My Weekend In Kiev

Many of you know about the craziness with my debit card and trying to get that situation fixed. THANK YOU for your prayers on my behalf. It looks like that adventure is coming to a close. Insurance covered my losses. I need to drop a few more documents off at the police department here in Poltava and figure out how to get my new debit card across the ocean. But, the drama is basically over :o)

In the middle of afore mentioned crisis my mom sent me an e-mail reminding me to praise God. I am blessed to have a mom who “gets it.” I know she was over there in Tallahassee freaking out about the whole situation and wishing she could help me (even though she was helping me more than she will ever know). But somewhere in the middle of her struggle, when maybe she wasn’t sure herself about how to respond, she knew to remind me to praise him.

And though my weekend was still stressful, I was able to look past the craziness of it and say “ok, so I have to go to Kiev this weekend. Let’s make the most of our time there.” And that was good.

How I deal with stressful situations: take a deep breath and plow forward, taking care of everything I can take care of and trying not to think about the things I have no control over until eventually it’s all too much and I can’t take it anymore…then I call a friend and either cry or yell for a duration of time that those who have been subject to said phone calls have taken to calling “two minutes.” The “too much” this time around was when the embassy accidentally stuck my passport in with someone else’s docs and spent 30 mins trying to find it and asking me if I was sure they hadn’t handed it back to me. The recipient of the “two minute” phone call was Oleg Magdych who heroically came and picked me up, helped me finish what I needed to do and took me home to rest and spend time with his family—always a pick me up ;o)

Emily and the Beckets graciously hosted me while I was in Kiev and we, as always, had good conversations about life and what God is doing.

Also saw Michelle, whom I had only seen once since I got back from the states in June. She and I understand each other ministry wise in a lot of ways, so I always enjoy time with her.

Sunday Bob and JoAnn were back so I got to see them. And then headed to meet Pasha, and, in effect, some of the New Life kids. It was a crazy afternoon which ended in my epic failing at CounterStrike. But it was totally worth it.

Monday, I returned to Poltava. And that is another post for another day…with pictures to come :o)