Today was amazing.

It’s true.  Today was great as far as days go.  We got up this morning and decided Amberly was not experiencing jet lag and we would head to the First Church of the Nazarene where we often go on Sunday afternoons.  On the marshootka ride we received a text message from Dennis who had apparently arrived back in Kiev today which was two glorious days earlier than we expected.  We met Katya at the metro stop and it was great to see her.  We were also surprised to run into several of our kids from New Life who we talked to for a few min.s before walking the rest of the way to church.   Once at church, we saw Romchik for the first time since I’ve been home and that was amazing.  He is still very sad not to have Arielle here anymore, but was very shocked by the brush sticks that Calyn and I gave him from America.  I was glad to be able to make him smile :o)  It was really cool to sing Christmas songs in Russian!  We also saw Sarah who is Amberly’s classmate and it was fun to talk to her a little.  Nikita joined Amberly, Katya and I for dinner at the Potato House after church (A and I had never eaten there before).  He also went with us to look at the Christmas trees that are all over the city that we wanted to be sure Amberly got to see before they got taken down. I will post some pics from that soon.  After dinner I had received an SMS from Daniel that simply said “jackpot,” which I knew meant that he had succeeded in his quest to find Dr. Pepper in Ukraine and is now my HERO as he brought me one and told me that he will show me how to get to the store he found them in.  YESSSSS.  After hanging out with Vitalik’s mom for a little while A and I rushed up the stairs of the Radooga office to find our long lost friend Dennis who was in his office.  Fun times.  Dennis came back over to our house and we had a wonderful time drinking coffee and eating our favorite pastires which Dennis had somehow been smart enough to buy before going to the office where we found him.  It was great to catch up with him and we are all glad to be back in Kiev together.  Today was pretty much the best ever and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.  I am so excited to be back and so excited to see what God has in store.  Amberly and I were talking on the marshootka ride home about how much of a paradox Ukraine is because as I looked into the eyes of the drunk men who were standing next to us we felt hopelessness and loneliness that so many people feel here in Kiev and yet the AMAZING hope that I see for this nation in the eyes of the people that Amberly and I spend so much time in prayer for.  I really believe that I am here to encourage and support and especially PRAY for the Ukrainians who are changing their nation.