Packing...Part III

Friday... Of course we had a snow day, the kids were home, we were packing and cleaning and had a generally crazy day! At the end of it all, we ended up with LOTS of suitcases and hopefully everything that we will need for a stay in PA, FL and Russia!

Ken, Katie and Dylan are posing with all of our many suitcases!

Of course a trip is never complete without an accident. Ken neatly accomplished this task with a little fender bender that he had on Friday night. We were all tired of leftovers, so Ken graciously went out for pizza, unfortunately he got more than a pizza (a ticket, a dented door...). While no one is happy to have an accident, we are still counting our blessings - Ken and the other driver were not injured, we still got to eat pizza and our van was able to be driven to PA.

A shot of the damage...courtesy of Ken...AKA "Crash!"

Meanwhile, we are settling in to a routine with homeschooling, enjoying the hospitality of my mom and getting ready for our trip to FL.

Packing...Part II

We continued to pack today - at times it was overwhelming but mostly it was satisfying. We are actually fitting all of our belongings into the allotted number of suitcases!

We took a break from packing to gather the last of the school books. We are expecting snow tonight and into Friday so we wanted to have everything we need in case there is a snow day. The kids are actually wanting to have school so that they can have more time with their friends! The first time in their life that they did not want a snow day. I had an easy time gathering materials for Katelynn. Mr. B. had already made copies so it was just a matter of cleaning out her desk (yuck!)

My most frustrating moment of the day was seeing the cost for medicine for Katelynn and Dylan. The pharmacy dispensed what looks to be a lifetime supply of one of their asthma medicines. When I called to question it, I was referred to their doctor. I spoke with the receptionist who had a good laugh about it. I was not amused. At least we won't run out of Foradil in Russia!

The kids were happy to go out and play in the snow with our neighbors tonight and we were happy for a few quiet moments.

The plans for Friday: Clean and finish last minute packing...The end is in sight.

Packing... Part I

We began packing - the kids clothes are packed, my clothes are packed and we will tackle Ken's tomorrow. Ken's feeling good, I'm feeling stressed. I think my main issue stems from the amount of clothes that are left hanging in our closets. How can we possibly have everything we need packed when there are still lots of things in our closets and drawers? I'm reminded again of how much we have and how little we need all that we have.

The kids showed a little bit of excitement today. They were happy to hear that we have some of their favorite outfits packed and they became excited discussing what games and toys they would like to bring. Dylan mostly wants his nerf basketball hoop and Katie wants a few stuffed animals.

I also spent some time at Dylan's school getting prepared for home-schooling. Dylan's teacher/principal have been amazing! We are taking his books and I spent about 3 hours copying tests/worksheets/answer keys and other assorted things that I expect will be VERY helpful as we begin to tackle this whole homeschool adventure.

I'm amazed that we have only 2 days left in Canton. We said goodbye to some church friends at Venture Club tonight and I started to become teary, realizing that we will be gone for 6 months! I wonder what will change in the time that we are gone. I noticed when I got my hair cut that a cupcakery was coming in next to the salon - I'll have to check that out when I get back!

Preparations...

We are home for one week and are busy getting everything set up. Loading programs onto our new laptop, purchasing long underwear, figuring out what toys are going to make the cut... We haven't started packing yet, but we do have quite a collection of things that we don't want to forget!

Ken just left to go running, it's 13 degrees with a wind chill that sets us at -3 degrees. Saratov is at a toasty 30 degrees right now. Maybe we'll be moving to warmer weather!

This week should be a busy week. Keep your fingers crossed that we fit everything into our luggage!

Christmas is Coming

We are getting ready to head to PA for Christmas. For the first time in many years our dogs, Tasha and Dexter will be making the journey with us. My mom has graciously offered to love (and house) our two dogs while we are in Russia. They will be coming to PA with us to settle into their new home.

We have been busy getting everything ready for our trip. We just had a major shopping trip in which we purchased a laptop, printer and some other major items that we will need for our trip. We are thinking through packing...(how do we pack for 5 months)? It has been interesting trying to figure out what we need to make home feel like home and deciding what we can live without for 5 months!

Homeschooling is now in the works. Our local district is allowing us to take the books for our kids and we will use that as a starting point for our curriculum. I'm thankful that we will have some time in PA before we leave to figure out this home schooling thing.

Speaking of leaving...you guessed it, we still do not know exactly when we will be leaving. Our letter of invitation is the works (we hope) and then after we receive that we need to apply for the visa. Our best guess at this point is late January/early February. At some point we are going to have to take a leap of faith and purchase tickets and pray that all the paperwork comes through in time.

Speaking of paperwork coming through...we just heard through the grapevine that RAI (our original placement) just got all of their paperwork signed. Too late for us, so we are trusting that God has a plan for us in Saratov. We are hoping that the smaller town might be a better fit for us than the big city.

The kids are still hesitant. Dylan has some brewing excitement (I think he likes the home school idea)! Katie is mostly upset about leaving the dogs and the long flight over the ocean. Keep them in their prayers as January will be a month of huge adjustments for them.

Hoping to see many of you in PA while we are in. In the meantime, have a blessed Christmas!

Our New Home

We have a new placement!!! Pull out your maps and see how long it takes you to find Saratov... OK - I'll give you a few hints. Our new home of Saratov is on the Volga River, south of Moscow and almost on the border with Kazakhstan. We just learned of this placement late last week. (It was either Saratov or Novosibirsk). We are feeling thankful...Novosibirsk is in Siberia!

Of course this new placement means home-schooling... Am I ready for that? We also are unsure of our leave date...this makes buying plane tickets tricky. We are hoping that our host institution has started the process to get our letter of invitation which we need for our visa's but as we are quickly learning, time seems to move in a different way in Russia. Despite all the new issues to tackle we are grateful for a chance to explore a new culture and are excited to get on the road!

Keep us in your prayers as we try to figure out our home-schooling options, buy plane tickets, apply for a visa and try to wrap up all the little things that we need to take care of!

Life is always interesting...in the midst of all the chaos our phone has gone down YET AGAIN! I love AT&T!

For those of you who read this and are in Lancaster... We will be heading home for Christmas on Dec. 23 and staying for a few days past Christmas. We are coming back to OH to pack and clean and then will be returning to PA around Jan 9. We will have some time to hang out in PA before we head off, hopefully in mid to late January!

Starting Over...

I'm finding my happy place. We just recently learned that our potential host institution RAI did not get re-accredited. This puts us in the unfortunate position of having to find a new place to go. Ken contacted the Russian Fulbright office and they were hopeful that they could find Ken a new placement in Moscow but were unsure if they would provide visa's for the family and it may only be a 3 month placement. FRUSTRATION! Ken told them that we would be open to going other places in the Russian Federation and this seemed to open up more possibilities. Right now they are researching places for us to go (I'm praying that we aren't going to Siberia)!

We are trying to be flexible while at the same time working through the issues that a new placement brings up - new school (maybe home-school) for the kids, new classes for Ken to prep for and teach, new schedules and start/end dates and a whole host of small things that can easily overwhelm.

So, we try to step back and trust God to see us through this time in our life. In the meantime, we put up our Christmas tree (we converted to a fake tree this year in an effort to simplify), we spent a week with Ken's mom and step-dad who came to visit from AZ and we live life as normally as possible.

If you have a moment, please pray for us that we will have a place to be in January!