From the time that Jaan first heard we were going to the zoo, all he could talk about was going to see the elephants with Caleb. Once he finally got there, he wouldn't take his eyes off of them. Will tried to get a picture of him with his favorite animal of the day, but he wouldn't turn around, so this is the best we got.
I had fun comparing this with the photo I took in February. Raia and Johanna have grown a lot!
Jaan has his own captions for the second two photos I posted yesterday. Every time he looks at them, he says they're "Ляля красивая" ("Baby's pretty") and "Ян улыбается" ("Jaan's smiling").
I'm learning about the sewing machine here.
We have a very busy week ahead of us!
We made our first sewing project (a fitted sheet) yesterday. I thought I would have to learn to sew one-handed. Instead it looks like I just have to get used to a sewing machine that responds to voice commands. Jaan does a great job of turning the crank. I just tell him "stop," "go," "faster," or "slower." If I have to adjust something near the needle, his wiggles make me nervous, so I tell him "hands up," and he waits with his hands in the air.
Olga Grigorevna left her apartment to the church. This week Will and Pasha have been cleaning it out and getting it ready to be used as an office and guesthouse. And they brought me this treasure! I'm working on figuring out how to use it. It's in great shape. I'm looking forward to being able to sew again, and I love having something that belonged to Babushka Olga!
Raia's favorite time of day is when we go outside. She just goes crazy when she sees that we're getting ready. She runs around getting her beloved bucket, shoes, clothes, and then just signs frantically and yells until we actually walk out the door. Outside, she toddles around with her bucket and industriously collects these red berries. It amazes me that she has learned not to eat these, when other red berries are just about her favorite food. I took this photo just after we had come in one day, as she was inspecting her treasures.
Will found this hat for Jaan. As they were washing it up and getting it ready, they were talking about how men who drive cranes wear hats like these. When they finished with it, Jaan put it on and tried to leave our apartment. He was going to work! When we explained that he wasn't quite big enough, he almost cried. Now he's reconciled to the fact that he can wear his hard hat and just work around here until he grows up.
Friday we had dinner with Nastya and a bunch of her friends. Her birthday is close to Jaan's, so we usually do something with her. (Jaan made the cupcakes! . . . with some help.)
Saturday we celebrated as a family by going to the park and riding the train. Jaan and Raia also loved the live music that was playing there and then enjoyed some time on the playground. Raia fell in a mud puddle (of course) and got so dirty that I could hardly figure out how to hold her on the way home.
Sunday morning Jaan opened his present from his grandparents: a train set! He played with it until we dragged him away for the first day of Sunday school. Then, when we got home from church, we were going to try to feed him supper, but he could only sit there and cry that he wanted to play with his train. So, we let him go, and he skipped his birthday dinner in order to play with his train.
He finally figured it out.
)
It's free and easy to sign up, but if you don't want to, just click on the link that says something like "I already have an account," and use mayokovsky@yahoo.com (note the strange spelling) as your email address and russia as your password.
No, actually he was just checking the progress of her new teeth.
For those who were praying, we had beautiful weather yesterday, and today looks like it will be perfect for the baptism, too!
)
Jaan enjoyed the river, too. He was just a bit more cautious than his little sister.
The last backup I can find is from 2004. I'm having a hard time with that. Photos are my main earthly treasure; I have to keep reminding myself that that's all they were: an earthly treasure. Earlier I quoted a hymn. Today in my Bible reading I saw the verse that is the basis for the chorus of that hymn: "Yet will I rejoice in the Lord. . . " (Habakkuk 3:18). How well that applies!
That day in Sudogda was Jaan's first experience with tents. He was fascinated! Later, at the congress in Bryansk, he became much more familiar with tent life. There were enough tents at the congress to house over 3,000 people, and Jaan still pointed them out everywhere. As we walked, it was almost always to the accompaniment of "Look! A tent! Another tent! Another. . . !"
And my question is totally unrelated to tents: does anyone know about growing cauliflower? What would keep big, healthy plants from developing heads? Tanya and I have different varieties of cauliflower growing; she bought her plants already started, I grew mine from seeds. Both of us have just one plant developing a head, all the rest are empty. What's wrong?
)
Last night there was a big thunderstorm. Rain is still falling now.
And. . .
(drum roll please)
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We don't have any wet spots!
Thank you, Lord!
We'll have to wait for the next rain to see how it works, but I'm sure it will hold at least until the whole building can decide to do a real, professional fix.
Our next door neighbors decided to go ahead and fix the roof, just us and them, over our apartment and theirs. They've been trying all summer to find a time that would work with the weather and schedules, and today it has finally worked out. Please pray for Will, Alyosha and Viktor as they're up there. Pray that what they do will be effective to stop the leaks!
Update: They worked for a few hours before the rain really picked up. Will says that they got everything opened up. 
I hope no one thinks this is disrespectful. Jaan's sincerely trying to understand, and the things he comes up with are just so cute. And if you think I quote him too often, you can just stop reading here.
I've been teaching Jaan his full name. Yesterday, out of the blue, he announced
"I'm Jaan Hunsucker."
"That's right!"
"Are you Mama-ka Hunsucker?"
"Yes."
(Points to Raia.) "And this is Baby Hunsucker?"
"Yes."
"Is Papa also a Hunsucker?"
"Yes."
"And God? God Hunsucker?"
I was telling Jaan how happy I was that he had been so obedient in the
store. He asked,
"Is Raia obedient?"
"Yes."
"Is Mama obedient?"
"Yes. I obey Papa."
"Is Papa obedient?"
"Yes. Papa obeys God."
"Ah, so that's why Papa went to Moscow." (What an interesting connection for him to make!)
He was obviously thinking this over, because all day he kept repeating, "Where's Papa?" and "Does Papa obey God?" Then--here's the funny part--when we went outside, someone asked him were his Papa was. Jaan replied, "He went on a train to God."
Of course, I've also been answering more conventional questions, such as "Where is God?" and "Can I touch Him?" Jaan is at such a wonderful age!
Computers! Grr! I just lost a bunch of emails before I could read them, so if you've written to us today or yesterday, please resend.
A conversation with Jaan last night at dinner:
We were eating (green) pesto pizza, and Will put red pepper all over his.
"Is Papa's pizza spicy?"
"Yes."
"Does Papa like spicy?"
"Yes."
"Well, I like green."
This is the time of year when everyone is walking around with buckets, baskets and bags full of produce from their gardens or mushrooms and berries from the woods. We have gone out several times in the past few days to get raspberries. Raia explained in no uncertain terms that she likes garden berry picking better than forest berry picking, though. In the forest, we pick berries at one patch, then move on to another, while Raia protests long and loud about the interruption of her snack. She only calms down when we find another good spot. And we tend not to come back with full buckets like our neighbors do; our two helpers are too efficient when it comes to eating!
Last night we pleased Raia and joined everyone else coming home with arms full. We went over to check on our garden for the first time since before the congress in Bryansk. We brought back a huge squash, our first few heads of broccoli, a bag of apples and bunches of basil. The tomato plants were falling over, they're so full of fruit, and our pumpkins are big enough (and numerous enough!) that Jaan was able to recognize them and get very excited. Raia was very happy to sit under "her" berry bush and eat berries uninterrupted, until her face was red with juice and black with dirt stuck to it. She's finally figured out how to pick berries for herself, and she only ends up eating a leaf or stick every once in a while.
We spent this morning making applesauce and pesto. I froze my first batch of pesto last night, too. Now we've processed what we had, and we'll be going back for more when the children get up from their naps.
It's a good thing that the congress was so wonderful, because we're still paying the price. I'm very glad that Will and Raia are back to normal with their stomachs and that Jaan and I never got that, but these colds are still dragging on. Blah!
In case anyone was wondering about Jaan's imagination: while he was helping me wash the basil this morning, he was telling me all about the dog who lives--with his owner--in the drain of our kitchen sink. I just nodded and occasionally said something like "Really?" Later I noticed that he was stuffing garlic cloves down the drain. I quickly asked what he was doing, and he replied, "The dog is hungry. She wants garlic, and if I don't give it to her, she'll bite me!"
However, Dad probably backed up for us when he was here in December, so hopefully we only lost six month's worth. Still, that seems like a lot, when I think about the fact that it's half of Raia's lifetime. If you have any photos of our children from that period, I would love to get copies from you. Pictures are special to me, and I'm sad to lose these, but I keep thinking of a verse from a hymn. My quick translation is "If you lose something, remember the words of Jesus: Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. That means it was no great loss."
