Our Citizenship is in Heaven

Eli at 6 months old!

2012-02-07T12:16:00.000-08:00

So, I know this is old. But I don't care. He's just so sweet. Here is Eli at 6 months!

By the way, Eli is currently 9 and a half months old!

Cozy Cottage

2011-11-10T11:04:00.000-08:00

After leaving my parents house at 18, I moved around a lot!!! I was in different dorm rooms, apartments, Thailand and Ukraine. I never lived in the same place for more than 1 year and 3 months consecutively. Wow, that's a lot of moving!
But, (drum roll please.....) we have now lived in our apartment for 1 year and 8 months!!! So, I missed the anniversary a little, but the points still remains, I have finally put down some roots! I feel good about this. However, I never, out of all the places that we have moved to, would have thought that this would be the place where my roots would grow.
I mean, I don't really love everything about this place: it's far from town; it's got an "open floor plan" which many prefer, but when you have little overall space it's nice to have it seperated out a bit; we have caught a lot of mice, gross; and there are many other little querks about it that I could live without. However, our neighbors have been a huge blessing. Even just tonight, we had a neighbor friend of Nikita and Noah's over for dinner. And as I'm typing, the neighbor upstairs is down here fixing one of our light sockets. (This same neighbor shovels our walk and the cement in front of our garage in the winter and puts down sand so we won't slip. Huge blessing! :)
Many people have come to our house and said that they thought it was "cozy." I guess as I think of it, they might be right. Maybe that's why I have grown to love it. It is cozy. It's our little cozy cottage in the middle of what can be cold, grey Ukraine. It's a place where we can have a cup of hot chocolate, watch a movie (the kids' favorite is a toss up between Mighty Ducks and Little Rascals right now) and just be together. It's our home, and it feels great! Praise God for some roots!

Life to the full!

2011-10-20T23:40:00.000-07:00

Jesus said in John 10:10b "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

I've always wondered what Jesus meant by life "to the full." I guess, in my fast paced American mind, I thought that meant busy. Lots of good stuff always scheduled in my dayplanner. I have certainly lived quite a busy life, lots of activity. These activities have changed in nature as I've grown. It's gone from youth group and high school soccer, to Salt Company (our college ministry), to being the Ukrainian version of a soccer mom. (Which I totally love, by the way. I even have my soccer mom European, diesel minivan!!!)

Anywho, I was thinking today about some friends who are enjoying a wonerful new chapter in their lives. They just started dating! This event, although completely having nothing to do with me, has brought me so much joy. Other events recently have done the same thing. A friend had a baby who is healthy and wonderful. Other friends got married and started their life together as man and wife. Another friend is learning some of the most amazing lessons in life, while through some pain, it's truly awesome to watch him grow into the man God wants him to be. I had nothin' to do with any of that!

What struck me today is that this what I think Jesus meant. I have a life, filled with people. I get to share in their joys, their pain, their day to day happenings. I consider it one of the greatest blessings to have these people in my life and to be allowed to be in theirs. What a joy to live in the body of Christ! What a life, life to the full!!!

Home Sweet Home

2011-09-14T23:34:00.000-07:00

Some of you have been asking about our new place. Well, here's the story of our new place, which became our old place really fast. Then there's the story of how our old place became our new place again.

Ok, let's start from the beginning (I hear that's a good place to start.). We decided to look for apartments more centrally located, since right now, we're kind of in the outskirts of town, still accessible by bus, but not super convenient, especially when our car would break down. We finally found something at the end of July, and made plans to move in at the beginning of September. We told our current landlord that we were leaving, and he was sad, but what could he do.

We went to Poland on vacation, and had a wonderful Polish time, bought a few things at Ikea for the new place. Then we came back, got Nikita ready for the first day of school (Sept 1st) and started to pack. We got a phone call on Monday (August 29th from our old landlord asking if we were for sure moving out, because he had someone else that wanted to live in the apartment). We got our keys on August 31st, and went in to check things out. We realized that we wanted to paint a few places and needed to make a few "minor" repairs. Since we have a few friends that can do those kinds of things, we were ok, a little disappointed by how much work we didn't see the first time we came in to check out the apartment. Oh, and the landlady told us that she had just been fired from her job. Stink.

Well, the next day, Thursday, we came back to the apartment to figure out what colors and what else needed to be done. We went to the store and bought the paint.

So, Friday, the day it all hit the fan. We had gathered a small army together to help us paint the apartment, move our stuff and generally just help us with the process. We started at 10am and by 1pm, we realized we had some major problems. All the little stars that had been put on the ceiling were all covering wine spots. We had thought they were just there for decoration. All the other decorations on the wall, were all there covering holes. Then the tub in the bathroom would fill up with water when someone upstairs used their bathroom. (Not comfortable bathing my children in a bathtub like that. Just saying.) Then we found it...mold. Yup, a piece of random wallpaper had been put over a huge infestation of mold! We were shocked!

Andre called her up, and he told her about all of these problem. She said that she didn't want to fix anything. She wanted to sell the apartment anyway, and if we wanted them fixed we'd have to do it ourselves. Then she said that we could only stay a year maximum, which was not what we had agreed, so we told her we were out! We're not renting an apartment with mold, so our 3 kids can have issues. No thanks.

Well, that's when we decided to call the agency that we used to find this gem of an apartment (did you catch the subtle sarcasm?). We looked at one apartment immediately, but it was small and super expensive! So, we called our current landlord. His cell was out of service. So, we kept calling.. and calling..and calling. Friday turned into Saturday and then Sunday... it was getting weird. We thought that maybe he was in the village working in the garden. It's the time of year for that. However, when waiting turned into Tuesday and Wednesday, we figured that there's no way he has that big of a garden.

So, he must be on vacation, or something else. We found his home number and his wife's cell. His wife's cell was out of range also, and nobody answered the home phone. So, we just waited. Finally, Friday (a full week after we found out that we couldn't move) he called. He said that we could talk that weekend about the possibility of us staying. He had found a guy that was willing to pay almost twice as much as we were paying.

Sunday morning, Andre met with him. Praise God!!! We were able to stay here. We have to pay a bit more, but not nearly what that other dude was going to pay!!! We are so thankful!!!

Honestly, through this time, I've really come to appreciate where we live. Although it's not perfect, it really is home. Since, I have not lived anywhere since I was in high school for more than 1 year and 4 months, I am thankful for the chance to put down some roots. We are planning on staying here for a while. We have rearranged the house, and I'll show you pictures when we are done. We can't wait to just enjoy this great neighborhood, which the kids really love. They have tons of friends and can play outside all the time. There's also a new missionary family that has moved in not far from here, so it will be fun to hang out with them. Plus, now we have 2 cars, so we can get around easier. I feel good about being with boys out here. We have our handyman neighbor upstairs that can and has fixed pretty much everything you can imagine. We are truly where God wants us to be. I am confident of that! Praise God!!!

Don't Want to Miss Anything

2011-09-06T04:43:00.000-07:00

So, about 4 and a half years ago when I became a mom to Nikita, I was so sad at how much I had missed. He was almost five years old, and although I had known him since he was one, I still felt sad at all that I had missed: his birth, his first step and word and just him being him for the first 4 years and 10 months of his life. I was really grateful for the time that I had been able to spend with him, but I had this weird regret about the time that I had missed, as if it had been my fault somehow that I hadn't been there.

Then after a few years, I realized that I had been spending so much time regeretting all the time that I had missed before we got him, that I had missed his life since then. Then we had Noah and the same thing started to happen. I was always living in the past, regreting "missing stuff." Even when I got pregnant with Eli, I told Andre that I wasn't going to miss it this time. I wasn't going to take it for granted.

Well, I sit here today, and I realize that by regreting, I'm missing out on today. If I live my whole life in the past, I won't live my life, and that's how I can really miss stuff. My boys are growing, each day they're learning more and getting bigger. Although Nikita doesn't need my help to take a bath anymore, he still wants me to help him with his homework. Although Noah is going to be starting pre-school and will have his own thing now, he still says that I'm Sally and that he's McQueen. Although I missed taking newborn pictures of Eli (I hear you're supposed to do it before they're 10 days old.) I still get to smell that wonderful baby smell when we cuddle.

I refuse to regret anymore. I will not be robbed of today by regretting the past. I love my boys, and they deserve my whole heart today and everyday. May God give me the strength to live in the present.

Poland Vacation- Some Videos

2011-08-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun videos of our time in Poland.

Nikita jumping on the trampoline with Zoey.

Pool Time

Fun Jumps!

Belly flop, sort of.

I don't really know what he was singing, but it was cute.

Czech Zoo playground

Eli had a lot to say about the zoo.

Andre and Nikita went to the top of a mountain on a chair lift.

Mike and Emily

2011-08-16T02:51:00.000-07:00

Mike and Emily Easton swung by here on their way back to the States from East Asia. We had a great time just hanging out. Their daughter, Nora, is absolutely hilarious! Here are a few pictures that we took while siteseeing in Kiev.

The Eastons

Some of the Kravtsovs

Eli was a trooper, driving 4 hours there and back and hanging out in the car seat most of the day.

Love the view in Kiev, but there was a few overgrown bushes blocking the view.

They're so cute!

Nora woke up a few moments before this kind of confused.

Trying to learn how to "put out the vibe."

Take two

Emily telling me that I'm not supposed to smile while "putting out the vibe."

We were so thrilled to have been able to share our life with our friends. We love you guys! Thank you for coming!!!

Just Life

2011-08-02T07:55:00.000-07:00

Here is Nikita with his friends from the neighborhood playing war! :)
I love that he loves to play outside!!!

I gave Eli this little dog/blanket toy thing, and he loves it!!!

I love this confused look.

A Few Pics and Videos of Eli

2011-07-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

The wonderful ladies that threw me a baby shower put this up.

I decided to keep it up until Eli came, and it's still up right now.

2 Months

Again, 2 months.

He loves his bathes, although, I must admit, he doesn't get bathed as often as Noah.

Third child, what can I say. :)

This is Eli on his 2 month birthday.

A few Eli stats:

Birth: 3.3 kg (7 lb 4 oz) 52 cm (20.47 inch)

1 month: 4.3 kg (9 lb 7.68 oz) 52 cm (20.47 inch)

2 months: 5.6 kg (12 lb 5.53 oz) 57 cm (22.44 inch)

Big Brother Noah

2011-06-04T12:21:00.000-07:00

Here's Noah being a good big brother.

No Water!!!

2011-06-04T04:41:00.000-07:00

We're going on the 6th day with no water or low pressure water! Praise God that today we had enough pressure to do two loads of laundry before the water turned off completely. We found out from the neighbors that something at the bread factory (where we get our water from apparently) broke, so the pressure is really low. When added to the fact that the neighbors across the road are all filling their swimming pools for the summer, there's not enough pressure to get the water to us. I have a desire to go over to one of their houses and ask if I can bathe my newborn in their pool. :) This is life in Ukraine. What can you do?

Put Me in Coach!!!

2011-04-11T06:36:00.000-07:00

Nikita went with Andre to help some baseball guys, and he decided that maybe he'd like to play baseball too. So, as of right now he wants to play baseball, soccer and basketball. :) I have a feeling I'm going to be a busy women in the next few years.

PS. Look how tall Nikita is getting!!! He almost has the same size feet as me, and he's in 3rd grade!!! Maybe we should think about football instead!!!

I love my sister!!!

2011-04-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

This is my sister, Nicole!!! (And her youngest son, Soren.) I must say, I have always enjoyed my sister. She was always nice to me when I was little. She even played Barbies with me. When I was going through my teenage years, she sympathized with all my dramatic situations. As a college student, she helped me avoid mistakes and taught me to really value that special time in life. As an adult, she's supported me and has become one of my very best friends.

Nicole is always there for me, and she's so sweet and laughs at most of my jokes. She has the best laugh. Throughout this pregnancy, Nicole has given me such encouragement, and even more so at the end. She recently told me that she just can't wait to meet this little guy. It made me realize that I feel the same way. I want to meet him, too. I am still ok with knowing him only from inside me for a few more weeks, being given the chance to rest more and such. But I'm sure whenever the time comes for him to make his appearance in this world, I will be excited!!! So, thank you Nicole, just for being my big sister. I love you!!!

Cosby Show!!!

2011-03-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, so seriously, the Cosby Show really is one of the best shows that has ever been made. Andre and I received the first 2 seasons on DVD, and we both agreed that it's funny, wholesome, and has some really good parenting tips.

One thing I really noticed was that Clare laughs a lot. She has a great sense of humor when it comes to her children and her husband, and she doesn't seem to sweat the small stuff. I really want to adopt more of this mentality. I want to remember that life is too short, to pick my battles, and to love my kids with all that I have inside me. They are growing so fast that it's scary. Nikita is going to be 9 in a few months, and Noah is almost 3 and a half. I don't want to miss anything, AND I want to enjoy it all. :)

Basically 33 Weeks!!!

2011-03-16T12:31:00.000-07:00

Here I am at 32 weeks and 5 days!

And of course, there's Noah as well.

Love the Chub!!!

2011-03-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine found this picture recently. I put it on facebook, so many of you might have already seen it, but I just can't get enough of it. Noah has no neck, and his legs look like kobasa. I love fat babies, and as we're getting ready to have our next one (I'm 32 weeks!), I'm realizing that my love for fat babies is only true once they come out! :) We have already been told that this little guy inside me isn't little at all. Well, I didn't expect much different, so I'm not super suprised! More to love, I guess. :)

A Few New Videos

2010-11-18T07:21:00.000-08:00

This is of us driving to Spain. We have lots of fun, and sometimes not quite so fun,
time in the car. :)

We went to a park and this "bridge" was so slippery that it was more like a slide.

This is a video of the boys trying out a fun trampoline. Nikita had so much fun trying to get as high as he could! We didn't think Noah was old enough atsket first, but then the guy said that you only had to be 2, so Noah was strapped in and off he went.

This is Noah's new thing. In the middle of playing his basketball game, he has to call "time out." He blows the "whistle" and gathers his players for a "talk."

Sometimes a Baby comes with Morning Sickness

2010-11-11T03:48:00.000-08:00

We are expecting our 3rd child!!! That's right, the Kravtsovs are going to be 5, Lord willing, around May 6th. This may explain my absense from most contact as I've been enjoying the pleasures of morning sickness, which in my case turned out to be more like all day sickness. I have watched almost every movie we have, including 2 full seasons of "Reba." At first I tried to fight it, but it won, let me tell you. Andre has been a saint, picking up the slack in all areas and even cheering me on when I got very down. God has truly blessed me with a wonderful man. :)

I hope to be more active now that things seems to be subsiding. I am 15 weeks pregnant, and all is good so far. The baby has arms, legs and a heart beat, which as Angela wrote on my facebook page, "Those are all good things for a baby to have."

Please pray with us that all will go well with this pregnancy and that baby Kravtsov will be healthy and ready to join this crazy family!

Happy Birthday to Soren!!!

2010-08-09T03:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Soren from Noah and from all of the Kravtsovs!!!

VICTORY!!!

2010-07-28T01:20:00.000-07:00

The small victories are so wonderful!!!

Whatever happened with the "Document Predicament"

2010-05-21T13:24:00.000-07:00

So, the Kravtsovs landed in Chicago on Tuesday, May 11th. We drove to Iowa City, spent the night, and left the next day, Wednesday, May 12th, for the Ukrainian consulate, again in Chicago. Jet lagged and ready for some answers, we got there just in time to be the first ones in line. After explaining our confusing story, they said that there was no problem. We had done everything that we were supposed to do in Ukraine, and we could move forward. After some more paperwork and info, which would really bore most of you, all is good! Andre can return to Ukraine as a Ukrainian until they have finished the process of getting rid of his citizenship. At that time, they will contact us, we will go back to the States and give his Ukrainian passport back, and then he will no longer be Ukrainian. At that point, he can pay $10 and get a visa back to Ukraine. Once arriving in Ukraine at that point, he can get the equivalent of a US green card. :) So, we have documents saying that everything we're doing is legal and good, and we are prepared, documentally, to head back to Ukraine on June 24th. Lord willing, that's our plan!!! Woohoo!!! Praise God!!!

Our Family in Poland

2010-04-30T03:09:00.001-07:00

Here's the whole family in front of the cathedral in the Krakow town square. We had a bad angle, so we couldn't get the whole church.

Still in love! Check out Nikita's camera skills.

The boys in front of a big head. Not sure what it was about, but Nikita just had to take a picture in front of it.

Gotta love Krakow.

Our sweet boys! They take it all in stride. God has blessed us!

Here's a longish video of Noah feeding the Krakow birds. They were very well fed that day. :)

Here's Nikita at the Hash's just being silly.

The boys at the Hash's. This is Noah's new favorite hobby (picking his nose).

So sweet... sometimes. :)

So, we can't decide if Noah is actually German. Whenever we ask him how he's doing he says, "Gund." Listen and see for yourselves. :)
Oh, and by the way. I was waiting at a red light when I took this video, so the craziness at the end is me realizing that the light had already turned green. :)

What do I live for?

2010-04-27T00:32:00.000-07:00

Our lives are but a "mist." We are here today and gone tomorrow. So, what is it that I live for? Do I live for the mission that God has given me, the calling I feel so strongly to accomplish? Or do I live for God? That may seem like the same thing, but for me, lately, it's not. God has given me a calling, but He knows how He wants it to play out. If I live for the calling, then what happens when God adjusts or changes that calling? Then my whole life and stability are challenged. BUT, when I live for God, no matter my location or calling, my life purpose will be the same. I can live for God as a missionary in Ukraine, as a doctor in the States, as a store worker in Spain, etc. My occupation and what fills my everyday life isn't as important as my life with Christ. As long as I'm with Him, I'm fulfilling my purpose each day, and thanks to the cross, I can be with Him everyday!!! Praise God!!!

Drama Drama Drama

2010-04-20T03:03:00.000-07:00

The most recent drama of our life began last Thursday. Due to some everyday mis-communication, Andre left the house in the car without the documents. (I had taken the documents out of the bag they're usually in and put them in my purse. Whoops.) Since our car has Spanish plates, we often get stopped by the police and asked for our documents. Well, this fateful day was no different. Andre got stopped while taking Nikita to school, and it was then that he realized that he was driving documentless. Well, to make a long and confusing story short, they impounded our car. (What!!! I know, it was crazy.) Anyway, we went to pay a fine and they said that they had to check with the border control to make sure that everything was all right with our foreign car, so we had to come back on Friday.
At this point, we were a bit nervous. I mean, not everything in Ukraine is always clear, in fact most of these kinds of situations are anything but clear. Would they search for some random law that says that they get to keep the car? Would we have to go to court or something like that? This is going to totally change our everyday life.
So, we freaked out, prayed, freaked out some more, calmed down and went to the police station on Friday. After a talk with Andre and some discussion amongst their people, they gave us our car back!!! Just like that! We praised God immensely and then began to prepare for our trip to Poland the next day.
That night, before our trip to Poland and after we had gotten our car back, we received our tax return to our bank account!!! Wow!!! I love the US government! Amidst all the excitement, I thought to myself, "Hmm, I hope God isn't giving us this money because we have to use it for something specific, like some sort of problem." (This is the part in the movie when everyone looks at each other and thinks, "Uh-oh.")
Well, the next day we left for Poland. And, sure enough, at the border, the passport control people informed us that Andre and Nikita have 6 days left in the country for the next 3 months. What!?! It's a long, confusing story that even the head of the immigration department here in Rivne doesn't understand, so I won't bore you with the details. Let's just say that we entered Poland a bit shell-shocked. We went shopping, ate at McDonald's and did all the fun things one gets to do in Poland, and then returned to the border.
On re-entry, Andre asked, "So, since I only have 6 days..."
Border Guard, "Who told you that? You have 90 days."
What???
So, right now we are packing to go to Poland to save days, which we might not have to save at all, in hopes of figuring out this situation, maybe getting a visa, maybe something else. Who knows!!! This is our life. Welcome. It's definitely not boring. :)

i'm lovin' it!

2010-03-31T05:34:00.001-07:00

So, McDonald's slogan right now is "i'm lovin' it." I don't know about you guys, but I can safely say that they have read my mind. One does not really appreciate MikeyD's until you live overseas. It's just a fact. And, I think the food is better here, too. It seems like it's always fresh and hot, and it just hits the spot. We do not have McDonald's in our city, although "they" have been promising it for a long time (I'm not quite sure who "they" are, but "they" promised none the less). So, when we went to Kiev the other weekend, I ate there 3 times in one day. Woohoo!!! Here are pictures of me enjoying my meal.

i'm lovin' it!!!

Playing with Cars

2010-03-25T01:22:00.000-07:00

Here's Noah playing with his cars.

I Need God

2010-03-21T23:55:00.000-07:00

Coming back to Ukraine this time wasn't so easy. We had a great time in the States, and it was hard to come back without a place to live. One night, while I was feeling really down, I decided to start reading a book. Reading is a great distraction for me. I love getting lost in a good book. Well, all I could find on the shelf were non-fiction books. (My other books hadn't gotten here in the box yet.) I kept looking and found the closest thing I could to a fiction book, A Heart Like His by Beth Moore. It's a reflection of the life of David.

I can safely say that this book has been a huge blessing to me. I have been challenged in many different ways. One of the biggest ways is this: I need God. I know that sounds stupid, because "of course you need God." I always knew that fact, but it has really been hitting me for the first time lately. Praise God for this!!! I need God for my salvation and for my everyday life. I need Him to live in Ukraine and in the States. I need Him in my life constantly to give me patience with my kids and others in my life. :) I need Him to give me love for others and for myself at times. I need Him to show me what's the next step in life. I need Him to just be with me, to be my companion, my love, my all. I need God.

Count the Cost

2010-03-09T09:54:00.000-08:00

So, the other day I got an email from my mom, and she told me that my sister is going to be visiting the Iowa City group for a few weeks. Although most people, including myself normally, would consider this simply information being exchanged, it has brought up a whole lot of emotions in me. I am not there to be a part of it this time. After spending 6 months in the States, being able to participate in all the family gatherings whether based on a holiday, other major event or just because, it's hard to go back to a life 8 times zones away.
Don't get me wrong, I love being here in Ukraine. It has all the elements of a great life: a wonderful church, fantastic friends, awesome school and even a grandma who cooks us wonderful treats and helps take care of our kids (and tells some great stories too). Although these things make life here interesting, satisfying and wonderful, there's still something missing. In fact, there will always be something missing, the family left behind.
Jesus told us to "estimate the cost." He said in Luke 14:25-32 that it's important to really be wise about your decision to be one of His disciples, to make sure it's worth what you might have to leave behind along the way. I think that applies here too. Is it really worth it to serve God here in Ukraine at the cost of being away from family in the States (and Andre's mom in Spain)? The answer, although harder to say now than before kids, is still yes. It is a privilege to serve our Lord here and to see those around us get excited to do the same. Will we always live in Ukraine? I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. What I do know is that while we're here, I want to serve Him to the best of my ability, being thankful for the intermittent visits back to be with family and their visits here to be with us. I love Him, and I want many more people to find that love that is better than gold, silver or anything else. To Him be all the glory.

Our Quadplex

2010-03-01T09:12:00.000-08:00

So, we have found a place to live. It's one fourth of a house, hence the quadplex reference in the title. I thought that I would give you guys a visual of what it looks like right now. We are planning a few different projects for the future, but who knows for sure when those are going to get done, so instead of waiting until then to share pictures with you, we'll just do it now. :)

This is our garage! We don't have access to it from the house, but it's still really exciting to not have to scrape everyday. :)

This is our door. If you look at the picture above, you can see our door is on the right hand side.

This is the entryway space after you go through our front door. We have two doors, the one in the picture above with glass and another more solid door.

This is one view of our living room. We got a great deal on a new tv, which was super exciting. Nikita could finally play the Wii that we got while in the States.

This is the kitchen which is connected to the living room. We love being able to cook and spend time with people at the same time. Andre's on the phone, which is a normal pose for him. :)

One view of the bathroom. See if you can find the Lighting McQueen underwear. :)

Other view of the bathroom.

This is the master bedroom. It's really narrow but super cozy.

This is the boys' room, Nikita's bed.

Noah's bed for now. We are planning on getting bunk beds in the next few months. We have a friend that has offered to give the frame, so we just need to get some mattresses. :)

These are our stairs that lead to our basement room.
The picture is from the bottom of the stairs.

Here's our other living room downstairs. It's kind of cold down there right now, because the gas fireplace isn't working. When they get it finished, we will put a tv down there and have it as a meeting space or a space for guests. (hint hint: feel free to visit)

AND here's Noah. He's been sick the last couple of days, so this has been how he's spent most of his time lately. Poor kid.

I'm glad that we could share our new home with you guys. Hope you have GREAT day!!!

Spain Trip Winter 2010

2010-02-25T05:04:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of our time in Spain. Since the weather there wasn't so great, we spent a lot of time in different malls and stores trying to wear the kids out, so that they would get back onto the right sleeping pattern. :)

Noah really wanted to take this picture, honest.

Nikita was super into this motorcycle game. Look at that concentration!!!

Andre's mom was happy to have us for a week and a half, and we were happy to be there.

It's always great to be in Papa's arms.

After a long day of playing. We finally got them wiped out enough to sleep.

Well, I thought I'd give you guys a sneak peak at what it's like to be in the car with a 7 year old and a 2 year old for 4 days. Enjoy.

We're here!!!

2010-01-26T05:07:00.000-08:00

We've arrived in Ukraine!!! We are very excited to be back!!! Thank you for all your prayers!!!

Merry Christmas 2009!!!

2009-12-25T19:31:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!!

Where in the world are the Kravtsovs?

2009-11-16T09:04:00.000-08:00

I do think that our family could be on Amazing Race. I've only seen it once, but with all the traveling we've done, we'd be set. :)

In the past 4 months, we have been to 17 States with the children in tow. Nikita has gotten quite the American history lesson as we've driven through the plains, the mountains, visited the ocean and quite a few monuments in Washington DC.
We have been training for the ministry, finding more Home Team members, and spending time with family and friends. We are so grateful to all who have hosted us and who have spent time with us throughout our travels.
It's November now, and we're in the process of finding the perfect tickets to go back to Ukraine in January as well as finalizing Lindsay's side of Nikita's adoption (November 24th), spending the holidays with family and finding more Home Team members. We are super excited about all that God has done in the past 4 months and what we believe He will do in the next 2 before we leave for our other home.
Praise God for His provision in all ways!

To Miss

2009-11-13T09:03:00.001-08:00

According to Dictionary.com

miss- to regret the absence or loss of

I miss my brother. It doesn't hit me hard everyday, but it does still hit me. It's been over a year since he passed away, and I wish he were here. I miss his quick wit and one liners. I miss his calm way with his daughter. I miss him making fun of me (however much it used to annoy me, I miss it now). I miss his presence.

regret- to think of with a sense of loss

I definitely regret the absence of my brother. I do feel a sense of loss. I am sad. I know that many may think that goes without saying. But sometimes, just to say these things makes it easier in some way.

He will.

2009-10-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

August 15th, 2009 was the date of the Eric Sickels Memorial Golf Tournament. This was an event to commemorate the life of my big brother and to enjoy the other people that also loved him very very much. Our family from Florida even flew to Iowa to be there. It was a wonderful surprise. We truly have the best family in the world.
During that time in August, I began to think about something seemingly unrelated. Are we going to have family pictures? You see, before Nikita came to live with Andre and me, my side of the family got some family pictures taken. Nikita was not there. My mom told me that we were not going to get another family picture taken until we were "all together." So, now what? Nikita is here. But we are not "all together."
After the unexpected death of a person so close, you begin to have to make a new "normal" for your life. You have to adapt. I must say, some days I don't want to adapt. But as we move forward, I realize that we will get our family picture taken at some point. God is still God and He's with us always, and Eric is too in some way.
On October 16th, 2008, my big brother passed out of this world and into the next. In August, we celebrated a life that encompassed so many wonderful adjectives like devoted, caring, loving, hard-working, smart, passionate, and many more.
As we turn the calender to October 2009, I can safely say that I'm not sure how I feel. There have been days when I don't really think about him much. And there are days that I ache with the pain that I will never see him on earth again. There is much that he will miss and many times that I will feel there's just something missing.
However, in the midst of all of this, I think about the movie Rudy. I think about how no matter what, that little guy kept going. When he almost quit, others came along beside him and pushed him forward. In the end, he was the only Notre Dame football player to ever be carried off the field. He persevered. And by golly, so will we! We will continue to love, we will continue to live, we will continue to believe that God is good and that He loves us more than we can imagine. What has happened is so awful, but it will not overtake us. Oh, may God make some thing really good out of all of this. He will. He will.

I'm Proud to Be an American!!!

2009-09-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

Andre and I met a year after our oldest child was born. He may not have come from our bodies, but he (Nikita) shares our heart. Many of you know the story in detail, some of you lived parts of it with us, however, I wanted to tell the story of how God wove the first 3 members of our family together.

It started on May 4th, 2002 when Nikita was born in Dubno, Ukraine, just 30 minutes from Rivne. He was born from Andre's sister Aljona, but even from the beginning Andre was involved. Andre was the one to name him, Nikita (Mykyta in Ukrainian). He liked the name because it could be shortened to Nike (like the shoes :). Nikita began to live with Andre and Valya (Andre's grandma) when he was only one month old. Very quickly he began to occupy a space in their hearts. Aljona was in and out of the house, living with them off and on. Then in May of 2003, Aljona passed away. Nikita was now an official orphan, according to the world.

In July, 2003, I met Nikita. Here's a picture of all the girls from our team and me. Nikita was 1 year old at the time.

People might think, wow if she only knew that she would one day be his mom. Well, it may seem kind of weird, but I sort of did know. I'm not a big kid person, but I was with Nikita. We had a bond, fueled later by my bond with Andre, but beginning with just us. What a blessing from our Father!

In 2004, Andre and I started dating. I remember talking on the phone with Andre (he in Ukraine and me in the States) and Nikita got on the line and said, "Mama. " Andre quickly came on and said that was only word he knew, which helped me regain my breath. :)

This is a picture of Nikita and me around the time that Andre and I started dating.

Andre and I were married on September 30, 2005 (almost 4 years ago).

Here are the 3 of us at the courthouse the day we got married.

Here we are at the party after the legalized marriage ceremony!

Nikita soon after moved to Spain to live with Andre's mom. Why did he move there, you might ask? Well, it was a decision that had been made before Andre and I were even really dating, but soon after we were married, we realized that it shouldn't be a permanent situation. In January, a month after our weddings, we approached Andre's mom with the desire to adopt Nikita. She was stunned at first but soon agreed that it was the best thing for him.

In early March, 2007, Nikita moved to Ukraine to be with us! The triangle that started so long ago was completed! Nine months later, in November, the triangle became a square when Noah was born.

This is the first night at home with Nikita. He was pretty comfortable with Andre right away.

He wasn't quite as sure what to think about me, but we bonded quickly.

Here's the first time Nikita got to see Noah! He was already a proud big brother!

Although we have been a family at heart for more than 2 and a half years, today we received a monumental piece of mail. Nikita has received his US passport!!!!! For many of you, you've been praying for this moment with us for a long time! Thank you! As he opened the mail, addressed to him, I couldn't help but shed tears of joy that my little boy was now my little American boy. He can travel wherever we go. We don't have to stand in line for visas for him anymore. We are the same. We get the same insurance, the same line at customs, we are a family in the eyes of all governments all over the world. That's a sweet moment right there. :)

Thank you all for praying for both our boys! We are so very blessed to have them both!

Praise God for family!

Cousins!!!

2009-09-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

I grew up with what I would consider a big extended family. We always got together and enjoyed being with cousins and aunts and uncles. Well, now I'm one of the aunts and one of the moms of this hilarious group of cuties. This is a picture taken last month when we were together. I'm so thankful that God has given us a family that loves to be together. There was chaos, oh my, there was chaos, but the smiles and memories are so worth it all. So, the order goes like this (L to R) Nikita 7, Merek 4.5, Keira 3, Ani (Annika) 3, Noah 21 months, Norah 14 months, and Leah 9 months. I hope that as these kids grow, that they will appreciate and love the time they have together as much as I did when I was a kid. Praise God for cousins!!!

What's it like for you now?

2009-07-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

We had been waiting for this moment for 2 years and 4 months. We were finally going to touch American soil with our whole family, all 4 of us! We got our luggage and proceeded through the doors to see Nana and Grandpa waiting for us! It was a great moment. Nikita wasn't shy, like I thought he might be. He jumped right into sharing all of his thoughts with Grandpa and pointing out every airplane in and around the O'hare airport. :)
Just moments after the hellos and hugs ended, we learned that Leah, Jamie's daughter had the chicken pox. Well, I guess life wouldn't be our life without a few struggles. :) We didn't really care, though. We were here.
Many people have asked how we feel, what are we doing, what are our plans?
Well, we feel good, bad and in between. We are excited that Nikita has already learned how to ride his new bike, that we get to spend so much great time with Nana, Grandpa, Jamie and her girls. We are so grateful for a wonderful room to put our stuff and the chance to eat Doritos with Mt. Dew whenever we want! :)
We are also so excited to be able to get more involved in our church here and meet some new people. We have been gone for a while, so a lot has changed. We've already attended a Kids' Day Out event, which was super fun.
We feel sad as well. I mean, it's hard to come back here and not see Eric. He has left these wonderful little girls that give us a lot of joy. It's hard that he's not here to enjoy them as well, though. It's hard that our sons won't get a chance to meet him. Life is moving, though, and God is still God, so we are moving forward too.
The in between feelings come from the unknowns. Moving from Ukraine back to the States for a while, changing organizations and cultures makes life interesting and confusing at times. God is showing us the answers to our questions little by little. We are doing our best to trust Him until the next answer is revealed.
What's the general plan? We are hoping to be in the States until January. We have to wait for some documents for Nikita, so that might change the plan, but the current plan is to return to Ukraine in January. We are going to be doing some fundraising, training and traveling for the next few months, visiting family, friends and ministry partners. After that, we will probably be more based in Iowa City as we figure things out with documents and work from here.
We are so grateful for all the ways God is blessing us everyday!!! He is truly the best reason to wake up each morning!!!

USA so far...

2009-07-20T18:52:00.000-07:00

We made sure to put Nikita right to work when we got here.

He mowed the lawn.

We have a lot of car seats. Nikita got to sit between two of them. He was kind of scrunched. :)

Keira and Nikita are really getting along. It's a huge blessing!

Nikita got a chance to go putt-putt. He got a flier at church for a kids' day!

Here he is finishing the course.

Andre got to golf too!

Spain

2009-07-20T18:31:00.001-07:00

Here's some of what we've been up to lately.

This is the first night that we arrived in Spain.

Here's all of us on the beach: Andre

Lindsay

Nikita

Noah, sleeping :)

Here's Lindsay and Nikita walking in Barcelona to watch the pretty fountains.

Andre and Nikita in front of the fountain!

Nikita jumping on a fun trampoline.

Noah riding one of his favorite rides at the park.

This is moments after he flung himself off. He got right back up. :)

Getting ready to go down the slide.

A new style. Got going too fast and bumped his face.

Noah getting a ride after a rough time at the park.

In order to get to Spain, we had to drive through Poland, Germany and France. We were so grateful to the Lord that our little car did a great job. We had no problems. We were able to stay with friends in both Poland and Germany and when we got to Barcelona as well. It was a really great time to hang out with Andre's mom, to be able to relax and just enjoy the view. :)

We got it!!!

2009-06-19T00:42:00.000-07:00

God has designed our family from all around the world. It all started even before Andre and I ever knew each other. The first time I was in Ukraine in 2001. I didn't meet Andre. I was only in Kiev. It was around this time that Aljona, Andre's sister, and a man conceived Nikita. Nine months later Nikita was on the scene, and Andre became an uncle. I was still oblivious that anything was happening half way across the world.
Then in 2003, Andre and I met. We became friends. It was that summer, that I met Nikita for the first time as well. When I met him, there was an overwhelming feeling that I would someday be his mom. I told him that, too, but being 1 and Ukrainian, he didn't understand my English words.
After a year of friendship, Andre and I started to date (2004) and got married in 2005. God started to bring the pieces of our family puzzle together. In May of 2007, Andre finalized the adoption for Nikita, however, I was not on the papers, since it was through the Ukrainian system that he adopted Nikita. Our puzzle was starting to grow, with color and even more life brought to the amazing picture God was creating. Then in November of 2007, Noah's piece was added, and we were all excited to see the picture take more form, exhausted but excited. :)
Now, on June 18th, 2009, I can say that God has added more clarity and strenghted our picture. Nikita was granted his American visa! This moment, I will never forget. Why is it so important? Well, when Andre adopted Nikita, we were granted a new birth certificate with Andre as Nikita's father. However, I was not listed as Nikita's mother. Nikita took Andre's last name, Kravtsov. Now, after 2 years, he will take something of mine. My citizenship! He will be American! It makes me cry even now. I didn't realize how much it would mean to me, because he's been my son for 2+ years anyway, but there's just something about this process that makes the bond stronger.
Yesterday, while we were leaving the consulate, I was tearing up. Nikita asked me, "Mama, are you happy?" "Yes, Nikita, I'm very happy." "Me too."
Praise God for the family that He's creating!

Easter and End of the War Parade

2009-05-26T08:59:00.000-07:00

Easter is a really big deal here. It's like Christmas in the States. Instead of calling it "Spring Cleaning," they call it Easter cleaning. Honestly, I don't really know that much about "Spring Cleaning," since our family didn't really do that sort of thing. :) Anyway, here are some pictures from that wonderful day.

This is our happy family on Easter!!! If I remember right,
Noah started cutting some teeth that day. Can you tell?

Mama with the sad, tired baby.

Mama with her boys.

The end of WWII is a really big deal for many here in Ukraine. Ukraine lost the most number of people in the war. Valya, Andre's grandma, was right outside of St. Petersburg when the Nazis came, and she has lots of interesting stories. Each year to commemorate the end of the war, there is a parade. This has become a tradition for our family to go to Valya's and watch the parade. However, before the parade, Valya wanted to take some pictures, so here's the photo shoot.

Noah is very interesting in something over there.

The whole group, and again Noah is distracted. Shocking really.

Here's a good one with the boys and Valya.

The fam. Noah is making a weird face.

I love these guys!!!

Cheese!

Hilarious!

So sweet!

And one of the parade.

Valya's Birthday

2009-05-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

Valya, Andre's grandma, turned 80 years old on February 7th! Here are some pics of the time we got to share with her on that day!!!

She really is a tiny little woman. :)

Great-grandma with her boys.

Some of the awesome food that she made!!
My stomach always feels good and full when I leave her house.

Nikita overseeing the cake cutting process.

I'm guarding the chocolates.

Looking good for 80!

Here's the fam. I'm not sure what Noah is doing, but that's not the first time I've said that. :)

Don't want to miss it.

2009-04-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

So, life kind of gets going, and sometimes one doesn't live up to their blogging responsibilities. That "one" would be me. A lot has happened since our last post. I went to the States with Noah, we moved out of our 5 room apartment and into a one room house (one room and kitchen), and a lot of ministry has been done.
BUT, that's not what I wanted to talk about. I've just finished reading a friends blog who is pregnant and in the 9th month. She is so excited about her baby, but a little sad to be done with pregnancy. Then there's another couple who are adopting and their baby was just born. They got to hold it and everything in the hospital, and I cried as I read the emotions that they felt. Then there are other friends/ acquaintances with their blogs and facebook pages just gushing about their joy in parenting and their overwhelming love for their newborn.
My point in mentioning all of this is the fact that I feel like I missed something. I wasn't paying attention or I wasn't grateful enough for the amazing gift that God was giving me. Our life got going too fast, and I missed it. I was not super happy after Noah was born. I had a lot trouble nursing, and it was hard to enjoy anything in the middle of an Ukrainian winter with a newborn that you didn't have the faintest idea of what to do with.
Then there's Nikita. I wasn't there at all. I was in America, finishing up my freshman year of college oblivious to the fact that a baby boy was being born half-way around the world that would someday be mine and call me mama.
BUT, in the midst of all this somewhat sad, regretful retrospection, I realize that God can make it all good. He has given me these two amazing boys to take care of, and I'm so grateful. I guess, it's never too late to be grateful.
I just hope that someday, I will get a chance to be pregnant again, to see the face of a newborn that has come from Andre and myself and have another chance to be grateful from the start. It might still be hard, but I'll do my best not to miss it this time.

Videos of Noah

2009-02-11T02:41:00.000-08:00

Here are some random videos of Noah:

Mostly naked dancing babies are always fun!

Check out how Noah changes up his moves when dancing to different music :)
He has quite the repertoire.

He is a very determined kid. I have no clue where he gets that.

I just love that he's learned how to "play" basketball and that he gets a kick out of his own success.

That's mine!!!

2009-02-11T01:25:00.001-08:00

I found some pictures of our time in Spain on our camera, and I thought I'd share this particular one. During the teething process, Noah used his pacifiers as teething rings, so by the end of the ordeal, he had bitten through both of them. So, we went to the store and bought some new ones. However, after trying them out myself, I thought that they tasted funny, so I went to my two big boys for help and had them take care of the problem. They were so kind to oblige me. :)

Nikita's Viewpoint

2009-02-11T01:21:00.001-08:00

Nikita love to take pictures and videos with our camera. Here are some of the things I found:

This is a close up of our table cloth. Very important to catch on film.

What a studly face.

Just a cow.

And some cars. Apparently inanimate objects are the subject of choice.

Nikita is just talking about what he did that day (wrote, read, math, etc). It's very important to share this information with the camera.

I actually took this picture. One day, Nikita walked to school by himself. He had 3 bags to carry, so this is what he looked like. I thought it was hilarious.

Nikita and Noah love to play. Noah is learning to defend himself. :)

Waiting

2009-02-04T10:54:00.001-08:00

It's interesting to me that most of my life I've been waiting for things: graduation day, Christmas, my wedding day (or days in my case). There's also little things to wait for, though, like for your Pop-tart to pop up in the toaster, the next episode of your favorite show, or the buzzer to ring indicating that you can wash the dye out of your hair to reveal its new amazing color.

So, if I have so much experience with waiting in my life, why am I so bad at it? Just a thought. Waiting on God's timing is one of the hardest things in my life. I told Andre the other day, as long as I know the plan, I can convince myself that it's the best thing. But when the plan is still unsure, that's when I get anxious. I don't really care what the plan is, but that I know it. I guess, I just need to sit back and allow God to do His thing. :)

Pictures from Spain

2009-01-29T07:22:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures from Spain!!! These are in no particular order at all. I just started uploading and couldn't stop! :)

Noah is always happy when being thrown in the air!

Look at me fly!

This was a park near where we stayed.

"Huh..."

Our car, safranchik. She got us all the way there and all the way back,
but she wasn't happy about it.

Andre and Nikita tried to play basketball as often as they could.

This is the road down to the courts.

Check me out! Nikita on New Years!

Noah was teething for a lot of the time we were there, so he just laid around a lot.

One night we decided to go for a walk and found this fun little park tucked away.

Noah loved to ride on this one!

Family!!! It doesn't get much better than this!

This was a glass table that Noah played under,
until Nikita stood on the glass and broke it.
Thankfully, Noah wasn't anywhere near it when Nikita stepped on it. Nobody was hurt.

Downtown Madrid.

Nikita played "monster" with some kids and playfully chased them around the park. It was hilarious.

We all went to Retiro, a huge park in the center of Madrid.

Me by the lake.

Strong man. I feel safe with my boys.

Before...

After: His top half got going a little too fast for the bottom half and he face planted.
It was hilarious. He even laughed.

Good one of the boys with Abuela (grandma).

No matter what happens, God has put us together.

I have no idea what Nikita is looking at.

Such a little stud.

Woah horsie.

Noah loved these things!!!

We ditched Abuela and Papa to find a place with rides.

My two big boys.

My two little boys.

Love this expression. We see it a lot.

All three of them.

Me with the boys.

Near the lake.

It seems impossible that I'm his mom. I mean, he's almost as big as me.
We look like two kids fighting. (I was trying to get him to dance with me. Didn't work. :)

Again the horsie. We are trying to find something for this kid to ride around our apartment.

Woo hoo!!! Look at that man jump!!!

Ohhh, Papa, you're really good at that.

Whatever, I'm leaving.

Hope you enjoyed seeing pictures from our trip to Spain. Some have asked if it was worth it, since we incurred so many problems with the car and whatknot. Well, we would answer that with a resounding "YES!!!" It was hard, but we are stronger because of it. We have a better vision from God, and we are pumped about what He has for us! We also received our new family motto:

WHY WORRY WHEN YOU CAN PRAY?

Why worry when you can pray?

2009-01-24T23:29:00.000-08:00

We got a box in the mail yesterday from my mom. Amongst the 6 pairs of basketball shoes for friends were many little goodies that mom threw in. One of my favorites was a plaque/sign thing that you put on your wall. It says "Why worry when you can pray?" I teared up as I looked at it, knowing that this is the lesson God has been trying to teach us, put into words and etched onto wood. He always provides. He always gives what He knows is best. His timing is best! His gifts are best! He is the Best!!! Don't worry about what will come in life, just pray and let the peace of God fill your nervous heart!

Reflections

2009-01-24T00:51:00.001-08:00

So, most of the time, I blog about our family, put up pictures of the boys and just in general keep things light. It wasn't an intentional decision, that's just how it's all played out.
Anyway, I just thought I'd throw in a little bit of a different side of me. It's been over 3 months since my one and only brother passed away. To be honest, I still don't think that I really understand that he's gone. I live here, in Ukraine, thousands of miles from Iowa City, so my day to day life doesn't look that much different from the outside. But on the inside, I am different. I am sad. Although when something is funny, I laugh (like the movie Baby Mama, would definitely recommend that one) or if something is sweet I smile (like when the boys are playing nice together), but then sometimes I just cry. He's my brother. He was always so strong and put together. He always did his research into products, so he always had the most reliable stuff. He was safe. I guess, in some ways I may have taken it for granted, assumed he'd always be there.
I'm still not sure what I've learned from all of this. I don't really know if that's the point. Right now, it's still just pain. He may not have been the big brother you see in the movies, that beat up some guy that was mean to me, but he was my big brother. Mine. In fact, he was nobody else's big brother in the whole world. Just mine. I miss him.
I guess, I'll always miss him. And that's ok. The hole in my heart is there to remind me of him. It will shrink in size, maybe someday it won't be so painful, but it will be there, like a scar, to remind me of a man that I've known my whole life, a good man. Praise God for the time I got to spend with my big brother.

Will Smith!!!

2009-01-15T10:39:00.000-08:00

So, Andre and I got to go on a date the other night. We decided to go into Madrid and just walk around and see the sites. We picked a metro stop to get off and randomly started walking. Before we knew it, we ran into a huge crowd of people. They were all standing in front of a fancy movie theatre that was adorned with pictures of Will Smith advertising his new movie. Anyway, we thought, might as well hang out and see if we can catch a glimpse of the Fresh Prince himself. 45 minutes later, we were no more than 8 ft from the Will Smith himself. I was standing on this metal barrier, while Andre held me up, so I could take some pictures. (Spaniards aren't very tall, so Andre could see just fine just standing normally :) Check out what we got:

Are we there yet?

2009-01-11T02:20:00.000-08:00

Keys to read: 1 mile - 1.6 km 80 mi/hr - 130 km/hr

December 26th, 8 am: we're driving through Ukraine heading toward the Ukrainian/ Polish border. It's snowing badly. Our goal is to make it all the way to Spain in 3 days! God is opening a door for us at the border. There is nobody there, and in 30 min. we are in Poland! Amazing! It usually takes 2-4 hours to cross the border. Praise Him! 4:00 pm: We're sitting at a gas station; the car broke down; we have no light. We are stuck 220 km from Katowice, our first stop. Andre is talking to the polish guys, and we figure out that our battery is dead! We got it charged and were on our way again. Praise God! 60 km. later, we broke down again! 2 hours later Dan arrived, changed our battery, and we were good to go! 60 km later, the car is dead again. We decided to leave our car at a mechanic in a small town nearby and go on to Dan's house in the his car. We arrived at 2 am. Good start, we thought to ourselves, as we closed our eyes with the thankful prayer that God was providing for us in Poland! Morning came fast, Dan and Andre got on their way to the mechanic to see what was wrong with the car. The place was closed for Christmas. As we were leaving, we saw a sign for another mechanic! This one is open, and in 10 min we pulled our car into the garage. God has provided again! Our alternator was broken!!! Wow? No problem, we can fix it in one day! Praise Him. The next day at 5 pm, we left Dan's house. Here we go!

Germany - good roads, so we can drive 120 km/hr, and by 2 am we are in Stuttgart, our second stop, David's! 8 am the next day David's family blessed us by paying for gas for our car! We are feeling pretty good. Let's get to Spain today! Yeah!

France - nice view, little bit confusing roads! Sunny!!! Then, boom, blizzard, our road is closed. We found a different road that was open!!! Good! Speed is 100km/hr, still snowing. At one point, Andre stopped, along with some other cars, to help a woman get her car back onto the road after spinning out. Nobody was hurt, praise God! We are on our way again! Going through a blizzard in the mountains, but after a few hours it's finally over.

Our view of the French blizzard!

In 1 hour, we are in Spain! Relief, we are here, but still 700 km to go! And our car breaks down again. Lindsay pulls over to a gas station!!! The same thing, the battery light is shining bright. We found a cheap hotel, and called mom at 2 am. The next morning, we are at the Spanish mechanic; the alternator is dead! We can drive on just the battery, though, as long as we don't use the lights. We can only go for 300 km and then have to charge battery again! 150km, 200km, 300km, nervous and praying non-stop, we found a Renault service, we have enough to buy a better battery that will take us all the way to Madrid, as long as there's daylight, we can't use any electric stuff! We didn't get all the way to Madrid that night, but we got 300km away. Mom had left to come and meet us anyway, so we finally got to see each other at a gas station. Praise God! We made it to Mom's house that night, December 30th. On January 1st, we went to get our car! 600 km there and back! God provided good weather for us to drive! And the car is here, being worked on as we speak! Yeah! Praise God for His great plan even if it's not quite like we imagined!

Through all of this God has really showed us the great blessing kids are for us!

Life with Nikita

2008-12-08T04:08:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-08T03:58:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2008-12-02T10:44:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-02T10:32:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2008-12-02T10:15:00.000-08:00

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"

2008-12-01T10:29:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-27T01:55:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-20T11:52:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

New Hair for the Quarterback

2008-09-09T12:09:00.000-07:00

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. :)

1st Day of School

2008-09-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

Last Monday was Nikita's first day of 1st grade!!! It's unbelievable! Things are a bit different here in Ukraine. For starters, the first day of school is always on September 1st, even if it's on a Saturday. I'm not sure about Sunday. In 6 years, when September 1st is on a Sunday, we'll let you know. :) Also, for the first few years of school, you only go until 12pm. How crazy is that!

Nikita's all ready to go to his first day of school. All the kids have to wear uniforms. On the first day there is a ceremony to kick off the school year.

Here's Noah with Daddy waiting for the ceremony to start.

I'm not as tall as Andre, so I got closer to get a better look. If you see a small woman in front of me to the left, with white hair that's Valya. She's shorter than me, so she worked her way all the way to the front. :)

Here he comes in the parade of 1st graders! I almost cried!

Yeah, my brother is in 1st grade!!!

Look at that bow-tie!

Here's a pictures of all the 1st graders. There are 90 of them total, 3 classes of 30.

This another tradition. Ukraine is big on traditions. There is one girl from 1st grade on the shoulders of a boy from the oldest grade (11th) ringing a bell to start the first day of the year.

At the end of the ceremony the kids from the 11th grade take the hands of the 1st graders and guide them to their class. There weren't enough 11th graders, so Nikita grabbed his teachers hand. :)

He sits in the middle row, second from the front! We're hoping that means he'll pay attention!

Gotta have picture with Valya on the first day of school!

Family pics are a bit harder to take now. Here we're trying to get Noah to look at the camera.

Here's a better one, except Noah's still not super happy.

I'm in 1st grade now. Don't mess with me.

Nikita's Back!!!

2008-08-28T04:49:00.000-07:00

Monday morning we welcomed Nikita and Valya home!!! Nikita went to Belarus with Andre's grandma, Valya. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Nikita would not be bored at home and Valya could show off her great-grandson to her sister. But as I looked through the bus window at the tearing eyes of my little boy, I realized that I was sending him to another country with a 79 year-old-woman. What was I thinking? Well, trusting that God had it all under control, we left the bus station and started almost 2 weeks without our eldest son.

We did still have another son hanging around, so we weren't altogether bored.

We also kept busy with our new youth group at church!!! We are so excited to be helping to start a new youth group, fun style. The previous youth groups have been more mellow, which is ok, but we wanted to make it more like camp, with fun games, food and a short but interesting talk about relavent topics from the Bible. We've finished our 4th week. Please pray that God would guide us in this.

Well, all went well in Belarus, and Nikita and Valya made it home just fine. Nikita is a few pounds heavier, but that's to be expected when staying with grandma and her sister. Nikita is super excited to be home. And you know, it's interesting to see how much Noah missed him. You can see that every time he sees Nikita now. His eyes light up and he smiles. We hope that this continues and they will be really good friends.

Sidenote: I just love the fact that the proportions of a baby are different than that of an adult. I mean, of all the adults that you know, whose arm, when raised directly up only reaches the top of their head. :)

Family Reunion

2008-08-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

For all that were at the family reunion. This is for you. We love you!!!

Noah's Crawling and Laughing!!!

2008-08-10T11:05:00.001-07:00

Here's something new from Noah!

And laughing!!! Not new, but funny.

New Fridge!!!

2008-08-10T11:04:00.001-07:00

We had a team here from South Carolina. Seven people stayed at our house,

which was super fun!

While they were here, they experienced our super ghetto fridge. The door to the freezerfalls off sometimes. Here's a visual.

Well, they decided that they wanted to bless our family with a new refrigerator!!! (Drum roll.....) Here it is!!!

Here's a comparison shot.

To Poland We Go

2008-07-28T12:52:00.000-07:00

These are pictures from our trip to basketball camp in Poland.

We spent one day touring a town called Lublin. Here's the family in front of a castle.

They're so tough.

Here are the boys in car. They both did really well.

He's getting so big!

Noah's getting ready to make his basketball debut.

This guy was from Belarus and humongous!

This is what you get when you let him take pictures of himself. :)

Here are the boys in the biggest mall in Poland.

The fam at the mall.

We gave Nikita the chance to ride one ride at the mall. So after checking out all the options, he chose to drive this car. It wasn't a race, but since our family is so competitive, he made it one. He even cheered when he passed the little girl beside him. She didn't really know what was going on. He's 100% boy!

Our Boys

2008-07-09T08:13:00.000-07:00

We had a photo shoot with the boys, and here's what we got! Enjoy!

Family Pic

2008-06-25T12:27:00.000-07:00

Here's our latest family pic. It was taken when we were at the baptisms for our church last month. Enjoy!

More Life

2008-06-23T00:29:00.000-07:00

Nikita was a part of the city wide pre-school sports competition!!! He was an alternate! He was so excited to be there!!!

He did a great job of cheering for his team!

Noah was playing with his toys when it got really quiet. This is how I found him.

I guess he was all played out. :)

Yeah! I can sit up all by myself!!!

Yummy veggies! I was kind of fussy for a couple of days, so Mommy and Daddy decided to give me some baby food! I'm happy again!

I love my daddy! I'm not really sure how this is comfortable.

This is a video from a while ago, but I just found it. He had just gotten his bouncy seat, and he really loved it. But it really wore him out!!! He would only last for about 10 minutes and then he'd either cry because he was exhausted or fall asleep in the seat! :)

Pictures Pictures and More Pictures

2008-06-07T22:07:00.001-07:00

We took Valya to the forest and hung out!!! It was so nice to breath really fresh air and just to hang out together!!!

Nikita decided to play baseball with Valya's shoe. That kid can get her to do anything. :)

Here's Noah and Valya watching Nikita and Andre play soccer! Nikita was laughing so hard I think you could hear him in the city!

He's a daredevil baby!!! Andre isn't holding him with the other hand. He's just standing there!

Our kids love to be naked!

Nikita "helps" Noah take a bath.

This kid will sleep when he wants.

I don't really understand how this is comfortable.

Here are the women from our church at the women's retreat we had last weekend!!! It was sooo much fun!!! Praise God for these friends in my life!

Here's our team in Kiev. We spent 3 days there helping a church with sports and children's ministry.

Noah is a professional at the paci. Check it out.

Playing Together

2008-05-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

Noah and Nikita may be 5 years apart, but Nikita's already found a way to play with Noah!!! Check it out. Noah is a pretty good sport. We had to stop the fun to re-adjust so that it wouldn't go into Noah's face. You'll see!

Here's a pictures of Noah sleeping. His outfit was a little small, so it looks like he has little baby cleavage.

Noah and I are buds. We watch Gilmore Girls together.

Teeth!!!

2008-05-12T06:53:00.001-07:00

We've been very busy the past two weeks. Nikita turned 6, and he lost a tooth.
Noah turned 5 months and got 2 teeth in two days!!!

Here's Nikita's lovely new smile!!! That middle tooth is hanging on by a thread!

You can kind of see Noah's 2 new teeth on the bottom!

Mom and Noah. Many have asked what I look like lately, because I went to America and took no pictures with me in it. I guess that's what happens. :)

Dad and Noah just hanging out!

Here's Nikita holding Noah. I don't really know why he's not smiling.

Noah is getting his voice and learning how to really laugh. It's awesome!!! Hope you enjoy!!!

Grandma Requested

2008-04-11T23:01:00.001-07:00

Grandma recently requested more pictures of the kids, so here you go, Nana!!! We love you!!!
(These are in no particular order.)

Andre's team won the Sports Chaplains tournament. Here's Nikita with their trophy on his head.

Nikita at the kids' cafe, playing in the balls.

Here's the team that came with Sports Chaplains Team Ukraine.

Nikita likes to take naps and just relax during church. :)

Don't worry, that Pepsi wasn't for Noah. He's making a weird face in this picture.

Noah had fun with the trophy too!

He's happy most of the time!

The family minus one with the trophy. (The trophy is currently sitting in all its glory on top of our book shelf.)

Here's Andre helping Nikita learn how to write. He's doing pretty well.
We're also teaching him math. We've made it into a game!
Nice pose, huh!
I love my Daddy!
Nikita really loves to play with the teams that come. Here he's set up memory for them to play!

Nikita also goes to the practices to brush up on his skills. He's getting pretty good!
Right before bed sometimes, Noah and Nikita like to watch Dora the Explorer together.
He has no neck. :)
Mmmmm, let me think.
Super cute!!!
Here are the boys.

Nikita is not bashful. Check out his dance moves.

Nikita teaches Noah all about dancing.

Noah doesn't really know what to think about the camera.

Here we are dancing together.

A Noah Update

2008-04-03T23:29:00.000-07:00

Here's Noah in his matching winter gear!

Noah has a lot to say!

Here's Noah's new thing! This is the 3rd time he ever rolled over!

America.. America..God shed His grace on Thee!

2008-03-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

Noah and I were blessed with a two and a half week trip to the States! Here are some pictures of our time there!

Here's Noah on the first flight (10 hours from Kiev to New York)!

It was a long way! (This is our second flight from New York to Chicago.)

Noah got to meet his cousins. (L to R: Merek, Keira and Annika)

Here's the three again on Uncle Kristian! Giddy up!

Give me your excited face!!!

I'm so comfortable in Grandpa's lap!

I love my Nana!

We had lots of visitors while we were there! This is a picture from when Aunt Kathy, Amy, Dylan and Emma came to visit. Noah got a few good smiles in while they were there!

Here's Noah with Adrian. My friend Willie's son. Adrian is 6 weeks older than Noah.

What trip to Iowa would be complete without a stop at the Vine. Here's Noah's first Vine experience. We shared it with the Parmely's!!! It was a lot of fun!

Here's another new friend, Sylvia Broffitt.

Although we had a lot of fun in America, we were ready to come back home to Daddy and Nikita!

Until next time!

New Title

2008-02-02T23:48:00.000-08:00

Choosing a blog title is serious business, well maybe not super serious. It does say something about you, though. After contemplating for nearly 6 minutes, we originally named it "Kravtsovs." That seemed safe. It is about us, and we are the Kravtsovs. Maybe it wasn't the most creative title, but it worked.
Well, we have had a rough week and a half. We recently found out that Andre has more document problems, we have had some health issues, and Lindsay is still experiencing some pain with nursing (after over 2 months). When it rains is pours, as they say. (Whoever they are.) Anyway, I, Lindsay, got pretty down about all of it. The gray winters in Ukraine are not the best pick me up, either.
Earlier today, Andre made a comment about something Paul in the Bible said. Paul said, "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 3:13-14) Andre reminded me of God's forgiveness, moving toward the goal and being with Jesus.
Well, I sat down to just be with God and talk to Him about all of this. I don't want to just "get through" it all. I want to thrive. I know that this is possible with God alone. I decided to read Phil 3. As I was reading, I came across a part that made me cry. "But our citizenship is in heaven..." Phil 3:20. This would not necessarily always bring tears to the surface, but for me it did. Andre and I have been married for 2 and a half years. We have had so many problems with documents and trying to mix our two countries. Add in our wonderful son (Nikita) and his unique background and Andre's mom living in Spain, and you have the recipe for a headache. This is why when I read that our citizenship is in heaven, I realized that it's true. We may have a passport that says we belong here or there or documents that say that we can live in this country or that, but it doesn't matter. We will always be loyal to heaven first and foremost.
So, that's why we have changed the name of our blog. We are still the Kravtsovs, and we're pressing on.

Happy Birthday to Lindsay!!!

2008-01-23T08:46:00.000-08:00

I, Lindsay, am officially 25 years old, a quarter of a century. And, as strange as it sounds, I really do feel a year older. Maybe that's because when I turned 24, I had never lived alone with my husband, and therefore never really had to take care of a house, and I had no children. How much has changed in one year!!! Well, I had told Andre a few weeks earlier that because this was my first birthday in Ukraine, I wanted it to be really really special. He definitely delivered. Here's how the day went:

It all started after I was done feeding Noah at about 5:30 in the morning. I went into the kitchen and was surprised to see signs that Andre had made for me.

I got tears in my eyes when I saw them, because it reminded me of how thoughtful Andre is. He knew that I'd be awake with Noah in the middle of the night, so he made these before he went to bed and hung them up for me to be surprised!

Once I woke up for the day and fed Noah, Andre, Nikita and I checked my email to find lots of e-cards and emails wishing me a Happy Birthday. It was fun being remembered by those across the ocean. After I fed Noah again, (If you can't tell already, our day was broken up into parts depending on when Noah needed to be fed. :) we went to a wonderful Italian restaurant here in town with the whole family. It was so much fun to be there and as a whole family, all four of us, was a huge treat! Noah was hungry again! After that, we got in the car again, and we went downtown. We got out of the car, and Andre told me that I had this much money and 15 minutes to spend it! I was shocked at first, but then I sprung into action! I found these awesome brown dress shoes that I've wanted forever! They were right there! Yeah!

Andre told me that we would have had more time to shop, but one of his friends was having a problem with family or something and really wanted Andre and the pastor to talk to him. So, Andre said we needed to go to the church. I thought there might be something up, but then I rebuked myself for being so selfish. This guy was having a hard time, and I could only think of myself. Well, I was right! We got to church, and there was a surprise party there for me! It was so much fun. It was super funny, because Noah was literally passed around the circle from one girl to the next to be held and cooed at. He loved it! There's a picture of our friend Sergey and two Tanya's.

After the party, we went to Valya's house (Andre's grandma), and she had made cake for us to eat! Here's a picture of her, Noah and Nikita. (By the way, we went to the doctor today, and Noah weighs 13.6 lbs!!! Wooh, that's a big boy. He's not even 8 weeks old yet.)

It was such an amazing day. I don't think that I will ever forget it. I am so grateful to God for giving me a husband like Andre, family and friends that make me feel so loved!

Things I Can't Believe

2008-01-19T02:52:00.000-08:00

At our wedding in America, my sister gave a toast about things that she couldn't believe. The list included things like: "I can't believe my sister is old enough to get married." and "I can't believe my sister speaks Russian with her husband, Spanish with her mother-in-law and English with anyone who will listen." :)

Anyway, I thought I would make my own list of things I can't believe. Here they are (in no particular order):

I can't believe that...

Noah is less than a week away from being 2 months old!
We have 2 kids, when last year at this time we had none!
Lindsay is approaching a full year without being in America!
Merek, Annika and Keira are so big!
Nikita is going to be starting school in 7 months!
For a few short months, we get to have the oldest and the youngest grandchild, until Nicole steals our thunder again with her 3rd! :)
Even though we live across the ocean, we are still able to stay close to our family!

God has been so good to us! That's something I can believe!!!

Family Pictures

2008-01-17T23:40:00.000-08:00

We took our very first family pictures with Noah visible, not in Lindsay's tummy! :)

Check the next post to see Nikita's first dunk!

Slam Dunk!!!

2008-01-17T04:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday two basketball players came to the house to talk to Andre. One of them decided that he would help Nikita figure out how to slam dunk. Well, his efforts paid off, because Nikita is now a slamming machine! He got a basketball hoop for Christmas, and he's putting it good use! We are both so proud of him!

Here's one of the very first ones! He's so happy!

You have to love the Cars slippers! Man he's got some ups!!!

Stretch!!!

Poster Dunk!

This is to show how high he's actually jumping.

Here's a video. Sorry that it's sideways. It's worth it, though!

Hitting our Groove

2008-01-02T06:32:00.000-08:00

So, it's been a month since Noah was born! I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday I was pregnant and seriously wondering if this little boy was ever going to come out of me. Well, he's out, and it's been a whirlwind ever since. We've definitely had our ups and downs, unfortunately, more downs than ups. He's so sweet, so that helps everything. It's been really hard for me to nurse Noah. I got an infection which didn't help. There has been a lot of culture shocking going on with the difference in opinions and incredible amounts of old wives tales that exist here. Basically, we've had to learn how to find exactly what God wants us to do with this kid and do it, not caring about the opinions of everyone else. That's hard to do, but we're working on it! And we think that we're finally starting to hit our groove!

We had a good Christmas. We celebrated with Nikita and put new ornaments on the tree and waited as Santa, Ded Moroz (Grandpa Frost), to come and bring us presents. Nikita loves his new basketball hoop. He's been spending a lot of time at Valya's house (Andre's grandma), because Andre's mom came into town from Spain for a few weeks. He's enjoying the time there, playing with the neighbor girl. He's excited to go back to pre-school when break is over! :)

This was the first New Years that I, Lindsay, have ever spent in Ukraine. Here, they start the festivities at midnight, instead of winding down about then. We had Valya and Andre's mom over for the ringing of the new year. We ate and made toasts, and then Andre and I went to church to have a party! It was really fun. We were up until 6am, just in time for Noah's first feeding. It's a shame he didn't realize that it was New Years. Oh, well. It was so great to be able to see this celebration, which is way bigger than Christmas here. Andre and I always have fun showing each other traditions from our homes. :)

Here's Noah in his first outfit. It says "Little Cowboy!" This was his New Years outfit! He's grown a lot in the last few weeks. At birth, he weighed 9.22 lbs, but he went down from there to a low of 8.38 lbs. But now, he's chunked up to 10.14 lbs!!! He's such a good boy!!!

Here's his "I win" sleeping position. We've started swaddling him, because he sometimes wakes himself up. :)

Andre already has him training.

Nikita has been hanging out with grandma and great grandma a lot since grandma came in from Spain. Here's grandma holding Noah.

We hope and pray that you all had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!!

Meet Noah!!!

2007-12-15T00:12:00.000-08:00

Here are pictures of Noah!!! Hope you enjoy him!! He's super sweet! He was born November 30, 2007 in Rivne, Ukraine. He was 4.18kg (about 9.2 lbs) and 55 cm (about 21 in) long. He has tons of blonde hair, and I know I already said this, but he's just so sweet!

Lindsay in the hospital. The whole process from very beginning until he was out took only 8 hours!!! She only had 2 and a half hours of hard labor with 45 minutes of pushing. :)

This is Noah about an hour after he was born. The midwife, Valya is checking him all over! Valya was really sweet. I can still hear her voice in my head saying, "Good job, good job, good job." (Except in Ukrainian. :)

Here he is up close!!!

This is the view that I had of him the next day. I couldn't sit up, because of stitches, and I couldn't stand because I was woozy, so I just laid and watched him through the little bars in his crib. It was our first bonding time.

Here's Noah and Daddy. They are a great pair!

Here we are getting ready to leave the hospital after being there for 5 days. It was a hard time, not being able to always understand, but God really blessed it as well. The nurses were very nice, and I feel like I learned a lot while I was there!

Noah and Nikita for the first time together!

Nikita really likes to just sit and watch the baby. He's definitely a wonderful big brother!

Noah with great-grandma Valya.

Noah with Nana Sickels. Nana has been a huge help since she's been here! She got here the day after we went home.

The men of the fam.: Nikita, Noah, Grandpa Anatoliy and Andre

Sleeping in mommy and daddy's bed.

In his little chair! That thing is so great!!

Again sleeping! He's a good kid!

Here he is awake! I know, exciting stuff!

We think that he kind of looks like a turtle sometimes. When he's hungry he extends his neck super far. He's the cutest turtle in the world!!!

Here we are getting ready to venture out for the first time. We were only outside for about 5-10 minutes, but he fell asleep right away. The fresh air did him good!

So, that's it for now. I hope that you all are enjoying your December. Ours is flying by, I must say! But we are enjoying our new addition! We hope that you have a very Merry Christmas and may God bless you with an understanding of His amazing grace!!!

Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree

2007-12-15T00:05:00.000-08:00

Here are some lovely pictures of us putting up our Christmas tree. We did this a few days before Noah was born!!!

Here's Andre and I concentrating really hard. Nikita is manning the camera!

Here it is all big! Nikita and I then put all the decorations on!

Here's the after picture! You can't really see the lights, but we have them!!!