I left Sumy last Monday night. I took the overnight train to Kiev, went to the US Embassy on Tuesday morning and flew home on Wednesday. Yes, I was home for Christmas. Our biological children were in Arkansas (at my parents house) for Christmas so I went to my in-laws for Christmas. I am glad we sent the kids to Arkansas. They were surrounded by my family and had a great time. They came home on Friday.
Sasha and Tania are doing great. They have both been to see our apartment in Sumy and think it would be great to live there. I can't wait for them to get to the U.S. We aren't sure when David will be able to get home with the kids. We were hoping there might have been a slim chance they could come home on January 1 but we have since learned the US Embassy is only open for twp hours on December 31. We know for sure that the Embassy is closed on the 1st and 2nd. We are afraid it will be closed through the 7th since the Ukraine government has declared the 1st through the 7th has a national holiday. So it might be a while before they are home.
On Christmas day David returned the kids to the orphanage by himself. He barely missed the bus stop at the orphanage because they installed street lights and it looked different. So when he went home the kids were worried that he wouldn't know where to get off the bus. They had to walk him to the bus stop and through many hand signals he was able to convince the kids he would be fine.
Tania has been getting ready to leave her friends. David, Tania and Marina went shopping for gifts the other day. She had a list of people she wanted to give gifts. David was happy to oblige.
We asked the missionaries. There are no missionaries in Kremenchuck. All three missions are getting smaller. They are trying to make the members run the branches so they don't need as many missionaries. Plus they are having a harder time with the visas. They used to last for two years and now they last for a year. So after a year the missionaries have to leave the country for a while and get a new visa.
1 comment:
Thank you for asking about the missionaries, we had heard conflicting stories. Good to know. Thanks for posting all the pictures, our kids love seeing what the Ukraine looks like. I can't believe how long you have been over there, I hope you will all be home sooner than later! Thanks again.
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