Canceled Flight

Jim:

Kari, Austin, and Tatum's flight home was canceled this morning. They have been rebooked on flights for tomorrow. (Tomorrow's Christmas Day here, you know)

We got up at 2:45am and I loaded them into our driver's van at 3:30 and sent them off to the airport while I went back to bed. The plan was for me to work today until I had to catch my train back to Kherson.

When the phone rang at 9:30 and it was Kari I thought she must be calling from Germany somehow. Unfortunately, she had just borrowed somone's phone and was just telling me they were delayed, and had no idea when they would be able to fly out. She called back an hour later saying the flight was canceled, the line at Luftansa was very long, there were only 2 agents, and they were completely unorganized, plus everyone was tired and hungry. This is after she borrowed two other phones and could not get through to me for some reason before exchanging cash for grivnas and buying a pay-phone card. So needless to say she was upset. I called Luftansa and tried to get them seats on another flight - they tried to get them onto Delta's flight, and actually had seats for the 3 of them for a split second, but in the 30 seconds it took her to ask me if I wanted these flights, one of the seats disappeared, and she could not get it back, even though she tried several times, and even had her co-workers help her. So she added a note so the ticket agents in Kiev would know she's traveling with two children. Kari called back around noon and said the line was much shorter now, and so she was able to go through it and get booked on tomorrow's flights. Now they'll be arriving in Denver at 3:30pm on the 7th. Luftansa has fed them breakfast and lunch, gotten them a room at the airport hotel, and will provide them dinner later, so Kari's feeling a lot better. I feel guilty not being there with them, while I sit in this nice Japanese restaurant having lunch and using their wi-fi. I'm debating on running out to the airport just to hang out with them for a couple of hours before I have to head back and catch my train.

So - about the time I'm arriving in Kherson tomorrow morning, they should be lifting off and leaving Ukraine. Please pray that all of their flights tomorrow go smoothly.

On a happier note, yesterday we had a good day. First, Kari and I went to the US Consulate office so Kari could fill out the paperwork before she left. Since it's a holiday here, it was closed for most things, so we were the only ones there. Everything went well here, and Kari even filled out the paperwork that I'll need to turn in once I get the kids' passports. It was nice being the only ones there since we could fill out the forms at the counter that showed the sample forms.

We then grabbed Austin and Tatum and did a little more souvenir shopping. Then we went back to the apt to warm up. It was bitter cold again yesterday. Then we went to the Italian place by TGI Friday's for lunch. Next, we toured St. Sophia's before heading back to the apt to warm up a little. Did I mention it was bitter cold again yesterday? We were glad we had some hand warmers with us.

Finally, we had a wonderful dinner last night with Eric and Kara and their kids at their apartment. We also met Brian, another Campus Crusade for Christ staff member who we delivered a Wii Fit to when we came over so he could give it to his family for Christmas. It was nice getting to know them all and just relax over a delicious dinner, and brownies for dessert. I also took my laptop and pulled down emails, and even did 5 minutes of WORK. (I just had to log into work and run a script that no one else has access to.) I also finally found out that Nebraska won the Gator bowl! Woo-hoo! That just goes to show you how out of the loop we've been while we're over here. We were wondering how the economy is doing these days since we haven't watched any news since we've been here.

That's it for now. Again, please pray for the flights tomorrow to go smooth.

до свидания ( Da Svedaneya / Bye! ) (This is for Anya - I know how you love cyrilic - I just hope I spelled it right!)