Today was like any other day that we do evacuations. We met with the Police, and headed in to the front line village where we have been working out of. The Police were told there was a family still inside that needed to leave due to there being a mandatory evacuation of all families in this dangerous area. We arrive to find a family of four nestled in their home, living life as normal as they can. We go inside and on the kitchen wall was a banner that said “Happy Birthday” from the day before. As the parents load all their important belongings in the vehicles, and the Police watch for drones and incoming dangers from the outside, I ask the girls whose birthday it was….only to find it was the sweet young girl holding on to her scared little sister. She had just turned twelve yesterday. Today she was packing up her life, and saying goodbye to her home and her grandma who chose to stay behind. Both girls were scared and rightly so, they didn’t know us, and they’re too young to comprehend everything that is happening around them. Grabbing their stuffed animals for the trip, they were brought to the armored van, where they gave their last hugs to grandma.

I am grateful that we can partner with the Police and bring these people to safer places, but there is always so much more that we don’t understand. It isn’t a simple thing to them; their entire lives are uprooted, and they only have minutes to decide what they can live without. So pray for the Ukrainian people who lose the very things that we take for granted everyday; their homes, gardens, communities, pets, friends and even their own family.