welcome 2009!

christmas eve "jingle bell run!"

this morning we had the first annual "jingle bell run!" so fun. very cold. 9 of us (and one dog) met at a park and ran about 1.5 miles around the beautiful snow-covered park. it was like a fairy tale. layers, layers, layers, dog boots, warm apple juice, silas holding onto a heated field corn pack in the stroller, dog frisbee, water, camera. while 1.5 miles around the park might not sound like much, we each had to travel a distance to get to the park, which counts, too! tim and silas and kai and i live about a 2.5 miles from the park, so 6.5 miles round trip isn't bad!



getting ready to head out...



we were thrilled to find that the paths at the park had been cleared!!!



well, some of the paths had been cleared...





merry christmas ~ love the wileys

ten fruit trees for $60

world vision is an organization dedicated to changing the world through giving, and i love it. it is so relevant and creative and is meeting needs all over the world right now. you can give life-changing gifts to people all over the world in the name of someone you love...you can give donations by price, or by categories like clean water, education, emergency aid, joy for kids, where most needed, animals, food and agriculture, and more.

you can buy a goat for a village for $75, two chickens for $25, a cow for $500, ten fruit trees for $60.

there are good things happening...

6 years!

tim and i got married 6 years ago today! happy anniversary, babe!

last night we were talking about all that has happened in the last 6 years, a lot of life. 6 years ago today it was 72 degrees and sunny in tulsa, oklahoma, and as i write this now, here in moscow, russia it is very dark (3:51pm) and 19 degrees.

in the last 6 years we've walked through so many different seasons...

almost 3 months of marriage before tim left for iraq...
iraq...
coming home from iraq...
settling into a stable life for a little while...
buying a house...
getting kai...
deciding to move to russia...
selling a house...
selling, well everything...
moving to russia...
getting to know russia...
language school, students, hinkson, 3 apartments in 3 years...
being pregnant...
having silas...
getting to know silas...
growing to love moscow...

i feel like i could write a novel on each of those seasons.

its been a rich 6 years...

many more to come...

kai, the beatles and dima

just a while ago i had a moment that i know will stand out among moments in my life...

i took kai outside, and while she was running around, a little boy came up to me saying (in russian)...

"i have met this dog before! hello kai!"

kai greeted him enthusiastically like she does everyone.

this was dima, a seven year old russian boy in first grade. he has played with kai and tim before outside, but this is the first time i had met him and his grandfather. dima was practicing every bit of english he knew with me and i thought we had to be coming to the end of his repertoire when suddenly he burst (no exaggeration here) into song...and dance! it went something like this...(with the most precious seven-year-old-boy-russian accent)

"desmond has a barrow in the marketplace
molly is a singer in a band
desmond says to molly - girl i like your face
and molly says this as she takes him by the hand..."

the obladi oblada part kind of faded off, but i was so impressed! the beatles, bringing people together...