What a Difference a Year Makes

One year ago today

October :)

1 Year Ago Today

1 year ago today I was on a plane headed for Kiev, ready to start the biggest adventure of my life.  Wow.  Happy Anniversary to myself. :)

I've got some posts in the works.  I've just been busy.

Randomness

Here are a couple of things we've been up to lately.

First of all, Little One and Ira called me downstairs to see something.  When I got down there, I found this....  They'd set up church.  Everyone is all dressed up, some have babies and even my potato masher from my "Spud Trooper" Mr. Potato Head was used as the microphone.  A spool of ribbon on some play dishes is the podium and other kitchen accessories are the chairs. :)  Quite ingenious, if I do say so.

Little One likes the camera. :)

Next, Mom found a recipe for some Chicken Kiev.  It was quite a bit of work, but VERY worth it.  The first time I'd had Chicken Kiev was in the underground mall there in Kiev.  It was so good and this was even better. :)  I'm hoping it freezes well because it was too much work for just one meal.  SO good though!

And last, I found a new cover for my iPod.  Yes, I love Mickey. :)

I have a couple of friends leaving for Ukraine here in the next couple of weeks.  Best of luck to both families!  It's the second adoptions of both and I hope things go smoothly for them.

Ice Skating!

The girls have been begging me to take them ice skating so over Christmas break, we did.  The last time we'd gone had been the night before we left Dnepro.  It was SO MUCH FUN!  I always forget how much I love ice skating when I haven't done it in awhile.  It's something I've always loved, even taking private lessons for a time.  No, that does NOT make me any good.  It does mean I can usually stay upright though.

Little One did amazing!  She still didn't let me get more than 2 feet away from her, but she was going much faster than she did the last time we went.  Much more confidant.  Of course, she had my hand with one of hers and the wall with her other hand, but she still did much better.  She did fall down once...and took me with her.  Kicked my skate right out from under me. :)  Ira did great too.  She fell a few more times, but was also venturing all over the rink.

All three of us had a great time and plan to go again together soon.  I forgot my camera so I had to rely on my iPod.  Not the best thing, but better than nothing. :)

Here we are in Dnepro. :)  I had to throw one of Kristina and Masha in there.  We miss them!

My girls

Ira wanted to take one of Little One and me.

AND, then I remembered that my iPod has a front camera too so I got one of all 3 of us. :)

Christmas

Ah, one of my favorite times of the year.  Christmas has always been one of my favorite holidays and I know it's not the presents because I've had a few when presents were scarce and it's still been wonderful. :)  I love all the decorations and the music.  Though, for the record, I also love Thanksgiving so I don't do Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving.  Just FYI.

This year the schedule was a bit out of the ordinary, but still very nice.  It was fun to watch Ira's first one.  In case you didn't know, Christmas in Ukraine is quite different.  First, it's celebrated January 7th instead. Also, since it's a religious holiday it was not as encouraged, under communist leadership, as New Year's.  Correct me if I'm wrong, any of my Ukrainian friends.  Anyway, suffice it to say that this was a whole new experience for Ira.

For me, it was quite different having to shop for two girls instead of just one.  I'm one that likes to get similar types of things (or rather, the number of things is the same) but not THE same thing.  I know it can cause problems when one child likes the other's present better, though that didn't seem to be a problem.  It sure does make shopping harder though.  It's much easier to just get the same thing and call it good.  However, it doesn't require you to actually KNOW the child.  To me, if you're going to get me something, having thought behind it is much more important than WHAT it is.  So, I try and do that with those I buy stuff for.  Especially my girls. :)

Ira with her stocking stuff.

Little One with her stocking stuff.

She'd gotten some fun sticky nails.  They didn't last long because she kept pulling them off, but she had fun for awhile.

My Aunt Susan was very kind and sent the girls something.  Ira got these pretty pearls.

And Little One got this cute watch. :)

A scripture bag

A ballet jewelry hanger. 

She wanted a picture with a bunch of the stuff.

My things. :)

The girls had gotten gift certificates in their stockings for a hair feather.  We went a couple days later to get them.

Little One, of course, picked the pink one.

Ira actually did too, but had to be different by putting it on the OTHER side. ;)

For me, it was the White Christmas we'd had with the baptism a couple weeks before as well as all the traditions that made it special.  I enjoyed reading things like A Christmas Carol to the girls.  I'd had them watch A Muppet Christmas Carol first, for Ira's benefit mostly since Little One has had this a few years now.  When English isn't your first language, Charles Dickens isn't exactly the thing to jump into without knowing the story first. ;)  I also love the extra talk about the birth of Jesus as well as introducing Ira to the concept of the people in the America's knowing about that event as well.

Being Christlike is something we should do all year, but not the decorations and traditions.  It's sad that it's over for yet another year, but then again...what would make it special if it were commonplace?

Baptism Day!

As you can tell, I'm trying to catch up on a few things.  Next on the list is Ira's baptism day.  It was on a Tuesday evening so a little out of the ordinary.  She was so excited/nervous all day long.  She looked so happy but I could tell she was scared too.

Everyone had been SO excited for her.  The girls in YW's were ecstatic and kept telling her how they'd all be there.  As Mom and I were figuring out what to do for treats I got a call from one of the YW leaders asking if they could all do the food.  It was very sweet of them and very much appreciated. :)

The program itself was amazing.  The spirit was very strong.  Ira had asked her YW president that had just gotten released to give the baptism talk, which she did great on.  Ira's cute friend, Tori, gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.  Her other cute friend, Anna, played her violin while Ira got changed.  It was just a wonderful program all the way around.  The missionaries got to witness, which was nice.  She was just glowing and so happy.  Little One even whispered to me after, "Since she got baptized, she's been nicer!"

Ira with Baby Ben (our dear friend's baby)

Dad and Ira

Elder B, Dad, Ira, Elder Co and Elder Ca

A white Christmas after all! :)

Us with the missionaries

A nice one first...

...before the silly one.  Yes, they still are 19-20 year old boys. :)

We had the best missionaries out there, I swear.  They were amazing!  Elder B was there all the way through.  He was just what a missionary should be.  You could tell he loves the gospel and love teaching people about it.  Elder Co got transfered just a couple weeks before the baptism but was really good too.  Elder Ca had been out of the MTC a whole 2 days when he first came over.  Nice to start the mission out with a baptism though!  Elder Cam was very fun and his companion, Elder Bl I didn't get to know too well, but seemed great too. :)  They were just awesome and I loved them!

What was really fun though, was watching Ira change.  She went from wanting to get baptized because all her Ukrainian friends were doing it to having it be something she wanted to do for herself.  Part of why I wanted her to wait so long before she talked to the missionaries was because I didn't feel she was ready and it wouldn't be for the right reason.  I could tell she was ready to learn more though, and as she did, it turned into the right reason.

Visiting with everyone after was great too.  Thanks so much for all who came!  We had 90 chairs set up and had to bring in a bunch more!  The support from our ward was amazing!  We had a journal set out as almost a guest book but I wish I'd gotten a picture of all who were there.  Especially my cute SAC friends that made the trip!  I really wish I'd snapped one of us all.  Drat.  I wanted to get Ira with all the YW that were there too and that didn't happen either.  Vern and Nanette (the founders of SAC) came up to the house after the baptism was over and visited for awhile.  That was very nice. :)

It was just a wonderful and amazing day!  Thanks so much again, to all who came to support her!

Missionary Lesson

We had a cool missionary lesson one day.  It was time to teach Ira about the Plan of Salvation so they did it with sidewalk chalk on our driveway. :)  Way cool.  One of the missionaries was our regular one and the other was on splits with him.  The one that was on splits ended up being the one to interview her when the time came.  Anyway, we had a very fun lesson on the driveway.  I don't think I'll ever look at the plan of salvation the same again. :)

I loved Elder C's "spirit person."  Especially the PacMan ghosts he also drew. :)

See lovely PacMan guys. :)

Little One was drawing stars.

This was in the middle of everything...of course.

The Elders by their creation!