You know its fall in Ukraine

when you eat pickled watermelon, pickled apples, pickled pig ears, pickled cabbage, pickled EVERYTHING!
Now, I know its not gourmet or anything, it may even sound gross to many of you but it is very Ukrainian and very tasty if you just give it a try. You may ask, "How in the world do they pickle watermelons??!!?" I dont know. All I know they are sweet and salty, and I really wish I had them when I was pregnant. We bought a small pickled watermelon, and that was our lunch! (along with some pickled pig ears) Ok. So you dont take an ear and start chomping on it. Its cut in very thin strips, pickled in various spices and served with Korean carrots (which are a dish in itself). If cartilage is your kind of thing, pig ears are for you!

Oh, the fall time in Ukraine!

Lucas is 7 month...(and 12 days..oops late update)

Main milestones for Lucas:

- he can sit up all by himself for longer than 5 minutes!!!!

-he holds his bottle and guides it to his mouth (oh, he is so grown..Im crying, soon he wont need me so much..*sniff*)

-he eats all kind of solids, including broccolli...now he is developing taste for sweets like bananas and start to refuse eating broccolli :) Smart!

- THREE teeth are out! two top and on the bottom, and they are sharp!

- he loves milk; it doesnt matter how much baby food he consumes in one sitting he will still drink a whole bottle of milk (6-8oz)

-still sleeps with his girl Zoozu

- he discovered that adults toys i.e. remote controls, cell phones, laptop, are more fun to play with than his own toys. And they taste better too.

- not sure what his weight and height are at this point

-Lucas started to grow some hair back; its light brown

Lucas is such a delight! I am so blessed to be his Mama. There are tough days, and days when my patience running low, and I wish I could grow another set of hands and eyes...But God gets me through it all, reminding me that these days will go by so fast so I need to enjoy every minute of it.

Up late...again :)

"Broccolli is good for you!"

"So, why dont YOU eat it, Mommy?!"


Tired Lucas.."teeth are cutting thru" kind of a night

We miss Daddy terribly, but thanks to wonderful SKYPE we are able to see each other daily! So cool! Love you Everette!

I never sleep without my girl!

check it out! I am holding my bottle. The camera is distracting me, I gotta smile :)

just woke from a nap face

Prayer Request

To all our prayer warriors..my honey is travelling today, october 13th, he left Odessa 6:20 am Iowa time and will be arriving Chicago at 7:40pm - all day trip.
Please pray for safe flights and that Everette is handling it all OK.

Much love,

Eugenia

Just Some Pictures

My two men

Mmmm..good ( i think he ate zucchini there)


Huh? pictures, again?

New chair!!!!

First breakfast in a new chair...love how they are gazing at each other :)

Bathtime at grandma's...the duck is too small already

I just wanna eat him up!

silly :) (the face he makes when he growles..the child doesnt cry or scream, he just simply growls)

LOVE him!!!

"Look Gramma, I can feed myself!"

(not really :) )
small amusement park on our side of town. We liked it, Lucas wasnt interested

what a face?! MMmmmahhh!

Before I forget...

About a week ago, on September 27th to be exact, we went to church as usual not thinking we'd do or see anything different that day than any other Sunday. We were 10 minutes late...as usual :) No excuses, but a small baby and a cranky mommy who cannot leave the house without that oh so needed cup of coffee. As we finished the singing and all the announcement, Mark - our pastor, introduced a friend, Dan, that would be preaching that morning, a pastor from a small church in...Iowa. Whoo hoo!! "Iowa, yeah, thats us!" I exlaimed. Moving on.

After about 20 minutes into the sermon, Everette whispers to me, " I think I know this guy."
Ok. Really. Whatever. Just because you are in Ukraine and listening to a guy from Iowa, that doesnt mean you know him. Iowa is not THAT small :)
5 min later. " I really think I know this guy! I think I even spend the night at his house."
- "Really? Who is he?" i whisper back; 'now you're pushing it, babe' thinking on the back of my head (have you ever said that out loud and really thought about words "thinking on the back of my head"... can we reeaally do that? weird.)

After the preaching, Everette came up to Mark and asked if Dan has son named Ben, and he does!!! "I KNEW IT! I figured it out after Dan said he loves Easter!!!!" my husband jumped.
Everette came up to Dan and said, "You might not remember me, but I hung out with your son about 8 years ago, and spent couple weekends at your house..."
Dan took a step back, looked, and shouted "Everette??!! oh, geez!!! Holy Cow! Goodness gracious! I havent seen you in so long! Of course, I remember you - you are the only Everette I have ever known!" - gave him a huge hug, so big and loud that next door Emergency Services person came out and shushed them :) - You shared how you came to know the Lord on Easter Sunday at my church!"
Ok. We are in Odessa. There are MANY churches here, and ours is renting two small rooms from a communist factory that used to make umbrellas, I think...And we meet this guy HERE??!!Speaking of a small world. Crazy!!!
It was so fun to watch them two just catching up and laughing. And of course, Dan is like, "ummm, what are YOU doing in UKRAINE, Everette?" hahahah LOL!

It turned out Dan works closely with the missionary organization International Messengers, whose headquaters are in Iowa (of all places! God - you are so cool!), who sent Mark and his family to start a church in Ukraine. So, Dan comes once a year or so to teach a week of courses at the Missionary Training Institue associated with International Messengers.

I had to post this, because it was such a cool suprise...Its like God said, "you need some laughter in your life right now! here, have a ball!" ...and plus if I dont write it down, I will forget, and years from now will be scratching my head trying to remember the good ol' times.

love to all! God is awesome!