Valerie
We were all at dacha for the May 9 Victory Day holidays earlier this week. I go to Montenegro tomorrow to meet a mission team, and it was nice to have this family time before my trip. The little white flowers are called “Under the Snow” and are considered to be the first flowers of [...]
Here are a couple of recent videos of Valerie. By the way, she’s doing great. Beth Shanklin, a good friend who is a neuro-developmentalist, visited recently from the US. Beth assessed Valerie about a year ago and wrote a program to address some developmental issues. Olga has been faithful to do the program over the [...]
I (Mike) took this picture yesterday, as Valerie was getting ready for bed. I am so very thankful for my family. Olga and Valerie are wonderful people, and I’m humbled that the Lord has called us together as a family. We have some sad news to share. We lost a baby last week. Olga was [...]
We celebrated Thanksgiving on Sunday. Since thanksgiving is not a Russian holiday, it’s a bit easier to have the meal on Sunday. In addition to several friends, Olga’s mother and grandparents joined us. Olga’s grandfather, Orest Maxmilianovich Grotten is 92 years old, and we were very glad he could be with us. Above is Olga [...]
There were some forest fires in the mountains across the valley from us. Rain came in a few days ago and doused them: A portrait when were were at a cafe last week -
We’re staying with friends on the outskirts of Podgorica, Montenegro. It thought you might be interested to see one part of our morning the other day:
St. Petersburg — Valerie by the Neva River, with a view of the English Embankment, St. Issac’s Cathedral and the Admiralty.
Tomorrow (the 14th) is Valerie’s fourth birthday. We celebrated early because Olga’s mother left for Montenegro this morning, and I came to Estonia today. Our friend Olga Ryazhskikh also joined us. Here’s a little ‘familiana’, when we ate the birthday cake:
Olga and Valerie were coloring together at dacha. The light was good and the subject superb. I love my family.
Three quick pictures: Valerie got hold of our camera and made some interesting pictures, including this self-portrait: She also used her little shovel as a microphone, singing and dancing in the yard: And we had a classic Finnish sunset:
