Catching up...

Well it's been way too long since I got on the computer...

I rememeber on March 1st thinking to myself 'wow, we've made it through the whole winter without ANYONE getting sick - not one sniffle, fever or earache.' Famous last words... David and I got terrible head colds, and then one by one every member of the family followed suit. Poor Johanna stayed healthy to the very end.. and then got a terrible congested nose - so sad when you can't nurse :(

Thought you'd enjoy this picture of James & Caleb snuggling on the couch between rounds of garlic & honey. After this last week all I can say is I am very VERY grateful that usually our kids are extremely healthy.

One other thing I wanted to make sure and write about was Svieta's birthday party two weeks ago. Svieta is our neighbor and is only 3 months younger than Rachel - she spends at least two afternoons a week playing outside or going skiing with Rachel. She lives with her Mother and Grandparents, and has been such a good, sweet friend for our kids. Anyway, Svieta was so excited about her 7th birthday party.. she even rang our doorbell early Saturday morning to make sure we were coming and to tell us 'not to forgot the presents' :) James went along with Rachel, David & Caleb and they has such a memorable time. They got home late and I noticed Caleb's stomach was enormous and his eyes was glassed over (he could hardly walk!) I asked James what Caleb had to eat, to which he replied 'ohh 4 pieces of fried chicken, 3 bowls of mashed potatoes, 2 or 3 pieces of cake, a couple of candy bars and a few glasses of Coke.' (!!!!!) James said Svieta's Grandmother was completely smitten with Caleb and kept him beside her the entire time shoveling food into him... she kept saying that Caleb looked exactly like the little girl on the "Alonka" candy bar. (if you lived in Russia you would know how funny this statement is.. no resemblance trust me!). Anyway, Caleb looked so so funny when he came back from the party and talked about it all week.. they had a wonderful time.

Also wanted to update a previous post about our friend Dima that was thrown from a train. He is doing much better - the Dr. said it was a miracle he survived with such a serious head injury. He did have to have his ring finger on his left hand amputated due to a serious cut/mangled that later got infected. Thanks for praying for him and his family! James & Andrei visited him several times in the hospital and as a result were able to have lots of interesting conversations with people in his room.