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!!

Last week I borrowed a book, The End of the Spear from the library at SEND's ministry center. You've heard of it, I'm sure. This is the story of Steve Saint, son of Nate Saint. Nate Saint was the MAF pilot killed, with four other missionary men, by Waodani in the amazon rain forest in the 50's. Steve grew up with the Waodani, and later brought his own family to live and serve in the jungle.

Honestly, I don't read very many missionary biographies. It turns out they are a little too real and too scary for me. This one was different. If you haven't read the book - do. Even if you saw the movie, consider reading this book. I didn't see the movie, but I learned through conversation that much of what happens near the end of the book was not in the movie. From my experience ~ which involved reading until 3:30 am because I couldn't put it down ~ that which happened after the movie credits rolled was the most impactful part of the story!

There is a passage I wanted to share with you all, when at a time of great pain and sadness, the author described his faith this way:

"This had to be part of the story God was writing with our lives. It was an excruciating chapter in our story, but I suddenly found I believed that somehow - beyond our ability to comprehend - this terrible trauma would eventually and mysteriously prove to be a cornerstone of God's plan for our lives.

If I asked God to change things, and He gave in to me, how would my change alter the rest of His plan? I did not want to ask God for what I desperately wanted in the short run, only to find it had cost us what God wanted for us in the long run.

Maturity sneaks in on us while we aren't watching most of the time. I realized that as much as I yearned to take {this person} home with us, I was not willing to risk giving up God's plan A for something else."

Where ARE my slippers?!?

Every year it's the same thing... I try to remember whether the heat gets turned off on the 15th of April or the 15th of May. And you know, I never really pay much attention to our trusty warm friends in every room of the apartment until they're suddenly not hot anymore!! Yes, I know today is only April 14th, but of course they can't actually flip the "off" switch on a Sunday, so it had to happen early.

So, I'm hunting for the recently-tucked-away slipper basket and reheating coffee from this morning... I'm cold!!

Wheels...

Transportation seems to consume a bit too much of my thoughts these days... hmmmm. We are watching and waiting to see what God will provide for our summer transportation need. At the same time, we are beginning to think about a car we'd like to buy for life here in Kiev.

We've been given permission to raise funds for such a purchase, but of course we don't actually HAVE any of said funds yet, making the shopping and research a bit complicated! Too many minutes... okay, HOURS, have been spent looking online at Ukrainian dealerships and online in the States. There are plenty of nice looking cars, and those close to me are starting to tease about which car is my favorite 'today'... implying that I'm much to fickle in my car preferences?

Anyhow, it doesn't really matter at this point, we're not buying until God gives us the money we need. I think my obsessive nature is not helping me in this situation, and I'd rather better think on something else... maybe that full scale rearrangement of our apartment that I've been concocting? Hmmm... stay tuned!