I'll Be Home for Christmas
Since I last blogged (over a month ago), much has transpired. Thanks to jonmower for cajoling me into another post.
We finished up life in Kyiv and left Ukraine just as the UEC was closing. Each year finds us writing financial documents and creating budgets. It's been tricky this year since prices are escalating quicker than we hit the buttons on the calculator (or slide the abacus as is still done in some places in Ukraine). Utility prices did go up 330% as of Dec. 1. The Christian Chronicle featured the UEC in the January edition.
When we arrived in the US, we dropped into the maddening Christmas season, slightly more maddened by the fact that my brother and nephew are living with my parents. The house was overflowing and continues to overflow. We were Christmas shopping and buying underwear since some of the luggage was delayed in arriving. And, as usual, both Lena and I are faced with terrible allergy problems when we come to the US. Acclimation takes about 2 weeks or longer. Repeatedly I was awoken in the middle of the night, gagging and coughing and hacking. Anyone who has been to Cherkassy Conference knows what I am talking about. I am still struggling with the allergies and finally have succumbed to a cold.
Christmas Eve we rushed to the emergency room after a call from the nursing home. An aunt was apparently dying. Fortunately, they saved her life and she was just fine as we visited her on Christmas Day. The traditional Christmas meal was had at my aunt's home that neighbors my parents. Cousins were here from New Mexico so we had a houseful. Just after Christmas we made it to Murphy, North Carolina. Our friends Kenneth and Victoria Kirby were visiting his parents and since it's just an hour or so through the Ocoee River and over the ridge, we had a day trip to Murphy. We enjoyed their hospitality and seeing their two girls. Though Grace is over 3, we had never seen her. Amelia was a delight too. The next day we visited Loren and Carrie Wisehart who are expecting their third any day now. We went to church with them and then headed to Nashville for the annual Acklen Avenue New Year party where we enjoyed fellowship with our supporting church. Sarah and Marcus Cathey surprised us with their presence and a bottle of authentic Key Lime juice. Long story. Two days of rest with the Prills followed and we enjoyed getting to know Paul's mother. While in Nashville, we visited Jonathan Shaub and learned the details of his engagement and obsession with the tv series 24 and his plans for law school. Lunch at St. Thomas Hospital with Scott Owings who is in the chaplaincy program there and later supper with his wife Lisa. They are former eastern Europe missionaries and had some great insights to share. I was also blessed to speak at the Otter Creek Wednesday night service and see many old friends there. Another day we enjoyed lunch with Steve Sherman and Greg Perry of the Otter Creek missions committee. Another helpful and encouraging meal. We were at Otter Creek that Sunday and enjoyed lunch with the Smiths and Collins, again very helpful conversations. The Prills were, as always, gracious hosts and they treated us to an incredible Italian place somewhere on West End. Incredible. So we have been busy.
We then came back to my parents' and car trouble ensued. The back window wouldn't roll up and something was wrong with the engine. Finally, after several days of being wheel-less, the car was repaired thanks to my parents' generosity, and we headed to Knoxville for a visit with our friends Mike and Regina Buckley. Mike is a minister with the Laurel church and mission committee coordinator. We had two meals with Mike and enjoyed eating with the Keims after church on Sunday.
In the midst of all this travelling and talking and eating, Lena has been shopping--buying needed items for her family and picking up bargains for others in Kyiv. The 3 bags that are packed by now don't have anything for us in them. It's good that she is so dedicated to hunting bargains and has a generous heart to her family and several people in need in Ukraine.
We have also been to the chiropractor several times. Though not as helpful as we had hoped, it's done some good. I have also been to our family physician a couple of times. In early December I began to feel something just wasn't right with my health. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I feared something was wrong. I had symptoms for diabetes or anemia and since our departure was close at hand, I decided to get checked out in the US. the doctor ordered about 45 different blood tests, hoping to find the culprit. After I recovered from the shock of the costs of blood tests in America, I was resigned to accept my medical fate. This Tuesday I went back for him to read the tests and for an EKG, and surprisingly everything is fine. He thinks I have stress-induced fatigue. In the last month or so, I have experienced periods of weakness, slight dizziness, and general disorientation. He thinks that stress has caused my body to stop using energy effectively and ordered a litany of herbal supplements and vitamins to try to jump start me. I am very thankful it's not chronic. I was certain I had some form of insulin resistance. My dad is diabetic as are many aunts. It was a wake up call and now I see I need to take better care of myself. And hopefully, with this "second chance," I will do so. Please pray that this fatigue will go away.
Lena has started her 8th MBA course, 4 more after that. It complicates things a bit; it's hard for her to study at times since there are so many distractions in our house and we are going to be hitting the road again soon, once I get over the cold. We have an Otter Creek mission committee Saturday night. Saturday morning is the UEC board meeting. And then off to places far and wide before we return to Kyiv on Jan. 30.
To our supporters who may be reading this, please look in your mail in the next 10 days for an important letter from us.
And finally, thanks to the Shaub family letting us bum their DVDs, we are caught up on LOST season 2 and we managed to watch the season 3 episodes on-line. I guess I have grown a bit tired of it, to tell the truth. I will say, though, that there is practically nothing on the 80 or so channels my parents get. Hard to believe but MASH is about the only thing that interests Lena and me.
Till next time--and I will try to do better in posting. Probably later this year I will be burying this blog. More later.
We finished up life in Kyiv and left Ukraine just as the UEC was closing. Each year finds us writing financial documents and creating budgets. It's been tricky this year since prices are escalating quicker than we hit the buttons on the calculator (or slide the abacus as is still done in some places in Ukraine). Utility prices did go up 330% as of Dec. 1. The Christian Chronicle featured the UEC in the January edition.
When we arrived in the US, we dropped into the maddening Christmas season, slightly more maddened by the fact that my brother and nephew are living with my parents. The house was overflowing and continues to overflow. We were Christmas shopping and buying underwear since some of the luggage was delayed in arriving. And, as usual, both Lena and I are faced with terrible allergy problems when we come to the US. Acclimation takes about 2 weeks or longer. Repeatedly I was awoken in the middle of the night, gagging and coughing and hacking. Anyone who has been to Cherkassy Conference knows what I am talking about. I am still struggling with the allergies and finally have succumbed to a cold.
Christmas Eve we rushed to the emergency room after a call from the nursing home. An aunt was apparently dying. Fortunately, they saved her life and she was just fine as we visited her on Christmas Day. The traditional Christmas meal was had at my aunt's home that neighbors my parents. Cousins were here from New Mexico so we had a houseful. Just after Christmas we made it to Murphy, North Carolina. Our friends Kenneth and Victoria Kirby were visiting his parents and since it's just an hour or so through the Ocoee River and over the ridge, we had a day trip to Murphy. We enjoyed their hospitality and seeing their two girls. Though Grace is over 3, we had never seen her. Amelia was a delight too. The next day we visited Loren and Carrie Wisehart who are expecting their third any day now. We went to church with them and then headed to Nashville for the annual Acklen Avenue New Year party where we enjoyed fellowship with our supporting church. Sarah and Marcus Cathey surprised us with their presence and a bottle of authentic Key Lime juice. Long story. Two days of rest with the Prills followed and we enjoyed getting to know Paul's mother. While in Nashville, we visited Jonathan Shaub and learned the details of his engagement and obsession with the tv series 24 and his plans for law school. Lunch at St. Thomas Hospital with Scott Owings who is in the chaplaincy program there and later supper with his wife Lisa. They are former eastern Europe missionaries and had some great insights to share. I was also blessed to speak at the Otter Creek Wednesday night service and see many old friends there. Another day we enjoyed lunch with Steve Sherman and Greg Perry of the Otter Creek missions committee. Another helpful and encouraging meal. We were at Otter Creek that Sunday and enjoyed lunch with the Smiths and Collins, again very helpful conversations. The Prills were, as always, gracious hosts and they treated us to an incredible Italian place somewhere on West End. Incredible. So we have been busy.
We then came back to my parents' and car trouble ensued. The back window wouldn't roll up and something was wrong with the engine. Finally, after several days of being wheel-less, the car was repaired thanks to my parents' generosity, and we headed to Knoxville for a visit with our friends Mike and Regina Buckley. Mike is a minister with the Laurel church and mission committee coordinator. We had two meals with Mike and enjoyed eating with the Keims after church on Sunday.
In the midst of all this travelling and talking and eating, Lena has been shopping--buying needed items for her family and picking up bargains for others in Kyiv. The 3 bags that are packed by now don't have anything for us in them. It's good that she is so dedicated to hunting bargains and has a generous heart to her family and several people in need in Ukraine.
We have also been to the chiropractor several times. Though not as helpful as we had hoped, it's done some good. I have also been to our family physician a couple of times. In early December I began to feel something just wasn't right with my health. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I feared something was wrong. I had symptoms for diabetes or anemia and since our departure was close at hand, I decided to get checked out in the US. the doctor ordered about 45 different blood tests, hoping to find the culprit. After I recovered from the shock of the costs of blood tests in America, I was resigned to accept my medical fate. This Tuesday I went back for him to read the tests and for an EKG, and surprisingly everything is fine. He thinks I have stress-induced fatigue. In the last month or so, I have experienced periods of weakness, slight dizziness, and general disorientation. He thinks that stress has caused my body to stop using energy effectively and ordered a litany of herbal supplements and vitamins to try to jump start me. I am very thankful it's not chronic. I was certain I had some form of insulin resistance. My dad is diabetic as are many aunts. It was a wake up call and now I see I need to take better care of myself. And hopefully, with this "second chance," I will do so. Please pray that this fatigue will go away.
Lena has started her 8th MBA course, 4 more after that. It complicates things a bit; it's hard for her to study at times since there are so many distractions in our house and we are going to be hitting the road again soon, once I get over the cold. We have an Otter Creek mission committee Saturday night. Saturday morning is the UEC board meeting. And then off to places far and wide before we return to Kyiv on Jan. 30.
To our supporters who may be reading this, please look in your mail in the next 10 days for an important letter from us.
And finally, thanks to the Shaub family letting us bum their DVDs, we are caught up on LOST season 2 and we managed to watch the season 3 episodes on-line. I guess I have grown a bit tired of it, to tell the truth. I will say, though, that there is practically nothing on the 80 or so channels my parents get. Hard to believe but MASH is about the only thing that interests Lena and me.
Till next time--and I will try to do better in posting. Probably later this year I will be burying this blog. More later.
posted by Kyivmission at 1:52 AM
1 Comments:
thanks for these news! good to know that overall you are enjoying yourselves. may God give you strength and good health! and extra patience to Lena with her studies!
best,
tanya l
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