The Heart of the Matter

You know, I marvel at the servant attitude of Jim.

He is always available to do what's needed around the flat...whether it's helping with the laundry, the dishes, taking the trash out, shopping at the bazaar or the grocery store.  He makes a mean pot of coffee in the morning, and is learning how to use the cappuccino machine that Jeanne gave us for Christmas.  And that's not counting the 40+ hours he puts in at the office.

Yesterday, AFTER work, he called us on his way home.  He just wanted us to know that a young mom was bringing her young son over to our place so that Jim could check him out...they would be arriving close to 6:00.  She was so appreciative that he would see her; she didn't know that it was Jim's birthday.

Today Jim had another consult in our flat.  Not the normal day for seeing patients, but a dad with a translator wanted Jim to check out the medical records of his 3-year-old daughter who was been diagnosed with an inoperable tumor on her chest.  Jim took over 2 hours with this dad...

His weeks are FULL.  In fact, we are in the process of redesigning our website so that we can keep folks up-to-date on his work here.  So much happens that doesn't exactly fit into a newsletter! 

Please pray for Jim...for discernment, for wisdom, for energy!  And for his ability to understand and speak the Russian language.

We thank God for his fabulous assistant Nika, and for Natasha and Artyom for their help as needed in the office.  Pray for those attending Saline Solution conferences (learning the relationship between medicine and science, and teaching physicians how to share their faith with their patients), and for those attending the weekly medical Bible study.

It's a joy to watch Jim humbly walk in the work that God prepared in advance for him to do. 

What an example for those of us around him!

Keep up the great work. 

Today is Jim's birthday!

BUT...

we celebrated over lunch last week so that Anna could be part of the fun.

Tomorrow, Jamie and Dasha will be preparing a birthday dinner for Jim so that we can all get together one more time to honor him.  (We'll miss you, Anna.)

Today, the actual day, we have no birthday plans -- we have language lessons in the morning, he goes to work for the afternoon while I go visit the children at the hospital, and this evening...no specific plans.  These days that are celebrated multiple times provide lots of fun and lots of family gatherings.  But I just don't know when to give him his present.

Maybe this evening.  Maybe tomorrow.

Either way, we wish him many more healthy years of service to God, much joy and laughter, and opportunities to spend time with friends and family.  May He grow closer to God with each new day. 

Well, it was bound to happen.  Sweet little Sergiy was adopted within the last couple of weeks.  I don't know many details, only that a Ukrainian couple has taken him into their home.  For me, this is good news/bad news.  I'm thankful that he has a home...I'm just disappointed that it's not ours!

I don't know if he is in Kyiv, or whether he is in another city.  I don't know whether I'll ever see this sweet little face again.  But we're praying that his new parents will provide a loving home.  And that he might be raised in the church. 

At least THAT way, we'll see him again...one day!

We are among countless folks who use skype to stay in touch with their friends around the world.  We use it sometimes as an "instant message" when we see a friend is also online.  But the last couple of days we have used it as a phone.

It is absolutely amazing to me that we can talk to friends and family by talking over our laptop.  We have attempted conference calls, but find that at least one of the parties is not getting a great connection.  Or that they are hearing a long clear echo.  But mostly we are thrilled to HEAR the voices of those closest to us.  It sounds like they are in the next room.  Crystal clear.  No delay.  It's so fun to laugh WITH friends.  Outloud.  Together.  Not just LOL on a page.

This particular weekend we were so thankful for skype.  My brother was admitted to a hospital in Ohio.  We received an email from Massachusetts with the startling news...and we quickly checked to see who might be online that could get us some quick information.  Aha.  Massachusetts.  Skyped my sister who could audibly talk to us and fill us in on what she knew.  No need to let our imaginations run wild -- the story was already weird enough.  We could ask questions immediately.  And, bless her heart, she used her phone to call another sister in Ohio who was "on the spot" with the latest news.  SHE spoke to Massachusetts, who spoke to us immediately via Skype.

Today we even heard my brother's voice as he called my sister on the Cape to give her info to pass on to Jim while we were on skype.  What is the world coming to?  I know...some of you can even SEE the person talking.  And some of you even know how to use the computer to call a landline in the States.  We're not at that point.

(We were given a vonage phone last year, but we could never make it work.  We hear others are using them quite successfully here, so we may try again one day...)

Anyway, enough promoting of skype.com.

Please pray for wisdom for the doctors as they try to piece together what is wrong with my brother.  He says that he saw the MRI of his head, and that he does indeed have a brain. (Confirmed!)  He has his crazy sense of humor still, so that is a plus.  He has access to "happy medicine"...a blue button that he can push for morphine when pain becomes overly intense.  One of the doctors noted that he had stopped smoking and had stopped drinking.  He asked my brother what he does for fun.  His answer:  "Well, I'm considering renting this machine with the blue button!"  Caught the doc by surprise. 

As long as he can see the humor in it all, that's a good sign in my opinion.  And laughter IS good medicine.

Love you, bro.

As we slowly get back to normal (?!), I have begun again my Ukrainian language study.  (I took a couple weeks off during December...).   My Ukrainian texts for the past two lessons have featured vocabulary describing holiday traditions here in Ukraine.  Add to these our American holidays and it is truly amazing that ANYTHING gets accomplished here.

We begin with December 19, St. Nicholas Day. 

Followed by our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, December 24 and 25.

Then comes the BIGGIE -- New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Orthodox Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are celebrated on January 6 and 7.

Old New Year's Eve and Old New Year's Day roll around on January 13 and 14.

January 15 is Martin Luther King Day. (Not celebrated here, though the Embassy is closed.)

January 19 marks the Baptism of Christ by John the Baptist.

Plus we throw in some family birthdays and anniversaries, friends' birthdays, and...

GOODNESS, I'm exhausted!

Music Camp International again performed a family Christmas concert at the National Opera House on Saturday afternoon -- Christmas Eve according to the Orthodox calendar.  MCI is a wonderful program that gathers children from 10 to 14 years of age, spends an intense week with them, and then performs a concert for friends and family to attend.  It is quite amazing what these children learn in just a week's time!  Connie Fortunato, the head of this ministry, believes that all children have music in them, someone just needs to draw it out of them.  She offers camps several times a year in Ukraine, as well as in Romania and the US.  And the Christmas concert, with the highlight being Handel's Messiah for young voices sung in Ukrainian, is becoming a tradition in Kyiv.

Jeanne frequently helps at the camps, though this time she was unavailable.  Dasha is Connie's translator, and Jamie was able to help with percussion this session.  A highlight for us personally...was watching Jamie in the orchestra pit of the National Opera House playing the timpani!  He was performing with seasoned professionals...excerpts from the Nutcracker and then the Messiah.

I guess a mom just never gets tired of watching her kids! 

Traditionally between receiving our Christmas stockings and opening our gifts, we eat breakfast.  Growing up, I had the same tradition...we would be so excited that we could hardly eat ANYTHING, but Mom and Dad insisted that no gifts until we ate a good breakfast.  Anna, Jeanne and Jamie learned to live with these same guidelines.

Frequently they would complain about the whole process.  Why not just open the gifts?  I'd make Mickey Mouse pancakes, or muffins in snowman tins.  Crispy bacon.  Our first year here in Ukraine, Jim found a little bakery and bought some turnovers sprinkled with confectioner's sugar...he planned to surprise us all with a special treat.  Well, the surprise was on HIM!  What he thought were nice sweet breakfast pastries turned out to be...

 filled with mushrooms! 

Well, this year we had NO complaints!  Anna brought scone mix from the States as well as devon cream, pumpkin butter, peach butter, and apple butter.  And we had orange juice with or without champagne.  And coffee.  And egg nog.  All served up on our snowman plates with matching mugs and spoons.  (Thanks, Browns!)

I'm not positive, but could this possibly be a mocking pose by Jamie...a la Jared and Jim?

(He's pointing to our rented cabin...)

Thanks to a generous Christmas gift from Mom, six Peipons were able to spend 5 days in western Ukraine.  We rented the ground floor of a log cabin, complete with a fireplace, and simply spent time together.  Away from the internet.  Limited cell phone capability.  No news.

We signed Christmas cards, played games, watched DVDs projected onto a sheet hanging from the curtain rod in the living area, walked the extended grounds, laughed, and took LOADS of pictures.  Five Peipons enjoyed 2 hours in the banya (while Mama Peipon kept the fire burning in the cabin, and cross-stitched...all by myself!)

We took a coffee pot so that we wouldn't have to leave the cabin too early in the morning, plus we took packets of spiced cider and hot chocolate.  We drank from our snowman mugs -- Christmas gifts from the Browns a year ago.  So much better than plastic cups!  We truly felt spoiled!

This is the very first time that we have actually taken a full week off altogether as a family since moving to Ukraine in 2001! 

What a treat!

Highly recommended.

It has been a really long time since I've heard Anna or Jeanne approach the other and say simply,

"Right hand, left hand?"

If agreed upon, they head to the piano and play any number of songs with one playing the right hand and the other playing the left hand.  I remember many a time they did this in Salisbury.  Usually playing straight through their music book...song after song.

With Anna heading back to Nepal for three years, I'm going to miss these duets!  And the laughter that accompanies them.

 I'm appreciating the moments now as they happen.  And I encourage YOU, too, to savor the moments as you live them. 

(By the way, my grandmother made the creche scene on top of the piano...some of the animals are missing an ear, Joseph had to have his head glued back on one year, and I often forget where I've hidden the baby Jesus who is placed in the manger on Christmas morning.  Wouldn't be Christmas without putting it out.  Brings back a lot of memories.)