Back in Three Hills

We had such a great time in Ontario- but it is good to be back "home" too. Hudson still just calls this Ethan's house and says that our house is too far away to go to (so we'll just stay here for the night:) The kids are all at school right now, I just got back from the gym and getting groceries and David is back at work painting in Red Deer.
After school I am taking Emma to get an ECG thing done to confirm that she has the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Then in a week or two we will go see a cardiologist in Calgary to discuss the results. We haven't received the results from Josiah's lab work yet but we'll find out soon I think. The kids get to go to the dentist next week- it will be good to have all these things checked out before heading back to Russia.
This weekend David and I are going away with our good friends Matt and Kayleah. We'll just hang out together in the mountains for a couple of nights. I think Matt and David are going IceClimbing if the weather is good for it.
Oh! When we arrived at the airport (it was so good to see David...) we noticed a hockey team from Russia. We (in Russian of course) welcomed them to Calgary and chatted a little with one guy. His first question was "Are they all yours?" that is always the question we are asked first by russians. He also asked if working in Siberia was better than here re. more money. He was very suprised that we would work there when we are better off here. He thought David was Russian so that is pretty good- he was pretty suprised that we were Canadians. Josiah starting speaking in Russian to me while we were chatting with the man. Funny. Glad we still remember something at least:)
Anyway, it is almost time for me to go pick up the boys from school. They were all so excited to get back to school. Too bad the boy's school ends next week:(

Walk around mom's place...

Today I felt like getting some fresh air. It is so nice around my mom's place. I love walking around the area- picking which house I'd live in if I had to live in a house on that block etc. It's hard to tell from the outsides really- but I don't ask to go inside:)

Today is our last day here:( It is going to be hard to leave... we should be used to this by now though shouldn't we...

David should be back in Three Hills today- he had a great time visiting friends in Southern Ontario. He said it was beautiful as there is quite a bit of snow there, covering the trees etc. Not so wintery here yet but I still think it looks beautiful.

We fly to Calgary tomorrow afternoon. Emma is anxious to get back to her new friends and school but also sad to leave her cousins here and my mom and dad...

As I was walking by this house I noticed how nicely the windows and trim and railings are painted on it. Must have been an expert painter. and a handsome painter too... (David painted it a few years back:)

you can see the sleeping giant's head between the buildings in this one.

Visiting Great-Grandma

Today we went to visit my grandma "Meme". She is doing pretty good for being 92. She is still beautiful and full of life, it's only her memory that gives her trouble. She was making lots of jokes and really enjoyed having Emma, Josiah and Hudson around. Actually, all the older folks who live there loved having them there- they kept getting called into other grandma's rooms to get candies and hugs. One lady spoke Russian so she was thrilled to have us visit her for a little bit- she even gave me a candy:)

News from Russia

Once in a while we get emails from our friends over in Russia. It was so great to hear from our great friends from Moscow- Denise and Yulia. They had their first little baby- a little boy named Leon. These pictures are from the first time that Denis saw his new son. Different eh? Nice for the husband to not have to go through the commotion inside but he misses out on all those great memories...hmmm. And I needed David there....
It is not easy to have a baby in Russia or to raise them there but we are so glad that they chose to become parents. They will be excellent parents- they are the friendliest Russians we know and they have Help too. We hope we will get to visit with them again though they don't live in Moscow anymore.
I was just thinking if this was a going home picture here the baby wouldn't be wrapped up like that but he would be strapped into a carseat wouldn't he....

Helping Grandma

We have a little bit of snow here now which is nice- just enough to be pretty and not a bother. Yesterday Emma went out with my mom to clear off not only mom's driveway but also the neighbour's. Emma is really enjoying all the baking, cooking, school work and organizing that she gets done with grandma. (and I know Grandma is enjoying it:)
David left this morning for Southern Ontario- there is lots of snow there so we rented a bigger vehicle for him to drive around in. We didn't want him stuck in the snow in a firefly:) Tomorrow he will speak to a class at the institute that we went to down there about Russia and our work and then he will get in some visits there and speak on Sun.morning before heading back to Calgary on Monday morning. We are here in Thunder Bay until tuesday morning.
The time always goes too fast when we are here so we are trying to get in as many visits with people as we can. I'm going to the symphony tonight with mom which should be nice. I stayed up too late last night with friends and then drove David to the airport for 5 am so I am off to try to nap....

Here is one picture for you:) This is just my kids and my brother's kids. Not a bad job eh... He has 6 (baby Stella is not in the picture). From the tallest/oldest Rianna around the table to our right is Heidi, Benjamin, Josiah, Kyla, Hudson, Emma and then you can't really see him but Peter is there. It is so fun for them to all be together. And Grandma Marilyn even has a table big enough for them to all sit together.

Hi all, sorry for the lack of posts. We don't have wireless internet here at my mom's so it is a little more difficult to post- I could put pictures onto their computer I guess but I haven't gotten around to it. Right now I have a connection thanks to someone in the neighbourhood but I'm not on my computer so sorry no pics.
We are having a wonderful time, visiting with family and friends. It is fun for David to have a bit of a break from working 7-5:30 everyday. Soon (thursday), He will leave for southern ontario to do some speaking/sharing/visiting down there.
We had a really great weekend at Lakehead this past weekend sharing about our kind of work and a bit about life in Tuva. It was great to touch base with many old friends and meet some new ones too.
It is the middle of the night so I'm not so talkative or with it really at all...I just thought I'd write something while I saw there was a connection. I should be doing a real post soon. Thanks for checking in on us...

Well, I just got my hair done today...what do you think? I am afraid I look a little too different- so this picture is so that you will be able to recognize me next time you see me:) it is sooo dark! I do like it though- a little rock starish eh?

Fun Haircuts

The boys really were needing to get their haircut. I've always cut it myself but I knew they would enjoy getting it done at Beaners. They loved it!!! They ran to get into a fun chair and started watching a movie (chipmunk's christmas one) and sat perfectly still. And the best part is that I didn't have to clean up all the hair!!!! They got to play in the ball pit when they were done. And then I treated them to McDonalds. The pleasures of living where we do. aaaaaah.

I better get back to packing. We head into Calgary tonight and then we fly to Thunder Bay tomorrow morning!!!!!

Visiting in Leduc

Today we went about 2 hours north to share with a group about our work in Russia. It is where David's aunt Sandy lives (you'll see their blog linked on the right). It was a great meeting, I still enjoy hearing David's story about his day with the reindeer herders. I think it gets more graphic everytime.
On our way to his cousin Heather's house we got to visit her husband Morley at work. I am amazed at how organized/computerized milking has become. It is quite the system!!! The kids really liked learning about where milk comes from/how it is gathered and seeing the pregnant cows and baby cows. You can see from the pictures which room was the loudest and which room was the smelliest:)
It was a great day but now I am ready to crawl into bed. A couple more days of work and school and then we'll be heading off to Ontario!!!!
oh. and David and I had another date night which was really fun. We went to MEC and bought winter hats for the kids and then we went and ate at an Ethiopian restaurant- I LOVED the food. meat, curry, split peas and thin blini like bread to pick it all up with....no fork, just our fingers....mmmm. I need to learn how to make that bread so we can only use one dish for the five of us each meal:)

We've got plane tickets!!!!!

We now have tickets for our return back to Russia. We leave here (Calgary) on Jan. 14th and arrive in Moscow on Jan.15th!!!! I am really excited- I even started packing a little bit. as much as I can. I've pulled out my little list of things that we wanted to get before returning and have been planning for our next few years ahead. We are so glad that we will get to see friends like Vanya who we haven't seen for too long in Moscow. It will be very hard to leave this life though but we should be used to it by now...
THANK YOU Laura for your help.......you are amazingly kind and thoughtful and organized.
We still don't know if we are able to go back for the full 3 years- we should find out soon if we received temporary residency.
Other dates you may need to know...especially if you live in TBay...
We are heading to Thunder Bay soon...leaving here on Nov. 14th and returning to Calgary Nov. 25th. During that time we will be busy with Lakehead, visiting with friends and family and David will make a little business trip down to Southern Ontario. We are pretty excited about getting to see our family and friends again in Thunder Bay- we wish it was a little closer to the time we will be leaving for Russia but it just works out better this way.
Time is really going fast for us now it seems...time to really get organized.

If you were to drive through Three Hills this week you'd see this sign... And if you were to pick up a local paper you'd see a little column about David and a picture of him. (he's not only famous in Tuva:) His boss says some nice stuff about him...an example to all the workers, hardworking, eager to learn, all jobs (even the worst jobs) are done with cheerfulness etc. etc. Nothing we didn't already know... We are pretty proud of the man of the house. He gets some kind of special gift too but we aren't sure what it will be. I like seeing his name as I drive around town:)

Doctor Visits

Josiah and Hudson got to play with their cousins Journey and Solomon yesterday for a few hours which they really enjoyed.

We are starting to realize that it won't be long till we are heading back to russia....so we are trying to get done more things off our to do list. One of the things we want to get done while we are here are look into medical things that we have been wondering about with the kids- like when Josiah had the dark coloured urine and Emma's heart condition that we found out about in Russia. I'd like to get Hudson's foot/leg looked at too as he really has one foot that is bent in pretty bad. Thanks to contacts we now have a local doctor in Three Hills- his name is Dr. Husband. He himself grew up in Africa so he understands what it is like for us living in a foreign country away from good (understandable) medical care.

He looked at Emma today and though she shows no symptoms and appears to be in excellent health, he has scheduled her for a heart x-ray etc. with a specialist in Calgary so that we can be sure her Wolff Parkinson White syndrome isn't anything we need to worry about at this point. And Josiah went to the hospital today and got blood drawn and did a urine test so they can check on his kidneys. We are pretty confident he is all ok and it was only an after effect of a cold but it will be nice to have it checked out to be sure.

The nurses/doctors today were so suprised by our kids as they enjoyed going to the doctor. Josiah didn't flinch when they brought out the needle- and Hudson was dissappointed that he didn't get to have his blood drawn. They were all smiles through all the tests. It hasn't always been that way with them but maybe all the testing we do each time we move and get visas and all the thorough testing they do before getting into school in Russia has finally made them so used to it. Josiah didn't want to leave the hospital- he wanted them to check something else... strange kids.

We now have appointments for the dentist and at the travel clinic for immunizations. Big relief just having appointments scheduled as our time is running out.

We are so thankful for the healthcare here and how easy and painless it all is compared to what we are used to in Tuva.

our baby Huddy:)