Saturday we made a down payment on a house! YEAH! It hasn't even been a week and I already have the layout of the house all in mind! I've been trying to figure out a way to keep my bed. It's my favorite piece of furniture. If it doesn't work, we'll definitely be living more Ukrainian style...folding out the couch bed every night. Thankfully, they know how to make comfortable couch beds. All but one floor is painted wood, so after looking online, I've decided to just paint them off white. It's always been fun for me to dream of what a place could look like. I'm afraid not many people can see what I can see, and I'm excited to show some of my Ukrainian friends what you can do with a small place for more "privacy" from kids (i.e. curtain in the middle of the room, etc.). Usually they just look at me funny when I mention different ideas. Now I'll get to put some of them to use for our own home. I pray that it will be a help to them too. (Eric posted a picture of the house on our ministry blog.)
Some of you have asked how my cough is. Well, it's still with me, though it seems a little better. We are pretty positive that it is allergy/pollution related. We are praying that the house in the village will help with my cough and other health problems. I seem to always be sick. In the meantime, I am trying to make some diet changes...which is not very easy with all this good Ukrainian food. It is SO hard to serve God, my family, and the people He has called us to when my body is always exhausted and sick. Thanks to my husband, I am starting to take care of the temple that God has given me so that I can then give more to him, my girls, and then others. Pray for me in this area.
Thursday night we talked to Yuri and Christina again about separating. They had separated...for one day, but are now back together. We can see that the Holy Spirit is working on Christina's heart about this, but Yuri is strongly opposed. His biggest reason was because he couldn't hire workers to help with his cucumbers. Eric told Yuri that they were still welcome to church, he just wouldn't let them join the church right now or marry them. Yuri was very angry and has not spoken to us since. All he wanted for us to do was to say that what they were doing was okay. But we could only speak what the Bible says. Please pray for him and Christina. Also for us as we are heavily burdened for them.
Eric and I are now doing Russian lessons in the evening after the girls go to bed, 1-2 times a week. I like how much it frees up my mornings, but I do miss our evenings together. This has given me a chance to put my Russian to more use though. I have been able to get out with the girls in the mornings and buy groceries, either from the store or the produce stands along the way. Before I was just too rushed and exhausted to try to do the shopping. Valentina also comes over every Tuesday to help with the girls and cook up some delicious Ukrainian dishes. If I'm home, we always have a good time talking. If only everyone was as easy to understand as her and could understand my poor Russian as well as she can!
I have been wanting to post a new Ukrainian recipe, but I've tried so many good ones lately that I don't know which one to post first! Maybe cold soup. ;) Yeah, I know, cold and soup don't seem to go together, but it is YUMMY...especially on a hot day.
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