We Are In Ukraine!!!

Checking in to Swiss Air at JFK. Our luggage cart with 5 over weight bags and 5 carry-ons!

Annie and Solomiya in the bedroom of our new apartment.

Mike and Solomiya playing in the bedroom. In the left corner, you can see the crib that our friends gave us to use!

A view from our apartment. We are on the 4th floor.

View from the bedroom overlooking the courtyard area in between several apartment buildings.

Walking back from the grocery store (about 7 mins away). In the background, you can see the yellow and green awning over the entrance to the store. And yes, the sidewalk is ice!

View from the entrance to the apartment building. More ice!

The flight over from New York was great! Solomiya slept, ate or played with her toys the whole time. The stewardess gave us a baby bassinet that attached to the wall in front of us. Solomiya preferred to sleep on our laps, but she did enjoy playing with her toys in it. Mike and I were actually able to get some sleep too! The flight seemed to go very quickly. It was about 7 hours to Zurich, Switzerland where we had a 2 hour layover. We then took a 2 hour flight to Budapest, Hungary. In the past, Mike and I have always been SO tired when making this trip- which I guess is understandable because it is like being awake all night- but this time we felt good! We were tired, but still had lots of energy and good moods!
Upon arrival in Budapest, we gathered our luggage (all 5 pieces came intact!) and met our friends Jim and Laurie and a driver from Ukraine. We loaded all of our luggage into Jim's pickup truck. Mike rode with Jim, and Solomiya and I rode with Laurie in the car. It was about a 3 hour drive to the border.
It took us about 10-15 mins to get through the Hungarian side of the border and 20 mins to get through the Ukrainian side of the border. We were told that this was rather quick! At the border, the officials wanted to look through our luggage (we brought a big, plastic container with all of our kitchen supplies), but after trying several minutes to open it, they gave up. Apparently, there was too much packing tape holding it closed and they did not have a knife to cut through it (thanks Dad!).
We arrived at our apartment around 8:30pm. Our dear friend Oksana was there waiting for us with a hot supper! Her husband Sasha arrived shortly after, and they showed us around the apartment explaining what they cleaned, what they had fixed, and how to use certain things (like the heat, hot water heater, and the washing machine - there will be a separate blog on the washing machine). Our fridge was full of food and the rooms were nice and warm! What a blessing! We are so thankful to all of our friends for their hard work!
Since arrival, we have been unpacking, setting up the apartment, getting groceries, and resting! What an action-packed last few weeks! We were packing up our apartment in New York right up until we left for the airport! We had so much help- we could not have done it without all of you! Thank you so much to Annette, Sidney, Ralph, Inger, Mike, Andrew,Charissa, Bryan,Freddie, Chrissy, mom and dad for all of the packing and moving help! Seriously- we could not have gotten it done if it were not for all of your help!
Mike and I have remarked several times that we can feel that everyone is praying for us! This transition/move has been so smooth. We truly feel comfortable and that we are at home! We know that God has brought us here and are excited to see what the upcoming weeks bring!
Send us a note! We have a 'Magic Jack' with an 845 phone number- so we can receive phone calls!

*January newsletters are on the way!