Houston-Dallas-Lubbock

Our trip so far has been fast! We had an awesome experience flying on Singapore Air, which I am sure most of you have read about on Dougle's blog. The day after we arrived, the first thing we did was drop off our passports and visa applications at the consulate in Houston. It is supposed to take 7-10 working days to process, but we just received confirmation that they have been processed. We will pick them up as soon as we arrive back in Houston. We are still praying for a year long visa with no restrictions.

We spent our first few days with Guy, Nancy and Aspen Stover. They are close friends of ours who graciously took care of us while we went through some jet lag. We all woke up at 4am the first morning. Of course, by 7pm that night, we were wondering just how late we really needed to stay up!! We did pretty good about not taking a nap, except for day two- which was by far the worst as far as jet lag was concerned. But we had a good time hanging out with the Stover family and look forward to spending more conscious time with them on our way out of the country!

The next stop was Dallas. Because of our trip dates, we were able to attend a missions dinner and mini seminar with Missions Resource Network (MRN). Our team was able to be together, with Livia and David coming in from Lubbock, as well as Rob and Denyce and their boys from Phoenix. On Sunday, we attended Prestoncrest church of Christ. They have given our team some one time support and are looking into the possibilities of supporting David and Olivia. We had a great day there, and were even able to meet a Russian couple who had come into the States to speak at a lectureship. Who knew that we'd have an opportunity to learn our newfound Russian language (faltering as it is) in the United States?!

On Sunday evening we flew into Lubbock. Canaan recognized familiar sites when we arrived at my parent's house. He loved being able to play in a familiar environment and around familiar people. My mom calls these familiar people his "fan club," because we all just sit around, watching him play, applauding his good behavior and smart antics, etc. He is enjoying it immensely! However, just before leaving Dallas, Canaan fell sick with a nasty little bug. He had three runny diapers in three hours. The next day, it was coming from both ends. Unlike most toddlers, he graciously shared; therefore, my mom, Dougle, David, and now Beth have all been sick with the same thing. Our last few days have been filled with laundry and disinfectant! Thankfully, it seems like everyone is on the up-swing (except Beth, who just contracted this) and we hope to have the house sick-free in a few days. Keep our health in your prayers.

Overall, our trip so far has gone fast and furious, as expected. We were unexpectedly out a few days with the sickness, but hope to get caught up on seeing those people and doing those things we want to get done before heading back to Moscow. We head to Houston on Monday evening, and back to Russia on Thursday, May 1st. We hope to see those of you we can at some point, but hope the rest of you are doing well. We love you all!

Carol and Ashtin

Well, I must say, I feel really bad about how long it has taken me to write about Carol and Ashtin coming to Texas. It is always a big deal when people visit us here in Lubbock. Why? Because we know they are 100% coming to see US! I mean really, what else attracts people to Lubbock. There is prairie dog town and Buddy Holly.... Enough said. Carol and Ashtin drove down with my parents from Ohio. Ashtin has started the AIM program this year. We are all so proud of her and so happy about this decision. I really think AIM is one of the best things young people can be involved in. What other time in your life do you have to devote fully to the Lord? When you are in college, there is studying (for some people, anyway). Once you finish, it is getting started with your career and paying off student loans. Then you have kids and everything that comes with being a responsible parent. Next comes mid-life-crisis's, paying for your kids' college, being grandparents, retirement, etc. There is no better and more convenient time to sacrifice completely to maturing your relationship with God before you get sucked into the world. I really think it gives kids a head start in dealing with the rest of their life (though many think it is a set-back because they don't get started right away with college). Just because AIM is not college doesn't mean it is easy, or a cop-out, or a putting off of a higher education. AIM is probably one of the hardest things I've experienced in my life, but one of the best things. It gave me a foundation to start to put into practice the spiritual foundation my parents instilled in me, and start to make them my own. AIM helped solidify my focus and priorities in life. Okay, I will get off my soap-box and talk about their visit now!
Carol came to drop Ashtin off (so I guess it wasn't just to see us!). We were able to meet Ashtin's roommates, see her new apartment, go to the opening banquet and see all her classmates, and then some.... She's even been back to do laundry and hang out. (That was just because it was the first week and she didn't have a million things to do yet!) We did get to have a very nice visit with Carol. One thing I always look forward to when we are with my mom's family is the games we play! I am a big game person (though I married a non-gamest...I am still trying to convert him); I love all manner of games. So, we played games, shopped and Carol got to hang out with Canaan and see how true the rumors were that we have the MOST WONDERFUL BABY ON THE PLANET! It was great!
Just a note: in the picture, Canaan is giving Ashtin a kiss. He has started to do this recently- on his own terms, of course. They are the wonderful, first, slobbery, wet kisses that toddlers give! You can tell by the foto how much Ashtin is enjoying hers!