In December, we celebrated Advent

We've been doing Advent for a couple of years now, and in the past, there have been a lot of things in our Advent calendar. Not expensive presents, but still, a steady supply of new things.

This year, we (meaning the grownups in the family) wanted to transition away from the acquisition of things, and focus more on cheerful-spirit-inducing family activities and the story of Jesus' birth. So, it was a transition year of sorts, and as such, was a little bit hard for Dietrich. (Lev, blank slate that he is, had no expectations.)

There was exactly one wrapped present in the Advent calendar, and it came from grandma. Over and over I warned Dietrich that it wasn't something to play with, but he just couldn't quite trust me until he opened it and found:


A tie.

BUT. We did do so many fun things together as a family. A long, late-night stroll to look for Christmas lights. Movie nights. Cookie baking. Secret shopping trips to buy presents to make other people happy. Lots of stories about Jesus' birth.

Looking back, one of the things I appreciate most about the holiday season is how intentional we are to schedule time together. It's something we could work on the other 11 months of the year.

AND. When it was all said and done, I think we all enjoyed ourselves. After Christmas, Dietrich had a friend over, and he asked what the Advent calendar was. Dietrich proudly replied, "It's to help us think about Jesus' birthday, and I got to do lots of special activities with my family."

In December, we went to the circus

Once in a great while, I leave our immediate community and go to a busier part of town. On these occasional trips, I often spot an advertisement for something fun that's coming to Kyiv. While Eric was at Director's Council, I took the boys to the playground at a recently renovated McDonald's, and out the window, I spotted a billboard for Cirque du Soleil. I instantly decided to make that my special December date with Dietrich, a decision confirmed when I checked the ticket prices and found them to be extremely reasonable for such a show.

So, off to Saltimbanco we went.


Waiting for the metro.

Alas, we both were disappointed in the show. I found it inconsistent, with the amazing acrobatic bits heavily padded by wildly boring bits. The staging, on the other hand, was consistently chaotic.

Dietrich found it consistently boring. Being 5, he's in the midst of discovering all the amazing things his body can do, and he remains unaware of the limitations of gravity and physics. So, after an amazing acrobatic feat, he'd say, "I could do that."

And he really, truly believed that, given the chance, he could.

See, mom? I can do it.


Calling daddy to report on how boring the show was.

We left after about two hours, and the show was still going strong. The coat-check lady (the same one who wouldn't let me check Dietrich's coat, for fear he'd be cold) assured me that many other people with kids had already left.

The highlights?


Spending time together.


And the caramel corn.

In November, Dietrich learned his short vowel sounds

Will I ever see Dietrich reading and not feel a little shocked at how grown-up he's getting?

Quack, quack from josie oldenburg on Vimeo.

Probably not.

In November, we said goodbye

Eric took over as area director for SEND Ukraine in June, but our former area director and his wife stuck around until December 1. We were so thankful to have Steve and Nancy here to help ease the transition! So many details of the job lived in Steve's brain, and Eric spent a lot of time learning from him.

Right before Steve and Nancy left, our team threw them a good-bye "extravaganza." At a big party, I'm always thankful if there's an activity that I can focus on during any awkward moments of feeling lonely despite the crowd. Clearly I was involved in planning this shindig, for it included TWO such diversions!

First, people could write good-bye messages, which I later compiled into a Snapfish album for Steve and Nancy.




And here's one from Lev's nanya. Isn't she lovely? The sweetest personality goes with that sweet face.


And guests could peruse the decorations: About 75 photos drawn from Steve and Nancy's decade in Ukraine.


Some were silly ...


... and some were sweet. (Can you name that baby?)


There was an open sharing time when people told touching stories about how Steve and Nancy had influenced their lives. This resulted in lots of hugging.




Bertha made and decorated this beauty of a cake. The verse is Revelation 7:9-10. I can't decide if it's more impressive that she wrote it in Russian or in frosting.



Eric hosted the program ...


... and protected his cake from Zhenya's attacks.


We all gathered around to send them on their way smothered in prayer.


On the day they actually flew out, Steve and Nancy made time to join us for lunch at McDonald's. (I cannot fathom being so on top of things that I have time to meet for lunch with someone before an international flight, much less an international move.)

We asked Dietrich to take a group shot. This one's good.


But this one's 5-year-old fantastic.


Bye, Steve and Nancy. We missed you before you even left, and we miss you even more now.

In November, I learned how little I know

Once a month, I go out to dinner with some other ex-pat moms. At this monthly gathering, I met Theresa, who (at the time) was the only internationally certified lactation consultant in Ukraine. Breastfeeding my babies has been a huge blessing to me, and I've long thought that I'd love to support other moms who also would like to grow their babies on mama's milk.

Theresa offered to give me and another American mom who works as a doula a peer counseling crash course. We met twice a week for a month, and it was fascinating. I left each session in awe of how perfectly we have been designed.

But I also left with a greater realization of how challenging breastfeeding can be for some women. Many of these challenges can be overcome -- but only with hard work, and often the help of someone way more educated than I am.

So, now I know how much I don't know. Peer counseling seems too formal a term for what I'd feel comfortable offering -- but I think I now know enough to be an educated cheerleader of sorts.

In November, we missed daddy

Eric was away at a meeting of all of SEND's area directors for 12 days at the beginning of November. In his absence, we ate simply,



danced a lot


and fell in love with "Here Come the ABCs."

Go, go, go from josie oldenburg on Vimeo.

All went well, until three days before his return, when I dropped a kitchen chair on my big toe. The pain, it was intense. Probably it was broken (I never went to the doctor to check), but some web-site-guided care from Bertha greatly reduced the pain. I won't go into the yucky details. But I will add this incident to the list of reasons I'm thankful to be alive in the Internet age.

Lev just has to dance

Lev LOVES to dance. Several times a day, he runs into a room, points at the musical source (computer or stereo, depending), and busts a move.

Lev just has to dance from josie oldenburg on Vimeo.

Lev just has to dance, part 2 from josie oldenburg on Vimeo.

I don't have the video to prove it, but Dietrich almost always joins in. He's been taking a twice-a-week dance class for about a year, and when he goes into dancing mode, he's quite graceful -- slow-moving arms, pointed toes, dainty circles. Quite a change from his normal, klutzy, 5-year-old self. Lev, on the other hand, is all jerks and swipes, all the time.

My dad's been on my case to post something, and today's his birthday, so, Happy birthday, Dad! Hope you enjoyed seeing your grandsons in action.

In November, Lev painted for the first time

And then he took a long bath.