Joe Ragan

Sunday was a great day.  In the morning, I attended a church I have never been to before.  I am going to try to go to a different church once or twice a month so that I can  understand what is going on  in Karaganda.  The key verses shared that morning were from 1 Peter [...]

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The end is in sight… hopefully they will finish the work by Thursday.  I have asked a couple of women to come and clean the apartment really well on Friday.
Sasha spent most of the day in the kitchen, Viktor spent lots of time cleaning up and helping Sasha and Misha finished putting the floor molding [...]

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So close, so close and yet so far…
Each day brings us closer to being finished.  The laminate has been laid in all rooms.  Sasha has almost completed the tile in the entry and in the kitchen.  Peter has joined the fun in recovering my furniture.  It looks like they will need to paint the hallway [...]

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The guys finished the bedroom and we spent part of the day moving furniture around.  We had to move all the stuff stored in the office/ 2nd bedroom to the other 2 rooms in the apartment.  I was able to sleep in my bed last night, which I am thankful for, however, most of the [...]

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Well, the guys are finishing up in my bedroom.  I am happy that I will be able to move back into my bedroom soon!  Every day I am seeing more progress!  Yippee!!!
       
In the first photo Misha seems to be discussing something seriously, however, I just happened to snap the photo at the right [...]

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I try to play basketball twice a week with some great guys.  Of course, I am no expert but do see that some of the guys have some real talent.
The team I generally play on consists of Dennis, Max, Ivan and me.  I have been watching Dennis and Max play off and on for 3 [...]

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Well, progress is being made each day.  The flooring started taking shape in the bedroom and the hall.  I have included a few photos from the day…
      
Arkadi is removing old tile in the kitchen.  Sasha is laying the laminate in the hall and then is joined by Viktor.
What will day 8 [...]

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Well, they guys spent much of the day trying to level the floor outside the living room. Much of the flooring should have been replaced, but that would have been VERY expensive and time consuming. I am asking them to do miracles!
It appears the progress has slowed, but the bedroom did get a [...]

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As I sit here working on the web, I am watching CNN International.  Kosovo has just voted to become an independent nation from Serbia.
This has been a long time in the making.
In April 1999, I traveled to Albania to help with all the refugees from Kosovo during the Kosovar War.  Here is what was written [...]

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The guys spent much of the day trying to level the bedroom floor in order to prepare laying the laminate. They also finished “pouring” the concrete in the entry way so that the tile could be laid next week.
They think they will be finished by next Friday with the bulk of the work.
    

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