April 26th

Every time I go to write another blog update it feels like we’re stepping out of Narnia and I have an entire lifetime to put into words. Our time in Ukraine has been everything but empty! There’s definitely been some challenges since our last update, but is has also felt like a really celebratory time as well.

March closed out with a slurry of birthday celebrations (I guess summer is a really romantic time 😂). To start off our birthday season, Morgan and I had our twenty first birthday (for those of you who don’t know, I’m an hour older than Morgan and it really shows)! But, as if March 25th wasn’t already the best day ever, it is also the date of our friend Baurice’s birthday!

Morgan and I received one of the unexpected birthday presents of all time...... Covid-19! The whole duplex got rona’d. While the physical aspects of Covid were less than preferable, you could absolutely find worse people to be quarantined with. Morgan got over it really fast and became saint-like in her nurturing of me and Anton, who had begun a regular schedule of 11am naps. We had 24/7 kettle service and probably contributed a decent chunk of Ukraine’s annual GDP in the amount of tea we consumed. Although we were worried for our Anton because of some preexisting conditions, we all made a great recovery.

Our triple-birthday party was a great way to celebrate our reentrance back into the world. We had a big BBQ, filled with singing, dancing, and friends. We also got to celebrate our duplex’s very own Lesya’s birthday (also a giant awesome bbq), Christiana’s (an amazing friend who is living at the Johnson’s house 3 months), and Anton’s 33rd birthday! For Anton we had a low key duplex hangout and it was perfect for him.

Morgan and I picked him up a toy bus as his present, which has subsequently become his favorite toy, and that makes us feel pretty special. I feel like we’ve grown a lot closer to Anton in the last month. Of course there’s the natural course of relationships growing over time, especially being in a caregiving role, but I feel we’ve also gotten to explore truly being friends with Anton. To just appreciate each other’s presence. It was really sweet to think about this as we were gathered together to celebrate him.

The day after we celebrated Anton’s birthdays, we left for Georgia! Although, I would have really love some Lemmon Pepper Chicken Wings, the country of Georgia proved to be at least as cool as I imagine the state being. We had to leave and stay in Georgia to renew our Ukrainian visas, so that we could apply for longer residency here in Ukraine. Although we definitely had some work cut out for us on the trip, we had a lot of time to explore the city of Tbilisi as well.

Morgan and I seriously loved Georgia. It was an awesome opportunity to travel. The city was absolutely beautiful, full of history, and an exciting blend of the Middle East and Europe. The food was also spectacular. Our visa expirations also happened to line up with our first anniversary as well! It was such a special time to celebrate our first year of marriage. Being away for a week was such a good time process the move to Ukraine and think about the path that we’ve started together. Towards the end of the trip we were definitely starting to miss our people back in Zhytomyr, but we definitely wouldn’t mind returning to Georgia again!

While we were gone, Ukrainian social services came out to check out the duplex and see if they think it is a good fit for Sasha. We were greeted with good news that the meeting went well, and we are still so eager for Sasha to come home! As per usual since we’ve gotten here there are still no certainties in the process of Sasha coming. Continued prayers and thoughts for him are so appreciated!

As Morgan and I are getting back into the swing of things here on the homestead we are looking forward to this next season. As the weather changes, things pick up around the homestead, and hopefully Sasha is here soon, Morgan and I are starting to get a clearer picture of what life is going to look like here for the rest of the year. We are continually trying to grow into the our roles effectively and take in all the God around us here. We appreciate all the love and support we have received and look forward to sharing more of story as it unfolds!

All the best, and stay safe!