Pic Updates

A family retreat to a nearby city

Early morning fishing on Matt's birthday

Name this bird.....hint,  it is mentioned in the Bible

Relaxing quiet time

Spring training :-)

Pep-talk and grooming before a concert in a nearby city

A Children's Concert

Happy 13th Matt!

friends gather to celebrate Matt's birtday.

hanging out......

Enjoying a Ukrainian Style Hot Dog for his birthday......hot dog, carrot salad, mayo and ketchup.......

Reminding myself and sharing with you...

My Utmost for His Highest is a devotional I that came across at a home school book trading fair.   After bringing baby #5 home from the hospital (and every baby since), I would open it during night time feedings.  .....precious alone time with God....  Yesterday was Matthew's 13th birthday and read this once again....  

April 18th - God called to him . . . . And he said, ’Here I am’ —Exodus 3:4

When God speaks, many of us are like people in a fog, and we give no answer. Moses’ reply to God revealed that he knew where he was and that he was ready. Readiness means having a right relationship to God and having the knowledge of where we are. We are so busy telling God where we would like to go. Yet the man or woman who is ready for God and His work is the one who receives the prize when the summons comes. We wait with the idea that some great opportunity or something sensational will be coming our way, and when it does come we are quick to cry out, “Here I am.” Whenever we sense that Jesus Christ is rising up to take authority over some great task, we are there, but we are not ready for some obscure duty.

Readiness for God means that we are prepared to do the smallest thing or the largest thing— it makes no difference. It means we have no choice in what we want to do, but that whatever God’s plans may be, we are there and ready. Whenever any duty presents itself, we hear God’s voice as our Lord heard His Father’s voice, and we are ready for it with the total readiness of our love for Him. Jesus Christ expects to do with us just as His Father did with Him. He can put us wherever He wants, in pleasant duties or in menial ones, because our union with Him is the same as His union with the Father. “. . . that they may be one just as We are one . . .” (John 17:22).

Be ready for the sudden surprise visits of God. A ready person never needs to get ready— he is ready. Think of the time we waste trying to get ready once God has called! The burning bush is a symbol of everything that surrounds the person who is ready, and it is on fire with the presence of God Himself.

~ Oswald Chambers 

Pic Update....

Cheteepaha (turtle)

friends......

Making gift packs for local orphanages and visiting teens.

Sunday afternoon after church

Avoiding the spring mud!
 Our family cleaning the yard and  making a temporary pathway to the gate.
The mud here is unforgiving.  It is like black concrete once it gets on your shoes.

Some things never change.  Dad and Dan planting tomato seeds.

FINALLY Joelle wins a game of Bird-o-poly.  
It is difficult to beat Oleg!  Everyone is excited.

A fun day at the ice skating rink in a nearby city.

Big brother!

'K' captures on paper the game Army!  Oleg (on the left) is the sergeant (or is it captain? - I'm not sure : - /  ......)
and tells the privates what to do.
The kids love this game and Oleg uses this as a way of wearing them out after dinner and before bedtime! : )

The Four Loves Quotes...

   The pics below are of a young man whom Mike met three years back when he first came to Ukraine.  At that time he was 16 years old and a confessing Christian and told Mike he was starving for fellowship with other believers.  Since then Mike has tried to stay in touch.   After some thought, prayer and guidance of the Holy Spirit, Mike was able to contact V. a few villages away and thankfully he came to visit this past weekend.   
     Below is a quote from the book The Four Loves, by C.S. Lewis......it seems appropriate for this post.

The Four Loves Quotes 

“In friendship...we think we have chosen our peers. In reality a few years' difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another...the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting--any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you," can truly say to every group of Christian friends, "Ye have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another." The friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

........getting reacquainted with us and the guitar.  
V. also knows a little violin. 

....a belated birthday celebration.
V. just turned 19 a few days before he came for a visit.