growth

Maia is growing like crazy. She is really getting chubby. I love kissing those cheeks of hers and can't wait unit she recognises what a papa's kiss is!

Christmas at Conor's place

We celebrated at Conor and Koren's house this year. There were 3 couples from Nezhin, Nisa from America (formerly in Priluki) and the Chernigov folks minus Tracy, putting us at 13 adults, 6 kids.

Each year we do a gift exchange called "make it or bake it" and this year I got homemade bagels, which was the hottest made or baked item of the evening. Then there is always the white elephant where we argue over the rules for 15 minutes and then Conor and I use the rules to get what we want, but this year I ceded to Conor as he made the good steals claiming some Starbucks coffee.

I got Anya a bread maker for Christmas but so far we (mostly I) have yet to come out with a successful loaf after two tries. The first time it didn't mix right, the second time I put in the wrong kind of yeast so the dough didn't rise properly. Third time is a charm, I am sure. Unfortunately we haven't been able to find whole-wheat flower as everything here is made with rye, but the search is on.

Maia continues to feel pretty bad which takes its toll on the family. Seeing your baby girl sick is a serious bummer. We trust that Christ will take care of her though.

Right now we are getting ready to have the church over on new years for a party, at which each person who comes will need to perform something at our talent show. I had some requests for songs but I think I am going to do a little dancing, Krump style, thanks to Lucas my cousin for the "learn to dance Krump DVD" that he gave me. Watch out Michael Jackson!

Prayer request

Hi folks,

Just wanted to ask you to pray for Maia, she isn't feeling well. You can hear congestion in her breathing and it is really obvious that she has a cold.

May Christ heal her and restore her little body's health.

Christmas

I will post soon on our Christmas. It was a great time.

We are having the church over for new years so I have been busy with trying to get a few loose ends caught up around the house when I can.

Happy holidays!

Our girl is cool!

Maia is way more stylin than her folks are, that is for sure. Thanks LJ and the Mcnamee fam.

one month: Maia's age yesterday

Well, it has been a month.

This is a photo we took today on our way to the policlinic to get her weighed. She has gained a kilo, now at 4.5 kilos. She is growing, that is for sure. Her eyes are open a lot and she is checking things out. She is up a bit more, mainly at night, and is smiling quite a bit.

Risk: I hate losing the world

I am sure most of you are familiar with RISK, it is pretty much the best game in the world, other than chess and possibly monopoly.

We had a good game tonight.

The Players:

Sergei - first time player, nice kid, 17, just started coming to church, grew up in an orphanage, sharp.
Maxim - first time player, neighbor, the Babushka's grandson, from village, been to church a few times with us, quiet.
Anya - first time player, extremely completive against her husband, smart, my wife.
Jake - a veteran risk player, trying to teach the newcomers, somewhat competitive but not with newcomers, trying to help them get the game for future RISK playing fun.

Here is how it went. I got stuck with Australia while each other player had his or her own cotenant. Anya had North America and was closing in on Europe, Max had Africa, and Sergei had South America and a bit of Asia. They had all agreed not to fight each other and I was really the only target on the game.

I survived and worked some diplomacy with my wife on two fronts. She ended up breaking her peace agreements with me and wiped me off the face of the board. She dominated the world.

Basically, she felt really good. She beat me; her RISK loving husband and it was her first time playing.

Risk is a great game. My favorite risk game was in Philadelphia at a Starbucks where Josh Termeer, Andy Collup, Greg Mazza and I had it out over coffee. I won in like an hour and a half making record time and I was playing against three of the most intensely competitive guys I had ever met.

I guess when I get my butt kicked by my beginner wife it helps to think of the great wins of the past to cope.

This article in the post today shows us a few things:

1. Russia is very supportive of Belarus and will defend her.

2. Belarus isn't the best place for opposition politicians (or churches for that matter).

3. Russia does nearly everything it can to hinder and throw a wrench in American geopolitical interests.

4. For Russia, the Iran issue isn't about Iran but about America.

Basically, Belarus is a lot like it was back in the USSR and churches along with journalists and politicians are being silenced one of two ways, jail and disappearance.

One girl in our church works for a NGO that is deeply involved with children's rights and recently she hosted a film festival on human rights in Belarus and Ukraine. Some of the guests were journalists describing what is happening in the country and to put it in two words - Soviet Union - would be how I would sum it up.

Then I met a pastor from Minsk who told me about the situation for the churches after he had been jailed this year for some lame violation of property use or something like that. I will post a little more in detail later. The bottom line is that Minsk and Kiev are worlds apart right now as far as freedom of religion, press, speech, and of gathering go. I would say Russia is kind of between the two, leaning a little more towards Belarus than Ukraine.

We have a very unique and opportune time in Ukraine for mission work. Just looking 45 miles to the north and 90 miles to the northeast and seeing Belarus and Russia only convince me more.

Ukraine: Stem cell trade

You might want to read this article by BBC. It is sad but probably true.

The headline goes:

Ukraine babies in stem cell probe

Healthy new-born babies may have been killed in Ukraine to feed a flourishing international trade in stem cells, evidence obtained by the BBC suggests

sleep, eat, dirty diaper: a vocation

Maia is growing day by day. Yesterday she started playing on the computer and won't let go of it. She really likes playing chess against the chess master game. Other than chess and sleeping all day long EXCEPT from 9pm to 1am (when she is wide awake), she is a happy little baby who likes to eat a lot. Look at those cheeks! I think she just holds milk in there for later or something.

Iraq: an interesting conversation in an airport

I don't mean to be getting into politics or anything, at least not American. I enjoy Russian and Ukrainian politics but American politics depress me.

However, I had a really interesting conversation when I went to the airport to pick up Conor and his family a few weeks ago.

I sat down at the food court and was waiting for a few minutes and then this Middle Eastern guy sat down. I started a conversation with him and after a little while of beating around the bush I figured out that he was an Iraqi (I guess he didn't really want to talk about it because he knew I was an American early on in the conversation). He has worked in Ukraine for nearly 20 years traveling back and forth to his home in northern Baghdad.

So, it isn't everyday you get to hear what an Iraqi thinks of what is happening in his home country. Fox news and NY Times have their agendas of course, but I had no agenda and just wanted to hear him out.

He is Sunni.

Some interesting thoughts from his perspective:

1. America really messed up.

2. Because of America's lack of desire to work with Sunnis, the Iranian backed Shiites are now simply furthering Iran's arm of control over the region and there is no real hope for any peaceful solution.

3. American democracy and capitalism has brought things such as more porn. The freedom we bring is freedom to sin and act shamefully. This freedom is not appealing and to a Muslim, it is evil. Freedom to sin is no freedom at all but slavery and vice. Does this freedom help us morally? Does it help us be good Muslims? No. Only the opposite.

4. Imagine China coming over to American and declaring that our way of governing ourselves is bad, our leader is evil, and we need the communist way of life, it will be better for us, we will progress and develop as a nation much quicker, and life will be better. How would the average American feel? What would his response be to a foreign nation with a foreign way of doing things and a foreign world view imposing there world view upon the good ol' land of the free and home of the brave? Would your average american fight back? Would he trust the communist government that has just been established? Would the Americans call themselves freedom fighters?

His point is valid. We would fight until the bloody end to end China's attempts to make us communists. I have no doubt in my mind.

I read a book last year that helped me understand how the world views the west. It is a great book and I think I will put it on the book list in the margin soon.

Check it out:



The west in the eye's of it's enemies.

Samahon: homemade vodka

My wonderful neighbor Babushka Luba likes to make her own vodka. It is quite a big stronger than your store bought stuff and is a heck of a lot cheaper. 7 kilos of sugar, a little yeast, and this contraption yields 9 liters of pure homemade vodka.

Vodka is like coca cola here for old folks.

Let's just say that when she invites me over to eat (which is like every other day) she doesn't usually let me leave if I don't try either her samahon, homemade cognac, or homemade wine. I try to tell her that my wife isn't going to be happy with me if I have to call her to come and help me walk home, but Luba doesn't care and continues on with the toasts. Someone died, a holiday, a anniversary, new boots, Maia's birth, first snow, anything at all qualifies as a reason to have a drink.

By the way, she isn't an alcoholic, she is the best neighbor I have ever had and the hardest working woman I have ever met. She is kind of lonely and always enjoys company and here it is just part of the routine to have a drink when someone comes over. I don't mind a glass of wine now and again either. She is fun to talk to and I learn a lot about soviet times.

Every so often she hitches a ride with us on Sunday mornings to the center of town. We drop her off at an orthodox church where she meets her sisters faithfully for the service and then heads to the Renok (outdoor grocery store) to buy her weekly groceries. I have been able to talk with her about God here and there. Her grandson Max has come to church with us a few times.

She really looks after Anya and I as if we were her own grandkids, which is pretty cool. She provides us with potatoes from her garden, homemade donuts, she looks after the house when we are gone and lets us park our van in her driveway every night.

Good neighbors are a blessing.

Russia: gangster capitalism

Here is a great article on the political situation in Russia from the post today. Let's hope that Ukraine doesn't head in the same direction.