July 25, 2005

Hello Mom

How are you today?

Alan and Emily left yesterday for an outreach to Odessa.

They have a cell phone and so do I so we are able to keep in touch with a phone call or text messaging. Which turns out to be a good thing because when I got back to the apartment the home phone doesn’t get a dial tone so I am unable to call out or get on the internet. This has happened before but it has been a whole day! I hope the problem gets fixed soon.

Since Alan is staying in a different home than Emily it would be nice to have a third cell phone because Paul Logan called me last night and wanted to speak with him and couldn’t because Emily had the other cell phone. Oh well! I hope it wasn’t an urgent thing.

I will go to the office to help Paul as needed in preparation for another team coming for outreach in September. The team that is here now is from New York and they have been here before and are visiting villages that they have been to before. I anticipate Alan and Emily’s return to be on the 6th of August. It will be a busy two weeks for them and I plan on enjoying the time I have as well. I won’t always be the one to stay home when there is opportunity to go on outreaches.

I am sorry that I forgot to mention it was Emily’s 19th birthday. She was most surprised when I told her you were disappointed that I hadn’t told you so you could have sent a card. Her comment was that you don’t even know her. I told her that you care because I do and that was enough! We had friends over for pizza to celebrate because that was what she wanted. That was a good thing so I didn’t have to cook. I ate a cup-o-noodle soup for supper last night. “No fuss, no muss” is my motto. Today I went to the vendors on the street to buy potatoes and carrots for dinner but now I wish I had purchased veggies for a salad as well. I don’t plan on going out now to get some because it looks like it might rain again. Emily’s girlfriend, Jill is coming over tonight for dinner and to hang out. She arrived to Kyiv the same day as we did but is planning on returning home to Oklahoma on Sunday. She came to work in an orphanage while she was on summer break from college. She has enjoyed her stay here and wants to return to Kyiv someday. We have her email addy and cell phone number so the plan is to stay in touch.

The cable was acting weird last night because I could see the picture but not hear anything. The only English speaking shows are CNN News, BBC news, a ESPN station and the GOD channel. I saw the Tour de France briefly and saw Lance Armstrong was #1 before the sound disappeared. I kept it on for a while to see if the sound came back. It didn’t so I went and laid on the bed and read. Jill & I will probably watch a movie after we eat. We will have popcorn and leftover ice cream for dessert.

› Tomorrow I plan on mailing this letter and stopping by the YWAM base to see if I have any mail. I am so thankful that you write so often because eventually I will get the letters and cards that you write. I also very glad that the newsletter I had sent to the church was mailed out and received. I was glad that I had Kathy’s address so one could be sent to her as well.

I got out a Ukrainian map to see where Alan & Em are at. I have a schedule of where and what they will be doing each day they are gone. They will be in Zshashkiv for 2 days, Bashtanka 3 days, Odessa and Chanbaka 4 days, Lubashowvka 2 days and then back home to Kyiv. I know that I will enjoy my time while they are gone since sometimes it feels like we have too much company and “I vant to be alone.”

For the eight years that we lived in the trailer I was unable to move furniture because it was bolted down. It will be a challenge not to move furniture while Alan & Emily are away. The plan is to wait and rearrange our furniture once the Lind’s return and take all their stuff and this truly becomes our home. I can envision some of the ways to rearrange the furniture for our use. But until you actually move the pieces you really don’t know if it will work out. In the bedroom I know that I want to move the bed so I can get in on my side instead of scotching across because the bed is against the wall. And I think that I want to move the desk into the living room (if it stays) so that I can move our laptop computer off the dining table. I also want to move the couch nearer to a outlet for better lighting. There aren’t many outlets and there are extension cords to make up the lack but you really don’t want them to run across doorways. That would be a trip hazard. I have taken out a tape measure to measure the furniture and the wall space to see if the arrangements I have in mind are even feasible. Nightly the above neighbors move their furniture. They probably have futons and have to make adjustment from their living space to accommodate the sleeping arrangements. Very soon I will be moving furniture too!

I love you very much.

It blesses me that you treasure these letters so much that you keep them in sheet protectors. I never would have thought that except for you telling me.

Have a blessed day and we will talk on Saturday.

Your loving daughter,