March truly was a very hectic month for our family. It seemed that it kept going and going with all the commitments and decisions we had to make. Lyena was in Turkey at that time, waiting for her US visa appointment on March 23rd. For reasons that we don’t quite agree with, she was denied her tourist visa in Istanbul...we made a big stink about it, had the local news highlight the problem, wrote to many officials, our senators and all that. But to no avail... It was very disappointing and unfair to say the least.
We continued with our Ukrainian relief efforts. Here is a picture with my old friend from England times, she lives in Charlotte now. She drove 2.5 hours to drop off a ton of donations of medical and humanitarian supplies and help with packing boxes. She has Ukrainian ancestry although she is actuallyAustralian.
We were constantly involved in fundraising and collecting items that our Ukrainians in the Carolinas group was sending to Ukraine. It was not easy logistically, but we had a large community of helpful people working on all the issues together. I had several newspapers involved who were publicizing the list of items needed. We had people drop off some items even at Robert’s office as I didn’t want to announce my home address to the world. People were so generous! And every amount of monetary donation mattered (and still does) so much! I would receive reports from my friends in Ukraine about how sometimes even $10 makes a difference, especially when it comes to bigger purchases like drones or body heat imaging cameras.
We all were on edge, of course. I tried to take care of myself, but it was tough. It’s not like I was always occupied with Ukrainian volunteering, but it felt like my brain was not always able to focus on things I needed to get done. I struggled with doing daily tasks and especially anything that was fun, feeling guilty that here I was booking a hotel for a tournament while my country is at war. I still feel like that quite often but I have read enough from the Ukrainian media that encourages others, not in harm’s way, to keep on living to make sure that those that are fighting are not doing it in vain, that it keeps them going as well to know that their families are safe. In March, my life was still very much not normal...but we all were trying. The following are a few of our random March pictures.
One of the acupuncturists in the area was offering free sessions, to relief stress and tension. So Mark and I made an appointment. It was good. I had so much tension in my wrist because of all the typing and texting, that I really needed help with that.
I also went to our Slavic store in town and bought Mark the biggest package ever of his favorite “palichki”. At that store, they now had a flag under each product to tell people where it was shipped from. Needless to say, Russian products were not popular. While choosing mushrooms, I chose to pay more but to pick a jar from Latvia rather than Russia. Many people were shopping the same way.
At the end of March, Mark and I did go to a big tournament in Florida, in Amelia Island. Here is Mark and Tom Hanks at the Visitor’s Center in Georgia.
Amelia Island is a beautiful place, right on the border with Georgia. Mark played well, but it was a high level tournament and he got only one win. He wore his Ukrainian jersey proudly.
We even managed to get to sacrament meeting on Sunday because of the rain delay!
Later on they shortened the sets (which is always disappointing thing) as he had to play a boy from Florida, whose family is originally Russian. I talked a bit to his dad before the match, but couldn’t keep the conversation going after this boy started messing with the match, walking off the court to get the ref and stuff (you are not allowed to leave the court).
Mark wore his Ukrainian shirt on purpose. The match was not a good match, not because of the opponent’s skill or Mark being beaten, but because of all the antics that the kid was displaying. He was calling a ref on Mark, telling Mark he was not being honest about his ball calls, disrupting the flow of the match in all “legal” ways but not with good sportsmanship. Mark lost the match, but more than anything he lost complete respect for this kid (who IS good).
On our way out, we stopped by the fruit stand and bought some oranges. They were delicious and huge! It’s never easy to be driving home for several hours thinking about the loss and how things didn’t go your way.
A week later, Mark played a local tournament. It was a great tournament for Mark as he played very competitive players (mostly kids that he’s known for years).
Mark’s third grade teacher came to watch him play, now with her baby! So grateful for such support!
Mark and Connor played doubles at this tournament. Team Dunlop:))
They did a great job! Won the whole tournament!
They deserve extra pictures! Connor is exactly same age as Mark but has hit his growth spurt way earlier than Mark. So Mark has some catching up to do.
Glad we were able to watch Mark’s winning match!
In other news....Katya was at BYU, still having a great time. And on March 23rd Katya opened her mission call! She is going to Hungary Romania Mission, Romanian speaking!
She called us early that morning, giving us just 5 minutes to gather together, while Robert was at work and Alex was at school. We were all there with her on Facetime when she opened the call. It was such a wonderful spiritual experience for our whole family... something I will never forget.
She was starting home MTC on Aug 22nd and leaving Sep 6th for Provo MTC. Exciting summer ahead!
As a side note, here is Russell with Katya. Russell is a great kid (we met him later in April) and they dated for several months till a month or so before Katya started her mission.
In the meantime, we continued to show our support for Ukraine however we could. We all went to another rally in Raleigh, this one drawing larger crowds than any gathering before.
It’s not just the Ukrainians that come--it’s people whose roots are from all over the world! In fact, we even had a few Russians and Belorussians join us! We don’t have any idea when the war will end but we are still confident in our victory.
Bye for now,
Lyana.
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