Life’s New Chapter

There’s never been a doubt that time flies fast. But THAT FAST?! Been itching to return to blogging for some time, and then the reality of the fact that my last post was three (3!) years ago totally hit me! Wow, how recently it was that we expected our precious little boy, and yet how long ago!… God, am I grateful that You are beyond time! 

So…. What amazing, challenging, unforgettable three years it has been! On February 13 (yes, indeed, three years ago on this day) we were blessed with our third child, our sweet little Matthew.

  

  

Matthew, or how we lovingly call him Matviyko, had fit right in! Just a perfect addition to our family. Today we are celebration his third birthday. 

Happy Birthday, Matviyko! You are an amazing boy, a precious son, a sweet brother, and one really cool dude! 😉

 

I am eager to share more about the many blessings we’ve experienced as a family during these three years. But let’s take it one step at a time! 

Love being back here 🙂

In The Nesting Mood

Wow, I don’t find myself that very interesting in keeping up my blog anymore! There are so many wonderful things to share, yet I have completely occupied my mind (AND my time) with something else – getting ready for the our new baby’s arrival! It seems I had a late start with this child – usually I would have been all set to go by now (the due date is February 12th!). But when you already have two kids, the third one seems such a natural thing that you almost forget to prepare! 🙂

We have finally set up the crib and a dresser/changing table, I have washed all there is to wash for the little one (hopefully!), bought two huge boxes of diapers :), and in the true spirit of nesting have started a huge task of tidying up the whole house :):):). Now, that is quite a challenge, you should know, as it also means going through dozens of boxes in our garage that haven’t yet been sorted out since we moved here half a year ago!! The most unbelievable thing is that I actually enjoy it! It definitely must be pregnancy hormones, dimming my conscience! 😉 The Salvation Army will truly enjoy the large bags of stuff I’ve set aside for them to pick. And my husband just might stop calling our garage a big dump! 🙂

As for the baby, he is enjoying himself, as far as I can tell. Now he managed to move himself into a breech position, just weeks before being born (no, it happened BEFORE I did all the bending and cleaning! :)). None of my two kids did that, so this one might be special in his own way. Tonight my husband and I enjoyed looking through baby pictures of our two older children, and now can’t wait to see what kind of personality will our little Matthew Peter have!..

Reflections…

The holidays have come and gone, leaving us happy and tired. The kids had the most fun, of course! Opening the gifts, cracking the party poppers and goofing around is a fail-proof ticket to a great celebration. Although I must admit I was totally wiped out and exhausted, I am grateful to God for yet another wonderful time He gave to us as a family!..

Ahh, the beauty of a peaceful Christmas morning, before the gang is awake...

Kids are working on their gifts! 🙂

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Last Friday our son had a Christmas party at his school. I was responsible for bringing birthday cupcakes. Since the theme was Jesus’ Birthday, I really wanted the cupcakes to reflect it. So shopping I went…

I checked several party stores along with other larger retailers/grocery stores in search of anything that would at least remotely mention the true reason of the holiday. Nothing. There were snowmen, trees, gingerbread people, but nothing Christ-mas-y.

The cupcakes were baked and lovingly decorated with light green frosting and festive sprinkles, but I still felt that something was missing. Good thing there’s always Google! After looking through a dozen of sites, I came across something that actually made me quite happy. A template for a “Happy Birthday, Jesus!” cupcake toppers! And it was right there, just in the next blog! 🙂 Thank you,  Di !

I decided I didn’t want my toppers to be that big, so I chose a “two pages per sheet” setting at my printer and, as a result, got very cute little circles with the message I was looking for – “Happy Birthday, Jesus!” I really shouldn’t disclose how late I stayed that night, cutting out little thingies and gluing them on toothpicks, but next morning they were the centerpiece of the party!

I was so glad that our kids actually got to celebrate the true meaning of the season – the birth of our Saviou Jesus Christ! The cupcakes were gone to the last morsel, and everyone had lots of fun!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

A Borrowed Treasure…

Blogging can be very rewarding! One of the benefits is actually getting to meet other bloggers and sharing in their wealth of knowledge and experience.

Here is a video I came across on Natasha’s blog. I think it is such a great idea to implement in any church:

It made me think of what MY sign would say.

What would YOUR sign say?..

All In One Place

Finally my dear husband is back from his week-long trip to China. It feels so good to have the whole family in one place! Praise God for Illya’s safe travels and return home!..

We were somewhat concern about his flight, as he had a layover in Seoul, Korea. The latest news were not too comforting…

 

South Korea to conduct firing drills from border island

South Korean marines on Sunday patrolled on Yeonpyeong Island, the site of a North Korean shelling attack last month.

Dec 19, 2010

YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea (AP) — South Korea says it’s going ahead with live firing drills from a border island despite a threat by North Korea to retaliate.

An officer says South Korean Marines will conduct the artillery drills on Yeonpyeong Island, the site that was shelled by a North Korean artillery barrage last month.

The officer also says that South Korea’s military will “immediately and sternly” deal with any possible provocation by North Korea.

People on the island have been ordered to evacuate to underground shelters. Residents of four other front-line islands also were ordered to take shelter.

At the United Nations, the Security Council failed to agree on a statement to address rising tensions on the Korean peninsula. Diplomats say China refused to condemn the North Koreans for two deadly attacks this year that helped send relations to their lowest point in decades.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(Picture was borrowed from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/world/asia/20korea.html?partner=rss&emc=rss)

Have I Killed My Day In Vain?..

 

I have had the laziest day ever! After all the muss and fuss of holiday shopping, packing, shipping, baking, school parties and such, my body demanded some serious rest. So I gave in and slept till after 11 am! It never happens to me! Even if my kids would let me, my body wouldn’t. It just feels like such a waste of time!

Nooo, not today!

And what do you think I did after I finally woke up? Having lost the last grain of conscience, I skipped the breakfast and “good-mornings” and sat at my computer for the rest of the day, designing a photo book on Shutterfly! What makes it worse is the fact that it was my last-minute Christmas gift idea for my mother-in-law (who, by the way, was the one watching kids all this day!) Actually, for quite some time I have wanted to make a sort of a photo almanac, featuring the pictures that she had taken – she takes tons of them! – and give it to her as a gift. But to me, just the thought was intimidating. I mean, we now have 4,000+ pictures taken just by her! And those are just covering this very year of 2010!!! (I am NOT counting the pictures taken by me or my husband).

But she has been so good to me. I just wanted to give her something very special. Something above the average. So I braved the photo book idea.

I know she will love it. I can’t wait till it arrives and then till the Christmas Day when I can actually give it to her!.. I’ll make sure to take plenty of pictures of her facial expressions when she opens her gift! (Wouldn’t that make a good start for the next year’s photo book?! ;))

Our Year 2010 In Pictures

Best eczema remedy so far…

This post might seem totally out of place since I have lately switched to the Christmas theme and mood. However, I feel compelled to share this piece of information for the sake of those who might  be going through the same struggles as we are in our house.

The thing is, our younger child has suffered from a bad case of eczema for most of her life. It all started when she was about 4 months old. Her face and scalp would cover with red oozing blotches every time she’d have anything with dairy or gluten (through my milk or directly, e.g. munching on a piece of bread). My son was, too, allergic to dairy so I knew the drill – exclude all dairy products from my diet. But with Daryna it was worse. Even the smallest residue of gluten, dairy or soy would make her little body ooze and itch. Our allergy saga was long and painful and deserves a separate post on this blog. But because of this condition, my daughter has developed eczema which is still a problem, although it seems that she has outgrown her allergies.

Daryna’s skin is still very dry and scaly. We have seen many doctors, from pediatricians to dermatologists to allergy specialists, seeking a solution for her skin condition. We have tried every cream and ointment available – Aveeno, Eucerin, Cetaphyl, all sorts of ezcema relief creams, Rx ointments, corticosteroids, oils,.. – you name it. None of them has seemed to really help. Daryna would still wake up at night, crying and complaining of being all itchy. Some nights she would scratch her back to the point of bleeding! The only two things that brought a partial relief were bath salts and colloidal oatmeal bath treatments. I buy salt in bulk from http://www.saltworks.us and put only a cupful of it in a children’s bath tub (not as it’s described on the site).

A few months ago we had to relocate due to my husband’s work situation, so I was forced to look for a new pediatrician. The new doctor seemed very concerned with Daryna’s skin condition. She recommended a product which at first I considered another useless stuff. However, after using it regularly as prescribed, I noticed that my daughter’s skin had smoothed out significantly, it wasn’t rough or scaly anymore, and she had stopped scratching herself!

I was bathing my daughter tonight and just couldn’t help but love her smooth little belly and back that felt like the baby skin should! I promised myself I’d tell the world about that “miracle remedy” that has helped my baby feel so much better.

It is called Derma-Smoothe Scalp Oil. It is an Rx item, so you’d still need a prescription for it. I just wonder how come none of the many doctors/dermatologists I’d seen never mentioned it to me! I wish I had known about this medicine earlier!

DERMA-SMOOTHE/FS®

fluocinolone acetonide topical oil 0.01%

(SCALP OIL)

http://www.hillderm.com/products/prescription/derma-smoothe-scalp-oil.shtml

http://www.drugs.com/cdi/derma-smoothe-fs-scalp-oil.html

To use the body oil in children: Moisten the affected area, and then apply a thin layer of Derma-Smoothe/FS Scalp Oil twice a day for up to 4 weeks or as directed by your doctor. (We apply it once a day after a bath on the moist skin).

I hope Daryna’s atopic dermatisis will soon be a thing of the past. In the meantime, I’ll continue with salt and oatmeal baths, finished off with Derma-Smoothe.

Here, I’ve kept my promise to myself! Hopefully, somebody will find this post useful. Do let me know if anything I wrote here has brought you or your loved one a relief from eczema or dermatisis. This would be the best reward for the time spent writing this post 🙂

The gifts of Christmas

I was caught off guard when last night at the church banquet the MC asked me what Christmas meant to me. I tried hard to put into words everything Christmas is, but there was so much left unsaid!

To me, Christmas is much more than a mere holiday. Since very childhood I was taught about the true meaning of this very special time of the year. My mother was a true believer, a sincere Christian, whose life was centered around God and living for Him. We as kids always knew that Christmas was ultimately about Christ, God’s only Son, who came to Earth so we might have salvation and eternal life.

It wasn’t until my teenage years that I made Christ my personal Lord and Saviour. But the truths, taught to me a child, were the seeds that led to that decision.

Now I consider Christmas a celebration of the wonderful gifts, given to all people by God Himself:

– the love of God the Creator;

– His mercy and grace;

– the miracle of knowing God intimately through faith in His Son Jesus;

– the transformation of lives of those who are willing to humbly accept the lordship of Christ;

– the abundance of blessings that are beyond our material world: love, joy, peace, hope;

– God’s presence in our daily lives.

Of course, Christmas is also a wonderful time to spend with the family, to share those heavenly gifts with the loved ones, to enjoy the comfort and warmth with a circle of friends, to express love to each other in so many ways.

I am a giver in the family. To me, the best pleasure is to be able to get the gifts that would bring joy to others. This year is no different. I can’t wait to see the faces of my kids when they find their presents under the Christmas tree. Here is what I got for them this year:

– for my charmer of a son I got the Knight in Shining Armor costume set. He is a huge Backyardigans fan, and the Mighty Knights episode has been played in our house more than you want to know! Besides, he is naturally such a gentleman:

I also got him an R/C RoboRover from Ross, which – I’m sure – he will enjoy as much as being a knight :).

– for my sweet daughter I got a set of curved rails to compliment our Lego Duplo train collection and a children’s digital camera since she is such an avid photographer:

– for my dearest husband – the Kindle lighted leather cover because he takes his Kindle everywhere he goes, and the built-in light is such a wonderful addition (saw it in action, fell in love with it forever!);

– for my mother-in-law – umm, still struggling… A Garnier Ultra Lift Cream with wishes of eternal beauty, perhaps, since I know she liked this product in the past, and a set of fragrant candles (always her favorite);

– for the kids of my friends – Spin Art Centers from lakeshorelearning.com (a big hit with my kids, not expensive but unique and entertaining):

– for myself, I actually consider it a gift to be able to buy presents for the above mentioned folks! 🙂 I am sort of hoping for a small video camera to be able to capture the days of our lives, but since my husband is in charge of buying all the gadgets I will leave this up to him.

There are a few other people for whom I’ve got the tokens of our love and attention, but let me not bore you with ALL the details :). Now that most of the gifts are wrapped, all I have to do it wait till the Big Day!

Though my gifts are not exactly the drummers, pipers, doves and “a partridge in a pear tree”, I am sure we’ll all have plenty of fun and joy on the Christmas morning when we, along with opening our presents, will also open our heart to give praise to the One who allows us to live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).

Christmas is upon us!

The Christmas season is finally here! The tree in the park was lit last week, the city is all decked in lights and festive decorations, the stores are buzzing with shoppers seeking the perfect gifts for their loved ones. Even this notorious queen of procrastination has managed to set up her own Christmas tree in the house AND make a gingerbread house with the kids!

Our very first gingerbread house!

Let’s figure it out…

“I wonder who lives in this house!”

A gingerbread girl was quite delicious…
Needless to say, she didn’t make it to the set 🙂

Kids are working on details.

In the afternoon we went to a Christmas Banquet, hosted by the Slavic Church in Mission Viejo.

As always, the music and singing was top notch,

the food was delicious and enjoyed to the last morsel,

and there was so much love in the air!

Tomorrow will bring more fun and joy as we will hang the icicles on the outside of the house and I will finish my Christmas wrapping…

Merry Christmas, everyone! Merry Christ-mas!..