Life with Nikita

Life with Nikita

I gotta have some breakfast. I like to stay in my NBA pajamas as long as possible.

Of course, life wouldn't be life without a little basketball.

When I get sick, like a soar throat, dad will put this stuff on my back.
It's some sort of Ukrainian home remedy. I like it!

I love to watch videos with Dad. Here we're watching Madagascar in Ukrainian.

That's pretty much it. Oh, yeah, I go to school too. :)

Family Reunion Onesie

The extended family had a reunion this summer, but we couldn't make it, so when Mom came to visit, she brought all the family reunion shirts, and the onesie that was made for Noah. We put it on him the other day, and this is what he looked like.

In Ukraine, kids wear tights under their clothes, to keep them warm.
However, to me, it looks like Noah is an 80's workout girl. :)

I wonder if I can reach that big stick thing back there.

I love my reunion onesie!!!

Ohh, something shiney, gotta go. ;)

Noah's 1st Birthday!!!

Noah is already 1 year old! It seems impossible, but it's true. Here are some pictures from his
1st birthday party!

Mommy had to wake me up from my nap, so we could get the party started!
(And so I'd sleep good that night!)

I was so excited!!!

Everyone from Mommy and Daddy's Bible study is singing me Happy Birthday right now. I'm so excited about the cake and my candle!

Here I am blowing it out. I think someone secretly helped me blow it out! :)

So, I heard that you get cake on your birthday. Bring it on!

Here's me eating my cake! Hmmmm, red velvet!

I love cake!!! I can't wait until my next birthday!

Here's me with my big brother on my birthday! I love Nikita!

O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree

It's that time of year again, when we dug out our Christmas tree from storage. I love Christmas, and I'm so excited to continue to build traditions in our family. Putting up the tree is definitely going to be one of them. We did it right, with our favorites (Kathie Lea, Dolly, and Kenny Rogers) singing Christmas carols in the background. Yeah to Christmas!

Here are the boys pulling the tree out the box.

Noah really wanted to help.

Here I am straightening out the "branches."

It's like you're here with us!

The finished product!

Here's a shot from Nikita.
I present to you, our Christmas tree!!!

I sit in this chair a lot right now, across from the tree, watching the lights at night. It's a good place to just relax. I remember my mom doing that a lot when I was little and never understanding why it was so great. I get it now!

Math with Nikita!!!

Nikita is learning all sorts of things at school, too much to my way of thinking, but whatever. :) I've been working with him on the math side of things. Check out his masterful math skills in both Russian and English.

First in Russian
(по русский)

Now in English

"I'm Carrying You"

So, most of the posts that write are more pictures than words, but I figured I'd share some thoughts. During the winter, when things are so beautiful, with the freshly fallen snow and the feeling that life has slowed down, your mind just becomes more contemplative. Well, I've had a lot to contemplate lately. I wanted to share one specific moment.
Lately, when people have asked me, "How are you doing?" I tend to reply with, "Life is moving, and I'm moving with it." That's really how I've felt lately. I'm moving, but I don't feel like I'm doing much to make that movement happen. I'm kind of going through the motions, as they say. It was hard for me to see God around me. I tried to look, to find Him. I knew He was there, because God is always there, but I just couldn't see Him. I didn't really understand why I felt like that until I was writing to God the other day in my journal, and I wrote this:

"I just feel like I'm being carried through life, like I can step outside of myself and see me living life. I guess that means that you must be the One carrying me. :) Maybe that's why I can't see you in front of me, you're below me. "

I hope this can encourage you during tough times. It has certainly given me peace that I never thought I could have a time like this. All of this reminded me of the famous poem, "Footprints." I've included it below for those of you that don't know it.

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed
he was walking along the beach with the LORD.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene he noticed two sets of
footprints in the sand: one belonging
to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.

He noticed that many times along the path of
his life there was only one set of footprints.

He also noticed that it happened at the very
lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he
questioned the LORD about it:

"LORD, you said that once I decided to follow
you, you'd walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most
troublesome times in my life,
there is only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why when
I needed you most you would leave me."

The LORD replied:

"My son, my precious child,
I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you."

written by Mary Stevenson

New Coat and Boots

When in the States recently, I bought a new winter coat for Nikita. I wasn't sure what size to get, since he wasn't with me. I decided to get the bigger of the two that I was debating on, which is something I learned from my mom. Until I was 16 my shoes were always too big for me. :)
Anyway, mom had brought him boots from the States as well when she had come to visit.

Needless to say, we were ready for the snow.


Last Sunday, it came!!! It was so beautiful, and it seemed to mark some sort of new beginning for me, personally. It's a wonderful thing to see God put something white and wonderful over all the mud and brownness. He's a good God!

Going for a Walk and VERY Delayed Apartment Pics

I promised pictures of our apartment a long time ago, and now here they are. First I will introduce our tour guide. This is Noah, showing you the height of the mirror in our bedroom.

This is a random staircase that literally doesn't lead anywhere but to look out the window. The guy that built this apartment (the architect of the building) thought he would build out more, but then decided against it, and just put a window there. In the summer time, this was where Noah slept.

Since we don't have a closet, we got creative with where to put our clothes.

This is just random.

This is the master bedroom. You can see the "random room" through the window. And, you can see our IKEA bed. I love IKEA!!! We don't have it here in Ukraine, so we hauled this guy all the way from Poland.

This is one of our storage areas. To the right is a door to a sauna. That's right a real, working sauna. We don't use it a lot, but it's fun to say we have it.

This is the boys' room. They are both really enjoying sharing a room. I heard them laughing the other night. Nikita was doing something funny to make Noah laugh.
I feel so blessed that they get along so well! God is good!

Here's the new lamp that Nikita got, so he can be a good student. He has just recently made a breakthrough in reading. We're so proud of him.

This is the foyer. That is a fireplace there in the corner. I can't wait to try it out.
It's getting about that time.
I just want to sit in front of the fireplace with the Christmas tree and Christmas music. :)
I think this will be my favorite room in the house.

This is our living room looking out into the foyer.

This is the other view of the living room. Most of the furniture was already here. And you'll also see your guide, he has slacked a little on his job, but he's ready to make a strong finish.

Here's the foyer looking at the front door and another small, foyer-esk space.
(I really don't the proper terms for these rooms.)

Oops. The guide got a little jammed up.

Here's Noah more interested in something on the floor than he is in telling you that this is the front door foyer area.

Here's the kitchen.

Another view of the kitchen.

Here's the director of Sports Chaplains Ukraine hard at work in the office.

This is a storage room off the office that Andre sometimes uses as office space.

Noah and Sergei are down to business on the other side of the office.

Well, that's all from about our apartment. Nikita wanted me to tell you all that he's sorry that he left the guiding to Noah, but he had to go to school. Bummer.

So, it's getting colder here, but we still venture out from time to time. We dug Noah's snowsuit out of the closet, and this is what he looked like with it on.

After all that has happened in the last months in our family, we just hope that you all are enjoying your families to the fullest. We know that we are.

Noah's first steps in life

New Hair for the Quarterback

So, we decided that Noah's hair was getting too long.

We made it into a mohawk!

You can really see how long it was in this picture. You can also see how chubby he is.

We tried to cut it with scissors at first. It didn't work that well. :)

Here we are cutting his hair with a machine. It looks so cute, and he really didn't mind it as much as it seems in the picture.

Here's the first few moments. Our battery died, so we didn't get the whole process on tape.

Here's Noah in his first days of training to be a quarterback.
Watch carefully, he's ambidextrous. :)