The end of December and the beginning of January were filled with opportunities to minister to the people of Ukraine. We had a Christmas party for our Beginner/Intermediate English Club where we were able to share some traditional American Christmas cookies, Christmas carols and of course, read the Christmas story from the Bible.  The next night we had a Christmas party for our Advanced English Club and we were able to read the Christmas story from "The Message" and really go in depth into the simplicity of His birth and the magnitude of His purpose. On January 7th we celebrated a traditional Ukrainian Christmas according to the Orthodox calendar with our Advanced English Club.  It was an interesting experience filled with lots of tradition and superstition.  It was great to be able to talk about the different superstitions, like putting a clove of garlic on each corner of the table to ward off evil spirits, and how wonderful it is to know that we don't have to worry about such things because we are able to put all of our trust and faith in Jesus Christ.  Jon and our friend Sergey were able to lead a group of people from our church in putting on a Christmas show for two local orphanages.  They brought some treats as well as some necessities for the children's homes and were delighted to be able to share the love of Jesus with the children who lived there. 

WOW!!!  Has it really been a year already?!?!  It seems like only yesterday that we were saying good-bye to our parents at the airport and climbing onto a plane headed to Ukraine.  As we looked back on our first year here it was really fun to reminisce about all of the funny, crazy and even a few sad things that had happened.  The first time we climbed the 5 flights of stairs to our apartment, the first time I went grocery shopping (with jet lag!), the first time we saw a pig's head at the open air market,  the first time the cashier told me the total and I understood her, the first time we saw a concert and fireworks show from our window, the first time I rode the bus by myself, the first time I ordered water without a translator, the first time a Babushka told me how to dress the boys and the first time I dropped Alex off at Kindergarten.  Then there was the first time Jon and I realized that we were NOT on vacation and that we actually lived in Ukraine, the first time we dealt with the Ukrainian medical system and the first time we missed being home for an American holiday.  And of course who could forget the first time we rode the bus home from the grocery store and gave the other passengers a circus show, the first time we went to camp and had to use outdoor toilets for a week, the first time we rode the train to Kiev to pick up our friends from BCC, the first time Jon's parents were able to come and visit us, the first time we had an English class and the first time we celebrated Ukrainian Christmas.  These are only a handful of memories from our first year and we would just like to say a huge THANK YOU to all of you out there who helped make them and so many more possible.  We love you and are excited to see what God will use us all to do in the coming year!