Another Holiday in Ukraine

As many of you know, holidays are abundant in Ukraine. They have to have a holiday after the holiday just to be safe. Soooo.... We had intended to go the baby house today to minister there but were told that since the director wasn't there (due to the holiday) that we could not come visit because the gates were locked. Olga had asked if we wanted to go on the river boat tour so we decided to take her up on that. We slept in a little bit first and went to breakfast at the hotel which was very good and then we were off to the boat. The boys were excited about going on the boat and we all had a great time. Krina and Olga were with us as well as Slava. We got to go through the locks that they had that were similar to the ones on the Panama Canal. It was pretty cool. We enjoyed seeing the sites and chatting with Olga and Krina. Vanya hadn't felt well since morning and only ate a little bit of breakfast but boy he made up for it on the boat and then at lunch. He took a nap on the boat and was ready to eat again when he woke up. Keely, Veecha and Yuri enjoyed wandering around the boat and looking off each end and feeling the breeze. That is in between eating snacks. Rob was enjoying some time to himself as he almost fell asleep on the upper deck. Vicky took lots of pictures and took in the scenery while Laura and Lisa talked the whole time with Olga and Krina. There was a boy on the boat named Sasha who was very interested in playing with the kids and talking with all of us. He knew a little English and wanted to be with us. It appeared that he was there with his grandparents but it didn't look too much like they cared too much about him. Very sweet boy it seemed.

After we got off the boat we were headed to the restaurant on the pier. Before getting there we saw kids jumping off the bridge into the water by the beach. In Ukraine the boys simply take off their pants and jump in wearing their underwear. Well Slava decided he was going to jump in. Immediately the Passanita boys wanted to do the same and before I even had a chance to respond they had taken off most of their clothes and were standing there looking at me with such great excitement that I couldn't say no. I didn't really think they would jump off the bridge because it was about 20 feet off the water. Well after I said OK ,Yuri was the first one over the rail ready to jump. He hesitated for about 2 seconds and then jumped right in! Since Slava was in the water ready to catch him I didn't feel so bad. Then Veecha got up and didn't even wait for the 1 2 3 and he was off. Much to my amazement Vanya wanted to jump as well. He thinks he is 10 times bigger than he really is. After the 1 2 3 count my little peanut was jumping off a bridge with not a care in the world. When they got back up on top all I heard was "I want to jump again". I figured papa really had to see this. He was waiting in the restaurant for our food to arrive but this was amazing. I think they attracted a crowd. Could have been the scooby doo and Thomas the Train undies but I think people were just amazed that these little guys weren't afraid of jumping in to the water. Thank goodness Slava was willing to be in there with them. Afterward we went up to eat lunch and then we returned to the hotel for our prayer time and journeling notes. We had a very uplifting and encouraging session and are determined to fullfill whatever plan God has for us. We intend to be able to report miracles and healings and other wonders God has in store for us. Since we weren't able to visit the baby house today, we will go in the morning and then to #3 orphanage in the afternoon to greet the children from camp. I think we will be in store for a fullfilling day tomorrow.

We ended the day by doing some street evangelism. We went down what we thought was an alley that Lisa had been analyzing from her room window. It ended up being an entrance to an apartment complex but we did hand out a few tracks anyway. We found that there was a pool place in an open tent like structure. We went in there and handed out a few tracks before Rob and Slava decided they would continue the mission by playing a few games of pool. Since Vicky had been watching the boys who had fallen asleep during our prayer time, the gals headed back to the hotel to wait on Rob and Slava to return. Once they returned we headed right here to tell you all of our journey for today.

Don't forget to see Lisa's blog for today also! She's the entertaining one and I am "just the facts" one. Enjoy :)

Laura