No Sheep, One Shepherd Girl

Chris' family has a little tradition at Christmastime of dressing up and acting out the Nativity. Most of his memories of their early reenactments involve costumes made with bathrobes and towels. (Chris is the shepherd boy on the right...)

In recent years, Chris' parents have really improved the quality of their nativity by adding costumes from various regions of the world to their collection. These days they encourage/force invited guests to participate while they take pictures.
Since our family is still very new, our own nativity costume collection is limited (ok, non-existent). But, we wanted to keep the tradition alive in our own family. So, we dressed up Addie.

Here's the cutest little shepherd girl you ever did see (and I demand proof from anyone who thinks they've seen cuter!).

We took Addie with us to deliver some goodies to our neighbors.

Truth be told, she wasn't initially very happy about her costume...But, we stood her up and were able to complete her ensemble. Unfortunately, I forgot her staff! (our rolling pin)

Our Living Room & Bedroom

I know it's been a while, but I never finished showing our apartment. There isn't really too much else to see, but here's the rest of it:

The living room:
Things to note:
-These Soviet apartments do not offer closet space, so we have two shkafs (a wardrobe). The big entertainment center in our living room doubles as a shkaf. We keep most of Addie's things in it, along with some of our coats, and our "stock" of hygiene products that we brought from the States.

-The couch is a pull out--it's not like the hide-a-bed we're used to in the U.S.--when you pull the bottom of the couch it pulls out like an accordion. You use the cushions for the mattress.

-Behind the big curtain is our patio.

The bedroom:
Check out our wardrobe. When you don't ship stuff to your location and you don't pay more for extra baggage (or extra weight for that matter) you pack light. For all you ladies out there, you are looking at all the clothes I brought for 10 months on the 3rd, 4th & 5th shelves on the left. In case you are wondering, that amounts to: 3 skirts, 2 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of slacks, and roughly 8-10 shirts for each climate/temperature: warm and cold.

We have this big bed, which doubles as a couch! (Most beds here do) We have never actually had ours in couch form. We stuffed the unnecessary cushions in our shkaf and realized when we did some rearranging that the bed part doubles for a storage area. Anyone interested in some old magazines and books??

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Keeping Up With the Joneses

This post is long overdue... it's been in draft mode for an embarrassing amount of time...

The weekend after Thanksgiving we were introduced to the Jones family. They are the other LDS family here in Kazakhstan with the Fulbright program. We were really looking forward to meeting them as they're in a similar situation to us (kind of). It was so much fun to talk to another American mom who is living in a completely foreign country and finding herself in some of the same situations. I think it gave each of us a new and very interesting perspective. I can't even begin to say how neat this friendship is...

And, for those of you who think we are living the tough life... you have absolutely NO idea... how wrong you are...

The Joneses are in a rather small village in Kazakhstan, which-in-and-of-itself, means their experience here is quite different from our own. If you are interested in reading about their exploits check out their blog. If (or rather, when) you have time, look through their old posts, as it will give a really interesting glimpse into life in Russia and Kazakhstan--a perspective we can't provide.

To further peak your interest, you can look forward to seeing how they had to prepare for winter, what doing the laundry is like for Heather--especially right now, as well as some narrative and links to pictures sharing about their living circumstances and activities in KZ.

Props to Heather & Nathan and their cute little ones.

OH... The link on their sidebar under "Why We're Here" provides a quick shortcut to some other really fun posts.

Korean Hospitality

The week before Thanksgiving was my last week tutoring the two Korean brothers. The family had us all over for a Korean dinner the day after Thanksgiving. The food was great!!! Because the family is leaving Kazakhstan they gave us three heads of kim-chee (as well as a large portion of the "salad" that we were served that night). It was nice to talk with the family and get to know them a little better before they left.


As we were finishing up dinner we happened to notice this:If you look a little closer (yeah, sorry, it's blurry) you will notice that with the exception of the 4 pieces of sushi in the bottom-middle, they are missing the ham!! S.J., the older son, had gone through and picked it out! I saw him doing it, but just thought he was eating dissecting each piece before he ate the whole thing...!

I started a new tutoring job last week. I worked for one week and then the holidays hit us, so tutoring will pick up again after the New Year. This time, my pupil is the cutest little 7 year old girl. The job seems to be working out really well so far, and is located a little closer to home... which is always a good thing!

SomeBunny

Addie was given this bunny by one of our friends back in the states. I insisted on taking it with us, and even had to carry it on the plane, when we ventured across the world. Lucky thing I did! Addie likes SomeBunny (what I have named it). As you can see, they get along great.

Inundated With Addie

We should be mostly caught up on pictures of Addie with this post... I put the pictures in collages as it's a little less intimidating of a post... If you want to see a picture better you should be able to click the collage and get the cluster in a much larger format. Hope you enjoy!

We love this outfit on her! Even though we think she looks cute with the brown leggings, they show that her little body has a striking similarity to that of a football player (in gear). I'm sure she'll grow "into" herself (if you know what I mean...)

In the lower picture we caught her in the middle of an extreme excitement expression. ;D
Addie often sits in the bouncer while I work in the kitchen. When I turned around this particular afternoon, I couldn't help but laugh as this is what I saw:
She just turned six months and she can already wiggle herself out of her clothes!!! Does this mean trouble??

She loves her books!
Looking cute in her blue outfit! Thanks cousin Liv for sharing!
So, you know those toys (often rattles) that hang from the handle/bar of the baby carriers? Chris was able to engineer ours so they became the toy our baby couldn't throw away. Thereby reducing the number of times we have to stop what we are doing to pick up the "lost" toy...

[And yes, those are some chunky thighs! ;)]Addie sitting with her tired daddy. She's not really sitting up on her own yet, but she's getting close!
Addie will sometimes wake up around the time we are going to bed... and then be completely full of energy... These pictures were taken in the dark. She LOVES playing with (and eating) her changing mat.
A little photo shoot of Addie in her strawberry-ruffle-bum outfit.

T.P. & Restrooms

This lovely roll of toilet paper is scented. Chris didn't think that was very unusual and said he was sure they have that in the States... I don't know about you, but I don't recall seeing any floral scented Charmin...

So, this is probably a little odd, but one thing that has taken some adjusting to is that it is customary to not flush toilet paper. All restrooms are equipped with a waste bin for the paper.

It is customary to pay about 25 to 30 tenge (at roughly 120 tenge to the dollar, that's about 20 cents) to have access to public restrooms. One of the first times we had to use a public restroom Chris noticed a sign inside which warned that improper disposal (aka flushing) of toilet paper would result in a fine equivalent to around $100.00. My question was/is, "How do they actually know if you flush or toss the paper??"

Squirmy Squirms!

Addie has turned into quite a squirmy squirm when it's time to have her diaper changed. She tends to stay still while we get the wet diaper off, but just when we are getting a fresh diaper under her bum she becomes overwhelmingly interested in something else. Chris has gotten a little creative with solutions to the predicament, as you can see below.


If she can't see anything, then there's nothing to distract her, right??

(It isn't something we are doing anymore, but it was amusing while it lasted.)

Relief Society Activity

A little while ago we had an all-day Relief Society activity. We started out with some games and then had breakfast... there were little sausage sandwiches, cabbage-filled piroshkis (so good!), olive and cheese toothpicks, and plenty of juice.
We had some more games and activities, and then LUNCH. We ate salad, soup, and manti.
One of the activities before lunch was an activity we can do with our children for FHE. The activity was a lot of fun! It consisted of using a bag of gummy bears to re-create a scripture story.

These were the final products! They were pretty amazing!!! Can you guess which stories are depicted??

The days before the activity I committed to go, but was uncertain of how things would go with Addie. I kept having images of my toting around all day an increasingly unhappy Addie. I happened to forget one thing: half the time we're at church we don't even hold her ourselves! Plus, this child is amazingly social! She loved the activity!

After lunch there was another lesson and then the sisters split up to practice songs. Then we had the privilege of hearing from Elder and Sister Vincent. They are the senior missionary couple here from the States. They have been here a little more than a year and will depart in April. After their talks we had another "meal" of fruit, salad, and other leftovers. We then cleaned up the rooms we used and departed! It was about 5:30 p.m. when we got on the road. It was such a fun day!

What? No Turkey?

Nope. We were unable to locate a turkey, so we decided to get a whole chicken and some chicken pieces. Thanks to my friend Susan's amazing brine, the chicken was quite tasty! We also served: meatloaf (practically standard at our dinner table..), corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, dressing/stuffing, sweet pumpkin casserole, bread, cranberry sauce, and apple pie.
Because I think it's worthwhile information... the origin of the dressing/stuffing goes something like this:

Wednesday we shopped at RamStore. One purchase happened to be a tea Chris had enjoyed while in Turkey (the country). He was really excited for it because the tea is the actual dried leaves (packaged in a ziploc bag). It's about as natural as you can get. Well, so we get home and he steeped a pot of this tea and served some up for us. I was not a fan and told him that it tasted like chicken. He proceeded to tease me for my lack of enjoyment of this Turkish "delight" and finally said the name of the tea in English: sage tea. Jessie, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I'm pretty sure sage is a very common, if not prominent herb in poultry seasoning. I was very excited to realize this as I hadn't been able to figure out how we would manage to season the dressing (or the chicken for that matter). So, the sage worked wonderfully, but now Chris is feeling a little queasy about drinking chicken tea. ;)
Our party! Mike on the left, Chris, Aundrey, Stacia, Anya, Addie, me, Sam, and Asiyat.
After dinner we asked everyone to say what they were thankful for, and while the majority of the group mentioned family and friends (in meaningful, non-rote ways), I was really grateful for Asiyat's contribution. Asiyat works for the US State department and is the contact here for the Fulbright scholarship recipients. She mentioned that she was most thankful for the opportunity she has to work with the Fulbrighters, young adult Americans who come to her country not to teach about their own, but to learn about hers, and then return to America and teach other Americans about her country.

We often get a lot of questions about why we are here. We are here for Chris to do research, but the grant doesn't exist to enable research on his specific topic. The purpose of the Fulbright program is to promote mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the peoples of other countries. The Fulbright program provides the opportunity for participants to learn about other cultures and bring that knowledge and experience back to the States. [Bet'ch didn't know that this blog is actually helping to fulfill the purpose of the grant money... ;D]

In all seriousness, it was pretty amazing to realize how much the program means to her, a Kazakh who is aware of the program's purpose and sees its fruit. I have really enjoyed being here. I can honestly say that I love this country (with all its quirks) and I hope those we are acquainted with grow to love it too. Before I knew Chris, I was ignorant to the Central Asian area of the world, but have quickly become intrigued by these countries, these cultures and these peoples. I am so grateful to be a beneficiary of the grant and this experience.

Yummy in the Tummy

I bet you thought this was about Thanksgiving... But it's NoT!

When Chris' family was here I had my first taste of shashlyk. And I loved it. In essence, shashlyk is a meat kabob, but really, it is SoooOoo much more... Shashlyk is traditionally lamb, and there is a type that is ground meat formed and put on the kebab (lyulya kebab). My first try I had lamb lyulya kebab, and chicken and lamb shashlyk. All are served with onion.

Sometime after family left, Chris went to the bazaar and returned with shashlyk from one of the vendors. It was wonderful!!! (and very cheap!) Just a quick picture to tempt you with...

Since I "have to" try some of the things that are available here... we purchased this juice. The carton is designed as a hint of the contents. It's also in English at the bottom.
It wasn't anything too crazy or unusual in taste. It mostly just tasted like sugary water. Chris said that the authentic version tastes mostly like water.

Zoom Zoom Zoom

Daddy took Addie for a little "joy-ride" in our little laundry bin/basket. Although you will see her in two outfits, theses pictures and videos were taken the same day. Sometimes we go through outfits as often as we go through diapers...


Hiding beneath the bin...
Surprise!

She may not initially have a look of pleasure, but the peaceful, expressionless reaction you will see at the beginning is one we have become familiar with. Believe it or not, it means she likes it.

Here we go again...

Click and Clack

Sorry but this isn't about the automotive gurus.

As of Thursday Addie has a new trick: she likes to stop nursing and start sucking on her tongue and cheeks. Although it's a bit annoying (I'm a little against buffet-style feedings), we can't help but laugh at the faces she makes... not to mention all the noise!

If Three is Company...

Then what is eleven??

For starters, it's the number of mouths we fed one night a little more than a week ago. At the time there were nine (now there are twelve) missionaries here for paperwork regarding visas and immigration cards. We decided it would be fun to feed them. I know, what were we thinking...

What you see here is one meatloaf, eighteen stuffed (packed is more like it) peppers, mashed potatoes, boiled carrots, tomato & cucumber salad, and two of three purchased loaves of bread. With one sister and eight elders we wanted to make sure we had enough to feed our guests! We finished off with some fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. Dinner took a little while, so I literally stood outside our door with a plate full of hot cookies on napkins to distribute as the missionaries left. I think they were most excited about the fresh-baked cookies... none of them have had fresh, warm chocolate-chip cookies since leaving home (and they have all been serving for 6-12 months).

We didn't even have enough chairs to go around! Two of the missionaries sat on the arms of the sofa-chairs! And we had to borrow 3 sets of silverware from our neighbor!
The two Elders in the back dished out all of our plates. At the end of the meal they both managed to sneak to the kitchen and start doing the dishes too!

**FlashBack**

I never actually posted any details regarding Addie's birth. This isn't a flashback on that experience, but an aspect of it.

Most of our family and friends are/were aware of our desire to have a natural (ie. unmedicated) delivery. We planned to have my mom with us supporting us in that endeavor. After my grandfather asked my mom to come help during his recovery from surgery (with Addie's due date smack dab in the middle of the trip) we knew we needed some outside support in order to meet our goal.

I was familiar with the role of a doula. We had referred to my mom as our doula. Once we figured out that the baby may (and knowing Murphy's Law, probably would) come while my mom was out of town.... We outsourced.

Enter Mandy. This lovely lady moved into our ward maybe just two months before Addie was born. Talk about timing.

We were able to have the successful natural (yes, that's right no pain meds) birth we had hoped for and continue to attribute much of it to her assistance. While she obviously helped me, she did a great job of helping Chris have an active role in the experience.

For those of you that aren't aware of the role of a doula, Mandy has written a great post with some basics on doulas (spurred by a segment on The Today Show, which she also includes).

If any of you are now, or ever will be, interested in an amazingly good reference for expectant parents which explains a little bit about why anyone would want to go without pain medication (and the like), gives guidance to the father, and regardless of your choice on meds, gives one of the most up-to-date, basic, while amazingly thorough explanations of: what to expect-labor-birth-medical interventions-and more, you should check out The Birth Partner: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Doulas, and All Other Labor Companions by Penny Simkin. We purchased the 3rd Edition, and loved it.

Our First Snow

We had our first snow a week ago. There wasn't terribly much snow, but it acted like a blanket and made for a pretty sight on the evergreens. I forgot to put our camera in our bag before leaving for church, so I missed catching the snow on the trees--there is a courtyard near the church that was especially pretty. I did happen to snap some pictures of the ice on our clothes line.

A Long Reach

It's fun to look back and see the progression of Addie's reactions to various stimuli... This video is from a week ago (as of Sunday).

Superbaby

This child of ours LOVES to be in the air, above our heads... If its awkward, uncomfortable and strength-testing for us she loves it.

The End of the Visit

We were so glad to be able to visit with family! These are the last of our pictures from the trip...
For all the Dora fans out there!
Fun sisters!
Walking to the museum before Grandma and the girls head out...