Homesick

*Sorry for the delay in posts. I could not upload pictures in Kiev and had to wait until we arrived in Poltava. I wrote the posts each day and added the pictures tonight before publishing.

Sunday tipped the scales. We are homesick.

This morning (Sunday) we were surprised to find the city virtually empty. It was almost eerie. This city is always bustling. But Sunday morning everything seemed to come to a dead stop. It was a bit refreshing.

We made our way to church. As usual, the website address was wrong. But it seems every time we are looking, someone manages to find us and say, "follow me." We arrived a good 15 minutes early. Apparently that is the norm here. Everyone greeted us cheerfully and welcomed us like family. We soaked up our time in a familiar atmosphere. It has been so fun to attend church in different countries. The Spirit is always the same. The language is different, but everything else is the same.

Right before the meeting began a member of the bishopric came and sat next to Brad. There was a member of the Seventy who is a member of the ward we were attending that apparently we had talked with before the meeting began (didn't realize who he was, everyone was so friendly it felt like we talked to them all). He wanted Brad to bear his testimony in Russian. There was no time to think about it. We just said yes. So Brad sat up front and he was the very first speaker. He shared our family story and bore a beautiful testimony entirely in Russian (the missionaries translated for me). I think Justin may have been a little surprised and probably embarrassed. Not about Brad's Russian, he's been speaking in Russian the whole time, I think the surprise was that people we didn't know wanted his dad to speak.But it was pretty awesome. Brad has been studying the Russian language for 3 years now. It was pretty neat to hear him speak so freely.

Seeing the families attending church together with their little kids made me realize how homesick I am. I miss my littles big time. I miss cooking and eating home-cooked meals. I miss morning snuggles. I miss little voices telling me they love me throughout the day. I miss driving my own car. I miss being away from the city noises and constant activity. I miss my dog and cat. I am even starting to miss the mundane laundry and dishes. Gasp! Okay, it's time to stop listing things I miss.

After church we went back to the apartment for a quick nap. We ordered pizza for delivery again. All of the pizzas we have ordered in Ukraine (during all 3 trips) have been basically personal-sized. So we ordered 3 pizzas figuring we would have a couple slices left over.

We were a little surprised when the pizzas were delivered:

And there were just a few more slices left over than we planned...

Pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner until we leave Kiev.

After dinner we wanted to get out a bit. Saturdays and Sundays the main street through the square is closed to vehicles and there are various performers, artists, and activities in the streets.

There is always ice cream...

And Justin wants to drive every vehicle we come across...

It was another lovely day in Ukraine. But I'm getting a little trunky.