Full Submersion

Radooga conference this weekend!!!  More on that soon to come! Way too late (or early—it’s 6:04am and I just got home) for that now, but I will try to update soon.

 

Peace Out.

50 Reasons I miss Calyn (and believe me, there are many more)

--her hugs

--the way she calls at 12:30 to say “I’m bored”

--the way the answer to 12:30 “I’m bored” phone calls is a drive to the Georgia line and often some star gazing.

--the fact that she knows that I can find her glasses even when I am in another city

--watching movies and eating icecream

--sitting on couches in Toddie’s and Mr. Scott’s offices with her

--dinners with her family where the boys aren’t allowed to leave the table until I’m done eating :o)

--praying with her

--swinging with her in the middle of the night :o)

--shopping with her—I need her approval!

--jammin to Christmas music in the middle of the summer w/ the ac turned up as high as it goes.

--rooming with her at camp

--spending the night at her house on a work night and trying to be quiet as I sneak out early

--taking a nap on her couch while she plays the piano

--reminding her that she can slay the dragon!

--hearing her ring on my cell phone…(I just remembered that one, made me smile)

--singing Big Fish w/ her for my mom (my mom is so weird :o) 

--buying her just because presents

--seeing her face when she receives a just b/c present

--making rice crispy treats with her

--getting into a melted marshmallow fight w/ her while making rice crispy treats…

--the fact that she doesn’t make me play games, but she is excited when I want to :o)

--the way she always wants me on her team

--creating the perfect pirate costume for, well just b/c pirates are cool :o)

--the way she has really cool ideas and I figure out how to make them actually happen

            (we make a good team)

--hearing messages on my cell phone in Russian

--listening to them 5 times to understand what was said, and then being very proud of my accomplishment

--going on road trips to Atlanta or Birmingham or Sea World—wherever really.

--the way she gets so scared when I say “we need to talk” but everything always ends up fine in the end :o)

--Timothy…I really do miss him :o( and it just hit me again that he won’t be there when I get back :o(

            wow—he Yoda and Holly are all gone now—that is weird.

--her singing me the song she learned in Russian class her first semester

--seeing her every day

--the way I don’t have to talk for her to listen.  She hears my heart.

--watching Cheers while she does her homework

--the way she makes up off the wall answers to why questions

--stopping at the Chevron to get diet Pepsi and Dr. Pepper

--late night Wal-Mart trips

--meeting her at the TCC student union

--taco bell trips

--not having to ring her doorbell

--meeting her in the hallway at Leon to exchange songs that we had written out in pictures

--staying up all night to try and get through to Ukraine :o) 

--helping her make sets for ROC

--two words—galactic glue!

--calling her for “two mins” because I am stressed about whatever.

--counting down the number of days until we leave for Ukraine

--skipping out on movie’s with friends with her because $7 is way too much to spend on a movie

--confusing David when we both try and talk to him on IM at the same time

--laughing at Boy Meets world b/c we are so Cory and Shawn

--mostly I just miss being able to talk to her anytime I want.

 

Vin is the best friend ever and God has blessed us so much in our relationship.  And has kept us close despite distance.  He’s good like that.  I hope that everyone will try and be the kind of friend that Calyn is to me because I know that so much of who I am is because of our relationship and our seeking God together.  As much as I miss a lot of the physical, day-to-day aspects of our relationship, I realize how blessed we are to have a relationship that is on a deeper level than those things.  It is more about loving each other and encouraging each other to love God and love people. 

Shoes

Ok, so now that we live in, well, not Florida or Texas, Amberly and I are coming to the realization that we do not know cold.  Right now it is nice out, but Roma (who does know cold…has lived in it his whole life) assures us that it will become freakly cold very soon.  Therefore, Amberly and I have come to the realization that we do not have clothes for freakly cold weather.  On our list of necessities shoes and jackets came first.  Dennis agreed to meet us after church on Sunday and have lunch and then go shoe shopping.  So, we left New Life and headed for Boom Shanky (our favorite place of dining) not long after we got there up walked Dennis and Sergey Zimyatin  we ate and then followed Dennis to the metro, up the blue line to the very last stop got off and headed into an indoor mall type place with different clothing items on each floor: for example, jackets 1^st floor; shirits and pants 2^nd floor; shoes 3^rd floor; 4^th floor—nothing—I mean I guess there was something there at one time, but it was being remodeled or something b/c we went up there and there was nothing. Anyway, so as we got off on the 3^rd floor and entered the very intimidating world of shoes we looked around at all the European styled shoes and prayed that we would find something being that we had made the trip, we were going to need them, and the boys were sweet enough to help us out.  So Amberly went first and found like one pair of shoes to try on in every other store (picking were slim folks) and ended up with a basically normal pair of black boots.  I got some brown look sorta like Doc Martins shoes.  Both of which (Amberly’s boots and my shoes) are lined with fir and according to the boys will keep our feet warm.  I certainly hope so.  We both about gagged when we realized how much American money we had spent on them. Cough cough.  But, Dennis and Zimyatin are defiantly our heroes.  Our toes I’m sure will thank them all winter long.  American boys wouldn’t take us shoe shopping and if they would they certainly wouldn’t be as patient or offer the advise or be as sweet as our Ukrainian guys have been.  So, thank you boys!!! We love you.

Reasons I love my roommate...

Amberly Rocks My Socks off…

       here are just a few reasons why:

 

              She is learning Russian—and she helps me learn, too

              She listens to great music

              She prays with me and for me

              She has a pretty smile

              She lives in the best apartment ever!

              She makes me lunch

              She has a Chi

              She loves my friends and family even though she’s never met them

              You can tell what kind of mood she is in by the way she parts her hair

              She’s not afraid to be real with me

              She loves coffee, tea and ice-cream

              We survived the Ukrainian hospital together

              She’s the only one who really understands just how hilarious the cheese-its story is

              She bust out the Elf soundtrack as soon as it got cold

              She shares what God is teaching her with me

              She loves Radooga

              Her mom calls almost every night

              She shares my love for our AllSummerStaff

              She sings around the house

              She plays the guitar

              She has cool jewelry

              She loves musicals and theater

              She knows that:

              Pasha is king

              Syoma is the best photographer in the Eastern Hemisphere

           Nikita is amazing

             Denis is the best “interpreter” we’ve ever met

             Roma is the sweetest guy—EVER

             Magditch is our hero

             Tyoma is the fastest English learner in the universe

             Calyn is my favorite

             And that we have the best friends in the whole world

 

learning languages...

Today I went to school with Amberly.  Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve been in a classroom (and I wasn’t the teacher :o)  It made memories of high school French come flooding in.  All the grammar stuff…perfect/imperfect-past/present/future…oh, how I wish there were a pill you could take to learn a language.  I want so bad to know Russian, but I know that it is something I will not be able to just pick up on…I’m going to have to study A LOT.  Groosni dien.  But, ONE DAY I will speak Russian. :o)

English Club Rocks...I hope it ROCs

Ok, so, first night of English Club at Serozha’s church was last night.  We were a little (ok, a lot) freaked out because Dennis called on Tuesday night to tell us that English Club would begin Wednesday at 6 and that was the first we’d heard about English Club since September.  And so, poor Amberly spent all day Wednesday planning class (luckily she doesn’t have school on Wednesdays).  But, there were like 7 kids there (I say kids, they are youth b/w 13-15).  And we just got to know each other a little.  I thought it was a lot of fun; I hope they did too.  I am excited about next week.  We are going to talk about holidays and have a bit of a Halloween Party (being that they don’t celebrate Halloween in Ukraine). Pray for us, and that this wouldn’t just be about learning English but that we would be able to be friends with these kids and have time to share with them and that they would see and hear about Christ through us.  3 of them live in our apartment complex so, pray that God would provide opportunities outside of class for us to love on them.

 

 Last night Dennis, Amberly and I watched videos from camp that Amberly had taken with her video camera.  So good.  Made me miss the summer, but also made me really excited about this next summer.  It’s gonna be good. 

 

Ok, well…

 

Peace Out!

Baby it's cold outside

I really can’t stay

            But, baby its cold outside

I’ve got to go away

            But, really, it’s cold outside

This evening has been

            I’d hoped you’d drop in

so very nice

I’ll hold your hands they’re just like ice

My mother will start to worry

Oh, come on, what’s your hurry

And Father will be pacing the floor

Just listen to that fireplace roar

So, really, I’d better scurry

Beautiful, please don’t hurry

well, maybe just a half a drink more

Put some records on while I pour

The neighbors might think

Baby, it’s bad out there

Say, what’s in this drink

No cabs to be had out there.

I wish I knew how

Your eyes are like star light now.

to break the spell

I’ll take your hat, you’ll something something

I ought to say “no, no, no sir”

Mind if I move in closer

At least I’m gonna say that I tried

What’s the since in hurting my pride.

I really can’t stay.

Baby, don’t hold out

 

Aw, but it’s cold outside

 

I simply must go,

            But baby, it’s cold outside

The answer is no

            Baby, it’s cold outside

This welcome has been

            How lucky that you’d drop in

So nice and warm

            Look out the window at the storm

My sister will be suspicious

            Gosh, your lips look delicious

My brother will be there at the door

            Waves upon tropical shores

My made up mind is vicious

            Oh, your lips look delicious

Well, maybe just a cigarette more

            Never such a pleasure before

I’ve got to get home

            Baby, you’ll freeze out there

Say, lend me your coat

            It’s up to your knees out there

You’ve really been grand

            I’ll something when you touch my hair

Why don’t you see

            How can you do this thing to me

There’s bound to be talk tomorrow

            Think of my lifelong sorrow

At least there will be plenty implied

            If you caught pneumonia and died

I really can’t stay

            Something something something

 

Aw, but it’s cold outside.

 

 

 

Rain, rain

Ok, so it has been rainy and cold for 3 days straight now.  Not like hard rain, just a drizzle, but a constant drizzle.  Quite honestly, I love the weather.  I get to wear sweaters and it is great for curling up on the couch.  Hot tea and hot coffee taste even better than they did before.  The problem arises is needing groceries.  See, to get to the grocery store requires us to walk from our cozy apartment to the bus stop, wait for the bus, get on the bus, ride to the corner that the store is on, get off the bus, walk to the store, buy our groceries and do the process in reverse—this time with bags full of stuff.  Not generally something we dread.  Actually, we love going to the grocery store.  You would be surprised at how giddy we get.  But, numb fingers and toes and treks to the store are not quite as appealing.  So, last night we decided against it and are currently out of anything at all to drink.  I s’pose we will pray for favor and hope that the rain will cease for long enough for us to go shopping and return safely home.  Also, Pasha has fireworks and we want to light them tonight, but we can’t if it is raining.  (we learned this one from experience).  Mom, stop reading now, you don’t want to know the rest of this, and if you do choose to read on you are not allowed to say anything because I have now given you fair warning.  On Sunday night when Pasha came over he pulled out what was about the size of a cigarette and we couldn’t figure out what it was.  Finally, he was like “girls, you know, it goes BOOM” and then we flipped out b/c Amberly loves fireworks and apparently in Ukraine you don’t need a special occasion to set them off.  Something odd about this particular firework…no string.  You just light it and toss it.  Out our kitchen window.  At least this is what Pasha did.  But it was rainy and the dampness outside killed the flame.  Sad day.  We are going to try again tonight.  Well, that’s all I’ve got for now.  I am trying to be better about posting…we’ll see how long that lasts :o)

 

Peace Out.        

Syoma Rocks!!!

Hey you should all go check out the pics on Syoma’s xanga…I am so impressed. He’s amazing.

www.xanga.com/howtochooseusername

Some of them are from camp this summer and some are from New Format. All are incredible. I wish I had talent like Syoma :o)

A Night at the V's

So it’s Friday night and though Nikita was supposed to come over and there was drama practice so it was very likely Pasha and Tyoma would have shown up, we are at the Vasilevski’s spending the night with Alosha and Elusha (sorry Nikita.  We love you a lot and we hope that we can reschedule for very, very soon).  Lena is at Training and Olegy are headed to L’viv for some meetings.  We played some games with the boys and watched some old school taped off TV Warner Bro’s cartoons.  It was from ABC and there were commercials like “there’s no wrong way to eat a resis” and the Topsy-Tail doll.  Ahhh, the memories. Then the boys played football (not the Am. kind) on play station and we just put them to bed.  Tomorrow we will take them to the Skating rink before we head to youth at New Format.  :o)  I love the weekends :o) 

 

Peace Out.

A Quiet Place of Rest

It even looks cold outside.  I’m sitting at my desk staring out the window of the Radooga Office and I can see all the leaves that have drifted from the trees as winter is moving it.  It’s dark because it has been rainy and dreary for the past couple of days.  I love it.  Makes me want to curl up under the covers with a good book or take my Lori-blanket, pillow and Calyn’s fuzzy dog to the living room with Amberly and watch the Sandlot or some other good rainy-day movie.  For Melissa, a girl who lived in my dorm at school, Goonies was her rainy day movie.  On a day like today she would bust out of her room and proclaim to the whole dorm “It’s a Goonies day!”  The office is quiet save for the sound of my fingers typing and Roma’s printer printing something for Training.  It’s very peaceful and I like it.  Some days I enjoy the frantic action and the playful spirit that inhabit these rooms, but today I am satisfied to just be and let the peace wash over me.  I still can’t believe I am in Ukraine.  I can’t quite grasp the fact that this is reality.  Thank You, God, for bringing me to this place of rest and for the knowledge that You have carried me here.  Help me to never take even a moment of it for granted.  I miss you guys, a lot.  I really do.  But, I also know that there is purpose in my being here and you being wherever it is that you are and I hope that God will continue to use us where we are and give us wisdom in where to go from here. 

 

In the cherished words of Dylan Dinosaur whom I miss tremendously,

 

Peace Out!

The Volumes of my Father's Grace

I just finished reading Isaiah.  I must admit, it took much longer than I had hoped it would and I was not near as faithful in studying it as I had wanted to be, but it was good, nonetheless.  I decided to continue on in the OT at night with studying Jeremiah, but felt like I wanted to read in the NT too, but I didn’t know what, so I followed PCBS’s lead and started with Hebrews.  This morning I was reminded in chapter 4 verse 12 just how important it is to really study the Bible and what it says. 

 

Laden with guilt and full of fear, I fly to Thee, my Lord;

And not a glimpse of hope appears, but in Thy written Word

The Volumes of my Father’s grace does all my griefs assuage

Here I behold my Savior’s face in every Page.

 

This is the field where hidden lies, the Pearl of Price unknown

The merchant is divinely wise who makes the Pearl his own.

Here Consecrated Water flows to quench my thirst from sin;

Here the fair Tree of Knowledge grows, no danger dwells within

 

This is the Judge that ends the strife where wit and reason fail

The Guide to everlasting life throughout this gloomy veil

Oh, may the councils, Mighty God, my roaming feet command

Nor I forsake the Happy Road that leads to Thy right hand

 

God’s been reminding me lately about how important it is to constantly seek Him and how a big part of that is through studying His Word.  I love this song and I love all the analogies that are mentioned in this song.  God’s Word is precious.  It is a letter from our Father to us.  It is volumes of God’s grace; it is the image of the face of our Savior’s; it is the Pearl of great price; it is Holy Water that refreshes us; it is a Tree of Knowledge; it is a place of refuge; it is a Guide and a Judge; and it is a Happy Road.  I pray that I will not take for granted just how precious and powerful His Word really is.  God’s Word has the power to change lives.  My prayer is that it will continue to change mine everyday as I read it and learn more and more about this God that I serve.   

 

“For the word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the attitude of the heart.”  Hebrews 4:12