LAST DAY IN UKRAINE-TRIP #1

Today is our last day in Ukraine. We are headed back home and have an overnight in the highly overpriced city of London. We were able to have breakfast with Karen and Maxim and take some last minute photos of downtown Kiev. The return trip is bittersweet-on the one hand it's a good feeling to be able to be going home to see our kids Elyse, Alex, and Addie. On the other hand it's disappointing that we are not coming home with Ruslan, Yuri and Alina.

We enjoyed breakfast at a cafe with Maxim and Karen.

We took a few pictures downtown Kiev this morning.
Karen & Monique

Zenon posing in his new flag!



I did however want to share with you (our faithful relatives, friends and fans) a little taste of Ukrainian culture/idiosyncrasies.

We thought we would give you a window into some of the daily living on our trip here to Ukraine. Lest any of you think that this was a "vacation".


We experienced some very good food here. But discovered that the price in the menu for food doesn't mean the total price for the entree, but the price per gram, they weigh food from restaurants! The other thing we noticed right away is that the food items are cooked one item at a time. This means the first person to get their food will most likely be done with their meal by the time the last person gets their food. We discovered at most restaurants that the food is not prepared to be served to all parties at the same time! So, when your meal came, you just began to eat or it would be cold by the time the last meal was served! Unfortunately, we have had fairly constant "nausea"--and think we've both lost at least ten to fifteen pounds! So, if any of you are interested in a sure-fire way to lose some weight--come to Ukraine!

We became very aware of needing to use the WC(toilet). We made sure we went before we ventured out. This was a quickly learned lesson because there was a fee to use the public restrooms (not that it was expensive)! We agreed that gas-station bathrooms ranked higher than these--UGH! Monique had never used the bathroom without a seat before!

An "electric bus"
We had the privilege of "living among the natives" by riding public transportation, renting apartments instead of hotels, etc... You quickly adapt to "the smell". Not that its a pleasant smell, more like I have to vomit smell. The worse news is that as time went along, I could tell that even my body started to produce this same type of "odor". When you ride public transportation during rush hour, personal space consists of the person next to you rubbing all over you. Forget about air flow, windows are not always open, so you are able to enjoy a warm stench. OK, enough about bad BO.

Personal Space and Waiting In Line. We in America have come to expect our "own personal space". This consists of approximately about 18 inches of air space between you and the next person. This isn't so here. When waiting in line for anything, we expect to go one at a time. When some people come into a location requiring a wait, they might look to see if a line exists, but many of them immediately walked right up to the head of the line (what we would call "cutting" or "line jumping")and began taking care of their own business. The next thing which was a little uncomfortable while being in line is that as one person is speaking across the desk/through the window, the next person in line is shoving to the desk/window as well --any many times begins to talk right over the person taking care of business. We decided that in order to "keep your place in line" you must practically hover right on top of the next person in order to keep your spot or someone might just cut you without a second glance!

Cabbage for sale At the markets, all kinds of foods are purchased. Cabbage is a staple here. We have never seen so much cabbage in our lives, let alone truckloads of it for sale.

We hope that you were able to get a feel of some of the culture here!

Judge Decrees us Parents!

This morning at 11:30 we had our court case. Monique, Valery, Ruslan, Yuri, Alina, Natalia, and Tatiana were there. The judge asked us some questions about our family and if our desire to adopt these children. He also asked the same question that has been asked of us every step of the way "Why do you want to adopt three children when you already have three children?" We told him that we have thought about this for many years and prayed about it. We knew that our family was not complete and wanted to adopt children from Ukraine because of my heritage.
After more questions, he then asked us if we still desire to adopt these children and, of course, we said YES! He asked each of the children one by one if they wanted to be adopted by us, and they all said YES! He had some questions for Natalia as well as Tatiana. After checking documents, verifying information, the judge then read the decree naming each child individually and pronouncing us the proud parents of Ruslan, Yuri, and Alina HORB!!!

Then it was off to a celebratory lunch! After lunch we went to get their passport pictures taken. It didn't seem like a big deal, but when we went into the store to get the pictures made, the man began yelling at us! He told us that we didn't need as many pictures as asked for. We needed the photos for passports and paperwork at the US Embassy. We thought it made more sense to get all the photos at once. He did agree to take the pictures and was angry while he did it. What is wrong with these people?

The next steps in the process involve getting the court decree, birth certificates, and passports. Ten days from today, July 7th, all the court documents will be ready to be picked up. Our attorney Valery will begin the next steps of the process for us. After the passports are applied for it can take up to three weeks for them to be done. We have decided to come home on Monday and then we will come back to pick up the children when the passports are done. This means we will be home anywhere from three to four weeks. Then we will return to Ukraine and bring our children home!

Our biggest frustration today was trying to get a notary to sign a power of attorney for our facilitator. We went to several offices today and were told the following reasons why our papers could NOT be notarized: 1. Done working for the day (it was 3:30pm and the office was open until 5:30pm) 2. Come back tomorrow at 10am (didn't say if she would do it, just come back) 3. I've never seen that document done before, so it's Impossible! I've never seen it so it can't be done!(Our attorney had examples of the needed document, and said yes it can be done. He's done it several times before.) 4. Your American Passport will not work for identification (Are you Kidding Me?!?!?) 5. You need an Ukrainian identification card (I am an American Citizen-and don't even live here). 6. Have your power of attorney done and apostilled in America-then send it to us. 7. Why do you need Power of Attorney? Adopted kids in Ukraine don't need passports--I've done this for 30 years. (WHAT??? In the Free World, Everyone Needs a Passport to Travel!! --except I suppose if you are coming in small boats from Cuba or sneaking in to America from Mexico.)

We arrived back at YWAM and Monique called one of the missionaries here. He called back to say that he found someone who will be able to do our notary papers in the morning. YEAH!

After the court hearing, we all went out for a celebratory lunch!











Alina and Monique

Alex & Addie at Spring Hill Camps

Addie and Alex went to camp this week. Here are a few photos of them at camp. I hope that you are having a GREAT time!! We miss you!


Addie with her counselors.

Addie with Destiny Carlisle (in front of her) and her cabin mates.

Alex with Evan Duey (to the left of Alex) and cabin mates.


Alex doing his impression of the Incredible Hulk!

Court Date?

Today we went to the courthouse to meet with the judge who is assigned to our case. We were told on Friday that we could get our court date scheduled with him today. We decided that we would walk to the courthouse. It was nice and sunny. About 2pm when we were getting ready to leave, dark clouds rolled in and it began to hail, and pour! So, we tried to call a taxi, and were unable to get one, due to them being busy. Zenon called Natalia, and she and her driver said they would come pick us up. Zenon saw the white van and told me to go get in it while he grabbed his backpack. So, off I went, jumped into the van and the man began talking to me and I just sat there smiling. Zenon came to the van, said something to the driver and realized that I had jumped into the wrong van! Out I went, and we laughed so hard we sat on the porch crying.

We finally arrived at the courthouse to wait, yes, wait. We waited only to discover that our case had NOT been taken up to the judges office, they had not received our papers. Zenon and Natalia tracked them down, and then they were taken up to the office. Now we must wait until tomorrow and hopefully he will have read our case and be willing to schedule the court date for Thursday or Friday. Natalia will call in the morning and we are hoping that we can go tomorrow and get what we need. We cannot come home until we go in front of the judge.

We walked downtown and got something to eat at an outdoor cafe. Suddenly, yes, suddenly, the skies darkened again and a very scary thunderstorm began. We continued to eat and watch it rain like cray. The scariest part was when about 1/2 block away at the park, which I could see, and lighting bolt came down and I screamed, Zenon grabbed me, and the light from the lightening bolt was so bright! We waited until the rain slowed a bit then called a taxi to take us back. Then we just relaxed this evening.

Weekend Fun

This weekend we were able to spend time with the kids. On Saturday we took them to a city park which overlooks a large lake. They enjoyed playing at the playground and eating ice cream. We walked through the downtown area and enjoyed the sunshine.

Fun at the park!

Downtown Ternopil

We discovered the only Chinese restaurant in Ternopol and had dinner here Saturday night. The food was good!

Sunday afternoon we brought Ruslan, Yuri, and Alina back to where we are staying. They watched the Russian version of Chronicles of Narnia and Zenon made dinner for all of us. It was nice to "hang out" without trying to find an activity. We enjoyed being together and talked about what it is like at home in Indiana.

Ternopil, Ukraine

Ternopil is a region in western Ukraine. This city has western European feel to it. I've added a link to the right which has some great photographs of the city we are in. Enjoy!

Good Day!

Today we left the apartment we have been staying at to move to the local YWAM training facility. This facility is brand new and have been gracious enough to allow us to stay here until we leave Terinopol. It is also nice because it is very clean, has laundry facilities, and wireless internet! Here is a view looking up to the balcony on the 3rd floor of our previous domain.

This morning we were able to meet with the head judge of this region. We submitted the paperwork for our adoption, and requested a court date next week. He immediately said that he has many pressing matters to attend to, and would not be able to give us a date until sometime in July. Valery continued to ask him if we would consider sooner, then I began to speak to him in Ukrainian. He soon began to warm up after hearing about my Ukrainian roots (and then wanted to know what kind of plant I was), and proceeded to fit us into the courts' schedule next Thursday or Friday. We will be able to confirm this on Monday.

Today our documents were submitted to the SDA in Kiev (YEAH!), and will be returned to Valery on Wednesday afternoon. Please pray that this happens. What this means is that we should be able to come home next weekend.

The fun part of the day began when we picked up Ruslan, Yuri, and Alena and took them bowling for the first time. After that, we went out to the Flamingo Restaurant and had a pizza dinner. I enjoyed teaching them how to bowl, and we all had a very good time.

Enjoy these bowling photos:
Alena with her bowling ball!


Yuri is excited about his score!

Checking out the bowling balls.

Yuri's sprained ankle doesn't keep him from bowling!

Elyse and Emma having fun at camp! How cool is technology? We found this picture of Elyse off the internet on Spring Hill Camps website out of Indiana!

Day 13

We began today by walking, walking, and walking! This has become a favorite pastime of ours. We, actually Valery, were able to get necessary docuements notarized today, then off to the governmental building. We arrived around 3:15pm and left five minutes before 7pm with the documents stamped!! Tomorrow we will go to the courthouse and attempt to get in front of a judge regarding this case. Please continue to pray that this process continues without many more glitches. Our documents will be traveling by train to Kiev tonight, and submitted in the morning. Then, they have up to five days to return them--prayer that it won't take the whole five days.

We are looking forward to this weekend!!

Day 12

We were able to take Ruslan, Yuri, and Alina to lunch today and spend a couple of hours with them. It has been fun starting to teach them some english words and phrases. They are catching on quickly, and even begin some phrases in english on their own. We are hoping to take them bowling in the next few days. They have never done that before.

Please pray that the documents will be signed soon, and that Valery will have safe travel back to Kiev to submit them.

Day 11

Today was filled with paperwork by our Facilitator, Valery. After many hours working on documents, we tried to meet with a judge today to make an appointment and were unable to do so. The man in charge of the administration here looked at our documents today, but wants to look at them a bit longer. Please pray that he signs them tomorrow and that the documents can then go to Kiev.

We were able to spend about an hour and a half with the children at the orphanage today. We did some vocabulary works with the books that we had gotten them. We look forward to spending more time with them tomorrow.

We ask for your prayers for the documents.

An abandoned church in the Ukrainian countryside


It is Tuesday morning, and we were able to find an internet location to use. We had been going to a restaurant that has internet access, and last night one of the stores in the mall had a fire, so the wi-fi was not working. Also, the wireless card on our computer is now ka-put! We are going to try to get another one at a local computer/electronics store.

Yesterday was a holiday, so all businesses were closed. We were invited by the Inspector, Tatiana, here in Terinopol, to her home in the country yesterday with the children. We took the van, picked her and her children up, and drove about 30 minutes to their weekend home. It was a nice respite from the city! The children all played in the yard, took walks, and enjoyed the day. We ate more food yesterday than we had any day since we've been here.


The feast set before us!

Tatiana's husband Pavlow enjoys fishing. He provided the fish that we had for lunch yesterday. Some of the meal she cooked at home, and some of the fish he put into a smoker that was on the fire in the back yard.

Natalya, Tatiana, Monique, & Pavlow showing off his catch.






Group Picture of our Friends


Ruslan, Yuri, and Alina enjoyed the day playing with Tatiana's children. They have a daughter who is 12 and a son who is 9. They were able to do some exploring up by the abandoned church (posted above). They picked strawberries and gooseberries out of the garden, played chase, and laughed a lot. Because we were with Natalya we were able to keep the children longer than usual. They were very tired and happy after an enjoyable day. Alina shed some tears about going back to the orphanage. We assured her that we would be back tomorrow, and gave her big hugs and kisses.

Today we will be meeting the judge to set up our court date which we will have after Valery submits our documents in Kiev. Valery will travel to Kiev tonight to begin the process. This can take up to five working days. Please pray that it doesn't take the five days in Kiev, and that the paperwork is processed quickly.

Kool Karen Kissing Kow

This is a tribute to our "kool kiev karen" who has helped us tremendously! She has been our point of contact at CBN for over two years! THANK YOU KAREN, NOW LEARN TO SPEAK UKRAINIAN! She speaks Russian and is dating a good Ukrainian man. See you in Kiev soon!

Day 7 - Ukranian Pizza Day

We woke up a little late today. Once we got ready for the day, it seemed appropriate for us to spend some time in prayer. GOD HAS BEEN GOOD! Although we face many challenges ahead, we know for sure, the God has our backs. That's actually better than a large Ukrainian-American behind you. We started the day at the notary to have some official documents notarized. I have quickly noticed the biggest difference between Zenon Uki's and Ukrainian Ukis - their ability to WAIT. Not one of my strengths, especially when dealing with layers of bureaucracy. However, a side note, once they hear me speaking in Ukrainian, they seem to become more jovial and are very interested in how I speak their language.

This is where I explain to them the tortuous Ukrainian school I had to attend every Saturday until I was 17 years old. Yes, I missed Saturday morning cartoons, unless I faked being sick to stay home. I do have to admit - Tato and Mama I am grateful that you were persistent in teaching us our heritage and language!


Ruslan, Yuri and Alina are wonderful! We have been so blessed - first with three awesome children in Elyse, Alex and Addie and now in extending our family. Todaya we gave them the books on learning English, and they were excited to look at them. They are like picture dictionaries/basic grammar. Today we took our three new children out for pizza. The pizza was actually very good. We then headed over to a Uki ice cream parlor (that's what they claim it is) that had a small play area for the kids. It rained pretty hard today, which limited our outdoor activity. As we headed back to the orphanage, my heart was touched by Alina's little voice "Chomy mu ne mozhe mo stobuyu pitu?" Translation "Why can't we come with you today?" There aren't many times when a large Ukrainian man has to hold in his tears. By the way, my wife is curious to why all the Ukrainian men are so skinny and she married a Uki guy that is larger than most NFL linebackers.



We were walking today, and saw a beekeeper! I just had to post this photo, since my father in law is a "hobby beekeeper" in Michigan.

We also found the only WiFi restaurant in Ternopol - looks like an Olde English Pub in a new shopping mall. We will update tomorrow.

Day 6

Our facilitator, Valery, went to the government office to begin the paperwork. The office here hasn't done international adoptions for many years, and the women in the office needed to get the forms. Valery was able to give them examples of forms needed.

We met Valery in the afternoon with the attorney for the office here. She needed to observe us with the children, and then her boss came about an hour later to follow up on the process. They were both very nice, and had nice things to say. Incidentally, both of their names are Tatiana. The head boss said she was surprised at how much they look like us! She was pleased with the contact that was made, and said she would begin the paperwork process on Friday.

We thought we would be able to come earlier, but were unable to because we needed to wait for the government officials. About 3:15 we pulled up, and Alina was all dressed up in a pretty dress, socks, and shoes. As we pulled up by the building, she was jumping up and down clapping her hands! Ruslon also had a dress shirt and pants on. Yuri came running out of the orphanage and up to us, very excited. We spent a few hours with them. They enjoyed taking pictures with our camera, eating sunflower seeds, and climbing on us. We were told that we would be able to take them out for pizza and ice cream on Friday. They became very excited!

After we left the Tatianas took us to a bookstore. We purchased children's books written in Ukrainian that teaches them English. We got several levels of books for them and will give them to them on Friday.

Here are two photos of where we are are staying:





All in all, a good, long and tiring day!

Day 5 - Meet the New Horbs

Terinopol Train Station

This morning we arrived in at the Terinopol train station at 7:15am. After sleeping – or at least trying to – since the train rocked all night – we pulled into the train station to sunny and blue skies. Our driver met us and we (Valery – our attorney, Karen – our facilitator, Maxim – her friend, and our driver, Oleh) walked around until we found some breakfast. It was a little difficult to find breakfast; it’s not common to go out for breakfast here. You can buy hats and purses at 7:30am, but there was no coffee to be found. Finally, at the Terinopol hotel, we found a breakfast buffet. After eating, we went to the apartment and got cleaned up. We then went to the Inspectors office, and he was not in. So, we went to a grassy area overlooking a lake. I took a much needed nap and Zenon went exploring. Pretty soon, Valery got the phone call that we could meet the Inspector. We went to a different office, and were able to meet with the lady directly under the Inspector, her name was Maria. She was very helpful, and immediately arranged for us to go to the orphanage and meet the children.

We drove about 15 minutes to a small private orphanage run by the Greek Catholic Church. We met the Director, Natalya, and soon the children. They hadn’t been told that we were coming, and were not aware of the situation. They showed us their rooms, where they ate, where they played, and were completely taken with our cameras. They began to take photos of us and each other. Soon the director first spoke with the oldest, Ruslan, and explained why we were there. He seemed cautious at first at which time we showed him the small photo albums that we brought of the house and our kids. Also at this time, the director took the younger two children aside and began to explain to them what was happening. We showed them the pictures also, and Alena wanted to know if she could play with the toys in the girl’s bedroom. Ruslan asked if he could run with Mazie. Yuri was all smiles with a lot of questions. We told them that we would come back tomorrow, and Alena told us that she is done with school at 1pm and told us to “please come quickly”.

Here are some photos:


Ruslan, Alena, Yuri


Zenon & Ruslan


Zenon & Yuri


Alena wanted a picture taken with her new house!


Alena & Yuri looking at a picture of Elyse, Alex, & Addie


By the way, it took me 20 minutes to upload these pictures! We were only able to use the dial-up at our "taxi" drivers apartment. Tomorrow we will need to find a Wi-Fi connection somewhere!

Day 4 - Zenon's Thoughts

We are resting and packing and anxiously awaiting our midnight run to Ternopil. As I ponder the new additions to our family, I can't help to think what if its true, and we are crazy? The problem is, that when I say that, there is a resounding "yes" heard across the globe(to those of you that know me). I have been reminded over the last few months at how weak my faith can be. But I have also been strengthened in my faith through the body of believers that so embraces us and encourages us.

As to our wonderful three at home: Elyse, Alex, and Addie. You need to know that we love you very much. As a matter of fact, because of your personal faiths in Christ we have been encouraged and know how awsome you will be with your new brothers and sister. We will hopefully be able to post pictures soon.

Day 4

The weather here has been great-- high 70s to low 80s without the humidity! We haven't had a need for long sleeves here. Today we slept in, and rested. We've been on the go since we left the house on Friday! We will pack up, and get on a midnight train tonight. I haven't traveled by a "sleeping train" before. I am getting ready to take a nap this afternoon, I don't know how much sleep I will get on the train tonight. Another new adventure for us!

THANK YOU--to all of our friends and family who continue to encourage us, while we are here in Ukraine. We have received such wonderful emails and text messages to our phone. It's been great to have the outpouring of love and prayers felt by us. We were even prayed for by a small chapel service here at CBN in Russian! It is amazing that Ukrainian people who we have met here are so incredibly supportive and encouraging to us. We have felt much kindness here.

NOTICE: We love all the blog comments--if you do not have a blogger address, can you please sign your comment before you publish it, we won't know who you are otherwise--THANKS. And, if you don't want to publish, you can email us. As I check our emails, I'm able to respond.

Day 3 SDA Appointment Day

Today was our appointment at the State Department of Adoption. What an adventurous day; our first appointment was for 9:00 AM, but didn't know it. No problem, after our facilitator spoke with the SDA, we got the appointment rescheduled for 12:00 PM. This became our second dilemma of the day; the great Zenon forgot the passports. The appointment was then again rescheduled for 4:00 PM. If anything went awry at this appointment, big problems, like no appointment at all.

After retrieving our passports and a light Italian lunch, we headed back to the SDA. We anxiously awaited for our appointment. The fear of the unknown is probably one of the hardest things to cope with. Our time finally arrived and we nervously went into the SDA's conference room to begin the process. (footnote: the ladies at the SDA were very gracious and helpful throughout our "double day"--Monique called it that because we traveled there twice)

Zenon & Monique in front of the SDA

They conducted a brief interview and then began showing us the children's "files". These consisted of a picture of the child and a summary of pertinent information in regards to each child or children. As we looked though the various files that were given to us, one of the SDA workers asked how many children we were officially approved to adopt. We kindly let them know that we had been praying about two children, but that we had applied for up to three children. In typical Ukrainian fashion, the ladies retorted "well look at this file, it has two beautiful boys and two beautiful girls. Never mind the quantity, we can get you approved for four."

Deep breath - at this point I began taking my queues from Monique. A quickly panicked face let me know to press on. We continued to seem to come back to one particular file. We were then shown a number of files with children that had various special and medical needs. The question kept going on in my mind - how will we know who the right children should be. My heart pains for the many siblings that we felt we had to pass on. Eventually, after continuing to come back to a particular file, we had made our decision.

We would like to announce the newest members of the Horb Family: Pyclan (Ruslan), Yupiu (Yuri), and Alina. We will be traveling to Ternopil(near Lviv). Ternopil can be found by looking directly west of Kiev and slightly south. We we be traveling train Tuesday evening. We will leave on a 11:56pm train, for a seven hour ride. These trains are called sleeping trains. It's interesting to me how travel is done here, since most people don't have cars--they uses public transportation. When we went to the train station tonight (at around 10:30) to get the tickets for tomorrows trip, the train station was bustling with lots and lots of people travel and getting tickets.

Once we arrive in Ternopil on Wednesday morning we will with Valery to the Inspectors office to get permission to go to the orphanage to meet the children and continue the paperwork process. Please continue to pray as we venture out to the beautiful Ukrainian western oblast of Ternopil.

Day 1 & 2

We arrived in Kiev around 3:00 local Kiev time. After two plane rides, we finally landed. We slept some on the first fight over the big pond, then we landed in London. We had a two hour layover, then had a three hour flight to Kiev. After we arrived, we had dinner, unpacked then crashed for about 10 hours to catch up on much needed sleep. (I had began my day on Friday at 4:45am, since I couldn't sleep and finished getting stuff done before we left.)

Zenon and Monique in front of Kiev Borispol Airport!

Today, we went to an English speaking church and had lunch downtown. We walked, walked, and walked all day today. We enjoyed the sight-seeing. We climbed 209 steps up the bell tower at St. Sophia's church. The views of the city from the top were great. The city seems to go on and on from every direction. We enjoyed some ice-cream at Freedom Square and did a little shopping at a shopping center.

In front of St. Sophia's Church

Monique and Karen in St. Sophia's bell tower

Tomorrow we will have our appointment at the State Department of Adoption, commonly known as the SDA. So, for now we are relaxing while watching a movie, eating yummy fresh strawberries, and having tea.

DEPARTURE

The day has finally arrived! We will be departing from O'hare this evening. It seems that as you wait and anticipate the day to come, time stands still. Once the day is upon you, then you say I haven't had enough time to prepare. We are grateful for all the support and prayers from our family and friends.

We will be updating the blog from Ukraine with words and pictures. I leave you with this

His Time--Our Time

It's Sunday evening, and I'm reflecting over the last couple of years, at how this journey has transpired. We didn't think that when we began this process three years ago, that it would take this long. I've been able to see, looking back at the past couple of years, that it was not His time to add to our family. I've been able to see more clearly God's hand in our lives. He has the big picture, and we are part of his amazing plan. He has found favor on us, and now His Time... is Our Time to Go.

A friend of mine gave these verse to me out of I Peter 5:6-7 "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your cares on him because he cares for you." My God has a mighty hand, and he can take on all my anxiety--he is Big Enough to take on all my fears this week and the weeks to come.

I know that he has called us to open our hearts to love children who so desperately need a family. My heart has been open, and broken as I pray for our children, as I know that it won't be easy, and as we prepare this last week for our Journey to Ukraine--Our Journey for Our Children. "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18. I think about how Our God will continue to go before us. He continues to reach his hand down, to ask me to follow him, to show me the way to go.

This journey to complete our family has not been easy, nor will living our lives ever be easy. I know that there is joy in the journey, and for that I will forever be grateful. I met with The Girls this last week, and they had a sweet time of prayer for me and our family. (A group of six of us has met together over the last several years and are affectionately called The Girls.) I am so thankful that I have friends who are supporting and encouraging us as we take this final step in our Ukraizy Adventure.

Prayer: Please pray as I get the kids organized for when we are gone.
For Elyse, Alex, and Addie--we've not been away from them this long before, that they won't be "homesick" for us.
For final packing preparations.
God's provision of our financial needs, that we will be anxious.

Thank You: To our friends who have so graciously provided suitcases, humanitarian aid (which we will want to bring more on the second trip!), meals, prayers, and encouragement.