Living in Ukraine

Tuesday will make our 5 month anniversary here in Kharkov.  Wow, I can't believe we have been here 5 months.  I'm not as advanced in the language as I would have liked to been by now.  But we are working on it.  Brian and Briana are way ahead of the boys and I.  Briana read 2 long paragraphs to my mother-in-law the other day on Skype.  I have been praying that God would make it very easy for them to learn the language and that He would open their minds and understanding to Russian.  I have learned enough to speak very simple sentences, but nothing more than that.  When someone talks to me I break out in a nervous sweat.  Does that happen to anyone but me.  I also break out in a nervous sweat when I go to the store, especially in the check out line.  I get nervous riding public transportation also....some people are very nice when they realize you do not speak Russian and help you, but some are very rude and hateful.  But since I have no idea what they are saying....I just smile....

We had some excitement the other week....our first hospital visit here....Orion come in the house and said, "Mom, Zach's OK, I just wanted to tell you that.  But he hurt himself playing football (soccer)."  Ok, it is never good when he says that!  Zach come in the house and said it hurt alittle, but hurt more when he moved it.  It was only alittle swollen, and I couldn't really tell what was wrong with it.  Ms. Cathy O'Brien is a nurse, so I called her about this.  She said we needed to get x-rays to make sure it is not broken and go from there.  So we took a Taxi to Hospital #7 near the church.  After Zach got his x-rays, lo and behold, it is broken.  It broke where the 2 bones meet right at your wrist.  So they had to set the bone because it was not a clean break.  But praise God, the doctor was a good doctor and it did not take that long!  This past Friday we went back for more x-rays, and praise God, the doctor said it is healing very well, and he only has to wear the cast one more week.  Wow, I was shocked, I thought he would have to wear it much longer, but praise God, he doesn't.  He does have to wear a metal, removable brace for several weeks though.  But at least it's not a cast!

 

As for general life in Ukraine, it still takes a lot to get used to.  We're not used to having close neighbors.  We live in a kind of duplex.  We enter in through the front, they enter in through the back but we do enter in through the same front gate. Several of the rooms in our houses are connected.  So we are able to hear what is going on in there home, and I'm sure they can hear us too.  Sometimes, we really don't want to hear what is going on in the other house.  Currently there are about 3 or 4 young college students from Africa.  But their lease is up and I believe they will soon be moving.  My prayer is to have a family move in behind us.  There is also another small apartment (detached) behind us with other couple of African college students.  Praying about maybe trying to find a home with a yard all to ourselves.  We are hoping the Lord will provide just what we need.

PTL!!! God has answered our prayers for a vehicle.  I was hoping for a mini van, but this is better than nothing.  It is a 2007 Russian Lada Seyorka.  The body style of this car has not changed in 20 years!  It's about as basic as basic gets.  We are praying about getting power steering.  It is very hard to drive.  Trying to change gears and turn the steering wheel is very hard!  It has been such a blessing to not have to take a Taxi to church!!!  I had a scary taxi experience last week coming back from the hospital after Zach got his xrays.  The taxi driver decided to stop at an apartment on a dark road at 11:30pm...and left us in the Taxi for 10 minutes.  I called my husband and talked to him the whole time to make sure nothing would happen.  And that is not the first time that has happened!  So praise the Lord for the car!  Still praying that the Lord would provide us a mini-van.  It will be more roomy for our family, plus we would have room for other's too.