invites a beauty in a wheelchair to join him in a dance.  She laughs big as another volunteer cuts in. Every soul celebrated and treasured.

We ended the night with fireworks and the joy on each face was indescribable.  Kingdom of Heaven come to earth.  God’s Kingdom come here and now- on earth as it is in Heaven.

I wish I could transport each of you back to that night with me.  I wish you could see and feel the joy in the room.  I want you to meet those we love so.  Roma, Vitaliy, Dasha, Natasha, Luba, Andrei, Vitya, Rostik, Oksana, Vika, Anton, Olya, Maxim…real people with real hopes and dreams. They may be limited by their bodies, but there is no limit to God’s love for them.  They are of infinite value and worth.  They are worth it.  They are worth time and effort and energy and love.  They aren’t a diagnosis or a mystery in a chair.  They are beloved sons and daughters and sisters and brothers and friends, and on Sunday night they were celebrities.  🙂

I won’t be the same after this last month.  Our whole family is changed.  So much was solidified in our hearts and many, many times this past month my heart knew there was no place else I’d rather be.  Yes, it is often difficult.  Yes, the language barrier makes me want to scream.  Yes, we feel like outsiders much of the time.  Yes, sometimes we are lonely.  Yes, we miss our family (so much).  Yes, we miss our church (so much).  Yes, we miss one-stop shopping and dryers and the coast and the beauty of Oregon.  But our hearts know where they belong. Our hearts belong in a town full of those broken in body but alive and awake in spirit. Our hearts belong in an institution of the broken and forgotten.  Our hearts belong with the royalty of Sunday night and with those who served them.

Praise God for knowing so much better than we do.  Praise God for those who have gone before us and paved the way in a society that says their work is of little value.  I just can’t thank God enough for placing our family here.  Not every day is lollypops and roses, and someday soon I will share some of our struggles.  But beyond all that I am thankful.  God has flooded our hearts with love that only comes from Him and I can’t even express to you in words how much we love our Ladies and Gentlemen.  They are absolute treasures.

How is this our life?  Somebody pinch me.  

Once upon a time, four years ago, I happened upon a blog of an adoptive mom who had just returned from Ukraine with her two new daughters, both with special needs.  That night, sitting on the couch with my laptop and cup of coffee, my life was changed.  Our lives were changed.

Tears streamed down my face that night as I read every post on the adoption blog.  That night I learned about life in Ukraine for orphans with disabilities.  A whole world was opened to me that I hadn’t even known existed.  I learned about school-age children, the size of infants, living their lives bedridden in their cribs.  I learned about mental institutions in rural villages that house the disabled- hidden from the rest of the world. I read for hours that night.  One blog led to another led to a website that led to another site.  My heart was broken and I knew something big was happening.  God meant for Jed and I to do something about this issue and these children, and He was serious about it.

Now, four years later, I’m in Ukraine, sitting on my bed with my laptop and my cup of coffee, realizing just how serious God was that night.  Yeah, He wasn’t messing around.  🙂

All along the journey that began that fateful night, God has been growing and refining the dreams He’s given us for orphans with disabilities here in Ukraine.  We knew then, and we know now that He has called us here with a specific focus on bedridden children.  That is a population of orphans that is extremely difficult to reach, but God has been very clear that they are our people.  They are the ones we are to fight for.  Of course, we are absolutely in love with many, many people with disabilities here that are not confined to their beds.  The big vision of Wide Awake includes varying levels of ability, but we knew then and we know now that God has a special plan for us that involves bedridden children.

The big question has always been “How will we gain access to the bedridden children?”  Those children are generally more hidden away and it’s difficult for outsiders to work with them at all.  Perhaps orphanage directors are afraid, maybe they are protective…we will probably never fully understand the reasons.  We have just known that it would be up to God to bring those children across our path.  After all, it’s not like we can just walk into any old orphanage and ask to be shown to the crib section.  Ha!  Access to medically fragile kids only comes with relationship and trust.  Those things take time, so we have not been in a hurry.

But God.

Last week our team arrived at Romaniv and learned that two new little boys had been transferred to our Isolation Building from the baby house orphanage.  When Jed saw them for the first time his heart skipped a beat (or two).  They are both five years old and the size of infants.  They are bedridden and have spent their whole lives thus far in their cribs.  They are exactly our target population.  For these boys and others just like them, we have sold everything and moved across the globe.  After months (actually years!) of wondering how we would gain access to children like these, they have literally been dropped in our laps.  We didn’t even have to find them.  They were brought to us! I still can’t believe it.

 Mission to Ukraine has been faithfully serving at Romaniv for five years.  Over those five years, they have loved and given and loved and given some more.  They have brought Jesus there and His light and love have changed everything.  It is not the same place it once was.  The staff are not the same.  The Directors are not the same.  The boys are definitely not the same!  Because of MTU’s incredible faithfulness, we now reap the harvest.  We are standing on the shoulders of giants.  Because of the amazing work they’ve done over the years, we have full access to our boys in the Isolation Room.  We can visit any time we want.  We can take the boys to the Sensory Room.  We can try new things and interact intentionally with each boy.  The Directors welcome us whenever we can come and invite us to even come more often.  It’s a situation we could only ever dream about.

Now we have new boys who are completely bedridden and we have full access to them.  We even got to visit on Tuesday and talk with the staff about some of their biggest concerns about caring for these new boys!  Today we got to bring them a pack n play so they are not confined to their room every minute of the day.  We got to bring them mobiles for the cribs.  We got to observe their feedings and give input and advice. We get to be actively involved in improving their quality of life and it’s unreal.

Testing out the new pack n play!

Each one of our boys in the Isolation Building holds a special place in our hearts.  We are learning their likes and dislikes, their habits and cues.  I really can’t express in words how much they mean to us and how great our love is for them.  They are our babies, each one of them.  I can’t even believe we have the honor of knowing them and loving them.  And now we have two more to love.

I guess I just had to share how awesome our God is.  His plans are so perfect.  He is so wise.  He placed us right where He wanted us, knowing all He had in mind.  He brought us here with an impossible-to-reach population in mind and then proceeded to drop them right in our laps.  Incredible.  I can not thank God enough for our dear friends at MTU.  They have paved the way through many hours of love and care, and they loved our boys before we even had a clue of their existence.   We will be forever grateful.  Now to watch and see what God does next!  🙂

Our little celebrities 🙂

Oh Romaniv…oh sweet boys.   I wish so much that each of you could visit Our Boys and spend even just a few minutes with them.  I wish I could accurately and fully express just how we feel about them.  They are beyond precious to us.  I remember the very first time Jed and I ever visited there…nervous, excited…never the same.  Never would I have dreamed at that time that we would now be so invested in to these boys.  We are learning about their little quirks, their likes and dislikes, who can eat a banana on his own and who needs help; who will try to eat rocks and grass outside and who will try to escape; who will throw their shoes on the roof of the building and who’s feet are too twisted and misshapen for shoes at all; who needs to be held tightly when overstimulated and who likes to sway…the list goes on and on.  There is so much to learn and we have the time to learn it.  These are the things that matter.  To know and to be known, I’ve never understood the importance of that until this move.

Our Isolation boys stay inside all day every day.  There are simply not enough caregivers to take them all outside.  All day every day in the same small building with the same hall and same rooms.  No wind in their face, no sun on their skin, no grass between their toes.  They eat in their building and sleep in their building.  It is their whole world.

A few weeks ago we decided to ask the caregivers if we could take the boys outside during our Friday visits.  We weren’t sure if they would allow it, but it never hurts to ask!  Surprisingly they said yes without hesitation.  The only problem was digging up enough shoes and coats for all the boys.  Oy.  Yeah, they were only able to find enough shoes and jackets for 8 of the 21 boys.  We were disappointed that some boys would be excluded, but we still took several of them outside.

Later that day I posted about the visit on the Wide Awake Facebook page.  I mentioned that there weren’t enough coats and shoes to go around and that people could let us know if they wanted to help with that.  Oh.My.Word.  You guys!!!!  Your generosity blew us away.  Within the next couple of days, $725 was donated to buy shoes and coats for the Boys.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!

We went to Mission to Ukraine (MTU) to discuss how and where to purchase the needed items for the Boys.  They, in turn, contacted the Director at Romaniv and he indicated that they should have enough coats and shoes for all the boys…they just needed to be taken from storage.  So, we are a bit halted right now on buying the items as we try to verify if there are truly enough clothes for everyone and if not, what sizes are needed.  We already know the shoe supply is not adequate.  We’ve got some foot measuring to do.

(Hint: nothing happens quickly in these here parts.  No biggie, we’ve got time.)

In the meantime, we’ve been able to take the boys out every Friday since!  The caregivers have found enough slippers for those who are willing to go outside.  Most of them are broken slippers and don’t stay on worth beans, but at least it’s enough to get them out the door 😉 It’s been warm enough that we haven’t needed jackets, so we have time to work on that issue.

One need that did arise is the need for hats.  Our Boys never see the sun, so you can bet they are as pale as can be,  We realized right away that they needed hats to provide some sun protection while we’re outside.  So, we were able to use a portion of the donated funds to buy hats for the boys!

A few of our more interactive boys were SO EXCITED!!!  It made us feel so much better to know their little white faces were protected.  The last thing we need is a sunburn to rain on our parade.  🙂

Thank you to each and every person who donated so graciously.  Each step forward greatly improves their quality of life and we just can’t thank you enough for making it possible.

We’ll keep you posted on the shoe and jacket purchases.  We really need to get some shoes that fasten well so “you know who” can’t chuck them up on the roof of the building quite so easily….ahem….not to name any names…  🙂

…ahem…

What? You want me to actually keep this on my head???

Wishful thinking!

Maxim stole my camera and took this one 🙂

Annnnd here’s me begging Maxim to return the camera…haha

If you are interested in donating specifically for the boys at Romaniv, here is a link to their fund.

Okay, so a day late, but better late than never, right?

If you follow Wide Awake on Facebook, you probably saw that I promised to share about the very special night we had on Tuesday.  I have to say that “special” is an understatement.  I put off writing about it because I was still so giddy about its wonderfulness, that to sit down and try to write about it just seemed tedious (plus we’ve been busy little bees around here).  I just wanted to smile about it.  But, I want you all to be able to smile about it too, so it’s time I share!

Mission to Ukraine (MTU), the organization we serve here in Zhytomyr, has several branches of work they focus on.  One of these branches is the education of children with disabilities.  There are preschool classes, school-readiness classes, and life-skills classes that are coupled with Bible lessons.  There’s also beading, drawing, and other crafty classes for the crafty type (NOT ME).  🙂

There is one particular group of people that has really been weighty on the hearts of the staff of MTU lately.  That group is the young adults with disabilities who have been a part of MTU for many, many years.  These guys and gals have grown up with MTU, and for many of them, it is the social center of their lives.  It is the place, besides home, where they are accepted and loved just as they are.  They are treasured at MTU.  They are known.  MTU has been their school, their youth group, and their family.  And now they are getting older.  MTU’s focus is children.  What to do?  Many of them attend a class on Tuesdays called “Youth Group”.  They study the Bible together and build their relationships.  The staff want to do more for this group, but they are already stretched thin with responsibilities.  There is simply no time left in the day, or staff left in the day to provide them with more time to be together.

Enter, Game Night!  Woot!

Some of the staff approached us and asked Jed and me if we would be interested in hosting some sort of monthly, special night for this group to have fun together.  This was a duh question.  Of course, we wanted to help!

Tuesday night was the first Game Night and it was beyond fabulous.  I kid you not.  I haven’t smiled that much since I was last in Disneyland!  Heehee 🙂

At 5:00pm sharp the guests began to arrive.  They were dressed up and lookin’ good, ready for a party.  Seeing their excitement made us even more excited!

I wish I would have taken a picture of the food table.  Jed and I are feeders.  We feed people.  It’s our love language.  Sooooo if the amount of food we brought to the party was an indicator of our love, it was fairly obvious that we love these guys VERY much.  There were cookies, more cookies, magic cake, crackers, meat, cheese, veggies, some more cookies, candy, bread, tea, and juice. We may have gone overboard, just a wee bit.  Several of MTU’s finest volunteers came to help and join in the fun.  We had the group sit, then the volunteers and we served them food.  That was a great time for our kids to help out too.  They were able to interact with people right away, and also feel useful.  Addy and Ezra in particular, really wanted to help throw the party.

We ate and laughed.

It was gooood.

Then it was game time!  There were all different physical ability levels in the fairly small room, so it was important to choose games that everyone could participate in.  We started out asking some fun “Would you rather?” questions.  We just wanted to break the ice, be silly, and laugh together.  We chose some crazy questions and then asked various people to explain their decision.  It was so funny!

“Would you rather wrestle a lion or fight a shark?”

“Would you rather eat a bar of soap or drink a bottle of dish soap?”

“Would you rather be born with an elephant’s trunk or a giraffe’s neck?”

“Would you rather be a GIANT hamster or a tiny rhino?”

Oh man, our poor friend Natasha who was translating!  We gave her translating skills a major workout.  Good thing she’s pretty much amazing.  🙂

After “Would you rather?” we played a game with yarn.  Jed asked the group different questions and whoever answered “yes”, had to grab a hold of the yarn.  Pretty quickly we had a big web of yarn which nearly entrapped Jed!  Luckily, he barely escaped with his life and all was well.  Jed just shared a bit about how we are all different, but united by common loves and ideas.  It was fun, and a good visual of the beauty of friendship.

Next was free play game time.  We gathered small groups around tables and brought out various games.  We played Dominoes, Jenga, and Memory.   Once again, I have to brag about the most amazing volunteers.  Seriously, they rock.  They knew what needed to be done and just did it!  Many of them have volunteered quite a bit, so they are familiar with the group and know their needs.  They helped people eat, served tea and food, moved chairs and tables, translated, and assisted in the games so that everyone was able to participate and have a good time.  The night would have been impossible without their help.

Natasha translated for our family and she is just the best.  She loves this group and has known them for many years, so not only is she a great help, her heart is deeply invested as well.  Oh, and what about Alyona?!!!  Alyona works at MTU on “special projects”.  Alyona did so much to make the night possible.  She gathered volunteers, called the group to remind them about the date, arranged transportation for those in wheelchairs, and helped set up and clean up…basically, she’s superwoman.  I didn’t get one non-blurry picture of Alyona because she’s such a hard worker she’s just a blur in each picture!  I wish so badly I would have gotten a picture of each volunteer.  Grrrrrr…next time.  Thank you, dear friends!!!  We appreciate you!

Note the Alyona blur in the background. 😉

I didn’t get the best pictures because I was too busy partying it up, but I hope these pictures have given you a glimpse of the wonderfulness of the evening.

What an honor to be able to serve these dear ones.

What a joy to watch our own children learn to love and serve others.  What a joy to see them learn the value of each and every life.

What a delight to see the faces of the parents as they came to collect their children at the end of the night.  When someone loves your kid there is no greater gift.  How much more for these most courageous parents who have fought against all odds to give their kids the best shot at a fully lived life.  Humbling.

I am so incredibly thankful for the years of MTU’s faithful service.  With God’s help, they have created a haven in Zhytomyr like no other.  What a privilege to serve their vision and link arms.

Game Night is now officially a monthly event.  The group has requested next month’s gathering be a Karaoke Night!  OMG.  Bring.It.On.

Addy was in her element COMPLETELY. She was simply glowing all night. Thank you Jesus for kids who are catching Your heart.

Volunteers Extraordinaire! THANK YOU!!!

This is Sergei. He also works with us at Romaniv in the Isolation Room. He is so wonderful with the boys, so loving. Hero material right here, folks.

Yay for Friday!!!

I’m really excited for you all to read about what happens at Romaniv on Fridays.  I just returned home from there a couple of hours ago and had the sweetest time.  I feel like God is moving there and we are really able to connect with some of the boys in a way we haven’t been able to before.  It’s so cool.

And, since you came all this way to take a peek at our little old blog, here are a few pictures of our week to reward you for your efforts.

Have a super weekend!

Girls love a good mohawk

Preschool at MTU 🙂

Honing our Ukrainian braiding skillz

Havalah, aka “Rock and Roll Girl”

Ez is so handsome in his school uniform!

How to begin?  My heart is full to bursting with emotion, yet I feel almost embarrassed to write.  We are Ukrainian babies.  We’ve only lived here for a little over 3 months.  We only just started falling in love with Ukraine and her people in 2010.  What do we know of Ukraine?

There are missionaries who have lived here for decades.  They’ve given years and years of their lives to the Ukrainian people.  They’ve loved Ukraine for almost as long as I’ve been alive.  What do we know of Ukraine compared to them?  Not much.

Then there are the Ukrainian people themselves.  So many lived through the fall of the Soviet Union, were present when Ukraine found it’s independence, had their hopes built by the Orange Revolution, then hopes dashed when things did not improve- but only got worse.

They know what it is to expect corruption.  They know what it is to live without hope of change.  They know what it is to be stolen from and oppressed over and over and over.  What do we know of Ukraine?  Nothing.

We know practically nothing of Ukraine compared to these, yet our hearts yearn to know.  God has planted us here and He has given us an overwhelming love for these people.  I know I will never understand like those others, so I can only share what I do know, with a humbled heart.  I simply have to write it down because I never want to forget these days.

Yesterday we took a walk with the kids to the site of the fallen Lenin statue here in Zhitomir.  We attempted to explain to the kids why these days are significant.  As we walked we talked of history books yet to be written and revolution and lost lives.  We talked about what it means that the people of Maidan were willing to give their lives for freedom.  We talked about those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.  We have several friends who spent significant time at Maidan in the past few months.  It could have been any one of them.

When we reached the statue our hearts swelled and our eyes filled with tears.  Photos of some of the fallen were on the front of the monument.  Candles and flowers were at the base.  Where Lenin stood for so long was a lone Ukrainian flag.  People were constantly streaming to the site.  Some took pictures, some talked with each other, some simply looked and were quiet.

What struck Jed and me the most was that the crowd was almost solely made up of the elderly.  Old men hobbled up with canes and snapped pictures.  Babushkas looked at the photos on the monument, lips moving silently.   Oh, what I would have paid to know what they were thinking.  These people who have endured such hardship and pain, what do they think of this time in history?  Do they hold hope for their beloved Ukraine, as we do?  What can they tell us of life and suffering, hope and fear?  Oh, what I would pay.

Today the president was impeached and fled from Kyiv.  Today Ukraine began to build her new future.  This is the stuff of the History Channel, yet we are here, living it alongside our neighbors and friends.  We are here trying our best to understand and support.  And we have to wonder, why did God place us here for this time in history?  He knew when we boarded the plane in Oregon that a revolution would begin a week after our arrival.

Perhaps He placed us for this time so we would understand just a bit more what it means to be a Ukrainian.  Perhaps it was so we would know better how to pray, and others who may not have noticed before would be prompted to pray as well.  Perhaps there are people here that we are specifically here to encourage at this time.  God only knows.  I will just say that I am 100% thankful for it.  There is nowhere else we would rather be at this time.  Our hearts are simply exploding with love for our new countrymen.

We pray that as Ukraine builds its new future that men’s hearts will be turned toward the Lord.  May the sacrifice at Maidan never be in vain.  As the thousands stood, and even now stand for justice, may they not forget their most vulnerable who desperately need justice as well.  May government leaders’ hearts be softened for the fatherless.  May their eyes be opened to the value of every single life in this country.

Ezra said it best: “I know, Mom!  Let’s pray that the new president will love orphans!”

Amen.  So be it.

There is a long road ahead in building a new Ukraine.  Much wisdom and courage will be needed.  May God bless Ukraine and may His Spirit flood this land like never before.  May many, many hearts and eyes turn to Him as the real Hope for this country.  May Ukrainians live lives wide awake to the Father and His never-ending love for them.

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.

To fully grasp the awesomeness, read Part 1 here.

On Christmas morning Jed and our friend Oleg headed over to Pastor Pavel’s office to start working on the invitation letter.  The goal was to get that letter written and submitted to the Ministry of Culture before December 31st so our letter *hopefully* wouldn’t end up on the bottom of someone’s stack once the offices opened back up after the New Year.  Like I said before, the Ministry of Culture “generally” takes about 3-4 weeks to write their letter of approval, and January is FULL of holidays in Ukraine.  New Year is the big deal here, then they celebrate Christmas on January 7th, then there is some other kind of celebration on the 13th…so time was not really on our side.

Havalah turned 5! (She liked her present) 🙂

Jed and Oleg sat down with Pavel and got started on the letter.  Then Pavel remembered he had a friend at the Ministry of Culture.  “Let’s call him and make sure we’re doing this right.”

Well, he called up his friend and the friend told them to just come on over right then and he would help with the letter.  In Ukraine, if you get an invite from a government office to “just come on over” you better snatch it right up because it might never come again!  😉

Christmas Eve program at a church in Zhitomir

They got in the car right then and drove over to the office.  Remember this is the office where our invitation letter would be submitted for approval (which could then take several weeks).  Pavel’s friend proceeded to help them rewrite the letter to make it worded the best way possible and then decided to just write the approval letter right there and then.  I mean, they were sitting right there…why not?  HA!  He wanted to make sure he got it all right so he called in the man who provides policy clarification for the Zhitomir region.  Every region interprets the laws differently here, so this guy is key to our visa success.  Policy-clarification guy comes over and helps them finish the letter of approval.  While that’s being written he suggests they just write all the letters we’ll need when we come back from getting our visas.  Remember once we leave the country to get our visas and return to Ukraine we have 45 days to “register” with the local offices.  That registration includes lotsandlotsandlots of documents.  Well, Pavel’s friend just sat right down and proceeded to write every single document for our registration that could be made ahead of time.  WHAT THE WHAT???????????  I’m gonna estimate that that act right there saved us approximately 57 trips to the office + 58 hours of headache.  Jed was sitting in that office holding back tears, astounded at the goodness of God.

Once all the letters were written and stamped Pavel’s friend said he would hand-deliver them to the lady in the office who gives the final approval.  “Otherwise it may take weeks.  I’ll just ask her to approve them today.”  He walked out of the room to her office, but she wasn’t available.  No worries, he left the papers with her with her word that she would inform us as soon as they were signed.

All of this took several hours and several cups of tea and coffee in the government office.  Four people spent their whole day going above and beyond to help us.  Our friend Oleg told Jed “This just does not happen.  All the right people being available and in the same place, willing to help is like a one in a million chance in Ukraine.”

Our biggest blessings

Two days later we got a call that ALL the letters were signed, stamped, approved, and ready to be picked up.  A process that should have taken 3-4 weeks took exactly 3 days.  Not to mention all the documents we’ll need later on that are already done.  That will help us tremendously when we return with our visas!  God’s care for us is astounding.  I don’t even know why we were shocked by this, I mean this has been His way with us along this whole journey.  He has been over-the-top faithful at every point.

This miracle has a second part that is just icing on the cake.  So, way back when, in like August of 2012 some friends and I were advocating for an orphan here in Ukraine named “Heath”.  Remember that?  Heath is now home with his family in Texas (AND I got to meet him in person in Kiev last month!) but during that advocating time I “met” another woman, Sandra,  who was fiercely advocating for Heath.  Funny thing is, she was advocating for him all the way over in Switzerland at the same time as us in Oregon.  We became online friends bound by our mutual love for Heath and the fatherless.  Sandra has been a big encourager to us as we prepared and moved to Ukraine.  One time she mentioned how awesome it would be if we would come to Switzerland at some point to share about Wide Awake at her church.  I thought “Oh yeah, that would be cool, but it’s not like we’d ever just randomly be able to pop on over to Switzerland!

Heath (now named Boden) and me. This cuddle was one of the highlights of my year…maybe of my life.

Fast forward to this past fall.  Sandra emailed and said that she talked with her pastor, and the leadership of the church was interested in hearing more about Wide Awake and they would pray about supporting us as a church!  We gave them letters describing Wide Awake and they voted to take us on as a ministry to support!  Well, guess what just happens to be in the same city in Switzerland as Sandra and her church?  A UKRAINIAN CONSULATE!  Soooooo, with documents and passports in hand we will head to Switzerland in a couple of weeks to obtain our visas, visit Sandra, and share Wide Awake at her church!  Are you kidding me????  God, you are too ridiculously amazing.  Why are we your favorites?????  😉

Excited to receive our first piece of mail from dear friends

Did you know that you’re His favorite too?  My dad taught us that we are each God’s favorite.  If there was no one else in the entire world He still would have sent His Son JUST FOR YOU.  Maybe 2013 was a really hard, painful, and trying year for you.  Maybe you ended 2013 feeling forgotten by your Father in Heaven.  Maybe you have no clue what I’m talking about.  Let me just tell you that 2014 is a time for you to discover or re-discover God’s great love for you.  You are His favorite!  You are not forgotten.  Consider the children in Ukraine that He sent us to love.  They lay in cribs, limbs stiff and contorted, lame from lack of use.  Some have never felt the grass on their feet, never felt the sun on their face.  By all appearances, they have been completely forgotten by God.  How could a good God allow that kind of suffering?  Guess what?  He’s not allowing it.  He loves them and cares for them so deeply that He uprooted our family, comfy in our middle-class wealth, and planted us right here to devote our lives to their care.  We are no great gift.  I’m not saying we’re are the answer or that we’re super special, I’m just sharing how we get to be a part of God’s demonstration of love to them.  Each of those is His favorite- NOT forgotten.

You are not forgotten.  God has good plans for you.  All you have to do is say Yes to Him.  Living for yourself will only bring disappointment.  Let 2014 be a year of YES.  You will not regret it.