Pregnancy Help Line

Today we were invited to the pregnancy help line to meet the counselor helping the birth mom.  They were so excited to meet us and hear all about our adoption process and how we met.  We cannot believe God's goodness and the generosity of others.  Here are a few photos of what they gave u at the center.  We are humbled and awed. 

requests and joys

hey all... just a quick post and reequest for pr@yer.  We met with our landlord yesterday to pay rent and they notified us that our rent would be going up $200/month!  This is a huge surprise in light of the financial crisis.  Guess they figured out how they were going to deal with the changes.  Please lift us up in pr@yer as we cannot afford this, but don't want to pack up and move in the middle of winter (well, we don't want to move at all to be honest).  

Our washing machine is also broken and it's apparently our responsibility to have it repaired.  It's interesting how different things are here sometimes.  I'm down to my last several sets of socks, so it's hand washing for us (and a generous offer from Sally to use their washer).  We're going to call soon about getting it repaired - but nervous about the hassle it might cause.

I am done teaching for 2008!  PTL.  I'm so tired and ready for a good, long, hardy sleep.  I've got some reports to write for school and the agency and then a bit of rest is in order.

Today we're baking pizza with the ch^rch youth and then taking them to see a Christmas pageant.

Merry Christmas!

A very Merry Christmas to everyone!  It is such a wonderful day!  We're excited for traditions, good food, time together, the Christmas play at ch^rch and most of all - a little time with J.

Fire wire transfer

Our American dollars have run out. It’s time for our first wire transfer… we’re a bit nervous. There’s a flat charge on the U.S. side, there’s a percentage charge on this side… and we aren’t sure we have all the right transfer numbers. But it’s what we’ve got, so we’re going through with it. Keep us in your thoughts.

Being on the spot

How does it feel to be called upon to share your t’mony in a foreign language? That’s a great question. And I can honestly answer it now. On Sunday during B!ble study, the pastor called on me (without any preparation) to share my t’mony with the 20 or so people in the room. I got up, shared for about 7 minutes (I was given 5-10) and then sat back down. I made several mistakes (of course). Then they proceeded to grade my t’mony. The good news is, most folks thought it was good. It’s a typical format that Vadim (the past0r) is teaching. He’s been teaching how to share your t’mony for the past 3 weeks. Life before J, accepting J, life after J. It’s nerve wracking to try to stumble through all that grammar in front of so many people. I mean, if you can move a comma to the wrong place in Russian and have a sentence mean that the person should be executed, cannot be forgiven instead of you cannot execute the person, the person should be forgiven – imagine the terror of grammar. That was just a moved comma.

We’re working on getting adjusted again. I can’t believe how much Russian I’ve forgotten. It’s really ok – I’m just really critical about it. I feel like I’ve hit a plateau and I really need to push through it. I didn’t expect to experience any culture shock or difficulties in coming back after being gone for only a year, but the adjustments are here all the same. One of the hardest things is not being asked to help out or to participate. Just being expected to be everywhere all the time. We’re pretty tired, I haven’t been sleeping all the well – probably a manifestation of stress. I think I’m taking a lot on myself and feeling overly responsible for Amy. She’s doing great, but since I lived here before, I think I’m taking on unnecessary stress.

LIfe on Purpose

This has been one of my life mottos for a long time. I'm really excited to share that the blog name, "life on purpose" has become available - and Amy and I are going to start blogging together there. So if you've got this one bookmarked, please change your bookmarks to the new address. We'll both be posting there from now on!

http://lifeonpurpose.blogspot.com/

Lactic Acid...

yeah - my legs are full of the stuff... we ran, and my body is reminding me that I did. I got up in the middle of the night because my cell phone battery was dying... of course I was groggy. It was 5am... it beeps every three minutes when the batter is dying...

SO - I just rolled out of bed and nearly collapsed as my legs screamed at me in pain. And then I stretched and realized I'd be okay.

I'm a bit stiff & I'm going to ice my knee again.

Did someone say 8 MILES?!

That's right, the miracle of love has brought me to a place I could have never imagined. Amy & I ran 8 miles tonight as we continue to train for the Indianapolis Mini marathon (13.1 miles total). It's in 3 weeks. And I'm supposed to try and get up to 10 miles at least prior to the race.

My goal of course, is not to win or really run crazy...it's to finish. I'm really excited to have completed 8 miles at this point. We'll see how I'm doing tomorrow.

Thank you God for Aleve...

The knee once again...

So I returned to the doctor to have my knee looked at. They initially thought it was cartilage or an irritation with my kneecap. Something like retropatellar pain syndrome. But with my lower level of activity in the past months and the 6 months of time... the doc thought to do an x-ray. So I had an x-ray on my knee.

While I was there, they did an x-ray on my chest for the tuberculosis film that I have to take with me to Russia for camp. And then they drew blood for the HIV test I have to have in order to get my Russian visa... yikes.

So, the x-ray didn't show anything. The doctor poked and prodded and decided to schedule me for an MRI on my knee. This will show if there are any tears in the ligaments of my knee. He's thinking that I might have stressed, stretched or torn part of my anterior meniscus.

Next week on Tuesday keep my knee in your prayers. I'm not sure what I want them to find... something wrong that can be fixed or just that I need to do physical therapy.

I really need to be able to run this race with Amy though - it's such an encouragement to her when we run.