Until later...

You might have noticed I have not been around much lately. As you all know, wrapping up the school year makes for an extremely hectic time of the year.

I am also headed to Ukraine for a mission trip for two weeks. We will be working in an orphan camp a few hours outside of Kiev. The organization we will be working with is Hope for Orphans. My church has been working with this partner for five years and HFO has been in existence for more than 10 years. It was founded by Jenya Ivashko when he promised the Lord he would dedicate his life to helping orphans in his country. Jenya started with his friends, all in their early 20’s, to start a camp ministry at local orphanages. HFO now has reached thousands of children ages 6-16 across Ukraine sharing the love of Jesus. We'll be working with 150 of them!

We initially were going to be working in Skadovsk, which is right on the Black Sea. In high school I was part of an exchange program where we lived in Odessa, Ukraine which is also right on the Black Sea. Last week we learned that the director of the orphanage changed his mind so instead we are going to a different location (I don't even know the name of the village, although I know it starts with a V and it's not on any body of water).

Once I return I have two days to do laundry and clean the house (from the damage of having Dad and three kids at home for two weeks without mom) then we are on our way to spend a month with my parent's in Minnesota. We'll stop in Indianapolis and Milwaukee to see my siblings (and lots of nieces and nephews) on the way up. I just love this part of the summer.

I'll be posting occasionally but not much.

Remember to spread joy to all those around you. Enjoy your summer!