The Voices of Ukrainians

I used to like shopping. I thought it was fun. I love closure, and so nothing was more satisfying than crossing items off a list. I enjoyed the experience of checking out new stuff, looking for bargains, and of course everyone knows that buying stuff feels good.   That was then. This is now. Shopping here is a pain. Let me explain (hey, I’m a poet and I don’t even realize it)! First, we don’t have a car. That means we are at the mercy of public transportation, and so we have to keep that in mind when choosing what store to go to. Is it close to a bus or metro stop? Do we have to transfer metro lines? When we lived in the city center, we were really close to two metro lines. We like this store called MegaMarket, and it was only a few stops away on the metro. So, we would grab our backpacks, walk a block to the metro, go down a ridiculously long escalator, then hop on a metro and ride a couple stops down.   Then we would walk a few blocks and there it was..…Megamarket! Second reason why

Growing up, I never put Poland on my "must visit" list, but now that I've been there, I think it should be on everyone's list!!! (So cross off Hawaii, Jamaica, and the Bermuda Triangle; Poland is the new "it" country). I can't believe Poland and Ukraine share a border; they are different in so many ways. Poland is so friendly! Everyone speaks English! They are efficient! They will bag your groceries! It's amazing! Our trip started with 14 or so hours in the Stoddard's Dodge van; we left around 7:00 P.M. and drove through the night. Around 4:00 A.M., we came to the border. Doug, Suzie, Daniel and I were all over our 90 days (as soon as you enter Ukraine, you have 90 days to register your visa, but we didn't because Ukraine had just changed all its visa laws and nobody knew what was going on or what to do). Doug's van was also overdue. The lady at the border control booth gave the ok for everyone's visa............except mine and Dan

Made it to Poland safely after 14 hours in the van and one extremely interesting border crossing!!!! Will most likely be sharing that story in a newsletter or blog article! Ready for some team building, Excited to explore, Missing family at home something fierce, but thankful to be spending Thanksgiving with my new family and friends across the pond, Preparing mentally and emotionally to visit Auswitz, Looking forward to what Poland has to offer.......that Ukraine doesn't. Subway, KFC, and Pizza Hut being some of those things..... Hoping for a great trip to rest, relax, repent, refresh, re-coop, rally, reflect, rejoice, renew, restore, rebuild, and rock n' roll!

            ( When I started writing this series, the goal was to help me keep my focus on specific ways that we could give to the kids, and also communicate with everyone back home ways that you could help.   The results haven’t been quite what I expected.   I’ve learned that there isn’t a formula, not a big surprise, if I gave Janna a rose every day and a hug at 8:30 sharp, she wouldn’t feel loved, I have to be creative, and intentional.   I’ve also learned that sometimes the worst thing I could do is give, not always, but sometimes.   That fits too, that’s why Mom and Dad didn’t give me everything thing when I was growing up.   I’m learning that sometimes the best thing you can give isn’t a thing .) Right about the time I posted the first article in this series , I went bowling with a few of the kids from Safe Haven.   Janna was supposed to come too, but she was sick, so I went solo.   We had been thinking about how we could give gifts to the kids that would make them feel special.

We got some cheap tickets to Venice to reset our visas and see Daniel's cousin Dustin who is stationed nearby. It was a fabulous trip, and so warm compared to Kiev! We just happened to go during Carnival, the famous celebration that starts 58 days before Easter and ends the day before Ash Wednesday. The earliest recorded Carnival was in 1268! Although Carnival is celebrated in many countries, Venice is most famous for its Venetian masks. It is estimated that 3 million people are in Venice each day to celebrate Carnival, and yes, we were there! It was nuts! We did enjoy walking around and seeing all the costumes. Most were in the Venetian tradition, but of course there were a few Jack Sparrows and Darth Vaders running around. Here are a few of the  costumes. Guess which one is Daniel! Venice is truly a beautiful city; in fact, it's one of the most amazing cities I have ever seen. We loved exploring and taking pictures! We also went to 3 museums: The Doge's Pala

So what's new at Smile House? Lots of stuff! Work's been a bit chilly lately since there's no heater, but we're making progress. Janna painted the walls of the studio apartment (not pink, but she wanted to)! Oleg hung some radiators. They truly look radiant! Daniel built shelves for all the closets in the Stoddard's apartment (5 total)! He's the man! The kitchen cabinets were delivered, and Daniel is piecing them together when he has time! Beautiful! Vova has been doing lots of baseboard! Also, the helicopter pad is nearing completion, but I don't have a picture of it yet.

My latest little task has been to learn all the names of the kids at the orphanage. I started by putting all their pictures into a slideshow, one face per a slide, and then went through and inserted all the names I knew. Next I had Daniel, Lexi, Meisha, and Doug go through and fill in any missing blanks. The end result was about 70 faces with names to study! The only problem is that there are around 130 kids, and so this is a work in progress. The interesting thing about Ukrainian names is that there aren't a lot of them. I use this little joke as as example: If you're talking to a boy at the orphanage and you don't know his name, try Dima. If its not Dima, try Vova. If it's not Vova, try Sasha. If its not Sasha, you're not talking to a Ukrainian anymore and you don't have to worry! Here's another little story to illustrate my point: We were headed home after church at Safe Haven one day, and 4 of the boys and 1 girl happened to be leaving at the sa

Last month we visited the orphanage and Janna let one of the little girls borrow her camera to take a few pictures.   The kids love it when we do this.   Unfortunately, this time, she took a picture, looked at the picture she took, and then dropped the camera.   It was broken, completely caput.   This was when the building team was here from the States, and at the end of the week they took up a collection for us to be able to buy a new camera.   It was a very kind gesture, we were so grateful.   The next week, we had a great idea.   What if we bought a decent camera (just like the one we had) and then bought a cheap camera with the funds the team gave us.   Then we would have a camera that we could lend to one child every time we visited the orphanage.   We could make sure the strap was around their wrist, so hopefully they wouldn’t drop it, and then tell them to take a hundred pictures.   Brilliant.   It’s always so hard to stop spending time with the kids to take pictures and so ever

Our first day in language school, I started talking with the guy I was sitting next to during the break.   I asked him why he was studying Russian and he told me it was something to do between drinking binges.   I immediately had this suspicion that I wasn’t going to have a lot in common with this guy.   When he asked me why we were in Kiev, I told him we were involved with an orphan ministry building transition homes for orphans once they age out of the state run institution.   3 out of 4 of the girls who leave the orphanage end up on the streets and turn to prostitution, and we want to show them a different way.   He chuckled and said, “But what’s going to happen to Ukraine’s thriving massage parlor industry?” I wanted to punch him in the teeth ... and then start getting violent. But I held my temper, thought about it and said, “There will never be a shortage of unwanted children.” There will never be a shortage of unwanted children.   The first time I ever visited the orphanage,