Update on Maidan

Hello friends in America! First of all, I want to thank you for your continued prayers for Ukraine.
After the most awful, blood-soaked day of the last three months of the revolution, in which dozens of unarmed protestors were picked off by "police" snipers using automatic weapons and armor-piercing rounds, a ray of hope appeared last night. While ordinary citizens around the country were blocking railway lines and roads to prevent government -ordered troops from entering Kyiv, the political opposition was able to call an emergency session of parliament and - miraculously - gather enough deputies to pass a special bill which ended the state of emergency which had enabled the acting minister of internal affairs to treat all protestors as "terrorists" and shoot to kill with impunity. The bill also ordered all troops to return to their bases and forbade all law enforcement agencies from using live rounds against protestors. Interestingly, members of the president's party were fleeing the country in a huge wave of private flights from a small airport near Kyiv.
We thank God that the undercutting of the evil policies of the government was accomplished through legal parliamentary means. After the passing of the all-important bill last night, the final action was to pass a resolution that the parliament will continue to work - without a break - until the crisis is fully resolved and a legitimate government is voted in. To say that this "turning of the corner" was accomplished peacefully or solely through legal means would be an over-simplification, of course. It was the horror of an all-out bloodbath, the anguish over the sacrifice of so many men and women and the endless eyewitness videos from around the country, showing innocent unarmed protesters being shot and killed that pushed things to the brink.
Yesterday afternoon, I watched an interview on one of the internet TV channels with Boris Gudzyak, a bishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University in L'viv. He said words to the effect that "in our post-modern world, we don't like to think about the concept of sin and evil. However, today people have clearly seen that there is good and evil at work here in Ukraine". One hallmark of the revolution has been the unity in prayer of Christians...It is undeniable that even in light of the heart-wrenching sacrifice and the shameless evil at work, that God has miraculously protected Ukraine from a far-worse fate: one of all-out civil war along the lines of what befell Yugoslavia.
We mourn for the losses of our countrymen who laid down there lives for the future of their children and grandchildren (and yes - that includes the future of our daughter Solomiya). We thank God for the fragile peace that now allows lawmakers and citizens to reach for an honest government. We thank God for those brave police, soldiers and officials who have publicly stood with the people and against the orders of the government. And we continue to pray for God's mercy to cover Ukraine and give wisdom and mercy and even forgiveness to the those who stand on Maidan and those who work in parliament for a legislated re-creation of Ukraine as a country whose government serves the people and not the greed and lust of a privileged few.
Please continue to pray for Ukraine!!!

- Mike

Thoughts on the medical system, continued...

After my last post about the crazy differences in the medical system between the US and Ukraine, I thought I would go into detail about our latest experience (which was VERY good)!

Two weeks ago, Solomiya fell and injured her leg. There were no cuts or bruises and only some slight swelling, but she refused to walk on it and we could tell- through the many tears- that she was in a lot of pain. We decided to call our family doctor in the morning to ask him if he could look at her. Now, our family doctor here in Ukraine is an awesome guy: he speaks English very well, has received a lot of special training in the US and Western Europe and stays up-to-date on new medical interventions. We are so thankful to have a great doctor here in Uzhhorod!
So, we tried contacting him the next day- all day. We finally heard from him around late afternoon and found out that he had had a lot of patients that day. He suggested we go to the ER at the hospital if S was not able to walk. That suggestion really freaked me out because we have heard some pretty horrific stories from our Ukrainian friends about the hospitals here. I definitely wanted to get an X-ray, but I also wanted to stay away from the hospital (I was hoping we could find a private clinic).
By this time in the day, S was exhausted and Mike and I felt more confused than ever about what to do. We had Ukrainian friends giving us all different opinions, options and hospitals- but we didn't know which would be safer. Also, we kept thinking that maybe S's injury was not as bad as it seemed.
Some people are probably thinking that we were total crack heads for not doing anything sooner- but imagine that you're in a foreign country with a bad reputation for medical care and you have no idea what the heck to do. Do they even have a trauma center at the hospital? Will the doctor there have an actual medical degree or did he buy it (totally not joking)?Should we go to Hungary and risk a 4 hour wait at the border? Uh, besides the fact that we do not speak Hungarian...
We came to the conclusion to bring her for an X-ray the next morning (where? Not sure.) we didn't want to stress her out that day.
S slept awesome that night (thank you Children's Motrin), but I could not sleep. I finally came to the decision by morning that I was taking her to Hungary- by train, by car, by hitch hiking if need be. At least I knew the medical care would be excellent and the chances that medical staff spoke English would be high. Just because Mike and I made the decision to move to this country, did not mean that S had to suffer with poor medical care.
And it was at this point that I had a revelation or epiphany or was quiet long enough that I could actually hear God speaking.
S did not have to suffer. God was not saying- Oh crap, you guys better get out of there because I am completely powerless in this situation. We were in Ukraine because we believed it was where God wanted us. Speaking of God, He is able to do anything- and we serve Him. I wonder what would happen if I prayed about this whole situation and asked for His help? So that is what I did. I asked God to show me what to do. I asked for knowledgable (and also kind) doctors, nurses and staff to be working at whichever place we would go. I asked for help communicating and understanding. I think I asked for a hundred more things that I cannot recall right now.
After this, I knew what to do immediately. I asked Mike to call our friend (also a doctor) whose daughter went through something similar a few months ago. He told us exactly where to go.
Our friend, who had offered to help us translate, was available. We picked her up and drove to the ER.
The following happened:
- a kind and knowledgable ER doctor: check
- an excellent X-ray technician who took high quality photos: check
- an explanation of what was wrong with clear evidence on the X-ray: check
- the best pediatric orthopedist in the city coming to the hospital in under 15 minutes to cast S's leg: check
- the orthopedist spoke English: check
- a wonderful friend who translated everything for us, spoke up for us, filled out all paperwork for us, went to the pharmacy with Mike to buy the casting supplies, told us who to pay and how much and was just a great support to us: check
- in and out of the ER in under an hour: check
- peace instead of chaos and confusion filling my head: check

Lesson learned: God is bigger than the post-Soviet medical care and conditions in Ukraine.
Yes, the medical system is completely different, but God is able to work with it.
Feeling very thankful to our Father in Heaven who is helping us out in this corner of the world.

Two more weeks of a cast and then it is off! S is enjoying all sorts of fine motor activities- including art work on my phone.