Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

I'll be gone on holiday for a week! I'll be writing lots of blogs to catch you up on what happened and what the Brakes are thinking. Merry Christmas! Remember the reason for the season. Enjoy your time with loved ones and remember that the joy of this season isn't in presents (though I love them) it's in the presence of the Lord in our lives!

updated

Go on back to December 9 and catch up with the last week's worth of posts - sorry for being delinquent in getting things posted!

Snow snow snow!

It rained all day yesterday in Indianapolis. Snowed overnight. But the roads were fine... mostly. We drove all the way back to Michigan and arrived home to 1 foot of snow in our driveway - and this incredible path leading up to the house. Our friend Melissa had taken some pity on us and had started the shoveling for us! Almost half the WHOLE driveway!

Great friends are hard to come by and show their true colors in times of need.

It made our arrival home so much nicer.

(pict: Amy shoveling)

The wounded man

So, I'm not completely healed yet. My knee and wrist are both getting better (they've both been injured for nearly 2 months). This weekend I stopped wearing the braces. I'm going to wear the knee brace for activities, but I'm really trying to allow the muscles to work again and to see if that will aid the healing process. Please be praying along with me. I want to be healthy and fixed by Tuesday next week (Christmas) so that I can thoroughly enjoy all that Washington State has to offer as far as fun in the snow!

Visa Regulations

Amy & I are still trying to figure this out. There have been some changes to Russian visa policies. (They went into affect in October, but I hadn't been looking at visa stuff since we're not heading back until next summer). I'm not sure if the changes affect all visa types or if they affect only Business visas. If only commercial (business) visas are affected, Amy and I are a-ok - we're cultural exchange visas. I'm not sure about educational visas either. So it might be smartest for us to travel on an educational visa. I'm trying to do some research to figure this out.

Here's the new rules:

1. A foreign citizen can obtain a visa to Russia ONLY in the country of his/her citizenship. Exceptions include those who have a residence permit for a foreign country for the period more than 90 days. A visa may also be issued in a country other than an applicant's own in case of urgent necessity, such as participating in international, governmental, official, scientific, sport and cultural events. A final decision in these cases would be left up to the consulate.

2. A multiple entry business visa allows nationals of all countries to stay in Russia up to an aggregate of 90 days out of the period of 180 days. (does this mean that Amy and I will have to spend 1/2 our time outside of Russia?)

3. Russian Foreign Ministry has retracted its decision to apply the new visa rules even to visas issued before October the rule came into effect. Older visas have now been "grandfathered." (This means that Jim & Sally can stay in Russia until their current visa expires)

4. A multiple entry visa is only available for people who have been issued a Russian visa before. If this is your first visit, you are only eligible to obtain a single or double entry visa for 1 to 3 months. A copy of your previous Russian visa should be enclosed in your application for a multiple entry invitation. (Praise the Lord! Both Amy and I have had visas issued to Russia before).

Again - I don't know if these apply to all visa types or just commercial/ business visas.

Russia vacation

Amy took her Russian final today! She, of course, doesn't feel like she aced it, but I'm sure she's done a tremendous job. I know that she's my wife and I'm supposed to talk about how wonderful and amazing she is - it's very easy when it's the truth. She's doing an excellent job at her language lessons and she's decided to continue forward with the intensive second year Russian next semester. We are still talking a little bit about the 'normal' level Russian lessons, but leaning toward the intensive.

In order to prepare to focus more on class and getting ready to head back to the field, we've decided to end our relationship with Starbucks at this time. Amy's last day is next Thursday. It's going to be so wonderful to NOT get up at 4:40am twice a week and to feel rested. I think it'll be better for both of us mentally, emotionally, and intellectually.

But we'll miss the free coffee and discounts (I don't even drink coffee, but I love for Amy to have what she loves!)

World Outreach Candidacy

Amy had her interview today with World Outreach (the missionary arm of the EPC) trans: the agency that I've been working with for the last several years. Of course, she passed the interview with flying colors.

We're just thrilled to have this final technical hurdle out of the way, so that we're officially able to do support raising as a united couple with World Outreach!

Amy's got her Russian final tomorrow morning - keep praying!

Teen Technology Trends

It is with great joy that I present this post. I've been at UM in my position for 6 months and one of the big movements that I've been trying to establish in our office (Technology Services) is that technology isn't scary and that 90% of the battle to master it is just knowledge.

So I've been putting together a presentation to share with staff in the Division of Student Affairs. The presentation drew a crowd of 60 people and I've been asked to present it again in the Health Services unit! It's really exciting, because the current generation of students (Millennials, Net Generation or Digital Natives) are really connected to technology and the current generation of staff and faculty (Baby Boomers and Generation X) are digital immigrants.

Basically there is culture shock happening on college campuses worldwide where the students out number the faculty and staff, yet are more advanced.

It was SO exciting to share with folks. One participant asked me "what is mp3?" I was so pleased that the atmosphere was comfortable enough for people to ask questions that to others might have seemed very simple.

I'm basically just really pumped.

Meeting Nora

I'm thrilled to present a new friend in the world. Nora Evelyn McGowan. She's the daughter of dear friends and co-worker Jen & Kevin McGowan. Amy and I were so excited to meet her. She was sleeping for a good portion of our time with her, but as you can see from this picture - she woke up to stretch for us and open her pretty little eyes. She's so tiny and precious (almost 7 lbs and so soft and with that awesome baby smell). We're thrilled for the miracle of life that was given to Jen and Kevin (they'll be wonderful parents). I'm looking forward to having Nora's mom back at work, but know that Jen's chosen the best path for now to be with her daughter!

So cute!

Christmas Ornaments

(ONE) Only in America can you find Christmas Ornaments that are as big as your head.



(TWO) Amy and I chose this as our first Christmas ornament to purchase for our tree. Giraffes are important to us for many reasons and these two just seemed to reflect so much cheesy newlywed love that we had to buy it.

(THREE) This is a necklace that I got last year for Christmas from my friends Sasha and Zhanna. It makes a WONDERFUL Christmas ornament and so Amy and I chose to put it up on our tree. Doesn't it look great!?

Making Borsch in America

Photo 1: using the cleaver Todd bought for me in China! It cuts cabbage with a vengeance! I used it in the second stage of making Borsch.

Photo 2: Borsch in America. For some reason it doesn't taste quite the same. I have to be honest, I think it's because the vegetables aren't as good and fresh here. But it was still delicious and it got better every day. We ate it for days.

One laptop per child

I feel like I'd heard about this organization before - but I stumbled upon it again today (nearly ashamed that it was through a website for the tv show Heroes on NBC). One Laptop per Child is a non profit that has literally composed a laptop for $100. It runs linux as it's operating system (free) and has wireless, drawing programs, chat, music programs, 2 programming languages, etc. It's really quite incredible. I really think that the Holiday Spirit has seized me - it's just so the right kind of thing to do. So Amy and I are in talks about getting a laptop for a child in an developing country.

http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/index.php

I just read on this website that if you give a laptop before December 31st 2007, they'll send a laptop to a child in a developing nation AND one to you! That's really incredible. I wonder if we'd be able to use laptops like these in Russia to work with kids at the cultural center? Computer literacy is really becoming required in Russia too....