Dreams do come true

Oy, it's been a long time since posting! I had the best of intentions...


I had three dreams come true in the past month, and want to share my joy. While they aren't the kind of huge, once-in-a-lifetime kinds of dreams, they are still things I'd hoped for and wanted for awhile, and make a significant difference in my life.


The first is that I finally got to decorate. Three and a half years we lived with bare walls except in one room, where we taped up a world map, Belarus map, and calendar. When we first moved here household money went to the basic necessities. (We had to leave all those lovely wedding gifts behind.) Then a little somebody's arrival dominated the family budget, and rightly so. This fall when Dan and I were thinking and praying over staying through a doctorate program, one of the things that made me a little reluctant was the feeling that it would be another three-five years of not "settling down" in the household sense. It's admittedly hard for me as a woman to know that most of our friends back home are buying houses, filling them with furniture and decorations... So, we decided that some money spent making our apartment more like a real grown-up home would be money well allocated. I spent hours on art.com, had posters shipped here in giant tubes, made trips to the one custom framing shop in Minsk, had photos printed to go in frames, and got brave enough to pound nails into our wallpapered walls. It's amazing what a difference it made in the look and feel of our place! It's hard to explain why something that's so far from buying our own home could help so much in feeling more content, settled, ready for the long haul. Here are a couple of my favorite new walls. Dan was very gracious to agree on getting the abstract art he doesn't care for, which I'd paired together in my sleep after an evening on art.com, and had my heart absolutely set on. :)


The second dream come true is the successful start to our church's group for moms of preschoolers, which I'm heading up with a co-leader, Alesya. I was wishing for something like this last winter and spring, going crazy without social interaction with other moms who could relate to this dramatic life change. The fall playgroup I started had a couple fatal flaws and soon disintegrated. This time our group was part of the birth of women's ministries in general in our young church plant. We decided on the structure of meeting twice a month on Wednesday mornings in our apartments, hiring two babysitters, and alternating Bible studies with discussions about parenting and just life. The first meeting in February I had to miss since the morning of, Yanka lost his milk all over me more than once. (I love Tara's wording of "taking one in the cleavage"--that says it all!) I gave Alesya my Bible study questions over the phone and waited to hear how it went. She called back that afternoon so excited! Only a small group had gathered, but they had a great Bible study. Each of the four women gathered said they had no real friends outside of their husbands! Can you imagine? The next meeting was at our place, and I'd invited my American friend Theresa to talk about grace-based parenting, and answer moms' questions (she's a lactation consultant). Our two-bedroom apartment contained ten children and two babysitters, and ten women whose ages spanned twenty years. We had Belarusians, Americans, and Africans; believers and nonbelievers; a single mom and a mom with seven kids. It was amazing. Besides the distraction of kids who wouldn't stay with the babysitters, it couldn't have been better. One non-Christian mom already visited our church. I'm so encouraged by this good start, and have lots of hopes and dreams for this group. It has the potential to bring lonely moms into friendships with women who relate and support, to bring women to Christ and to help Christian moms grow in faith, and to help us better love and raise our children. And those are just the more immediate, tangible results...



The third: I started taking piano lessons. I am too old and have little desire to start classical piano, but have long desired to learn to play by chords. This was actually Dan's Christmas present to me. I want to be able to lead worship, accompany myself singing solos, and use the piano in songwriting. I also just miss playing an instrument. Our worship band at church has a great keyboardist named Slava who agreed to teach me, and our first lesson showed me that he really understands my goals. We went through some music theory and all sorts of different chords and scales, as well as how to train your hands. He gave me some significant homework, too, which is good! This pull towards music, especially to writing and performing my own music, has been there for years, but for different reasons never became anything more than sporadic performances. Part of it is me getting in my own way, but part of it I believe God protected me from becoming successful when I couldn't have handled it. Now if He gives me the inspiration and opportunity to write and sing, I feel, I pray, it would truly be ministry.

Quirky Yanka

This is an amazing time in Ian's development. He walked right out of babyhood with his first steps, and his brain switched its focus from large motor to language. His vocabulary had been pretty stable at about five words for several months, first words including Mama, Papa, num-num, and tickle-tickle. In the last about six weeks especially his vocabulary and sound effect repertoire have exploded! I counted nineteen animal noises alone, not to mention other wonderful sounds Mr. Brown can do (Dr. Seuss). His memory is impressive, too--when we're reading together he often anticipates a page or two ahead with the appropriate word or sound. Yesterday he cracked us up when the girl who had just babysat for us was bowing her head to pray over dinner, and he said, "Amen!" He'll try even the most difficult words, like "pozhalusta" (please and you're welcome). It comes out so cute--"peh-DA-peh-da", with great intonation and the right rhythm. As Great-Aunt Ann says proudly and knowingly, "He's very advanced."

He's also very stubborn. We think Yanka consciously said Papa even before Mama, and said it consistently in the fall. This made Papa very happy. Dan had been saying "Papapapapapapapapapa" for months in an effort to be first. Then, for unexplainable reasons, Ian decided that Dan was also Mama. He absolutely insists that Dan is Mama. He's eager to learn and say everything under the sun except "Papa". We've tried everything--consistent correction, reverse psychology, having Dan only respond to "Papa"... And still he'll point to Dan and say with his sweet, innocent voice, "Mama?", with that mischievous gleam in his eye. Poor Papa.

Euro Road Trip

I think the mark of a good vacation is that you're ready to go, have a great time while you're away, and are happy to come home at the end. This was one of those. We invited our good friend (more like family) and ministry colleague, Becky, to travel with us. Not long after she came to Belarus two years ago, I was sitting by her at the ballet in Minsk when during intermission I said, "I think I might be pregnant", and the next day saw the two pink lines. She's moving back to the States this summer, so it was extra special to take this trip with her.

We've now been home six days from our Central European tour, and I finally have the Shutterfly albums up--one each of Prague and Vienna with 111 pictures apiece (just turned out that way), and a top 25 album of the whole trip for those who aren't grandparents or Europe fanatics. And here is one of my favorite videos ever of Yanka, who appears to be telling us the history of St. Stephens in Vienna. Another group of Americans stopped to listen and take pictures of him shortly after.

Besides the conversations ranging from deeply spiritual to hilarious on our three driving days, we listened to several pretty incredible sermons by Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. He's not only a challenging yet grace-full preacher, but very, very funny.

Ian amazed us with how good a little traveller he was. I never expected to be able to sightsee like we used to pre-baby, but he seemed to truly enjoy our full days of walking around the cities. He endured long car seat stretches like a champ (with Mama's entertainment and snacks, of course). He actually slept "like a baby" at night. (For those of you who have heard about our major sleep issues, you can imagine what a gift this was. The issues started up again upon return, so we're trying to figure out what the difference may be.) He charmed the waitress at the restaurant where we tried wienerschnitzel (which is just an Iowa pork chop, by the way) by saying "Danke". He still doesn't say "thank you" or "spasibo", but repeats "dande" all day long.

I think I'll let the "top 25" album with comments be the official recap for our trip. I'm thankful we had the chance to see "real Europe" while living on this side of the Atlantic. I say "real Europe" because Belarusians claim their country is the center of Europe. Geographically, depending on where you put the eastern border, maybe... It was beautiful and restful, and we're ready to start a new semester of ministry in this not-so-European but beloved place.

If a picture is worth a thousand words...

Winter apparel

You can learn a lot from the details of life. I think these are quite telling about us and our city.

Ian (aka Yanka): The measure of a mother's love and competence in Belarus is how warmly she dresses her child. Perfect strangers on the street (especially babushkas, or grandmothers) feel free to tell me of my failure as a mother, despite the fact that it takes me a minimum of five minutes to bundle my boy. He's incredibly patient for a 14-month-old, laughing at the "where are your toes" game, and only sometimes screaming like a baby pterodactyl or moaning in resignation. The wool-lined snowsuit and fur-lined boots in our picture were bought secondhand from the Belarusian e-Bay--a newspaper.

Me: My freshman year at Iowa State, this Texas girl went winter coat shopping after the first walk through campus in stinging, blowing snow made me cry. I found a Columbia coat in my then current favorite color, periwinkle, only it was a size L. I bought it anyway. Now, my 27-year-old self who's still wearing that two-sizes-too-large coat just sighs at the naivety of my 18-year-old self. Maybe if I'm ever in my third trimester during winter I'll be happy about that choice.

Dan: Perfectly happy with his Belarusian-made winter boots, and while didn't understand why I had to pay three times more for my Finnish boots, let me anyway. (I love my husband!) He has a tendency to lose hats, but still wears the awesome fake fur ear flap hat given to him by his former IV supervisor, Jason Brown, and the dapper leather/tweed cap sent by my mom.

Belarusian women: They are not afraid that their authentic long fur coats and hats will splashed by a bucket of red paint. Only once have I seen a flyer about how wearing real fur is cruel. I myself would someday like to invest in a real sheepskin coat (after all, mutton is sold in the market--why not use the rest of the sheep?), as they are super warm and last 10, 15, 20 years. The fashion statement that gets me is wearing basically a very real, small stuffed creature around your neck--little face in front, and little paws hanging down your back. A little too vivid! ("Because I'm worth it...") You do also see plenty of what we would consider "normal" coats, knit hats and scarves. The other fashion element that baffles me is footwear. Belarusian women like to wear heels, and often wear knee-high stiletto boots even with a layer of ice on the ground. They don't fall, either, which is simply amazing, because snow removal is not what it is in the States. It's most often middle-aged and older women with twig brooms.

The very first entry of my very first blog

I can see why blogs have swept the world! It's been fun just setting this up and imagining the possibilities for connection and creativity. (The template is fun, with a metro map and monument--familiar!) I don't plan on writing lots of deep, philosophical entries (although if one comes naturally, sweet)--just stories and thoughts from my life as a full-time mom living in a foreign country. I'm sure many of my experiences won't differ much from any other mom's, since first steps and words thrill like nothing else in any culture. The cultural uniqueness just adds a fun spin. And not everything will be about Ian and being his mama, either. I have to remind myself sometimes that not so long ago I was "just Amy".


Dan writes great monthly ministry updates, so this will not be a repeat, and I can't post much online about ministry in a "sensitive" country, anyway. If you would like to receive those emails, let me know.


A little about the links: Our Shutterfly site will be added to soon, since we're finally venturing out to Western Europe next week for vacation. Not only does that mean cool pictures of us in Prague, Vienna and Slovakia, but free uploading at hotels with wireless internet. Albums to come include 12-14 month pictures, playgroups, a trip to the market, and Christmas/highlights from Babushka's visit.

I want to let Allosonic's site speak for itself, and will answer questions about it for anyone who is further interested. Cryptic, I know... It's very unique music made by a person close to me. Check it out!

The Wikipedia Minsk article is great, including pictures of places we see all the time.

Anna Dahl is a little girl of almost three who is battling neuroblastoma. (She's the niece of our friends, Kurt and Tara Lewis.) I'd like to invite you to read the honest and faith-filled updates her parents write, and join thousands in praying for her and her family.

Enjoy, and love to all!