This week has been non-stop and we are all exhausted! I got lucky and the two people I worked with this week were wonderful. They allowed me to help them and took my advice and the classes went well. Hannah and Erin were not so lucky and their adults did not listen to them and would not allow them to help. The night activities went well and there was a decent turn our every night. The women prepared different American food every night. There was pizza, dessert bars, pasta salad, chocolate chip cookies, egg salad, brownies, pancakes, and lots of American candy. It was nice to have American food! We did make some new friends at the meetings. The three of us girls were invited to and English Club at the University for Teachers. Ira is a student here and has been trying to get Americans into her school but has not been able to. God has opened the door for us and the students and teachers loved the activities we did with the students. We are now going to be going to their club every Wednesday! The Illinois group is finally leaving tomorrow. I will miss the two that I worked with. Just wish the others were a bit more appreciative, but I guess that comes with southern manners. I was never grateful for being raised in the south until this week! We finally get some rest tomorrow so Hannah and I are going shopping after sleeping in. Then in the evening is a going away party for the group.

Here are some pictures from the Auburn group and their activities.

This is a group shot of one of the classes that my parents taught.

This picture is from the last night activity where students just came to have conversations with the Americans.

This is Salvation Church. It is the church that we attend here in Poltava.

3/21/09 - Erin and I went to Ira's to teach our middle school English Club for a couple of hours. Afterwards we met Hannah at the large grocery store for some much needed food. Since we had been sick and eating at the church we had NO food at the flat. We decided early to take a taxi back so we really piled in the food! The rest of the day was spent resting from the past week.

3/22/09 - I love that church doesn't start till 1 PM because I get to sleep in! It was so nice to get to go back to church after being sick for so long. It was an interesting and informative afternoon. We met 6 more Americans this morning in church, they are from Illinois. We also learned that we are suppose to be going around with them all week teaching classes this next week. Now did anyone notice that we just met these people? NO ONE TOLD US THAT WE WERE SUPPOSE TO DO THIS!!! So we had re-plan our entire week and cancel some classes but others they are going to have to work around. The concern is that there will only be two of them in each school and they are all adults. In the Auburn group there were students that the students here could relate to. Who relates to old people?  Just kidding. We also have no idea about their lesson plans or if they know anything about the students they will be teaching. It will be an interesting week! Please pray for this group and that God works through them and that they turn out better than we all think. So this will be another exhausting week, please pray that God gives us strength and wisdom to deal with situations. 

3/20/09 - Today everyone went to Kiev for some sightseeing and gift shopping. It was a long bus ride but most everyone slept because we had to get up so early. The entire group did a great job dealing with the metro and the trolley ride up the hill. We went to St. Michael's and St. Sophia's Cathedrals. We called Joanna (a Hands On girl in Kiev) and met up with her for the day. It was then time for shopping and my parents racked up! I just stood back and held the bags. The three of us girls had to leave early so we could catch the train back to Poltava. Saying bye was hard for everyone, especially my parents. The train ride was interesting. We rode first class so we were in a booth type thing with 3 other people, a dog, and a floral arrangement. The dog spend a good bit of time sitting on my feet. We got home and went straight to bed for some much needed rest.

The three of us and Joanna in front of St. Michael's.

Today was the last day of classes for the Auburn group. They all did a great job and everyone really seemed to enjoy it here. Tonight went great! I was surprised at how many students we had come and some were new. The Auburn group did a great job of spreading themselves out among the tables to talk. Erin, Hannah and I stayed near the back and would watch to make sure everyone had someone to talk to and if not we would jump in. Vova gave a short but great message tonight, so I was told since I did not understand it. There seemed to be many great conversations and seeds were sown. We all leave EARLY in the morning at 7 to head to Kiev for sightseeing and shopping. Erin, Hannah and I are going with them but will take an evening train back to Poltava.

I finally made it to classes today. Thankfully we only had two. The group works awesomely together. My Dad does a short introduction and tells about the activities that will be going on and then my Mom, Chris, Justin, Allison and Priscilla take over. They split the class into 5 small groups and go through different language activities. They are all amazing to watch. Mom really seems to enjoy the time with the students. After our classes, the group wanted to go shopping so we went to the bazaar. Andre led us so we walked, we then walked from the bazaar to a pizza place. I was so exhausted from walking that I left the group and went home to sleep. I did meet back up with everybody for dinner. Tonight's theme was country. The group did an incredible job! The students loved everything. They taught them how to line dance, lasso, and even Sweet Home Alabama! Everything was a hit. It was then home to rest for the last day. Tomorrow is the group's last day here and tomorrow evening is the most important. It will be a time to have discussions with Americans. Please pray for the Americans and that they have wisdom in what they say and how they handle conversations. Also pray for the Ukrainian students that they will be open to where ever the conversation may lead.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Today I am feeling so much better! I have energy and feel good, just still have a hacking cough. I rested up today for tonight's activity. The theme for tonight was Hollywood. The Auburn team did an awesome job with all that they had prepared. They gave some background on Hollywood, did some trivia, and had movie clips to use for discussion. Andre then gave a short message on popularity. The rest of the evening was spent mingling with different friends that everyone had made. Tomorrow I plan on pulling a full day with classes and all. My parents really seem to enjoying everything and seem to in their element. Please pray for all the students that are coming to the nightly activities and that they are receptive to what they hear.

For Hollywood night everyone dresses up. Here we have Darth Vader, paparazzi, and Tinker Bell. Better know as the Kinard family.

I am feeling better today. I think it all has to do with the home remedy of Mom, ok the drugs help too. Especially the one that only says it will make you dizzy and drowsy buy instead makes you dizzy and loopy! But hey my fever if wearing off and my cough is fading and that is what counts. So later I figured out that I was not taking an antibiotic and Ibuprofen 800 mg like I thought. I was taking Ibuprofen 800 mg and Ibuprofen 200 mg! Now I know why I was so loopy! Now I am on the right medication and on the road to recovery. Mike dropped my parents off this morning at the flat so we could spend some time together. We had a couple of hours and I asked all the questions I could about how they pulled off this surprise! It was wonderful to spend time with them. They then headed off to church with Erin and Hannah. They will also be getting a tour of Poltava today! This afternoon was really rough. I am so tired from sleepless nights and my coughing gets worse if I lay down. Exhaustion finally set in and I don't remember much till Mom called to check in on me for split second. Wish I could tell you about their day but I don't know. I do know that they spent their evening getting ready for their classes tomorrow. I know they are going to do a great job!

So the secret is now out... my parents came to Ukraine! I was so surprised to see them walk through the door of our flat. I just ran into my Mom's arms. Then in true fashion she started feeling my head and preceded to pull out a thermometer. I was so excited but sad at the same time. I hate that I am sick and won't be able to do everything with them. I certainly don't want them to miss a thing. I am excited for them to be here to see a little bit of what I do and to get to do some work themselves. 

So this morning I am in fact worse. The only thing I am keeping down is ice, not even the nausea medicine will stay down. The group will be here tomorrow evening and I am so excited because they are bring me some medicine. I just feel like waste to Lottie since this was the big project I was suppose to help with and now it looks like I can't. But please continue to pray for everyone's health.

Well, I only thought that I was getting better. I instead have gotten worse. I am now running a good fever, nauseous, and I have developed a cough. I was told by Momma Erin to stay in bed, but she is doing better and went to class. Please pray that God allows us to all be healthy by the time the Auburn team comes (Saturday). I have been asked if I know anyone on the Auburn team and I do know the two leaders, but I have not seen any names of the students. 

So I am finally feeling better and in fact Hannah and I got out and went to McDonald's. Poor Hannah has been left with nothing to do with two sick people on her hands. Erin is doing better just weak from being sick for so long. Yesterday was a holiday so there were no classes today. It was Women's Day! Sure wish there was a day in America to celebrate being a woman. It is kinda like Mother's Day but for women of all ages whether they have kids or not. So I return to classes tomorrow. It is a light week with only 2 classes tomorrow and then Wednesday off and only a few on Thursday and Friday. Then on Saturday the group from Auburn arrives. Sorry for the lack of updates I got use to not typing every night when we did not have internet and then I got sick. But I promise to do better from now on. Thanks you all for all of the prayers and support, I would not make it with you!

I promise to catch everyone up soon. But The three of us really need your prayers right now. Erin has been really sick with the flu and as of today I am sick. I have not been able to keep anything down. Please also pray for Hannah and that she stays well. The group from Auburn is coming in 9 days and we really need to be better!

2/26/09 - Today was a very busy day with 3 classes back to back. Our first class went well. All of the classes today are business classes so I am learning lots of new things! Our 10 AM class was horrible. There were three boys who would not stop acting up. The stuff they did was disrespectful and would never happen in our schools at home. If I could I would have sent them to the office or given so much homework to make their lives miserable! But we aren't exactly able to do that. We were just so surprised that college students were acting like they were 12! Erin asked one guy to move because we were splitting them up for an activity and he started begging not be moved! We were stunned! When a guest lecturer ask you to do something you do and it was moving to play game! Anyway our 11 class went so much better and we really like the students in that class. We then headed home for some rest before prayer meeting. We are feeling drained and Erin is starting to get sick.

2/27/09 - FRIDAY!!! We only had one class today. Ms. Margarita borrowed students from another class so we had an extremely full class! It went well, I did my lesson on animals. We then went home for rest and Erin's throat is getting worse. We had our second beginner's club tonight. We had about 10 come and they were mostly adults which is completely different from our intermediate class. So they come ready to learn and don't have to be entertained as much. We started spelling easy words and went over family members. Next week we start building sentences. Mom, you will be so proud I will most likely come back speaking better English!

2/28/09 - Erin is really not feeling well so Hannah went with me to teach the middle schoolers. It is something that I really enjoy, the girls are so sweet! We use Bible stories for them to read and translate. Then we go over their meaning so we are able to share about God. on the way home we stopped at our local baker to pick up dinner for all of us. We can't read the names so we just picked stuff and hoped for the best! Turned out we did an amazing job! I even ended up with a dessert that was like a beignet!

3/1/09 - It started snowing again. We have had snow on the ground since Feb. 15! Normal Sunday with church and all that. Erin stayed home to get some extra rest, she is feeling a bit better. Tonight the girls are putting on a special service for Men's Day. We had to perform to Be Our Guest. We felt like such idiots!!! Ok, first what we find funny they don't and what they find funny they don't. But they seemed to enjoy it. Erin sang the part while Hannah and I danced around like fools in the background. Afterwards we quickly left and went and got ice cream to wallow in our shame.