Monday, October 29, 2012

Hooray for Fall!

I am crazy about Summer and probably don't appreciate Fall as much as other people do but I am happy that it's here. I guess I probably don't like it so much because Fall means Winter is right around the corner.

 We celebrated "shatva" (harvest) at church in September. All 
the churches do these ornate harvesty displays.



 September had some pretty warm and beautiful days!
Glad we took advantage of those days and got out a lot.




 Thankfully the boys didn't forget to ride their bikes.
This is along a path near the garage where Jon  
parks the car. I love this path because in the fall
it is just beautiful.



                          I am not pregnant! It's just the shirt and a few extra pounds I've gained!!!!

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Week 36 - Apple Fritter Cake

So this cake sounded much better than what it actually turned out to be......it really wasn't so bad at all but I guess I was expecting the cake to taste just like an apple fritter (Jon's #1 choice at the donut shop).

I don't even have a picture of the apple fritter cake, but it's here on Pinterest if you want to check it out.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Thankful Thursday

I haven't been on the blog in a while and that's because our internet went out for a few days.
So,
1. I'm thankful our internet connection is back. Our router busted according to the tech but I am also thankful that we were offline for a few days. It's always a good thing to be less dependent on being online all the time.

2. I am also thankful that there is no snow.........yet. It's bound to come soon, the temperatures have dipped quite a bit. Today we woke up to 34 degrees Fahrenheit so it's time to begin breaking out the winter gear. I put it off as long as I can.

3. I am also grateful for the trip we took this summer to Greece. I have been reading Acts lately and it is so awesome to be reading about places I've been to! In a sense my Bible reading has become 3D!

4. And lastly I'm thankful for how calm my husband is. I don't know how he does it but I always have a tendency to worry and become anxious about things. This week we received a notice about something and I just started worrying and thinking about the "what ifs". He was quick to remind me about God's sovereignty and that worrying about it wouldn't accomplish anything.

 

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Pooh Pictures Part 2


Now it's Nathan's turn for the Pooh pictures. Not only did I take a picture of the boys with their Pooh Bears every year but for their first year of life, I took a picture every single month. Unfortunately with Josiah we didn't have a digital camera the first few months but with Naynay we did!




1 month old! He looks real angry though and
Pooh Bear was on loan by big brother
since he did not have his own yet.



 1 year old! He did have his own Pooh Bear 
at this time but it was left behind in Samara, 
this picture was taken while we were in Oregon.


 
 2 years old! His true nature is coming out!



 4 years old! I can't find his 3 year old one 
but I know it's there among the thousands
and thousands of digital pictures.



 The big 5! He's really lost his baby face......makes me so sad.



Sunday, October 14, 2012

Week 35 -S'mores Bars



Friday night  I decided to open the bag of marshmallows that I brought back with me from the States. So, I tried out this recipe from my "sweets" board on Pinterest. It was a big thumbs up. We can't find
graham crackers here so instead I just used plain cookies for the graham cracker crust. It is a very rich dessert so a little goes a long way!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Green Chili Peppers and Allergies

My allergies have been driving me crazy lately! I thought allergy season was in the spring? So lately there's been a lot of bloody noses for me, runny noses, and congestion. I have to let you know that as a precursor to what I am about to explain.

Last week I bought some green chilies from the market and even though I had intentions to use them in a meal this week it didn't happen. So, instead I chose to chop them up and freeze them. When I finished chopping them and putting them away, my nose was itching like crazy so I pinched it and then blew my nose. In the midst of this I must have gotten "chili juice" in my nose. At first it just burned a little but over a few minutes the pain was so intense that I almost started to panic. Meanwhile Jon was doing a mad Google search and trying to find some remedies. I tried flushing my nose out with water but that made things even worse. Jon yelled out "try milk"......didn't help. Then he said "try some liquid Benadryl" thankfully that helped out in the long term but didn't provide instant relief. He then told me to ice my nose. I am not even kidding you, it took almost 2 hours for the burning to stop. Thankfully we were both able to laugh about it and I learned a very important lesson........after chopping chilies always wash my hands thoroughly and do not touch any thing on my body!!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Thankful Thursday

Another week has gone by and the Lord continues to show me how many things there are in my life to be thankful for.

1. This week we have had some unusual warm weather! It's been great. I've been able to take the boys outside in just their sweatshirts. We have had some nice long walks and lots of time playing at the parks nearby. I know that these warm days won't last much longer so we are trying to soak them up as much as possible!!!

2. I am super thankful for my husband.......God is so good to have given Jon to me! I appreciate how he shows me his love in little actions such as washing the dishes. What a blessing to come home from running an errand and find the dishes already clean, dried, and put away!!!

3. History! Yes, I am thankful for history. In our history curriculum we are going through Veritas Press: Ancient Greece and Rome with introduction to the New Testament. I love that I get to learn alongside with my boys. This week we are learning about the Phoenicians and their contribution to our modern day alphabet. I had no idea we had them to thank for our ABCs!

4. God's lovingkindness. This week's chapter in the book we are reading for my ladies' small group is entitled : "Am I willing to change my attitude?" The main idea is to encourage wives to have attitudes of gratefulness towards God and our husbands vs complaining hearts. The focus is on Psalm 92:1-2
It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare your lovingkindness in the morning and your faithfulness at night. (I love it when there are songs set to Bible verses like this one because I then sing the verse all day long) Anyway, the author writes how "the word lovingkindness is translated from the Hebrew word "hesed" which is used often in the Old Testament to signify God's covenant, steadfast love for me.  Hesed is the unmerited and generous favor of God. Hesed love is gentle and always reaches out to the object of that love-which means me." She then goes on to write:"Old Testament scholar Daniel Block(who will actually be here in Samara in a week!) describes hesed as "that quality that moves a person to act for the benefit of another without respect to the advantage that it might bring to the one who expresses it .....this quality is expressed fundamentally in action rather than word or emotion""

You know what's so funny? The day I read this section of the book I told Jon about what I learned about "hesed"and he said that he had just talked about "hesed" that day!!

Monday, October 8, 2012

Pooh Pictures

Every year I take a picture of Jojo with his Pooh Bear. His Pooh Bear is very special to him because his Grandpa Larry(who passed away 8 1/2 years ago) gave it to him. It's fun to see how he's grown. The first year of life I took a picture at the end of every month. I do the same thing with Nathan and his Pooh Bear so I'll have to post those later.
Here he is 9 months old. We were actually
in Novosibirsk this time checking out where 
we would eventually move to.


5 years old! This is when he started losing that
baby face......so sad!


9 years old. I hope as he gets older he lets me
continue to take these pictures!!!




Sunday, October 7, 2012

Jojo's Party

Since Jojo turned 9 only a day after we returned to Samara his party was a bit delayed. We were also missing some of our fellow teammates since they are back in the States which meant a few less friends to invite over. This years theme was Transformers.




Jojo and his buddies. Poor Emily wasn't too sure about being at a boy's 
party but she did just great. The next morning she and I had some girl
bonding time in my "beauty salon".



 We had some "Transformer" games. The kids here were shooting
at the Decepticons (some pictures of different Decepticons that
hung on our wall), then they took turns transforming one of the
Transformers as quickly as they could, and we also hid a 
Transformer that they had to look for (we played several rounds
of that game).


My try at a Bumble Bee cake......I am definitely not America's
Next Great Baker but I tried and the kids loved it!!!



And we also had a slumber party! I let Nathan and Emily stay
up with the older boys to watch a movie.



Saturday, October 6, 2012

Fall Tree Craft

It's fall time and so I thought I better get a move on with some fall crafts! I found this template  on a real useful kid's art website. The boys didn't make too much of a mess. My 5 year old didn't want to get his fingertips dirty so he used a cotton tip instead but my 9 year old got into it with his fingers. Once they completed the trees I "framed" them onto some construction paper. The boys had a lot of fun and it was a quick craft with a quick clean-up.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Thankful......

Fall has arrived in Samara! The days are getting colder, the leaves are changing colors, and we are in the thick of the school semester. This week I am thankful for:

1. The great book I am taking the ladies through in small group. It's called "What's It Like To Be Married To Me?" by Linda Dillow. I am grateful because the Lord has been teaching me so much already. This week's lesson was on complaining, more specifically on what it's like to be my husband when I am a nagging wife. One of the homework assignments was to wear a bracelet for 7 days.....the idea is that when you complain you take your bracelet off and switch it to your other wrist. It is a visual reminder of how much we complain. There's one thing I noticed and that I struggle with! Even though I may not verbally nag, gripe, or complain.......I do it inwardly in my heart. I would strongly suggest to try this exercise out for yourself.

2. Fall! Even though I absolutely love, love Summer, it is nice to have a true Fall. In California one doesn't really experience the seasons as we do here in Russia. I have to say that I am dreading winter so I am enjoying the Fall weather as much as possible. The leaves on the trees are beautiful. I don't get tired of the beautiful show the trees are putting on right now.

3. Overseas voting. Since everyone in the States is talking about the coming elections, I thought I would too. I am so thankful for the privilege to vote. My ballot arrived this week and since we'll be having a guest from the States here in over a week, he will be able to mail my ballot out in time for my vote to count! It's definitely a privilege not to be taken lightly. Actually, it is the main reason why I became a United States Citizen over 14 years ago. I wanted to VOTE!!!

I trust you are all being thankful too! I've learned this week that when we are complaining so much it's basically because we are not thankful people. Bottom line is that our complaints, though directed at our loved ones, are really directed towards God!!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Stop and Watch The Car Get Towed

You've heard of "Stop and smell the roses", here we stop and watch the cars get towed. Lately I have seen so many cars get towed. In the six plus years that we've lived here I have never seen it before until recently. Nathan has an obsession with cars and so one day while we were walking and headed to McDonalds we saw the tow truck getting ready to tow this car. So of course we just had to stop and watch the whole process. In this case the owner of the car did not come out in time but a week before this incident we saw the owner of the car come out just as they were placing the "thingys" on the tires. I thought for sure the lady (owner of the car) was going to punch the worker in the face. She was yelling at him, getting in his face, etc.........I'm glad I don't know any bad words in Russian but I am sure she was using every single one of them. Thankfully the worker unstrapped the car and let her go, otherwise I am not sure what would have happened.



Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Jojo Turns 9

The day after we arrived in Samara, Jojo turned 9! We were all so jet lagged but we managed to go to KFC for lunch and even had his favorite cake.



And of course he got a Ninjago set that he has been wanting for a while. He even did a search on Amazon one day over the summer to show me exactly which one he wanted!!!