life

life is good! so much life has been going on since i last posted, so i wanted to catch up through pictures. tim and silas and i are all back together here in moscow and we are all getting adjusted to life here. silas has gotten his nights and days straightened out and is growing and learning so much everyday...you can actually see him learning! we are really enjoying this time.

before silas and i left the states, we had a surprise birthday party for my dad (aka, "pop" or "most high bob")...here, dad and silas celebrate...

silas in his bassinet on the plane on the transatlantic flight over...he did incredible thanks to grace and favor and the white noise of the plane!

kai and silas meet for the first time...

and she has never been far from his side since then...she's a great babysitter! when he cries, she runs and stands by him until he's appeased to her satisfaction.

yeah...bath time!














it was such an indescribable blessing to have my mom fly back to moscow with me and silas and be here with us that first week to walk him in the night, help wash dishes, and experience a bit of our life here in moscow! to have her walk on the sidewalks we walk on and expereience some things here that we describe was invaluable. here mom and i are on red square on a cold moscow afternoon.

the green belt outside our apartment, now covered in snow...this it the walk that tim has to hinkson everyday and the area where silas and i walk.

silas' first 3 weeks

we've packed a lot of life in silas' first 3 weeks here, and all is going well! on october 27, silas carried on mine and tim's tradition and did his first tulsa run (we started him slow, just a 2k this year). he did great and was at the finish of the 15k to cheer tim on through the finish line! silas even got his first finishers medal!















silas also has had his first introduction to the computer as i have been slowly trying to catch up on emails and be in touch. he does a great job of keeping me warm as i write!

we also had the blessing of some dear friends coming to visit and meet silas. amber and stephen and their beautiful daughter channing, came up from dallas to visit last weekend and amber brought her exceptional talent and portable photography studio to take some pictures of silas and me and tim. those will be coming soon. thank you amber!!! our friend jesse also came from colorado to see silas and run in the tulsa run with tim. it was a wonderful time.

on sunday october 28 we had a baby dedication at redeemer. it was a really sweet time with our family and our dear friends, joe and margie scruggs.

the paperwork process for silas to go back to moscow has gone remarkably smooth. we received his birth certificate in 6 days, and then we got his passport in less than a week. his letter of invitation (like a preliminary visa that the russian government requires) will be here on november 13, and then we can expedite his visa. i must say, his passport picture, taken when he was 2 days old is the cutest passport picture ever. and it's valid for 5 years! he looks so different already...

tim left tulsa and flew to moscow on november 1, and arrived safely on the 2nd. we are so grateful that we had 3 weeks together after silas was born before tim needed to go back...and we'll be close behind him! kai was overjoyed to greet him when he got back to our apartment and all is well there. tim is getting back into the swing of life in moscow and hinkson...and silas and my mom and i will fly out from tulsa on november 21 to join him. my mom is flying back with us to stay for a week and help with the details of traveling transcontinental with a 6 week old, and getting life set up in moscow again.

smiling in his sleep...what is he dreaming about?

Happy Birthday Silas Jack Wiley!!!

on october 9, 2007, silas jack wiley took his first breath at 3:25pm. he weighed in at 7 pounds 15 ounces and is 20.5 inches long. one week late, i went into labor at 8:30am and a few hours later silas was in our arms. i (ally) am feeling great, and tim and i are just soaking up this time as best we know how. silas is beautiful, and teaching us so much already. he is truly amazing. from the moment he was born, he was and has continued to be so alert and attentive, paying such close attention to the details of the faces and noises around him. we are so grateful that we get to be a part of this miracle and have the opportunity to be a part of his life.

we have gotten to enjoy a few picnics in the park and in mom and dad's garden already...beautiful tulsa autumn! silas' first outing was a walk, and then a tasty meal at tin star because i wanted fish tacos!

what a miracle...where will these feet take him?

any day now

we are excitedly awaiting silas jack's grand entrance to the world! for all of our faithful friends out there who are wondering what the latest status is, we are doing great, silas is doing wonderful and kicking like a soccer player, just not born yet. tim and i are loving this time together and are so grateful that we can be here in tulsa in this beautiful fall season (tulsa falls are the best!) with family and friends as we wait for silas. and we just got a new digital camera (thanks mom and dad for the early Christmas!) so there will be many pics to come! by the way, happy bday carrie sue! love you!

Worship

I've been able to be involved with the student worship team at Hinkson, and it has been such a cool experience thus far. Before joining the worship team, I had the fifteen students write a brief paragraph defining worship and explaining why they wanted to lead. Here are a few really cool ideas on worship:

"Perhaps worship is the abandoning of saying, 'here I am. I am broken, I am nothing and I come to lift you up because I know, I feel deep within me that this is what I was made to do.'"

"I believe I am called to worship. When I praise and worship God I feel like I am doing what He has called me to do. When I praise Him, I feel like I am pleasing Him."

"I love to worship God. I love when God hears my prayers and shows His presence... One of the most fascinating facts about my name is that it means, 'Praise Jesus.' Now, looking at my name, I always think that the ability to praise God was one of the greatest gifts I have received from God."

september

tim will fly to tulsa on september 13 and we are counting down the days! we have been so grateful during this time apart for the technology that we have at our disposal - phone, email, skype - that has been wonderful!

and we've both kept busy while we've been apart. hinkson is in full swing, and tim just wrapped up a wonderfully exhausting week there which included the first chapel, a full "leadership day" for students at hinkson, not to mention the planning and meetings and time with students that are a part of the everyday life there. tim is loving it and is feeling joyful as the details of his job are worked out and his ideas and dreams for the position are put into practice! he has gotten to spend some great time with some students in the last few days.
being with the students is a great reminder of why we are there! since all the students have come back to moscow after being away for the summer, tim has been busy!
i am doing great in tulsa and we just have a few more weeks until we meet silas face to face! i am feeling well and i have had a wonderfully rich time being with friends and family - if you are near tulsa and i haven't seen you yet, call me because i would love to see you! i imagine getting together will be easier on this side of silas' arrival than the other.

friends

with our focus on the students here, we've discovered that something that is so important for our hearts and our ministry are the friendships we've formed here. it's great to have people walking through this with you who are literally walking on the same streets and experiencing the same weather and the same metro, who you can share a meal with and just walk through this with.
chris and liz and jane and james are in the picture to the right, and these are some friends who have been such a blessing to us here. chris and liz are here working with students on college campuses throughout moscow. we met in language school and they are some amazing and dear friends. jane and james are living and working in southern russia and we are really enjoying getting know them.

tim and i were also involved in a house church this last year. we met every sunday at our apartment and had a really rich expereince doing that. for our last gathering of the year before they all went back to the states,
we met at a park early one sunday morning and had a picnic and worshipped in nature. pictured here is josh, tim, daniel, adri, christiana, me and sarah. none of us were ready for this picture, but we thought, that's life, and this is a fun picture!

astypalea, greece

the last week of june and a few days into july, tim and i had the opportunity to take a much needed and greatly enjoyed vacation in greece. it was a combination vacation/russian visa renewal trip and it was so good for our hearts. russian law requires that we leave russia once a year and get new visas at the consulate of our choosing, so hot greece was where we landed. we got to spend almost a week on an island called astypalea and refresh and relax before a new and exciting season of life starts for us. with our baby arriving this fall, and tim's chaplaincy role at hinkson swinging into high gear, we have a lot on the horizon and we are hopeful and excited about all that is coming.

astypalea is a small, butterfly shaped island in the agean sea that once was a haven to pirates. the locals who lived on the island lived in and around the castle pictured here, which was on the highest point of the island.

at our favorite restaurant on our favorite beach!!!

the castle at night ~ beautiful!

tim on top of the world

this is hora, the biggest settlement on the island, where most business and activity takes place. we would eat honey and bread at a little cafe many days here, which is pretty much the highest point on the island.

that's the small port village behind us

me and our boy on top of the castle over looking the agean sea. i hope he doesn't hold any resentment for all the places he got to travel to, but didn't get to experience!

beautiful beach!!!


a cairn is a pile of stone or rock that is arranged with a purposeful intent. most times you'll see these on backpacking or hiking trails to mark the way. those who place them are thinking of those who will come after and those who find them are trusting those who went before that this is the way to go. in the Bible in joshua 4, the Lord enabled the israelites to cross the jordan river and then He had people collect stones and make a cairn, or memorial to what the Lord had done there. God had people construct these cairns many other times in the Bible to mark what He had done. so tim and i made our own cairn on the beach of astypalea on the edge of the agean sea, to mark the end of this first year in russia, the beginning of our new life with our son and just to celebrate all that the Lord has done in this season.

on our way back to moscow, we flew through athens and had some time to hike up to the acropolis. the acropolis is visible from almost everywhere in athens and there is so much history there. it was over 100 degrees this day, so tim hiked all the way up and i waited a little below, under a shade tree with a frozen lemonade.

2nd Lt. Crump U.S.A.F.

It was such a cool thing for our friend Ted Crump to come visit us in Russia. Ted just graduated from the Air Force Academy where he played football and learned a bunch of hard core, really cool military stuff. He also learned how to speak Chinese there which is so cool to see in action. Ted stayed with us for a week as we tooled around Moscow and St.Petersburg. He's such a good dude and so much fun to be around. Not only did he keep us laughing the whole time, but we got to learn more about how great of a man he really is. I'm glad men like him are serving our Country in the Military.

Good stuff at this "Uzbeck" resturaunt called Kish Mish

Not a fan of horses

Classic

Tavern in St.Pete's

Goodness

Oh, the comfort
the inexpressible comfort
of feeling safe with another person.
Having neither to weigh thoughts
nor measure words,
but pouring them all right out
just as they are,
chaff and grain together-
Certain that a faithful hand
will take and sift them,
keep what is worth keeping
and with a breath of kindness
blow the rest away.

~Craik

Summer in the City

Well, it's peaking somewhere in the low 90's farenheit here in Moscow, which is quite a contrast from the -18 we experienced 3 months ago. The sun is shining, the grass is green and most everyone is much happier now than in the Winter. The face of the city changes as the people get to thaw out as Spring progresses.

We're busyier now than ever, hanging with students and spending time at the school as much as we can. We're also trying to get out to some of the parks and see Moscow's summer beauty.

Ally's growing and looking amazing, as well as handling the heat like a trooper. Little Silas Jack is kicking like a little tornado and is already showing signs that he has his parents' sense of adventure. Right now he's 22 weeks along (in layman's terms that's a bit over 5 months)and is doing really well. We can't wait to mee him in Oct!

Victory Day

Today Russia celebrates the 62nd anniversary of the Nazi's surrender to the Allies during World War II, or as Russians call it, "The Great Patriotic War." This holiday is monumentous for Russians and the entire city of Moscow shuts down for the celebration. Veteran soldiers don their uniforms and are celebrated as the greatest generation, much as they are in the States.

During World War II, over 25 million Russians were killed, military and civillian combined. Although this day is sweet for many, I'm sure it brings back the pain and loss of war for some. The Nazi's burned much of St. Petersburg and invaded Moscow as well, but did not advance into the heart of the city.

May 9th marks the first day of peace after the Nazi Party surrendered to the Allies on May 8th 1945.

language school, retreat, baby

it's hard for us to believe, but a year of intense language school ends this week! we have been blessed this year to focus on learning the russian language to prepare for life here and working with contacts we'll be making through the chaplain program and it's hard to believe that the year is almost over. our teacher, tamara leoneedovna, is a wonderful woman without whom, we don't believe this year of studying language would have been as full and Christ-centered as learning language can be.

last weekend, tim and i had the incredible experience of leading the sophomore class at hinkson on a retreat. they approached us last fall, with the knowledge that junior year at hinkson is a tough one (lots of fundraising for various things, organizing school wide events, on top of a tough school load) and they wanted us to lead a weekend for their class (18 sophomores) of team building and bonding and getting more solidified as a class. the Grace of God made this weekend go better than we could have asked for or expected. tim and i, along with another girl leader at hinkson, led low ropes course initiatives, team building exercises, facilitated personality assessments and evaluations and guided the students as they developed their class mission statement. we had rich debriefing times after the initiatives, applying what happened in the activity to life, our relationship with God and our relationships with others. we used the lion-otter-beaver-golden retriever personality assessment to identify different personality types in the class and the students commented that they loved using this tool to learn more about themselves and each other, and how different personality types can work together effectively to accomplish a goal. not only were they bonded, but we bonded with them and established relationships that will last...that is why we are here.

we stayed in a primitive "dacha" (like a summer home or lake house without the lake) 2 hours outside of moscow in the country. here are some of the students in the lovely outhouse at the dacha.



feet on the "totem pole shuffle" initiative on the retreat.








i am continuing to feel great, and the pregnancy is going wonderful! and we found out a few days ago that we are having a boy! we are so honored and feel so blessed to be walking through this time and getting ready to welcome a new life. please continue to pray for health for him!

random pic of ally in front of saint basil's cathedral, red square.

Cristos Vascrescenia

God sent His son, they called Him Jesus
He came to love, heal, and forgive.
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

How sweet to hold a newborn baby,
And feel the pride and joy he gives.
But greater still the calm assurance,
This child can face uncertain days because He lives.

And then one day I'll cross the river,
I'll fight life's final war with pain.
And then as death gives way to victory,
I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, All fear is gone!
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living just because He lives!

~Gaither ~

Spring in Moscow!

as I write this, it is 59 degrees fahrenheit, the sky is blue-ish yellow and the sun is setting. we are so grateful for the spring in moscow. city workers are re-painting the yellow curbs and all the short green fences that border gardens all over the city. they have also taken down the heavy glass swinging doors that lead you down into the metro, which is the true sign that spring has come to moscow. we're loving it.

it's been a while since i updated this - sorry. it's always on my list to be better about that. we have only 5 weeks left of language school and we are working hard along with our teacher to cram as much in in this time as we can. it keeps us busy, but we are so grateful for the opportunity to do language here. we feel better equipped, in even just the everyday things of trying to buy groceries and get around the city. when we first got here, people would often stop us on the street asking for directions, and we would always stutter out something like "sorry, we don't speak russian" in our best russian of course. now, when people stop us, we can actually direct them to where they want to go! it's a really great sense of accomplishment to be able to communicate with people here.

i am feeling really great as far as the pregnancy goes, and i am so grateful for that! i am starting my 13 week and fortunately i never had to deal much with morning sickness. we had a great doctors appointment last tuesday and we got to see the baby just kicking it's legs and punching it's arms and doing what looked like headstands! it made me laugh so hard, and that made my whole body shake, and it would move around even more then. this is a pretty incredible thing to be walking through. we have a great doctor (she is israeli and has practiced medicine in israel and moscow) and she has been wonderful for us in this process. at my appointment last tuesday she did tell me that she wants me to rest more than i am, so i'm making sure that i make room for that. otherwise, everything is going great, the baby is healthy and growing very fast!

in the last month, tim and i got the opportunity to travel a little bit which was wonderful. hinkson had their winter break (a 3 day weekend) so we booked a quick trip to istanbul for the weekend with some friends just to rest and explore there.

this is the view of the blue mosque from the haggia sophia in istanbul.

three days after we got back from istanbul, it was our language school's spring break, so we met some dear friends, logan and heather, in rome. logan and heather are living and working in kuwait right now, so it was wonderful to meet friends so close to heart, so far from our homes.

here is me and tim on top of the dome of saint peter's basilica in vatican city overlooking all of rome.


the colosseum, which was spectacular, but actually smaller than i expected. my only context before this was "gladiator."



gelato in the sun in the famous plaza in vatican city outside of saint peter's basilica.

it was nice to be out of moscow for a short time and when we returned we felt refreshed and rested and ready to finish language school strong. it is very cheap to travel to so many different places from here, so we felt grateful to take a break from moscow and see some different horizons.

the break also allowed great time for brain storming about the chaplaincy that tim will be starting this fall (realistically this summer, and even now) at hinkson. we're really excited about that upcoming adventure and the Lord is just preparing our hearts more and more everyday.