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!

Ornery Boy

I added a pole today on the right side of this blog. It goes with this post. Cast your votes!

As Canaan gets older, he is more of a joy every day! OK, he is also more of a challenge too! It all started about two weeks before his first birthday. He started figuring out this 'choice' thing. He finally got old enough that he was able to start turning the pages on the books faster, play with the particular toys he was interested in, and not do everything Mommy and Daddy asked. So, here we are, 5 months later, and he is just choosing to exercise his way more than ours.

I guess that is just part of growing up. Mommy and Daddy are having to find ways to convince him that he must do what we say, or else. I think the hardest part about being a parent is being consistent. I am learning that is the only way that he will know I mean what I say. Everyday I feel like it just gets more challenging in this area. I am sure most of you understand what I am saying.

However, no matter how challenging some days can be, each day is a joy. In ways he is permitted to choose how he wants to do things, it is cool to see what he chooses. It is funny to see his favorite book change, his favorite toys become different favorites, his speech develop, etc. You can see little bits of Mommy, Daddy, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc in his personality. It is great!

One thing it all does is make me develop more of an understanding and respect for God. He IS consistent: I can always count on what He says. He loves us, no matter how many wrong choices we make. I also have learned that saying sorry and asking for forgiveness is a necessary step in changing my attitude so that I don't make those same mistakes over and over. It also shows Him that I am serious about my sin and desire to change. There are many more things too. I love how having a kid is growing my relationship with God. I pray that I may always grow closer to Him as I strive to follow in the steps of Jesus, no matter where they lead!

On a lighter note: Canaan ate a whole handful of dirt the other day for the first time. Yuk! Thankfully, it didn't kill him, so no worries!

My Classmates

I thought I would introduce you to a few of my classmates.

The first picture from left to right:
Dulce (from Brazil-she is working here as a missionary with the Catholic church)
Alicia (from Texas- she helps train Russian preachers in jobs that will help them be able to preach and support themselves; she also wants to work with Russian street children)
Me
Yulker (from Turkey- she is married to a Turkish man who works here with grocery store chains)
Jung-Ki (from Korea- he is learning Russian so he can work with his uncle in his construction business here in Moscow)
Terry (from France- he recently moved here with his Russian wife and daughter)

The second picture is of Jung-Ki, Jin-Kiong (she is from Korea and wants to be a translator), and I. They came over one night for dinner. They are both classmates of mine.

The last picture is of me with Navar. She is my Syrian friend from school. She is here with her parents (her father works at the Syrian embassy). We walk to the metro together most days since we are going the same general direction.

Hope you enjoy. I have a lot of fun with my classmates. We've gotten to know each other well. A new classmate named Camella from Romania is not pictured. There are two others who are 'in' our class, but don't come very often. We've had others come in and out as well. It is an ever-changing environment; we have new teachers and new classmates periodically. But, there are a few of us who've been there since the beginning. Anyway, this is my life Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9:30 to 2:50. I'll be in classes for a while longer. During the summer Dougle and I will both be using a private tutor (since the prices for language classes in the summer jumps, since that is when a lot of people come in and take). Then, we hope that Dougle can start up classes in the Fall to help finish up some of his grammar learning, while I continue with the private tutor.

Keep my classmates and I in your prayers!

17 Months

17 Months
Current Height: 79 cm/31.1 inches tall
No of Teeth: 16
ORNERY!!
Yes, he is still pretty bald! When my parents visited, my mom thought he looked more bald than before when she first arrived. After being here for almost two weeks, she had decided he'd grown a lot of hair while they were here. I think he is probably just holding steady with the same amount that he's had for a while!
Current Favorite Books: Old MacDonald Had a Farm and My Little People Farm (lift the flap book)
New Words: No, cup (pup), water (wawr), people (pepo), belly button (bee-boh), off (ahh), knee, bib, hat (haaa), A (the letter), O (also in reference to the letter)
Favorite No-No's: not coming when called and touching the computer (we are really cracking down on these!)

New Stunts: He is starting to get a little more adventurous. As you can see in the photo, he thinks the tricycle is great for standing and balancing acts. He also loves to climb up the playground stairs (a little plastic slide) and slide down, though I still have to sit him down at the top of the slide or he'd dive head first! He runs around the house a lot too, still loves to throw balls, and love to get into everything!

New Fun Things:

• He is getting more interested in singing. We try to do the motions if the song has them. This is fun. He loves reading books that we sing with (like his Old MacDonald Book or a 12 Apostles book that I sing to instead of read the words).
  
• His Aunite Livia sent him a puzzle recently; it is one that has the picture of the piece on the board to help kids learn how to do them. Canaan loves doing this puzzle. One big draw is that it is a puzzle about different types of transportation and they make noise when you put the piece in the puzzle!! Dougle has decided he will buy Auntie Livi's kids lots of noisy toys when she has them!
  
• Canaan also loves to help Mommy around the house. When I sweep, he follows me around begging for the broom. When I start to mop, he goes around sweeping everything and tries to put the broom in the bucket! He still doesn't like the vacuum- so we don't do that very often when he's around!
  
• Canaan loves to look out our kitchen window. He stands below it, looks up and says, "Truck!" He always likes to watch the little patch of road you can see, as well as the kids and animals below. The other day he was saying "cycle" but I didn't see one. I thought he was talking about something else until Dougle came over and spotted it too! He has such good EYESIGHT and is very observant- to notice dogs and bicycles from 12 stories up!
• Canaan is learning so much. He hasn't had a whole lot of new words since we moved (which to be expected a bit), but it is amazing how much he understands! He can identify many parts of his body, some in Russian too. He also can identify many animals and a few shapes. He loves to point to different objects in his word book when we ask him where they are. He can follow many simple commands and chimes in when we say words that he knows and likes to say. It is just so amazing how much he is absorbing from his surroundings. It also makes us remember just how much we have to be extra careful about what we are saying in front of him!
• One funny thing: everything that can be opened is a door. He seems to know that actual doors are a little different from drawers (they do sound similar) and lids. Yes, he comes over to us with containers and says 'door' so that we will open them for him. It is so cute!
  

Eating: I think I talked about this in a previous blog, but it is still happening: at times he will forget that he likes certain foods we eat. Just at the sight of certain new foods (or foods we've eaten), he will turn away. I have made a point to make him at least TRY ONE BITE of something before he decides not to eat it. Well, getting this first bite down is often a very difficult battle; since Canaan has realized that Mommy always wins these battles, he is getting a little less resistent about trying new things- which is nice for Mommy! Anyway, most of the time, he will gladly eat what he at first turned his nose up at, after chewing the first bite. The only thing he consistently won't eat is cheese. Oh, and it is very cool to me that he eats SOUP! I didn't know kids his age would even eat it, but he does and loves it!

There is much more I could write. Life is just so fun and challenging with a little one year old running around. But, I'll leave you with all that for now. Blessings to everyone!

Slideshow of the Grandparent's Visit

I hope you can look through the slide show. It goes along with the text below about my parent's visit! Enjoy!

Grand-Nan and Grand-Dad's Visit

Bear with my novel! I just had a lot to write about my parent's visit- since that is what was happening here the past few weeks. We had a great visit with my parents. As it goes, we were pretty exhausted when they left (and I think they were too!). I've entered in a bit about their trip. Hope you enjoy!

ARRIVAL DAY

Kirt and Nancy left Lubbock Tuesday afternoon. They arrived in Moscow, having slept very little, on Wednesday morning, around 6am- Lubbock time. In Moscow, it was around 3pm. The airport, Sherymeteva, is actually about 15km north of Moscow. It took us about 100 minutes to get there, having taken both metro and marshrut (a small bus), to get there. We were excited for my parents to arrive. I knew they would be very tired, but I knew it would be easy to keep them awake until bedtime. They were very happy and in great spirits when they arrived. Everything seemed to go well for them; passing through customs was a breeze and all their luggage arrived on time with them! A perfect start! Once they got through to us, we just had to wait a few minutes before our taxi-van arrived to pick us up. We had arranged for a larger vehicle to pick us up, since it would be us four adults, Canaan, several large bags, and a stroller. Yes, we got our new stroller! It is great. We opened it up right away and put Canaan in it since he was getting tired and needed a place to be. After a two hour ride in the van, we all arrived at our apartment. Everyone was pretty tired after all the traveling and excitement, but we stayed up opening various gifts and surprises they had brought with them. It felt like Christmas in March!

CITY TOURS

Taking people to Red Square is awesome! I love to go there myself, and it seems to inspire much awe and reflection on those who visit. Not only is Red Square an awesome site, it also brings to mind much imagery we have of the once Soviet Union. How much has changed since then! My parents were taken in with Red Square. They talked again of how just a few years ago, they never would have imagined themselves being in Russia, in Red Square. We walked near the Kremlin Wall, looked on the outside of Lenin’s tomb (he is currently unavailable- as one newspaper put it- he is undergoing ‘mummy maintenance’). So, we did not have the option to take a peek at him, something I haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing yet. We walked around Saint Basils and actually got to go inside. That was a lot of fun, since I had never been inside it before. It is much different than the Catholic Churches I was accustomed to, having lived in Mexico. There were many paintings on the brick walls, not as much gold plastered everywhere. Then we walked to look over the Moscow River. It was cool that day; we all got a little chilly, but not too bad!

One of the days here, they were stuck with me, Lucy, as their guide. I didn’t know how much I really depended on Dougle until then. I had to read the metro signs by myself, figure out the best way to get from one place to another, and tell them what everything was. So, they got the 5 cent tour, as they called it. “Umm…this is probably an important building….Those monuments over there, they are dedicated to some cities in some war that did something….This statue is of some famous person- the date seems to indicate that maybe it was the founder of Moscow?!” Pretty pathetic. I did decide I need to brush up on some of my Moscow/Russian history and get to know the sites around here better. But, we had fun none-the-less.

Another day we went to a lookout point near the university. We got off the metro one stop early because it was actually a metro stop that was over the Moscow River. It is pretty cool. That did mean that we had to do some hiking and climbing up some stairs to get from the river bank to the lookout point. We all made it up. We were able to look over the city, admire one of the Seven Stalin buildings up-close, and do a bit of souvenir looking. We were getting pretty hungry and wanted to eat blini (a type of crepe with different fillings of meat, veggies or fruit). We went to the stand only to see two women sitting silently on the inside of the booth, staring out at us, with a sign in the window that read ‘technical break.’ We waited about 10 minutes, but since they weren’t going to open up for us, we decided to catch a bus to Victory Park and eat there. The bus, however, took a long time to come. We’d already been outside for at least 2 hours and we were only getting colder as we stood waiting for the bus. When we finally gave up on the bus and decided to look for a taxi, it came. The bus ride was a bit longer than we expected, but warm. It was a nice break from being outside and on our feet- since we actually all got seats! Yeah! However, the warmth didn’t stick with us very long once we stepped off the bus. Mom got to experience a Russian port-a-potty (it only cost 50 cents). We saw a monument built to commemorate the Russians stopping the advances of Napoleon into Moscow, as well as Victory Park. We took pictures in front of the main obelisk and dry fountains- that are a much prettier sight in the warm summer sunshine with the water running- and decided to head for the mall the eat. We took them down to the deepest metro in the world and rode two stops to the Kievskya mall, where we enjoyed a warm and delicious lunch of blini and hamburgers!

CULTURE SHOCK

So, Mom and Dad are doing great, but they are experiencing a bit of culture shock. Dougle and Dad ran to get some stain, sandpaper, and various other items. They left Mom at home with no knowledge of where the diapers were (oops); no worries though, Canaan loves to run around naked! When they arrived back home, Dougle exclaimed that it went so much easier and faster since they didn’t have Canaan with them (remember- Dougle is still getting used to the ‘baby factor’ of living in Moscow). Mom looked at her watch and wondered how being gone 5 hours could be described as either ‘quick’ or ‘easy!’

Dad is having a hard time not being able to communicate. He has resulted to crude signs and gestures to try to find things. This morning, however, as I was leaving for school, I noticed he was using babble fish (an online translator) to make out a grocery list. I found out that he went shopping on his own and was able to find almost everything he wanted. A very kind lady at the store took his list and helped him find everything that was on it. I think that made him feel a little better, but he continues to remark how difficult the language is!

Mom said she feels like she is looking at all the words backwards- like looking at the wrong side of a window on which words are written. What a great expression! It does feel like that at times, because there are a few letters that are written as backward English letters!

A GREAT TRIP

Canaan really enjoyed his grandparents being here. Dad was his reading buddy. Since Dad was waking up at 5am most mornings, he would take care of Canaan when he woke up, and let us sleep in. It was great! Mom played with his toys and puzzle with Canaan. She also helped me make him obey. It was so nice to have some helpful advice it training the boy. It is great to have a fresh take on things every-once-in-a-while. Dougle enjoyed all the help too, since Dad was his new shopping buddy. That meant he didn’t have to carry everything back to the house by himself. It was like someone was helping lift a weight off his shoulder for a few days! Mom was my gaming and talking buddy. We all were able to play some Mexican Train, Nine Card Golf, and LOTS of rounds of Boggle. It was great!

GOODBYE

While they were here, we spent a lot of time figuring out what to do when we had to leave the country in April to renew our visas. We priced and contemplated several options. We considered several European cities but decided to fly to Houston. Singapore Airlines just opened a non-stop flight from Moscow to Houston this week! It is at a low enough cost, coupled with the fact that being in the States to renew our visas is a third of the price as it would cost else-where, that it turns out to be the best (and most reliable) deal for us! So, knowing that we would see my parents again in less than a month (I can’t go to Houston without making the trip quick to Lubbock!) made goodbyes so much easier! What a wonderful way to end a wonderful visit! At four in the morning, we put my parents in a taxi and sent them off to catch their 7am flight to Lubbock! We love you Grand-dad and Gran-nan! Thank you for visiting us!

VISITORS!!

No, our visitors aren't from outer-space, they are Grand-Dad and Gran-Nan!!

Grand-Dad and Gran-Nan, aka. Kirt and Nancy, arrived on Wednesday, March 12th. (That is part of the reason I have been 'absent' from blogging lately!) Canaan was SOOOO happy to see them walk through those gates at the airport. He has been busy playing with them, reading with them, and giving us all some good laughs. One phrase that is often repeated in the house these days is "He is SOO ornery." I think he gets it from Dougle. :) But Canaan is really enjoying their visit. They have been here for almost a week and got their first full night of sleep last night, for which we were all very grateful! They've been waking up for several hours at night, and/or waking up early in the morning (like around 5am). But they have done super well. We have managed to keep them warm most of the time; the temperatures have been around 40 degrees during the day time and dip to around freezing at night. Pretty good weather. Today, however, was a bit colder and we were outside for several hours. This meant we were all getting cold. In some of the pictures we took today, Grand-Dad and Gran-Nan are huddled up, looking a little bit cold! We've been enjoying their company (you know how it can be when you move somewhere new and don't know anyone), playing games together, showing them the Moscow sites, and their help (they help clean and cook while we are doing our Russian lessons)! It is great.
We are enjoying their visit SOO much, that we fall in bed exhausted at night. But, I wanted to show you a few pictures of their visit thus far. I will fill in with more pictures and details later!

And, I wanted to say THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! to those of you who sent love or gifts for us! Thank you to the Elmores for buying us a new stroller since our other one broke; thank you to Farrah, Seth and the boys for the movies, books and clothes for Canaan. Thank you Ernestine and Hollis for the clothes and books for Canaan, as well as for the 'meals out' money. (WE really needed new books- Mommy was getting tired of reading the same ones over and over!) Thank you to Beth Cunningham for the umbrellas; thank you to Aunty Livi and David for the clothes, puzzle and toys for Canaan, and the ketchup packets you saved up for us (you have to pay 50 cents a packet for ketchup at McDonald's). As with thank yous, I am sure I missed someone, but my brain is about shut down for the night. So, I thank that person I have forgotten! Of course, thank you to my parents too! They came, they brought all kinds of toys, books, some clothes, and various food items that we can't get or can't get very easily here. And they brought many greetings from everyone. It is so awesome and so comforting to know that we are not in this mission alone: we have people backing us with prayers, money, love, and encouragement. We couldn't do it without all of you. Thank you for all your comments you leave on the blogs and the notes you send through e-mail. These mean more than you can imagine!!