Lodging Arrangements Made

Well, my company came through again (thank you Coalfire!). One of the co-founders said that I could use as many of his free nights for our initial stay in Kiev when we arrive. Unfortunately, none of the hotels for which he had points and free stays are in Kiev. :(

But then he told me that he would be happy to pick up the bill for our 3 nights in Kiev when we arrive on September 21st! I can't say enough thank you's to my colleagues and friends at Coalfire for their support!

So, we will be staying at the Khreschatik Hotel right on the main drive across from Independence Square and very near to the SDA offices. They have apparently been doing renovations on this hotel for a while, and if you look at the tripadvisor comments, they have not been very good until recently. The reservations person made sure to reserve an "updated" room for us and we'll report back how things go once we arrive.

Our friend Heidi also found out for us that Bible House in Kherson is available during our stay. So, we have a place to stay in Kherson as well! Yay! Heidi and another friend (Carol) will be travelling to Ukraine next week to visit the orphanage in Kherson and we hope to see them when we arrive in Kiev.

We had a (hopefully) small hiccup in our "childcare" arrangements over the weekend. My Dad fell on Friday and has been in the hospital since, awaiting an angiogram on Monday. They think it might just be a medication issue, but want to make sure they don't miss anything. In any case, Mom and Dad were planning on coming out for about 2 weeks while Michele and I are gone, but now it looks like they will not likely be able to. My niece will still be here for the first week, and we are fortunate to have a good friend at church who is available to be here during the rest of the time that Michele will be gone. Thanks Natalie!! Mom and Dad may still be able to come for a shorter period of time, but only time (and doctor's orders) will tell. Please pray for my Dad (Al) that all goes well on Monday.

Well, 1 week to go and we'll be heading to Kiev via Chicago and Dusseldorf, Germany. Lots to do before then. Stay tuned.