We're going to make some changes with the way we've been delivering our blog posts--


Nothing revolutionary, but we have been making some changes to the UMW website, and we will be posting ministry related blogs here, which have a link at that site. We'll keep this blog for family pictures and stuff more private for our family and friends (i.e. pictures of Isabella).

The picture above is me standing underneath Sumy's Lenin statue. Most traces of him are gone or fading from Ukraine-- this is especially true in the western side. But here in the east, the statue may no longer have a place in the city centre, but they did preserve the legacy of Lenin for a park on the outskirts of town. Keep watching, he shows up below.

Birch tree tapping for juice

Making a taste of birch juice, a spring favorite in Ukraine

We visited a Christian camp with John Paetkau and the Teuberts, both missionary families here in Sumy. This camp was formerly a "Pioneer" camp, which were state ran (through state-run industries). This property was purchased a few years ago and has been a continuous project for the Blagodat Church here.

John, Vladimir, and Me

The sleeping quarters at the camp

The front porch of one of the four housing units at the camp

Our guided tour of the camp... and our companions.
L to R- Deborah, Martin, Jenny, Serge, and Anya.
Deborah and Jenny are German girls who are visiting Sumy to work with orphanages.
Martin and Anya, are Swiss/German missionaries to Sumy
Serge is the care-taker of the camp, and birch-juice supplier