School is back in session. Ministry opportunities abound. The summer slowdown has abruptly ended and been replaced by busy schedules, traveling, homework, lesson planning, sports events, workshops, trainings, and all the other activities of our life in Ukraine.

The kids are growing so fast. Abigail has started her sophomore year of high school. We are trying to wrap our minds around the fact that we only have three more summers with her before she begins college and lives on a different continent. She is very diligent in her studies and highly respected by her friends and teachers. We are so proud of her!

Matthew is in his last year of middle school as an eighth grader. He is playing soccer and excelling at school. We appreciate how he thinks deeply about what he hears, reads, and does. He worked hard this summer to meet a school challenge to exercise for 60 hours.

Elizabeth finished elementary school and is now adjusting to middle school. She is full of energy, drama, and life. She cares deeply for the feelings of others. She is in two dance classes and is excited about learning a sequence from the Greatest Showman.

Sarah continues to teach fifth grade and work towards a Master’s of Education in curriculum and instruction. She thoroughly enjoys her class of twelve students with all the energy and enthusiasm they have for learning.

George loves being a part of the reconciliation ministry. It is exciting to witness God healing hearts and changing lives. He travels frequently to lead workshops in Ukraine and other countries.

On April 27, I dropped off Abigail at a friend’s house to get her nails done in preparation for her high school banquet the next day. On my way back to school to pick up Elizabeth from dance class, I stopped for a pedestrian who was already walking across the street in a crosswalk. As she reached the front of my car, I was hit from behind. It seems that the driver didn’t even touch his brakes.

I got out to inspect the damage and found his car tightly meshed with my bumper. His air bags had released. Neither I nor he and his passenger were injured. Thankfully, George was actually in town for this incident. (He has an uncanny ability to be gone when things go wrong.) I called him and he came to the site of the accident.

We waited in the middle of the road as cars swerved around us, often into oncoming traffic. In Ukraine, you can’t move the cars until a police report is filed so this causes traffic problems all over the city. George called for the police to come to the accident. Meanwhile, FIVE police cars drove by but none of them stopped to see if everyone was okay or to control the traffic. By the time our designated police officers arrived about an hour later, the son of the driver had also arrived. He was the actual owner of the car. His father stopped trying to cast blame onto me since it was a lost cause. I have a dash cam and it was quite obvious that I stopped at a crosswalk and he hit me. No one needed to view the dash cam footage. The son requested to pay for the repairs out of pocket without going through insurance. George asked the police officers if this was advisable and they encouraged it saying we would get our car repaired more quickly. They suggested that a written statement by the driver admitting guilt and promising to pay for damages would be sufficient. The driver gave his driver’s license as collateral. The police left without issuing a ticket.

The other car was very badly damaged so they called a flatbed tow truck. Once he arrived, we tried and tried to force the cars apart. They were so tightly meshed that my tires just spun in place. It took 20 or more attempts to pull the cars apart. The son of the driver promised to meet us at the Honda dealer the next morning.

I was able to rattle myself home and to the Honda dealer the next day. True to his word, the son arrived on time and told the repair shop that he would give a downpayment and pay all expenses himself. A week later we got a quote for the repairs, nearly $4,000!

It has been nearly 5 weeks since the accident. The mechanics say they have finally begun working on it. We are hoping it is finished this week.

Through this experience, we have seen God meeting our needs.

• First of all, he provided protection. I had no back pain and thankfully the children were not in the car.
• The pedestrian was safe. We can’t help but wonder if God used my car to protect her from an unobservant driver.
• The owner of the car has acted with integrity, so far following through on his promise to pay for the damages.
• Another missionary family loaned us their car for two weeks so I could continue to get to school while George was traveling.

We are grateful for how God protects and provides! This is just one incident in which we have witnessed the results of what most often goes unnoticed.