Saturday, June 28, 2008

The View From Our Window

I looked out the window a couple of weeks ago and saw this man working hard and "mowing" the lawn.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Look Who's Walking!

On the 9th of June Nathan began taking baby steps. Every day he gets more and more brave and adds a step or two. On the 16th he started standing up all by himself without the help of any props. It is quite comical to watch him do this. It is quite a balancing act for him.

So here's a video clip for our grandmas, aunts, uncles, and cousins who miss out on watching our little boys grow up!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Our State Of The Art Fire Trucks

You judge for yourselves! Let's just say that one of my fears of living in these apartment buildings is wondering if the fire dept. will ever make it on time to put out the fire.


Sunday, June 22, 2008

A Day Out With Josiah

The weekend before our trip to Israel, Josiah and I went and did some souvenir shopping near the river. In order to get there we took the Tram. I got on the wrong number and then had to take two more to get to our destination.




Once mommy finally figure out how to get to the correct stop, we began our walk to the river front. On the way there we stopped by the Lenin Statue at Revolution Square and took a few photo shots.



So we finally made it to the river front and found some good deals on some souvenirs. Josiah wasn't too crazy about taking more pictures. It was pretty warm and muggy and I think he was a bit tired of all the walking.

Friday, June 20, 2008

LOOOOOOONG DAYS

Our days are real long here. We don't exactly have white nights but as you can see it is pretty light out 'til pretty late. I took these pictures last weekend.


10:00 P.M.

10:30 P.M.

11:00 P.M.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Israel, here we come!


OOPS! CAN'T FORGET THE BOYS!

Well we are all very excited around our home today. Tomorrow is our big trip to Israel. We fly into Frankfurt, Germany and will have to stay the night there. Then on Saturday afternoon we fly into Tel Aviv. Israel isn't too far from us and it is only a 2 hour time change so getting adjusted won't be a problem for us. I am not sure what our web access will be but I have scheduled some posts to publish while we are away. We are really looking forward to this missionary conference and having fellowship with the other missionary families. I look forward to posting a lot of great pix from the Holy Land.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Our Father's Day



Our Father's day was pretty uneventful considering that here in Russia Father's Day is not celebrated. Josiah colored a nice picture for his daddy, I was able to find a Father's Day card in English at the Hallmark store, and we gave daddy a couple of gifts.


Josiah was acting quite silly during our photo shoot and didn't want a picture alone with daddy!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Happy Father's Day Jon

Ten Reasons Why I Think My Husband Is A Great Daddy:



10. He has the patience of a monkey mama. You know how at the zoo the baby monkeys are always picking at their moms and hanging all over them and the mamas just sit there and do absolutely nothing.........well that is what Jon's patience is like.
9. He taught Josiah how to make great car noises.
8. He is a hands on type of daddy. He isn't afraid to get down and dirty and change diapers, wipe butts, give baths, feed the baby, etc., etc., etc.
7. He lets Josiah pick the movies when Jon and him watch movies together. Even though Jon would prefer not to watch Miss Pattycake (or Miss Spazzycake as I like to call her), Thomas the Tank Engine Movie (not the animated type ones but the one with Alec Baldwin and Peter Fonda........it is terrible), or the Care Bears Movie, Jon will still defer to Josiah and just watch it along with him.
6. He always makes sure that the boys faces are clean.

No seriously he does, he is actually a bit obsessed about clean faces.
5. He is great at trimming the boys fingernails and toenails. Actually Josiah prefers that daddy trim his nails.
4. He lets Josiah go along with him in the car whenever he has to go run an errand.
3. He is the one who puts Josiah to bed and follows the nightly routine of reading a book, giving him a drink of water, praying with him, and he even lies down with him for a little bit.
2. He doesn't mind wearing matching shirts with Josiah.


and
1. He is the Godliest example I know for my two boys to follow!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Easter Egg Hunt




O.K. so we are a bit late on this but we finally did it. Things have been so busy that we hadn't done our annual Easter egg hunt. This past weekend we finally got to it and Josiah had a lot of fun. Nathan had no idea what was going on, he just wanted to put the plastic eggs in his mouth.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Josiah's Church Friends

Josiah loves to go to church but I think it is for one reason alone.........he gets to hang out with all his buddies! We are working on the real reason why we go to church but for now he is enjoying his Russian friends.




The cute little girl above is Leela....the Pastor's daughter and Josiah's Russian girlfriend. We bring snacks to share with her and she and Josiah love hanging out together. He is always asking for her during the week.






From L to R : Vicka, Leeza, Ksusha, and Meesha

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Nathan's Favorite Spot

In our home we all have a favorite spot.
Josiah loves to hang out on and by the window sill in our living room. Here he plays with his dinosaurs, cars, trains, and shoots the cars going by with his gun.
Jon's favorite spot is his desk. Here he studies, reads, and plays with his toy......the Mac.
My favorite spot would have to be the kitchen table. Here I WOULD scrapbook if I had the time.
Nathan's favorite spot is under the kitchen table. Here he bites Josiah's toes, gets kicked in the head by Josiah's feet, eats all the crumbs that fall to the floor and basically he just hangs out. The second I grab the camera to take his picture he makes a mad dash towards me! One day I will get a better pic!


Sunday, June 1, 2008

She's left us and is getting married!



Christina and Shenya.....the one who took her away!



Christina and Josiah cruising on the volga.


Well my dear friend and babysitter has left to Ukraine. Christina is one of the few Russian friends I have here. This past week I have cried about it every day. Even though I am so happy for her, I am also selfish and would prefer that she remain here.



This is the first night Christina babysat for us.....some friends had to come also to make sure Josiah would be happy!


Christina is a really godly young woman and desires to worship God with her life. She is also a little on the crazy side like me and I have enjoyed our silly conversations and text messages. She met a wonderful man and she will be getting married in the next few months. We are really going to miss her so much. I know she will be back to Samara to visit but it won't be the same.
I wish her all the happiness and will not cease to pray for her and her future husband. This is a part of ministry that I have always disliked.......the good-byes!