I know Max and I have been a little MIA in the past couple of months. We had the best of intentions to continue writing here at least every month but things have just been a bit all over the place. All summer there have been visitors from the states, and we even got to have some family come out to visit us and see what we are up to. Max has been enrolled in some online classes to finish up his bachelor's degree, and then we've just had all the normal business that is life on top of that. But here we are now, writing an update, and it is a big update with some really exciting and equally saddening news. (or at least that's how it feels for us)
One of the things that made the last couple of months as busy as it was is that I have been a bit out of commission. I've recently been plagued by some extreme nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and just overall fatigue. Now if you couldn't tell by those symptoms, or by chance my father hasn't told you, I will break the news to you here. Max and I are having a baby! We are overjoyed with this surprise, and although we weren't expecting it we couldn't be happier.
Obviously, this throws a huge curveball into our plans of being here. We had originally intended to sign on for another year in Ukraine. We had talked to some family and friends and felt like that would be a good decision. We love Wide Awake and what they do in Ukraine, and we have cherished getting to be a part of it. It goes without saying but our time here has changed us so much. We've learned so much about ourselves and the types of people we want to be.
That's why it really pains us to tell you, that in less than two weeks we will be returning to the states for the foreseeable future. We don't take this decision lightly, and we are mourning what could have been if we could stay, but we know that this is the right choice for us right now. We feel complete peace over the situation.
When we talked to the Johnsons about how we may need to leave they were incredibly selfless and gracious with us. They put aside all the logistics of the organization, the extra stress it would put on them, and their personal emotions of wanting us to stay to prioritize our health and the health of our baby. They encouraged us to both go home, get the support we need, and prepare for what lies ahead of us. We cannot stress enough how meaningful this was to us and we are so grateful for everything Jed and Kim have done for us in our time here.
We are excited to come home, but we are sad to leave everything that we got to be a part of here. We will miss Anton and Sasha and leaving them will be one of the hardest parts of this. We will miss the Johnsons their whole family has been such a joy to be around and we will mourn the proximity of our friendship. And we will miss the team of amazing Ukrainians who constantly are loving and working to help provide a better life for our friends.
Lastly, we wanted to say that as we leave, Wide Awake is actively looking for someone to come and live with our friends. If you have any interest in that we would love to talk to you, and we will leave the link to Wide Awakes website below.
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