Katrina and her redneck doctor

Katrina Randolph took a tumble and broke her leg pretty bad this past week. The Duddecks helped get her to the hospital and the Ukrainian doctors put a cast on her foot. It was a very bad brake so Katrina is headed home to the States for surgery. The cast they gave her here was not giving enough support for her foot and Jason figured out how to fix it with a 5gal bucket and duck tape. And it worked. Now I don't know if that classifies as red neck or just missionary genius. I'll let you decide that one. But please pray for Katrina as she is probably home by now and headed into surgery. She has been so brave. We love you Katrina!!! Come back soon!

Canning, Canning, Canning

On our weeks off this summer, we have been trying to do some canning. The process is a little different here in Ukraine. But the end result is the same, food in the cellar ready for the winter. Here the guys are giving a hand with the tomato sauce. Josh and Seth A. are helping Jason get the tomato sauce ready for canning.

Gracie is enjoying helping me put the lids on the jars. We use a press here to put the lids on. That is what the handle thing is.

This is apricot jam in the hot water bath. We have several apricot trees and the children helped pick them.

Here in Ukraine a lot of people put their jars under blankets for 24 hrs after sealing the jars. It really does help to keep the jars hot and the seal is better. The half liter jars below are filled with hot dog relish and a few are jam.

The finished product. Liter jars of dill pickles and stewed tomatoes ready for the cellar. It a lot of work, but so worth it. Hopefully all this work will help our grocery bill this winter.