August 18-26
I am sitting down to write this post and looking out of the window at the beautiful Dniester River and the country of Moldova. The weather is simply stunning–high 70′s and very little humidity. The end of summer in this part of the world is upon us and rainy season is just around the corner. However, no one can imagine rain on a day like today. As we are adjusting to life in a new land, we are very thankful for this beautiful time of year to help us ease into our new life here in Ukraine.
We are also extremely appreciative of our new Ukrainian family, the Tkachuk’s. We would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to this fine bunch.
Papa Ruslan. In this picture, he looks like he would be right at home in SC riding atop a John Deere Combine. His hat even has a bottle opener on it!
Mama Archie. Amazing woman to say the least!
The kids acting silly on the swing.
Vika
Yula
Sneezanna
Sasha
Katya
Isabella
Ilona
Diana
Bogdanchik
Bogdan
The entire crew
The past week has led us on many new adventures including a trip to the village where Ruslan was raised and a family outing to the traveling circus. You never know what may be waiting around the next corner, ya know?
Ruslan and his brother Roma in front of their childhood home in the village
Holy Garlic Batman. No vampire will dare come near this house.
Using the sink. Do you see any pipes? That's right, no running water. It is fetched from a well just down the road.
Enjoying some good old fashioned rock throwing down by the river.
On the way back from tossing stones, we ran into ths cool cat and his entourage.
Lori using hand gestures and funny sounds to communicate with Ruslan's aunt and grandma.
Fresh tomatoes from the garden. Lori and Archie spent 3 hours cutting these in order to yield 5 jars of sauce for the long winter.
The Great Circus Outing
We were only about 25 feet from this bear. He was masterful!
Lori loved this guy
This man balanced these glasses for an incredible amount of time. Lori took about 20 pictures waiting to capture a spill. It never happened.
Isabella and the circus clown
Walking to Moldova
We are literally "off the grid". Ukraine had just stamped us out and we were not yet stamped in Moldova. Weird.
HUH?
Auntie Lordi (as the kids call her) enjoying a sweet treat
Until next time…
A real traveling circus! What an experience. We miss you and would LOVE for there to be no humidity here.
M
Yes, the circus was really cool. Like something out of a Dickens novel.
Sorry I missed your call this am brother. Was with Lindy at a doctor appt, everything is still going great and we’re “on schedule” for a Sept 15 delivery by c-section. Looking forward to seeing y’all on Skype on Saturday!! Love the blog!!!! (exclamation point)
So glad you guys shared the photos! Awesome. I especially like the one of Lori and the ladies doing sign language.
That was an incredibly touching sight, to be sure.
And yous’ guys’ beards are an illness. Keep ‘em growin’.
No running water? I knew you guys said it would be quite a change. I had no idea…
Just to clarify, we do have running water and all of the amenities here at the house where we are living. That picture was from the village where Ruslan grew up.
Oh good! Ah the small things
Great pictures guys. Love the Babushka on the lady on the cart! I have not seen one myself since I was a kid. Stay safe.
Wow, cool pics! Even though I was married in Kiev, I have never been to the more rural areas where my wife was raised. This is some great insight. We may be going back to Ukraine next year to do our marriage again for the 5 plus year anniversary. How many months will you be living in the Ukraine?
Pacca and Dasvadanya
Richie,
We are planning to be in Ukraine until May. If you make the trip over before then we will have to link up. We hope to have a vehicle in the next few months so we would be able to come to you.