May 25th

A day of work in the therapy garden

WEEDING, LOTS OF IT!

we have roses, pretty ones

Stephen's house, the heated floors going in

re-waterproofing and insulating the basement

it all had to be dug out, so there are piles of dirt all over

not an easy job, but necessary to make sure we have a dry basement

quite a ways down there

Team from Chernigov/California

MAY 18 - 21

They were a great group to work with and a blessing in so many ways.

Phyllis and I have been trying to connect with Justin and his family

as they have been working in CA to help others work with those with special needs.

They just moved to Ukraine to work full-time here in the northern part of the country.

The opportunity opened for Justin to be able to come south with his son, Eli & daughter Noelle & bring a team of students from Master's college = 15 total team members.

they arrive

short a space or two out to the village

Noelle got the cargo space

Eli with his dad, Justin and AJ

team leader Dillon in the foreground

waiting for housing instructions

Mariya, Roman, our taxi driver from church, Illya, Jan, Phyllis' son & Kaily

Noelle with Nastia Friday morning at the orphanage

Talking with the therapist at the orphanage

Whitney and Kaily working with one of the girls in group 6, Korina.

Yulia, one of the older girls in group 6 with down's.

one of the projects the ladies started for us,

I show the end results when it's complete

This was the guys project, though a number of the gals helped out toward the end of the first day and into the second. The clay is like digging through hard rock when it's dry and packed. This pit, one of many we have on the property right now, will serve as the drainage system for rainwater off our 500 sq meter roof. The purpose is to keep the land from washing away, this will reroute the water to drain it slowly, down and out.

Saturday morning out at the orphanage

Play-dough time with the teen group

Kelly with Sasha from group 3

& little Kryill joined us too, Jan helping him and Alyona, all smiles.

Anya got some dance time with Mariya and a couple other new friends.

This was the highlight of her morning.

MAY 16th

the day begins

with no water & electricity,

so we paid a neighbor to use his well with a pump & filled up 

the 1000 liter tank for cement work in the house

 a finishing layer on the houseparent quarters was poured

A number of the men working out at the worksite are from local churches,

this young man is one that I recognize from my friends congregation in Kherson.

Maxim and I working with the electrician in the attic space

making preparations for sleeping quarters when teams comes to work with PROMISE.

looking down to the main hall below

It's been a few days, we've been busy

May 15th

prepping the floor for the heating tubes

smoothing & finishing the walls

inside & out

It was a short week of work as the previous weekend was another 

4 day holiday celebration. 

Got a  lot done Thursday and Friday. 

This is one purchase we made, as it has arrived. 

This is the firebox for the fireplace in the main hall of Stephen's house.

it is Norwegian made, comes with a 25 year guarentee

These are from MAY 5th

day number 5 without water out in Darivka

When building things get a bit complicated without water available

so we did something about it.

We bought a 1000 liter tank and started filling it the moment the water came back on.

This blue tank will go in the base for the house.

These water or electrical outages are typical on a 

fairly regular bases here in the village.

we have company

The end of last week we had about 3 swallows stuck in the house

now we have about 12, seems they are inviting their friends.

This is our wood/coal burning furnace that has arrive to be installed.

With the concrete now down, the insulation that will go under the heated flooring tubes

is now being installed. This silver below is a second layer of insulation to keep the rising up and not warming the floor below.

So Maxim is learning some things, like how to use a weed wacker.

We purchased it from Sasha for 1000grv, maybe $40. It works!

His first try!

NAOMI's HOME

here's the plan we are using as our template design

MANY THANKS to DOUGLAS for his hard work on these!!!

house floor plan

west elevation - Main entry

east elevation - Garden entry

south elevation - garage and kitchen

north elevation classroom/physical therapy space

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN MORE DETAIL

below are sections on the interior of the home for the young orphan gals