Lots of subjects

Big praise! They brought the baby to Tanya for half an hour! They say that he has no sucking reflex, and they want to take him to a hospital, though. (Hospitals and "birth homes" are different places.) Pavel has set up a meeting today with the pediatrician to talk about that. Hopefully, the doctor will be more clear? polite? easy to deal with?--I don't know what to say there--when she talks to Pavel, rather than Tanya. Pray that the baby will start sucking, at least from a bottle, before Monday. I also gave Pavel the contact information for the lactation consultant in Vladimir. I doubt that they would let her into the birth house, but maybe that's pessimistic. I am praying that she can help somehow!

I don't want to give the impression that the whole Russian medical system is bad. This Dark Ages birth house in Kovrov is just notoriously awful. The local hospital is quite good. And in other cities there is often the option of having the father at the birth or afterwards, for a fee. Most Russian men can't seem to understand why they would want to pay for that, though.

We're back up and running with email! I just don't have any addresses, so please write to me. I can't really get on the internet, so if that's how you had contact with me, you can email me instead (mayakovsky@willphyl.com).

Anna and Abby are in Viazniki or on their way to Karabanovo now. With the bugs and heat and sunburn, Sudogda was really hard for Anna, so she requested that they not go back out there for the second session. Will is still in Sudogda. He reports that God has really been answering prayers about the weather. Yes, it's still hot, but yesterday when there weren't any children there, they prayed for rain. As soon as they finished praying, the wind started blowing, and late afternoon brought a huge thunder storm. "But only one tent collapsed." Now you can go back to praying for cooler weather without rain. Also, pray for Will; when he gets sunburned, he gets a bad rash, and of course I forgot to send the Benadryl with him.

We're doing well here. The children miss Will, and they seem fussier than usual. Pasha B. asked Jaan where his Papa is, and Jaan replied, "Sleeping in the forest." I guess he understood at least part of my explanation about tents and camping and where Papa is. Yesterday we did go over to work in our garden a tiny bit, and we had salad for supper that included our own lettuce and radishes!

Oh! I almost forgot a big piece of news: there will be a day camp here after all! Pasha got permission to have it right in our own neighborhood. Please pray for all the details that have to be taken care of now.