Week 6?

I guess this was Week 6 in our school? I've been going by Raia's readings in order to number our weeks, and she's mostly through Year 1, Week 6. Anyway, it felt really good to be back on our (mostly) regular schedule.

Jaan had a very rough week with music school. He loves piano lessons and his piano teacher, but the group classes are just hard for him. I think we've gotten past the current problem, though. Please do pray for him on Thursdays and Fridays still. School at home went great, as usual. Jaan really does enjoy it. Lately he's been begging for extra math pages. I'd like to write more about how I've changed my organization of his daily/weekly work, but not now.

Raia finally figured out subtraction this week. Well, she's been doing it, but with great fear and not much understanding. This week we started doing it with sunflower seeds: "Minus means eat them!" She's also reading better and better. She's not awake to ask, but I think she would say that A Midsummer Night's Dream was the highlight of this week for her.

Asya has been determined to learn English lately, and her attempts are so cute! She's always asking how to say things in English, and then using her new knowledge, so she's going to make lots of fast progress.

Watching the garbage truck

Bogdan is changing a lot, too. He's saying (Mama, Papa, бай-бай, нет, 'ельзя, ляля...) and signing (caterpillar, more) a few new words now. He's obsessed with dolls--but he plays with them like a boy--and markers.

We're still trying to find our rhythm in this new place, but having at least something of our usual routine does help anchor us. We'll continue easing back up to a full schedule again in the week ahead.

We're here

I keep wanting to write, but I just never get to sit down at the computer. At least not without my squirmy toddler and with my brain still attached.

This has been a rough move: emotionally, because we weren't ready for it, and logistically, because this apartment was just not ready to be lived in. After a full week, we're pretty much set up, though. We're definitely not unpacked, but we're not really planning to completely unpack. However, we now have working water and electricity, and that is very good. Will has worked non-stop to get us to this point.

Thank you so much for all your prayers! Please keep on holding us up here. I'll try to write more... if I can find the box where my poor brain is.

The new apartment

Let's see if this works.... I am definitely not a videographer!

On a completely different subject, but I don't think I'll fit it in any other way: Jeanne wrote about her scarf. Here's mine:

Knitting is what keeps me sane. The yarn Karen gave us is just lovely, so soft, and it even shines. Maybe that's not the word for it. I don't mean that it glitters, but maybe you know what I'm saying. And I'm enjoying the same nostalgic sigh with Jeanne right now.

I just had to come back and add this quote:

"Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises."
--Elizabeth Zimmermann.

Moving

You've probably heard that we have to move to another apartment. Sunday some people looked at this apartment; Tuesday they came back to tell us that they had bought it. They gave us 7-10 days to be out. (Yes, it's legal. That's just kind of the way things work here. We've always had pretty good experiences with renting, but we've seen stuff like this happen to so many others!)

The next day Will went out and found us another place to rent. Got that? The next day! It's really unbelievable in a city of this size and with the situation here. I don't know when we'll move into it. Soon.  Please be praying for us as we pack up and move.

And pray for all of our hearts, too, please. Obviously, leaving the nice apartment that we have enjoyed so much is not the end of the world. We knew this day would come. But it's not easy. It seems like really bad timing. Our children aren't happy about it either.

I was encouraging myself by looking back at photos of other apartments that we've lived in and reading old blog posts. (This one is fun. They were so little last time we moved!) I'm going to repost and add a little to another old one below. This is originally from 2010:


As you may know, we're moving soon! I've been thinking a lot about how God has provided housing for us over the years. Since I don't have photos of our new apartment or details about it yet, I'll tell you about the apartments we've lived in before.

February-June 2001; Charlotte, NC; $500 a month. (I'm including the prices. That might be too much info, but the trend of bigger and cheaper is fun to follow.) We rented the upstairs of a garage, just a few blocks from Will's parents. The apartment was tiny, and it had lots of character. I remember standing there and noticing that the floor leaned one way, the window sill another, the counter yet another, and the angle of the ceiling didn't match any of the others. It swayed in the wind of a strong storm. We could look down on the tiny patch of yard of the duplex behind us and watch their one pet chicken. . . right in the middle of Charlotte!

September 2001-February 2004; Moscow; $300. This apartment was a two-room* in very bad condition. It was on the sixth floor of a nine-story building. Before we lived there, it had been used as some kind of office and workshop. We had no money to fix it up, so we did a lot of creative covering and rigging things. Furniture was a strange mix of the office stuff left there, what Will found in the trash and even a loveseat that he built himself. It was a great place to live! Jaan was born there.

Our Moscow apartment building

February 2004-May 2007; Kovrov; whatever the landlord could squeeze out of us! (I can't remember what we were officially supposed to be paying him. I'll have to ask Will. It did change often.) This was my favorite apartment, even though it was packed with clutter and the roof leaked. It was also two rooms, but the layout was really great. The kitchen was big, and it just felt big overall. This apartment is where Raia was born. When the landlord got tired of FSB bothering him about us, and we also couldn't take his daughter, we had to move out.

May 2007-February 2008; Kovrov; 2000 rubles? When we had to move, our neighbors found us a place on the first floor of the same building. It was smaller, and we didn't really get to make it feel like home, but it was nice. And Asya was born there.

May 2008-April 2010; Dneprorudnoe; 1000 hrivni (that's $126 at the moment) + utilities. Three rooms for the first time! Although the size was about the same as my favorite apartment, it's been nice to have separate rooms. We've done a lot to make this apartment feel like home, and our friends the Sullivans really worked hard to make it look nice! Now our landlady's son wants to live here, so we have to move on.

April 2010-October 2012; Dneprorudnoe; 1200 hrivni, utilities included. Four rooms! Details will have to come later, though. There's a map below that shows both our old (blue dot) and new (yellow dot) buildings.... [2012 update: This apartment has been wonderful! Probably the best physical feature is the open layout. The owners had taken out several walls, which opened everything up in a way that I had only dreamed about before. We have also really gotten to know our neighbors well. Especially recently the babushki here have become so complementary about our family that I am embarrassed and also confused: they're supposed to tell me what I'm doing wrong, not how wonderful they think we are! We'll miss them. Oh, and I have to add the note like what I have on three other apartments above: Bogdan was born in this one.]

October 2012-?; Dneprorudnoe, over by the church, if you want a more specific location and are familiar with the city; 1400 hrivni, utilities included. Back down to three rooms. (We're breaking our trend. ) And, like I said the last time I wrote something like this, I guess details will have to come later.


*In Russian we say the number of rooms, not just bedrooms like in English. So, a Russian two-room is like an American one-bedroom. I'm using the Russian way here.


View in a larger map

Week 5

I have a lot to write about: Lugansk, Julie's visit, youth conference here, and more, but how about I start with school last week. I doubt that I'll get much farther than that, but we can hope, right?

Week 4 was spread out over several weeks, mixed in with traveling and guests.

One Tuesday we settled in to work on Week 5 and find our regular rhythm again. And it was a good week, even if I still feel like we're a little off kilter. A few favorite moments: I read the story of Regulus to Raia. She understood all of it and retold it well, with lots of feeling about how Regulus had to leave his wife and family. Then she told me, "But it's okay, Mama. If it would have been you, we would all have gone back with you, and all would have been well. We would have died together in prison."

Jaan actually drew a picture for one of our readings this week. That is monumental for him, and I loved it. Parables from Nature probably has the distinction of being the most questioned AO book out there, but it's my favorite. My love of it must rub off on my children, because even though it's hard, they don't mind it. It lends itself to drawing, because even if they don't get the deeper ideas, they can imagine the plants and animals. So, Jaan must have gone back to his memories of Pagoo, because he drew wonderful, realistic sea creatures, and he really worked hard on making them just right.

And now it's already time to start Week 6?

Happy days

I definitely want to write about our trip to Lugansk, but that will have to wait, because we're enjoying Julie's visit and fall and walks in the park and butterflies right now.

If you want to see photos from the trip now, and if you're on Facebook, there are quite a few on Grace to Ukraine's page. Here are some direct links to albums for the days that we were with them: Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and Day 6.

Lugansk prayer guide

We're on our way to Lugansk! If you're in our church families, you got a prayer request from us about this. We're going to visit orphanages in the area of Lugansk and see the ministry that is going on there. Here is a link to a daily prayer guide for this trip. It was put together by the organization we'll be visiting with: Grace to Ukraine.

Daily cuteness

This is my new favorite photo:

Bogdan has learned to shake hands. He started on Sunday at church, going around and around, shaking hands with everyone over and over. Yesterday he was in the stroller while Will met with someone, and he was very emphatic and enthusiastic about the fact that he had to greet the other person, too. And today he was shaking hands with all the babushki outside; they loved it.

He has also started "praying" before meals. I call it the vain repetitions of the heathen, but it sure is cute. He folds his hands, bows his head and babbles. I did ask him if he was thanking God. That made him add signing "thank you" to his little ritual, so maybe it became more than an empty ritual. The funniest is when he notices that meal time is getting close, so he's trying frantically to climb up into his seat: yelling, scrabbling at the chair, throwing himself against it... periodically he stops, quiets down, "prays," and then goes back to his loud frantic struggles.

Poland pictures

As you probably know, Bogdan and I took a trip to Poland. We had a wonderful time! It was so much fun to actually meet Jeanne from Australia (and her mother) and spend more time with Karen and her family. I've "known" Jeanne for quite a while, and I've been working with her for over a year as part of the Ambleside Online Auxiliary; now I really do know her and love her in real life, too.

Bogdan and I went on an overnight train to Kiev, and then we flew from there to Katowice in Poland. Jon and Karen picked us up there (and we saw deer on our drive back to Krakow. I think the deer are one of my favorite parts of Poland. ) Jeanne and her mother arrived the next day. On Saturday Karen took us on a walking tour of the old center of Krakow. Sunday we went to their church, where I enjoyed talking to all the people who remember us from our visa trips and are so kind and friendly. Then we went to the Jewish quarter, ate a nice lunch, walked around, and went on a driving tour that included a suburb that was built as a communist showcase. Monday we went to Auschwitz. I don't know what to say about that; I did not enjoy it, but it was worth seeing. That evening we had a group Skype call with our mutual friend, Leslie: fun! And then the next day we started our long treks back home. I don't think I can even express how good it was for me to be able to go on this little vacation! I haven't talked and laughed that much for a long time.

Phyllis, Karen, Jeanne

The cathedral in Wawel Castle 

Jewish restaurant

Auschwitz

Bogdan and Jeanne

The rest of my photos from the trip are here....

Weeks 3-4

School was different the past two weeks, since I was gone for half of that time. We started before I left for Poland. When I went away, I left math pages and audio playlists for Jaan and Raia for their books that are available that way... and they didn't touch them while I was gone.

Then, when I got back on Wednesday, I needed a nap instead of school, so they each listened to what I had left for them then. Raia absolutely amazed me with her narrations from that: she had six different selections to listen to in a row, so I didn't really expect much back from her, but she did beautifully. I was happiest with what she had to tell me about Beauty and the Beast from the Blue Fairy Book. It's almost an hour long! She contrasted and compared it to Аленький цветочек. Oh, and by the time she finished retelling it to me, she thought that she had listened to it in Russian.

Jaan didn't narrate so much, but he and I did have some good discussions after he had listened to his audio books for a while. He was finishing up Pilgrim's Progress, and he made some good connections between what he had heard and real life. He also just about drowned in homework from music school, but with lots of help from Will and some from me, he seems to be caught up there now.

And then, because I didn't write anything about these two cuties, here's a photo of them from our walk in the park today:

Videos

If you have a slow internet connection, skip this post! Two videos here: the first is from about a month ago, when Bogdan was just starting to walk. The second is from a few days ago. It shows how he has started "reading." I think both he and Jaan were speaking Chinese there.

Please pray for Bogdan and me as we travel to Krakow. Thanks! Sleep on the train tonight would be so nice.

Spring-summer prayer letter

I have a current prayer letter ready for you to read, pray over, print out, and share. It took me a little while from the time I started writing until I got it pulled together, so the prayer requests are for now. Please come take a look....

Week 2

I almost forgot that I wanted to post about each week of school here.

Week 2 flew by, mostly without any bumps. Again, Raia finished everything (and begged for more); Jaan is still making progress with work from before. My favorite part with Raia was narrating Damon and Pythias with a doll king and two stuffed animals. Jaan is much more a just-the-facts-ma'am kind of student, so Raia's creative bent is something new for me.

Jaan floored me in math by showing that he already has a basic understanding of negative numbers. He was supposed to write a subtraction with the numbers 5, 4, and 9. Just a regular problem; his lesson had nothing to do with anything below zero. He came up with 5-9=-4, and then he showed me a bunch of other similar problems and how he was figuring them.

Bogdan woke up before the end of school one day,
so he got to watch Raia's Ukrainian video with her.

We could all use your prayers on Fridays. They have traditionally been our hardest day of the week with school. First graders in our family just get a nap instead of school on Fridays, but we don't have any at that age now. This year Jaan also has two classes at music school every Friday. One is piano, which isn't a problem, but the other is solfeggio, a long, baffling class with a very unsympathetic teacher. I have noticed progress since last year, but it's still a rough day!

Week 1: Done!

I would really like to post weekly school updates this year. We'll see if I can keep up with that. I can at least write now about our first week. We pretty much follow Ambleside Online as written, so you can see Jaan's and Raia's weekly lists there. Jaan is still finishing up some of Year 2, but he's also starting into Year 3. Raia was able to get through everything I had planned for her; Jaan still has a little to fit in as bed time readings over the weekend or something. Both loved just about everything we did. The only complaints I heard were when I didn't let them do more... and when we got to today. We were all just tired by today.

Jaan and I especially enjoyed starting American Tall Tales. He and I laughed so hard over the first chapter and then talked about it enough at dinner time that Raia and Asya had to know more. So, I found a little book about Paul Bunyan in Russian, and now Jaan's reading that to them.

I had chosen Lermontov as our poet for the first term of Year 3, and today we discovered that one of his poems is a hymn that we sing at church. So, we'll have to make that the Russian hymn we're studying, even though I had a different one planned.

I'm sure there were some other highlights that I wanted to write about, but they've slipped my mind, so that's all for now.

First of September

September 1 is the first day of the school year in this part of the world. After a week of camp, I didn't plan much for today; we were just too tired. We did get dressed up and go out to take photos. I think some of them turned out great! And then we came back for tea to celebrate the beginning of the school year.

On Monday we'll actually start. Jaan will be in Ambleside Online Year 3 and Raia in Year 1. Raia can't wait to start; Jaan says that he doesn't want to. He doesn't want summer to end. I don't think he'll have any complaints about his school work, though. Asya and Bogdan will continue to learn about the world around them through as much contact with nature and life as they can take in.

Oh, this made me laugh: when we were out, everyone was picking wildflowers. Jaan gave me a beautiful bouquet, saying, "So that you'll teach us well." Will looked at me after Jaan walked away again and asked, "Was that a bribe?"

P.S. I put the rest of today's photos here.

Camp update and childlike faith

Thank you for praying! Please keep it up. Camp is going well. So far, both days we have had a small group of kids, but that is fine, because we have a small group of workers, too.

Who is praying for the weather? Yesterday was HOT, but today I could feel your prayers as everything cooled off. A storm blew in, but held off for most of the day.

And for Bogdan and Will? Bogdan seemed to feel better yesterday, but then he was miserable again today. Will has finally found a medicine that helps with his allergies at least some.

Of course, the most important: please be praying for all the children!

This morning I led a group of children through the city to camp, with all of them chanting loudly in "Polish." (Karen, is it really Polish?) They love this game that one of the visiting helpers taught them yesterday:

And then, childlike faith: today's Bible story was about Adam and Eve sinning and temptations in life. When we got to church, a Forbidden Tree had grown up there. It was covered with all kinds of treats, but a sign at the bottom said not to take anything. Of course, Asya can't read, so I pointed it out to her, and asked her what she thought it was. "Presents!" But then I read the sign out loud. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "Oh, that means they just want to give us everything themselves later." The whole idea of temptation went right over her head, but I thought it was a really sweet reaction. When God tells me no, do I assume that it's because He wants to give me presents a little later?

Camp!

Camp starts tomorrow! Please be praying for the children, the workers, the weather and everything else that you can think of. I just found out that I won't be a group helper, I'll be a group leader... without my faithful helpers. So, I had to scramble to pull together the Bible lesson for tomorrow. Also, Bogdan has been teething or something, and he has been miserable. Since the teeth people get later are called wisdom teeth, these must be the anger teeth. Please pray that he'll be happier, or that I'll figure out how to juggle him and a whole group of preschoolers. And for Will: he has been feeling pretty awful with allergies. Thank you!

Continuing the theme

Photo of the day

Technology news

First, I took our children to the central playground this morning, and I was floored to find out that there is now wifi there. I felt like I was in America. I had my Kindle with me, optimistically hoping that Bogdan would give me a few minutes to read Anna Karenina. So, when I saw people out there with laptops, I tried to connect, and sure enough! It worked. Amazing. No more sending Will to Zaporozhya to reset my Kindle after it freezes up now.

And second, the AO forum that I have been working so hard on is open now:

In just the first few days, we've already overloaded our server. Overall it is going well, though. We're almost up to 1000 members: 996 at the moment, to be exact. It's going to be a great resource for the AO world! I have really been enjoying the fellowship there, and I've been learning so much about CSS and PHP and everything behind the scenes that sometimes it feels like my head can't hold it all. That full head is a very good feeling for me.

Third, tomorrow we're leaving technology behind for a day at our dacha. We haven't made it out there since we got back from our big trip, and we all can't wait to see it again!

Baptism

Today there was a baptism service. We hardly even know the new couple who was baptized, but it is very good to see them joining into the life of the church. I only got three photos before someone asked to borrow our batteries, and none of them were very good. Maybe I'll get some more pictures from Yana later, but here's one of my three for now:

(I also added more photos to the post before this.)

Florida pictures

We've been back for a month now, and I still haven't gotten around to posting many photos from Florida. Here are some. I hope to go back and fill in more there, at least from that one little overnight trip.

If I add more there, I'll edit this post and add them here, too, so watch this space....

EDITED: from here on, there are new photos. You can go browse through the whole album, but I'm including a few highlights:

3D hands

I don't understand the draw of Pinterest at all, but I got a fun idea from there via a blog, and we tried it yesterday:

Today we've been working on footprints, using the same general idea. Fun!

Talking?!?

For quite a while Bogdan has had a very few words that he says and a few that he signs. He understands what is going on around him, but really doesn't say much. He does discourse with all kinds of expression, intonation and gesturing, but all with his mouth closed, just making noises in his throat. It's really cute, but hard to explain. And it's definitely not anything we can understand. Then, yesterday he started saying a very clear "nyet" except that it's missing the T on the end. Just now, Jaan went outside, and Bogdan was left behind. Bogdan went to the door and yelled, "Jaa! Where are you?" ("Я! Де ты?") His first sentence!

Keeping cool

Here are just a few photos from the past week or so. It has been very hot here: 38C/100F today. We've been swimming a lot, and we got an air conditioner! (That last part was not just spur of the moment for this heat wave. We had been talking about it and dreaming for a l-o-n-g time.) Bogdan finally decided that we weren't trying to kill him when we put him in his baby float. Now he really enjoys running around in the water with it to hold him upright. Oh, and we've been drinking smoothies; that's the last photo.

The church really hasn't had any questions about Will's sabbatical. In fact, he's had a sermon ready for three weeks now and hasn't had to use it. So, we're enjoying more time with Papa around.

That's about all I can think of to write now. Photos....