Another great breakfast today with home made raisin bread followed by a chicken and rice dish for lunch with home made salsa and get this pickled tomatoes and peppers. We told momma Anna “Ya taba lablu” Means I Love You in Russian. You know the stomach is the quickest way to a man’s heart.

We started the interior center wall today and framed several more windows. This team is in 5th gear and full steam ahead. We had to improvise today as it seems that the city stops water service in the residential areas at random to provide uninterupted water to the industrial companies. We were the lucky area today. No problem. Sergei called the play …. “Barrow down the river.” We loaded up our water containers with dipping bucket in hand and wheel barrow and headed 22 miles to the river. Not really, it is about 100 yards behind the property. We just thought the City Architecture Dept. Was flexing some control again.

The quote of the day came from Bill Carden and Brad Gains … We were talking about how hard we have been working and Bill threw in that “yeah I got hole in my glove” to which Brad replied “your coffee thermos must have burned that hole in your glove.”. lol

We got off 2 hours early today for “Conduct becoming of a Christian” and have the pleasure of having dinner with the family tonight, catered of course by A and A.

Dinner was a blessed event. Oleg prayed for the gathering and the meal and for our families back home. It was a packed house. The dinner was terrific of course!!! We ate and post dinner Yuri served as interpreter. We learned more about the family and each team member shared more about themselves and why they came to the Ukraine to serve the Lord. Oleg presented each team member with a gift. It was a small house constructed of straw with Christian imagery symbolic of the house being built for he and his family. We too presented a house warming present of 6 flat sheet bed linens.

1 Corinthians 9:24

till tomorrow…..

0800 report to the lobby. The Tardy Boys were right on time today.

Anna and Anna continue to set new milestones in Ukrainian cuisine. Makes us want to move here!!! Great breakfast followed by outstanding dumplins and a broth based soup for lunch.

We got significant progress done day 3. Our first framed up window makes our stucture look like a house. Quote for the day came from Jim Mayes as Michael Walters was waiting for his mortar bucket to be filled….. Jim asked if he needed a refill to which Michael responded in a very cordial way “yes my bucket is down by the tub.” Now the quote…. “I’m not your wife, I can’t read your mind.” You may have had to be here to get the full effect but there was much laughter in the moment.

We had a little fun with Deneen today. She called to check on us and Yuri had her thinking we had been shut down by the City Architecture Dept and were having to work under the protection of night with generators and lights. Yuri handed the phone to Ty who then reinforced the joke. We finally let her off the hook.

Oleg helped through the day today. We think it is starting to sink in for Oleg and family that this home will actually be theirs.

The family visited again to check in on us. Sweet family …. Sweet family… Told you this would be in the daily blog .

You know our night spot… Spare Ribs and potatoes. And yes 3 days running … desert….. makes you want to say “speceeba” that’s thank you in the Ukraine . We had a missionary join us for dinner Bruce McDonald. Retired officer from the Army. Reached retirement and listened to the Lord’ calling. He and his family have been here 2 years and help Yuri surface candidates for Hope House in addition to their ministry.

Scripture of the day. Isaiah 41:9-13

0800 in the lobby report time….We had a couple straglers @ 0815 not to mention names but (cough)Ed Hadley and Jim Mayes. Jim said he got his best hour of sleep after dismanteling the alarm and Ed said it was because we worked harder than anyone else ….. just kidding. We were late for duty however.

We again ate well. Anna and Anna prepared Crape like pancakes that were awesome and all the fixins and we ate Borsch and pizza for lunch. Needless to say we are fed with the same enthuisiam we bring to the job site!

The family visited again today. Did I mention what a sweet family he has? You may see a daily entry of such so get ready….

Oleg worked on the site with us after lunch. He fit right in with the bunch doing whatever was needed.

Accompolished 4 more course of block today with 4 to go for a total of 12.

On the way back to the hotel Yuri put the day in perspective. This is a day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

Amen
We capped off the day @ our favorite dinning spot Rozdol’s. Beef Tenderloin and rice yummy!!!! We must be exceeding expectations as we got ice cream again tonight .

Till tomorrow……

Well we rose @ 0700 and headed to the job site for breakfast. The property has a couple buildings for storage and mess hall. Post a terrific breakfast from Anna and her daughter Anna, Yuri and Sergei were all business. We WORKED from 9:00am to 6:00pm with an hour for lunch from A and A . We laid 4 rows of block. Our estimation was 200 sizeable blocks (18h * 24l * 10w). The team was led to start strong and worked closely together.

Quote of the day from Jerry Young.

I shall grow old, but never lose life’s zest because the road’s last turn will be the best.
Quote by Henry VanDyke. Isn’t something when you give it all to the Lord, he will continue to bless you. 1 Corinthians 2:9

The family visited the job site today to cheer us on. Such a sweet family!!!!!

We also had a visit from the City Architecture Department to shake us down. Seems the protocol is to pay a fine for constuction not pre-approved and move on versus submitting plans. In typical Yuri fashion, he asked the visitors if they were there to help? To which the quickly responded “No No we are here to control.”. We kept the pace!!

Michael’s bags made the trip today .

Another fantistic meal for dinner topped off with some ice cream for desert.

The majority of us showered up and took a long power nap! Yuri got us going again with the dinner bell. Off to lunch @ Rozdol for some Chicken and Rice. It was very good. During lunch we spoke with Oleg. He is now full owner of his auto shop and preaches at his church. The church has a rotation from the congregation who preach. We asked for some of his favorite scripture …. Romans 8 We shared Philippians 2: 1-11.

We headed out to the job site. Foundation had been poured and we are ready for block tomorrow Monday the 23rd.

We also were able to walk to Oleg’s home and got to meet his sweet and loving family. Elythabeth played the piano for us and we played with the boys. Elythabeth was also proud of her litter of kittens. Violetta spoke a little english with us as well. Family pictures were shared as well.

Back to the hotel for a litte down time before dinner back @ Rozdol 7:00pm.

Another great meal with the team. Potatoes, Pork Cutlet and 2 kinds of salad. Back to the hotel for the night.

Next Call-Lobby 8:00am ready to go to work.

Will write tomorrow….9:00pm signing off….