Ukraine Round II

Hi All:

This is Matt and I've officially comandeered the blog away from Cher and will do my best to update this final leg of our adventure (hopefully I won't screw it up too much!). Presently, I'm 35K feet above (probably) Nebraska, headed to NYC where I hope to make my connecting flight to Kyiv (loving this in-flight wireless capability on Delta).

The 2 week home break was appreciated and if I were to list each of the luxuries, indulgences, and quite simply the blessings we enjoy living in the U.S. - that list would exhaust both the reader and my laptop's battery. So for brevity's sake I'll list some of the more poignant ones (not necessarily in order of importance except the 1st two): hugs from Kayla and Nate, seeing my Dad's safe return from Baghdad, seeing all our family at the Miller reunion in Cache Valley, Sadie and Kona's unconditional love, Cher with her chickens, [backpacking with Kayla in the Uintahs - waiting out a summer deluge under pine trees - casting for rising brook trout with bushy dry flies], a houseful of family including Tlusteks, Bob-Suz-Ellie, Shaun/MJ, watching Nate throw his first gainer off the low dive, then high dive, then diving platform #1, then #2..., seeing the CRAZY ultrasound images of baby Luke - WOW!, rocking out to RUSH in concert with my Bros!, riding my mountain bike, real Mexican food, central air conditioning, sleeping in our bed, antibiotics (to cure an ear infection), driving a vehicle, witnessing a service project performed by the young men at church for a newly moved-in family, clean water... and to bookend this list, I must state how grateful I am for 2 orphans in Ukraine who have had the courage and heart to persevere and survive, even flourish, in a setting that would surely break the best of us. How grateful I am for a wife who's capacity to love is boundless and who's drive to pitch in and help as many people as she can humbles me and has led us to this amazing opportunity. How grateful I am for 2 children at home who cannot contain their excitement to get their sister and brother to Draper and begin sharing their lives. How grateful I am for the continual evidence of the Lord's hand throughout this process. Grateful indeed.

I'm excited to arrive in Kyiv and learned this morning that I'll be met by my now dear friend/brother Oleg, our attorney. I have missed him over these past 2 weeks and look forward to our beautiful drive to Sumy.