A Day at the Texas State Fair

It was a beautiful day. One of our last family activities before we leave. Big Tex was all dressed up. The Deragon and Sanchez families accompanied us. Jason and his family were involved with soccer all morning, so they had to skip the event. Pictured above is the great Texas ferris wheel, just opposite a portion of the giant Midway (everything is big in Texas!). Unfortunately, little dancing eyes (Eden) got sick, so the Sanchez family had to retire early. But the Deragons marched on and we with them. It was so much fun watching the boys go on rides. They are definitely thrill seekers. There was nothing that stopped this trio. Savannah seemed to have a good time. She never said a word the whole day. Of course, her vocabularly is quite limited at one year of age.

Medications

I spent a trying two hours on the phone yesterday, trying to get approval to purchase our prescriptions three months at a time. Insurance companies!! Murmur, murmur!! We still have to figure out a way to get them to Russia after we purchase them locally. I was told by someone with experience that mailing them doesn't work, because they won't clear customs. So, if we get approval, we will have to mail them to somebody in Salt Lake City and then have them couriered to someone who is traveling to Moscow. We will have to coordinate that 6 times while we are gone. That is the best case scenario!!

Вы говорите по-русски?

Recently returning home from a short trip to visit my parents in California, I approached the ticket agent at the American Airlines counter, who had a tag that said Russian Agent (in Russian, of course). So, mustering all of my courage, I made my first real attempt to speak Russian, "Вы говорите по-русски?" (Do you speak Russian?), to which she responded, Yes!??!!! Come on! The correct response is, "Da. Я говорю по-русски!!! What a let down!! Well, maybe I am not ready for prime time just yet.

We had a very short but very special visit with my parents. Please forgive us, those of you who were in the immediate area that we didn't get to visit. Between Russian lessons and study, we reserved all of the time we had for my parents and for a quick trip to Reno, NV to see my little sister and my niece. Go Raiders!!

It doesn't seem possible that a year has passed since my father had his stroke. And who would know it by the way he is smacking that golf ball around. His stamina is much improved. He put Chris and I down with a walk through the neighborhood. The hills of Lake Wildwood were simply taken in his stride.

We found some time to shop and Greg found boots at REI rated to -40 degrees; Chris is thinking about returning her boots that are only rated to zero degrees.


With the help of the internet we found three Gold History Museums, in Auburn, that we had never been to. Did you know that there are only about 3 to 5 percent of native (old growth) redwood trees remaining? Well, you would know that if you took California History as I did in college. But what I didn't know is that 50 percent of those trees were used to shore up the caves in gold mines and the other half was used for fuel!! If you have never been to an old growth redwood grove, you must put it down as one of the top ten things you will do before you leave this good earth. If you look closely, you will see Chris standing next to the fallen giant. Click on the image for a better view.


While in California, I received a special gift when I answered a phone call from my cousin, Myron, who I have not spoken to in over 40 years. He found out, through his sister, that Chris and I were going to Moscow on a mission for the church. He called to wish us well and to tell us that he is expecting to be baptised into the church within the next couple of months. What a special moment for him and for me. Myron, we wish we could be there for that special event, but maybe we can join you when you go through the temple when we get back. We return around April of 2009. Keep us posted.

In the past few weeks we have had a number of sublime moments, many too precious and personal to share. We have the love of a great family and many wonderful, caring friends. Thanks to each of your for your love and support. May God watch over you and you bless you while we are in Russia.

An All American Picnic

How appropriate that we should attend a church picnic to commemorate our Constitution, before heading out to Moscow. We had an all American parade, John Phillips Sousa music, and fried chicken. In my shirt sleeves, walking shorts and sandals, enjoying balmy 80 degree weather, the music began and the little children waved their flags as they pulled their pioneer handcarts through the parking lot. I couldn't help but think it won't be quite like this in Russia.


Chris was surprised when an old friend came up and said hello. She had not seen Nancy(Winkel)Trythall for over 35 years. Nancy and Frank's son Dan, and his wife Amy, and their children, are members of our ward at church. Nancy and Frank served as Mission President in Kiev for 3 years and have been back for 5 years. Nancy and Chris were in junior high school and high school and early college, in the same ward in Fremont, California. It was great to see Nancy and meet Frank, and hear a little of their wonderful experiences in Russia.

My First Hymn in Russian

Jonathan, my language instructor, suggested that I make a recording of my first hymn and compare it to my skill level when I get back. Of course, he must of been thinking more about practicing my singing than practicing my Russian!!! The Hymn is I Know that My Redeemer Lives. If you don't like my singing, you can enjoy a beautiful picture of Lake Morraine, in the Candadian Rockies! (I have not been successful in getting the video uploaded on the blog, so click on the google video link to hear the audio and then hit the back arrow on your browser to return to the blog.)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2645382654494378939

Preparations

As I mentioned in the last post, the list of domestic preparations is rather extensive. In the past 24 hours, we have calked, cleaned the carpets, sprayed for pests, spot sprayed for crab grass, put down pre-emergent for crab grass, fertilized the lawn, purchased a new mower, trimmer and a years worth of chemicals to spray trees, treat for black spot (roses and fotinias), fertilize our roses, Round-up for spot weed and bermuda grass control, ant killer that we use to treat the borer bugs that continue to pursue my poor sickly Leland Cypress (the other three are doing fine! Don't ask me why ant killer, but it works), and the entire inventory of Loew's tree stakes to fertilize our trees and shrubs!! We normally put out about 150 stakes throughout the yard in the Fall and Spring.

Today, I discovered a gas container with 4-year old gasoline; so that has to be disposed. I had to let the container go with it, because a city pick up is the only way to get rid of it. So, it's off to the store to get another container and fresh gas. Then it's time to trim the areas around the flume so that ground adjacent to it can be sterilized!! (the great american dream: one application of weed killer for the entire year) and spray the trees.

Don't forget your 2:00 pm conference call with Jonathan, your Russian language tutor! I won't; but please don't let me forget to pickup our prescriptions for the next year from the doctor and make an appointment for that last teeth cleaning with the dentist! Oops, I almost forgot, get the black algae killer from Leslie's Pool Supply...this is the second episode this summer. Thank goodness for cooler weather.

Time permitting there are bushes to trim.

The schedule is a little bit heavier than usual, due to fall gardening requirements. I repeat the process in the Spring and then fertilize the lawn and spot weed control with Round-up a few times in the Summer and that's about it.

Reflecting upon this flurry of activity, I believe that leaving your home for an extended period of time is a little bit like selling a house, you try to get it in top condition before you leave and you wonder, first, why didn't I take care of all of these details earlier, and second, why are we selling/leaving? Isn't it time to take a rest and enjoy your labors!

добрый день [Doe-Bree-Gin (Good afternoon!)]

Learning the Language

I have four weeks plus the week in the MTC to complete my initial immersion into the language. One of those weeks will be spent in California where Chris and I will be visiting my parents, one last time, before we depart.

Just when I think I am making progress in the language...

This infrequent phenomenon is generally the result of listening to an audio recording no less than 50 times, at which point I can begin to distinguish an extremely long, run-on sentence into words with meaning. Then boldly and confidently I turn to the next recording, only to hear another run-on sentence, howbeit, maybe this time with a word or two that I can actually make out. However, my faithful instructor is there, three times a week, to give me a few words of needed encouragement. My most valuable phrases so far are: Что значат ------------?, (What does that mean?) And Как сказат ------- ро русскы (How do you say---------in Russian?). Well, speaking of my instructor, he is due to call in about 30 minutes, so I had better get ready!!

Reference Maps for Russia and Moscow

Just click on this image for a map that you can actually read. I thought this image might be worthwhile as a reference for readers of our blog. If you add Finland to Russia you can get a feel for the 11 time zones that are covered by the Europe East Area. Click on the link below for a very nice set of maps for the city of Moscow. We anticipate that our apartment will be 5 to 10 miles due north of this map.

http://www.waytorussia.net/Moscow/Map.html

We Leave on October 5 for the MTC

Well comrades, our time has just about expired. On Friday, October 5th we will leave for the Salt Lake City, Utah. We will attend a two-day General Conference of the Church on Saturday and Sunday and report to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, on Monday morning October 8. We should be there about a week and leave directly from there to Moscow. On Friday night, we will begin our adventure with a very special reunion with the missionary that baptized me nearly 33 years ago. We have not seen Elder Martin since he attended our Temple ceremony a year and a week after my baptism. Won't he be surprised when we show up to crash his date with his wife Jewel.

I have been studying Russian nearly three hours a day for a few weeks now. I estimate that I have about 60 hours under my belt and hope to get about another 100 hours of study before we leave for Moscow.

Our friends in Moscow are looking for an apartment for us at this time. We hope to get that settled before we arrive.

Our preparations are nearly complete. Clothes, equipment, luggage, doctor appointments, domestic arrangements (a big list), travel arrangements, etc. are mostly behind us. I still have to develop a maintenance calendar for Sarah and Armando (our married kids who will be housesitting for us). I am sure there are a few other little details that we will need to complete before we leave.