Sorry that I have not been able to post daily.  We do not have ready access to the internet.  Anyway, our trip is going very well.  We have made good progress on Sergei’s home.  Monday and Tuesday we completed putting the foam on the exterior of the house.  Sergei and Ilena started mudding in the netting around the house.  We are beginning our third day of work with hopes of prepraing the outside walls and the interir ceiling so that Sergei and his family can move in as quickly as possible and let their children return home from Lugansk.  Sergei and his wife are very nice and tell us everyday how thankful they are for us to have come to help them finish their home.  Last night, Yuri took us to hear the Ukrainian mens choir whille they were recording for an album.  That was fabulous.  Everybody enjoyed hearing the incredible singing.  We miss everyone back home but it is an awesome feeling being here in the Ukraine helping people like Sergie and his family.  We will try to write as often as possible.  This is all for now.   

Well we made it to Amsterdam after a long flight.  Everything went well except we are a little tired from hardly any sleep so far.  Bob is snoozing in the “comfortable chairs” and Larry and I are just hanging out as we wait for our flight to Kiev.  Not much to update right now, just wanted to let all the family and friends know that we arrived safe and sound.  Keep checking back as we will post as often as possible. 

Hello! Sorry there hasn’t been an update in a while, we only had one comment and weren’t sure if we had an audience or not.
Anyway, thursday was a big day. We spent the daylight working on the house, but broke for dinner a little early in order to get to the orphanage. We went to the hotel and cleaned up quickly and went with Igor to sevastopl to meet with Yuri. After the short ride to Sevastopl. We met up with Yuri and loaded the trunk of the van with rugs (purchased with donated funds before we left). Mr. Troy then thought to get a soccer ball and basketball; it turned out that there was a sportshop two stores down.
We left for the orphanange and were there in less than 10 minutes. We piled out and headed around to the playground. Immediately, the older boys, inspired by Yuri, had us forma team of 6 americans vs. 6 of the
Kids. In reality it was all 6 of us plus Yuri, so really we had an unfair advantage…. We still lost 0-5.
We gacve the director the rugs and she nearly burst with excitement. She ran from her desk to where we had set them on the floor and just looked thrilled as she cut the string off of them.
After the soccer game, the director gathered all around her and explained to them what we were doing, who we were, and finally, what we had brought. Ira translated all this for our benefit.
Once she had exlained who we were, she,the director, told us how much these meant. She explained that in their culture it wasn’t proper to wear shoes in their living space. This meant that in the winter the kids were forced to gert out of bed to a cold floor.
She finished, and all the children started chanting “Spaciba! Spaciba! Spaciba! (Spaciba means thank you.)”
Afterwards, we went to eat and left for the hotel.
Bye for now… And remember to comment!

Hello all, yesterday we started working after the prayer first translated from english to russian then iryna took charge and prayed with yuri translatibg for us. Sean and darren worked on the inside plaster while doug and mike insulated the outside of the house with styrofoam (a czech design) and mr. Troy and jeff followed with a cement glue and mesh to wrap the whole house to give some extra support. Igor, the driver, who has been playing the role of observer, began to lend a hand here and there. I think the lord is beggining to be heard in his heart. We also met ira yesterday she helped us learn a few more words and gave sergei the chance to break through thr language barrier in order to tell us how to do things the RIGHT way. We broke for lunch at abt 12 and called it a day around 4 so we could make it to Yalta. As we were loading the van, we were all kicking the ball with daniel and angelina. Darren gave a mighty kick and accidentally knocked it over the neighboring fence. Daniel went up to the gate and asked the little girl in the yard to get it for us, she did. And as daniel was walking away, he stopped, turned, and went back to the gate and gave the girl a large portion of his candy.
We then left and changed to go to yalta, where we had dinner. Afterwards, we walked the boardwalk struggling with communication unless yuri was present but managed to grab a few souvenirs.
This morning we had our devotional and breakfast, then it was back to work. Sergei has his three year old son, arthur, here again and every once in a while he will poke his head out the door and if anyone catches him he immediatly starts giggling. Well its back to work for me.

What a great start for our day today. We all gathered to pray to start the day and Iryna prayed for us and thanked God for us coming to help with the house. She has such a grateful heart. This is what it is all about. We are going to continue with our plaster work today both inside and outside.We are expecting to get some rain showers today so we may have to move inside and hold off til tomorrow our outside work. 5ima has gotten a construction job so we have not been able to spend time with him yet.