Siesta time

Kyiv Theological Seminary, the school where Eric works, is just a five-minute walk from our house. It's so close that we can see it clearly from Dietrich's bedroom window. One benefit of such a short commute: Eric can sometimes come home for lunch. Which he did today ... and this is what happened:



They woke up 30 minutes later, rested and happy:



I'm glad Eric got a little rest time in, since he just got home from his weekly meeting with the brothers (what they call elders here) at church, and it's 10:45 p.m. — time to hit the hay. Again.

Hey there, big sitter

Dietrich discovered a new trick yesterday: Sitting! Alone! Without support! He still needs a spotter, but he's already more stable today than he was yesterday. He's so fearless; when he starts to tumble, I feel a little panicked, but he doesn't seem to notice at all. I suppose one would never learn to sit/crawl/walk if one were constantly concerned about bonking one's head.

Experimenting with fruit

In a few weeks, a group of ladies here will be hosting a special event for the wives of the incoming Talbot extension students. These wives are sacrificing so that their husbands can work toward a Master's degree. We hope they will feel encouraged as we recognize the role they play in God's work in Ukraine, and as we share in times of prayer and teaching together.

I'm in charge of decorations; we'll meet in a seminary classroom, so I expect a bit of a challenge as we try to create a lovely atmosphere. I hope to avoid one common phenomenon: Often, when people come to events put on by Americans in Ukraine, the decorations are from America, and therefore are not re-creatable here.

At the moment, the markets are full of lemons, mandarins and other citrus fruits. Here are two early ideas -- let me know what you think, and feel free to share other ideas!


I envision two chains of lemons and mandarins like this, one on either side of a large glass bowl filled with fruit and flowers.



Fruit vases: I need to experiment further to see if the acid in the fruit will kill the flowers too quickly. I experimented using flowers on hand, but I think for the actual day, I'll stick with yellow and white Gerbera daisys.

Mellow Saturday

Daddy Eric is preaching tomorrow, so today we mostly spent a quiet day at home, giving him lots of time to practice his sermon.

In the morning, Anatoly (the president of KTS) gave a presentation about the state of theological education in the former Soviet Union. Eric went to that while I watched Corrie May and Caleb, two of the other kids on our team. It was fun to play with them and to imagine doing the things we did (playing Uno, writing secret messages with lemon juice) with Dietrich some day.

I’ll catch Anatoly’s presentation on video. Dietrich has reached a stage in which he’s a bit hard to take places for two reasons: 1) He’s very vocal. And very loud. 2) He’s so easily distracted from eating that he will skip whole meals, which makes him cranky. And very loud. This means the day when we will start leaving him with a nanya is drawing near, but I'm in no rush.

In the afternoon, Dietrich and I sorted his 6- to 9-month clothes, since he’s slowly growing out of the 3- to 6-month stuff. We picked out a few things to pass along to a pregnant friend here. We made soup. We made French toast for dinner. We meant to make granola, but it never quite happened. Soon, we will have baths and bedtime as another pleasant day draws to a close.

Taking the plunge

Dietrich witnessed his first baptism on Saturday. Members of our church gathered at a Pentecostal church more than an hour’s journey from our side of town. Why? Well, it’s really cold, so an outdoor baptism wouldn’t do, and this church has a baptistery it was willing to share.

We've been privileged to take part in several baptisms since we arrived in Ukraine, but I felt the most personal connection to this one. The four folks being baptized included two young men who regularly attend the youth group that meets at our house and a woman from our Ukrainian small group. It was a thrill to watch as they publicly professed their faith in Christ and their desire to serve Him.

I also enjoyed watching Dietrich interact with various members of our church. Many folks have really taken to our little guy, showering him with affection and asking lots of questions about his development. A favorite moment: When our pastor turned to Dietrich and asked when he’d get to baptize him. Baptism is certainly a few years off, but we soon hope to dedicate him at Svet Evangelia, since we recognize that the church will play a big role in his upbringing. Here are some of the people who already are taking a keen interest in his little life.


Several young ladies from the youth group, plus our Sunday School leader, Ira, in the middle.


Nikolai, who lives about an hour outside of Kyiv yet faithfully attends church every Sunday. We appreciate his warm heart, sly sense of humor, willingness to teach us about culture and gregarious personality.


Tamara is also a member of our Ukrainian small group. Every week, when the congregation is asked to pray, Tamara jumps in first. She's not shy, and we love her for it!

Life-changing bread

I think everyone who reads this blog with any regularity knows about my buckwheat allergy and the extreme lengths to which I go in order to avoid the dreaded grain. For those who don’t know: I don’t eat any products containing flour from the former Soviet Union – no cookies, no pasta, no cereal, no bread. Thankfully, I can buy imported pasta and crackers, but I’ve not found imported bread. And baking bread, while not a difficult process, is rather time-consuming. That’s why I was so excited to try out a recipe that the New York Times ran the week we got back. It’s called “No-knead bread,” but that title doesn’t exactly capture the simplicity, the beautiful simplicity, of this recipe.

Four ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1⁄4 teaspoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 c. water

1. Mix ingredients. (This takes about 3 minutes, including measuring the ingredients.)

2. Cover in plastic wrap. (Another 30 seconds.)

3. Wait 18 hours.

4. Pour the dough onto a floured surface (I use a Silpat cookie mat), fold it over onto itself a few times, and cover with the plastic wrap. (The dough is very sticky, so washing your hands after this step takes more time than actually performing the task.)

5. Wait 15 minutes.

6. Form the dough into a ball and cover with plastic or a flour-dusted towel. (Again, the sticky fingers are the biggest time-consumer here. Also “a ball” is a rather loose definition for the mound of shaggy dough that you’ll end up with. But that’s OK.)

7. Wait 2 hours.

8. Preheat over to 450 degrees. As oven heats, also heat up a 4- to 8-quart heavy covered pot that can withstand such heat. (Le Creuset pots don’t work unless you remove the handle.)

9. Turn the dough into the pot and shake the sides to evenly distribute the dough. (About 2 minutes.)

10. Cover and bake 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake 15 to 30 minutes.

That’s it. You get a beautiful loaf of yummy bread for less than 10 minutes of hands-on work. You can stir yummy things into the dough during step one – I’ve tried garlic salt instead of normal salt, cheese and rosemary.

The NY Times writer mentioned that readers had called this recipe “life-changing.” I was intrigued but dubious – after all, it’s just bread. But, during our first two years in Ukraine, Eric and I ate bread an average of once a month. Maybe less. Now we enjoy it several times a week. It makes soup yummy. It makes sandwiches possible. In this small way, it’s changed our lives.

A big day for the male Oldenburgs

Jan. 25 will go down in the record books in our household. Three big events:

1) Professor Eric finished his first week of his Apologetics class. His class of 18 seniors seems interested in the subject matter; one student even stopped him today to comment on how necessary a class it is. Eric was able to do his first full lecture in Russian, but has needed a translator during the other lectures. Though his translator is doing a great job, the pause he’s forced to take between sentences makes him long for the day when he can speak entirely bez perevocheeka – without a translator. He does understand what the students are joking about more than half the time. Hopefully they aren't joking about him the rest of the time!

One big surprise thus far: Figuring that in this not-so-time-oriented society, no one would be getting a jump on class work, he handed out the syllabus, which includes an extra-credit assignment for those so inclined, without actually coming up with the full list of extra-credit options. The next day, four students approached him, eager to get started!


Dietrich sports his KTS onesie (handmade by mommy's friend's husband) in honor of his daddy.

2) Dietrich learned how to make wet razz sounds with his lips. Yesterday I hadn’t even seen him try. This morning, he started trying, but it made such an odd noise that I was afraid he was hurt. By evening, he was blowing like a pro!

3) Dietrich rolled over for the first time! He was on the couch (supervised of course), contorting his body as far as possible. He’s been doing that for about a month now, so I thought, “No big deal.” Until I saw him lift his right leg. That leg’s been the sticking point. Everything else would turn, but he’d keep that leg straight, and it would hold him back. Today he kicked it on over. I’m so proud! Now to go set up on-the-ground play stations, since the beds and couch are no longer safe resting spots.


I didn't get the actual first roll on film, but here's an early attempt.