Sweet Smells of Home

I think there's a prerequisite to living in Ukraine
to have tea in one's home.

I was never a big tea drinker
(unless you count the Russian spiced tea my mom made from Tang)
until we lived here the first time ('03-'05).

But I've discovered how pleasurable a cup can be
with a side of my favorite chocolate...

~the aroma of a fruity tea, chocolates with hazelnuts,
and sweet fellowship with friends~

{or just a good book that seems like an old friend!}

Join Sandy at the Reluctant Entertainer as she hosts a weekly Home is... linky party.

Pysanky Pupils

On Saturday, Big Girl and I hopped on a marshrytka and headed to the embassy for the egg decorating class we had signed up for with Zoya, a true master at this art. Zoya has decorated over 8,000 pysanky eggs in her life and 1,500 of them are on display in the national pysanky museum in the western part of Ukraine (a really fun museum that is shaped like a huge pysanky egg!). Here are a few of her eggs (these happen to be goose eggs):

The designs and colors on each egg represent something; if you didn't enlarge the photo, may I suggest you take a moment to do that so you can see them? They're amazing! After taking this class, I can tell you I appreciate the art so much more!

Zoya's daughter makes these carved eggs- aren't they exquisite?!

Big Girl could hardly contain herself- we were both excited to begin decorating our eggs (already cleaned out for us).

We began by choosing a design from one of the handouts on our table, and then we drew the design onto the egg with a pencil. Next, we got to use our tools:

We placed wax into the holder of the writing stylus and melted it over the candle. Then, we traced our pencil lines with wax so that when the egg was dyed, everything underneath would remain white. This was a slow and tedious process. It was much more difficult than you'd imagine to get the wax to flow in a nice, neat line!

Next, we chose the dye we wanted.

Zoya and Big Girl discuss the next step after her egg was dyed the first time in yellow.


Here, Big Girl has already put wax over everything she wanted to stay yellow, and the egg was dyed a second time in red. She is getting her stylus ready to cover everything she wants to remain red.
When the egg has been completely decorated, the wax is removed by holding the egg over the flame and then wiping off the wax, repeating as necessary.

Big Girl was a little concerned with this part of the process!

The finished product!

My egg- you can see where blobs of wax had fallen, and although I had wiped it off, I didn't get it completely off before the dying process.

I just loved Zoya.
She spoke the cleanest Ukrainian and was just a delight-
informative, encouraging, and exuberant in her accolades!

I asked someone to take a picture so you can see something other than my fingers in a photo, and Zoya hopped in- love it! {Oh, my eyes are always so squint-y!!}

We had a fun time, and Big Girl wanted to do this "every Saturday!"
{The class is offered once a year!}

Palace of Sports

Finally, after the obligatory PROCESS that must be completed to do anything in this country, we have found a gym for Big Girl to attend. I had a personal assistant who had found two coaches but the locations and times were not going to work for us. Then I got another lead and Marci met Big Girl and I yesterday at Palatz Sportu (built for the 1980 Olympics, pictured above) to see if we could find this gym. We did find it, but the coach wasn't there. The lady (who was about the 5th person to ask me if I'm Polish and stood dumbfounded when I told her American and whom I now am endeared to) told me to call such and such a number at exactly 1 p.m., so when I got home I went over my questions with Sveta and had her call- quicker and easier. I got another number and was to call today when we were on our way for a try-out. It's not far away-only 2 metro stops- but I had 3 kids and no help which means I must carry the stroller with baby down stairs, deal with 2 extremely long escalators (it takes about 10 minutes to ride down them if you don't walk; I am not kidding, and yes, I wheel that stroller right on it), listen as the little guard hits "play" on the rules of riding the escalator with children, and then do that all in reverse to get out of the station. It took 40 minutes...a process. { I can't wait for baby girl to handle the walk on her own}

So Kristina met us and took Big Girl in to the gym to see what she could do. After about 10 minutes, she came up to me and said she really liked this girl. Of course, I'm the mama and I was very pleased. She worked with her about 30 minutes, came and filled out the application, told me it'd be 200 UAH/month, wrote down 100 UAH a month on the form and let Big Girl work for another 30 minutes. As I waited in the hall, I asked the receptionist (?) what the cost was per month and it was 100 UAH. Hmm, did I not understand what was said or was I understanding? *wink wink* I asked again afterward and the coach said "shh!" so I am not exactly sure what I will be paying even though I see what is going on- we'll deal with that next time. At any rate, Big Girl can go 3x/week for 2 hours a session and if it's 100 UAH, that is about $12 a month.

While we were waiting, a little girl came out with an injury. No ice packs, people, no first aid at all other than getting her dressed to get her to a doctor and fussing that it was all her fault (bless her heart, at least Coach Kristina seemed sympathetic and kind). Let me just say, I was anticipating this and this mama will be toting a first aid kit every time. Thankfully, I'll I'd have to do is call the embassy for further medical assistance. It may have been 20 years since the wall came down, but things move SLOWLY here (there are signs up in the metro explaining how you should wash your hands when you're sick).

Big Girl was thrilled and she did very well in a situation with a mixture of Russian and Ukrainian. The other little girls were very friendly and helpful to her which was delightful for her.

So, we finished something. And now I beg you any of you who pray for us to pray for my child's safety at this old, slightly improved Soviet gym for the next 2 years!

It's Plain Hard Sometimes

to raise kids.

I had started a post entitled Just When I Thought I Had Lost It.

Well, I've lost it.

Yes, it's been one of those days. And we've had several {like a week's worth} in a row. I was disciplining all.day.long. From the time they were up until I put them to bed.

I sent Mr. YH a text at lunch time that said, "can u c the white flag waving?" He didn't even answer and it would have made me feel better if he had at least texted "love you" back or something- even a smiley face would have made Mama Grouch happy. It's not that he doesn't care- he told me when he ran in for a snack at dinnertime that he had prayed for me. But then he was off again to a dinner with some officers and the ambassador- la-tee-da-ah. I'm only a tiny bitter because I would probably have enjoyed dinner with them, too, but it wasn't a spouses deal.

So, he left me on my own again to deal with this little stinker who will be 2 in 66 days and she definitely got the memo on that.


Truly, she brought me to tears tonight. I had to put her in her bed and leave the room. I sat in a chair and cried and prayed until I could go back in to finish that discipline session calmly and take care of one with The Boy.

Once we had completed the restoration process, I sat down and reminded the children of the three D's (disobedience, disrespect, and deceit) that would win them a "discussion" every.single.time. I was telling them that Daddy and I would be having a talk about an issue that has been coming right up to the edge of two D's to see how we'd be handling that when Big Girl sat up and began boo-hooing. At first, I had no idea what she was trying to say through the tears, but finally understood this pitiful plea:

"Mama! I haven't been able to listen well because of all the wax in my ears!"

And then I did lose it. I tried not to because she was really quite sincere, but I lost it, and soon we were all giggling. I promised to get the Q-tips out in the morning for all of them (if only it were that simple!). We sang, prayed, hugged and kissed.

It's quiet now.

It'll probably be rough again tomorrow, but for the record, I was only kidding about the white flag.

I love them too much.

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:7-11 (NIV)

Welcome to My Kitchen

** Updated 10/08/10 If you're here from Kelly's for the kitchen tour, welcome! I posted this several months ago and I'm happy to report that after 4.5 months and a detour through China, our household goods arrived here in Kyiv and this space is a bit homier and more functional! But you're here to see the overall look, not what's inside the cupboards! Thanks for stopping by!**


After the new grand foyer tour, both Melissa and Brandi asked to see the kitchen next. When the embassy sent us a list of eight things to prioritize for our housing, we put overall size as the number one, parking as our second, and location as the third. So I'm very thankful that the apartment included not only a sizable kitchen and eating area, it is also practically outfitted and aesthetically pleasing (my friend got an aqua retro type of kitchen- think Austin Powers).

This is my kitchen.
The stove top is touch sensitive.
We like having a counter with bar stools.

This is my tiny refrigerator.
I could stand to have something a little larger!
The freezer is underneath.

I also have a dishwasher. The only drawback- no appliance books were left. We found a few online, but still no luck for this, so I just guessed! Interesting note for European dishwashers- we buy a special salt to put in the bottom of them.

This is how the cabinets open. This particular one is over the sink next to the fridge. It's a drying rack. Europeans probably store their dishes this way, too, because in general, I think the average family would have smaller plates than we do and less of them.

On the oven side of the island, I have two drawers that look like this:

On the plus side, my oven is larger than the one I had last time.
On the down side, it is still smaller than an American sized oven.

The door goes onto the balcony (see very last photo).
This whole wall is has cabinets and large drawers.

The drawers are set up to hang things- like a filing cabinet.
That is a little annoying, as I wish the sides were enclosed.

Here is the eating area. You can see it is quite large because we can put the three leaves in the table and still have room to maneuver. This dining set will be moved out to another area when our things arrive. We'll use this as our family dining area and home schooling center.

Looking back into the kitchen.
See that blue blob?
We can't wait for our things to arrive-
we're looking forward to getting our trash cans back!

This little nook has our American sized freezer.
We can order bulk items from the commissary
in Germany, so this is handy.
That messy shelf will also move to a new location
and a desk will slide in there with a computer.

There is a door in the kitchen and a door next to that china cabinet to go out on to the enclosed balcony on this side of the apartment (there is another on the opposite end). I'll be using this to store extra food we sent, cleaning supplies, the big rubbermaid tubs, and the sand and water table that was supposed to go into storage but never drained properly in time to go with that shipment.

And there you have it! You're welcome to come on over and I'll cook something up- I'm a bit limited, though! No baking dishes were provided, so I broke down and bought a frying pan with a lid. I was using aluminum foil to cook our meat and potatoes in the oven, too, until I finally found some aluminum baking forms. Again, looking forward to that shipment arriving so we can have a little more variety and I can decorate and make things look more like home.

Speaking of home, Traci has a great giveaway going on that you should check out! This company will help redesign one of your rooms and five people will each win a $50 gift certificate to use. You don't need a blog and there are multiple ways to gain extra chances to win!

Shopping Doth Make My Heart Merry

The Community Liaison Office at the embassy invites local artists to participate in an art fair twice a year. When we were here last, I recommended my artist friend, Yuri. I was so pleased to see him there after all these years! I love his work and have some framed for our home. He makes copies and creates these lovely little note cards. I got some and tied a ribbon around them to give as a hostess gift at the next KAVA. I'm going to have these two framed- one for myself to put out during winter months and the one below for our sponsors who have been so wonderful to us. I'm going to have him paint a few that I can save to give to the children one day to hang in their own homes.

They had several ladies with the pysanky eggs. One of them will be teaching the class on how to make them that Big Girl and I are going to take in another couple of weeks. A second lady had these- I had never seen any with these colors or designs before, but loved them the instant I saw them! I'm not sure how I want to display them. They can be hung as ornaments or displayed on the little stand (which I think I want to sand and stain darker).



Last Saturday, I took a friend out to show her around town a little. She has no language skills, so it's a bit intimidating to get out on her own. Our first stop was Tsum, the central department store. There, I picked up some of this:

Lomonosov china was the china Catherine the Great had made. I believe her pattern is "cobalt net." I have the Forget Me Not tea set. I'd like to get to St. Pete while we're here and buy a set for each of the girls to put in their hope chests. I don't know what this pattern is, but it was the prettiest of the six I had the clerk pull out of the cabinet. Jen, this will be mailed to you when the West Point team gets home, so let me know when it comes. I meant to buy some chocolate for Justin, but didn't have time to get it before the hand-off; guess you'll have to come visit! You all need a friend like Jen and her husband who have blessed us in countless ways.

Amy and I went through the underground mall and found a neat little shop that does beautiful embroidery work. I'm definitely going back some time for table linens, and they told me that they'd embroider the apron for Big Girl's American Girl doll, Kirsten- I had someone make all of the outfits for this doll {cheaper} because the doll was retired. For now, though, I only bought this bookmark with poppies to put in a letter for Padmani, our Compassion child.

Lastly, this was the most expensive purchase: our Ukrainian piano. The whole transaction was completely "po-ukrainski" (Ukrainian style) and I'll save that story for another post. In short, we had a refresher course on such wheeling and dealing, we're glad to have an instrument to play again, and will start lessons back up next week after Big Girl has some time to practice.


Lest you think I've only been spending money willy-nilly, I have also been having success on ebay and with the embassy crowd- Baby Girl outgrew some outfits I had packed and nice American clothes are a hot commodity here! Congrats to Whitney on her amazing garage sale success- you rock!

Have you made a fun purchase or had success purging your home recently?

Snacktime with the West Point Cadets

The Greers have a volunteer missions team made up of West Point cadets in town this week. The academy has been sending a team for the past 5 or 6 years, I believe. They had an appointment to visit the military high school across the street today and were also able to drop into Mr. YH's office prior to that engagement. Half of the team came over this afternoon for a {very} late lunch and snacks. {You'll all be pleased to know that I called and ordered 3 different kinds of pizzas all in Ukrainian and they showed up as ordered. I haven't totally lost my language skills despite the 4 year gap!} It was a joy to have the team in our home. Great young men and wise leaders with them! America should be proud of these up and coming officers!

Vasily Khimich (a retired lt. col. in the Ukrainian army
that now has a ministry to the military and police)
and Chap (army chaplain), one of the team leaders

Big Girl and Cadet Zach
It blessed my mama heart that these young men
took time to get on my kids' level,
look them in the eye, and talk to them.

Cadets James and Andrew
(I asked if there were any other disciples)
learn the inner workings of Mack the Truck

3/5 of the YHs, Helen, Vasily and the West Point team

Oh-and look what finally showed up the other day! These are the passports we had hoped to get in the middle of January, and then by the time we flew out on February 2. Better late than never, I guess! Thankfully, they didn't mess our visas up like they had Mr. YH's.

P.S. Are the colors of the photos showing up ok on your computers? They seem so washed out on this laptop... And thanks, Heather for the shopping info. I was totally serious about stealing your idea for MK's party!! Love ya, friend! ☺