Spending Time With Anya...Thanks Skype!

I just got off an hour-long video chat with Anya. To say I'm joyful and grateful is a huge understatement. We have had great difficulty with Skype the past few weeks, so we haven't been able to be in touch with her. But this morning we reached her and talked until Anya was nodding off...lol.

Nastia has a very bad cold, so she lasted all of ten minutes, but after she went to bed, Anya and I talked for over an hour. she finally opened up a bit more about the day she was shot, and what she has learned about the shooter. His name is Ilya. He's 28 years old and was on drugs at the time. Anya will have to attend the court hearing, and so they are waiting for her to be well enough to attend. She told me she was sooo grateful that he shot her leg instead of her head. 'Mama, if he aimed up, I would not be here. I am so lucky he aimed down.' She talked about how she keeps replaying the day over and over in her head and how she cannot believe how close she was to losing her life. 'I am very lucky,' she kept saying.

I told her I felt it was not luck, but that she was being watched over that day, because our six years of praying for her daily, along with the countless prayers of others, acted like a protective shield that day. I truly believe that. She smiled hugely and told me she loved me:)

so, the doctors are not telling her much. They say she will be there for 'many more months' but will not give her a date of any kind. She has been in that bed for two months already. I cannot imagine how difficult it is for her. She says she is still in pain, but that they give her injections in her stomach when it gets unbearable. She moved the camera to show me the injection site - yuck! Just a big black and green bruise on her lower abdomen. Here is what her leg is looking like lately. She took the photo herself:

I know it looks awful, but I am just so happy every time I see her foot at the end of her leg, that I don't mind seeing that horrible brace.

So, I still await the doctor's letter so I can submit the Humanitarian Parole docs for a medical visa. I'll be skyping with Anya again tonight at 10pm my time. Can't wait:)