December!!

A year ago today we arrived in Ukraine! It was terrifying - dreary, cold, with miles upon miles of massive, gloomy apartment buildings stretching out as far as we could see. In my head I had mentally prepared until this year when we could go home again - I kept telling myself that I only had to get through ONE year before going home! But now we're heading home soon and I as much as I am looking forward to being home I am also looking forward to being back here again to see what unfolds in year two.

Dreary welcome: 

 Steve and the boys: 

 Kiev had a big snowstorm our first few days here: 

Stuff that's going on here: 

Steve and Justin went to a Young Life conference in Chernigiv last week. They both agreed that it was the most boring 5 days of their lives due to barely any language translation. They did enjoy spending time with the YL leaders though and Steve really enjoyed KFC and Cinnabon in Kiev!!

Justin left this past Tuesday on his way back home to Alberta. He was planning to visit Bobi along the way but was a little concerned about getting into the EU with his passport about to expire. We heard that he got into Poland just fine but haven't heard from Bobi whether or not they made it to Czech Republic. He was with us for three quarters of our time here and will be missed at worship nights, Monday night supper club and in every day life.

Has anyone heard about all the crazy stuff happening in Kiev lately with Ukraine declining to join the EU? It's a hot topic around here with lots of opinions, some we've never thought of before with our "western" mindsets. THIS is a link to live updates of what's happening today at least.

We are moving!! We will be moving into a smaller apartment not too far away. We love the location of our apartment but it is quite expensive from a Ukrainian stand point and we would like something a little more typical for Ukrainian living. Also we've had a ton of issues with our current apartment in this past year - everything from the ceiling leaking in several rooms, some of the radiators not working all last winter, the electricity being ridiculous for two whole months in summer and other things! We are actually really fortunate to be able to store our belongings in the new apartment while we're gone without having to pay rent for those months and they are going to be doing some renovations while we're away and will have everything ready for us by the time we get back February 1st.

Current apartment - it doesn't look like the type of building that would have any problems....right? 

We leave here in 15 days! I can't believe how quickly and yet how s.l.o.w.l.y. this year has gone. We're excited to get home to see friends and family but we're also excited for what God has been doing here - we feel like we're really just getting going here and there's so much more that He's going to do!