Lance and I have stayed in the same apartment in Ukraine for the last four years. It was our first home as a married couple so it has a special place in our lives.

Our first meal in our home

Over the last year though we have been thinking about finding a new place that would be cheaper and when we knew that we would be coming back to the states to have our baby it seemed to be the perfect time to move out.

We have had a good landlord and lots of memories in this place. We have had friends and family come stay with us, many get togethers with friends, and just time together as a couple. We hope to find a new place that is for a good price, has room for guests, and either has an elevator or is not on the fourth floor. Our ideal plan would be to rent a house that has a bit of yard but that is not as easy as finding an apartment.

First Christmas in our apartment

View from our window

Saying goodbye as we pack everything up

Ten days before we left Ternopil, we squeezed in four days of planning for the next year with our leadership team.

This is always a critical time for us as leaders to reflect on what happened in the last year, look at what worked and what didn’t and figure out how we can improve and grow as a team.

This past year was super busy and we felt we needed more time as staff together, to facilitate that we have decided to set aside March, April and May as a time to focus on the staff. We are not exactly sure how that will look but we want to have some times of teaching/training and also some times of ministry and fun together.

We look forward to seeing what will come out of this time and what God has for us next year! We already have a full calendar for next year but the Lord may change things around so we want to be ready for His will.

While we had a team here from the states they decided to host a baby shower for us. It was a very sneaky surprise party, Lance knew about it but I did not.

Us sharing how Lance kept the party a secret.

We had gone out with a few friends for dinner (they also knew about the party) and they were being very cryptic about what to do after dinner. I was slowly enjoying my meal while they were ready to go and said “well let’s head out…” I was a little surprised they were not up for more chit chat but ‘ok’ I thought. They wanted to watch a movie but I was thinking ‘you’re leaving tomorrow, this is our last evening together why are we watching a movie?’ Then as soon as we got back to the YWAM campus, our friends seemed to disperse and I could smell apple crisp. One of the team members found me and asked if I would like to join the team for apple crisp to which I obviously agreed. When I entered the room there was the classic “Surprise!” And I can tell you, I was surprised!

Lance acting out changing the diaper.

Furiously writing baby names

They arranged yummy treats and games for everyone to participate in. One game involved coming up with baby names for each letter of the alphabet. There were some great suggestions but also some funny ones, like Zit for example. 🙂

The team pooled their money together and got us a baby crib and bedding. Other guests gave us cute outfits and toys for little baby Roberts. We are also stalked with plenty of diapers and encouraging notes from many friends.

Yep, that is small!

We were so blessed by this surprise party. Thank you to everyone that planned, prepared, and participated in the party!

My parents got to be part of the party!

Last year, Megan’s parents came for a visit for the first time. This year they decided to join a medical team in Romania and thought, “we are so close, why not come again?” We were happy to have them come again.

Working together

We got to help with the eye clinic for one day

We went on a road trip to Romania to pick them up and bring them back to Ukraine. They were just in time to experience the final week of the Equip school and see what the team from America did. We warned them ahead of time that we would be busy that first week but they did great getting out in the city, eating out and buying things in the market without any help from us! We are thoroughly impressed!

At the Equip graduation

After the school finished and we tied up a few things with the American team and then we were able to take both of them to some of our favorite places to explore.

At Terrakaniv Fortress

In Kaminets-Podilsky

As busy as we were, it was an honor to have family come and really see what we do.

Lance and I are quite often involved with the basic school of YWAM, called Discipleship Training School. This is a fundamental course for anyone wanting to work in YWAM which is why we also see the Equip school as just as important since it is for those that staff DTS schools!

Lance and I participated in this school in 2012 in Montana and then Lance has staffed it several times and we staffed together in Ternopil in 2014. We love being a part of this school because we love equipping leaders to be successful in what they do.

This year we had an awesome group of 11 students from 7 different countries working in 7 other different countries, some had years of experience, some had no experience. It was such a great time of learning from each other not just from a speaker or book.

The course itself is very intense, 6 weeks of classes that go all day and some evenings. Everyone needs to read 3 books, do multiple group projects, homework, journals, and an exam.

While we do invite speakers and teachers to come, we are also doing much of the teaching. Lance spoke on hearing God’s voice, preparing for an outreach, and one on ones and Megan taught on applications, evaluations, leading in the classroom, and outreach preparation.

Teaching through Skype

All 11 students graduated and took the skills they learned back to their locations and will be putting them into practice in the schools that they staff.