Author: ba

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Travelling with Children

So lots of our friends often ask us how it is travelling with kids. So I thought we’d do a little bit of a journal of sleeping since leaving Canada:

The Flights
Depart Calgary at 15:30
9 Hours to Amsterdam – kids sleep about 4 of those (thank you gravol!), Ang 2.5, Ben – zippo!
Layover in Amsterdam is 4 hours long, Ben gets 20 minutes on the cold floor another 40 min sitting with legs draped over luggage carts.
2.5 Hours to Kiev – Jay – 2.5 hours, Ang 1 hour, Ben and Cassie – zippo! (sensing a pattern?)
Arrive Kiev at 16:40 the next day, skipped forward approx 9 hours.

Night 1
8pm Start with a warm bottle of milk, mix in equal parts love and gravol, hope for the best! :)
11pm Wake to crying baby … crying is the nice way to say it. Ben sleeps through it, Ang saves the day. Cassie is zonked out.
1am Wake to screaming baby … screaming is the nice way to say it. Ang makes warm bottle of milk (no additives), Jay was just hungry. Ben feeds baby. (How do parents do it?) Cassie remains zonked out.
4am Wake to screaming baby … hear a small thud. Pitter patter. “Mommy, Jay is crying”. Evidently, Cassie is no longer zonked out. Dad rescues the day, mom and Cassie fall into a deep slumber.

Wonder how naps and Night 2 will go? Stay tuned! :)

Night 2
10pm Kids are sleeping peacefully, parents think, maybe this will yet be a great night.
1am Thud .. pitter patter, “Jay is crying” says Cassie. Bottle (no additives) for Jay, change his bum and life is back to normal.
1:05am Thud .. pitter patter, “I don’t want to sleep in there with Jay”. We convince her to sleep in her bedroom anyway.
1:10am Thud .. pitter patter… This time we move her to the living room couch.
2am Thud .. pitter patter… Cassie is still wide awake. Gravol for mom and daughter. Convince her once more to stay on the living room couch (Cassie flips and flops worse than a fish out of water).
3am Thud .. pitter patter… We give in and she moves from the living room couch to beside us in our room on the floor. Jay hasn’t made a noise since about 1:30am.
4am Ang finally falls asleep, Ben is left listening to the girls sleeping. After some oatmeal, rooibois tea and a peanut butter sandwhich (still haven’t gone for a proper shopping trip).
almost 5am Finally drifts off to sleep.
1pm We finally open our eyes big enough to get out of bed. We’ll definitely have to set the alarm tomorrow night – even Jay didn’t wake up! Jet lag definitely won this battle.

This is starting to sound like a big brother episode.

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Homecoming

No we didn’t get all dressed up, but we have had a wonderful homecoming!! Our family and friends and church have embraced us with open arms! We have been plagued with a bit of sickness during these 5 weeks in Canada, but being with people we love has made a huge difference and we wouldn’t trade this time! One more week here and then we head back to Ukraine! We are excited to start staff training for Titus Project! We’ll update our picture page soon with shots from Ben’s new camera. If you want to see him receiving him camera (Surprise!) then go our video page.

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A little bit krazee!

We graduated our SBS class last week on Friday. On Sunday we flew to the Netherlands where we began a 5 day intensive teacher training seminar with graduates from their own SBS. Well, we’re almost done, but its definitely been a whirlwind.

Although we’ve seen glimpses all week long of our participants teaching abilities, tomorrow is the real test – when they teach Inductive Bible Study through the Epistle to Philemon. Of course there was limited time this week, but we’ve given them as much as we could without overloading them. How will they do, the real test!

We’re really excited for them as they prepare to go out and teach the Bible in many places. Some will stay here in Holland, some will take flight to Indonesia. But no matter where they go, they will be better communicators of God’s incredible Word! What a privilege to serve his kingdom like this – thank you for being part of our team!

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Last Week Countdown

We are counting down to School of Biblical Studies Graduation. Our students have studied the whole bible, verse by verse, reading it through 5 times. They’ve been writing observations, interpretations, and applications. In other words: What does the text say? What did it mean to the original reader? What does it mean to me?

It has been quite the journey. A few years ago we did this as students, this year we have been their staff. Each book of the bible has a lecture (to help with historical background) and we have taught some of these. We also read their work every week, grading it and making notes to help them learn and grow. There are also many logistics like housing, meals, tuition, hospitality for guest speakers, prelecturing other staff, going to meetings etc. etc. etc. But it has all been worth it! When we invest our lives into others, they in turn will impact even more people and we will make a bigger difference.

Thank you to all for your support and prayers over this past year. We couldn’t do it without the team that sends us. We don’t get paid by our students, which helps keep the tuition low enough for them to afford it. Thank you for those who really are the ones sponsoring their learning by sending people like us. This morning we had debriefing for the staff (picture on side), and this Thursday the students will graduate. It has been a privilege!