The Heart of the Matter

I saw little Sergiy yesterday.  For the first time since January.

From the doorway.  I saw him sitting at one of several small tables surrounded by small chairs each supporting a small child.

I couldn't go into the room because just by Jim and me looking in the room we were causing the kids to get too excited.  Hey, we wouldn't want excited children.  I'm guessing that it was tea time, but no food was yet on the little tables.

Sergiy was sitting perfectly straight, sucking his thumb, staring toward Jim and me.  His look was one that said, "What am I doing in here?"  Our eyes locked, and I pray that he was able to "read" my answer, "We're doing everything we can to get you released!"

He is definitely in the wrong place.  No longer grouped with the children suffering from HIV/AIDS, he is now in a group where nearly everyone seemed to have a visible health challenge.  Except, of course, Sergiy.

Please continue to pray with us that God will open the doors that will allow this sweet young man to be placed in a Christian home.  Even ours, if that is the best for Sergiy.  We're waiting.  We're willing.

We went to dinner the other night at TGIFridays to celebrate Anna and Jeanne's birthday.  The walls of the restaurant were covered with all kinds of Americana, and most of it we were able to identify.  But the orange item in the posted picture was a complete mystery to us.  We even asked other random Americans in the restaurant whether or not they had any idea what we were seeing.  So, I'm leaving it up to all y'all:  What IS this?  All parts are wood, even the main orange piece.

(You may see an enlarged view by clicking on the picture)

The first sign of Spring in Ukraine?  The central heat is turned off!  The heat always comes on mid-October and is turned off in mid-April.

Jim is away this weekend -- a medical outreach to a small village several hours away.  He loves these times, working primarily with Ukrainian physicians in an area that has very little medical care on a regular basis.  I'll post more (with pictures?!) when he returns.

I am home alone.  Of course I have HIGH expectations on what I might accomplish during this time, BUT last night I ended up falling asleep at 9:00.  And I didn't make a pot of coffee this morning until 7:30!  And it is oh so good.  A taste of home, actually.  We try to bring back some goodies each trip to the States, though THIS trip we overstuffed suitcases with clothes for the precious orphan babies at the infectious disease hospital.  How much space can a little coffee take?

I am concentrating on language acquisition once again.  I always have a tutor, but I have asked her to intensify our time together.  It is very frustrating to WANT to speak with people and have to reduce our conversation to the simplest terms.  Someone said to us recently in the States, "If you want to preach like Paul you can't talk like Tarzan!"  How true!  And I don't even want to put myself on the level of Paul...just REAL conversations shared over a cup of coffee.  Please pray that I will devote the time to this endeavor -- I will definitely have to put some other things on hold.  Last night I was able to study Ukrainian for 3 hours.  Hope to get a lot more in today.

My other main task for my life is getting to know Christ even better.  I've been searching for a while now for some way to systematically study Scripture, one that is duplicatable so that I can easily pass it on.  I am happy to say that I have found a wonderful book (actually ordered it LAST May, but just received it while stateside) that walks you through a personal growth and then Titus 2 relationship.  Come walk with me, by Carole Mayhall.  I am already loving it.

Please do pray that I will commit the time to study, both Scripture and language. 

After a wonderful five weeks in the States, we returned to Kyiv arriving on Sunday afternoon.  We enjoyed dinner with Jamie and Dasha, and Ron and Linda Harris, and then spent some time catching up on news from Kyiv.  We shared a bit about our time in the States (have I mentioned laughter?!) and hit the sack way later than I would have thought was possible after that trip.

Monday morning Jeanne came home for a visit.  She is housesitting on the outskirts of Kyiv and had to get back there before we made it home on Sunday.  She had lots of news and is working on various projects (including an English camp) for this summer.  She spent last week out of Kyiv helping with Connie Fortunato's Music Camp International -- a wonderful ministry reaching children and their families.  One of the Ukrainian coordinators was a young doctor who was part of the original medical student Bible study that Jim held in our apartment when we first moved here.  Small world!

On Tuesday we celebrated Jamie's first twenty-one years!  Between all of our crazy schedules, the only time we could fit dinner into the mix was at 8:30.  His only request for food was "lots of meat," so we went to an Argentinian restaurant down the street that specializes in grilled meats -- pork, veal, chicken, sausage, beef.  They also grilled tomatoes, onions, peppers, and potatoes.  Quite tasty, but we didn't get home until after 11.  Jeanne, Stepasha, Jamie and Dasha arrived at their places even later than that.  Ah, but it's worth a few less hours of sleep to celebrate with our family.

Next week Anna and Jeanne turn 23!  I'm already sorry that we'll miss Anna, but I'm looking forward to a fun evening with Jeanne.  Again, schedules are so full that it seems that dinner will have to be EARLY if we want to actually celebrate on her day.

You know, travelling is great and we totally enjoyed our visits with everyone -- of course, we didn't get enough time with ANYONE!  But there really is no place like home.

(Click on album Stateside on the sidebar for pictures of Disney and friends)