From: Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv – Day 695 (posted late)
Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
Psalm 95:6
I’m sorry if I left any of you worried when I didn’t post at my regular time. Last night, I just crashed after a long week. But I’ll make it up now ))
Thankfully, we didn’t have an air raid yesterday and could enjoy a full day at school. On Fridays, we finish off with chapel, and yesterday, we had a military chaplain as a special guest speaker. Our elementary school kids were very excited to meet “a real soldier,” but then he asked if they knew anyone who was fighting the enemy army now, and that’s what crushed me. “My dad is in the army, and we haven’t seen him in a long time because he can’t get a leave.” “My uncle was wounded, so he’s back for his treatment, and we worry for him.” “My dad is also in the army, and we pray for him every day.” There were about a dozen hands raised, but there were also those who didn’t raise a hand, yet you knew they were thinking about someone.
After the chapel, one boy told me he was sad because his uncle was recently sent to the frontline, and he worries about him but tries to distract himself with other things, yet our chapel reminded him about it, and he was sad.
How do you keep a straight face when you hear this? How do you not break into tears and try to find some encouraging words? How do you keep yourself from pounding your fists against this cruelty our children have to witness? I kept wrestling with these questions even after I went home, and I guess that was the most draining part of my week.
Voice of Ukraine 