Razom

It seems like so long ago that April 1 seemed forever away… We were completing documents for the Embassy, we got the visa! Working until the end of February, moving all our stuff yet again back to Kyiv, my parents leave, Allyson arrives!, off to the village for 2 1/2 weeks, back to Kyiv, visiting with friends and relatives, packing and shipping off a suitcase this morning with a friend! And now, we’ve got less then 48 hours in the place we both call home.

Tears have been shed by Kolya’s family… the unknown of when they’ll see us again or ever if our plane crashes…the uncertainty of what is in store for us once we reach the states, for the long-term… Where will we work? live? find a car?

What we do know is that our God is faithful! He has brought us to and confirmed in many ways that this is where and what we are supposed to be doing for this season of our lives. Will it be tough? Yes… Will we bent, molded and conformed more to His likeness? Yes… Will everything ‘just’ happen perfectly? No…

Please pray with and for us as we start this new adventure, in a new land… For Kolya to quickly adapt, for us to find like-minded friends, for our marriage in the new challenges/differences/roles we will be taking on… and for us to keep our eyes on Him!

Last fall, when Kolya upgraded to his own laptop computer, we sold his desktop to his sister and brother-in-law. After several months of storing it at mom and dad’s (thanks) we were finally able to pass it off! It ended up in Kolya’s village over the New Year’s holiday. And today, they connected to the internet. It’s a SLOW connection, but I’m able to check email in these last 2 weeks before we leave to the states!

I was able to find out that someone is willing to take a 50lbs suitcase to the states for us! WOW! It will be in Maine and hopefully, we’ll be able to make a couple hour detour and pick it up in April when visiting family in Boston and Cape Cod!

We’ve been in the village since the 9th of March and plan on returning to Kyiv next Wednesday. Kolya’s oldest sister and 2 daughters (6 and 4) are now living back here and we’ve had tons of fun with them AND teaching them how to write and the alphabet. We’ve even got them saying, please, thank-you and I’m sorry. Hopefully it will continue after we leave! Kolya’s younger sister and husband were here last weekend, with his sister staying through this weekend! It’s been great getting to spend quality time with many of Kolya’s family. We’ve been here every 3 months since we’ve been married… and we’re not quite sure when we’ll be making our first trip back to Ukraine!

We’ve been gearing up by trips to the dentist for teeth cleanings and such. I didn’t have any cavities and we’ll see what happened when Kolya returns this afternoon.

Well, I better run… Clifford the big red dog puzzle is waiting to be put together in the other room with Lesya and Nastya…

12 days until we fly….

6 days until we return to Kyiv…

18 days till we land in Salisbury…

19 days till I start job hunting

Kolya and I now have one month left in Ukraine until we fly to the states on April, 1! Not much time left… I thought I would be posting more often but, it looks like it’ll have to wait until next month! We have ‘moved’ back to my parents where we continue to pack, sort and pitch.

We were hoping that we would be able to visit the states while my parents will be around so they would be able to share in introducing my dear husband to ‘our’ side of the family and friends! We started the visa process in January when we got back from visiting Kolya’s fam. It took 1 1/2 months, start to finish! God is amazing! We had enough time to think and pray about how to spend the 1 1/2 months before we would fly. We finished work out in internetless Bucha the end of February, giving us time to spend 2-3 weeks out west with Kolya’s family and our two cutie nieces, Lesya and Nastya (6 and almost 4). How the details have come together in getting our double bed and other things out to the village when we don’t have a car, etc… have been truly amazing as only God could orchestrate! We’ll be sending my parents to the states late tomorrow night, or the wee-hours of the morning Tuesday and look forward to seeing them soon!

Please keep us in your prayers that this ‘last’ month will be spent with quality time with friends and family and our focus would stay on Him!