Ну и неделька!

Ну и неделька. Завалилась в гости Тришка, сестра-в-законе из солнечного Техаса. Наивно полагая, что с двумя бабами в доме наступит порядок, покой и благодать, я начал было мечтать о том, как совершенно безоглядно смогу окунуться с головой во что-нибудь эдакое экзотичное, например поваляться в выходной на диване с пивом, книжкой или кино. Ха! Лох. Всё было как и без Тришки, но только раза в 2 интенсивнее. Сегодня она улетела назад в Даллас.

У Алёшки поехала крыша на теме про пиратов, после просмотра мультика Остров сокровищ, да да, того самого, где между главами поют всякие наставления группа настоящих немультяшных музыкантов. Целый день после этого он ходил одетый как пират, надыбал в моей комнате трубку, и посасывая её обращался ко мне не иначе, как "Эй, старший пират!". Мы с ним закидывали лассо на стулья, простите -драконов, брали Луку, то есть вражескую флотилию на абордаж и искали сокровища. Он до сих пор обижается если я назову его Алешей, вместо "Младший пират".

Завтра мой день рождения, но почему-то большинство родных и друзей поздравило меня сегодня. Спасибо огромное! А завтра всё равно целый день буду занят до самого вечера, на работе очередной ежегодный сбор совета директоров. Впрочем, это стало уже традицией на мой день рождения делать либо сбор директоров либо экзамены в институте.

Рози и Стив прислали открытку со смешными тирольскими песнями и наши уставшие за день детки, "читали" её во время ужина. Отдельное видео здесь.

Rocket Ship Rocket Ship

Alyosha is asking for new stories every night and all the time. We both like to make them up on the spot, so I thought I would start writing some of them down for good ole' memories sake.

Alyosha asked for a story about a rocket ship--so here is how it went:

Five years ago Mama and Papa were dancing around outside in the streets. It was a beautiful sunny day and no one was driving their car because it was so pretty outside.

Suddenly, we saw a rocket ship flying in the sky! It had a red rocket top, blue wings and a yellow body. It was going so fast up in the sky and Mama said that she wanted to take a ride. Papa pulled out his cell phone and called the rocket ship and asked it to land and take us up high in the sky. The pilot on the plane said that we should run as fast as we can to the airport and it will land down and pick us up.

So, we ran as fast as we could and climbed up the blue winged rocket ship with the red top and yellow body. Then we all counted down to take off...10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 lift off!!! (Alyosha then asked me if he was there too...I said no, not yet but wait)

Mama and Papa were flying around in the rocket ship and we looked out of the window. We flew over the ocean and the mountains and the beautiful desert.

Then we saw this gorgeous place with forests and rivers and clean air and water and we decided that we would jump out of the rocket ship with our parachutes and live there. So we took a big jump and floated down to the ground with our parachutes.

While we were floating in the clean, fresh air, Mama told Papa that she wanted to have a little baby boy. And Papa said that was a good idea and he wanted to have a little boy too, named Aleksei Eugene.

So then baby Alyosha grew in Mama's tummy. And that rocket ride was so great and flying through the air in the parachute was great. But having baby Alyosha was the best thing of all.

I ♥ U

Alyosha: Mama, I like you.

Mama: I like you too, you are a good boy.

Alyosha: Yeah, I am.

The other night Alyosha and Papa were talking...

Papa: I love you.

Alyosha: I love me too.

Friday Night Strike

Last Friday, Alyosha and I (Jen) went to participate in the Night Strike under the Burnside Bridge. It is a thing to help homeless or 'down on their luck' people. All through the car ride over, the preparatory instructions and singing--I was explaining to Alyosha that we are going to go help people who don't have a home. They don't have jobs or money to buy food. He asked why don't they have these things and I told him that maybe they had bad parents who didn't teach them they need to work. Or maybe they were just lazy. Maybe they didn't know how to go get a job. Maybe they didn't eat their broccoli when they were kids and their brains don't work the right way. I talked about lots of reasons they might be living on the street and not have a home.
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So, all of the volunteers meet in a building across the street. The leader, Marshall, calls us all to order by playing guitar and leading us in a few songs. We pray. Pray for each other, for the lives we are fortunate to have, for the people we are going to give food and clothes to and pray that maybe someone will see that a little help can go a long way.

Along with the food and clothes, there are stations to wash people's feet and cut their hair. Supposedly, this one night a week is the only day some of these people take their shoes off--can you imagine what is going on with those feet? It seems like this act of washing feet is as much for the 'homed' as it is for the homeless. I read an article written in USA Today here that put the foot washing experience this way: Bridgetown Ministries and its dozens of volunteers aren't vetting the moral worthiness of the homeless people whose hair they cut, bodies they clothe and feet they wash. They know some might be drunk and some on drugs. Are they homeless because they're lazy? Do they deserve this care? The questions are utterly irrelevant from the perspective of the ministry's radical compassion. As Snider puts it, "We're just out there to love on people."

On the walk from our warm volunteer headquarters to the brightly lit space outside under the bridge, Alyosha pointed to every building in sight and said--why can't the people without homes sleep in there. Our duty for the evening was to hand out clothes and sleeping bags--they said that this station gets rushed upon during the first 10 minutes because everyone wants a new, clean sleeping bag or the biggest warm coat since it is winter. One lady, Darnella, smiled at Alyosha and asked him for the brown sleeping bag--he was happy to give it to her, and then asked me with a little water in his eyes if we could give everyone a house and a cartoon too.
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I don't know if it is right to give out food and clothes. Some people start to depend on it and then they maybe really do get lazy. But some of them really do need help and truely don't know where to get it. There are so many times that the majority must suffer because of a minority who are disrespectful. On Friday night, at least we know that the people who really seek the help and need the help are getting it from a lot of people who care. And it is the best way I know so far to show Alyosha what it is to be cold and hungry and how to ask for help and give it without intentions.

Sista'

Trish is here. We are having fun. So much fun that by the end of the day we pass out from exhaustion. (not from alcohol, if that is what you are thinking). Really, she is currently asleep under the same blanknt you see in the pic...and I am falling asleep at the wheel, or the keyboarmm mmmmmmmmm

Roman taking over here, Jen is now asleep on the floor. I guess I am lucky to get to carry two women to their beds tonight! It is strange though, with two women in the house a man should get a break you'd think, have a beer, read some silly newspapers, watch a game (chess for me) and stuff like that. Instead, I had twice as much to clean this afternoon, and I still had to chat with my wife after I got back from work. Where is my part of the deal?! Oh, yeah, and I lost my home office space to tha sista'.

Spiderman

Alyosha: Mama, buy me the Spiderman cartoon!

Mama: I don' t think that is a good idea. Maybe you can use your own money to buy it. Do you have any money?

Alyosha: Yeah, see. (he shows me a quarter)

Mama: I don't think that that will be enough! You will have to save some more. (He goes and searches around everything and finds about 20 cents more to show me)

Alyosha: Now is that enough?

Mama: Nope.

Alyosha: Aaaahhhhh!! I am going to get my computer and work until I make enough money to buy that spiderman cartoon myself!! (he stomps off and gets his computer and slams it down on the table to work.) Ohhh bother, this is a lot of work!

Esophagus

Alyosha: Mama, is your esophagus broken?

Mama: No...it is working fine.

Alyosha: Ok, well here then. You finish my soup. I ate so much already that my esophagus will break if I eat any more.

Sleepy Time

As I (Jen) was sneaking out of Alyosha's bed after putting him to sleep, or so I thought, he caught me and said this:

Alyosha: Mama, where are you going, don't leave, I'm afraid. (Something about scary pumpkins chasing him...)

Mama: Oh, I'm not leaving---I'm just checking the clock to see what time it was. (The closest plausible excuse I could think of)

Alyosha says, matter-of-factly: You don't have to see what time it is, I know. It is sleepy time. Don't look at that silly clock, I don't know what it means anyway! It is sleepy time. You are silly Mama.

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Lunch conversation:

Papa: Alyosha, do you think that Mama is pretty?

Alyosha: Yeah.

Papa: What is the prettiest thing about her?

Alyosha, without hesitation: Her milks.

Yes, yes, yes, the obsession starts from birth and continues throughout their life.

Remembering Stop and Go

It has been about a month since our beloved Stop and Go passed to the greater beyond. (The fish was so named because when he swam he "Stopped and Goed," to put it in Alyosha's terms)Alyosha remembers him fondly and occasionally says that he is sad and misses him. We explained to Alyosha that Stop and Go died but his spirit is free now to swim wherever he wants and probably even went to heaven and now gets to swim in God's aquarium. Unfortunatly we were having this conversation while eating a lovely baked salmon lunch...and our conversation went something like this:

Alyosha: Mama, the salmon is crying becasue when we eat him he is sad.

Mama: I don't think that the salmon is sad. He is really happy that we are thankful to have such healthy food and when we eat him he gives us all the power he used to swim up the river.

A few minutes pass and Alyosha says: I'm so sad that Stop and Go died.

Mama: It's ok to be sad and miss Stop and Go, but we should remember the happy times we spent with him too because he was a good fishy and now his spirit is swimming around in heaven with God.

Alyosha: Maybe instead of swimming in heaven he is swimming in the fire and God is going to get healthy and eat him up! Can we go to the store and buy another Stop and Go?

Does that mean fishy heaven is God's tummy?!??

Halloween 2007

Luka was going to be a Ladybug for Halloween (like Alyosha his first Halloween) but I donated the costume!! So to my last minute surprise I had to come up with something different. Maybe it wasn't too much of a stretch, but Luka went as a little Russian boy. Alyosha is old enough to pick out his own costume--and his creativity is unlimited! Everything he saw he wanted to be, as long as it was mean, mad, scary, flew and had a sword! He ended up being a Scary Superhero Monster Cowboy. The Darth Vader mask didn't last too long when he realized that he couldn't see the candy bowl when he had it on (it also hindered his running ability from house to house.) Let me tell you that from the anticipation of Trick or Treating, Alyosha didn't eat anything all day long! We had a good time and Al got a ton of candy--mostly chocolate this year!! Yeah for us!

click for more pictures

For true halloween-kids-party-lovers here is a full set of pictures