Emily

So, we have a new member of the family. One of the neighborhood girls that visits us regularly brought Josie a present. A little puppy. We were not quite sure what to do, if we should keep her or make the girl return the puppy. Well, so far, we have not been able to part with her. She is quite cute and the kids really love having her. Here is a picture of Emily...

Visiting the MacNamee's

We made another trip up to Chernigov and stayed a few days with the MacNamee family. We had a great time hanging out with them. We are very thankful that God brought them into our lives! They are a very precious family and we can't wait to see them again.

Olya's Birthday

Our pastor's wife, Olya, had a birthday on Tuesday, and since the kids are in school now, we were able to spend the day with her and Wayne in Kiev. Ura and Oksana Zahurski went along too. We had a really great time bowling and then had a delicious lunch at a sushi restaurant on the river. Here are some fun pics of the day...

John Piper on the prosperity gospel

Conference

We went to the annual conference in Chernigov this weekend. It was a great time of catching up with old friends and making new ones, as well as hearing good teaching on what it means to be part of the church. We only ran into a few obstacles. The first night was very chilly and Justin did not sleep much. He made his presence known in our building with his hollering. The MacNamee's graciously let the baby and I bunk at their house Saturday night which made us both very happy and rested. Micah sprained his ankle playing soccer, so he was left hobbling around. Other than that, we had a nice time. It is exciting to see all that God is doing among the churches represented there and we are blessed to be a part of it! Check out our web album for more pictures...

Josie's Surprise day with dad

Today I picked Josie up early from the "kids garden" and we headed off for a special day! I brought a picnic lunch and some paints and headed off to the lake with my daughter. She was pretty surprised and excited to spend "alone time" with dad. We finished eating our picnic lunch and jumped into painting...at her request. As you can see, she is a natural. We also started painting the horseflies as they landed around us...it was fun. After that we headed to the park in Kaharlyk. She led the way as we headed down the trails. We took a couple of pictures at the war memorials. From the park we went to get ice cream. It was a very special father-daughter day!

Quote from Josie....
"Dad, I love life...I love my special day!"

The kids and I went to a very fun birthday party for Marie Gollan in Rzhyshchiv. Micah was away at a youth workers conference, so we hitched a ride with the Zschech and Zahurski families. All the kids were supposed to dress up as a fruit or vegetable. Ours went as a strawberry, carrot and asparagus. Dan and Priscilla had the party nicely planned out with lots of games, yummy food (tacos) and a very creative garden cake. The games were almost more fun for the adults than for the kids, including pass the pumpkin, potato carving and eating contest with fruit and whipped cream. It was great to visit with everyone and let the kids get their fill of sugar and exercise!