Zaporozhye!

Andre, his family and us before we left Kiev:

How do two people get four 50 pound suitcases, four carry-on bags, two babies and one stroller onto a train? By the grace of God and with the help of one awesome friend! We thought we were giving ourselves ample time to get onto the train when we were leaving Kiev but with all the above-mentioned luggage we had to move it in several stages and therefore barely made it onto the train! And of course we couldn't be in car one or two but waaaay down near the back of the train in car 18! A lot of huffing, puffing and praising God happened as soon as that train got going with us on it!

  We made to Zaporozhye!! John Wiens met us at the train station and we had breakfast with him and Ev before meeting our friend Marina to get us to our apartment. It is a block from McDonald's (or as Andre called it, the American Embassy) and very close to many amenities. It is only temporary however as our needs require a slightly larger space (it's a one bedroom) and this apartment isn't really a rent-out place, it was just made available to us because it belongs to Marina's step-father. We're hoping to still be close by because we really like this area and we are waiting to hear from a friend who knows a real estate agent to find us a place. We have no idea what the process for that is - if we will be in a place by next week or if it will be next month.

The boys checking out our place:

  We've spent the last few days temporarily settling and getting reacquainted with some friends. The weather has been nice enough (cloudy and 0-5 degrees Celsius) for us to do some wandering as well – to the market and along Lenin Prospect (the main street through the city). As we are not permanently housed yet, our only access to internet has been to go to McDonald's or a cafe close by called Coffee Life to use their WiFi so we usually do that once a day. McDonald's is usually incredibly busy and you can't always find a place to sit whereas Coffee Life is quite smoky so it's only tolerable for short periods.

Getting some coffee at the park near our old apartment:

 The park near our old apartment: