We are Home...at least for a little bit !

After a 3 day journey home, we finally made it home Wednesday evening.  We were so happy to make it home for Bubba's Birthday.  We took Bubba bowling and to dinner last night, Dema went with us, we had a great time celebrating his special day with him.  Last night, he said it was a perfect day and could not of gotten any better, the kids at school made him cards, and he took camo cookies in that Shay made for his class.

It felt so good landing in the US and back to all the things we know as "normal."  We had to spend Tuesday night in Washington DC, because our flight to State College was cancelled.  When we walked into the hotel in DC, Russie and I just looked at each other and said, "Wow, things are a whole lot different in America"  We enjoyed our time in Ukraine and are so glad that we got to experience and see their culture.  Like most things, even when they are different, once you do them for a number of days, you start to adjust.  Ukraine was different in so many ways for us, but we adjusted to the differences and made the most out of them.  Russie said when we flew into DC, that he is such a patriot now, and he is so much more appreciative of our country than before.  We thinks that upon graduating high school, each person should be required to take a 6 week out of country trip to experience different countries and cultures.  He said then people might think twice about complaining about our country and truly realize how blessed we are to be in a free country with much opportunity.  So many times we are unhappy and complaining with what we have, what we don't have and how put out we are, traveling to a different part of the world will tune you up, like Russie likes to say, and you will realize how blessed you are. We appreciated their culture and where are girls are coming from and we are grateful that we were able to learn and grow from being there.  It is a little hard to even adjust back into "normal" life after being away.  Mick and Janel, we miss you guys and spending our days with you !!! We miss our girls and find ourselves wondering what they are doing and how they are preparing to come to America.  I know I have went into "prepare" mode for them to come.  Setting up school appointments, packing their suitcases, finishing touches on their room, making arrangements for our kids while we are gone, etc.etc.etc.  It is hard to believe we are at the point we are and they are ready to truly be part of our family.  We cannot thank you enough for all the prayers and support, it was our life line while we were there.  Continue to pray for us, while we are getting ready to complete this process.  I am so grateful God made himself incredible to us while we were in Ukraine, he orchestrated so many great things for us to be a part of and witness, things that we will remember for a life time.  So many lessons were learned, and so many things were made clear to us.  I could go on and on about all the stories and things that happened, but overall, the most important lessons we learned were, God's plan is ALWAYS better than ours, and that God puts the right and most special people in your life, at the perfect time, so they can be used in his plan for you as well.  I learned while being over there, that the people God has put in our path throughout this, have had such a significant role.  Some were put in our path as prayer warriors, some to offer verbal support, some to help care for our kids, some to fill my refrigerator with food for when I came home, some to make us amazing apple dumplings for us to enjoy upon coming home, some to financially support us, and even he provided special people while we were over there to show us around and  encourage us while we were there.  Only God can think that far ahead and give us everything we needed.  We are truly blessed !

"Draw close to me and I will draw close to you" James 4:8