Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! No, we are NOT crazy... well, OK, we just adopted two kids so maybe we ARE crazy, but wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving is not a sign of our insanity. You see, one of the things that most bothered Beth and Luke about our trip to Russia was that they had to miss Thanksgiving. It's not a holiday they celebrate over there... even though we sort of celebrated a little bit at Kentucky Fried Chicken in Stavropol. We promised the kids a real Thanksgiving feast with all the trimmings sometime after we got home.

Since Mark and the non-homeschooled kids had Monday off for the MLK Jr. Holiday, we decided that it would be a good day to have our belated Thanksgiving. Part of the tradition is Beth making pies (she is GREAT at making pie!) and she wanted to try out her new apron and ovenmitt from Grandma. She helped teach Kim to make cinnamon roll cookies with the leftover crust. We cooked a turkey (or Bolshoi Chicken as Peter and Kim understood it). We found a good Thanksgiving story and explanation online that we translated into Russian using babelfish's webpage translator. We looked at a photo of turkey... turns out it isn't just a big chicken afterall. Most importantly, we shared this opportunity to thank God with some very dear friends. The Canary's joined us and a great time was had by all... 4 adults and 8 kids (yes we ate in the dining room on the good china and no, there were no spills... much to Bandit's dismay). Kim really enjoyed having two year old Erin over to play with. She hasn't stopped talking about it. All four of our kids REALLY enjoyed the turkey and Kim, Beth and Luke also liked the stuffing... not Peter... seems we ruined his hleb (bread) by putting stuff in it.

We may have to celebrate Thanksgiving a lot more often! We have so much to be thankful for... and who doesn't love the smell of turkey?

спасибо

I am very late in saying this (something about being the Mom of four, I don't know where the time goes) but I want to say a great big спасибо (Thank you) to so many people in the Russian community that I have had the opportunity to meet.

Let me explain: I have been going into the Russian markets for about a year now. I'll go in and ask what this foods is or what this means or how to say something. I have come out with recipes, full documents translated (when I was just hoping for help to find one piece of information)and phone numbers with offers of assistance in translation. I have been encouraged and Kim and Peter have been warmly welcomed. I thank each of you that I have met.

I also want to thank some of you that I have never meet. You see my father-in-law works with a couple of ladies with Russian heritage. When they heard that we were in Russia to bring the kids home, they gathered up a large selection of Russian foods so the kids would have some familiar foods. They even found two birthday cards in Russian for Kim's birthday (Dec. 20 just a week after landing in the U.S.)

Then this last time my in-laws came to visit they brought bags of cloths for Peter and a stack of books written in Russian from this same lady. Some of the books are ones that she brought over from the Soviet Union when she immigrated thirty years ago. Kim has really enjoyed having access to literature written in Russian. I encourage her to read aloud to Peter on a regular bases. I am hoping that this will help her and Peter maintain their Russian language and that she will maintain her ability to read it. The picture below is Kim reading one of the books they were given.

One final спасибо to each of you. - Lisa



New addition: We have also found that our library system has a few books in Russian.

Fitting In

OK, OK, we get it... we've been woefully negligent in putting up posts. In our defense, integrating a family takes a lot of work... and time... and energy... and patience. And.... we now have FOUR kids with Webkinz accounts... do you really think that Lisa and I are even able to get online anymore? We've been struggling with some issues and we'll blog on that soon. In the meantime, it has been fun to watch Kim and Peter begin to join-in with the neighborhood kids. Here is a video from last week when the kids went sledding on my neighbor's hill. First up (I mean first down) is Peter on the snowboard... then Luke on the disc... then Kim playing bowling for brothers.