In August we finished
packing up our belongings in Russia and saying some tearful goodbyes to people
that have truly become our second family. On August 16 we flew
from Tyumen to Moscow and stayed with some dear friends there for a few days.
When we went to board our flight from Moscow to New York we were stopped in
passport control and, to our surprise, were told that our paperwork was not in
order for us to leave the country. To make a very long story short, local
officials in Tyumen made a mistake in issuing our exit visas. This resulted in
Jeff having to fly back to Tyumen, Amy and Gideon staying in Moscow and having
to change flights a few times. Thankfully, we did make it back to the US, just
a few days later than we expected. Special thanks to our dear friends Dan and
Sasha who hosted us and were glad to drive us around and help us in the whole
crazy process.
Upon arriving in the US,
we spent a few weeks in Indiana packing up our things there and reconnecting
with family and friends. This was a refreshing time and Gideon especially loved
seeing his cousins. We then headed to Michigan and spent some time in northern
Michigan with Jeff's family and taking a small family vacation. We ended our
time in the Midwest by spending time in Ann Arbor where we were so blessed to
live again with our dear friends Tom and Ruth Ann Robinson. During this time we
reconnected with churches and supporters, Amy and Gideon made a quick trip to
North Carolina to spend time with Amy's mom who was ill, and Jeff packed up all
of our belongings into containers to ship to Colorado. On October 11 we headed
west and had a very smooth trip to Colorado, arriving on October 13.
