Life on the Fly

Summing up 2011

2012-01-02T23:09:00.000-08:00

These last few days I have spent a lot of time thinking about this past year and how different my life was from before. On December 31, 2010, I drove home after my last day at the church office, crying, and feeling lost in the world. Dmitri was flying and the girls were up north with their grandparents. A big chapter in my life ended – my life as I had known it being a full-time working mom. For weeks before January 1st, I was making one list after another, planning out the days and weeks of my new career. My to-do lists got longer and longer but I was convinced that I would finally accomplish all (or most) of the things that I had been yearning to do for years and never had the time. A year later, I looked back and realized that close to none of those things actually got done! What? I was SOOO busy, every day! I can’t believe that 365 days went by and I NEVER sat down to scrapbook Natalie’s or Julie’s albums, I NEVER sat down to pore over design tutorials online or finally learned Photoshop – that I had been eager to have for years. As I started to feel a bit depressed, Dmitri gently reminded me that I actually accomplished a lot last year. For one thing, when I was making all those lists, I never considered (or even imagined) that I would end up home schooling a first- and a third-grader, while nursing a baby every few hours. WOW! That changed my time-management in a huge way…

Now, I do know a few super-moms who are home schooling, blogging, cooking incredible meals, scrap booking, reading amazing books… And I too want to do so much, but in 2011 I spent quite a bit of time getting to know my kids, teaching them about forgiveness again and again, getting to know myself (and not liking it often), and getting to know this new career of a stay-at-home, home schooling mom, AND a wife of a pilot with his crazy schedule.

It is January 3 and my sweet baby turned 11 months… What an amazing time this has been. We have made so many memories as a family, and I have tasted God’s mercy and grace like never before. I am praying for 2012 to be filled with love and gratitude – first in my heart; and may my children see it and learn it from me. I can sum up 2011 with this – I lived that year knowing that there was NOTHING that I would ever regret, even if everything didn’t get checked off of my to-do list. Nothing is more valuable than time with my girls and my husband and I feel that time was spent well last year.

The perfect morning

2011-11-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

I just want to do a quick post to mainly serve one purpose - to remind myself on some future gray and frazzled day how incredibly blessed I am. Today was the perfect morning and I could've not imagined it any better.

Dmitri and I slept in until 9am - thanks to Julie, who didn't make her presence known until about 10! (Well, I did feed her around 6:30am). While I was in the shower, he ran to the store and then started cooking breakfast with Emily and Natalie. After the shower, I peacefully nursed Julie while reading the Bible (on my phone - it's the easiest way!), while the delicious aroma wafted into the bedroom. Julie and I came down to behold a feast of scrambled eggs (by Emily), apple pancakes (by Natalie) and sausage patties (by Dmitri, but I will not elaborate on the condition of the sausage... The Lord would have been pleased with that offering). After we all ate, I enjoyed watching Dmitri, Emily and Natalie tickle fighting on the floor. It looked too good to resist, so I joined them. Dmitri then said that something was missing... and brought in Julie to join our fun. After good 20 minutes of squealing, snorting, sweating and laughing, I sat at the piano and we all sang Dmitri's favorite song from our childhood Russian movie.

After this spontaneous music number, I went to do the dishes and a while later I breathed a sigh of satisfaction seeing the kitchen sparkle, including the stove and the sink. By this point the baby was ready for her nap. So, this brings us to now, 12:45pm. The first load of laundry is going, the baby is sleeping, the girls are making bead jewelry, and I'm just about to bring out the school books. Ok, the afternoon may not go perfectly... But I am extremely thankful for God's grace and the blessing of my family. May this always be on the forefront of my mind, no matter how the kids behave or how messy the house is. Dmitri wisely says that it's signs of life. I want to treasure these signs for as long as possible...

Two weeks and Three weeks later

2011-10-22T09:03:00.000-07:00

Julie's arm is healing beautifully!

This is what it looked like two weeks after the accident.

This is three weeks after the accident.

And here she is by my mom's first quilt! Mom made it herself without any fancy gadgets and made up the pattern herself.

One Week Later

2011-10-07T20:13:00.001-07:00

So, here we are, a week later. A week ago at this time we were at Children's Hospital, and Julie, after being so rudely introduced to the intense pain that this world can cause, was finally calming down, aided by some baby drugs. Less than a week ago, I awkwardly fumbled with the gauze, bandages, adaptec, tape, bacitracin, bowls of soapy and clean water... Now I do it alone in less than 5 minutes, stat, even with her trying to wave her hands or trying to interfere.

My girls have been amazed at how God designed our bodies to heal. On Monday the docs at Shriner's gave us an excellent report, but I had a hard time believing that in 5-10 days she would have new pink skin. It just looked so gnarly, it bled and the dressing always stuck to the wounds, despite ample amounts of ointment. But, just look at it tonight! It looks beautiful and pink, so healthy. The edges of the wounds are dark - it's the remainder of the burnt skin, but it's becoming easier and easier to peel those away. The dressing didn't stick last night for the first time! Julie has been a trooper through it all, she has hardly cried as she endured all the dressing changes several times a day - and even when her arm was scrubbed at Shriner's on Monday! We are going back for a check up this coming Monday.

This evening we went to nearby Kinman Farms, and what a perfect time it was! Natalie was such a little cowgirl, loving the pony ride!

The girls picked out their little pumpkins - there were hundreds of them!

Emily looks so big on that pony... She is growing up so fast. She was taking wonderful care of Julie most of the evening, carrying her around with her, including on the hayride. At one point, Emily ran up to me as I sat by the fire, munching on my s'more. I asked her why she wasn't playing, and she said that all of a sudden she got a feeling that she needed to be by me, because she doesn't do it often. So, we snuggled together, and I told her that many years from now, she would be tucking her kids into bed at this hour, and hopefully she would remember this evening, as we sat by the fire together, quietly singing Russian camp fire songs. I felt incredibly blessed to have this sweet time with her, especially after a rocky morning together.

Here we are with Sarah and her son Josh - time has flown too fast... We first met when Josh was just a couple of months old and I was pregnant with Natalie. Sarah is one of the most generous people I know and she has blessed us with so many fun trips and events throughout these 6 years. Josh is like a brother to Emily and Natalie. And, tonight he was so attentive to Julie. I look forward to Julie getting to know Josh and her "aunt."

This evening, as it was dark and the air smelled of fire and fresh leaves and dirt, I basked in the sweetness and peacefulness of the moment. Fire was crackling, the stars were twinkling, country music was playing... I was walking back from an unlit spot where I had nursed Julie (who kept getting distracted by the bright moon), I simply stopped, closed my eyes and slow danced with her for a bit. I'm incredibly blessed and thankful for a peaceful end to our day, especially reflecting on the events of a week ago...

It started with some coupons...

2011-10-02T19:43:00.000-07:00

Julie's 1st Hayride

By the chicken coop

(I wrote this on Saturday night...)

So, the girls and I had a rough school day, I was busy with housework, the fridge was nearly empty (it’s September 30th and I shop for the month – you get the idea!), so I was itching to get out of the house for a little bit. I had a gift card to Bath & Bodyworks and a coupon that was expiring in 3 days, so I was excited to get to the mall for the first time in over a year. We spent quite a bit of time at the store – the girls slathered themselves with just about every tester, and Natalie even got some black lotion on her. Or wait, that actually was a facial mask. A kind employee helped Natalie wash up. In the meantime, I picked out some great-smelling things for our house and we left for IHOP to meet with my dear friend Yulia and her husband Matt.

The reason we like to meet at IHOP is because every few months I get their coupons, Buy One – Get One Free entrees. Those entrees usually consist of two orders of Chicken Florentine Crêpes and two orders of Swedish Crêpes. Last night we decided to fill three coupons and ended up ordering 6 plates full of pancake goodness. We were starving and it was already past 9pm. I was busy cutting up Natalie’s crêpe, trying not to drool on it. At that moment, our sweet young server brought in a plate with two carafes with hot water for our teas, and she placed the plate squarely in Julie’s NO-FLY ZONE. For all of you who have had babies, you know what I’m talking about. For years Dmitri and I have laughed (with a measure of frustration), that no matter how hard we try to control the No-Fly Zone, waiters just LOVE to put food and drinks right in it, probably thinking, “Hey, what a nice big area for me to put down their smoking fajita skillet and a boiling pot of coffee!”

You can imagine how the next several seconds went down. Out of the corner of my eye, while the fork and the knife were still in my hands, cutting up Natalie’s food, I saw Julie grab the plate with the hot carafes as soon as the waitress set it down. A second later, her shrieks pierced the hum of the restaurant. I jumped up, fumbling to unbuckle the seat strap. Thankfully, Yulia, a nurse, immediately urged to strip Julie of her clothes – a long-sleeved fleece sweater and pants, already saturated with hot water. We worked fast, but within seconds the skin on her right arm was already broken. That’s when I started to hyperventilate… My eyes caught Natalie’s, who was already sobbing. Emily had left the table and was in the bathroom crying. A minute later, after I regained my composure, I took a screaming Julie to the bathroom to nurse. While we were there, the ambulance arrived. The EMT guy assessed Julie’s condition to be a second degree burn on her arm, and a first degree burn on her chest. He recommended going in the ambulance to Children’s Hospital, but I, foolishly thinking about the costs, first said that I would drive myself. He then urged me again, that at her age and degree of burns, we should get to the hospital ASAP, and I would never get there as fast as a speeding ambulance. I agreed, and after giving Yulia my van keys, and waving good-bye to my girls, I got into the ambulance with Julie, who was still screaming at the top of her lungs.

The ride in the ambulance surrounded me with a cacophony of the siren, honking and Julie’s screeches. It was a rough ride, and the EMT guys had to put in an IV in her hand. For some reason, they chose her right hand – that’s the one with the burns! My cell phone was about to die, Dmitri was not responding, probably being somewhere in the air, so I called Becky, our small group leader’s wife. She went to our house where Matt had taken the girls. She showed them some Bible passages; Emily got her Bible out and read from it. Natalie grabbed "Fun With Dick and Jane" and read from it too - hey, that's the only book now she's reading! :) Becky prayed with the girls and put them to bed. Oh, poor Matt had to answer a barrage of tough questions, mainly from Natalie, such as, “Is Julie going to die?” He said no. Then she said, matter-of-factly, that he was going to die someday, but sooner than her (Natalie), because he is older. He said he probably wouldn’t die before bringing the girls to the house.

In the meantime, Julie and I arrived at the Children’s trauma unit, and were promptly surrounded by a host of nurses, medical students and doctors. They assessed her and gave her some baby drugs for the pain. Shortly after she calmed down and we were taken to a room to await a response from Shriner’s, whether they needed to see her immediately or not. While we were waiting, Julie returned to her normal, cheerful self. She was singing, dancing and flashing grins to everyone who entered the room. A nurse came in to show me how to dress the burns, and she was astounded at how tough Julie was – she never cried during the whole bandaging ordeal. The doctor came by to let us know that we were free to go and that people at Shriner’s were expecting our call on Monday morning.

Yulia drove us home and generously filled up the gas tank and bought me a feast of rotisserie chicken, sushi, strawberries, and chocolate! We were ravenous as we never ate our dinner. Julie was fast asleep in her keep-sake sleeper from the hospital. Oh, besides my phone being dead, I also realized that the diaper bag was out of diapers (the doctor made a cute comment about Julie’s Nemo swimmer – I actually had swim diapers!), and there was no change of clothes. I guess I’m not getting the Mother of the Year Award…

Julie slept fairly well, though she did throw up in her sleep one time, probably from the drug. Today she was cheerful and alert, and we all had a wonderful time at a Fall Festival at Granny’s Garden on Camp Ernst Rd.

Yulia came by this afternoon and helped dress Julie’s burns for the first time. Julie complained but never cried. It had to have hurt! Tonight I had to do it by myself and it felt quite awkward… But, it’s covered with ointment and has plenty of gauze on it, including a layer of non-adhesive gauze. We are going to Shriner’s on Monday.

I’m incredibly thankful to God for all the help I got from Yulia, Matt, Becky, and for all the prayers and notes I got from many other loving people. As I have reflected on the whole ordeal, I have found numerous reasons to be thankful. The burns could’ve been worse; and I was with a friend who is a nurse and thus had the experience, knowledge and composure that I could rely on. I am a part of a wonderful Small Group that takes such care of my girls and me when Dmitri is gone.

Oh, another lesson I should learn – listening to my husband who told me not to eat out last night to save some money. And I thought I was being frugal by using coupons. Ahem…

Smiling even with the boo-boo on her arm!

My first Mother's Day

2011-05-10T07:26:00.000-07:00

Today, on May 10, 2011, I am reflecting on all that God has done in the past 10 years. Sunday was Mother's Day, and our 3-month old Julie was dedicated at church. That day I couldn't help but think about my first Mother's Day 10 years ago. Dmitri and I were at our church, Word of Life Assembly of God, in Virginia. The pastor did a wonderful job honoring mothers that morning, first having all mothers stand up, then calling out different numbers of children, finally getting to the mothers with most children; I can't remember how many. Then he asked for the newest mom to stand up. I was doing my best to compose myself all morning, but when he got to that part, tears just started flowing. In agony, I was inwardly screaming, "I AM the newest mom!" My firstborn, Annie Angel, was just born 2 days earlier on May 11th, one day after we found out that she had died inside me at 21 weeks. I made myself remain in my seat, feeling it was unfair that another mom was standing up--her baby was 3 months old. What did it matter if the baby was here or on the other side? I knew Annie was alive, with Christ, though no one knew why she died, even after a barrage of tests on me and on her. She was perfect, with eyebrows and fingernails. In fact, the skin on her fingers already had a unique design; her finger prints and foot prints were testifying that there was no other person like her.

(The front of the card we made with Annie's foot prints)

Back to that morning... I was gritting my teeth just waiting for the service to end, which seemed to go on and on. When it was finally winding down I started to relax, when suddenly the pastor called my and Dmitri's names. Now, this was a large church, there were over 2 thousand people gathered, and we were sitting in the balcony--in a way hiding from everyone. So we were quite surprised when we heard our names called. The pastor called us up front and asked people to come up to lay hands on us and pray for us. We were beyond overwhelmed when we were surrounded with a multitude that was crying out to God on our behalf. After the prayer, as we were walking away, a young lady stopped me and said, "God will bless you! Look, He blessed me!" And next to her were standing her adorable children, a boy and a girl. Of course, at that time, I had a hard time imagining having my arms full.

Emily's Dedication, 2003

Now fast-forward 10 years... WOW! That's all I can say. 10 years ago this would've been a dream, out of my reach. Back then I would fall asleep clutching a teddy bear because I needed to hold something. Now I have three beautiful girls to hug. And frankly, there are nights when I am ready to fall over and I get frustrated with incessant requests for another song, story, sip of water, to look at an invisible (to me) boo-boo... Oh, I am so thankful for the gift of Annie! There are many reasons, but one of them is that her loss gives me a much deeper appreciation for my daughters. When I get frustrated and discouraged, I remind myself what a blessing they are. My arms could still be empty and my heart could still be longing for a child, like the women I have met over the years. Thank you, God, for allowing me to be a mother. I know you would've given me the strength to learn to be content for just having experienced carrying and holding a tiny perfect still body, even if I didn't have any more children. But, I am overwhelmed by Your grace to me, that you filled my cup to overflowing. Please forgive me for murmuring about their sinful attitudes and behavior. After all, they ARE sinners - just like me. Please lead and teach me how to bring them up in Your way, planting the Gospel bomb in their hearts. Please light the fuse when it pleases You, even if I have to wait many years. I remind myself that this is not about this life, for we are like vapor. It's about eternity. And Annie is already there, waiting for us. And, until we see her, she is in a heavenly playground, surrounded with the precious souls of Allee, Leah, Joy, and many others whom my friends here long to hold. I am praying for them too. May God fill their hearts with His supernatural peace and remind them again that it is about eternity.

Natalie's Dedication, Mother's Day 2006

(In case you didn't notice, all three girls AND mommy wore the same clothes at all three dedications. :))

"Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling... Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." 2 Corinthians 5:1-2, 5

A few recent photos!

2011-05-02T18:46:00.000-07:00

Julie turns 3 months old on May 3... Time is flying!

"Bloom Where You are Planted"

2011-03-27T18:07:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I and two other amazing women had the privilege of sharing with 150 ladies at the Grace Fellowship Ladies' Spring Brunch. I was very overwhelmed as I pieced my thoughts together, finishing at 12:30am on Saturday. Considering I had to be up twice during the night to feed Julie, I may have slept for 4 1/2 hours, cumulatively. So, I felt somewhat in a fog when I arrived for the brunch. However, God truly blessed me with clarity of thought and speech, and all went well, to Him be the glory. I hope my words encouraged at least one person that morning. Here's what I shared.

"The theme of our gathering is "Bloom Where You are Planted." As I have been reflecting on this title, I couldn't help but ponder of all the different soils God has planted and re-planted me in over the past 32 years. I was planted in Russia, a fairly small city by Russian standards (only 70 thousand people!). My Moscow-born husband still sometimes makes fun of me being a village girl! :)

At 16, God picked me up and planted me many miles away, across the Atlantic, to a City of Hartland, Wisconsin, of 6 thousand people, as an exchange student. Since then, He planted me in Missouri, Wisconsin again (where I met my husband), Washington DC, Florida, and finally here. In fact, this is the longest I've ever lived anywhere since Russia - six and a half years!

Everywhere we moved, God arranged circumstances in just the perfect way and at the perfect time to grow and prepare me for our next move. Working at a large church in Florida definitely prepared me uniquely for our move to Kentucky and my new job at the Grace Fellowship office.

The six years that I worked there were incredibly fruitful and blessed. There was never a day that I regretted being there or didn't enjoy working there. I loved doing research for Pastor Brad's sermon, making PowerPoints for his counseling workshops, designing various materials, meeting wonderful people coming to the office or calling on the phone, and just working alongside some of the most amazing and godly people I've ever met. My days were always busy and I felt such satisfaction when checking that last thing off my to-do list every Friday. I was excited to serve God and this church. I was definitely blooming!

However, God was getting ready to re-plant me again. Even though I loved my job, I also longed to be home more, especially considering my husband's unpredictable pilot schedule. I didn't want to be home full-time, just more, having the best of both worlds. After months of working on my heart, God revealed to me that He would work on me the most if I were home full-time.

So, on Friday, December 31st, I shut the office door for the last time, shutting the door on a huge part of my life. Having grown up in culture essentially devoid of stay-at-home mothers, I was plunging into an unknown. As I drove home that afternoon, I could barely see through the tears. I prayed out loud that I was not doing this to make my life easier, because I knew it would be much harder. I told God that I was doing it for His glory and I needed His help.

I wish I could tell you how I've been blooming where God has planted me. In reality, I feel like the rose bush in our front yard right now. I heavily pruned it in November and now we are seeing new little shoots. In the past three months, God pruned so many of my branches!

He cut off the branch of self-confidence and the branch of my often idolatrous desire for productivity. In fact, even when I'm home all day, I often feel like I get NOTHING done, even though I'm busy every minute! And it seems like the to-do list is not shrinking, but instead getting longer. God also cut off the branch of a false view of myself - it's easy to think of yourself as a patient, kind and gentle person when working with wonderful Christian staff! God has been showing me just how sinful I am - how impatient and easily angered I can be with those I love the most! He cut off the branch of competency. I went from as my sweet co-worker and friend Jackie McFadden called me, "The One Who Knows All" to "The One Who Has No Clue," and often feeling utterly desperate and helpless as a mother.

However, as I'm being pruned, I'm thrusting myself into God's care more than ever. As I sit and nurse my 7 week-old daughter, my roots are daily absorbing God's Word, Morning & Evening Devotions by Spurgeon and the timeless and convicting Valley of Vision prayers. Those hours take my focus off of my puny rose bush and help me see a glimpse of God's big picture for my family and me, which is to make me more like His Son Jesus. My arms are full with three precious girls whose souls I am privileged to disciple, I am loved and supported by a wonderful husband, I am encouraged by a caring small group, but most importantly, I know I am walking in God's will and He is with me every step of the way. I am "confident of this, that He who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." I pray that the roses will start blooming, even if it takes years."

I've got sunshine on a cloudy day...

2011-03-10T11:57:00.000-08:00

Last week we got a few rainy and cloudy days, but inside the sun was shining! Check out these beauties in their new swimming suits!

It was cold outside but inside the smell of yummy chicken vegetable soup filled the air. Julie was sleeping peacefully in my front carrier as I chopped and stirred.

Emily was working on a Birthday card for her favorite ('farriet') cousin Katerina.

The evening ended with a relaxing bath time.

We've been excited to see signs of spring's imminent arrival.

We decided to make garden in a box this year. Well, two boxes. Here they are being built:

Emily helped stain the wood. Natalie got it on her jacket, permanently, and thus was banned from further "painting" help much to her displeasure.

On one of our first spring-like days, Emily and the neighbor girls filled the street with loud squeals of excitement - they found dinosaur bones! "People from the newspaper and TV are going to come to interview us and take our pictures!" After digging out the rocks, um, bones, they proceeded to wash them carefully and dry them with paper towels. I'm not sure which museum they are going to end up in. For right now they are being stored in the neighbor's front yard.

Ah, Natalie's passion - making soup! She simply loves emptying out the cabinet with pans and storage containers and cooking up some deliciousness with rocks, leaves and old mums that didn't survive the winter.

Julie is squinting from the unusual bright thing in the sky. Every breeze would make her inhale deeply. I wonder what she is thinking as her senses are picking up various smells and sounds.

My three girls together. It seems like it was only yesterday that Emily and Natalie were just as tiny.

March 3, Julie turned 1 months old. The midwife came over to check her out and to weigh her.

At birth, she weighed 7lbs 5 oz. A month later, she weighed 8 lbs 7 oz.

She still spends quite a bit of time sleeping during the day. The swing is a life-saver! It stays by our dining room table where Natalie works on her letters and numbers.

Here she is making numbers out of play-dough.

Here she is doing what she does best - being a princess!

Oh, and a week or two ago I became convinced (after weeks of speculation) that our Sprinkles is indeed pregnant! We can't wait for the new arrivals this spring!

Another favorite activity at our home - story time!

So, these are some snap shots of what our life here looks like. Nothing super exciting, but every moment is precious as I watch my girls grow.

How Julie Irina arrived...

2011-02-18T14:01:00.001-08:00

It's hard to believe that Julie is already 15 days old... These days have flown by, and I am happy (and very grateful) to say that I haven't really had the sleepless nights and hazy days that are so typical of the first days and weeks with a newborn. Now, I know that things can still change, and I do mentally prepare myself for that in case Julie decides to flip her nights and days or become colicky. In the meantime, I relish my time with her, sad at how quickly she outgrew the newborn size diapers and clothes. Ok, before I get all sentimental, I need to write about the delivery experience that so many people have asked me about.

But, before I do that, I still want to run away with my emotions for a minute...

How did THIS...

turn into THIS??

"For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are Your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand - when I awake, I am still with You." (Psalm 139:12-18)

Speaking of awaking, I should probably hurry to finish this post before Julie wakes up from her nap.

Ok, here we go. As far as the pregnancy goes, it was perfect. I felt great, in fact I didn't even have any 'morning' sickness, or 'anytime' sickness as I had with the other girls, granted, it wasn't even that bad, but still, I definitely felt 'off.' With Julie, I remembered the stories I heard about women going to the hospital thinking they had appendicitis or some other belly ache - just to deliver a baby - without previously knowing that they were pregnant! I remember feeling indignant - how could one possibly not know?? Well, with Julie I easily could've been one of those women. Even later in pregnancy, I would think, "Wow, I've got some major indigestion!" and then it would hit me almost as a surprise - "Oh, that's the baby moving around!" Yes, I definitely realize it was a huge blessing as I continued working full-time until the end of my 8th month, while still taking care of the home, and trying to be a good wife and mother in the short hours I had with my family in the mornings, evenings and weekends. So, being really sick or exhausted would've made things harder not just for me.

Then came the "BAM!!" moment. Three weeks before the due date, all the thoughts I had been having throughout the pregnancy came to a head when realized that I desperately wanted a home birth. I didn't want another hospital experience - the mandatory IV, lack of food or drink, basically being at the mercy of those who treat pregnancy, labor and delivery as some dangerous disease that only professionals can deal with. Now, I do believe that in many cases women DO need to be in the hospital, often times first-time moms, as no one can predict what complications might arise, and of course, those who have had previous problems. However, having had great deliveries with Emily and Natalie, though they were induced, and since this pregnancy was problem-free, I felt like my body already knew what to do. So, I called a friend from church who had used a midwife in her last two home births, called the midwife to discuss, and then I had to have a chat with Dmitri. Hmmm... As you can imagine, initially he was apprehensive, but after further discussion, he felt more comfortable with it.

So, two weeks before the due date, I faxed a letter to my doctors, expressing my thanks for their excellent care and explaining why I was making the switch so late in the pregnancy. I guess it was my "I have a dream" letter, wishing that hospitals would see women with healthy pregnancies labor naturally, without a cascade of medical interventions, being able to drink water and eat healthy snacks to keep up their energy for this marathon, labor and deliver in whatever position that feels comfortable to them - all in the safety of a hospital with the 'just-in-case' equipment standing by.

The next day, at 38 weeks and 2 days, I had my first prenatal appointment with the midwife. She again visited me 5 days later, and then a week later, the day before Julie's due date. All the birthing supplies were ready in a bin in our bedroom. The midwife also took a few minutes to organize all her supplies so that she could easily grab them when needed. We listened to the heartbeat, talked, and I told her that I wasn't feeling any different than the week before, and that I would probably stay pregnant for another week. I actually wished that. Call me crazy but I love being pregnant and I wasn't ready to be induced with Emily and Natalie either. And here was this fun anticipation of actually letting the baby decide when to come!

The midwife left after we agreed to stay in touch through the weekend and her coming back to see me the following week. That evening I finally went through some baby clothes and put them in a make-shift 'dresser':

In fact, we still didn't even have a nursery! I told Dmitri that I felt like I was a bird with twigs in its beak, frantically flapping its wings, having nowhere to land! I needed to nest and didn't have a place! Speaking of nests, Natalie was nesting too:

She made a big nest in my bed and finally passed out from all the work!

Ok, where was I? Oh, that evening. I was content to finally go through some adorable baby clothes, fold some and toss some in the laundry basket. Then Dmitri got a craving for a 7Up and I - for Sprite and Snickers, so he went out to the store for those and ice cream. When he returned, he reported that the roads were very slippery and he could barely brake. Then we indulged in our 570-calorie snacks, followed by me taking a bath with a book for an hour. Then the clock hand moved and my due date came, February 3rd.

I had all these ideas about how my labor would go. I thought it would start late some morning, after a good night's sleep. We would eat a hearty breakfast, and while contractions are still light, we would play a few games on Wii. Then my friends would pick up the girls, and as contractions get more intense, we would go upstairs. Dmitri and I would slow-dance in our bedroom, listen to great music, sing at the top of our lungs... Then I would get in the tub and relax there until the baby's birth. Maybe even in the tub!

Weeeellll... That's not exactly how it went down. We went to bed at 12:30am, fully relaxed and exhausted. I then woke up for a second around 1:30am, feeling a little painful pinch. I immediately went back to sleep. Seconds later, I woke up with a start, having felt a squirt of water. I ran to the bathroom but no more water came out. I thought it was supposed to keep trickling, but there was nothing. Still, I was pretty sure that it had something to do with the baby. :)

I went up to Dmitri who was blissfully sleeping, and woke him up with the words that you don't want to hear an airline captain or a pregnant woman utter, "There is no reason for alarm, but..." I told him that my water broke. He immediately jumped up with, "What do we need to do now??" I called the midwife who had just finished doing her visits up in the Northern KY area and was 20 minutes away from her house. South of Lexington. That's an hour away. While we were on the phone, I had my first contraction. We were still talking when I had another one. I checked the clock - they were only two minutes apart. The midwife said that she was on her way and that she would call her assistant who lives 30 minutes away. When I got off the phone, I couldn't stop shaking, still drowsy from sleep. Each next contraction was more intense than the one before. I tried to be light-hearted as Dmitri was running around, taping the plastic sheet on our bed, covering it with another set of sheets, turning on the computer to pull up the instructions the midwife had sent previously in case he has to deliver our baby. In the meantime, I was practicing my 'silly walks' (for the Monty Python fans out there), lifting my legs high as I walked around the bedroom. Dmitri started reading the instructions which included having me lay down on my side to slow down labor. He read that as I was contentedly squatting by the bed, which made him urgently say, "Um, that's NOT going to slow down labor!!" He helped me lay down. I asked him to turn on some music and I enjoyed hearing my favorite Michael W. Smith's "Worship" CD. I prayed and tried to sing along. He briefly ran away to turn up the water heater for the tub. He asked me if I wanted to get in the tub, but the midwife and I had an agreement that I would not go in the tub unless she is here because things can go fast in the water. So, I stayed in bed. Dmitri continued with the instructions, telling me not to push. He wanted to run off to look at the computer screen for further instructions (he was on point #3), but I wouldn't let go of his hand. Oh, he couldn't print out the instructions because the printer happened to be out of ink. Of course...

Anyway, there he was, hovering over me, telling me not to push, and I finally told him, "Well, I need to." At that moment, the midwife's assistant got to our house and ran up to our bedroom. Thankfully all the supplies were perfectly arranged that she didn't have to waste any time getting ready. She was at my side just as I started to push. In less than 10 minutes, Julie was born, at 2:26am. Total time from my first contraction - about 45 minutes! She cried immediately and then relaxed on my belly. My first words after her arrival - "That was amazingly easy!" - the assistant looked pretty stunned to hear that. I guess she doesn't usually hear that from many women immediately after delivering. Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't laughing through those 45 minutes, things got pretty intense, but I did expect labor to take much longer and to get much more painful. I just couldn't imagine everything being over so quickly!

Here we are sharing our first kiss after meeting Julie

Dmitri woke up the girls within minutes of Julie's birth. She was still covered in 'goop' when her sisters loved on her.

The midwife (who did arrive within 15 minutes of Julie's birth) showed the placenta and the sac to the girls. They loved it (in a gross kind of way). I thought, what a neat science lesson for them! They would've never seen that anywhere else. Hey, I had never seen it as they usually whisk it away at the hospital. Sorry if you just lost your lunch.

The cord was cut 2 1/2 hours after Julie's birth. The whiter the cord got, the pinker Julie's skin became. When Dmitri finally cut the cord, there wasn't a drop of blood in it. Did you know that about 10% of the baby's blood is in the cord at birth? Julie got all of it!

Then came the weighing and measuring. She weighed 7 lbs 5 oz.

She wouldn't extend her little leggies, so the 19 1/2" isn't exactly accurate... I'm sure there was another inch on her!

And here are the amazing ladies that shared this incredible experience with us.

At 5:30am, Dmitri made scrambled eggs with ham and rolled them into breakfast burritos. The four of us feasted, while still sitting on our bed. At 6:30, the ladies left and Dmitri and I went back to bed. We held hands, with this little treasure breathing softly between us. It felt surreal. But so incredible! Julie fit right into our life. I was so glad not to have the hospital-to-home transition that was always hard with the other girls. Our life just continued as before, except much richer with this sweet little girl now a part of it.

Oh, another thought - we are so glad that we chose to do a home birth, even though it was so late into the pregnancy. Dmitri and I reflected on that night and we are convinced that had we planned on a regular hospital birth, our Julie would've been born in the car. In the ditch. Considering how fast my labor was, how icy the roads were, that the hospital was in Cincinnati, and that our other girls were sleeping... So, we give God all the glory for the way everything turned out - a healthy baby, a healthy mommy (not a single tear), all in the comfort and warmth of our home. I can only wish that every woman has a similar experience, except it would only be possible at home, if it's that fast. :)

I'm ready for another one.

Julie with her adoring big sisters, Emily and Natalie

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise." Psalm 8:1-2

Week 1 of a New Career

2011-01-09T19:54:00.001-08:00

On Friday, December 31, 2010, I prepared to walk out of the office where I had spent a little over 6 years. I paused in the doorway, looked around the whole office area, memories flooding in of my first interview, all the people who have come and gone, funny situations and tears that were shed - by me or people coming in needing encouragement. I prayed first thanking God for giving me the opportunity, no, a privilege, to serve Him in this place alongside some incredible people. Then I prayed for the staff that I was leaving behind (though I was the only one there at that moment). I know that this is God's church and that He will continue leading it and helping its people. Then I flipped the lights and shut the door - shutting the door on a huge part of my life. I cried all the way home - and how coincidental it was that Daughtry's "I'm coming home" was playing on the radio - "... be careful what you wish for, you just might get it all..." I knew that I was coming home, to a place that I belong, and that my Father's and my family's love is enough for me there.

Actually, my first good cry about the impending change happened a couple of weeks earlier, on the 17th - it was Natalie's last day at the daycare, Childtime Learning Center. I hadn't realized that I would have such a hard time with it. Before Natalie and I headed out, I had fully intended to stop and say goodbye to everyone one more time (I had kind of said my goodbyes in the morning when dropping her off and snapped a couple of pictures:)

That's Miss Cindy, Natalie's teacher in 2010.

Natalie's Pre-K Class

Right before leaving Childtime, I snapped one last photo of Natalie by their Snowman craft:

Again, I was planning on saying bye to a few people, but instead I practically ran out the door with Natalie, and then totally lost it in the car. Why was I crying? Well, first, that place had become almost like family to us over the past 4 1/2 years, since Emily was barely 3. There are a couple of people still working there who knew Natalie since her first day there. But, the other reason was that it was the first tangible change since we originally made our decision about me staying home back in October. Since then, things continued on as usual - I would drop Natalie off and head off to work. So, that afternoon it hit me that it was essentially the beginning of the end of my life as I had known it. I'm very thankful for Childtime and for all the wonderful staff there. They gave us so much grace, considering we always had schedule issues with Dmitri being a pilot.

On Monday, January 3, Dmitri brought the girls back from Wisconsin where they had been for 2 whole weeks! I was very grateful for my in-laws who loved on and entertained my girls along with their cousins, and I had a much-needed break to catch up on things at home and to rest in anticipation of all the upcoming changes.

Before my first week at home as a stay-at-home mom, I had planned that I would spend the first couple of days sketching out some structure to my days - like, put Emily on the bus, then have my quiet time, then do educational stuff with Natalie, get laundry going, etc... Well, that lasted one day, and at that, I was a zombie. So, what actually ended up happening was me going back to bed after sending Emily off, sleeping till about 9:30 or 10, then doing some housework, making lunch, feeding Dmitri and Natalie, putting her down for a nap and... going down for a nap myself! Now, the beautiful thing was that by 7-8 in the evening, whereas I would've normally been exhausted, I was full of energy! Even though I was somewhat frustrated that my structured plans did not materialize in the first week, I can say that I have profoundly enjoyed a much slower pace in my life than what I had been accustomed to for so many years.

As far as activities, Natalie wasn't bored. Here's what she did:

Painting her favorite mushroom - "Fly Amanita" - it's popular in Russian fairy tale books' illustrations.

She helped me sort clean laundry into two piles - Emily's & her clothes.

I was excited to use our new KitchenAid mixer to make some yummy bread. Natalie helped roll out the dough and then roll it up into loaves.

Ah, the smell of fresh dough!

Brushing with some eggwash.

And here are the gorgeous (and delicious) results, just in time for lunch!

The biggest excitement of the week happened on Wednesday - we finally got the girls their Christmas present - a pair of guinea pigs. Natalie named the boy Sam (he's all white), and Emily named the girl Sprinkles. The pet store salesman speculated that Sprinkles is pregnant. Time will tell. If that's the case, now we've got two pregnant women in the house. Dmitri hopes we don't go into labor on the same day.

The girls have been practically inseparable from their new pets. Emily is becoming a pro at picking them up and holding them, and even instructing her friends on 'holding the pigs for beginners.' She needs to publish a book or do a YouTube instructional video.

Oh, and the girls helped me whip up a batch of Pelmeni for our dinner with friends on Saturday. And no, the piggie did not participate and was no where near the table during the cooking. Emily is just showing it off for the photo.

Natalie is neatly arranging her contributions on the board.

In all, this was a great week, and having Dmitri home the entire time made it even better. However, whenever he's out of town, I'm planning on catching up on a million things that have been put on a back burner for weeks, months or even years. And, hopefully starting tomorrow, there will be a bit more structure to our day. But, I will not get too structured to enjoy being close to those I love the most - they are the reason for this whole change. Keep praying for me to figure out how I can best serve my family and to glorify God in the process.

Week 2 begins tomorrow! Good night!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2010-12-22T18:26:00.000-08:00

Click below to read our Christmas 2010 letter!

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B4P6hVB7AigFN2JiMmQ3ODctOGQ5OC00NDhkLTgwZGYtZGJjZmM0NGQzNTgz&hl=en

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours,

Marina, Dmitri and the girls

Snow Fun

2010-12-11T08:47:00.000-08:00

Emily had a Winter Carnival at school on Friday, Dec.3rd. For the third year in a row, I made my ladybug cakes for the cake walk.

Natalie enjoyed sitting on Santa's lap

I was amazed how big Emily looked sitting on Santa's lap...

Instead of having their faces painted, the girls preferred pretty jewel stickers.

After the carnival, the girls went to a sleep-over at Emily's classmate's house. Maggie's mom, Amy, is one amazing woman... having a bunch of little girls going crazy at her house until 1:30am. In the meantime, honey and I hung out by ourselves at home, watching a movie, eating cake, relaxing. He left the next morning on a trip, while snow was accumulating.

The girls were thrilled to be outside - and they dragged me out too!

Ok, so everyone who knows me well, knows that I don't like winter, cold or snow. But, that day I guess the girls' enthusiasm was contagious, and I found myself enjoying the white stuff and how beautiful everything looked. Now, is this a breakthrough? or will this get old and will I start despising it again?

Emily loved running down the yard, slipping and falling 'in style.'

Things got even more fun when the girls went and got their buddy, Emma.

Then it was time to come inside to warm up with some hot chocolate. This is a view from our dining room window - Christmas lights reflecting on the snow-covered branches outside.

Some leftover doughnuts, hot chocolate with marshmallows... and three hyper and silly friends

Emma and Emily goofed around sucking up marshmallows with their straws. Oh, Emily's wearing the star on her forehead - it's the jewel sticker from the carnival the night before.

After Emma left, we all went down for a very long nap. Then we made pizzas from scratch and played a Christmas stocking Memory game that I printed off the web that afternoon. I felt incredibly thankful for this sweet time with my girls and for the beautiful creation outside.

Going Nuts!

2010-11-28T10:54:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday Dmitri was craving his favorite cookies - Russian nut cookies that actually don't contain any nuts and are safe for our nut-free Small Group. :) We all had had a really long nap, went out to Fazoli's as a treat, got home past 9pm and my honey got the dough going! The girls were thrilled and at first I was a little apprehensive - it was way past their bedtime and Emily had school the next morning! However, I quickly changed my mind - afterall, who cares about a late bedtime if they can make memories together with daddy who is gone so much AND make cookies that this pregnant woman loves??

"Play-Dough"

The girls had fun shaping the dough into little balls.

Here's the chef himself, checking out their work and making corrections.

And here's the amazing griddle. It's quite heavy and my mother lugged it all the way from Russia a couple of years ago. Apparently, those griddles were mass-produced many years ago and never again since. My mom and my sister had been actively searching for one for several years, and whaddaya know - on the same weekend they both got responses to an ad they had placed in the paper - living in two different cities! So, my mom traveled across the ocean with it and TSA was quite baffled by this... um... bizarre weapon.

Here are the baked nut halves.

The next step is filling them. Dmitri had boiled cans of condensed milk until it turned to gooey caramel.

Here is the final product!

And here's the final product on its way to my mouth! Yum!!!

So, lasting memories were made and the nuts... well, they are in our memory too now that they are all gone!

Pumpkin Carving (a.k.a. "Brain Surgery")

2010-10-31T20:40:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, October 30th, the girls and I had our second annual 'mommy-daughters' pumpkin carving fun. Yes, we always wish that daddy was here to share in all the fun, but we still enjoyed our leisurely afternoon together.

Emily made progress this year and actually did not get grossed out scooping out the pumpkin brains. Up until this activity, she seemed to be having a tough day, but playing in the slimy pumpkin insides somehow soothed her and she started to smile.

Natalie was definitely more hesitant (you can see that she is not putting her hand very deep).

Here's Emily again, just relishing the mess!

Natalie was very particular about the pumpkin's future face. Here she is actually correcting what I had drawn earlier!

Um... have I already mentioned that Emily was loving the mess?

Here are our creations in the beautiful fall light. Natalie's has a face, I carved a cross inside a heart, and Emily carved a cross and a crown.

We waited until it got dark to light the candles and take a few more photos.

I did take a few photos without the flash and my pumpkin looked nice:

As we worked on our pumpkins, I again told them how God takes us, cleans us off, then scoops the yucky sin out of us and places His light inside of us for the world to see (see Matthew 5:14-16).

I feel very thankful to have spent this weekend seeing and doing beautiful things with my girls.

What a gift they are!

HalloZooWeen!

2010-10-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

Sunday, October 24th, we started off at church, then lunch at Culver's (nothing healthy but all SOO good!), and then drove with Sarah Schmidt and her 5-year old Josh to the Cincinnati Zoo for their annual HalloZooWeen. The weather was unbelievable - it was actually hot!

The girls were 'Russian Princesses' and Josh was Buzz Lightyear. Most children were in costumes, and some were a little disturbing... But, we enjoyed seeing the animals. Above, the kids are in front of the giraffe pen.

Below, this bear was... um... exercising? It was pulling on its hind legs. I'd be in major pain if I tried doing that now.

This polar bear was resting and melancholically checking out the crowd.

Here's Sarah, our fearless leader. If it wasn't for her, my kids wouldn't get out of the Burlington/Florence, KY, area! She has shown us so many beautiful and fun places over the past 5 years.

Here's Natalie on our first train ride at the Zoo.

For a while, the kids played at the playground and Sarah and I rested. On our way out of the zoo, the kids stopped to look at the pond and the ducks.

And, I could't help but snap this photo, just couldn't get enough of the fall colors we saw that day.

After the Zoo, we went back to Culvers to use the ice cream coupons that we got at lunch. Yes, we actually had ice cream for dinner. We all need days like that sometimes!

The Long-Awaited Vacation!!

2010-10-24T17:13:00.001-07:00

After a crazy-busy week and a very short night (I slept less than 4 hours), the girls and I left the house at 6am on Saturday (Oct.9, 2010), flew to Minneapolis and then to Ft. Myers, FL. My brother-in-law picked us up around 4pm. Emily passed out almost immediately, while Natalie and I were more or less ok after napping on the plane. Now, if you ever fly to Florida, make sure that you drive directly to the beach - no need to stop anywhere to drop your things off, etc. Right to the beach we went and finally, we truly felt like we were on vacation. Here is Emily (right) and her cousin Katya (left) with Katya's friends, digging a deep hole under Emily's direction.

Here's my sister-in-law Irina with Katerina.

The sunset was glorious but incredibly short. Literally, the sun would plunge into the ocean within about 2 minutes. I videotaped it because I had a hard time believing just how fast it was happening.

On Tuesday, the 12th, my honey along with his mom arrived at my sister-in-law's house. Kids enjoyed some special time with her as she took time to read to them and play with them.

Emily helped Serezha do his Kumon homework. We joked that during our time in Florida Emily practically became a certified Kumon instructor. She really enjoyed helping him - she is definitely a good teacher.

Here are the four cousins: Sergei (almost 5), Emily (7), Natalie (4) and Katerina (7). This really was a special time for them because usually only one of my girls goes to Florida at a time. This was the first time in a while that all four of them were together. And, it was my and Dmitri's first time at my sister-in-law's house since they moved to FL 6 years ago! Hopefully we will go back to visit them again soon.

On Thursday (Oct.14), Alex (Ira's husband) drove us to Tampa where we boarded our ship - Carnival Inspiration. Actually, this photo was taken when we docked in Cozumel, Mexico.

We never tired of the fun towel creations we found in our rooms every night, along with the chocolate (that our kids would steal).

Aah, the cruise food..... Mmmm! It was all incredible. You think there's not much food on this plate? You think we were starving and losing weight?? Oh no! This is just one of the several appetizers we all would get at each dinner, PLUS the main course, PLUS dessert! Honestly, we were never hungry for the next meal. At breakfast we were still stuffed from dinner the night before, at lunch we were still full from breakfast, and coming to dinner we were almost feeling guilty, knowing that we are far from hungry but also knowing that we would definitely eat the upcoming meal.

Speaking of the 'upcoming meal'... At the very first dinner on Thursday night, after the delicious appetizers were served, the waiter (we had two of them) asked if we wanter regular water or Pellegrino (sparkling water). We asked for the latter. Natalie took a sip from her glass, sat it down, said, "I don't like this water." And then she proceeded to... throw up all over the table, including the delicate smoked duck appetizer. We were mortified. The waiters immediately rushed to her, covering everything with napkins. Dmitri wisely suggested that we really needed to have the table cloth changed. The waiters kindly obliged and quickly removed all the plates (that included untarnished appetizers) from the table, the soiled table cloth, wiped the table and then quickly replaced everything. What a good first impression our family made...

So, we're at sea!! And I felt like I was flying! :) Children were having a blast at "Camp Carnival" which allowed my mother-in-law to rest on the 'Serenity Deck' (no one under the age of 21 allowed), and Dmitri and I explored the ship together.

On Saturday we arrived in Cozumel, Mexico!

We rented a car (it cost as much as two cab rides!), and drove to the other side of the island, enjoying the sights during the drive. We first stopped by a pretty beach but due to the rough terrain we chose not to spend too much time there. My mother-in-law though was so anxious to jump into the warm water that she ran for it, despite the sharp petrified corrals.

In the meantime, we stopped by a little vending stand on that beach. Since Natalie had been complaining of the sun being in her eyes everytime we tried to take pictures, Dmitri asked the guy at the stand to make a hat for Natalie. He did so with his incredible fast fingers. Here we are with that guy. He even made little grasshoppers out of the same palm leaves for the girls.

Here's Dmitri modeling Emily's hat and showing off his tattoo (ok, it was a temporary one. The funny thing is that he ended up with a tan-too at the end of the trip - when this one washed off, it left a faint design on his arm that will probably stay there for the next few months!).

We finally found a gorgeous beach, complete with a restaurant. Dmitri loved taking the girls' pictures by this bright green wall of the restaurant.

We spent quite a long time swimming, looking for beautiful shells (found plenty!), and the girls were excited to see the boy from our ship, who happened to get to the same beach with his parents. That boy (Baran) would become almost a part of our family for the remainder of the cruise! He and the girls had a great time together.

After the beach we followed signs and the map that the guy at Alamo rental place scribbled on, and we got to Cedral community that boasted a Mayan temple of love and fertility. Of course, we took lots of pictures there, including of Dmitri, me and my pregnant belly. :)

Oh, the young guy that gave us a little tour also brought out his iguana for this picture. Natalie was very wary of it and didn't want to come near. Emily didn't mind it at all, as though she'd been around iguanas her whole life!

Dmitri couldn't help but stop on the way to take some more pictures of the rocks and the ocean. We were so blessed with perfect weather, considering that the previous two cruises before ours encountered very rough weather due to the hurricane. I see there's one heading that way today!

Our final dinner on the ship. Don't worry, I'm just having an alcohol-free strawberry smoothie! What an amazing vacation we had! I'm so blessed with a wonderful and caring husband who organized the whole thing, and even got us a room with a big window.

That final night I didn't want to leave that window despite Dmitri's requests to go to sleep as we needed to gain strength for the long day ahead of us. However, I just kept staring out of our window in to the darkness outside, just seeing the waves from our ship. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I felt like I wanted to absorb it all. Ok, it IS a big ocean, but still, I didn't want this trip to end so fast. I had never been out in the vast ocean before, and frankly, I was a little nervous of it. But, during this trip I fell in love with the beautiful blue creation all around me - the bright blue of the sky and the indigo blue of the ocean. I will definitely miss the 'Serenity Deck' where Dmitri, his mom and I sat for almost 2 hours on the final night, enjoying the warm breeze on our faces, even though it was almost 10pm.

Thus, our vacation came to an end. The next morning we got off the ship, went to the airport, flew to New York, LaGuardia, then to Cincinnati, getting home at 9pm. That night I still felt like I was in motion whether it was from the ship or the long flights. Probably both.

Thanks for letting me share with you and I pray that you may have an enjoyable and relaxing vacation soon!

Here's to new beginnings...

2010-10-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't blogged in almost a year and a half. Wow! My original goal was updating this blog at least once every three months and I have definitely failed... I'm trying to stay current with updating my Facebook friends but I realize that not everyone is on it. So, I'd like to start again and hopefully keep this up to date, even if it's once every... 6 months? Or a year? Still better than I've done up till now! So, here we go!

Drumroll, please!

2009-06-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned for the photos and stories about our June trip to England (and Wales). It has been an incredible trip!

I know, it's been a while...

2009-04-18T09:47:00.001-07:00

I feel bad about not blogging regularly and depriving everyone of the girls' photos. They are getting so big! Natalie turned 3 in February and Emily is about to turn 6, on April 30th - in just a couple of days.

Natalie loves being a princess

Girls making muffins

TRIP TO THE ZOO

On Dmitri's birthday I 'ran away' from work to spend a day with the birthday boy, the girls and my mother-in-law. We went to the Cincinnati Zoo. It was a perfect day to go - it was Tuesday, so the place was practically empty. The weather was good too - not too hot or sunny, but pleasantly cool. The weather did turn bad the very next day, so we were especially thankful that it held off for a day. I'm not going to describe all that we saw - it was a zoo and the girls enjoyed seeing every animal and bird. Here are a few photos:

Yes, check out how Emily is 'hugging' her baby sister... Applying just enough pressure not to choke! :)

Ok, this guy looked interesting. All he needed was a hat or a plate in front of him to collect alms. Or, he was just bored and tired of being ogled by dumb humans.

A couple of birds...

Their Annual Flower Show was going on, and the whole zoo was covered with gorgeous blooms.

My favorite - lilac

Well, I need to stop for now - it's taking too long to fight with the blogspot formatting - does anyone else struggle with it? Whenever I put in new photos, it messes up everything I've already done. Time for bed!

Staying busy...

2009-01-26T20:04:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been nearly 4 months since my last entry... We've been staying busy at home as well as traveling. After our trip to Somerset, we went to the Chicago area for Thanksgiving, to Charlotte, NC, in December, and currently making plans to visit friends in Florida in the next 2 months. I have lots of photos but don't have enough time to re-size them to fit the blog... I'll keep working on it and hopefully I'll have a few up in the next couple of weeks.

Sweet Sisters

Visiting my college friend Marina in Charlotte, NC

Natalie riding a horsie

Got milk? Good, clean KY fun (ok, even if it involves a cow pie!)

2008-10-14T19:14:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I took mom and the girls down to Somerset, KY, to visit some old friends of ours. There were a couple of "firsts" during this trip. The first one was me playing the dulcimer after Nathan played several songs and Appalachian tunes.

The other first was milking a cow. First, my mom gave it a try. Then the girls got involved.

I held up a cup and Emily and Natalie milked right into it. Emily was a little grossed out and didn't want to drink from it. Natalie, on the other hand, downed the glass. What happened next surprised us all. She said, "I want more!" and turned toward the cow. Glass in one hand, she milked the cow right into it!

Here she is, proud of her accomplishment.

And, by the way, Emily was ok with drinking milk from a jar at our friends' house (and asking for more), even though she knew exactly where it came from. I guess it was more palatable to her knowing that it didn't just come out of the cow!

Пейте, дети, молоко - будете здоровы! :)

Enjoying fall

2008-10-12T17:41:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures of what we've done in October.

Going on a hay ride at Granny's Garden in Florence, KY

Painting gourd bird feeders

Emily found just the right pumpkin

Before going to Granny's Garden, our granny discovered that Emily transformed her sister into a kitty by drawing her a nose and whiskers with a blue pen. It did not come off easily in the tub that evening...

Girls taking a walk. Note that Natalie is using a fireman hat as a baby carrier.

Our ballerina

We are Back from Costa Rica!

2008-06-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, June 18th, the girls and I flew to San José, Costa Rica, to visit my friend Andrea and her family. I've known Andrea since college 9 years ago and had been wanting to visit her all these years. I could hardly believe that I was finally there when the plane landed.

As soon as we got to Andrea's, my girls hit it off well with Andrea's two kids, Kristel, who just turned 6, and Gabriel, who is about to turn 4. Natalie went a little nuts painting.

We visited a big mall where the kids wanted to ride on every little ride and on a carousel. I wonder if the girls felt like they were at the Florence Mall...

With the camera always handy, I couldn't help myself but take a picture of a kid's t-shirt hanging on a rack along with some other really nice and pricey shirts. Let me know if I'm the one who is missing something...

On Thursday morning, we took Kristel to her school. I thought it would be a great chance for Emily to stay and see what a Costa Rican school is like. Natalie started crying and saying that she wanted to stay too.

All the kids swarmed around Emily and talked to her all at once in Spanish. She got overwhelmed and started crying, Natalie too. So, Andrea's husband went and picked them up before school was over.

On Friday Andrea drove us to the beach, about 45 minutes away from a city called Jacó. This was my first time on the Pacific coast. It would've taken a much longer drive in the States to get to the Pacific! Kids enjoyed getting covered with sand (I'm still cleaning out Emily's ears, a week later!), and fearless Natalie kept plunging face first into waves. She would just laugh as I would fish her from under the water. Crazy kid. Andrea asked a guy nearby to take us out on a boat. He took us around the harbor and showed us several ships, one of which had a helicopter on top of it. At first Emily was very nervous as the boat went up and down, but then she started to enjoy it. Natalie just wanted to jump out.

We had lunch right in front of the ocean. On the photo below, Natalie had her first taste of Ceviche, that's raw fish cured in lemon juice. She liked it. So did I. Emily didn't want to be anywhere near it and preferred to nibble on a cheese stick.

Speaking of food, it was great. On the picture below, are a few things that I ate at one restaurant. On the big plate is a meat-filled pancake, called 'popusa', served with a coleslaw mix, except it's with lemon juice and not the creamy dressing like here. Above is a plate with an empanada, a deep-fried or baked corn tortilla filled with potatoes and meat, served with pico de gallo, or as they call it in Costa Rica, chimichurri. The yellow drink in the cup is called 'crema', and it's like a runny custard, topped with cinnamon, yum! Oh, that's Natalie's hot dog on the bottom of my plate.

More commonly, people eat a lot of rice and beans in different combinations, and at different mealtimes - or for breakfast, lunch AND dinner. My favorite is 'gallo pinto' - pinto beans and rice with cilantro and special sauce (I brought back 2 bottles!), and a fried eggs. By the way, eggs there are never refrigerated - at the store or at home, and they taste perfectly fine. So, either we are too obssessed with refrigerating things here, or their hens are just different and lay unperishable eggs.

On Saturday, June 21st, was the long-awaited Birthday party for Kristel and Gabriel. It was held at chicken restaurant (kind of like KFC, except they also have KFCs there!), and it was all organized by an employee, along with the games and the food. Emily reluctantly participated, maybe because she wasn't sure about all the instructions she was hearing in Spanish. Natalie had no clue what the games were about and just ran around with everyone.

After the party, everyone took the pictures of the family. Gabriel is holding the carboard front from a piñata. All kids took turns hitting it, including Emily, who just sort of twirled it with the stick, and Natalie made everyone laugh as she would go back for more and whack it with all her might.

When we got home, there were two huge garbage bags full of presents that had to be opened. Emily was just as excited about playing with all the new toys.

On Sunday morning we went to Andrea's church. Unlike most of the Costa Rican population, she is not Catholic. Her church belongs to the Assembly of God denomination. The service was a huge blessing to me, the songs were beautiful and the pastor preached a wonderful sermon, I understood all of it. :) I snapped a quick photo of him. No, he doesn't look like this because he is mad about me taking the picture, he was just speaking about something very serious.

The girls went to the same Sunday School class, where they were for 2 hours! This time, despite the fact that it was all in Spanish, they had a great time. The teacher spoke a little English, so that probably made them feel better.

After church we drove to the airport to pick up Dmitri. Girls were thrilled to have their daddy with them. I was happy he could join us too!

Now that he was in Costa Rica, it was time to start exploring. On Monday we went to one of Costa Rica's active volcanoes, this one called Poás. The view was breathtaking. We walked on the trails for a long time and went by the old crater, now containing a small lake filled with rain water.

We were amazed at this country's beauty every day. On a picture below, we enjoyed looking at some hummingbirds.

I also took loads of pictures of plants and flowers. I especially loved the serene view of a place not too far from the volcano, where Dmitri and I went on a 'canopy tour.' Now, do you know what a canopy tour is?

Well, here we are, getting ready to go. I was pretty nervous as we were strapped with all the equipment, having a hard time fathoming that I would actually get to fly through the jungle holding on to a rope.

Well, as soon as I was pushed off the platform with a 'bye-bye,' all my fears disappeared and were replaced with pure exhilaration.

Dmitri made everyone laugh as he zipped through the trees with a Tarzan scream.

It took us about 2 hours to go on 17 ropes. Since it was raining, the ropes were slick which increased the speed with which we flew between the trees. The last rope was like the grand finale - it was very long and we flew at about 50 mph. I wanted to do that one again and again.

On Wednesday, it was Dmitri's turn to visit the Pacific coast for the first time in his life. We took a bus to a city called Puntarenas, and played in bath-temperature water. Yes, the girls got a mud wrap again, and I joined them this time.

After playing on the beach, we walked over to a cafe across the street where we took a shower. Most cafes along the ocean have showers and even though they don't have hot water, it's not freezing. Here are the girls after getting cleaned up.

While I was still in the shower, Dmitri ordered us a snack. He ordered some french fries and then a dish called 'carnepapas', and was surprised when I asked him why he had ordered two platters of french fries (one of them topped with barbecued meat). He had hoped that one of the dishes would have his favorite fried plantains. When I asked the server if they had that, he said no. So, we ate what was brought to us and we didn't want to see french fries for a long time after that. Oh, Dmitri also ordered a fruit salad, and over there it's definitely an art form. They spoon some shaved ice into the bottom of the dish, followed by pieces of watermelon, papaya, strawberries and pineapple, then some strawberry jello, custard syrup and top it with a scoop of ice cream and a pirouline cookie. Wow... now that's a fruit salad!

Time went by way too fast. We could hardly believe that we were already gone for a week. On Thursday morning we said 'hasta luego' to Andrea's home and headed for the airport.

I especially loved the view from her front door. One can see mountains from just about any place in Costa Rica.

We got to the airport and that's where the fun began.

We fly stand-by, so it should've not been a surprise to us when we were not able to get out. Well, Dmitri did get a seat and had to run off, leaving Emily sobbing and me somewhat catatonic, unsure of what to do next. I called Andrea and asked her if we could have breakfast with her. She was happy to come back and pick us up. While we were waiting for her, Emily said, "It's a good thing we didn't leave. It's beautiful here." After breakfast, Andrea took us back to the airport for another try. I was reluctant to even go back, knowing that most likely we wouldn't leave, or, worse, fly out and get stuck in Altanta. Well, that's exactly what happened. We were unable to get seats on the 11pm flight, and Dmitri reserved us a hotel room using our rewards points. We got there a little past midnight and had some popcorn and water. The girls were enjoying our little adventure. We went to bed after 1am and after a restless night I got up at 5:30. After breakfast we headed back to the airport.

Even though initially I was told that there were enough empty seats, I was disappointed to find out that there were 2 seats left and there were still 3 people ahead of us on the stand-by list. But, at the last moment, by God's grace, we got seats! This is what the girls looked like when we finally sat down:

We flew to Cincinnati, picked up my suitcase that had arrived the night before, and my friend Yulia drove us home. The girls were excited to see the neighbor boy and ran to him telling him that we just came from far away. The neighbor gave me the big stack of mail that she was picking up daily. I immediately wished that I could live in Costa Rica. Why? Because there are no street names. There are no house numbers. And there are no mailboxes. So, I would NOT get piles of credit card offers that we can't catch up shredding. Oh, and if you wonder how people communicate - well, pretty much everyone has email! A few people have PO Boxes, but they are not cheap. So, most people never get mail. Sounds like a dream to me as I am looking at the 'to be shredded' bucket filled to the brim.

After mac & cheese for lunch, we all took a very long nap. Now, the day after, we are adjusting to our normal life, but deeply miss the friends and the places in Costa Rica. We hope to return there again soon.

Well, I'm signing off now - I've got lots to do after being gone for a week. Thank you for reading our story!

The Making of a New Friend

2008-06-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

This morning Emily and her friend Kylie went to Build-A-Bear at the Mall. While Kylie has come here a few times before, this was Emily's first time. She was clearly astonished at all the variety of animals and accessories for them. I was more astonished about the prices! :)

Very consistent with her personality, Emily did not take long to pick out a bear or the outfit. She immediately knew that she wanted a soft brown bear, and she picked out a frilly silk white and gold dress and matching gold and silver shoes (shoes on a bear???). She also got it white silk underwear (ditto????). Kylie picked out a pink heart leopard and a surfer outfit with croc shoes.

Then they entered their information in the computer (with moms' help) and printed out the bears' Birth Certificates. Emily named her bear Madison and Kylie named hers June, probably because Kylie's birthday is in June and she thinks it's a cool name for everything and everyone. The bears were put into cardboard houses with handles, and the kids happily trotted out, excited about their new friends as well as about going to the playground.

We ate lunch at the food court, complete with a cookie. We all parted ways, having thoroughly enjoyed our morning.

Our thanks to Mr & Mrs Howard for allowing Emily to have such an awesome experience and for her new buddy Madison.

Here are our Sweethearts

2008-06-07T17:14:00.001-07:00

Sisters and Best Friends

May 2008

Our Princess turned 5!

2008-05-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

On April 30th, Emily turned 5! Dmitri took the girls to the Cincinnati Zoo in the morning. They got to see flamingos, zebras, giraffes, monkeys, polar bears, and other animals - but the animal that fascinated Natalie the most was an elephant having a bowel movement. She would later recount to people with a lot of emotion and gestures, "Lefant - poop - biiig - ewww - yuck!"

After the girls' nap, the festivities began. Lots of friends came over and Emily was blessed with so many wonderful gifts. Her newest passion is Polly Pocket dolls and accessories (thanks to our friend Carol who introduced Emily to her first Polly Pocked doll 3 days before her birthday). Now she has 5 or 6 of those dolls, complete with lots of tiny shoes (perfectly bite-sized for Natalie), clothes, and even a car and a water park complete with slides!

Guests, you will soon be receiving cards that Emily is in process of making herself. Thank you for being such a blessing to her and to our family and thank you for sharing this joyful day with us!

Fun in the Sun

2008-04-11T19:21:00.001-07:00

Nice weather is finally here! Well, it WAS nice for the past 2 weeks, but the cold front is coming in tonight. Nonetheless, we took advantage of the beautiful sunny weather and had fun playing in the park.

I'm adding a couple of other fun photos for your enjoyment!

Cousins at Disney World

2008-04-05T11:10:00.001-07:00

Grandma Elena took Emily and her cousin Katya to visit the Mouse World on March 13. The girls had a great time going on rides (getting scared witless on the Snow White ride), getting their faces painted, and just running around. Grandma had a hard time convincing them that they had to drink or eat, because their attention was grabbed by yet another attraction.

On March 14th, they went to Typhoon Lagoon where they had fun on water slides for a few hours. The next day they celebrated Katya's birthday on the beach. The girls always have such a good time together, and we are very grateful to Grandma Elena for making this happen each time. We love you, grandma!

First time for everything...

2008-04-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

So, I have finally done it and created my first blog ever! I would like for friends and family to be able to see new pictures and read our news without me going crazy trying to update everyone at once. Of course, I cannot promise that I will blog here daily or even weekly... So, I will appreciate one of you giving me a gentle nudge every once in a while.