Well, tomorrow's the day we've been waiting for. It seems unreal and I keep thinking it's not actually going to happen. It's all just a dream. But once I look in my bedroom and see the opened suitcases filled with letters for orphans, gifts for translators and drivers, and my little nephew's backpack for the flight home, I realize it is undoubtedly real.
Today I'm finishing up some last minute details--exchanging some of our currency for better quality bills, picking up some "airborne" & sleep aids and borrowing a larger suitcase from a friend. I have some house cleaning and organizing to wrap up, a few phone calls to make and then head over to the local High School to follow Andrew's first track meet (he'll be running the mile as his specialty--he currently has it down to 6:19).
So this will be my last post in America for two weeks! I will try to post from St. Petersburg, but I'm not sure if we'll be able to do so. Once we hook up with Chris and Penny in Kras, I will post regularly. We covet your prayers and anticipate God's faithfulness. Dosvedanya!
The following web photos are in order of our trip...St. Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow: We're steadily working at eliminating the items on our "to do" list as we prepare for our trip to Russia. Today we'll continue to chisel away - Dave-haircut, me-hair color, purchase noise-canceling ear buds, print kids school and extracurricular schedules for the next 2 weeks, call credit card company, do more laundry, load books & songs on iPods, arrange transport to and from airports/hotels, etc. etc. etc.....
We are nearing the 48 hour to departure mark. Yikes!!
Here's our itinerary in local times:
Wednesday, Feb. 27, 1:30 p.m. - Leave Miami International for Atlanta where we'll catch our flight to Moscow @ 4:20 p.m. (10 hour flight!!) Thursday, Feb. 28, 11:00 a.m. - Arrive Moscow, 1:10 leave Moscow, 2:20 arrive St. Petersburg Sunday, March 2, 3:20 p.m. - Leave St. Petersburg, 4:40 p.m. arrive Moscow, 8:55 leave Moscow Monday, March 3, 5:40 a.m. - Arrive Krasnoyarsk Wednesday, March 5, 7:10 a.m. - Leave Krasnoyarsk, 7:55 a.m. arrive Moscow Tuesday, March 11, 11:55 a.m. - Leave Moscow Arrive in USA, Atlanta 6:55 p.m., catch connecting flight and arrive in Miami at 8:46 p.m.--my beautiful baby nephews in tow!!!
I got to do my very first High School Senior Picture shoot today! I've know this beautiful young lady since she was in diapers...she probably would like me to spare you the details, though! It was tough to choose my favorites, but here they are. Let me know what you think!
I spent yesterday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at our church setting up for a special event they are having tonight. I went shopping with a girlfriend for several decorative items we needed and then we set to work creating an "Asian Fusion" atmosphere for the Volunteer Appreciation dinner being held at 6:30 this evening. What a job! No complaints from me, though, as I love this stuff, and the small event team comprised of me, my mom and two other girls is heaven sent! I thought I'd share a few photos of the final outcome.
Tonight the kids, Dave and I enjoyed watching the gradual movement of the earth's shadow over the surface of the moon until it was completely covered with darkness. Needless to say, I found this was a great opportunity for a little casual "science" lecture! Mollie and Benjamin seemed very intrigued with the whole idea and I have to admit, I was a bit curious as well. The above picture is from the web, but looks very much like what we saw from our back yard. Thank you, God, for another wonderful performance!
Well, it's official! My brother, Chris and his wife, Penny are now Mama and Papa to two little boys from Siberia! And I'm an AUNTIE!!!!
They had their court hearing yesterday (actually 10 p.m. last night our time) and the judge awarded them custody of my two little nephews. It's been a long and arduous journey for C & P, with lots of twists, turns, tears & laughter. The best is yet to come!
Dave and I leave a week from tomorrow to meet up with them in Krasnoyarsk. Words can't describe the excitement in my heart! All I can say is that I can hardly focus on anything else right now! I find myself continually day-dreaming and imagining the first time I see the sweet little faces of my two darling nephews as my brother and "sister" begin their long-anticipated journey as parents. I cry as I type these words. The emotional build up of two years watching this adoption "pregnancy" unfold has come to a finale. It's hard to believe. Those of you who know them will agree with me when I say Chris and Penny are going to be AMAZING parents. These boys will know love like few ever experience!
Please continue to pray for the following: a smooth transition for the boys as they move out of the orphanage and into the arms of their forever family, good health for everyone, zero hold-ups in paperwork and finally, the ability for Chris and Penny to thoroughly enjoy the final weeks of their stay in Russia as they bond with their children. On a side note, please pray for Dave and I as we travel, that things will go smoothly and Dave's Russian language skills will exceed his own expectations!
As a homeschool mom, I love interesting historical facts and this being a national holiday I was compelled to find out the root of why we mark Presidents' Day on our calendars. According to Patriotism.org, a Miami-Dade County Public School website, the history of Presidents day is as follows:
The original version of the holiday was in commemoration of George Washington's birthday in 1796 (the last full year of his presidency). Washington, according to the calendar that has been used since at least the mid-18th century, was born on February 22, 1732. According to the old style calendar in use back then, however, he was born on February 11. At least in 1796, many Americans celebrated his birthday on the 22nd while others marked the occasion on the 11th instead.
By the early 19th century, Washington's Birthday had taken firm root in the American experience as a bona fide national holiday. Its traditions included Birthnight Balls in various regions, speeches and receptions given by prominent public figures, and a lot of revelry in taverns throughout the land. Then along came Abraham Lincoln, another revered president and fellow February baby (born on the 12th of the month). The first formal observance of his birthday took place in 1865, the year after his assassination, when both houses of Congress gathered for a memorial address. While Lincoln's Birthday did not become a federal holiday like George Washington's, it did become a legal holiday in several states.
In 1968, legislation (HR 15951) was enacted that affected several federal holidays. One of these was Washington's Birthday, the observation of which was shifted to the third Monday in February each year whether or not it fell on the 22nd. This act, which took effect in 1971, was designed to simplify the yearly calendar of holidays and give federal employees some standard three-day weekends in the process.
Apparently, while the holiday in February is still officially known as Washington's Birthday (at least according to the Office of Personnel Management), it has become popularly (and, perhaps in some cases at the state level, legally) known as "President's Day." This has made the third Monday in February a day for honoring both Washington and Lincoln, as well as all the other men who have served as president.
So there you have it! In spite of having a glorious day off from work or school, you've had a condensed history lesson, compliments of "Things Pondered"!
Several years ago I started a Valentines tradition with our family. I'm not sure exactly when it started, but Benjamin wasn't born yet and he's almost 10 now so that tells you how long this has been going on! The idea came while I was a part of the MOPS steering committee at our church. Being a part of that team generated a lot of great ideas and creativity which prompted the beginning of this now 10+ year old ritual.
It seemed like Valentines Day was always a big disappointment....nothing Dave did or didn't do, it was just hard to get a babysitter for that night, Dave's work schedule was crazy or some other obstacle kept us from having a romantic evening. I tried doing special dinners for the two of us, but when the kids are little, there's always one interruption or another as children certainly have no concept of romance, and once they do it's gross to them!
So the thought occurred to me not to make it all about me and what I'd like to do or have or feel for that one night of the year that Kay Jewelers has made an absolute impossibility to measure up to. I mean, what woman REALLY wakes up to a beautiful diamond necklace draped across her neck as her husband adoringly gazes at her??
That being the case, the Kush Family Valentines Day consists of the following and has evolved, food-wise as the kids have gotten older....
I begin by shopping in advance for token gifts for Dave and the children, something I know would be special to each of them. I buy conversation hearts and a couple of other Valentine candies and always the same cards.....the ones with an animal on front and big chocolate lips attached, you know the kind.
I begin preparing for dinner around 3 p.m. with layered chocolate pudding in wine glasses, crab legs, salad and peirogies (as per the kids' requests!). I always set the table with decorations and dinnerware appropriate for a special occasion. I position their festively wrapped gifts at their place setting and declare the dining room "off limits" until dinner time!
Everyone is instructed to write what they love about each person in our family on a handmade card and then I put it under that persons dinner plate. When it's time to have our seats we pull out our notes and read them and it always brings tears to a mothers eyes to hear what their siblings love about each other! That's my favorite part! We then open our gifts, pray, thanking God for his love for us and our love for one another and then dig in to our much-anticipated meal of the year.
Honestly, the kids love this day and look forward to it all year! This year Benjamin said to me, "Mom, you must really love us a lot 'cause this was a lot of hard work for you!" all the while hugging my waist as hard as he could! Who could ask for more?
Yes, I'm packing bags once again. Not the kind you're thinking of. The kind that show up under your eyes and have been making more and more frequent appearances under mine. I've tried under eye cream, concealer, cold spoons and cucumbers (the paper ones from the beauty store!). All of these remedies have very little to no effect and some of them even give the appearance that all I'm doing is attempting to cover up these very large under eye appendages! I've finally resorted to an allergy nose spray in hopes that these unwanted guests are due to allergies. Am I being overly hopeful that this is something I can even control? I do have one last resort that I'm holding off on for obvious reasons....Preparation H. I've heard it works!
Friday night we had our last night out with the family before Chris and Penny leave for Russia. We went to a long time favorite of ours, Dune Dog, and enjoyed fresh fish in their outside seating....only in South Florida in February can you do that! It was a fun time even though we were batting mosquitos off of our ankles!
We headed back to Chris and Penny's house for dessert and coffee while we helped finish packing the many items they'll be needing for a month stay half way around the world. That was a challenge! We're going on the information that you can only check one bag per ticketed person on Aeroflot and that one bag can't weigh more than 40 pounds. After filling two bags with as much as we thought we could without going over the limit, we loaded up the Trailblazer and headed to Publix to get an accurate weigh-in on the black beasts. As you can tell by Penny's worried look, we had some shuffling to do. Dave and I ended up heading home with enough stuff to fill one of our large bags that we'll be taking on our way to meet them. The employees were curious as to why we were taking pictures of each other in front of the scale while making odd faces. Thus the photo of my mother explaining our actions to the baggers and cashiers. They basically thought we were freaks!
Our visas arrived today! That mean's we are officially and legally going to Russia!!! I can't believe we'll be traveling to the other side of the globe in just two and a half weeks. Honestly, I could never have imagined we'd do anything like this. It's like a crazy dream and I'm going to wake up to reality any moment. After what Chris and Penny have told us, it will feel more like a nightmare while in route to Kras via Aeroflot! We'll see...
This morning I had an appointment at 10:30 to do photos for our Student Ministries web site. For those of you who have spent any amount of time with this species of ministry workers, you will know what I mean when I say it was silliness from beginning to end! Besides the obvious, see if you notice anything strange about one of these shots...let me know if you find it! (click on each one to get a full size view)
Yesterday my mother and I helped out Chris & Penny with some serious spring cleaning & organizing. They leave for Russia one week from today and want their little "nest" to be just right for when their two sons finally come home after a 2 1/2 year wait. Click here to stay up to date on their adoption journey. Their blog will go private very soon, so unless you've emailed them asking to be on the private list, you'll be in the dark from here on out!
One second left on the clock and Belichek, team in tow, leaves the field. What an unbelievable display of unsportsmanlike conduct! The Giants played a spectacular game and their opponents walk away with not so much as a tip of the hat! Just one more show of pro-coaches/players behaving badly. Utterly confirms my disdain for the New England Patriots is warranted!
Tonight, like millions of other American families, our family will be gathered around the television, eyes fixed to the high definition images entering our home. We'll be anxiously waiting for the first mulit-million dollar advertisement to grace the screen and we'll cast our votes amongst the family as the night progresses with one after the other. The game itself will be a distraction for those like us, not really interested in either team winning, only in the genius behind the ads. By tomorrow morning the final votes will have been cast and the winner decided...may the best blurb win!
Location: Royal Palm Beach, Florida, United States
I've enjoyed documenting life stories and events through the lens of my camera for a few years now, deciding to take my hobby to the world of blogging. I'm no professional, just a mom with her own take on things who loves to share her perspective with others. I hope this photographic journal inspires you!
