Church Camp

Yesterday we returned from our two night stay at City North Family Camp. It was out in the sticks of Camp Duckadang near Linville. We had a great time. The boys enjoyed the pool and playground. Sergei enjoyed the extra naps and I loved not having to cook for the weekend. They had a talent show on Saturday and I asked Elijah if he'd like to say his memory verse from school Psalm 100. He did it and he got first prize he was so shocked, we are proud.

New beginnings

The wedding was wonderful. Very simple and very beautiful. Nick and Sammi are now in Vietnam on their honeymoon. We had a wonderful stay in a nice big house in Montville. While away we found out from OMS international that we have been accepted into the organization. We are now unofficially OMS missionaries. Just waiting on documents that need to be signed in the US. Pretty exciting stuff =)

My Brother's Getting Married

October 3rd my brother, Nick, marries the lovely Sammi (Samara) I'm so happy he has finally found someone to share his life with. He's 30, and it's about time. They are getting married in the hinterlands of the Sunshine Coast. Montville is the name of the village. It's beautiful up there. My parents have been here all week and we've been doing clothes shopping for the wedding. My mum found a lovely dusty pink dress, we got the boys shirts, vests and ties, a pair of shoes for Lij and a tie for dad. Still a few things left to get, but it's fun. I don't usually spend much on clothes so for this special occassion I've really lashed out. It's amazing how long it takes to walk the shops and actually find that just right item.

OMS International

A couple of months ago we had a lady come and speak in our church. She's an Australian lady who has been working with orphans in Russia. Of course we were able to relate to her straight away and introduced ourselves in Russian to her. She was so happy to meet us. A few weeks after that we had Michelle over for a meal and we talked about Russia and Ukraine - two countries that have a lot in common. Michelle is home in Australia only because she is quite sick and needs some medical attention, otherwise she'd be still in Russia. She misses it a lot, and just adores all those kids. She's been over there for 14 years. Anyway we got talking to Michelle about the mission she is with and she suggested we join up with them. Sergei and I have talked in the past about joining a mission society but that's about all we have done - talk. Michelle suggested meeting her director, just for a chat. So we prayed about it and decided to meet with him. Ray and Michelle came over about a week later and we found out about OMS. We prayed about it further and a week after that we rang Ray and said we'd like to apply. We've put in our application forms and now we wait. We really believe that God brought this particular mission into our lives for a reason so now we wait.

Saturday Night

Saturday night we had a family from our church come over for dinner. We had chicken enchiladas and nachos. Logan and Kylie have two girls Georgia and Stephanie. The girls had a blast playing with our boys and vice-versa. They made so much noise we could barely hear ourselves talking. Kylie also homeschools her children, so we talked homeschooling and politics. Logan is studying law to get into politics. Interesting conversations. We had a great night!

my kids

Yesterday Elijah and Nikita played outside for hours in the sandpit. Was great for me because I got to clean the house. They ran into the house with wet hair, mud marks all over their clothes and cheeky grins on their faces. They'd been having a mud fight. They loved it. I love it when they entertain themselves without watching tv.

Winter days

Well, we have been here in Australia for over a year now. We return to Ukraine in about a year. It's winter here in Australia and the nights have been quite cool, but the days are just glorious. It's amazing that the sun shines constantly and the temps reach up to 25 on a warm day. I will miss this in Ukraine, but I do long for the seasonal changes of Ukraine. Snow, Tulips, Berries, and Autumn leaves.

Annasophia is doing ok, at times she seems so much easier than the boys were, but I think that is just because she is the third child. She seems to be a really fussy eater and sometimes it's difficult to get her back to sleep at night with loud crying matches, and sometimes not just her. She sure is a treasure though and I still cannot believe that we have a little girl. She talks a lot and nearly rolling over.

I've been homeschooling the boys but am leaning towards the opinion that boys don't need to start school till they are 7. They just get so bored sitting at the table learning, it's working better to just throw things at them throughout the day and get them thinking while they're playing. They just about know all their letters and have been doing a little bit of reading already, it's so exciting. Elijah has written about 12 little books. He illustrates them and tells me what to write. He also loves drawing and reading. Nikita is more my practical boy, he loves to come grocery shopping with me and enjoys fixing things and helping in the kitchen.

God has been so good to us. When we moved to Brisbane he provided a job for Sergei, a house for us, furniture to fill it and a great church that we have become a part of. I also go to a mother's group at another church which is encouraging to be able to pray with other mums and share each others experiences in mothering.

We have been saving preparing to go back to Ukraine. We just about have enough now to buy our tickets to return to Ukraine and back again to Australia in a few years after being there. We also are close to our goal for a car. God has blessed us with faithful financial supporters who continue to support us while we're here in Australia. We need more before we can live in Ukraine again to do missions, but God has also put some awesome people in our lives who are helping us with missions awareness and we hope more people in the future will be able to get behind us so we can continue to work with the people of Ukraine.

Thanks for taking the time to read.