November 30, 2005

• We had a great Thanksgiving holiday with our friends and family in Tallinn. It's always good to be with those you love on the holidays. We sure missed our family at home ... Amber and Lacey (and their families) got to be together in Lubbock ... Dustin shared his holiday before leaving for Iraq with Brandi's sister and husband, Kathy/David ... and Courtney, Adrian and Ty celebrated with Adrian's family.

  
  

  We were blessed to be with Jared and our long time friends, the Bank's family, who we've loved for so long that we consider them family. Our fellow Estonian missionaries, Ron and Judy Warpole, were there too. Between us, we managed to pull together a very traditional Thanksgiving meal with turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce (all the way from America), mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. We all left the table proclaiming once again that we had overeaten ... which of course, is also traditional. Unfortunately, our men didn't have their holiday football to watch so instead, Mike and Brandi built a heavy-duty shower curtain system in Deb's downstairs bathroom. I don't think it was their idea of the perfect after-Thanksgiving activity, but they got to do something 'manly' so I think they felt pretty proud. ~smile~ Mike and Brandi then skunked Deb and I in a game of Crazy Canasta ... AND  ... that seemed to make them feel pretty proud too!

  
  

  On Friday, Brandi and I, Jared and Kari, went to Old Town Tallinn. It was very cold and windy but it was fun to walk in the snow. We visited the sweater wall and bought Jared an Estonian sweater, ate hot spiced almonds, enjoyed shopping in the Christmas village on the square, stopped in the 'Kompressor' for pangookid (Estonian pancakes filled with meat/cheese), walked up 'Long Leg' Street to see the overlook of the city and headed down 'Short Leg' Street back to the square. By the time we returned to our car, we were froze from nose to toes ... but we had a great time.

  
  

  On our way home, we stopped by the Liivalia Bible Study center and crashed Mike and Deb's Estonian language lessons. Their teacher made us feel better (less stupid, that is) about the difficulty we have had in learning the language, gave us some pointers and got us motivated to put our noses to the grindstone once again.

  
  

  Friday night, one more game of Crazy Canasta with the guys ... still no satisfaction. We do intend, however, to come back and gain victory at some point in the future so we'll have to get some practice in before the next holiday visit rolls around.

  
  

  Since returning home on Saturday, we've shared fellowship with the church on Sunday and enjoyed spending these last few days with Jared, as well. On Monday, we put up our Christmas tree so we could celebrate "Christmas" with him. Unfortunately, we didn't have the traditional Egg Nog to drink while decorating the tree but the hot tea was pretty good. Then we opened our presents to each other. Jared gave Kayli a beautiful set of nesting dolls from the Ukraine and I got a gorgeous little 'Gzhel' teacup and saucer. 'Ghzel' is a village in Russia that makes blue and white painted china. I've loved it since we lived there and have collected a few pieces along the way, thanks to sweet folks who have given me great gifts.

  
  

  Monday, we also said goodbye (for now) to our son, Dustin, who left for Iraq that evening. It was a phone call filled with tears and expressions of love ... and his promises to return safely home. We will miss him. We pray daily for his spiritual strength, for his physical safety and for his service to God through his service in the military. Thank you for your prayers as well.

  
  

  We just got word from Dustin that he has arrived at his destination safely. They will be in a holding area outside of Iraq for about 3 weeks until they are ready to travel into the country.

  
  

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  God Bless

  • 6:14 am
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