Dear Friends,
Thank you for all your love and care for us during this uncertain time. We are still in Ukraine, on the Homestead, and we are safe. There have been rumors that some kind of invasion could happen today, but so far all is well. Assistants are with the boys, I took the kids to school, and am now sitting down with coffee to write to you. It feels almost like a normal morning, except Jed is on the phone right now with Ruslan planning the route for picking up all of our families in the city, if there were to be an invasion. And the kids’ school wrote that they are stepping up emergency drills with the kids. Sooooo…almost normal? 🤷♀️
We are watching the news very carefully and have made plans for every scenario we can think of. What will we do if we lose cell service? What will we do if we lose internet? What will we do if public transportation stops running? What will we do if there are Russian troops actually in our city? We have done our best to prepare, and now all we can do is live our lives and see what happens.
✅ On Monday we bought :
50kg of buckwheat
10kg of sugar
50kg of rice
20L of oil
50kg of oats
60kg of carrots
120kg of potatoes
40kg of onions
60kg of beets
5kg of garlic
Salt
So we’re all set to feed our crew of 40ish, should we all need to hunker down here in the village.
✅ Yesterday we filled all the vehicles with diesel and have plenty of fuel on reserve that Ruslan has been buying over this past month.
✅ Yesterday we finally purchased 3 generators (one for each home) and tomorrow they will be installed.
✅ Today we will hopefully hear that Sasha’s passport is ready. It’s past the date when it should be ready, so we hope to hear good news today on that front.
✅ All important documents for everyone are compiled and scanned onto thumb drives as well.
We are as ready as we can be, and I have to tell you we feel at peace. We really don’t feel afraid. We know we are exactly where we are supposed to be, and we will stay here as long as God has us here. We aren’t being hyper-spiritual about it, but also, we are not going to panic. Moving our huge group is too much of an undertaking to do it just for rumors. We will wait and see if it is actually necessary to leave before we make any big moves. We are committed to being here. Ukraine is our home and we are committed to our Wide Awake Family.
We wanted to thank everyone who has reached out recently and shown their love and support for us and our team. We feel absolutely loved and cared for by you. Many of you have asked how you can help and our main answer has been “pray and donate so we don’t have to worry about money, should an emergency arrive”. You have stepped up in amazing ways. In the past month our partner churches in the Pacific Northwest, plus many generous individuals have donated $20,000 specifically towards helping the Homestead become more energy independent. Thank you thank you thank you!! We are blown away by your giving hearts. Having the generators in our possession brings us a lot of peace of mind.
Grant is still coming and is scheduled to arrive next week. We have plans for how to get to him if the airport is inaccessible or if commercial flights are not allowed to fly in Ukrainian airspace. He told us “I’ll walk to you guys if I have to.” 😆 We are eagerly awaiting his arrival and are thankful for his commitment to this work.
Please pray for Vasya. He is the husband of our team member, Nina. He is stationed on the front in Eastern Ukraine. He has been stationed there off and on since the war began in 2014. But of course, now it feels quite a bit more stressful for Nina to have him there. Pray for Vasya’s safety and for Nina’s heart to have peace. Thank you.
President Zelenskyy made a great speech on Monday and declared today, the possible day of attack, as the “Day of Unity”. Ukrainian flags will fly and everyone is encouraged to show their support of Ukrainian sovereignty. I encourage you to read his speech and dare you not to fall in love with Ukraine even more.
We will let you know if our situation changes. Please continue to pray and reach out. Never apologize for writing to us and checking in! We are not annoyed, we are only thankful and we feel the love. BeLOVE[d]
❤️ 🇺🇦 ❤️
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Great update. I see a lot more anxiety in the missionary and expat community than from among my Ukrainian friends. I am interested, if you don’t mind sharing, what your plans are for a possible loss of internet or phone service? That’s been one of my greatest concerns.
Yes, I will email you later today. If you don’t hear from me, please shoot me an email and remind me!
In the US, we are supposed to have a system of “train your neighbor” LOCAL militias, backed by your local sherif. Most people in other states, but not Texas, are not aware of this. I’m well trained, if tyranny were to come to my city. I would help train my neighbors, because we should meet weather disasters, tyranny, or any kind of tragedy as a community. That’s supposed to be the American standard operating procedure, states’ rights, and militia responsibility. Is Ukraine helping each other to defend their homes/Churches/businesses? I am a Texan, and we are the most armed people. So I am not always certain what is normal elsewhere, regarding regular folks and weapons, in that regard. I pray you don’t need to defend yourselves, but I can point to the Korean American, rooftop snipers, in the ’92 LA riots, and tell you their neighborhood militias left their community intact and businesses unharmed. Is that a sufficient defense against Russian troops? Nope. But it might could, as we say in Texas. God bless your beautiful, huge family. May the arch Angels guard you, the Holy Spirit cover you, Christ lead you, God bless you with wisdom, and our Holy Mother comfort you, as only a mother can. I love you truly. Please forgive any typos. My baby basset hound is going insane, and has the zoomies, racing over me, running around bonkers.
Jenn
Knockout speech! Fantastic to address those in leadership and industry who have fled! Right on! I loved his speech, because I am a lover of LIBERTY. Please pray for those special needs orphans, with families ready to adopt, but can no longer bring home their children to America, as planned.
Jennifer, Adoption from Ukraine by Americans has not stopped. Children will still be coming home. Yes, the US Embassy in Ukraine has closed but adoptions will continue. Families will go on to Poland to the US embassy for their visas like years ago.
Yes, thankfully adoptions carry on, but I’m sure the parents who are traveling feel a lot of uncertainty. Adoption is already crazy enough- add a possible invasion and it makes it just a “tiny bit” more stressful! 😩 😉
Jed, Kim, family & crew,
We pray for all of your safety. Since you stated you feel peace I feel God has you in his loving arms and He has guided you all along.
We love you all and are so thankful for you and what ya’all are doing. Hugs from our family.
Thank you Kimber! Give Iraklii a squeeeeeze from us. ❤️
I’d like to send a donation. Can you tell me how to find where to do that on this site? Praying for you all.
Hi. Thanks for asking! You can donate here: https://wideawakeinternational.org/contact
Sending love and prayers your way Kim, Jed and crew. ♡
Thanks Becki! ❤️
Thinking of you all and praying for protection, peace, and abundant provision for your family, ministry, and all of Ukraine. We are committed to praying faithfully!
Thank you so much Emily!
I received your last email on Russia’s attack. I tried to send a reply but it failed. So I’m trying here. I will continue to send my love and prayers to you all. I miss and love you all. May God continue to protect you all. I miss and love you all very much.
Thank you ❤️