We spent a night in Kyiv before flying to Brussels where we spent a night and then Steve left us to head home to Canada from there. The boys and I spent the afternoon in Brussels before flying to Spain, picking up our rental car and driving to Mijas. I was so thankful when we got there that another girl had already arrived for the reunion and we didn't have to spend the first night there alone.
The reunion itself was very small - out of something like 350 graduates there were 12 of us including my boys. We all stayed together in one of the G42 houses and spent all of our time together which made it a really cool, close-knit time. We had some scheduled meeting times together where we were able to hear about what everyone has been up to since their time at G42 as well as encourage one another and spend time with God.
The last evening dessert time together I shared what we are doing in Ukraine and how God has been moving and showing us more of Himself. At the end everyone gathered around me and prayed for me. I have been prayed for countless times for healing and this time was no exception. I was having quite a horrible pain day with a terrible knot in my back and as we prayed the knot went away completely. I was in the center of a circle of people and I felt something touching my foot. I opened my eyes and there was Dez - laying on the ground under everyone's feet reaching from outside the circle to touch my foot with a pool noodle gun, with August lying on top of him, just so they could reach me. Of course we all started laughing and everyone moved aside so that the boys could join me in the middle of the circle. Dez was really excited after I was prayed for and his faith for my healing was so beautiful to see. Since then I have felt really good and even the situations that would have caused me horrible pain in the past (like a REALLY bumpy 7 hour car ride from Kyiv to Zap on the way home) haven't bothered me at all. Praise the Lord!
Reunion group:
Steve's time in Canada was good despite the heartbreaking circumstances. He spent most of his time with his family and was happy that he was able to be there together with them.
The Harder family:
Reunion group:
Steve's time in Canada was good despite the heartbreaking circumstances. He spent most of his time with his family and was happy that he was able to be there together with them.
The Harder family:
Steve scheduled his flight back so that we would meet in Frankfurt and fly to Kyiv together from there. He had missed two out of four of his flights from our original trip but I asked airline agents before each flight he missed to make sure they weren't cancelling him for good and both times they assured me that everything was fine. We arrived at Frankfurt airport EARLY (which never happens for us) and found out that his ticket had been cancelled after all! We spent 40 minutes waiting in the re-ticketing area to talk to an agent and in the end she was able to just re-book the exact ticket with no charge to us, thank the Lord! From there we had to make it through security and customs in one hour....which anywhere else wouldn't be a problem but Frankfurt airport is INSANE. We chose the family line for security and without even saying anything an employee ushered us from there into the priority security lane! We rushed from there to customs and the lines were absolutely ridiculous and of course they had only two customs agents working because this is an airport - nobody is in a rush?!?! Ha ha. August and I headed to the back of the line while Steve sidled up to a kind-looking stranger, ha ha. He didn't even have to ask and the guy said: "sure, go ahead!" Steve made sure he knew that we are a family, not just a single traveler and the guy had no problem. We made it to our gate right before boarding started, thank God!
We weren't able to find train tickets from Kyiv to Zap so Garry and Teresa were willing to come pick us up. The highways are atrocious but thankfully we only got one flat tire on the way home.
The whole trip was somewhat surreal and not at all what we had mentally prepared for. But God is good always and we trust Him completely.
Our family in Brussels (eating Belgian waffles) the night before Steve left for Canada:
The whole trip was somewhat surreal and not at all what we had mentally prepared for. But God is good always and we trust Him completely.
Our family in Brussels (eating Belgian waffles) the night before Steve left for Canada:
