Katia is getting more and more anti seizure meds and Gord (who slept at the hospital last night and let me go home to sleep:)) and I are getting more rest than in the Ukraine. We are grateful. I got to go to church this am and it was wonderful to see friends and many who have been praying for us. Because of this hospitalization though, we have not been in touch with as many as we had hoped, following up blog comments and more.
What does this have to do with the post title? Nothing.
The title is to tell you how God cared for us yet again.
Once our flight was re-ticketed, the one change was that we would be traveling the distance over 2 days and not one. When we knew originally that we would be traveling through Paris, daughter number 1 was dearly hoping to see something of it and have a crepe there. Unfortunately, the layover was only 4 hours, enough time to tend to littlest girl's needs and change terminals and go through security again. But with the change in tickets, we were to fly from Kiev to Paris Monday afternoon, arriving in the evening and not leaving again till 11:30 the next morning! This meant that we could leave the airport, stay in a hotel and rest and then have some little time in the morning to "see Paris".
This was such a gracious gift of God to us. Eldest daughter was enraptured by her hotel room window (opening out) overlooking the quaint courtyard, and the drizzly morning in the taxi, being driven past wonderful sights of the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, Arc de Triomphe and the Champes Elysses and last but not least, the Eiffel Tower. We missed out on the crepes but had those in Frankenmuth, MI in June!:)
The extra gift was of rest for us all. The original flight would have meant setting off from our apartment at 3 am and from that time, it would have been 21 straight hours travel till home. As it was, we left midday:) and had about 9 hours Monday, getting to Paris and then getting a Visa for Katia to leave the airport in Paris (Ukrainian citizens need a visa for France) then getting to our hotel.
Eldest daughter's foresight allowed us to have a breakfast together in the room, and saved us the $ 25 USD per person hotel sweet roll and coffee.
Tuesday's travel included an hour flight delay and about 14-15 hours of actual travel time till home. We were met by my brother David who was the first to love on his sweet niece (he works in the control tower at the airport and was able to take an extended break to come and meet us:)), our friends who took half of our baggage and half of our family, had a meal at my niece's with more family and then were driven home (our vehicle and their's) as we all slept on the drive.
Once home, we were met with banners on the garage, balloons on the door, more balloons the next day, eager hands to take our children for some diversions and help for us to settle in. Families in our church are going to be bringing some meals in for us a few days a week for a little bit to help us with the settling in.
We have been so loved on and supported. Our little girl welcomed and us blessed. Our dear friend shopping for us to have food in the house when we arrived, another dear friend coming from Chicago to help us with whatever needed for 3 days, a newly cleaned house awaiting our arrival with note and custom made photo and frame of Katia in sunflowers:)
We were immediately scooped up by our friends with children with special needs to help us begin to navigate the resources here in our area.
We continue to see God's hand providing for us as He first promised Gord in prayer and as He promises all of His children.
Philippians 4:19
And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.