Blog readers (both of you!):

I wrote a blog a couple of days ago but Blogger ate it. I’m behind a week so here goes. Lena had the flu but we ended up staying in Nashville till Monday. We came back to Athens Monday night. While in Nashville, we were involved in all sorts of things. We actually went to the movies—twice—and spent a lot of time emailing and even calling Kyiv on several occasions. We were at Lipscomb some and enjoyed being at Otter Creek church. And of course, I was at the bank. We are still waiting for some bank stuff to get finished. Saturday we decided not to think about work (which for us means trying not to think about church or missions which is a difficult task). We went to Percy Priest Lake and enjoyed a walk there. Then, we went to the crazy Opryland Hotel. What an odd place. Of course, now you have to pay $10 to park. I remember the glory days when you just drove up and went in. I guess they didn’t like all the poor college students enjoying a cheap date. But we decided to pay and enjoyed walking around. Even the dancing fountains were cool. As we left, I handed the parking attendant a $10 bill. She informed me I owed $10.93. So now they charge tax. Nice.

We were in Knoxville tonight for a meeting with three very generous, wise people. They encouraged us so much and gave some great advice. They also paid for supper!! We head back to Nashville on Wednesday for another meeting. And then need to be in Knoxville again on Friday for the meeting that was supposed to be tonight but had to be moved to Friday. We are going to Dallas on Wednesday for a meeting but I think we are just going there and back. Some people interested in Ukraine are meeting together and it turns out Dallas is the spot.

My head is spinning from all this going back and forth and the pace of life in America. It’s so different than in Kyiv.