In Georgia

Our time with our families was a treasure. My Mama and Daddy picked us up in Atlanta. The first place we ate was the original Chick-fil-A, the Dwarf House in Hapeville, Georgia, the town my dad grew up in (the same place as the Atlanta airport).




We were in Valdosta about 11 days. We didn’t really have jet lag because before we left, we had stayed up all night and covered the windows during the early morning to adjust our sleep to Eastern Time. We are seven hours ahead of east coast time (GMT +2). My mom said it was a lot like vacation all week long because we were eating special treats—mostly things that we missed while we were gone—Dr. Pepper, Dairy Queen, Cracker Barrel. We went to the farmer’s market for produce, because it was the closest thing to buying produce roadside in Ukraine.


Me and Dean on the porch


Alicia, Mom and I drove to Albany to visit my grandmother, Meemaw. She just celebrated her 91st birthday. She's one of the most optimistic people I've ever met.





Since our time was limited and mostly taken up with family time, we chose to host “Ukrainian Tea” parties for our friends and church families. The first was in Valdosta at my mom’s house during our first Sunday back. Our friend Cheryl from Tallahassee drove all the way up and went to church with us and visited throughout the tea. Several friends from Dasher Church dropped by and visited.





We had a great time feeding and visiting over at Jerry and Jeannie McMullen’s. They’ve been good to me over the years and their offspring Jerry Lewis and his lovely wife Lora are like my brother and sister.



We also shared good one-on-one fellowship with Jake and Cassie Dasher, Ryan Warren, saw a bunch of people out at Walmart and at church—talked with Russ from Savannah on the phone. We didn’t see many others but we still love you… and we can always email and talk on the phone—so Skype us.

Our last Sunday, John McLeod asked me to come speak at the Sunday school class at Central. Afterwards, we went to John and Ollie’s home along with the Bennetts and just had a good agape feast.





We headed off to West Virginia the next day and I’m going to let Alicia take over from here—