"Cheers," Randomness, and the Gameplan

Okay, I know that two weeks have passed since I've been here, but it is so eerily the same, except that it's so different. My honey, the love of my life, is not here.



Coming into the cafe at OES is sort of a "Cheers" moment, in a bizarre Russian kind of a way. In the Kiev Airport, there was a noticeable presence of face masks, and like a good girl, I wore mine. I'm guessing that a package of these...



along with hand sanitizer, might be about as valuable as a fax machine, if necessary ...

So, here's the gameplan:

Tomorrow morning at 8:45 Alyona and Slavik pick me up and we do lots of paperwork for Katya's property issues, identification number, and passport. At some point we'll pick her up and she'll be with me from that point forward! It's kind of an odd "Gotcha Day" because I don't pick her up from the internot, but it probably works in my benefit because I have enough birthdays to keep up with anyway that to have a full-blow "Gotcha Day" might just put me over the edge. Regardless, tomorrow is the day that I pick up Katya from Tamara's. Katya will see Tamara throughout the week at various times and I'm looking forward to honoring Tamara and seeing the blessing it is for her to move into her rightful place as Babushka, rather than Mama.



Then, for the rest of the week, we're doing anything that's necessary with the goal being FRIDAY for all Odessa paperwork. Then, Katya and I will stay in Odessa until Sunday, because it is a "Cheers" kind of a place, and then head to Kiev. Bright and early on Monday morning, we'll hit the U.S. Embassy with Dima and do all the necessary stuff that the U.S. requires, with the goal to be done by Wednesday morning. If all comes together, Kateryna Joy and I will be on our way to Frankfurt and then Dulles on Wednesday, November 18th.




For those who have asked ... we'd love to have you meet us at Dulles on Wednesday evening. Just email Bill for details.

So, stay tuned, stay in prayer, and give me some slack with this post as I am operating on SO little sleep.