Day 3 Evening

I bet you didn'tknow that Kiev is home to the world's largest bong! Guess what Rev. Jon has been doing while here? Okay just kidding....I don't want any angry post from anyone, nor my husband to lose his job..... We were at a nice restaurant the other night and someone was smoking something out of this thing so we had to have a picture. No wonder so many people adopt from Ukraine...ha ha



Hey Trevor....Guess What?

Chicken Butt
(family joke)


Hi all,
We have had a great day! The only missing piece is talking to my kids, but I am hoping they will get a hold of me tonight. We will be getting up very early to fly to Donetsk. We are very excited about meeting Aya and Sergey. I am not sure what my internet access will be like so if I don't post tomorrow it is because of this. We will take lots of pictures so you can all see what the kids and the orphanage looks like.Good night everyone...

Day 3 The SDA Appointment

We have had a busy day and it is only 3:30 our time:) We had our SDA appointment today at 12:00. That went very smoothly. They were very nice, told us some history on Aya and Sergey and then we were on our way. The appointment took all of 5 minutes! After that we went to the Embassy to fill out my papers since I am leaving early. They too, were very nice and that took a little longer since we had to fill out some forms. We never did find TGI Fridays despite walking around for over an hour last night, but this morning we drove right past it. So needless to say, tonight we will be eating there.
Tomorrow morning we will be taking an 8:00 am flight to Donetsk, and hopefully we can see the kids tomorrow.Our facilitator is wonderful and most helpful! We are lucky to have her.
I am so appreciative of everyone's comments. I look forward to checking the blog and seeing all the comments. It really is helping me stay connected and not get too bored.
Steve, Thanks for the encouragement. I am hanging in there! Jon is awesome!
Miranda, You guys need to call me later using the phone card! It is too expensive for me to call you. So I want to hear from you guys today. If you have a problem call Sue or Grandma L.
Hailey, How was your award ceremony yesterday?
Trevor, Are you excited about the game on Saturday? Give Christopher a hug for me, okay.

Still Day 2

Hi everyone...
Thank you so much for all the responses. It is helping me soooooooo much. We just got back from a walk and we found the McDonalds. For some bizarre reason I felt some need to see and take a picture ..he he.We walked around and also found the internet coffee shop everyone on FRUA had mentioned to me. There is tons of shopping and things to look at. And boy do the people dress a little risky. All of the women walk around with these huge high heels. Miranda, tell Lauren she would fit in very well here with her big heels. We went in to a coffee shop and I had a milkshake. They spoke English and it was nice. We looked and looked for the TGI Fridays but didn't see it so I went on my adoption chat room, FRUA and posted for directions and within 5 minutes I had 2 responses!!! So for dinner we will be going there. I know we are boring, but I am just trying to get through the day okay people!

I asked God for 3 things today:
To have internet access
To be able to call Angelina (our facilitator)
To talk to my kids

He delivered on all three...Thanks Lord!

Miranda- I called this morning and missed you as you were in bed. Thanks for helping so much. I emailed grandma the right directions to call,but you guys don't need to put the pin number in..okay? Call me so I can know it works.

Kara- Thanks for your prayers...keep them coming girl, I need all the help I can get.

Gail- I know I am such a chicken, I just can't help it :) Your encouragement is huge and I think I have got the phone thing a little better handled. I am going to have Angelina showme how to call the states cheaply because we have the same phone plan.

Barbara- Love ya....thanks for your emails and prayers. Keep it coming.
Sue- Love you too....I feel yours and others prayers soo much so please don't stop sending them.
Well I am going to go read or something...right now I am listening to Air 1 christian radio on the web! What did we do before the internet.

Love to all,Krystal
Keep the prayers going for our appointment tomorrow at noon our time 5am NC time, and 2am CA time.

Again

Day 2 We made it!

Hey everyone...We made it!
We have been in our apartment in the center of town for about a couple of hours. Once here I immediately wanted to hook up the internet and we couldn't get a connection.Then I wanted to make a phone call and I couldn't figure it out either. I started having a small freak out...okay small, very small. It is soooo scary being in another country and not able to communicate. This is probably one of the scariest things I could do. I just realized our battery is almost dead and we need an adapter...so I am going to cut this short

We will try to call but we need to buy a calling card. Love you all and talk more later when we have a battery!

Day 1 JFK

We have made it to the airport in New York for our 8 hour layover. We deceided not to leave the airport because we have so much luggage it would be a pain to carry around. So here we are sitting and waiting. I miss the kids already .....If anyone is out there and wants to call me on my cell...PLEASE CALL ME :)
Anyways we will post again tomorrow when we get set up in our apartment.
Love to everyone!
Love, Krystal

9 hours and counting.....

Hi everyone!
Jon's ordination was nothing less than AWESOME! He did a fantastic job giving his testimony and Miranda sang beautifully.It was a very special night for all of us and I am sooo proud of Jon. After the testimony and singing each deacon came up and prayed with Jon. It was truly an awesome sight to see. I took a million pictures because it is not everyday that you see men on their knees praying together.
After the service,Trevor was baptized and that was really neat too. The only problem was that we forgot towels! The picture of Trevor is after I told him we forgot towels and he is mad at me....After the service they had a reception for us and that was great as we got to say goodbye to people before leaving on our trip.
Tonight we had a special birthday celebration for Miranda since she will be turning 16 while we are gone! The Weiss' and Travis came over for dinner and cake to celebrate.
Well we leave here very early tomorrow morning to catch our flight to JFK at 6:40 am. Our flight to Kiev does not leave until 4:30 so we are planning on seeing Time Square or maybe the statue of liberty.
Good luck at your game tomorrow night Trevor...we will be praying for you to win!
Hailey...I love you like a fat kid loves chocolate :)
Miranda...Love you...How did your interview at Kerr Drug go?
Give Christopher a hug from us ...
Talk to you all tomorrow!
Krystal