Johnny Cash vs. The McIlravy's

There's that song by Johnny Cash, "I've Been Everywhere Man". I think we have him beat. It feels like we have been everywhere! Don't worry I won't break into song.

August was crazy. We went to visit Granny and Papaw in Minnesota which included side trips to Oma's and Great Grandma and Grandpa's house. There were tractor rides (thanks Loren), there was airplane flying (thanks Merlyn), there was semi-truck driving (at least pretend, thanks Ed!), movies were watched in the Granny Vanny, kids of all ages were spoiled. It was crazy.

Then it was off to Omaha with Marisa's family. We did Valentino's buffett, swimming, the children's museum (highly recommend this, it's contained educational chaos!), more swimming, flooded the hot tub (not entirely our fault) and Misha fell out of bed!

Next, I know you have all been waiting for this! GOOSE HUNTING OPENER! I know! The excitement was probably killing you. So it was back to Minnesota where cranky mama (Marisa) put a hault on the "side trips" (she was tired of competing with Johnny). Both of the boys got to "hunt" with Papaw and Papa. Good time was had by all. Marisa and Twilla went on a cooking marathon which produced freezer meals of breakfast burritos, turkey hotdish, chicken hotdish, lasagna and chicken enchiladas...both Twilla's and Marisa's freezers!

Jason made a couple quick trips to the Quad Cities and Waterloo for work. Marisa jumped on a jet plane and headed for India. No I did not mean Indiana, I meant India. It was great! The people are so amazingly nice. It made Marisa think that we American's treat our guests horribly. She ate the whole trip everything from pastries, pasta, crepes, satay's, Indian food, twisted mac n' cheese, Pizza Hut, Indian sweets, cereal, brats...everything! The work part of the trip was good too. Marisa loved meeting the teams that she's been working with for years. They seemed to like having her there because they asked when she was coming back (january...shhh).

Meanwhile, Jason called in re-enforcements, our underpaid nanny. She goes by the name Granny. The kids and Jason loved having her at the house. Granny and the kids played, made cookies, ate cookies, played some more. Granny also helped out with food prep, cleaning, grocery shopping and who knows what else I'm forgetting.

AND THEN....it was DEER SEASON! I know, you thought that goose opener was exciting. Holy cats hang onto your hat. Deer season is here! Jason has a bow this year. So we have switched from giant chunks of metal to thin sticks of wood as our method of attack...not sure on the logic of that but we will see how the season progress's.

With Deer season came our first trip to Urgent Care! Marisa always thought her first trip there would be for one of the younger boys....no, it was Jason. Covered in spots from head to toe! The happy part of this is when you are covered in spots, all those coughing, sneezing, oozing people in Urgen care don't want to sit next to you. Have no fear, it was just a reaction to some medication he was on. A few days of steriods and no sleep and he was almost as good as new.

Deer season also took us out to the farm to see Grandma and Grandpa. We got to ride in the tractor, the ranger and the combine (thank you Gerald!). Misha, who is always observant, noted that a cow would not fit through the combine. Not that we tried. He just decided a cow was too big.

And THEN was our first Halloween. We partied all weekend. Marisa's office had a family Halloween event on Friday, firemen and police department had a festival on Saturday, Night Eyes at the Zoo was Saturday, Sunday was a fall festival at the church and since we live in Iowa it was Beggar's night (Marisa still thinks all trick or treating should be done on Halloween). So it was a full weekend of costumes and candy. Misha declared himself Bob the Builder for the weekend and Alik was frequently referred to as Spidy.

Next Stop! Trains and reptiles...

Where does the time go?!

I had the privelege (yes it was a privelege Laura) of sitting next to our friend Luara in class a couple weeks back (ok, so it was like a month ago). One of the first things out of Laura's mouth was "When are you going to update your blog?!". So yet again my motivation for updating is someone chewing me out for my delinquency. By the way it was one of the best classes ever and at least half of that was due to Laura being in class with me. Thanks for making it a great day!

We are good...actually phenomenal.

Alik turned 6 in July. We had a small celebration with friends and family. There was a water fight/sprinklers in the backyard. No one was hurt but several innocent bystanders ended up wet. We had cupcake ice cream cones (thanks for the idea Justin!). The kids (big and small) love them. I even saw one kid liking the cupcake like it was an actual ice cream cone. Alik received wonderful gifts. Many themed around Spiderman who he loves. Actually almost any super hereo is on the "amazing" list right now. Granny, he "lived" in his Spiderman costume the following day.

Alik is getting ready for school. He is super excited to start school and to ride the bus. We are hoping his excitement for school does not fade to quickly. Since all his school prep previously was in Russian, he is worked with a tutor 3 times a week to help ensure that he does not start kindergarten behind everyone else. Other then that he spends his days playing at Lindsey's. He likes the other kids there and enjoys playing with all her cool toys. We think he has some Grandma Van Hal in him (Marisa's grandma). Today he asked if he could wash the basement. I'll let your imagination run with how that would work (sprinkler and hose?). Since we were already working on the vehicles he got to vacuum the truck instead, which he loved.

Misha. Holy cow. The kid can eat. But he has not gained any weight! He's shot up an inch though....but his 2T shorts still are loose...they are just a little short (not quite 80's style). He insists that he is turning 6 next and will be going to school soon. We hope these two do not loose their enthusiasm for school....Marisa wishes that she had that level of enthusiasm for school.

Jason bought a bow this spring. He practices at least 2 or 3 times a week. Hopefully our freezer will be full of venison again this winter thanks to him. His new job (still with Deere) is going well and he is enjoying it. He's staying busy and seems to always have 2 shadows....which he loves! Wood working projects have slowed down, although there is a butcher block top that he's going to strip of it's finish so we can use it for meat processing.

Marisa is keeping all of her boys moving in the right direction. Menus, grocery lists, to do lists, food prep, laundry, doctor runs, etc.... Dont' get us wrong super hubby is doing a lot of that too. Marisa is back in school and has finished her first semester back. Looks like she'll pass her class. After a short break she'll start in on the next one. Work is going well for her. Sometimes on the hectic side but she still enjoys it.

It feels like we have been everywhere this summer. Both grandparents, Cananda, Iowa State Fair (where Misha just wanted to see the chickens...I couldn't make that up if I tried), library, tractor rides, inside semi cabs and trailers (thanks Ed!), Oma's, Grandma Van Hals', flying wooden planes with uncle Merlyn, Henry Doorly Zoo, Blank Park Zoo, Costco (we love the samples), doctors, dentists, Como Park Zoo....you name it we've probably been there.

We're busy little bees.....but we're loving every minute of it!!!

Where did the months go?!!

You can thank Julie for this update! I got a single line email from her. It said "Update your blog". I took the hint and here I am....We have been a busy household with much laughter. I think updates should be done oldest to youngest (since it was just Jason's birthday!)

Jason got a new job within John Deere. He is now a Regional Business Process Integrator. Don't worry, I don't know what that means either and I work for the same company. Jason is doing great at work. Currently he is in Waterloo for 3 weeks for some type of testing (they are testing software, not Jason). He's done a couple small projects around the house to help us out with various things. A shelf in the basement, small box for all those tiny forks and spoons, yard work and most recently we did some landscaping. We're not the pros that Justin is but we think we did ok. There's pix in the new Picasa album of our handy work.

Marisa is working hard to keep all her boys, fed, bathed, clothed and heading in the right direction. Organization is her strong point and with all these boys, heaven only knows she needs it! Work is going well. She is now the product owner for StellarSupport.com which is a customer facing website for her Deere. A lot of the same work but a different description. Marisa will be starting school again in June and is looking forward to finishing up her degree (even though it will be years).

Alik is doing great. He is getting into the rhythm of when we go to daycare and when we get to stay home and play with mom and dad. Alik has some interesting theories on life but we try to steer him in the right direction when possible. He LOVES spiderman and for about 4 weeks he could be found in the spiderman costume at Daycare. He got to go to kindergarten round up for 2 hours last week and absolutely loved it! This is huge and we pray and hope his enthusiasm does not fade quickly. Alik loves to help and "help" mom and dad as much as he can. He is always learning new things.

Misha is also doing great. He loves riding in the car. Does not matter where we go. If we are on the move, he is happy. He sleeps with his stuffed chicken every night...I wonder if this is why he doesn't like chicken for supper.... Misha is picking up the language quickly. Of course being the little monkey that he is, he wants to do everything big brother is doing!

We spent Easter in Omaha with part of the McIlravy clan (missed you Matt and Ash!!). Spent a great time at the zoo and swimming in the hotel pool. The boys made progress in their swimming efforts and I'm sure we will have a pair of little fish on our hands soon.

Uncle John and Aunt Cathy stopped on the way back to Indiania. The kids LOVED them and we loved having them here. I only hope that John and Cathy didn't need a vacation from their visit to the McIlravy house!

We had a doggie break through over the weekend. We all co-existed in the backyard! By the end of Sunday, Misha was chasing Brutus around the yard! It was great to see him start to interact more with the dogs and even try to steal their doggie bones away!

Well this tired mommy better head to bed! Good-night everyone!

One month in....

January 22nd is when we arrived home and welcomed Alik and Misha to the US as citizens! Since then we have been busy, busy, busy!

The boys seem happy and the doc has declared them healthy! So we are feeling great. Alik has a little bit of low iron but we are getting that under control. From looking at him and all of his energy you would never guess it!


Marisa is staying home with the boys for about another month. She is working part time from home during the morning and late afternoon evenings. ALL of her co-workers at Deere have been very understanding and helpful during this very important family time. Some days for her are longer then others but they are filled with laughter, great moments and the occasional set of tears.

The kids are exploring everything. Testing boundaries and having boundaries set. They have a good schedule that they follow and know exactly what they need to do everyday. They have seen many new things in the last month. They love riding in the car or truck. Alik is a big helper in the grocery store and around the house with various chores. Misha loves to play and help with sweeping the floor and doing laundry! We hope the laundry thing isn't just a phase!


So far we have been to the doctor, which was a little traumatic for everyone since it was so long and there was blood work and shots and poking and proding... Alik watched Jason get his teeth cleaned and thought that was pretty cool. They both know how to say Walmart and Fareway.

We spent a day at Grandpa and Grandma's farm. The boys and grandparents played hard. Grandpa was asleep at the supper table the boys fell asleep quickly in the truck on the way home. They got tractor rides, saw the cows, pet the kitties, played in the snow and ate everything mom and dad would let them! Jason and Marisa got to spend a little time hunting for shed antlers but came up emty handed. Today was a trip to the vets office. I'm not sure if they were more curious about the "dog doctor" or the cat drinking out of the toilet!

Marisa is trying her hardest to teach them a love of cooking/baking. So far they have made sugar cookies, whole wheat oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (ironically they had a cup of crisco in them), pigs in a blanket, banana nut rolls, helped put the rub on ribs for the smoker and today Misha helped her stir up the beans for the smoker.


Both have "helped" papa in the shop building things. This usually consists of sitting on the workbench with eye and ear protection and a hammer in hand, while Jason slaves away. They also helped papa plant the start of the garden. Since we have a hard time explaining that it will be months before a tomato arrives the boys usually check the tomato plants every day and sadly say no tomatoes. They have now started saying "many many many many din"(days) until we have tomatoes.

Food is hit and miss. I'm guessing this is common for kids. One day they tell you it is tasty and the next day they wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. Oh well, we keep giving them new things. However, by far their favorite is probably hot dogs. Much to Marisa's dismay they have not picked up her love of Chinese food.


Thanks again for all those that are praying for us. We greatly appreciate it. We will try to get better about posting updates. The first month was a little busy to say the least. As we tell the kids each night "Dobre Noche!"

God Provides...

• Sometimes it is in the form of money (thanks to those who contributed in the cause)
• Sometimes it is in the form of clothes (thanks Peter & Wes)
• Sometimes it is in the form of a bucket of chips ahoa and a good magazine (thanks Louann)
• Sometimes it is in the form of chocolate on your birthday (thanks Sveta)
• Sometimes it is in the form of making all your flights (thank God we left Moscow on time)
• Sometimes it is in the form of snowpants (thanks Wes)
• Sometimes it is in the form of a Danenhauer (Thanks Danehauers!).....

Maybe I should explain that one. My friends Brian and Julie Danenhauer just happened to be on the same flight from Atlanta to Des Monies. After 11 hours on a plane with a 3 & 5 year old, granny and I were a little spent. Julie and Brian were well rested and played with the kids for 2 hours in the airport. Then granny and I were having problems getting seats on the plane. Julie and Brian voluntarily gave up their seats, so our family could go home!!!

We are all home, safe and sound. There was a bombing yesterday in Moscow at one of the airports. It was not the airport we traveled through on this trip but thankfully it was not an issue since God brought us home on schedule.

We are "adjusting". There's some screaming, crying, laughing and curious stares....the kids have done all of that too.

I posted a link on the left to some pictures. Alik Stefan McIlravy is 5. Mikhail (AKA Misha) Garrett McIlravy is 3. If you see a pic with a bruise on his nose, some little girl in his home wacked him over the head with a toy....he had to learn sometime to watch out for girls.

The doc in Moscow said the only thing we have to worry about for Alik is when the girls discover him. And for Misha, he is the next drama king. His exact words "George Clooney watch out".

Thanks again for all of you who have lifted us up in prayer. It is greatly appreciated.

They're almost home....

I'll get you all up to date a little bit.....
Marisa and Alina went to the US Embassy to drop off paperwork and get an interview set up. You have to be there between 10 and 11 am to set up the interview(hopefully for the next day.) Traffic is Moscow is somewhat unpredictable and generally quite busy. The normal 90 minute drive took 3 hours. They went as far as they could by car, then got out and ran to the train station, then ran from the train station to the Embassy and they were.... Late. She said the wonerful lady let them schedule the appt anyway for Friday morning at 11:30 am.

Marisa said the US Embassy Interview on Friday has been the easiest part of the process thus far. To quote Marisa.
"Pay this lady, hand the receipt to another lady. Dude says raise your right hand, is all this stuff acurate to your knowledge. Yep. k. sign here. Sign here. read the doctor's note. Do you understand. yep. k. can we change the medical to yes since there's a doctor's note. Sure. K. here's your visas. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE OPEN THE ENVELOPE!
Done"
Marisa will probably want to kill me for for posting that, but those of you who know her well will appreciate it and know it sound's exactly like her.
Everyone will head for the airport at 8:45 am Moscow time(roughly 12am Iowa time) and arrive in Des Moines about 11pm Iowa time. A friend from college works at the airport and offered to take me in to the gate to meet them when they got off the plane. I had no idea that was still possible.
We're excited to be closing out one part of our journey and getting started on a new part of it.
We know that we'll have many more adventures as we move forward as a family. This process has certainly helped prepare us for whatever trials lie ahead. Thank you for all who have been praying for us through this process.
As soon as they're in Atlanta, I can post a few pics(if I remember how.....)

What Day Is It......

Seriously, I'm so messed up on my days. I was awake at 4:30 this morning. The boys were sounds asleep. I'm not sure how long granny slept either.

The boys have been good. We've had a few meltdowns (the boys not granny and I) but that is to be expected. So much is changing in their little worlds and boundaries are being tested. We'll get through it.

Yesterday was all play time. Today Granny and the boys played in the bounce area at city mall while I had the joy of doing paperwork. That's ok. Granny is a rock star with them and enjoys spending time with them.

I get more paperwork tonight while they are in the bath, which they love to be. Granny might get a little soaked but she'll survive.

Any who, the natives are getting restless so I think it's time to go outside.

Thanks to all those that are praying for our journey.
Thank you God for putting the right random english speaking people in our path at the airport. not sure how we would have found out where we were supposed to be when.

Later everybody!

Mom and Granny made it to Sakalin

After a looooooooong trip, the girls made it to Sakalin. I dont' know exactly what time they got in, but it was roughly 50 hours from the drop off at the Des Moines airport until they got into Yuzno-Sakalin.
I haven't heard the exact details, but apherently they were within about 5 minute of landing when they veered off and went to Khabarovsk because ground conditions were too bad to land in Yuzno. Khabarovsk is about 30 miles from China, in part of Mongolia. So now they've been to both Mongolia and Siberia in this trek.
The boys were already asleep when they got in so Svetlana kept them overnight. They were able to get a good nights rest and a shower.
The rest of the trip lays out kind of like this. Monday and Tuesday, getting some paperwork in Yuzno and filling out the rest of the documents needed in Moscow.
Wednesday midday they'll go to Moscow. The boys will have medical exams on Wednesday evening. Thursday morning they'll drop off paperwork and get an appointment at the US embassy. Then Friday hopefully should be the interview at the embassy. Saturday they shoudl head for home.
They'll arrive late Saturday night.

Russia bound

I dropped Marisa and Twilla off ot the airport Friday morning. They go Des Moines to Atlanta to Moscow to Sakalin. It's Saturday morning and I just got a note from Marisa that they made it to Moscow. They were a little late b/c of mechanical problems in Atlanta, but they had a 7 hr layover in Moscow anyway. They're trying to catch a little shuteye before heading on to Sakalin.

Praise

So we are always posting prayer requests. Thought maybe it was time to post some praise and kuddos to those that have helped us along the way.
1. First and foremost, God for taking care of us through this whole process.
2. All those out there that have prayed for us.
3. The marvelous lady at the Air Canada desk that got us to Chicago on the way home.
4. Our drivers in Moscow (Kate and Alexsandra), we have no idea how you ladies do it and appreciate your skills.
5. Aaron for the phone call on Christms day. It was great to hear a friendly voice.
6. Wes for driving us to the airport.
7. The gate agent in Chicago who said we got MEAL and hotel vouchers...this was after 48 hours of barely eating anything.
8. The Judge saying YES!
9. Our host and interpreter in Russia. She is fabulous and really cares for the kids and the families she is helping.
10. The nice airline guy in the Moscow airport, that WOULD answer our questions.
11. The awesome co-worker who gave us 7 garbage bags of clothes!!!
12. Julie for all the research and advice on toys, carseats, booster seats and everything else kid related.
13. Chris the snowplow man for taking care of the driveway.

Thanks everyone for your support and help. We appreciate it all!