Spring in Samara

So that's how we welcome Spring in Samara!! Winter gave us it's last snow on March 23 and 25. It was nice to have some fresh snow for the kids to play with before it all started to melt.

Attachments

I recently read on an on-line parenting website that toddlers at this age will become attached to things. There are 3 things Nathan can not do without:
1. He can not drink his milk without a pillow that usually sits on our sofa. When he wants his milk he grabs the pillow, puts it on the floor, and starts saying "millll"
2. He also can't live without his pacifier or bo-bo as he calls it (this is what Josiah called it when he was little so we kept the name).
3. His latest thing is a "softy". Nathan loves the feel of my nylons and soft things. When he is tired he uses his thumb and middle finger and rubs whatever soft thing he can find between his two fingers...........my shirt, his shirt, a towel, etc. So, I grabbed one of my scarves and now it has become his softy.

Mexican Food

Alex Tahmisian showing Christina and the ladies how to make tortillas.



Alex looking cute pregnant.



Taco seasoning recipe courtesy of Heather Klassen


The ladies watching Sharon Moorhead's chicken being cooked for fajitas.



Nastya (our Seminary secretary) feverishly writing down a recipe.


Earlier this month we showed our friends how to make tortillas and all the dishes you can make with them. They really loved it and especially loved taste testing after wards. It's always fun to teach them new things and watch them get so excited about it.

20 months

Nathan at 20 months. Samara, Russia

Josiah at 20 months. Novosibirsk, Russia


It is so funny how different Josiah and Nathan are. As a parent you forget so quickly what your children were like when they were younger. I was just looking at some video and pictures of Josiah at 20 months and realize how different the two boys are. Some examples are how much Josiah loved watching movies at this age and Nathan can't stay seated for more than 5 minutes. Josiah was still pretty clumsy walking at this age and Nathan is running sprints up and down the hall. Josiah had absolutely no fear of the vacuum cleaner while Nathan sees the vacuum and freaks out. Josiah's speech at 20 months.........well it was limited to 4-5 words while Nathan repeats everything, already has quite a vocab, and today he has become interested in counting. So much fun watching our boys grow.

Surgery Date is Set

 

For those of you who know our family very well, you are very aware of all the "health" problems we have had with Josiah from the time he was born. It almost seems like every system of his body has had some sort of issue. When he was born he was jaundiced and had a very low platelet count which no one ever knew what the real cause was. At the age of 2 months all his blood counts went whacko and there was concern he could have Aplastic Anemia or even some sort of cancer attacking his bone marrow. Thank the Lord for the hematoligist at CHLA who examined Josiah and his blood and came to the conclusion that what he had was benign neutropenia or basically no real diagnosis but a mystery that only the Lord knows. Then we had the mystery of his "big" head which an MRI at 9 months showed a completely normal brain. He had tubes in his ears at 23 months and then had to have them surgically removed a year later because of the narrow ear canals he has. At the age of 3 years his pediatrician heard a heart murmur. After a consult with a pediatric cardiologist we found out he had a small hole in his heart. Thankfully time would close the little hole and it did. When Josiah was about 6 months we noticed that his left eye wandered a little. His pediatrician referred us to an opthamologist and we were told it was a normal physical feature........like a mole. We followed up with this opthamologist for 3 years and every time we were told the same thing. Last year my pediatrician became concerned that his eye wasn't improving so he urged me to take him to a pediatric opthamologist. It only took the pediatric opthamologist a few seconds to tell me that his eye wasn't normal and that he had been born with this condition and that over time his eye had incurred some damage. Dr. Friedman went on to tell me that he required surgery, that it wasn't an emergency but that as soon as we returned from Russia in April this year that he wanted to perform the surgery. He also gave us a 90% success rate after the surgery. I think the thing that finally urged me to listen to my pediatrician and take him to Dr. Friedman is that last summer a little boy asked if Josiah's eye was broken! Praise God that this can be repaired. Praise God that all of Josiah's health issues have never turned into anything more serious. But I can say one thing. All these health trials have been a constant test from the Lord to me. When Josiah was in the ICU as a newborn someone told me this great truth and I have clung to it for the last 5 1/2 years. This friend told me that God loves Josiah more than I will ever be able to and that He knew what would be the best for him. So, back to the surgery date. He will have his eye surgery on April 15. It is a 20 minute procedure and he'll come home with us the same day.

Pray For Malachi

Rachel is the sister-in-law of a very dear friend of mine. I have had the opportunity to get to know her a little during our times in the States. Thanks to the internet I am getting to know her better and better and praying for her and her family more and more. If you have a chance link here and you can begin praying for this precious family.

Bigger Shoes to Fill

Nathan was so determined to get Jon's boots on! He just couldn't keep his balance and he kept falling over.

Big Shoes To Fill

Nathan loves to go outside. It is much easier getting into Bro-bro's boots than his so he thought he'd give it a shot on his own.

Franklin Books

Josiah loves Franklin books. They are his favorite. The illustrations are fabulous and the stories always have a good moral to learn from. We are so grateful to have the Klassen's library of children's books to choose from. Every time we go over there I "check out" several books. Josiah always asks me to pick out some Franklin books and thankfully they have several to choose from.

Outdoor Fun

We got a little bit of fresh snow the other day and since the boys were feeling a bit better it was time to break free and hit the streets. They both had a blast playing in the clean new snow.

Confessions of a worry wart.

I should have known that something was going on when both boys sat super still watching High School Musical on the evening of Feb. 22nd. For one thing, Nathan never sits still. Secondly, why would Josiah be remotely interested in High School Musical? At about 1:30 in the morning Josiah woke up with a super high fever and then vomited. I knew that this was going to be the beginning of a very long and exhausting week. Being the crazy parent that I am, I thought he would have a febrile seizure so I slept on the floor to make sure he would be o.k. Let me rephrase that, I slept on CONCRETE floor with hardly any padding. I didn't sleep much at all because with every little groan Josiah made I immediately sprung up to check on him.

Monday morning came too quickly and I could not get his fever to break. Being the worried mom that I am, my thoughts began to wonder. Maybe he has pneuomonia, maybe he has some rare disease, what if I can't get the fever to break, Nathan is now going to get this, what if he ends up in the hospital, and so forth.

Sure enough, the very next day Nathan ended up with the same thing. This of course meant many more sleepless nights for me. Jon at this point was also feeling miserable and for you wives reading this, well you understand what it is like having a sick husband. I don't need to say more. Let's just say that for several days I ran around like a nurse doing my rounds from room to room and trying my very best to keep a good and cheery attitude on 2-3 hours of sleep every night. On top of it all the boys fevers took 4 days to break. Thankfully I have antibiotics so everyone was put on antibiotics and several other medications.

It is no fun having sick children. I hate seeing my boys in so much pain and not knowing exactly how I can help them. It is even worse being in Russia when they are sick because the health care is not quite comparable to what it is like in the States. I do a lot of worrying or better yet I do a lot of sinning. I am always thinking of the "what ifs". Always wondering what I could have done instead. We don't have our wonderful Dr. Tamashiro (the boys pediatrician and my former boss of 10 years) in Samara. But we do have the Great Physician. The One I can go to in prayer and give up all my worries and "what ifs" to. Just because we are on the mission field doesn't mean He's promised to keep us all healthy and out of danger. I have to place my whole trust in Him knowing that He does what is best for us and what brings Him glory. Everyone is pretty much better now aside from the residual cough and I am finally getting some much needed sleep. Praise God!