Moving day approaches

It's chaos around here as we get closer to saying goodbye to this apartment. Earlier this week, we moved two guest beds, four bookshelves and about 30 boxes to the new place. And yet, much remains to be boxed.

This has been my least-organized move ever. I started packing about a months ago, before we found a place, so I started with things I wouldn't need for the month. Lots of boxes are filled with a random collection of items, like books, winter boots, tiny baby clothes and cake pans. And now I'm down to the stuff that didn't fit anywhere else. So, my next box is likely to include an ice bucket, a fish bowl, our wedding album and a hot-water bottle. This should make unpacking interesting.

This morning I found a stash of contact lenses that I never wear. Out of guilt for even buying them, I popped in a pair. The feeling of a thousand tiny pinpricks on my eyeballs, coupled with the irritating dryness, reminded my why I never should have bought them in the first place. My eyes simply don't like contacts.

Yesterday we tried to take care of all the paperwork associated with the new apartment. We actually made great progress, but one guy who has to sign off on the rental agreement wasn't working, so we'll be back to it on Monday.

Also, yesterday Dietrich started standing without holding on to anything. Quick, let's move before he starts walking!

Ah, how I look forward to the evening of August 2 (Moving Day), when all the packing and moving is done, and we just have the fun part (setting up a new home) to look forward to.

Dietrich's clearly excited about that, too:

A little friend for Dietrich

An update on Sergei and Natasha, the sweet pregnant couple who also are looking for an apartment. Well, they're no longer pregnant! They met their son yesterday, and mom and baby are doing just fine. Sergei is a very dedicated photographer; he's always got his camera out, documenting life. From the lovely pictures he's already posted, it's clear that this will be one beautifully photographed baby.

Happy birthday, Uncle Sam

From what we could tell from far away, you were really good at being 26. You earned a promotion, you put on a beautiful wedding, you asked good questions that will help you grow in your faith, you lavished love on your little nephew, you brought me candy in the hospital and you proved yourself to be a great husband. So, maybe you should just rest this year.

love,
sam miller's big sister

Apartment update

Last night we met with the apartment owners, and it was a great meeting. We really like the apartment; it's just exactly what we were hoping for. We have a verbal agreement with the landlords (a Ukrainian woman who grew up in the apartment and her American husband, the son of a missionary doctor who serves in Kyiv), but nothing's been signed yet.

As we've been looking for a place, I've appreciated the prayer in Proverbs 30:8 — "Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion." We prayed for an apartment that was neither too nice nor not nice enough, neither too big nor too small for the ministry that God wants us to do there.

It seems to us that the apartment we looked at yesterday perfectly fits that description:

It has four rooms (one big bedroom, one medium bedroom and one tiny bedroom, plus a living room) and a nice-sized kitchen, but is overall not a lot bigger than the apartment we have now.

It's in very nice condition with some very groovy wallpaper choices, a blue-and-yellow bathroom (those who have known me a long time know of my proclivity toward that color scheme; in fact, our towels are blue and yellow) and a long, covered balcony.

It looks out over the play area outside the building, which is also in good condition – better than the playground at our current place.

In addition to being at a bus stop, it's also right by a tram stop. I never take the tram because it's rather slow and there's a bus stop much closer to our current place, but I've got a feeling that a 2-year-old Dietrich might think a tram ride is something pretty special.

Eric and I both quickly came to love the place — no small feat for two minds that work as differently as ours sometimes do. So, we're thrilled and hopeful that, come August 1, we can start living our lives there.

Yay team!

We work with a great team of people here in Kyiv. Yesterday I was particularly thankful for them and encouraged by how we help and support one-another.

Our collective task: To pack Doctor Mark Saucy's office at Kyiv Theological Seminary — his extensive theological library and files – and some precious things from the Saucy family's apartment. (The Saucys, for those who don't know, have moved home so that Bonnie can battle a recurrence of cancer.)

We sent out an e-mail asking for help at each location, and almost every family that's in town for the summer sent at least one helper, plus our director's wife kept us fortified with slices of delicious blueberry coffee cake.

When the seminary group ran out of tape, someone's son was summoned to run to the store. When Dietrich was threatening to break the crystal vases, a co-worker scooped him up and kept him occupied until all the vases were safely bubble-wrapped.

And when one family's son fell and cut his leg to the bone, the team quickly adjusted. His dad left to go to the hospital, one of the families that has a car drove them and a member of the packing crew headed over to the driver's apartment to await the delivery of that family's refrigerator.

Thanks to all this cheerful help, four hours after we started, the hallways were lined with boxes, ready to be shipped.

Yay team!

In other matters: We got a good lead on an apartment, and we'll go see it Monday. I talked with the landlady yesterday and came away with a great impression. Here's the description we were sent:

"4 room 90 sq m APARTMENT FOR RENT! Fully furnished, in great condition with fresh remodeling! Great for family or office! Large, spacious designed wooden kitchen (15 sq. meters!) w/lots of storage space. Living room is big with lg enclosed balcony and extra storage space. Warm wooden floors thruout. 3 bedrooms/offices with windows all facing cozy yard. Sweet neighbors. Access to the entrance is by magnetic key or for those without keys, by calling up thru intercom system and being buzzed up. Cheap cable high-speed internet access. Playground for children in the yard. Forest, attraction park, track, soccer field, outdoor gym, beautiful lakes – all a 3 min walk. Lg outdoor market within 7 min walk. Supermarkets, shops, barber, drycleaner's, pharmacies, post office – all within 3-5-min walk. Convenient public transport bus and tram stop in front of building."

We can see this apartment out of Dietrich's bedroom window. It's a five-minute walk from our current place, and right across the street from the seminary. I have a really good feeling about it.

For those who are praying about this, you might also ask the Lord to provide an awesome place for Sergei and Natasha. He's the Academic Dean at the seminary, and Natasha was the registrar, though she's currently one week away from delivering a precious baby, so she will be taking some time off. They need to move soon after the baby is born. Sergei frequently posts here. This is a very challenging time to find affordable housing in Kyiv, and the situation affects many of our co-workers.

Too tired for squash

What with church this morning and a visit with friends this afternoon, Dietrich didn't get his normal naps. The result:



No progress so far in the apartment search. If you're the praying type, please pray that God would provide the perfect place as quickly as possible. We greatly desire to complete the move by July 22, as we already had a very packed last week of July planned, even before we knew about the move.

On the road again

We're moving. Where? We don't know. Our landlady came by today; she's moving back in on August 1. So the hunt for a new apartment begins. Thankfully, one of our SEND co-workers works with a Ukrainian rental agent to find apartments. Here's hoping they find something great. And near a market. And not too far from church. Or the seminary. Or the bus stop.

Though we haven't really enjoyed interacting with our landlady, we have loved our apartment. Not only is it near everything on the list above, you also can see the sunset and some trees from the kitchen window.

Yet, every time I get close to leaving something (a job, a city, etc.), I start remembering all the elements of that thing that I don't like, and those elements (often minor inconveniences) suddenly become simply unbearable. I don't do this consciously, but it does make the leaving easier.

So: Our apartment is freezing in the winter and has no storage space. In the baby's room, we have a wardrobe filled with our landlady's old stuff, which she has consistently refused to remove. About 100 empty glass jars live on one of the balconies, accompanied by a bag of rotting clothes and a broken oven. The pipes under the sink sometimes release a really bad odor that stinks up the whole joint. Even when I've just cleaned it, the potty room smells like a potty room.

But still, all in all, it's been a great place to live. (Enter nostalgic sigh here.)