April in Kyiv

We are finally here. We got our appointment to meet with the SDA on Wednesday and hope to get the referral to begin to complete this journey.

We had quite an adventure getting here. We planned to take a taxi to the airport to catch our early Sunday morning flight. I dutifully scheduled a pickup the night before while we were finishing up our last minute packing. The next day, the taxi did not show. I called for another and he had to come across town to pick us up. I called every three minutes until it finally showed. I was just on the verge of giving up, driving to the airport, and facing the problem of finding a parking spot during spring break. When we arrived at IND the place was packed - on Palm Sunday morning. We met the Cleeks and later the Settlemyres and the whole Zap gang was ready to go.

The trip to JFK was smooth. We had a van to pick up the whole group for a quick trip into NYC. Bill and Anastasia enthusiastically planned the layover for everyone. We stopped by their home, Bill guided us on a tour of Manhattan and the Empire State Building and then were were back at their home where Anastasia had a wonderful waiting for us. It was great to see them. They are very supportive of everyone's journey. The rest, refreshment and encouragement left us thankful for being able to share our journey with them.

We met Helen at JFK. She flew in from SFO and met us at the gate as the plane was boarding. We got settled in and Helen and Caroline were behind Cindy and me with Luke in front. We were on a 767 300 and took a very northern route to get to Kyiv. When I woke up, we had just passed over Stockholm, which is of course special for me...

We had no problems with customs and me Jenia at the airport.

More later from Kyiv.