From: Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 1274)
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.
Psalm 73:26-28
The last few days have been filled with pleasant feelings of “busy.” Getting ready for the new school year is one of the things that keeps me busy. Printing the materials, setting up the classroom, organizing supplies, attending meetings… The list doesn’t really end there. Today, most of the day was taken up by a very important training that we pray will turn out useless. It was a first-aid training aimed at the realities of our lives here. We learned how to recognize and stop massive bleeding and practiced applying tourniquets and tamponading wounds. It was a huge reality check for us living in a relatively peaceful city (except during air raids), far from the combat zone.
As I’m writing this, russian drones are circling Kyiv. Last time I checked, there were about a hundred of them in the Ukrainian skies, but the majority of them did not approach Kyiv. The monitors report about three or four russian jets approaching the missile launch zone. Last time, they attacked Kremenchuk. We’ll see who they target this time, but I will likely have a light sleep, checking my phone for updates on the air raid threats. It’s hard to feel safe after those intentional attacks on apartment buildings, but being with your loved ones is what gives us the strength to persevere through these attacks.
I’d much rather stay awake through the night planning my school year, but we don’t have that luxury now. Our days are filled with breathtakingly beautiful moments intertwined with absolute wickedness, but that’s life.
Beautiful Ukrainian sunflowers in the field and an air-defense system – both are beautiful even though they could feel foreign in a different setting. Photo by Roman Pilipey.
Voice of Ukraine 