If you notice, I am very clever with the titles of my posts.

So the second week we were back in Seattle both Darryl and I received callings (assignments) at church.  Its like they knew we were coming…  I am really excited to teach Sunday School to 12-turning -13 year olds.  I know these kids from primary back before we moved to Ukraine.  There are about 8 that come regularly, and a couple more that I haven’t seen yet.  There are two sets of twins in my class!  How’s that for unique?

I’ve already learned lots of things.  Like bribing with candy really works.  And preparing a lesson every week is a lot of work.  I do like having something to think about all week long.  I am learning a lot from the lessons, and hopefully the kids will learn something, too.

 Two things I’ve noticed:

1.  The boys seem to be more into the lesson than the girls.  Back in my day it generally the opposite.  Of course, the boys can’t help but lean their chairs back against the wall.  I don’t know what it is with boys and leaning chairs against the wall.  They did it when I was 12, too.  Even Darryl was doing it at our house last week.  They just can’t resist.  But I’m impressed with the 4 boys in my class and their knowledge and understanding of the scriptures. 

2.  Knowing a little of their family situations, I can see the difference it makes not only in their Gospel knowledge, but in their demeanor and respect for both me and the church building.  It gives me a little hope that just being there for (versus neglecting) my kids and trying to teach them things really will make a difference down the road.

Amanda | 2 Comments »

Since I didn’t post any pictures of Daniel at the park, here are some recent pictures of him.  He’s just so cute!  He rolls, and sits, and really tries his best to crawl.  He can actually move quite well, basically flailing around on the floor.

Daniel | 2 Comments »

We love living near Carkeek Park.  One great thing about the park is it has a beach on the Puget Sound.  Last Friday we took our homemade pizza there for a dinner picnic.

We had a lot of fun jumping off a log onto the sand. 

We were there about 2 hours and saw 5 trains go by.  Even I get excited when a train comes.  For some reason it is so fun to see, everyone stops what they are doing and watches the train.

Family | 2 Comments »

     Me:  You’re a darling girl (or silly, or funny, or whatever).

Amelia:  I’m not darling girl (or silly, or funny, or whatever).  I’m A-may-ay-ya.

Amelia is definitely two.  Looking back, I wonder if Kathryn was really two.  She was calm and pleasant compared to Amelia.  We’re really not sure where Amelia’s personality comes from.  She has so much of it!  She is hilarious, and she knows it.  She can jump very well, and likes to jump from the 3rd or 4th stair down to the floor.  She likes to tease Kathryn, who takes everything very seriously.  She loves blue and bears.  Not so much into dolls.  She likes to make funny faces, and she did this since she was just a few months old.  She is just silly.  Unfortunately, (unlike Kathryn) she doesn’t really pose for pictures. 

So back when it was her birthday (May 16), we celebrated it! 

We invited Tanya (our nanny) and Katya (also a babysitter and good friend) to her little party.  First she opened a blue shirt with a bear on it.  An instant hit, since they were two of her favorite things.  So she put it on.

Then she opened some sandles, and put those on.

Next she opened a backpack and put that on, too.  It was really cute to see her want to put each thing on.

I had planned for a long time to make her a bear cake.  It was fun to do, this is about as creative as I get.  And I feel very cool because the cake and frosting are made without mixes.  Amelia wanted to eat the eyes.

That day was also a branch talent show in which Amelia and Kathryn sang “I am a Child of God” in Russian.  They did a great job, and we have a video of it.  But I’m not sure how to put it on here, so I’ll have to enlist some help from Darryl.

Amelia | No Comments »

Hopefully someday I really will catch up a little and post about Amelia’s 2nd birthday (2 months ago), and our trip to Canada (almost 1 month ago).  In the meantime taking care of 3 kids and a home without a nanny sure takes a lot of work!  Only slightly less than it was with a nanny.  Ha, ha.  Thank you dishwasher and dryer!  Good news is we purchased some furniture yesterday.  Bad news is it won’t be delivered for a month, so we are still couch/loveseat/chair-less.  And now to my thoughts on our re-entry to American life.

When we talk to friends, or meet new people, it seems like they always assume we are so glad to be back.  Like we couldn’t wait to get away from Ukraine.  Well, the truth is, we miss it.  Yes, there were hard things.   Yes, I did a lot of complaining (and maybe extra on the blog because I was trying to point out differences).  And yes, it is nice to be closer to our families, even in the same time zone as some.

But right now we aren’t always that glad to be back.  We lived in Kyiv for almost 2 years, so it was our home.  We had gotten used to the shopping, transportation, friends, and life.  The thing I love most about a foreign experience (living not just visiting), is the changing/broadening of perspective.  That some things aren’t better or worse, just different.  And that we in North America are pretty spoiled.  That Heavenly Father sure has a lot of children, and they are all known to Him.

Some things that I have noticed.  Recycling.  At first it was so hard not to recycle in Kyiv.  I cringed throwing away all the paper.  But of course in time I got used to it, and it was pretty convenient to put everything into the same garbage.  We were welcomed back to Seattle with some new recycling rules.  We now have food waste recycling.  We apparently did it wrong the first couple weeks, because they didn’t pick it up.  But I think I’ve got it now.  Food waste such as vegetables and bread can go in it.  But not in a bag, just straight into the container.  It goes to some big compost pile, I think.  And the other recyclables are all together, no separating glass or anything.  That part is nice.

Toilets flush differently.  This really confused Kathryn for awhile.  Our flush in Kyiv was on top of the toilet, and you pushed it in.  She couldn’t find the flush handle on the side of the toilet.  Also, for some reason light switches to bathrooms are on the outside of the room in Kyiv.  Why, for kids to torture their parents in the shower by turning off the light?  Luckily our girls never really figured out they could do that.  But sometimes we are looking for the light switch on the outside of the bathroom.  Debbie – I know you mentioned these two things!

Bread.  I almost threw up when I saw the price of bread.  Then I almost threw up when I ate it.  Just kidding, some is quite tasty.  We just really loved the bread in Ukraine.  Luckily our breadmaker is still alive and well, and I’ve been using it almost everyday.  Now to grind some wheat so I can have wheat bread.  Just need a grinder…

Shopping in general is SO different.  I actually went to Safeway and bought a week’s worth of groceries.  I filled up a whole cart, with no thought of  whether I could carry it home in my backpack.  Now that is glorious.  Of course nothing compares to the experience of the open market for fruits and vegetables, but it sure is nice not to need to shop 3 times a week.  On the market subject, thank goodness for Lenny’s.

When we got to Ukraine I wasn’t sure how to cook there.  Like without cream of chicken/mushroom soup, cake mixes and stuff like that.  Now I’m not sure how to cook with those things!  The sugar is so fine, it was large crystals there.  For Amelia I made all her babyfood (except cereal) because in Kyiv it was both weird (like the options were squash or eggplant) and extremely expensive.  Now that Daniel is starting to eat food, I want to make his, too, because I can.

Family | 5 Comments »