I think I speak for the entire group when I say that my heart is filled with great joy at being a part of making a HOME, not a house, for Max, his family and the children at the Hope House.  Being able to make this trip has truly been a gift from God.  Rex and Chad B rocked the house again (pun intended) by finishing the frames and hanging all of the dry wall for the ceilings.  Chad W and Brain (with a little help from Rex and Chad B) were able to almost finish all of the dry wall for all of the rooms.  The three walls started on Monday were completed by Mark, David and Lisa.  By the way, yes means no in Ukrainian – to Sergi “The wall looks good?” Sergi to the group – shakes his head yes. “It’s o.k.?” Sergi to the group, “No.”  Comic relief right?  Highlights for the day were David accepting the offer of a haircut by one of the Ukrainian volunteers, affectionately known as Little Sergi. Will be sure to post before/after pictures soon.  Looks pretty darn good if I do say so myself.  A long way to go for a $5 cut!  We were able to make a quick trip to Eagle Village to see the future site of the two three-story condominimum’s and the Hope House headquarters.  After lamb stew, meat, and apple pies, Uri cracked the whip and sent us back to work.  And it appears that after four days of hanging out at Ira’s house, her dog has finally gotten used to Mark and Brian’s smell.  We did not have a single shoe missing after dinner this evening.  Thanks again to everyone for the quick comments to our blog.  It is nice to know that you are all keeping up with our progress (antics?).  It has been a wonderful trip with lots accomplished and we are looking forward to seeing all on Sunday.  Continue to keep us in your prayers for the 12 hour bus ride home, and the long flight overseas. 

No Kink’s Masters

Another day of tremendous progress on the house for Max and his family!  If Chad W and Brian can keep up with Sergei and Max’s standards, they may finish the dry wall tomorrow.  Rex and Chad B are rockin’ to get the ceilings framed and the drywall in place.  Lisa, David and Mark finished one complete wall today and hope to finish the other two before they leave.  Ira, as usual, has been such a gracious hostess.  The family dog however, has issues with some in our group.  Chad B and Mark had to be rescued by Lisa as the dog had the front door guarded (with teeth beared and growling) and wouldn’t let them in for lunch!  She LOVED Brian’s shoes so much that during the meal, she decided to keep one for herself – she nearly had it buried in the back yard before he realized it was missing.  Hench the quote of the day – “Dude, the dog tried to bury my shoe!”  As always, thanks for the prayers and your comments.  We all look forward to seeing them when they are posted.  

By:  No Kink’s Masters

We made good progrerss on the house today. The interior walls should reach the ceiling tommorrow, much of the sheetrock on the walls and ceiling has been hung and the electric wiring is almost complete. However, the highlight of the day was visiting the children at the orphanage. What a wonderful experience it was to spend time with the reason that we are here. While at the orphanage we found ourselves in a fierce soccer game. The final official score was USA 6
Ukraine youth 28. Mr. Masters was the MVP while Mrs. Masters cheered for us through our defeat. Brian was hit hard with the ball and I am sure he will be sore tommorrow and hoping for a hot bath (with Bubbles). We were so blessed with the time that we spent with the kids. I look forward to tommorow for more great weather, increadible food, and one day closer for Max and his family to move into their new home. Please continue to pray for us throughout the week and and as we return home.
Chad

Wow…how wonderful to see all of the progress that was made today.  Walls getting completed, ceilings were started and no one lost any appendages!  We were able to communicate with hand signals – english is not an easy language to interpret. Chad B and Rex were serious worker bee’s knocking out the frame work for most of the ceilings.  Mark, Lisa, David, Chad W and Brian had some trying times getting all of the walls straight but I think the end, Max and family will be able to hang pictures without worrying about the wall falling over.  Progess was also made on getting dry wall on two walls, on some of the ceilings and as our crew departed, Max and Surgi were going to install some of the electrical wiring.  Many many thanks to our hostess for lunch and dinner – Ieria (not how it’s spelled I’m sure) and her family.  Gracious and patient are the words that come to mind when I think of her hosting our crew.  Thank you all for keeping us in your prayers and keeping up with our progress.  Tomorrow should bring another day of commradory and achievements.  We will keep you posted!

Posted by: No Kinks Masters’

It’s now 11 o’clock on monday night (3pm there). All is great after 36 hours of invigorating travel. Today was our time to rest and prepare for the start of our workweek tomorrow. Lots of pingpong and “sentimental walks on the beach” keeps the ankles fresh.
Rex is keeping us on our (see beach reference above, he was last out of the bed). Chad “Sensei” Bawcum has made us all afraid of any card games. We’ll be cleaning up the mess left by Troy’s last visit and building interior walls in Mixin’s house. The weather is great and looks like we’ll only have rain on Monday (gotta keep Mark from melting; he’s so sweet). To everyone back home, we all thank you for your prayers (double up on Chad Williams). This is looking like it will be a great group to work with once we work out the Masters (kinks).

Master Jedi Hughes