One More Step Closer

This last week has been crazy, busy and unbelievable! 

On the 21st Steve and I celebrated eight years of marriage! 

I can't believe it's been that long but at the same time I can't really remember life before Steve! I think that if, eight years ago, I could've looked ahead to where my life is now I probably would've fallen over in disbelief!

We said good-bye to our home last week:

 It was hard for me but I think it was mainly because the boys were away for a few days with their grandparents and moving without them, not knowing how Dezmond would react to a new home and not being connected as a family during a transition like this made me really nervous. I know I shouldn't have worried because Dez was super excited about our new home and as soon as they were back home he settled right back into life as if nothing had changed at all! What a little trooper. Every time we go out somewhere he always has to ask to make sure we're still going back to our new home. 

Checking out our balcony: 

We sent our visa applications to Ottawa at the end of July and we still haven't gotten them back yet. Steve has talked to the people there a few times and they're always very friendly and know exactly who he is when he calls (because they've seen our applications and really, how many other Canadians are applying for long term Ukrainian visas right now? Probably none). Unfortunately we paid extra to have them done quickly but that went out the window - the guy who processes them was on holidays and even though that guy is back now for some reason they still can't process them until September 15th so the holiday we wanted to take last week didn't happen. So much for paying extra! Oh well, at least we know where they are and we aren't just sitting here wondering, and moving was postponed as well so we wouldn't have been able to go anyways.  

We also shipped a box last week! The guy at the shipping company was super friendly and it turns out that he knows Pastor Sasha whose church we worked at the first time we were in Ukraine. He said it usually takes 6-8 weeks so I'm not sure if we'll wait until our tester box gets there or if we'll just send a few more right away to get them out there. 

Thanks for praying for us and continuing to be a part of our journey!

August Update

We're out of our house in 21 days! 

Sooner actually because Steve and I are hoping to take a little holiday for our anniversary on August 21st. 

We have been very busy getting stuff in order - getting rid of things, starting to pack, we sent off our Ukrainian visa applications, apartment hunting, calling shipping companies etc. 

Getting rid of things: 

We still have lots of stuff left so please take a look at our virtual garage sale and come pick up anything you want ASAP. I can't pack yet because the things that need to be packed are the basics that we use every day and everything else I don't want to pack - I want it gone!

Visa applications: 

The embassy website said that these take 15-30 days to process. Please pray that I filled out all the paperwork correctly and that there are no hiccups!

Apartment hunting:

We found an apartment that is the perfect location, price and dates for the lease so hopefully we get it

Shipping Company:

In anticipation of not being able to ship anything due to the outrageous quotes I've been getting from different  shipping companies, I spent all week making piles of clothes for the boys - weeding out a t-shirt here and a pair of pants there to hopefully save that tiny little extra bit of space! Finally today I called a shipping company that ships specifically to Eastern European countries and the rates were so reasonable! I was shocked actually! The logistics of just traveling with a family of four  - two adults plus two children plus four carry-ons plus four pieces of allowed luggage without bringing extras is crazy as it is - just imagine hauling a few extra suitcases on top of that! So for slightly more than paying to fly extra bags with us, we can have those extra suitcases delivered right to our door in Ukraine! What a relief when moving a family across the world!!

So that's the update on the progress as of right now. Still lots to do and lots to pray about!

Thanks for praying with us!