Love...

I seriously cannot believe our True Love Grad Retreat has already come and gone. Being back in Ukraine has been a whirlwind but it has been a good one. Our retreat started off with us having to kick out 3 kids because they were smoking pot in their room. They must really think we are dumb to smoke it in their room. You could smell it from down the hall. This was after we had literally just had the rule talk which we intentionally stated NO POT. There is always an adventure :) But once that was done things went smoothly. We were at a new location and it was good, but we all decided that we like our usual place better. 

Seeing as it was so close to Valentine's Day our discussion topics were, What is Love?, Love and Relationships, and Sex and HIV/AIDS. We were thrilled to be able to bring back our speaker Vova who had recently moved across the country. The kids could not have been more happy to see him. He truly has a gift of speaking to kids and engaging them in conversation. He was very direct about the topics and spoke to them with honestly but also provoked them to think about what he was saying. After the last talk, a few of the girls went up to him and thanked him for his directness. Sex is something these kids know a lot about in one way or another but have probably not had anyone share the good and bad that comes with it. Or even just care enough to have an honest conversation about it.

We then surprised them with a Valentine's Day themed party. There was fun snacks and drinks, a photo booth that was a big hit, and a Wii dance competition. The night was packed with laughter and fellowship. I think everyone thought the retreat was over too fast. I could see how satan was trying to mess things up for us starting with us still being at home and having to change our tickets. Then of course the whole pot issue. But God is bigger than all of that and I know He greatly used this weekend. Our goal was to make the kids feel so very loved but us and God and I think they did. Thank you so much to all of you who supported in some way. You really can not know how thankful we are for you. 

Vova and some of the boys

Beautiful Lila

Candy Grams

Our awesome camp group

Back with a Bang...

I should have known it was too good to be true when Chelsea and I made it all the way to Ukraine with no issues. I even said to my brother in law it was going well and I didn't want to jinx it...  I got a new visa which should have insured I just breeze through customs(which by the way is my most hated part). But instead of breezing by the customs man scans my passport, looks at me, and tells me to wait while he goes and asks his colleague a question about my visa. I, of course, am internally freaking out. He comes back and asks me where I want the stamp, on my visa or a blank page? WHAT???? How do I know? I gave him a confused stare and said, "I don't know." He shrugged his shoulders and just stamped it.We then got in the car to go home and drove probably 5 kilometers from the airport. The next thing we know is that the two young men who are driving get out of the car and start kicking the tires. I am thinking that this can't be a good sign. Then we continuing driving and it is obvious that we have blown a tire. There is a gas station about a mile away so we drive very slowly to it. The guys get out and tell us they are going to walk back to the airport and hope to find someone to help them. Oh and I should mention that it is now about 12 a.m. Chels, Sash, and I just laugh... Ukraine is welcoming us back.  We wait... Then we wait some more... After 5 hours had passed they came back with a random man and the tire. Long story short... What should have taken us 5 hours to get home took us 11. But we are home, safe and sound. Thank you Lord. And thank you all for praying. Our True Love retreat is on Friday so please keep the prayers coming.

The tire...

Our snacks that kept us going after getting off a long flight and waiting for 5 hours.

Anika may not have been back yet but she was pretty much with us the whole time :)

Visa troubles

You would think after something going wrong almost every time I go back, I would be used to it. But somehow, it still manages to shock me or get to me. Anika and I needed to get new visas while at home and we were not sure of how the process would be. We waited until the last minute to book our tickets so that we would not have to change them(as I have to almost every time for one reason or the other). I was supposed to leave on Tuesday the 5th. I get a call the friday before from the Ukrainian Consolate telling me my American health insurance form is out of date and I need to have a new one and it needs to say that I am covered in Ukraine. Oh and just so you know, this does pretty much nothing for me in Ukraine. I knew with Kaiser this was pretty close to impossible to get exactly what they wanted. Also, I talked to them at like 3:30p.m. and mind you, they close at 5:00.  I would need to fax these things in before and go to Fed Ex to buy their overnight envelope to also fax in so I could get my passport in time. They do not work Saturdays. Needless to say, I was kind of freaking out internally. I rushed to Kaiser and had an amazing woman who helped me as much as she could. Then tried to fax the document only to have the fax number be busy. I called and they did not answer and the voicemail box was full. Welcome to my life when it comes to Ukraine.  So I knew I could do nothing until Monday. Which meant I had to switch my flight because I was not sure they would accept the updated document. Long story short... They were not happy with it but accepted it and I just got my passport back yesterday. Thank you Lord!!! I was alone in the house when I got it and yes, I did do a happy dance.  Now Chels and I will leave on Saturday night and not get back to our apartment until Monday morning. Oh and our True Love retreat starts on Friday ;) I think we might feel a little crazy. But I am so very excited about the retreat. God has already been doing some amazing things. I cannot wait to share all the goodness when it is over.

Wish you the merriest, yes, the merriest...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...


This video captures our little "family" christmas we had right before we went home. For Sasha Tretyakov this was his first ever Christmas having presents under a tree and all the traditions that go with it. You can see his excitement and it absolutely warms my heart. I will never forget his pure joy at getting a Bible. He so badly wanted one of his own and now he has one. I am so thankful for my other little family.

Christmas with Lena

I have written before about Sasha's sister Lena. She is 11 and is at an orphanage about 2 and half hours from Sumy. Sasha just recently reconnected with her. She is just the cutest thing. And every time she comes and stays with us it seems she has many firsts. The first time she stayed we went up an escalator and it was the scary for her because it was her first time. When we got in our elevator to go up to our apartment on the 10th floor, she told us it was her first time in one. We also went bowling and she sat back and watched for most of it because she also had never ever been to a bowling alley. She experienced cereal for the first time and LOVED it. This time Sasha took her to a movie. When they got back he informed us it was her first movie ever. We also took her to church and she told me she was scared because she had never been to church before. I told her she didn't need to be afraid because we go to church with many wonderful people. Things like this blow my mind because growing up I experienced all these things she was seeing for the first time. So needless to say, stockings and christmas gifts with a decorated tree were a first for her. You can see in the video how she takes it all in. It was so fun to experience this with her.

My two worlds

I cannot believe how fast these past few months flew by. I feel like I just got here and now I am already getting ready to go back home. I was talking to Chelsea the other night about how I thought with time it would get easier to have two worlds. When I say it out loud and I think about it, it was really dumb to think that. Why would it get easier to have my family in America and then a family in Ukraine. Time just brings closeness which makes it all the harder when leaving America or vice versa.  I was thinking about this the other day or should say I was having a pity party about how hard it is to have two families. Then the thought hit me how I should be so grateful that I not only have 1 family, but God has so graciously given me another one. It is such a unique relationship I get to have with the kids here who are like family. So yes, it is really hard always having to leave one family and both for different reasons, but I am so grateful for both worlds. I will probably still have my pity parties from time to time but I never professed to being perfect :)

Thanksgiving with the gang...

You all saw our tradition of turkey hunting with the the fam, so now I thought it would be fun for you see a lot of people in a small space. There is never a dull moment when all the kids are around.  I think I might be getting too old for this :)