I'm exhausted. Sunday was wonderful, sad, tear-filled, a joy. Incredibly difficult to express in words. It was genuinely beautiful. Thank you to our dear friends who made the last Sunday so memorable. I wanted to say something several times but my emotions would not let me. I knew I would lose control if I tried to say anything so I was mostly a silent observer. But thank you, thank you, thank you. It was truly a joy.

It's an emotional time now for many of us. It's not just "moving from one place to the other." There's something terribly more intense about all this. Part of it is being physically exhausted. We are now at the UEC. Our apartment is still crying out for us to pack and clean up before we turn over the keys. Lena has done a lot there. I have been cooking like crazy. And shopping. Today was Polina's birthday, and we had 10 people to the UEC for a birthday dinner. I went to one of the big open-air markets and enjoyed that so much. I also spent about an hour looking for a birthday present for Polina. Finally, I found some big crayons. She is a bit too young for them but will soon grow into them.

Besides cooking and avoiding cleaning, we are working on final issues for the UEC and preparing some promotional materials for the UEC fundraiser on July 31 in Nashville. We are also looking for an apartment in Abilene, too, thanks to Judy's help. That's emotional too. Trying to decide how much to spend, about moving into a dump, and about how far we can be from the university.

In my tiredness, my Russian seems to have slipped out of my brain. My tongue is just not cooperating with my brain at all. I am reduced to just using words. I am even forgetting how to conjugate verbs. What is wrong with me?????? I hope this is not a sign of what is to come.

Tomorrow is a general meeting of the church's small groups. I am not cooking for that. Well, maybe some zucchini bread.........