Sure do miss him

Well, it’s time to renew our visas again…our last time was five years ago. Jim and I enjoyed our roundtrip train travel together and arrived back to our flat renewed, both in our documents and in our spirits. We were ready to jump back into our work with both feet.

Of course, after being away from computers for several days, one of the first things we did was check emails. Lots of ads, some ministry letters, and some from family in the U.S.

In fact, there were several from my sisters which was slightly out of the ordinary. Rarely did I receive multiple messages without my first responding.

And no wonder. The early messages were that an ambulance was en route to take my brother to the hospital. And then the updates that were not too encouraging. And then several asking us to call them — they had tried to reach us but to no avail.

And then the final message from them was that my brother had died.

What?!

Needless to say we connected immediately to our family and through the tears learned that he had died at the hospital on Cape Cod and his body was being transported back to Ohio for the funeral. We used every available ‘mile’ that we had, added cash, and made plans to be there. Thankful for my mother offering to pay for tickets for our children (two flying from Ukraine and one from Nepal) so that we could all gather together to remember him.

Oh, how we laughed at his silly antics! We actually kept expecting him to enter the room where we all had been together so many times before. The pall bearers each chose one of Doug’s ties (he had quite the collection!) and arrangements were made for the funeral and burial.

My sisters and I had to agree that the timing was actually quite amazing — the first Mother’s Day that my mom had no living son, the rest of her children were together with her! Including her only grandchildren. God is so good to us.

Remembering the best times with him…and his crazy sense of humor.

Love him so.

Table for two

What a beautiful day in Kyiv…the forecast had been for a hot and rainy day, but instead a real delight. Oh, the cool breeze was ideal.

Dinner once again on the Balcony Cafe…table for two. Stuffed peppers. Coffee and dark chocolate afterwards as we overlooked the passersby — lots of families, babies, and dogs were out and about this evening. I am noticing that more and more ladies are switching to flat shoes, though we did see one impeccably dressed and high-heeled mama pushing a stroller.

Looking forward to celebrating Easter tomorrow…twice. In Russian in the morning and in English in the evening.

Christ is risen.

Balcony Cafe re-opens

After a much-longer-than-expected break from posting on this blog, I am excited to be back and to announce the grand re-opening of the Balcony Cafe 2013. May 2. Our friend Mariana Tanchynets joined us for hors d-oeuvres (um, make that cheese and crackers) and a roasted vegetables dinner. We love spending time with Mariana…discussing visions […]

Maundy Thursday

I just ran across this article posted by a friend on facebook. I was convicted and encouraged both by steps that our church in Ukraine is taking. Particularly the Helping Hands club…designed for children ages 5-10 with the goal for them to see where they personally can serve their family, their church and their community. […]

A truly positive meeting

I sometimes feel like a broken record. (Does anybody even know what that means anymore??!!) You know, when the needle is stuck in the groove and keeps repeating the same thing over and over and over again. “Worldwide we have done such a great job of scaring people re HIV/AIDS that we now have people […]

The will of God and evil

As we continue going through John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, I find myself thinking and rethinking what we are reading. Like, for example, this excerpt from a section on God, His will, providence and evil. “For it would not be done if he did not permit it; yet he does not unwillingly permit […]

Map work

Love the first Sunday of each month…not only do we have children’s catechism before the service followed by the Lord’s Supper during the service but we also have a meeting of Helping Hands children’s club. This group is designed for children between the ages of 5 and 10, and the purpose is to help them […]

Marseille

Beautiful Marseille. A city on turquoise waters. Blue skies. Warmer temperatures. Quaint narrow streets bustling with shoppers. NOT. We looked forward to an extended weekend in Marseille visiting missionary friends, speaking a little French, enjoying long walks while taking in the sights. Well, can you believe that we hit Marseille on the coldest days of […]

Children’s Catechism 4-5

Though we were out of town on Sunday, I was thrilled to hear that the children — with the help of our wonderful friend Mariana — sang questions 4 and 5 of the children’s catechism with their answers during the Sunday morning worship service. How can you glorify God? By loving Him and doing what […]

The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert

The book came highly recommended. And then it showed up in my kindle…shared for a short time. I had a limited window to complete reading it and I was up for the challenge. I started to read the book on Friday night and finished it today — with many full days in between. So, what […]