Day 27 - The Great Outdoors

Hello to everyone from Kiev, Ukraine.  We appreciate so much the kind words of encouragement and prayers that we receive from you all.  We so much want to come home but we knew this was going to be a long, difficult process before we came.  Thanks for all that you do to help us along the way.

It's 6:32 a.m. here and I have been up about an hour.  Not much of what we encounter here is similar to our home life.  The variety of food we eat is very limited.  We wear the same clothes day in and day out.  The apartment we stay in seems like it closes in on us more and more.  The modern, simple conveniences of home are simply not present.  It's very difficult to find some sort of comfortable routine, even with our sleep schedule.  Anxiety about work and other responsibilities at home weigh upon me a bit.  And, I am anxious about not knowing when we will be able to leave for home. 

Still, in the midst of all of this, I am thankful that God's Holy Spirit is present to lead our family towards finding joy in Him and in each other more and more as each day passes.  The kids are both very sweet spirited and fun to hang out with.  Us being parents brings about responsibility to love, provide for, teach, discipline and plan for these children's future but it also brings with it a deeper understanding of our relationship with our Heavenly Father and a deeper love that grows from being a family.

Our day began on Saturday with no food in the fridge for breakfast.  This required a walk down the mountain to pick up some grub.  Charlie gets pretty excited anytime a walk with me occurs.  He is constantly asking me before I put him to bed if he and I are going walking the next morning.  I actually woke him up this morning so he could go and he looked at me with sleepy eyes, made the hand gesture of walking two fingers across the palm of his other hand to which I said "yes".  He jumped up and got ready in record time (with a big smile on his face).  So, off we went to kill something and drag it back home for our family. 
:-).  Breakfast consisted of bacon, scrambled eggs and buttered bread.  This was probably the most home-like meal we have had but some cheese grits, biscuits & gravy, or pancakes would've helped a great deal.  I made the comment "do you think they would have grits at the store" to which Angelia replied "they don't even have grits in New Jersey, much less here".  Again... her wisdom astounds!  :-)

My friend Dima called to invite us all to visit an open air museum in the afternoon, to which we excitedely accepted.  This gave us a few hours to chill before getting ready.  The kids wanted to play UNO together in Anna's room again today.  I think they have some sort of day to day contest or score keeping thing going on with the UNO (which is fine as long as an argument doesn't erupt).  Angelia and I decided while the kids were in another room to scan each TV channel to see what else we could find besides Nickelodeon and Discovery.  You have to be careful when you don't understand the TV channel name else you will suddenly find yourself watching something inappropriate (for adults or children).  As we were doing this, we came across a sports channel that was showing a college football game.  It was ESPN America.  Not only was a game on, but other games were coming on afterward.  The channel surfing stopped.  The clouds immediately parted, bright sunshine poured upon us, birds began singing and the air began to smell better... welll... let's not go too far.  Still, it was great to find this channel and Angelia and I watched a re-play of a very good Marshall vs. West Virginia game.  You can't beat Saturday college football in the South (or in Ukraine).  The kids came in to watch with us and tried to get excited along with us.  We were pulling for Marshall (green).  Charlie decided to pull for West Virginia (white).  If Charlie chooses to always pull for the team that the other three of us are rooting for, we may have a serious issue in late November when Auburn plays Alabama.  Angelia said "now we know how the Morris family feels when AU is on TV and Jordan is pulling for the other team".  LOL!

We left the apartment at 2:30 p.m. to head over to the open air museum with our friend Dima and his family.  This is a museum that demonstrates the heritage of different regions of Ukraine through the centuries.  It is complete with period houses, craftmen making things and lot's of outdoor space (which is what we needed).  We had great fun and I appreciate Dima and his family taking us out for the afternoon.  We ended the day out by eating dinner at a restaurant called "Potato House".  We have eaten here before and it's a good attempt to serve American style ribs with a mixture of local salads and baked potatoes.  Anna ended the meal by saying she liked American ribs better (referencing her trip to Dreamland during her visit to America this past December).  That's my girl!  :-)

My friend Dima, his wife Anya, and daughter Liza with the Taylor crew as we visit an outdoor museum highlighting the history of Ukriane

A beautiful old church located in the Kiev, Ukraine open air museum

Our day in the apartment ended with us watching Georgia get beat-up on by South Carolina.  Knowing that Mark Richt and his wife adopted a special needs child from Ukraine, we pull for the Bulldogs anytime they are not playing Auburn.  Anna and Charlie once again tried to cheer along with us for Georgia (white).  Both kids pulled for the same team we were - there is hope.  This brought about Angelia showing Charlie how to play "paper football" using the old folded paper into the triangle game.  He is all about kicking this piece of paper and a contest between me, him and his sister Anna soon came about - which was great fun until we had to stop so everyone could go to bed.  The paper football reminded me that Angelia and I once played a game of paper football many years ago when we were just dating - I don't remember many details of that game so many years ago but I do remember just being intoxicated with her presence.  I had a huge crush on her then and I still do!

As I wrap up, I reflect on the excitement that Charlie has about going walking with me each day.  He is enthusiastic, happy and eager to go every day.  Sometimes as we are walking, he gets way out ahead of me.  This is a bit dangerous because there are alleys where dangerous traffic comes out unexpectedly.  Also, Charlie doesn't know where we're going and I sometimes intend to turn in a different direction so when he get's way ahead of me, I have to call him and he has to run back to where I am when I turn so that we won't get separated.  Sometimes, this persist to the point where I have to walk with my hand on top of his shoulder (which he sometimes doesn't like but endures) and even get on to him a bit.  This reflection describes my my lesson today about my relationship with God.  I hope and pray that I would always be excited to walk along with my Heavenly Father.  I pray that the destination doesn't matter to me; just that He is there.  I also pray that He will continue to watch over me and protect me from the dangers along the way.  I also humbly pray that He will not let me wander away from Him (even if it means He has to hold onto my shoulder with His mighty hand), lest I get lost. 

Goodnight (er.. good morning) from Kiev, Ukraine.  Thanks for all the love and concern for our family and thank you for your prayers!  We hope to see you all very soon!