let the [PACKING] begin

What a great weekend it has been! I feel so refreshed, in my spirit- if that makes sense. I turned to JB yesterday, after I returned from the little grocery next door, and remarked that, deep in my heart, I feel really joyful. It was like, all the sudden, I realized this joy that had just been growing in me. Perhaps it was just hidden under all the stress of life here... I hadn't really realized this great measure of joy in my heart till I was walking through the door yesterday. JB asked why I was suddenly realizing this... I think my stress level has steadily been decreasing as my language skills have been increasing. It's crazy the amount of fear I feel sometimes when I'm faced with a situation where I don't have all the language to communicate effectively. Yesterday, I didn't think twice about running next door to the produkti to pick up a few things...a situation I typically hate to get into b/c I have to explain to the girls what I want b/c all the grocerys are behind the counter. I usually get what I need, but I hate it when I have to speak like a 5 year old to get my point across b/c I don't have the language skills to ask for it intelligently! Then comes the adventure of figuring out the rubles...I have always been terrible at understanding prices in Russian! They give me a total and have no idea what they said! It's the one thing that is so simple, but has been such a hang up for me! So- yesterday, I ran next door and was able to explain to the girls exactly what I wanted (intelligently!) and I didn't even have to think twice about the total- I understood it the first time! Small victories do leaps and bounds for helping one to recognize the God-given joy residing in one's soul!

So, the packing begins! We get the keys to our new place on the 15th! I'm so excited to get packed and UNpacked- I'm ready to "make home" again! I'll be sure to get pics of the new place as soon as I get a chance. I have dreams of making a few LO's of our, soon to be, 5 houses we've lived in over the last 4 years! That should be illegal! You would think we would be experts at moving by now, but I only hate packing more than before! We haven't decided on an exact date to move all the big stuff out, b/c as soon as we move, we lose Inna and our classes aren't over until 2 days before we have to be out- so we still need a sitter! We've talked about taking some time off from class to get all moved out/in but we're trying to avoid it at all costs! Though, it would be nice to be moved in before July 1st, b/c we'd like to take a little time for a few days of vacation (maybe at the beach!) and we have to leave the country to reregister in July too. On top of all the families that will be coming to Krasnodar...in JULY! Then, classes start back up the first of August and my family arrives the 4th! I'm counting down the days till their arrival! I can't wait for some Wigal hugs! Yeah!

Words. Experts say that it takes children who are learning 2 or more languages, a longer time to begin speaking. I'm wondering if this will be the case with Gavin. He's been saying certain words for quite some time now, and using his sign language (in both Russian & English). But, I didn't believe my ears when he said "kitty" this week- with very Russian sounding T's (dental) and when I picked him up from his crib, he turned to me and said "George"- which is his blue elephant lovey! I could hardly believe my ears!

George. This little blue elephant was a gift from one of our students in Bellevue (thanks lizzO!) and Gavin has just latched onto him. Today was our first experience of his tears of naptime sleeplessness because George was missing. We couldn't find him anywhere! He usually doesn't leave his crib, but lately he has wanted to carry him everywhere. We searched the whole house, and car, only to find him in his toy box! As soon as George was in his arms the tears stopped and sleep arrived! As soon as George was safe in his arms I ran downstairs and searched all over the internet for another George! I finally found him on American's best invention- Ebay! 2 new, with tags, plush sweet dreams elephants are on their way!


My sister. On Friday evening, the youngest Wigal graduated from North Hills High School! I can hardly believe that she is all grown up! It seems to me that she should still be in 4th grade! I'm not sure where all the time goes! I wanted some pics of her in her cap and gown, but I couldn't wait to make a LO for her! So, here it is! I'm so proud of you Muncho! Can't wait to see what God unfolds in your future!

To My Mother kit, by Peppermint Creative

Xbox & Nibbles the guinea pig. Not only are we babysitting an Xbox, but we now have another furry friend in the house! Nibbles the beloved guinea pig- that belongs to the daughter of our furture team mates! They are finishing up language study in St Pete and will be moving to Krasnodar after a short vacation in the states! They needed someone to watch Nibbles while they are in the states, so Terri brought him down on the plane in a little basket on Wednesday. And Thursday she took her language assement and is now an official language study graduate! Yeah! I can almost taste the end of full time study... It CAN be done!

JB and Stas finally finished the last of the paper work and inspections that were needed to make our car officially legal- so we decided to celebrate by taking he and Inna out to eat on Friday night! We had such a great time! It was so much fun to get dressed up and chat half the evening! We laughed so much and genuinely enjoyed our time together! It was so wonderful to hang out and understand virtually everything that was said at the table! It's times like these that make me realize that I really AM making progress! It's also great times like this that make me sad to know that they won't be our neighbors in just a few weeks time.

Tomorrow is another holiday so we don't have classes- which makes for a great day to start packing our things! I have so many things I need to sort through b/c we don't have any storage at our new place, so we'll be storing a few things in a friends garage for awhile- mostly Gavin's clothes, holiday decorations, and our washing machine. I'm very sad that there is no place for our washing machine there- b/c the one they have is tiny! And it's the only thing that will fit in the space in the bathroom. It's about the size of a really old microwave that is turned on it's side. Our washing now holds 4kg of clothing (8.8 pounds!) and this one is about 1/3 it's size! So, I might be washing 1 pair of JB's pants at a time! We'll see... life is always an adventure!