Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all! We hope that you have had a Merry Christmas this year! We actually had a white Christmas! It started snowing about 4 days before. We have a couple inches on the ground now, which was a great gift to us all! Snow makes the cold so much more bearable!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We had our little family Christmas on Christmas morning and spent the day with the Hindman family and Brandon and Katie Price who are here visiting. We had a great time. Christmas Eve, we were able to Skype my parents and open some gifts through Skype! It was neat because they were able to see us and we could talk to them as we opened the gifts! The internet has been such a blessing for us! God is good.

We hope to post more soon. We've been busy, but doing very well. We have pictures and stories to share in the next few days. God bless you and your family during this holiday time!

The McDougle Three and a half

(picture courtesy of Brandon Price)

The Silver Car

For more "real" info on the car, you can check out our family blog: http://www.mcdouglefamily.com and I'll try to post pictures soon. We just keep forgetting to take them during daylight hours (before 3:30pm)!

Guess what? We have a car! It took a while waiting around for Mommy and Daddy to do some paperwork, but we finally got it. When we took our first drive, I was very excited!! I could tell Mommy and Daddy were very excited too. The fun/scary part was that our first drive in our new car was at 4pm, when it is already pitch black! "It dark out here," I said. We went outside and Daddy put me in my car seat. "Get in car seat!" I said. "Buck up!" It is a good thing Mom and Dad brought my car seat to Ukraine! Then I pointed to the seat in front and said, "Daddy sit here." I just know lots of stuff and like to show it off. I was really excited as we all got in the car and bucked (buckled) up. Then we started going. "Daddy driving," I said. I play with cars and trucks enough to know what was going on. Normally I am not this excited to ride in a car (I have ridden several times in taxis), but I felt Mommy and Daddy's excitement and it made me all giddy too!
I think Mommy and Daddy were a bit nervous, since they don't know all the rules here in Ukraine yet, but Daddy did great. At one point we started to go and I encouraged him with a "Go faster!" They just laughed. I think the speed limits are slow here.
We went to two places in one night. When we were finally going home, I said, "Canaan, Mommy, Daddy ride in black car!" over and over. Then they told me it was not black, but silver. That is a new color for me. Plus, it was dark and looked black! But, I finally agreed and now I talk about our silver car. Then I said, "like fun!" (I think it means, I like to have fun.) Later that night, Chi and Silas came over to take baths (they didn't have hot water for 3 days). Then Daddy took them home in my new car. I said, "Canaan go in Canaan's new car!" But Mommy said tomorrow I could.
Our new car is great! It keeps me out of the cold and makes Mommy and Daddy so happy, just like it makes me. And now, sometimes when I am playing with a toy car, I pretend it is our new silver car and that Mommy, Daddy and Canaan are all in it!

Our Trip to Kiev

Well, I realized I haven't written yet about our trip to Kiev. It was a few weeks ago, but I'll give you a short update.

Dougle and I left early Sunday morning on the train and arrived in Kiev around 1pm. We were picked up by the apartment rental agency we used. It is the same company we used to procure these temporary apartments here in Kharkov. You can stay in an apartment for 1-2 nights, or for months, and it is cheaper than the hotels. Plus, it has a fridge/kitchen so you can bring food home to make/eat. Anyway, they took us to where we were staying, which was about a 5-7 minute walk from the center, which was nice. We rested for a bit, since the train wasn't very good for sleeping on, and then went out to get a city map and look around the area. We had a nice time walking around that night, even in the foggy mist that hovered over the city.

The next day we went to find the German clinic we'd been recommended. We walked in and it was the most American looking place that we've seen since coming to Eastern Europe. There was a desk and a waiting room, just like you would expect to see! And, one of the receptionists spoke English! Unfortunately, there was a misunderstanding somewhere, and this clinic was like all the rest we seem to find: they only do pre-natal and not delivery. They recommend places for delivery, but they are Ukrainian places, just like we have in Kharkov. We then contacted the American clinic in Kieve too, and they had the same deal. So, we decided Kiev was not the place to deliver! It just wasn't much different from what we have in Kharkov, as far as delivery is concerned. If we have other needs they can't fullfill here in Kharkov, I think Kiev has some better options. Just not for baby delivery!

That night Dougle and I were able to find and eat at TGI Fridays! It was a nice treat for us! We had tried a "Tex-Mex" Ukrainian place earlier, but it was nothing like Tex-Mex. The first hint: they put shredded carrots in our burritoes and their guacomole sause had dill in it! So, eating some fajitas with all the "right" trimmings was wonderful! We also had some fried mozzarella sticks...which I love!!

The next morning, bright and early, we hopped back on the train to Kharkov. There we were re-united with our sweet boy! He had stayed with his Uncle David and Aunt Livia, for his first night away from us! But he did great, and they did a great job taking care of him! We were also blessed with being able to talk on the phone to him a couple times while we were gone, as well as Skype. And when we arrived home, Canaan was truly happy to see us, which made our hearts happy too!!

So, we were praying for an answer, and it seemed pretty clear. We will continue with our plans to deliver in Kharkov. I have been very happy with my ob-gyn, and we will be able to register to deliver at the hospital of our choice when I am 36 weeks along. Thank you for all your prayer concerning this adventure of ours. We continue to pray for a continued healthy pregnancy, as well as a healthy birth, with no complications! Thank you for lifting us up before the Father in this! We love you!

Back Again!

Hello everyone! It has been a long time since my last update, so I have lots to tell. I hope you all have been having a blessed past few weeks!

Last week we moved into Livia and Dave's apartment (our apartment isn't available until January 1st), Rob and Denyce moved into their new place, Dougle and I started back to language learning, and I had another doctor visit (every 2 weeks now that I am 7 months along)! At our doctor visit, we had an ultrasound. It was a great ultrasound; perhaps the most modern machine in the entire clinic! Dougle thought he looked just like Canaan in his ultrasounds, with big cheeks and all, while I thought he looked a bit different, with a longer head compared to Canaan's round head. We will see soon! Overall, Max is head down already and looking very healthy. He's been really active lately too!

Canaan's personality blooms more everyday! He is also learning lots everyday and getting more ornery too! Here are a few things that we've been working on/he's been learning recently:

• "All by myself." Canaan has learned this phrase and uses it often. He likes to be independent in many ways, such as walking up and down the stairs to and from our apartment, climbing out of his bed, eating, and everything else. If he tries and can't do it alone, he will say, "Too hard." And sometimes, he will just say, "Heeeelp!" with the BIGGEST Texas accent ever. I am not sure where he picked up the accent on that word!! But it is hilarious!

• We realized about a month ago that we talk in third person with Canaan. I am not sure why! But we say, "Mommy is doing this....Canaan can help Daddy...etc." So, he talks like this too, referring to himself as Canaan. So, we've been trying to start speaking normally, though it is hard after talking that way for a while. I am not sure what made us start talking like that; perhaps we thought it was more clear for him when he first started talking? But now we are trying to use lots of personal pronouns, like: me, my, you, your, I, and mine. He is progressing, but he still gets confused a lot with which one to use! "Daddy, help you." and such are common phrases he uses still!

• New! New! In addition to us moving to David and Liv's, his good friend Chi moved too! So, we've been talking a lot about new homes. Everyone is getting new homes. And when Liv and Dave return from South Africa, they will be moving and then a few days later we will be able to move into our new apartment. So we will be having lots of "new houses" over the next month. Please pray for his quick adjustment. He has been starting to wake up crying in the middle of naps and the night. I am not sure if it is connected to the moves or just a normal part of his growing up. But keep him in your prayers. He has moved quite a bit recently!

• Canaan talks more in sentences, repeating phrases that we say, and making new ones himself. He tells himself to "be careful" a lot when he is doing something more risky, like going off the couch head first, and when he gets hurt, he says, "I sorry!" It is so sweet.

• Plurals. Canaan has been using plurals for quite a while now, which is impressive to me. But he doesn't always get them right. Sometime he adds plurals to adjectives as well as the nouns, resulting in something like: reds trucks. At other times, he adds them to words that don't need them, like: mines and peoples. It is fun to see him develop and learn these difficult concepts.

• For about a week, we had some speech issues. Canaan started repeating the last sound of each word/sentence multiple times. He would say: red-d-d truck-k-k. Sometimes it was just once, sometimes he would draw it out for 5 or 6 times: truck-K-K-K-K-K. Of course, we didn't know what to do. At first we laughed, because we didn't know it was going to continue. But it did. For days. Then we tried to correct him, telling him not to do it. Then we worried. What should we do? Discipline him when he does it (because he was doing it on purpose), or ignore it? Of course, being the Mommy, I was just worried he would give himself a speech impediment if he didn't stop! We wrestled with it, but decided to ignore it. After a few days it went away. It pops back up every once in a while, but we just continue to ignore it and he stops after an hour or so. Who knew being a Mommy and Daddy could be so difficult and confusing?!

• For those of you who don't know, we sometimes call Canaan "MONK" after the TV show. He has certain tendencies to like everything in order. He likes all doors closed, he lines up his cars and trucks (since very young- and they all face the same direction too), and many other things. His latest little "Monk fetish" is that if we have a series of books, he likes to read ALL of them if we read one. We can't just read one. If he finds one, and it is part of a series, he goes off to find the others before we start reading. We had 2 series of 3-4 books, but then mom sent us two packs of manners books- which he loves and has already started to memorize! However, each pack contains 6 books, which means we have to read all six if we read one! What a silly little boy we have!!

Well, thanks for bearing with the long post. I'll try to keep up better with it, even being busy! We love you all and miss you, especially during the holidays! Take care and God bless!

Mommy and Max Adventures

On Wednesday, Max, Daddy and Mommy went to the doctor for a visit! Ira, my faithful and wonderful interpreter, met us at 7:30am in the metro. We wanted to get there early so we could try to get ahead of the crowds. I came with my stack of papers, which had the various tests I needed, with their room numbers and times they were open. They were all open in the morning, which worked out nicely for us. I also had with me a syringe that I’d purchased at the pharmacy for about 15 cents, as well as my urine sample, in a plastic sour cream container!  

Though Dougle couldn’t go to the doctor appointment with me this time, he came for his test. He was required to get some type of lung x-ray. We are thinking it was to test for TB, but aren’t sure! For his test, he had to step inside a narrow black box, with his chest up against the wall and his chin up. Then, he was asked to hold his breath when they closed the door. He did, for about 5 seconds, and then it was done. Total cost: 50 cents! Of course, then he had to go to a separate place to pay and bring the receipt back. Apparently the test would have been free, but we had gone to a clinic that was outside our region where we live. So, we paid an “out of region” fee for all our tests (all about 50 cents each).  

For my tests, we had to go to several different rooms for each test. When we arrived at the room number, instead of having a list you sign your name onto, we just walked up to the crowd waiting around and asked who was next. Ok, WE didn’t ask, Ira did! ? Then we said we were next in line. As people showed up, they just asked who was next and that is how the line went. The first room was just a finger prick, to test for gestational diabetes. It was very interesting, as I watched her squeeze my blood into a glass dropper and then blow it out into a little container for holding blood. She also smeared some blood on two glass slides. After that, we went to another room, getting again in line. Here, I accidentally got confused at whom we were after in line and we went out of turn. Dougle was waiting in the hall at this point and said that someone started yelling at the man who let us in. They were yelling at him for letting us in when it wasn’t our turn, and he said he did because I was pregnant! Then the same lady yelled at us when we came out after they drew my blood for other tests. Oops. That was my mistake! 

We went to another room to pay for that test, which was about $3 and our out of region fee. Then we went to get my cardio-gram. I am not sure how they are done in the United States, but this seemed like it might be different! But I am not a doctor and don’t know. I laid on a bed and rolled up my pant legs. She clamped two things on my legs and two clamps on my upper arms. Then she put suction cup things on my chest. After a few minutes, a machine spit out a print out of wavy lines all over it. We had to go to another room where the nurse told me it looked great, then to pay the fee, and then back to the original room to tell her my “normal” diagnosis from the other nurse and turn in my receipt!  After that, we went to a different room to turn in my urine sample. Mine was the only one in a sour cream container. All the rest were in glass or plastic jars. Note to self for next time! It took from about 8am to around 10am to get all this done. Then we went to the doctor’s office (in the same building) and waited our turn in line, the same way that we’d done at all the other stops. 

The doctor was very nice. Her nurse had all my files out and ready. She went through some paper work, asking about my previous delivery and about some family history, as well as giving us a form to fill out at home and bring back. It is in Ukrainian, which will be a challenge, since we’ve heard it is pretty different from Russian! I had my check-up and then they scheduled me for my next visit, two weeks later. The nurse also filled parts of a registration booklet about my pregnancy and visits so far (from the records in Moscow, as well as those here). So, now I have my official pregnancy registration, that I’ve been instructed to carry with me at all times! On the way out of the clinic, we had to stop by and get it stamped to show it was official!

Ahead of time Ira had called us and told us about customary “tip” that is given to the head doctor and my doctor. It was to say thank you for letting us go to their clinic, since I live out of region and am a foreigner. Ira said that doctors are toward the bottom end of the pay scale and don’t get paid very much here in Ukraine. So, customary tipping helps insure better service. Ira even brought some pink envelopes to put the money into (which was about $45 dollars for each). We gave these to the doctor and then left. 

Overall, I had a good experience. The clinic there is pretty worn down; the building is old, 1/3 of the lights in the halls are burnt out, and the heating doesn’t work, so you have to wear your coat in the hallways. However, the exam rooms are warm, with electrical heating, and best of all, the doctors and nurses seem to be very friendly and helpful. We are happy with our pre-natal care so far!

Our next task: finding a doctor and hospital for delivery. We are going to Kiev this weekend (leaving Sunday on a 6 hour express train) to check out two private clinics there: a German clinic and American clinic. Then, we hope to be able to take my pregnancy registration documents I received at my last visit to the hospital here in Kharkov. We’ve heard several good things about it from several people, my OB-Gyn even commenting how it was the best here in the city. So, hopefully we will be able to do more question asking and look around next time we go in to check it out! 

Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement as we figure this all out!

Little Things and Pictures

Hello again! Well, we've been having fun recently, getting settled into the culture, looking for an apartment (which we hope to sign a contract on a more permanent place soon!), visiting doctors, etc. Things have been going well. We even hope to start up language classes again next week, since we have been able to get several important things accomplished in the last two weeks! I went to the doctor again, which I have some interesting stories from that, so you will have to stay tuned for those stories. 

Tonight 

I am just posting a short blog with pictures of Canaan in the past few weeks. We've been having fun, as always, watching him develop. Today his new word is "soon." He was bidding goodbye to his Grand-Dad and Gran-Nan on Skype and said, "Back soon." He also has

 picked up the work "pop-corn" from a Veggie Tale video where a giant popcorn meteor is coming. He has decided he likes this word, even though he has no idea what it means, and says it randomly throughout the day and smiles! Dougle has decided we must pop some popcorn for him soon!

I hope you enjoy some of the pictures. 

• The tree is a fall craft that Canaan did. We did it with Malachi and Denyce, too, which makes crafts even more fun!
  
• Canaan likes to hold things under his chin. In this picture, Canaan brought all his markers with him for his diaper change. He held all he could in his hands and put the rest under his chin!
• Then there is our cutie as he sleeps. He is getting too big for his pack and play, but we've been waiting for a permanent place before we buy a bed for him. We've just been "in between" places for so long, that he will be all grown up out of his bed soon!
• Then there is the "marker make-up." He got carried away with drawing on his white board and it ended up looking like dashing eye shaddow!
• Monkey Love. The last picture is of Canaan with his singing monkey he got for his birthday from Grandma Janie and Poppop. Thank you...for the loud, singing monkey! 

Doctors and Mentors

Hello! Sorry for the long absence. We have been having a hard time keeping up with e-mail and blog posting since we haven't had internet at our house. We are so spoiled! However, great news, we got it up and working just a few hours ago! So, this is a bit long of a post, but I am catching you up on my doctor adventures so far, as well as our visit from the Jarboes!

The last week has gone well for us in Ukraine. We are now all over our illnesses, have done some shopping around (pricing and getting some more of those household ‘necessities’), and have been checking out various venues for pre-natal and the delivery of Max. Dougle has been trying to read a bit in a local newspaper and one day came home with a different paper than normal. When he opened it up, we knew God had a hand in his picking it up, because there was a whole section devoted to ranking the top 5 hospitals for delivery in Kharkov! He got out his dictionary and spent time looking over what it had to say. We were pleased with what they reported, since it was a bit out of the ordinary for normal hospitals here. A few things we were pleased about was that the top ranked hospital had options for private rooms for delivery and recovery, allowed the baby to stay in the room with the mother, as well as allowing some visitors. In addition, they have been able to deliver and care for at least one baby that was born weighing just over a pound, which gives me comfort that they have proper equiptment for emergencies. So, while going to Kiev for delivery may still happen, we are going to check out this option here in Kharkov. In fact, we went yesterday to try to visit the clinic, but were turned away because I don't have the right registration papers for being pregnant! Things here in Ukraine seem to require different paperwork than we are used to in the States. So, we were turned away from being able to ask any questions until we had the proper documentations required about my pregnancy. One thing that is also different is that the delivery hospital and doctor is not the same as the doctor and clinic for pre-natal care. So, we had to go to a different clinic to register and set up for my pre-natal appointments. However, though we were turned away at the first attempt, we were able to meet a great girl (she is my age) who has helped us tremedously. One of the missionaries with the Southern Baptist that we have met has been extremely helpful in helping us get some information on set-up and doctors. She also provided us with the name of an interpreter, Ira, who has helped interpret for medical mission groups they've had come. So, she is familiar with some of the medical terminology! Ira turned out to be a triple blessing. She found out where the hospital was, and then when we had to seek out an alternative pre-natal clinic, she made multiple phone calls on our behalf to set up an appointment with a friend of a friend of hers. So, she was able to get me into see a pre-natal doctor the next day (today) so I could be an officially registered pregnant woman!

Today we met Ira at the clinic. After waiting for a while- yes, you have to wait even here in Ukraine for doctors!- we were able to visit with the doctor. She seemed very nice. First she had to look over my records from Moscow and then take them to her head supervisor to make sure they would approve me as a patient, which they did. Then Ira wrote out a hand written application asking for me to be admited as a patient, saying that I would follow the instructions of my doctors. After signing that, and giving my other information (except family history- I have never been asked any type of family history questions either here or in Moscow), we paid the $20 registration fee and were in. They gave me several notes for tests that I needed to come back and get Wednesday morning before coming in for a more 'official' visit. So, bright and early Wednesday morning I will be going in for some blood work (for which I need to bring my own empty syringe), a urine sample (that I collect at home and bring), as well as a gestational diabetes test. Dougle also will be required to have some type of chest x-ray test, which is a first. He was never requried to take tests for my first pregnancy! In addition, we learned that blood types here have different classifications. When I told them Dougle's blood type, they were confused that I gave them a letter for a blood type instead of a 1, 2, 3, or 4 blood type classification. So, we will have to look that up and see what each number cooresponds with!

So, that is our medical adventure so far. We still are planning to check out the hospital here, as well as one in Kiev to try to determine what is best for us. Please pray for us, since we don’t know everything to look for in an adequate hospital! We are just trusting God to give us wisdom and direction in this decision. We are less than 3 months from Max’s arrival!!

Tuesday of this week Jay and Sherry Jarboe, from our sponsoring congregation arrived. We really enjoyed their visit; they were a big part of our team’s mentorship in Texas and have continued to be a great blessing while here. They were here for just a bit over 3 days, since Kharkov was just a pit stop before they head off to the European Family Missionary Retreat where Jay will be speaking. But we sure enjoyed all the time they were able to spend with us! It was nice hearing about their stories from when they were going through adjusting and settling into their mission field in Mexico, years ago! And, they are great with our kiddos, which endears us to them even more. They are like "fill-in" grandparents while they are here, taking time amidst jet lag and listening to us talk, to read books to our kids and play with them. We are so grateful for their time with us!We were able to take them to a Ukrainian restaurant that had been recommended to us. It was very tasty and an excellent place for taking guests to experience the local quizzine. In fact, it was a perfect setting because it wasn’t very noisy like many restaurants can be. In addition, they had a “children’s room” right next to where we were sitting, in which the kids got to go in and be entertained after their meal. The lady who watched the kids was very child friendly, entertaining them with painting, coloring, paper airplanes, balloons, etc! Denyce and I took turns sitting in there with the kids. I got a cute picture of the kids enjoying all the personal attention and entertainment!

Well, that is all for now. We want you all to know we love you and think of you often! Thanks for checking in with us! Hope your week is going great too!