As usual after a weekend, I was greeted by a huge pile of dirty dishes, toys scattered to the four winds, and a mountain of laundry. But it's worth it! Our weekends are very full and fun. We've added in a "physical and spiritual supper" for the youth and young families here after church, hence the dishes and toys. I don't have time to wash diapers on Saturdays, and I think it goes against my principles to wash on Sundays, so the laundry adds up, too.
Saturday night a new guy came to the youth club! So, pray for Misha. He has to come back at least once, because he loaned Will a CD.
Sunday I served everyone a casserole made from leftover turkey and a second pumpkin pie. Will served them the first lesson that he's translated from our NTBI Christian life class notes.
Monday is our day to catch up and spend time together, so I'm off to enjoy my family and chores.
I was going to post Thanksgiving photos, but then I realized that Will
took the camera before I could get the pictures off of it. He's in
Vladimir all day, so pictures will have to wait until tomorrow.
I just spent nap time helping a neighbor from the second floor with
some English. . . some hard English! I think I need to review my
grammar. Can anyone tell me all the verb tenses we have in English?
She was referring to them left and right. Can you explain off the top
of your head what the difference is between "each" and "every"? (I
know the official answer to this one, because I looked it up in my
Oxford answer book.)
When the babies woke up it was a relief to go back to my usual simple
conversations! My brain did appreciate the exercise, though.
Last night we got to see "korova" (a cow), so Jaan's been going around saying "moo" and "korova" all day today. He was rather afraid of the real thing, but still very fascinated. I had a terrible time getting a photo, because he didn't want to be close to the cow (except with me holding him), and he certainly didn't want to take his eyes off of her!
Today I was going to spend the morning outside with the children, so that Will could sleep in a little and then work on Gospelink letters undisturbed. Well, we three woke up to rain, and then Will was awakened by me running in and exclaiming "There's water spraying up under the kitchen sink!"
These days we usually have this little His and Hers potty station set up in the hallway.
Hurrah! For the first time in about two weeks, we have clear blue sky! Guess what we're going to do today?
Just quickly, I'll share about yesterday's and today's walks. Yesterday we went to the woods. Since we didn't see anyone else, I guess other people aren't thinking that this is a good time for a walk in the woods. We enjoyed the solitude, though. Jaan was fascinated by the sound of the wind in the trees. Once Raia fell asleep, we found a log to sit on, and just listened.
Today we stayed closer to home, but we saw a flock of waxwings. Even Raia noticed them, and her wide little eyes got even wider at all the noise and activity in the trees above us. I think the first waxwings are a sign of winter here in the same way that robins signal spring in other parts of the world.
People have asked about what a typical day is for us. Will's days are very unpredictable, but I can tell you about what Jaan, Raia and I do on a typical day at home.
7:00 - I get up. This is just a goal, a new thing that I'm trying to get started. A few years ago I wouldn't have thought it was early at all. Now it can be a real struggle not to just lie in bed until my babies wake up. My days go much more smoothly if I get up and have some quiet time in the Word first, though. (If I don't get up, I can fit quiet time in during naps. I was content with that, but I'm really finding that this way is better.)
8:00 - Jaan and Raia wake up, almost like clockwork at the same time. I know, we're very blessed that they get up together and not early! We eat breakfast right away.
9:00 or 10:00-ish - We head outside. Jaan and I walk while Raia falls asleep in the stroller. If we were just walking around our neighborhood, then we stop somewhere once she's asleep and Jaan plays. If we went to the woods, we also usually find a place to stop for a while, so that Jaan can explore.
12:00 - Come in and have lunch.
1:00 - Naps. I really work toward having both Jaan and Raia go down at the same time, but some days it just doesn't happen. If they do both sleep, I try to divide the time between having a break myself and getting something done without helpers. One or both of them are up by 3:00. We used to go outside after naptime, but now that it's getting colder and darker, we're going to have to transition out of that. Now we work on various projects (like the never-ending translations! Are you reading this, Dean?)) and maybe some preschool fun. Today we did laundry (and translated), and then Jaan used scissors, glue, and scraps of construction paper to make collages.
6:00 - Supper.
Hurrah! We went outside today. It's still grey and wet, but not actually raining, so we put on our rubber boots and went out. It felt so good! Jaan put his own mittens on, and in my hurry to get the screaming baby outside, I didn't even look at them. I just congratulated him on doing that by himself for the first time ever. He kept asking me for help all the way down the stairs, but I thought he wanted me to carry him. Once we got outside, I looked and figured out why he wanted help. His mittens are on a string through his coat sleeves. Somehow he had gotten them on wrong, so each hand was closely connected to the opposite sleeve. He could barely move his arms. No wonder he needed help!
And after we came in, we saw our first family of bullfinches for this year. (I just learned what they're called in English today.) They're one of my favorite winter sights: bright red little birds against a background of white snow on a sunny day. . . Even without the snow they were beautiful in the red berry tree right under our window. (Now that's one I need to learn in English. I really do know what it's called in Russian.)
Hurrah! Will will be home tonight. I talked to him briefly on the phone, and I know he's enjoying the fellowship with the other men. We'll still be very happy to have him back!
Hurrah! To find out the biggest news of today, look down at the very bottom of this page. I know the butterfly doesn't fit with the wintery forest background, but I did that on purpose. It makes me think of my poor Dad in Kovrov in December.
We have a very busy weekend ahead of us, so don't expect to hear from me until Monday or Tuesday. Nathan and Masha are coming to visit, Will has the first night of the youth club that he's starting, and there's still the usual weekend activities in Sannikovo and with the orphanage Sunday school.
The snow has melted into muddy slush, and this is the third day of drippy grey weather. Monday and Tuesday Jaan was fine with staying inside and doing fun projects. Cabin fever hit hard today, though. It seems like Jaan has whined, cried and fussed all morning. He had a fit when I brought out supplies for an art project that should have gotten him all excited. (Scissors and glue!) I'm hoping that he'll wake up from his nap in a better frame of mind. Praise the Lord that Raia doesn't care what the weather is like!
Monday I printed out an A coloring page to cater to Jaan's obsession with A's. Then we just cut up paper, colored, wrote notes to each other and had a great time. Yesterday we painted with some painted-filled brushes that Baba Julie brought over. Jaan loved that! Tomorrow I think we're going to have to go outside, even if the weather stays cold and wet.
Will's in Vladimir overnight for meetings. . . .
Maybe you didn't even notice that we were gone. Our internet card ran out Thursday night, and because of holidays here, we couldn't get a new one until this morning. If you were waiting for an email or update from me, just be patient please. I have to catch up, and I'm STILL working on Gospelink stuff.
I was reading "Pirate Story" in A Child's Garden of Verses to Jaan this morning. When got to "Shall it be to Africa" Jaan nonchalantly pointed to the A and said "A." I thought it was just a fluke, but then he flipped through the whole book pointing out uppercase A's! As I've said before, I'm not big on teaching formal school too early, but I had told him the names of some letters before. He didn't seem interested, but I guess it stuck anyway.
Now I have the strap from a suitcase to use when we go out for our afternoon walk, so I don't have to constantly untie and retie all those knots and put on and take off Jaan's scarf.
