Life Lately

I promise we're all still alive and well and here's picture proof from Mother's Day: 

We've been busy lately: 

• Steve and Justin went on a hiking/camping trip to Crimea (that I'm still working on getting posted here but I need Steve to narrate the pictures)
• We have been going to English classes at School 25 and School 31 (where we taught English the first time we were here) although from May 1-12 were all sorts of holidays so we've only been to school 25 once this month, and school is out for summer this Friday coming up! *note* we are a hit as a musical group 
• Supper club at New Hope Center on Mondays - Joel and Katy (who are the American couple who helped start the club) are returning to the states at the end of the month. We're planning to continue on with supper club as Jessica (the other American gal who helped start it is still around) however we expect that there might be some drop off in attendance by some of the graduated orphan boys. Please pray that that's not the case and we can find ways to build relationships with them above and beyond just supper club
• We went for Tuberculosis tests last week which was super interesting but we had to have them to start work at Orphanage #3 which leads to......
• We have started a sports afternoon at Orphanage #3 - we've gone once last Thursday and will go again for the next two Thursdays before we switch things up for summertime (the kids go to camps/elsewhere for a large chunk of summer). 
• John Wiens has an MBMission Action team here for the next 4 weeks so we're hoping to do a day camp with them also at Orphanage #3
• We booked our trip to Poland (and have started getting all the necessary documents) for Justin's visa and will be traveling there in June 
• There are various camps that we will have the opportunity to work at over the summer (mostly Steve and Justin because I obviously have the kids to keep me busy) so we're talking and praying about which ones we should be involved in 
• We're holding off a bit on the playground painting until more kids are out of school - the ones we've met so far are really excited to help but asked if we could wait until school is finished so that they'd have more time to help out 

Please pray for more opportunities for us to serve and build relationships, for Justin's visa process to have no hiccups and for more people to infect...ha ha.... but yes INFECT with the LOVE OF JESUS!! 

We also want to say thank-you again to everyone who is following along with our everyday life, supporting us prayerfully and financially. We are still praying for full monthly financial support so if you feel you would like to help us out there is a tab at the top of the blog labeled "SUPPORT the Harders" where you can follow a link through to the YFC Canada website. We thank you ahead of time for the work your generous donations do to advance the work God is doing here in Ukraine. 

Labour Day

May 1 and 2 are holidays for Labour Day in Ukraine. Apparently everyone goes on a picnic on May 1 so that's what we did today with the Young Life leaders. There was a bit of confusion about who was supposed to be there - at first Steve thought all of us, then he was under the impression that it was just supposed to be him, and then when he showed up this morning (at 7:45 for a picnic!) they asked where the rest of us were and it turns out he had given them money for food for all of us but hadn't remembered that! He called me at 10 to see if we wanted to come and hang out so Justin, the boys and I headed over to where they were - across the dam on the right bank, right near the river. 

 Steve and Dez going to the river:

 SO green! The area reminded me of the St. Ambroise campground area. 

  Some of the girls brought marshmallows!! Apparently they do exist here, they're just called Zefir (like zefeer). 

They were also cooking apples on sticks over the fire which I haven't ever seen before.  

Shashleek: food that is barbecued/grilled/cooked over a fire 

 There was TONS of food which is different than other outings we've been to - generally there seems to not be enough so we usually try to eat before we go places, but here there was definitely plenty. 

August about to enjoy some grilled chicken:

 The ground was 50% sand, 30% dirt and 20% grass which led to ALL of us looking like this: