Well, our warm spell (of -20 degrees C) has been replaced with the coldest temperatures yet this winter. Saturday it was around -45 degrees C/ -50 degrees F. I guess I won’t be going outside with the kids anytime soon! As the city is heated with coal, there is soot all through the air. And, as our windows are not airtight, soot ends up coming into our apartment as well. I could constantly be wiping soot off of our window sills all throughout the winter. But, even though it doesn’t look so nice, (and it’s probably not the healthiest to be breathing all the time) I am NOT complaining. I would much rather have a warm apartment than clean window sills and walls! And thankfully, our apartment is warm (unless you get too close to the windows). We are very thankful about that!

Here’s a picture of one of our sooty window sills…

… and here’s a picture of one of our ice covered windows. (Thankfully, the ice is on the outside of the window pane, not the inside. :D)

For some reason, I got a little hungry for donuts this past week. I used the excuse that our kids needed to learn what a donut is so that we could make them. We all enjoyed them, and now the kids know what a donut is… and we are all a couple pounds heavier! (Perhaps donut making wasn't such a good idea after all!)

This past week, Micah (finally) got his first tooth! He’s working on his second one now, and hopefully it will cut through soon. The girls think it’s just wonderful that he’s finally getting teeth. So do we!

The girls really enjoy looking at books, especially Dr. Seuss ones. The other day, Nina found a nice quiet place to look at “Green Eggs and Ham”.

I have enjoyed getting back into language lessons this past week. During our lessons this week, we would play the game “Memory” for a while. The kids have a nice Memory game with simple pictures of common objects on each card, which I used. Each time we turned over a card, we would describe as much about the object in the picture as we could. I am very thankful for Snyezhana (my language helper’s) patience, as I struggle to talk and ‘butcher’ her language!

On Friday, Snyezhana came early, soon after we had eaten lunch. She mentioned to me that she had come to our place straight from visiting her son at the hospital. I decided that I would offer her some lunch, as perhaps she had not yet eaten. As I had just learned to ask “are you hungry?” the previous day, I thought that I would practice that new expression with her. So I proceeded to ask her, “ashtap tur sen bay?” (Are you hungry?). Instead of getting a yes or no answer, she gave me a very shocked look. Confused, I asked her if I had said it right. She said, “yes, but you do NOT ask me that”! Still confused, I apologized and asked her what I had said wrong. Isn’t that how she taught me to ask “are you hungry” just the other day?! She told me that one only asks family members if they are hungry, not guests. It was very rude of me and extremely inhospitable to ask her if she was hungry. Instead, I should have asked her if she had eaten yet. I again apologized over and over, and made a mental note to myself that, when learning a practical expression, to make sure I know to whom and when I can say it! Thankfully, I had only asked Snyezhana this, as she understands that I am still in the learning process. Yet still, I could tell that it was quite offensive to her. Something else I can add to my ever-growing Blunder list!

At the beginning of this week, I was feeling quite sorry for myself. (Not a good thing!) I was thinking how dull my life is right now, having to stay inside our apartment behind locked doors every single day with three little kids. David was also working on various things, and was gone for 10 or more hours a day. I was just plain exhausted of being indoors, so far from family and friends, and I allowed myself to indulge in self pity.

Well, He brought me right out of that self pity mood! Wednesday morning at breakfast, David was looking rather somber. He had just listened to the news, so I could tell he was pondering something he had just heard. He proceeded to tell me one of the saddest things I think I have ever heard. In one of the cities in this country (not sure where), a lady died in a tragic accident. As her body was quite destroyed, they had a very difficult time identifying who she was. And as no one was looking for her, it made it even more difficult. Meanwhile, there were two very little girls, ages 2 years and 7 months, alone in an apartment behind locked doors, waiting for their mom to come home. Yet, she never came. Neighbors later said how they heard the girls crying, but it was nothing unusual. Well, after 4-5 days, they were finally able to identify the lady’s body. When they came to the lady’s apartment, they found the two little girls in bed, hugging each other… dead. They had died of starvation.

I have shed so many tears this past week over these two little girls. I’m not sure why, but my heart broke into a thousand little pieces when David told me that story. Perhaps it’s because I look at Nina and Micah, and could never imagine them being left alone in a locked apartment for 5 days! Or perhaps its because I know how much our children need me, their mommy. They need my ever constant attention, love, help, and care. And then I think about those poor little girls, left alone behind locked doors while their mother went away, only to never return. Oh my. It’s just terrible. But you know, it is very common in this country (and I’m sure it happens other places too), for parents to lock their kids in their apartment/house and go away for several hours. One of my mommy friends here will often tell me how she turns on the TV, and locks her 18 month and 5 year old girls inside the apartment as she goes out for the afternoon. And quite often, we hear on the news how children, left alone, barely escape a fire or other dangerous situation. And my heart just aches, aches so much for all those little children left alone for many hours behind locked doors. It is just not right!

I would have loved to have taken those two little girls into our family and given them love and security. But I know that Someone else loves them more than I ever could, and in His mercy and grace, took them out of this terrible, unjust world. I also know that there are thousands of children who are suffering every single day. It breaks my heart.

On a side note, I would just like to say a big thank-you to all of you who have ever adopted a child(ren). Thank-you for opening up your hearts and home to a child, and giving him/her love, a family, and so much more. David and I think adoption is one of the most beautiful expressions of love. Thank-you for showing that love.

All that to say, the rest of the week was much different for me. I was reminded again of how right now, my most important job is taking care of the little ones that have been entrusted to David and I. He has given me a joy for that once more. Our kids have also gotten lots and lots of hugs and kisses from their mommy this week, and their mommy has cleaned-up their many spills and messes with a lot more joy. I am so, so thankful for my wonderful husband and three precious little ones. It’s totally fine that I am ‘stuck’ indoors right now. It won’t always be that way, and how wonderful that I can be ‘stuck’ inside with four wonderfully incredible people!