Yesterday was an eventful day for us. Polly fell out of her booster seat and broke her arm. We took her to the emergency room. She had an X-ray done there, and they put a hard cast on her arm. Today we had to go to another doctor, and he loosened up the bandage a little bit to make Polly more comfortable. So far we have not had any problems with us not being registered here, and everyone tries to help when they see a young child. One of the benefits of the socialized medicine is its low cost: the only expense we have had was $0.70 for the X-ray. Our teammates jumped in and helped with watching the three older kids, which was wonderful.

The doctor said the break was not serious, and the bone should heal quickly. Polly will have the cast for 12 days. She is not supposed to put any weight on her arm, which is difficult as she is not walking but loves to crawl everywhere. She also likes to stand up in the middle of the room, and she tried doing it today, but it's hard with the cast. She is also supposed to wear a sling, but we are finding it quite challenging with a 16-month old.

Julia always said she wanted to find out right away where emergency room was (just in case). We just did not want to have to use it so quickly.

Please pray that the Lord will heal her arm quickly.

We have been in Kherson one week. It's been a big adjustment for all of us. We are in temporary housing: it's a 2-bedroom apartment on the 7th floor. Yes, the elevator works, though one has to buy an elevator card to make it work. One ride is about 3 cents. We are very grateful for a big grocery store right next to our apartment complex. There is also a big market behind the grocery store, and it's great for buying household items and non-perishable items. Julia and Nadia toured the meat section and saw quite a selection of all kinds of meats, including liver, kidneys, tongues, as well as chicken and pig feet and pig heads. As there is no refrigeration in the market, we have to forgo the wonderful selection.

Something else to get used to is to plan our daily schedule around water schedule. For a reason unknown to us water in most parts of the city comes on at 6 am till 9 am, then from noon-2 pm and from 5-10 pm. Now we schedule baths, showers, laundry and bathroom trips. Julia had to relearn her dishwashing techniques, since there is only cold water in the kitchen. After a week we have it down.

However, all these idiosyncrasies do not dampen our joy of being here and working with the church. We worshiped with our brothers and sisters last Sunday, and we are excited for our new Trinity Reformed Presbyterian Church - Kherson. As of last Wednesday, the church is a new owner of a plot of land with hopes to begin building in the fall.

The pictures were taken yesterday from our apartment window. Poor visibility is not smog, it's a sandstorm! We have heard that this is the first sandstorm in 40 years.

And last but not least, we have cable internet! The installation process was a story in and of itself, but it's done and we are able to communicate again.

'Tis the Day!

We are leaving today! After a couple of days of packing, our suitcases are at 50 lbs. each. We had another showing yesterday, and the people had to step over our open bags as they went through the house.

Our friends are coming at 11 am to take us to Detroit.

Wow! It is finally here. We are excited!

I'M... MOVING OUT...

Our stuff was loaded onto a 20-foot container today. It was packed!

I came to the US about 11 years ago with one suitcase, and now I feel that we are like the Israelites coming out of Egypt: numerous and with multiple possessions. The Lord has blessed our family!

Packing Day!

The movers packed yesterday and today, and tomorrow our stuff will be loaded onto our 20-foot container. The kids think it's fun to sleep on mattresses on the floor.

We already discovered that a couple of things which were not intended to be packed are indeed inside one of 100 boxes (e.g. a library book, which was thankfully a paperback -- now we have to make a trip to the library).

By God's grace, we are doing fine. We are getting excited about leaving in 6 days!

Jamie and Julia