As we parked, you could see the most beautiful statue, the statue of the Motherland. This beautiful statue stands almost twice the size of the Statue of Liberty! The pictures do it absolutely no justice, seeing it in person brings it to life!! I've looked at other couple's pictures and thought "okay, it's not that big", but when I actually saw it all I could say was "WOW!! A really cool fact about the monument is that it is not taller than the cross on the highest situated church in Kiev, St. Andrews church! When the Motherland monument was first built, they sword was higher than the cross, but they cut it off some b/c they wanted the chapel to have the highest point! Hmmmmm, sort of ironic how a nation NOT founded on Christ, can make sure He is lifted up the most, yet our country that WAS founded on Christ does not......
Under the statue is the museum. As much as I love history, I have to say I wasn't prepared for much of what I was going to see! It was very sad to see the things that this country endured when they were attacked. We took a few pictures, but not a lot. We were more so taking in the scenery. To realize the things that some went through. I think the thing that stood out the most was pictures of children that were placed in concentration camps. These sweet innocent children did nothing to deserve this....in fact, none of the country did! But Germany thought they were a "better" country so to say and could go in and take whatever they wanted. Below is a picture of a pair of gloves that were made of human skin. They would make anything with the things they had. There was also a bar of soap, but we didn't get a picture of that. Also, there is a picture of a table. One side of the table represents the living soldiers from the war, and the other the ones that die. It was a tradition when someone died that they would all get a glass, with a shot of liquor and drink it to remember that person. The pictures, the stories, the memorabilia was just sad, eye opening, and sobering. The last picture is a monument that shows that Ukraine will prevail again. The cross is made out of gun parts, the empty bullets filled with wheat, symbolizing that Ukraine has been attacked, but this will not be the end of the country. It will grow again and be okay. I am completely in awe of the things I saw! There are really too many to mention!
Around 3:30 pm we headed to the SDA to pick up our referral for Yulia so we could head to her region! It was very simple, we went in talked briefly, signed our name, then received our paperwork to take with us!! We decided that Natasha was going to drive to Zaporizhzhya instead of taking the train! We knew it would be about a 6 hour drive (maybe more with stopping), but we were geared up for it! We would take in the beauty of this country and enjoy our time in the car!!
Let me just say, it was a fun experience!! The gas stations on the main road were very nice! The bathrooms were clean, and this one particular we stopped at had a nice cafe to eat in! So we stopped for a bit to stretch, get gas, eat, and hit the road again! The sunflower fields were breath taking! They were everywhere!! We didn't get the best pictures b/c we were driving, but they are still beautiful! There are so many sunflower fields b/c they use primarily sunflower oil here! Double benefit here.....beauty and oil!
It was different going along the highway, many things looked the same, yet many looked so different! We would see cows, horses or goats, just situated on the side of the road, some tied up and some not! Some people have these animals, but don't have any land to feed them, so they would take them each day to the government land for the animals to eat! We've got a picture here of a woman carrying her purse and stick, and taking the cows back home for the evening! People do what they have to do here! There were little stores along the way to buy drinks and snacks. Some places had almost 10 stores side by side selling the same things. They are just all trying to make money to get by.
The pictures do not do justice to how pretty the landscape is! We have a few more pictures, but you'll have to check my facebook to see them! We decided to get off the main hwy and take a shorter road to get here! This was even more of an experience, lol!! The roads were not as smooth, they were bumpy, but it was kinda fun!! My children would have loved the bumpy roads! Each of the villages maintained the roads beside them, so some roads were better than others, depending on how much money a village had! It was really rather neat to see the people of the village out and about! There isn't much for them to do typically, so they all go out walking, and they seem like a true community! Of course along this road we had to use the bathroom, but we could find no gas stations! So we kept driving, rather tempted just to stop on the side of the road!! We saw a few stops, but they all had outside restrooms, and we weren't real sure about using these!! We finally stopped as it was growing darker. There were a few men gathered around the gas station, making it seem a bit awkward! As we got out of the car, Natasha said just don't speak in English......agh, that's all I know! So I kept quiet, only talking very quietly if needed! We survived, and made it back to the car, lol! And we were on our way again!
We got to see a beautiful sunset that evening! It was just a reminder of God's love for us! He is the most amazing artist, creating all this beauty that surrounds us! As we started getting closer to our region, the signs were not clear at all which way to go! It was around 12 or 1 in the morning, and we weren't quite sure which way to go! We asked the only people we saw out, which happened to be drunk men. 3 of them, each at different places, seemed to each send us a different way, lol!! We finally found the way, and arrived safely at our apartment at 2am! It was a long fun ride, filled with many laughs and stories, and taking in God's beauty around us!
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