Guest Blogger: Kevin

Since Em asked me to put some of my thoughts down in this form, I hope I am able to communicate one of the many things that run around my head these days.

As I sat down to type this an image popped into my mind from childhood. As a boy I wrestled competatively and my dear parents went to countless matches. I remember one in particular. I don't remember how I did, rather I remember coming over to see my mother after the match, and she showed me her hands. There were bruise marks on her hands. I asked: "Mom what happened to your hands".
She said, "you did this."
"How?" I wondered out loud.
She said, "As you struggled out there, I got so into the the match I just clenched my fists harder and harder and I didn't know what I was doing until the match was over."
I learned something that day that we have been reminded of recent days. Sometimes its harder - or at least another kind of hard - to watch someone you love go and wrestle with all their might.

As many of you know, several of our colleagues in Ukraine and some of our dearest friends have been wrestling with cancer. As we watched them struggle, our fists where clenched as the tears rolled down our cheeks. Now the tables are turned and we are on the mat again, while you who are reading this are on the sidelines cheering, crying, and praying. If you looked down, maybe you'd see your own clenched fists.

I want to thank as you, as a husband, for coming around us as you have. I want to thank you for taking us before the Father, and with clenched fists joining in our wrestling match. We have been on both sides of this now and we know that both are very hard. Thank you for weeping with those who are weeping and we trust you will join us in rejoicing when we rejoice. Even now there is much joy as our precious Savior abides with us through this process.

Hello everyone - from Rochester, MN.
God has been at work in our lives in amazing ways.
One of the ways He is choosing to glorify himself is through our upcoming battle with breast cancer.
For this reason, I don't know how often I'll be blogging on this site. Please check out my new blog for up to date information.
Thank you for your love and prayers,
Emma

Temporarily offline...

I am flying to Minnesota tomorrow, to be seen at the Mayo Clinic. I don't know what my availability will be for blogging, but I'll try. In the meantime, keep us in your prayers as we explore my situation and see what God will do for us!
Thanks,
Emma

The Joy of Answered Prayer

Last Sunday we picked up this little guy on our way home from church... quite literally. He was ON the way home from church - a little street urchin and we rescued him. It has been an up and down week for Gracie in particular as she has been praying almost hourly that our little friend would have a clean bill of health from the veterinarian. Well, four days and a few hundred greevnas later... it's official!

We've adopted Jack Stripe Barnhart into the family... Gracie couldn't be happier!!

This I Know...

I have spent alot of time this week thinking about faith... and what I am sure of. This song, like the one I posted yesterday, says it so well. These things I KNOW...


I am not skilled to understand
What God has willed, what God has planned
I only know at His right hand
Stands one who is my Savior

I take Him at His word and deed
Christ died to save me; this I read
And in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my savior

That He would leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange, so once did I
Before I knew my Savior

My Savior loves, My Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God: He was, my God; He is
My God is always gonna be

My Savior loves, My Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God: He was, my God; He is
My God is always gonna be

Yes, living, dying, let me bring
My strength, my solace from this spring;
That He who lives to be my King
Once died to be my Savior



~Aaron Shust, 'My Savior My God'

I Will Lift My Eyes

God, my God, I cry out
Your beloved needs You now
God, be near, calm my fear
And take my doubt

Your kindness is what pulls me up
Your love is all that draws me in

I will lift my eyes to the Maker
Of the mountains I can’t climb
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer
Of the oceans raging wild
I will lift my eyes to the Healer
Of the hurt I hold inside
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You

God, my God, let Mercy sing
Her melody over me
God, right here all I bring
Is all of me

‘Cause You are and You were and You will be forever
You're all that I need to save me
‘Cause You fashioned the earth and You hold it together, God
So hold me now

I will lift my eyes to the Maker
Of the mountains I can’t climb
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer
Of the oceans raging wild
I will lift my eyes to the Healer
Of the hurt I hold inside
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You

~ Bebo Norman, 'Between the Dreaming and the Coming True'

...and still more photos!

More America Photos

Pondering...

I read a post yesterday over at Pastor Phil's blog , which I find myself in thought about today. In this post, he reflects on our tendency to prefer the created to the Creator. I don't have any wise profundity to add to Pastor Phil's post, just appreciating the perspective it forces me to.

As we were saying an uncountable number of goodbyes during our last week in the States, there were a few that were painful beyond anything I can put words to. I described it once as the feeling of searching for some piece of myself to leave with that person, and some part of them to carry along with me...

... would that I felt so desperate to be near my Savior every day. For it is His Spirit Who IS with me every day, and by Whom I am carried from one moment to the next.

O, Father forgive me for my failure in this way. O, friend pray with me that I would find rest and peace and an almost desperate hunger and thirst for Christ.

Preacher Man

One of my favorite things all summer was listening to Kevin preach. Yes, I know I'm biased! Here's a picture and you can listen to the sermon at Calvary EFC.

glimpses

I can't begin to write about all of the wonderful memories we made this summer... so I will simply try and post a few pictures at a time...

Highlights...

My, how time is flying by!! We've been with Grampa & Gramma in Reading, PA for the past two weeks and what a time we've had!! The excursions and memories are too many to recount in a meaningful way here, but we wanted to let you all know that we are getting some of the rest that we need and have hoped for. For now, a few photos to highlight our trip...

Having the time of our lives...

A warm hello to all of you precious people who are still bothering to check my blog! Life is chugging along quickly here in Minnesota, and I cannot believe how fast the time is flying! I have been taking some photos along the way, so rather than try and commentate, I think today I'll let the pictures speak for me... see you again soon!

We've spent our share of hours in the car.



The moon outside our livingroom one gorgeous night.


Creek Knoll Cottage, our 'America home.'


Here comes trouble...


With cousins on the farm...looking over the "sea of corn"

Coming up for air...

Hello from Minnesota!
We did indeed arrive in Minneapolis just two weeks ago, and they are FLYING by. We have spent lots of time in the car, but more time than that in fellowship and community with our friends and family. We realize already how fast this time will fly by, and we wish we could stretch farther and fill every minute somehow.

Thank you for continuing to check my blog and pray for us... I'll try to get in and post more often. There's no internet access at our house, so we have to go to Panera bread for free Wi-Fi... it doesn't hurt that their bagels and coffee are amazing. :)

Happy Birthday Sasha!!

It doesn't seem possible that he's 7 years old today, but they tell me it's true! We had a wonderful birthday party on Saturday at Chuck E. Cheez's...

I took our babies outside on Sunday evening to get some sunshne and excercise. It is so fun that the weather is finally really warm!! I love that late afternoon sun so much. We took the camera to capture some of it, and I even let Gracie take a picture of me watching the boys ride bike & scooter...

more color...

more photos of the finished livingroom...

don't you want to come for coffee?

color

Yesterday we did a major rearrangement of our apartment... including a totally new shade of paint in the livingroom! I'm so very excited, and I can't believe what a difference it makes. More photos coming soon...

tea party, tulips, tortillas...

attention to detail...

Papa spends dedicated time doing Bible lessons with the kiddos on a weekly basis, at least. In between times, and almost constantly, the kids listen to The Little Kids' Adventure Bible: New Testament on CD.

During this morning's Bible time, as always, the kids are given questions to answer. Sometimes the questions are True or False type questions; but other times they're a little more complicated. Today I heard reports of a very interesting question and even MORE interesting answer...

"Sasha, can you give me an example of what a false teacher might come and say?"

"Yes, Papa, I can! A false teacher might come and try to tell us that Euticus fell from the EIGHTEENTH floor!"

This one is going to be a stickler for accurate understanding of the Biblical text ~ he comes by it naturally!

Singular Girl...

Gracie was home with the boys and papa this morning, as I ran an errand to the US Embassy. At one point, Papa wanted her to go and play nicely with her brothers. Her response:

"I will try to get interested, but you know it's very hard to be interested in what BOYS like to do"

Goodbye, my friend...

You all know me well enough to know that there is music playing near to where I am at almost literally every minute. For the past two and a half years, this has been thanks to my cute and utterly cool PINK iPod mini...

Sadly, she is dead. She is of an older generation of technology, and her battery will not hold its charge anymore. This happened once last year and she was under warranty, so we sent her in and Apple displayed their amazing customer service in sending her back... well, at least it was a cousin or sister or something like that. ;)

Anyhow, this time she's not under warranty so until yesterday I was able to keep her plugged into a power source at all times so as to still listen. This work-around will no longer do the trick. Her screen is blank, her song is silent... and I will miss her.

"Mother of the People"

We went today to the National Military History Museum Complex. The main museum, honoring the Great Patriotic War (WWII), is located in the base of this monument: "Mother of the People". She is HUGE. There were many things about the museum that were fascinating to me...
I was surprised that so many of the documents related to the war history were written in Ukrainian. I guess I am not really aware of the timeline of Ukraine's russification. It seems that is something that must have begun en force sometime after the War. As a russian speaker here, I am able to communicate well; but I find myself intuiting the Ukrainian pattern more often as more of life is happening in Ukrainian. Today was an instance of that.

The one thing that surprised me more than any other was the female participants represented in the museum. It wasn't like in America, where many women went to work to keep factories running and such. It also wasn't an arrangement where women were the pretty nurses bringing comfort to the fighting men, although I'm sure some of this is true as well. I was really surprised today by the number of women soldiers, pilots, and officers represented at the museum. War really changes a people, of this I am convinced. In Ukraine, it seems, war had a profound effect on femininity.

In the picture below, you see a large iron facade/sculpture. Notice the 2 women in this piece... standing up is a babushka (grandmother), with a machine gun in her arms. Kneeling down is a younger woman with something cradled in her arms, and your mind expects it to be a child... but it is a mortar.

I don't really have any conclusions about all this... I am still thinking about it. It is a fascinating history we have here in Ukraine... I realize that we may very likely never be able to understand what it means to have this particular history.

Birthday girl!

Gracie Bee turned FIVE years old today, how can it be?!?! Special thank you to everyone who called or sent a card remembering our little treasure today!Tonight we went out for pizza with friends, and then invited more friends back to the house for cake, coffee & ice cream. We thank God for the amazing blessing that she is, and what joy she brings to our family!!