I went to Ukraine the other day. Ok, maybe it’s been over 14 years ago, but still. It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago. It was my second time there, and this time I flew by myself and met Andrew in the Kyiv airport in the northern part of the country. We visited my friend Natasha and her family and then made our way to Nikopol in the southern part of the country. We walked, we took taxis, we took trains, we took subways, we took buses and we took regular vehicles. I think the only thing we didn’t use was a boat. Haha! Oh the stories we could tell… Anyway – the point is, we saw the country.
The plan was to do Vacation Bible School for kids and then spend a week at an orphanage sharing our life stories and doing fun crafts and games with the kids. The entire trip was great and it made me fall in love with Ukraine even more. I felt like the people there were my people.
The first time I went to Ukraine was one of the absolute best trips ever. I went with a group of Americans from all over the states and we spent two weeks teaching English by using Bible stories. I got to spend it with my sister cousin Sarah, and for real – those are some stories you want to hear. For. Real. 😂 Maybe later.
Both times I left Ukraine, I left a piece of my heart there. So about three years ago when the war broke out there, my heart was broken.
I had good friends that were still in Ukraine, and I couldn’t imagine what they were going through. Even for the people I didn’t know, my heart was still breaking. I know that all over the world there are wars and bombings etc, but when you’ve sat in the people’s homes and walked on those city streets, it hits you differently. I felt guilty for sleeping in a warm bed when I knew my friends were sleeping in a basement to protect themselves from rocket attacks. I was angry that people were posting funny memes and they were excited for the weekend. Didn’t they know what was happening?!!?! I felt completely helpless, and just cried a lot.
I was sure giving money would help, but I knew the little amount I could send wouldn’t make much of a dent in the need. And I was sure other people felt the same way. Then God put the idea in my heart to do a cookie fundraiser and give everyone else the opportunity to give what they could and together we could make a big difference. And we did! We ended up being able to send around $3,500! I still cried for the people, and it took me quite a while to not feel guilty for sleeping in a warm bed, but finally being able to do something was a good start. I didn’t do it for me, though it seems that usually when you do something for someone else, it ends up blessing you more than the person, or people, who you blessed.
I’ve had the best blessing ever since then. Through a program that enabled Ukrainian people to flee Ukraine and live in the United States, I was able to sponsor Julia, and she’s been living here since November 2022. God knew that we needed each other, and she has become one of my very good friends. There really aren’t words to describe how much her being here means to me. I love her like a sister, I love her family in Ukraine like they were my family and I love the church there like it was my church. Maybe the pieces of my heart that I left there are being cared for by those people.
So when Julia told me that her preacher asked her for help and to see if she could ask people here for money, I immediately went back to the cookie fundraiser. Of course Julia thought it was a good idea also. I mean really, who can resist delicious cookies? 😂
So we’re doing it again! I don’t know how much we’ll raise, but I know whatever we’re able to send to them it will be greatly appreciated and it will be put to good use!
I love this quote I heard recently. “Humanity is way better than humans will make you believe it is.” – Dillon White
Please let me know if you are able to contribute to this fundraiser.
Order form below:
Ordered my cookies!!!