the week in review

Tom's parents are back with us... they traveled last week and left us alone in the house. Fortunately, we were all good and nothing got broken while they were away.

We did have an issue trying to make microwave popcorn. I teased Tom for burning a bag and then I did the same thing. At least the burned popcorn smell was gone before they got back home!

We had a quiet week. Most of the time we were not even in the same room with one another. Tom watched Basketball in one room, Spencer was on the computer, I watched TV in another room and Nathan was either at work or in his room on the computer.

Yesterday, we went to New Beginnings Church of God as a family. Nathan didn't have to go to work until 3:30 so we were able to enjoy the service and then lunch afterward. Spencer and I had gone the week before and I had dropped one of our prayer cards in the offering plate and asked them to pray for us. This week when we greeted the pastor after the service he recognised us and said that he had been praying for us!

After lunch we came back to the house and Tom's folks were here. They had just gotten off the road. Tom watched a basketball game and then took a nap. Nathan had to go to work and Spencer and I took off to check out a new Borders.

As Spencer was buying a Russian history book the cashier, Esther, told him about an author who is very popular in Russia right now. Boris Akunin is a mystery writer. She didn't know if it had been translated into English or not. She had read the book in German. After chatting with her a bit we thanked her, left Border's and went over to Barnes and Noble and found several books by Akunin. We came home with only two. The Turkish Gambit and Sister Pelagia & the White Bulldog.

As Spencer and I talked about The Turkish Gambit we realised that we have already seen the movie. We have also seen another movie based on a novel of his called The State Councilor. Both of these movies broke box office records in Russia.

Sudoku

Have you heard about this game?

Do you play it?

Tom got hooked on Sudoku and he kept trying to explain it to me but I was not getting it. Then two nights ago he tried again...I finally got it! I did so many out of his book that he had to go out and buy me one of my own.

I prefer using a printed copy than playing online. You can even find good explanations online if you don't have Tom around to explain it for you!

Give it a try... if I can do it anyone can!

a few days off

I apologize for not doing daily updates!

As we traveled the Southwest we were in places where I did not have internet access. And this week we are trying to get some much needed rest. We will be back on the road in May.

Nathan has a few days off and we are spending sometime with him. He and Tom enjoyed watching Borat together last night and today Nathan and I watched the Lemony Snicket movie A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Thanks for understanding the need for some down time. If anything exciting happens I will sit down and blog about it!

glamorous life

While we were in Redding this is where we stayed. Spencer and I joked about our glamorous life of traveling!

Thank goodness the motel was clean and quiet. We even felt safe enough to walk around in the area.

off roading

We are back in New Mexico.

We are tired.

My arms are sore from driving during the heavy winds yesterday.

Spencer is tired, he didn't sleep well last night.

Tom is still having back pain.

We are evaluating how much more traveling we can do. The price of gas is high and we want to be good stewards of our energy and our resources.

We know that we need to go to Dallas again and we need to be in Kansas in May. At least we get a short break until then!

traveling with a trailer

We will pull out of California today pulling a trailer. I am not sure how I feel about this. At least I won't have to drive it on the kind of mountains that we drove on the way to Oregon.

We have about twenty boxes... the last of our belongings that connected us to California. It feels like we are officially leaving our home state of 17 years. Tom, Spencer and I are all looking forward to getting back to Albuquerque. Being there means not being off the highway for a bit and getting some rest!

road weary

Tom, Spencer and I are all feeling wiped out. We are tired of being in the car. We want our own beds and our own pillows...How is that for whining!


We had a great time meeting the people at the church in Eugene. We enjoyed lunch in Brownsville with Randy and Roger. We laughed our heads off with Ashley, Nicole, Diane and Ivey in Modesto. We were excited to have dinner in Castaic with Joann and her kids.

Each time we meet with someone new the experience is priceless. The cost of all this is mostly physical. Tom is having a lot of back pain. And my muscles are feeling tight and achy. Last night Tom was in so much pain he wanted me to take him to the doctor. I had taken two Tylenol PM's and was not fit to drive so he had to ask the couple we are staying with to take him. He got a shot and some pain meds. We will start trading off more frequently when we leave for New Mexico on Tuesday.

Please pray for our health and our travel. Pray that we raise the funds needed to make the transition to career. We are grateful that God called us to work in Russia and we are eager to get back to work on language, relationships with Russian nationals and service in the community.

Beautiful place for back spasms!!

We are currently in beautiful Oregon! None of us have ever been here before & we are blown away by God's majestic beauty. Tuesday we had a meeting with the Missions Board from a local church. Some of the Board members had been to Krasnodar last year to do some building at the BLTC & Axtirka Rehab Center, so it was very good to see familiar faces again.
We have been in 5 States in 6 weeks and are very tired! Tom has been having back spasms due to so much driving, etc. He was down Saturday night & Sunday. (Please pray for his healing.) Alida & Spencer were mobile on Easter Sunday & attended their first Easter Service IN ENGLISH! in two years. We were in Redding, CA at the time.
We have another meeting tomorrow & then will be headed back to California. Friday we will see friends in Modesto. Saturday we will drive to Orange County. Sunday we will be back at our home church in Capo Beach & are excited about seeing so many friends & supporters!
Talk to you soon!

Oregon!

We left our friends up near Yosemite on Saturday and drove to Redding. Today is Monday and we just got into Eugene, Oregon. It is lush and green here. We don't have much time here in the internet cafe... we arrived too close to closing time!

We spent Easter in Redding, California. We attended Redding Christian Fellowship. After the service we let the pastor there know how much we enjoyed the message and how blessed we were. Spencer and I enjoyed it a lot. Tom was back at the hotel. His back has been hurting and he had not gotten much sleep the night before so I did not want to wake him up.

We have meetings here in Eugene and in a few surrounding cities and then we head back to California on Friday.

We are staying in a very comfortable and lovely looking cottage. We have enough room for each one of the three of us to have a separate place to retreat to for some alone time. We have had a lot of family togetherness over the past 6 weeks!

driving!

We left Orange County and are in the mountains now!

We are in the Sierra Forest and the drive up here was gorgeous. We are enjoying the time here with Bill and Judy. Judy and Tom worked together with Overcomers Outreach. Judy and Bill moved up here about five years ago.

As we were driving up here Tom was remarking on how he could live here in the area. It is a peaceful.

We have no idea where God will lead us when our time working in Russia is finished!

today's update

It is time to pack up the suitcases and head out. We go to San Clemente today and will be there until Friday.

We have dinners and lunches scheduled with various people until we leave for Oregon on Friday.

Thursday we have doctor appointments scheduled. We have not seen our family doctor since our move to Russia two years ago. Tom, Spencer and I are all looking forward to seeing her again. No one is having any major problems it is just time for a check up.

How often do you hear about people looking forward to sitting in a doctor's waiting room? I guess we are still adjusting to being here in America!

still kickin it in Cali

We are still here in California for a little while longer. We have to go to another city to have internet access as the home we are staying in does not have internet. That feels weird but it is nice to take an online break.

Right now we are in a cafe down in Costa Mesa. Each country we have have visited has had some type of internet cafe where you can play online computer games or use the internet. Along with that come the highschool or college age crowd that swears. It is interesting to be in Russia or Ukraine and still hear the "F" word in English. Here in Costa Mesa is no different. It seems to be so ingrained in the speech of these young people they cannot seem to put together a sentence without saying it.

We plan to be down in the San Clemente area next week and after that we will head for Oregon. Right now we are not sure where we will be for Easter Sunday. This will be our first Easter in America in two years. I for one am looking forward to it!

the last of the boxes

Spencer, Tom and I went down to Aliso Viejo to get the last of our belongings out of storage. We will be taking them back with us after we leave Oregon and go back to New Mexico. It was a little sad to move the boxes... part of us was still connected here through our things.

We had lunch with Mark. He had just returned from a short term missions trip in Uganda. It was fascinating to hear his tales. He is interested in coming to see us in Russia. We are looking forward to that!

Last night we went down to Capo Beach to The Bridge. It was the perfect night to attend. They celebrated sobriety birthdays and also did communion. One of the men there has 21 years of sobriety. He is now 77 years old. His testimony was amazing. There were over a 100 people there and we were so glad to be a part of such a special night!

check this out!

I took Spencer over to visit his friend Kaz in our old neighborhood. While he was at Kaz's house I checked out the Family Christian Bookstore in the area. When another woman behind the counter heard me tell the girl who was waiting on me that I didn't want to fill out a club card application "because I live in Russia", it led to her asking me questions in Russian. I got to practice there in the store! She has been to Moscow for short term trips. She took one of our prayer cards and then prayed with me right there in the store. That is the first time that has ever happened. Usually people will say that they are going to pray for you and then you smile and leave. She grabbed my hand and said "let's pray right now!" Thanks so much Jodi for encouraging my soul today!


We found an internet cafe not far from where we used to live. I saw a comment from Michelle on on my blog and decided to check out a post she wrote in honor of Spencer: click here She has listed ways to know if you are a missionary kid. The list is priceless. I love the one about spelling... Spencer spells better in Russian than he does in English!

Celebrity sightings and an update

When Tom was in California last he saw the guy who plays Hurley on Lost... yesterday I was at church in LA and I saw Loretta Devine. I love her work and it was exciting to see her! Since it was church I didn't take my camera... and I don't think it would have been right to bother her when she is trying to connect with God!

I am visiting with Erin today and she let me get online... I am sure she could see that I was going through withdrawal! I don't know how often I will be able to check in since we don't always know whether the people we stay with will have internet access.

I talked with Nathan the other day and he has started his new job. We are so proud and excited for him.

Spencer is wishing that we would be in one spot long enough for him to learn how to drive. But, we have a lot of ground to cover before we go back to Russia.

Tom is going to see about getting our things out of storage and we need to get in to our family doctor for check ups while we are here in California.

The drive from New Mexico to Arizona was beautiful. Our next road trip will take us from California to Oregon. Hopefully, we will get a vacation in among all the work we are doing!

Tom, Alida, and Spencer are on a mini-vacation in California, and enlisted Nathan to post this blog entry for them. The house they are staying at doesn't have a computer, so it will most likely be several days before Alida can post to her blog again.

Arizona

I just got back from a meeting with an on line friend. This was the first time I have met someone from a message board. We went to Starbucks and chatted for over an hour!

The drive here from Albuquerque was wonderful. It was so beautiful to see the terrain along the way. We leave for California in the morning. And I can hardly wait!

new stuff

don't take a family picture with the sun beating down on your faces!















Move to the backyard where the shade is!








This is the photo that will grace our new prayer cards. No, it is not centered and that is on purpose... now there is room for text. Tom is working on the prayer cards and we will give those out during our travels!

Our current prayer concerns:
raising support to career level to provide for long term needs
not to lose any of our language skills while in the States
safety as we travel

If you would like a copy of our newsletter please email us at: Sharps4RussianRecovery@juno.com


Please click here for the new information on where to send gifts and monthly support.

what do you do?

I finally got a chance to put my pictures on photobucket.com so I could post some photos from the road trip we just finished.

This is a photo of the first thing Spencer did after getting to the hotel in Amarillo a few days ago. The car was unloaded and he decided to relax. I like taking a photo in the room or of the front of the hotel to remember where we stayed.

What do you do after getting into your hotel room?

Sleep Issues!

Fibromyalgia is something that I struggle with on a daily basis. Sleep is an issue for me so when I got this newsletter today I decided to share this article!










Vol. 7, No. 3

Get a Better Night’s Sleep

We all know that sleeping troubles go hand-in-hand with fibromyalgia. But did you know there are some simple ways you can help yourself ease those troubles? Try these tips, straight from the FM patients who have benefited from following them.

Check your sleeping surface. At a friend’s suggestion, Susan Kuske of Eagan, Minn., replaced her 20-year-old mattress with a new one that had extra padding. It has “helped significantly for morning stiffness.” Mattress pads have proven helpful for some patients, too. Heated pads are also available.

Consider a sleep study. Maybe your difficulty sleeping is simply part of your FM symptoms—but maybe the trouble stems from a different disorder altogether, like sleep apnea. Pinpointing the exact cause of your sleep troubles, and the ways they manifest themselves, will make it easier for you to manage them.

Talk with your doctor about medications that may help—and try doing some homework beforehand. For instance, Paula Reid takes melatonin, a naturally-occurring hormone that regulates the wake-sleep cycle. “I do not only take the melatonin during the evening for retiring, but also during the daytime,” she says, “and find that it is helpful to some extent with the pain.”

Set up the bedroom for sleep success. Make sure to eliminate sources of light—not just lamps, but also television screens—that may be cuing your brain to stay awake. Try an eye-mask, earplugs, or a sound machine that plays ocean waves or birdsong for extra assistance in blocking out disturbances. Lila Peck sprays her bedding with a linen spray she makes herself, scenting the sheets with lavender and sandalwood to help her fall asleep.

Pay attention to what you’re paying attention to! Does the nightly news make you feel anxious or sad? Consider getting your news from a different source earlier in the day. Do crime dramas tense you up? Try eliminating them for a while.

Exercise. FM patients are used to hearing about the benefits of exercise—but you may not realize it can also help your sleeping patterns. Studies indicate that moderate exercise helps improve quality of sleep. “I walk at least 30 minutes a day and feel that it is an important factor overall, but also for sleep,” says Kuske. “I often use my break at work to walk. Clears my head and helps my body!”

Maintain a consistent sleep schedule. Try to go to sleep at the same time every night, and to wake up at the same time every morning (even on weekends!). This will get your body into the habit of resting during those same hours each day.

Eliminate caffeine, alcohol, and other stimulants including tobacco.

Develop a bedtime routine. Kuske likes to read the Bible or another book with a positive message before she goes to sleep. Other patients may play relaxing music or make lists of things they are grateful for. Using a self-massage machine, or getting a massage from a loved one, can also make it easier to relax and fall asleep.

Margaret McGing recommends keeping a “sleep journal.” “Include the times you go to sleep, wake up, what you ate/drank that day, when you ate/drank, when/what forms of exercise [you did], and record how often and what times you might wake up during the night,” she suggests. Yes, it’s tedious—“but very helpful to a neurologist if one should continue to have problems and seek help,” she says.

Restrict your daytime napping. Even if you feel tired, try to nap for only 20 minutes or so—otherwise when it’s time to hit the hay that night, you may have trouble falling asleep.

*************

My husband does not seem to have a problem with the last item... he rarely misses his daily nap and can still go right to sleep at night. Tom reminded me the other night about a time when Spencer was little and he announced to his Dad how easy it is to get to sleep.

Spencer's wisdom... lay down, close your eyes and wait!