Day 23 - Lost? I'm Not Lost! :-)

Hello to everyone from Kiev, Ukraine.  It's about 3:40 a.m. here.  We went to sleep about 9:45 p.m. but I woke up about 30 minutes ago and can't seem to go back to sleep so I thought I would blog a bit for today.  Thanks to everyone who continues to follow our blog, to encourage us and to pray for us.  We know that many of our family and friends need prayer in their own lives and we do our best to try and send some towards home.  I am thankful that God knows His children, that He hears our prayers and that He answers each one perfectly.

We have gotten into a terrible routine of going to bed later than we should and waking up later than we should.  At home, Angelia and I would both typically be awake by 6:00 a.m. on work days.  On Saturdays and Sundays, the fisherman syndrome that I suffer from would cause me to wake up at daybreak.  For the last week or so, we have been getting up past 10:30 a.m.  I think this is because there is nothing really to do accept sit around and wait.  We try, but it's hard to do something when we don't know what's out there to do and we can't speak the language to get a cab to take us there.  The monotony of this apartment coupled with nothing different to do and no easy way to do something new is becoming very difficult on me.  It's also hard on me mentally to know that nothing will really change for another 12 days or so when we start working towards getting new documents that will allow us to come home.  The kids are great kids and Angelia is a wonderful wife.  I thank the Lord for all of them.  It would be extremely difficult to endure all of this without the love that binds us together.

We tried to break our routine today.  We woke up before 10:00 a.m. and got breakfast consisting of grilled cheese sandwiches and nectarines out of the way.  We decided to walk to the park and just hang outside for a couple of hours.  This didn't work out too well.  The park is right next to the Ukraine Parliament building (think something like Congress in America) and there was a big rally of some sort going on and there were tons and tons of people in the park with police everywhere.  We walked to one intersection being blocked by police.  You would think that wall of police officers lined across a street and two out front directing people and traffic away from the street behind them would be a pretty obvious indication that you can't walk down that street.  I was oblivious to this as I tried to walk my family between two of the police.  They were kind enough to start speaking to me in a language I don't understand so I replied by kindly reaching over to my soon to be 14 year old daughter Vicka and sliding her between me and the police officer so she could translate for me.  This would have been a fantastic idea if Vicka actually spoke English.  Thankfully, I am getting better at interpreting hand signals so I quickly discerned that the police officer was directing us to the next street down where we could turn left, walk about a block and enter the park.  Vicka is such a sweet spirited child and I am thankful that she helps her poor, ignorant soon to be parents navigate our way around.  I am very proud of her!  Now that we were back on track, we... no...not we, but I, decided to keep everyone walking.  After all, we... no... not we, but I, needed an adventure!  This friendly stroll around the neighborhood turned into 2 hour marathon walk because - you guessed it - we got lost.  I'm sure the street signs would have helped but I can't read them and I didn't have a map. I'm sure asking someone for directions would have helped, but I don't speak the language. All I have is an apartment key with the letters 28 / 29 scribbled on the tag.  It's bad enough when that little voice inside is saying to you "man, I have no idea where we are" but when you add this to seeing your soon to be 10 year old son who never runs out of energy begin looking for a place to sit down (indicating fatigue) then you kind of get the feeling that you're living in a pressure cooker.  We just sat down by a building for about 10 minuest to rest and discuss a strategy.  I know the kids didn't understand the discussion between Angelia and I completely but I'm sure after their hearing the words "I don't know where we are" coupled with my looking around and around in the sky at buildings for something familiar probably gave Vicka all the info she needed to discern we were lost.  Turning to walk back the way we came was too much of an insult for me to bear.  Not to give up (or admit fault), I kept us walking and eventually we got back to the intersection where the police interaction I described above occurred.  Praise the Lord for getting us back to this spot!  If you didn't know, God has a sense of humor and I'm sure he couldn't hold back a chuckle or two as our experiences unfolded today.  I am thankful that he guided us home (as he does so many times).

Once we reached the inside of the apartment, we planted ourselves on the furniture in the apartment for a while and tried to watch some TV with the kids.  We then headed out to eat dinner earlier than usual so that we could continue trying to get back into a better sleeping / wake up routine.  It's sad to say that we chose to eat at McDonald's again today.  The restaurant situation is difficult.  The pizza place we like the best has a no smoking section the size of the bath tub that I have to pry myself out of each day so there are never any seats available (the smoking section is like walking into a room filled with cigarrette smoke in paste form).  Angelia doesn't like the other pizza place we visited so that's out.  Most of our sit-down meals out occur at "Puzhata Hata" buffet place (which the kids love) and McDonald's (which the kids love).  McDonald's is usually difficult too because the free wi-fi means no seats are ever available (but today we did manage to get one).  Despite what occurred at the festival (on day 7), Angelia and I are not adventuresome eaters so we don't really go somewhere and eat if we don't know what they serve.  Our limited menu in the apartment gets kind of old for everyone too - we haven't had hot dogs in several days because you can't find bread that is suitable for buns.  Spaghetti, grilled cheese and fried potatoes will only get you so far I guess.

All of this to say, it's not easy being here for so long but I am thankful that we are where we are.  Living in the village region would have been much, much more difficult and I am thankful that we have been able to remain in Kiev the entire time.  Actually, I pray that we are able to continue doing so until we leave for home.

I had another chance to further develop my skills in becoming a master of loving child discipline today.  Who knew that playing a game of Uno could spark such rage between children - LOL!!!.  So far, making Tolya sit in a chair in a room all by himself in 15 minute intervals until he apologizes to his sister is working pretty well.  I mean, when you ask him to apologize to his sister, you would think he is superman and she's wearing a kryptonite necklace!  :-)  Things worked out pretty well and I made sure to give little man some hugs after he finished the chair and apology discipline episode.  I sure love this little guy and his big sister!

I finished up the day reading the bible with my daughter.  The church we visited about a week ago had some new testament bibles in Russian so tonight I was able to read a chapter in my bible and then asked Vicka to read the same chapter in hers.  That provided my scripture reading and lesson today.  We read Matthew but I especially went back and asked her to re-read verses 5:3-11.  I emphasized  verses 7, 8 and 9 which tell us "Blessed are the merciful, for they should receive mercy.", "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God", and "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God".  I find that fitting instruction to reflect on after an argument with your brother.  :-)

Goodnight everyone.  Thanks for all you have done to encourage us as we continue following God's will for our lives.  We love and miss you all!