Before this time is too far behind us, I thought I would share some pictures and show you what we’ve been up to during our leave and the holidays.  Like you, we’ve enjoyed family and friends and WAY too much food.  Most of all we’ve enjoyed our first Christmas with Jeremiah and our first Christmas as a family of four.  We love it.

Jeremiah is one month old.

Arthur, the dog, helping keep Jeremiah in the chair while sleeping.

Jesse's first Christmas present.

Reading the Christmas story on Christmas morning.

Jeremiah making faces.

I had more than one person ask me if I was carrying an ewok.

Jeremiah taking a bath with his bullfrog cover-up.

Jesse stuck his finger in Jeremiah's mouth. We weren't expecting that.

Jesse at the Houston Zoo (in a fish tank).

My sweet, sweet boys.

Jesse experiencing Texas in January.

Jeremiah got in the way of Jesse's bed jumping.

This is how Jeremiah and I spend a lot of time.

There are a couple of other changes to the blog that might also be worth noting:

In addition to the new ‘Newsletters’ tab, there is also a new ‘Pray For Us’ tab.  This page lists current prayer requests for us and the ministry here in Ukraine.  Many of these requests are in our newsletter, however this list has some additions, some praises, and offers a more real time list of what we are praying about right now.

If you are interested in getting a notice everytime there is a new post, you can sign up to receive email notifications on the sidebar of the main page.  All you have to do is enter your email in the space beneath ‘Follow Goranimals via email’  and then confirm your request in the email that WordPress sends you.

Finally, the best new addition to the blog is at the top of our header picture:  a new Jeremiah animal in our family photo at the top of the page .  Shannon promises to post some new pictures of him soon.

Peace of Christ to all!

He weighed in at 7lbs, 8ounces and 20.5inches.  That is 3.4kilos and 52cm for our Ukrainian friends.

Mommy is doing great and so is everyone else; including the now older brother Jesse who gave Jeremiah a nice pet when they first met.

Thank you for all your prayers!  We are so blessed!

We were visiting a friend in Kentucky after visiting a church a couple of Sundays ago.  We were just getting settled in to talk when Jesse tripped and fell face first into the rock hearth of the fireplace.  From where I was sitting I couldn’t actually tell if Jesse had even hit anything until David grabbed him, examined him, and proclaimed ‘Jesse busted his mouth’.

David ran him to the bathroom and we were holding him over the sink to make sure he didn’t choke.  We found one of his teeth laying in his mouth, and I couldn’t bring myself to look to see what the other damage was.  We knew we needed to get him to the ER to see what else was going on inside that little mouth.

I dropped David off at the ER doors and I went and parked.  When I ran in, David was talking to a nice gentleman in the waiting room who appeared to have an ankle injury.  But what I soon learned, is that he also was an oral surgeon and was helping to put David’s my mind at ease.

When we were finally seen, we discovered Jesse only lost the one tooth, but another tooth had been pushed way up and he needed three stitches on the inside of his upper lip.  Jesse, who is usually one for attention, was not very excited about any of this.  But, of course, he handled it like a champ, and today is doing much better.

We have since been to the dentist and she said that 5 teeth had experienced trauma and now it is a wait and see game as to the outcome of those other teeth.  The only good part about all of this is that it happened while Jesse is still very young, so he is likely to heal and this incident occurred while we were in America where we knew better what exactly to do.

The day of the accident. His lip was still numb from getting stitches.

The day after the accident. Feeling better while playing with our friend Maggie.

2 days after our ER visit. This was the face I was given after I told him to get down off the hearth. He was definitely feeling better.

I wasn’t expecting it to be quite like this.  As I envisioned these months a while back I foresaw a lot of things that I couldn’t imagine being extremely fun or enjoyable.  Like Jesse strapped into a car seat for the first time in his self assertive life.   Like all of us sleeping in a different bed almost every night.  Like eating way too much fast food, loving it and then having this feeling of perpetual bloatedness.

When it came to visiting churches, I honestly had my hesitations as well.  We didn’t really know a lot of these people.  How were they going to receive us?  When it came to sharing about our lives and ministry, well, I have always been hesitant with my Christian stories.  Even if God had done it, I never wanted to boast about it.  Humility demanded that even if I was to talk about it, I would do so sparingly; probably only when and if I felt the time was exactly right.  And it wasn’t that these stories were not good, powerful stories.  They are good stories, but there has also for me been this feeling of guilt that there weren’t more.  I have had this idea that there should be a whole treasure chest of new, fresh testimonial jewels for me to pull out and dazzle folks with.  You know, I’m a missionary!

Maybe you too have had some of these same feelings.

Well, furlough has been corrective for me.  As we have had no choice but to become itinerant storytellers, all of these hesitations has been swept over by the wave of our experience.  Every time I share these same old stories, I become more confident and passionate about our work. More and more, I feel a great conviction that God is indeed present in our lives and ministry.  I have a sense that through the mystery of His grace, we are taking part in this great story of redemption.

These are our stories, this is our life, this is what God is doing, and we are learning to share our stories with joy and with confidence.

And so, I thought I should write. I figured I should share.  That has been really the lesson I have learned.  And maybe this is a lesson you need to learn as well.  I encourage all of you, tell your stories as well!

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord and always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

(1 Peter 3:15) 

Baby is due any day now!  We will let you know as soon as he/she comes.

We will let these pictures do the rest of the talking.  Hope to connect with you all soon while we are here.

P.S. New baby goranimal is due December 10th!

Fireman Jesse here for all your Halloween emergencies.

Getting a chance to fish again, between church visits - Mississippi River Pike.

Marshall UMC - Marshall, Minnesota

Meeting our nephew Archer for the first time!

Last regular season St. Louis Cardinals game. We got into the states the day before. Awesome.

However, there are approximately 10 graduating seniors this year at Youth to Jesus, and the month of June has been a bit more freeing for them then the other students.  This, of course, is only after an oral defense of their 60-80 page diploma paper, and confirmation that they have no outstanding library books from any of the university libraries.  (I say approximately 10 because those are just our committed regulars.  There are a bunch of others that are in and out of our doors, but do they really consider themselves one of us?  We’re not sure.)

All of our ‘seniors’ graduated after their fifth year.  A four year degree is a bacholor’s degree while adding another year qualifies as a masters.  And just like in America, the job search has begun.  One young lady just took a job as a journalist for an English speaking company that is launching both a new website and TV channel in Ukraine, two are working in the tourist industry, one is working for us, one is hoping to become a lawyer somewhere in Lviv, one is hoping to immigrate to America, and the other four have no idea.

The hardest part about our seniors graduating is that because we are a student organization most of them will probably leave us, and this makes us sad, especially when we have enjoyed this group of students so much and they are such strong leaders.  We are hoping to plug some of them into the United Methodist Church and help others find church homes that they feel are better fits.  And even though David and I have a strict policy at the student center of needing to be a student to be on the leadership team or to lead a small group, we might bend those rules a little this next semester while we are home on furlough.

It’s hard to let go of such an amazing group.

A celebration lunch for all of our graduates.

Here they are...(back row, L to R) Nastia, Maryana, Olya, Murosa, (front row, L to R) Olya, Volodia and Erika

Graduation Pilgrims - David challenged them to think about what lies ahead

Celebrating by throwing those Bible/caps...Olya, Natalya, Nastia, Eirka, Volodia, Maryana

We start the tour in our own living room, with a local paper.  The two cartoon twins, names  Slavek and Slavko are only some of the logos / mascots you will see representing the tournament.  Slavek is wearing red and white and is Poland’s representative while Slavko is wearing blue and yellow and is Ukraine’s representative.  They are each wearing the colors in each country’s flags.

Front Page of a local paper this week..."Until Euro 2012...less than a year!"

Upon immediately leaving our apartment building, you can turn to the left and see a new hotel.

Hotel Chopin

When turning to the right, you see the reconstruction of our road.  Most of the roads in the center that have been covered with black asphault for a quick fix, are being dug up and re-cobbled to give the city its old feel back.  It looks great, and for now, has cut down on the traffic in front of our home tremendously.

Voronoho Street

They are even adding a red path on the side of the street that is supposed to be designated for bikers.  David and I have observed (over and over) that most Ukrainians have trouble observing any type of street sign, so we are interested to see how these new bike paths work.  We are also interested in seeing how far the bike paths stretch because right now, we have only seen about 100 meters (and very few bikes).

The Red Bike Path

L’viv is also showing more signs of advertising.  McDonald’s, of course, is an official sponsor, and is leading the way.  Also the transportation that is being updated is also carrying advertisements.

This sign is two blocks from our home (as is the local McDonalds).

And here is new bus #11, it runs between the city center and the new stadium which is being built across the street from a new modern shopping center.

And a newer tram, advertising Euro Cup with all of the colors and flowers.

Finally, in the middle of the center is this beautiful reminder of what is to come, made of real flowers.

And the tourism industry is booming.  Upon our arrival everyone talked about how ‘touristy’ L’viv is.  David and I didn’t understand.  There was nothing in any language but Ukrainian, no maps, no information booths anywhere, no menus in English.  But now, signs are popping up, maps are popping up and even a tourist information center at the city council offices in the main square.  And or course, two of the three employees at the information center are our students.  David and I can’t say it enough, we think we work with the best and the brightest.  Tourism is turning into a big industry, and a coveted job.

Signs/directions to popular tourist destinations.

Directions and a labeled map. However, you can also see, that parking on the sidewalk is still not understood as a no-no.

We still aren't exactly sure what these interactive computer terminals do (because we have never gotten them to work) but we've been ensured by our students that they are super helpful.

The tourist information center at city hall.

And this is Olya, one of our students who is graduating in a couple of weeks, who now works at the tourist information center full time.

Is it time for the school year to end?

Is it time for summer to start?

Is it time to get ready for an American team coming to serve with us this summer?

Is it time to prepare for itineration this fall in the states?

The answer to all of these questions is yes, it is that time.  And, it is also time for us to announce that we are also going to be having another baby.  I just finished my first trimester on Friday, and now the news is out.  We’re pregnant, due December 10th.  We will be home on intineration during December (October-January actually), so this baby will also be born in Texas.  Please rejoice with us.

The baby at almost 12 weeks.

And all the super important information under the picture, that we almost understand.

So last Friday night, I hosted the girls at our house and David entertained the guys at the student center.  What made it even more fun was that the girls made TONS of earrings that David and I will bring home this fall and sell to the churches we visit in order for the students to raise their contribution to the new space: $5,000 (they have already done $2,500!).

Spread out in the living room making earrings.

Guitar designs

Cutting out the design

The machine that is used to press the clay

Tt 4:30am our time, we met with UM Communications in Nashville, TN because our Meet the Sun evening corresponded with the world wide United Methodist event, Change the World (http://www.umcom.org/site/c.mrLZJ9PFKmG/b.5967865/k.86E5/Change_the_World.htm).  It is when United Methodist go out into the world to create change.  Our students thought what better way to create change, than to be that change.  Young university students spending their Saturday morning together, having fun, worshiping God, eating breakfast together, and inviting everyone along that they see.  That sounds like a change from the average university student on Saturday morning.  You can go to http://www.rethinkchurch.org/video-conversation/change-world-ukraine-0 to see our video.  Try to make it the end of the video (4:25) so you can hear the girls sing.

Natalya, Sophia and Olya - three young women who will be on the leadership team next year

Then they met the boys at 5am in order to be at the top of High Castle by 5:41am.  After spending time up on High Castle our students returned to the student center, picked up some things for a picnic and headed up the street two blocks to have breakfast together in front of the university.  They also passed out sandwiches to people walking by and shared about the student center.  But we learned that maybe 8am on a Saturday morning is not the best time to advertise to university students.  Guess we should have thought that through a little better.

I love this choice of shoe attire for walking up High Castle.

On their walk to High Castle. There were about 20 students who made it up to High Castle. But we had over 30 through the student center and our home during the event.

David, the forever guitar player.

On top of High Castle

The students in front of the university making sandwiches for breakfast. The statue is of Ivan Franko, the namesake of the university.

I’m not sure what the rest of the students did, but David and I spent the rest of our Saturday sleeping.  It had been a long time since I went to sleep at 1am and then awoke at 4:15am.  I now remember why.