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!

6 months old

Lucas turned 6 months on September 11th. Its crazy how time flies when a sweet little bundle turns into very much an interactive little boy. We celebrated with lots of play time, giggles, granma and grandpa made a celebration dinner with "French Potatoes and Pork Chops" i.e. baked pork chops with potatoes with lots of ooey-gooey cheese. We even had some pink champagne to celebrate lil man's 1/2 year mark!

Things Lucas can do:
- ROLL! everywhere and anytime
- giggle and make everyone laugh
- makes funny boy noises
- sits up with some support
-eats solids like cereal and baby-food fruit and veggies, and favorite of them all are apples!
- continues to love his milk; gets super excited when sees the bottle with milk

- grabs the bottle with two hands, though cant quite figure out how to hold it long enough

-goes to sleep by himself (day time ONLY!)

- sleeps thru the night (9pm - 8 am)

-knows us and smiles when sees his mom and dad (scared of strangers)

-puts everything in his mouth

- Zoozu is his first love!

- falls asleep on bumpy rides i.e. walks around our neighborhood (we have really bad roads around here)

- slaps toys with his right hands

- wakes up and always smiles

- curious about adult food

Grandma's dinner

I got a Computer for my half year BDAY!

Now we can chat, grandma Locklear!!

I am 6 months!

super cute!

oh, my pumpkin :)

this is what we wake up every morning to! Thank You, God, for your blessings!!! Thank you for this little boy...what a precious gift he is

End of August and some September

At the end of August we visited my extended family on my dad's side, his uncle, cousins, etc. I havent seen my third cousin since we were like 8 years old, so it was cool to see each other and each others children. Somehow I managed to forget to take pictures of her and her little girl :(. I guess next time we see each other, I'll be 50.


Front yard, those black things in the leaves are very tasty grapes that they use to make wine.
Right to left: my babushka (grandma) Kseniya, babushka Tanya, my babushka Kseniya's brother, dedushka, Tolya (babushka Tanya is his wife)

Dedushka Tolya hangs newspapers on a laundry line to "air out the smell"

kitchen in their hata (house)


living room (notice the carpet on the wall)

same living room, different wall (different carpet!)

Everette really wanted a picture in the Ukrainian hata
TV in the room was made in USSR! Its probably considered antique by now

One night we went out for dinner with my friend Vika and her husband Denis. Vika and I grew up together, went to kindergarden together and hung out during school years. We had a good time and it was good for Everette to talk English to someone besides me (Denis speaks pretty good English). Once Denis leaves out to sea for about 5 months and Everette to US to work, Vika and I will have a lot of time to hang out :)

This is what Everette had that night: pork with potatoes and mushrooms grilled with cheese and pickles! I liked the pig-looking skillet

Lucas is growing fast and rolling ever which way, so we got him a playpin - made in Ukraine.

Its small but it will do for now

"I see you sneaking up on me, Mom!"

Cold August Day:

nothing to do, so I thought Id make an applesauce

Peel and chopp the apples in small bite-size pieces

Add: 3/4 cup of water, 1tbsp of sugar, some cinnamon

Boil, turn the heat down, cook for 15-20 min

Cool it off! (like my polka-dot pot??!!)


Enjoy! Better than the storebought; we dont have applesauce here, so this was pretty awesome taste of home. The whole family devoured it with blinchiki (crepes)

Watching movies with Daddy

fun with Lucman

such a love bug

I think this picture was taken after both of them took a nap :)