“Home”

We’re back in St. Petersburg safe and sound. Our flight landed about 3:30PM local time yesterday, just 20 minutes behind schedule. Overall I think I’d have to say that it was one of our easiest overseas travels ever. Security lines were very short and as a result it wasn’t as stressful getting through. We had a full 3 1/2 hour layover in Paris so we didn’t fell rushed to get to our connection. So now we can tell everyone that we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in Paris! Ah the glamor of missionary life =).

Isaiah slept a lot on the plane. Cristy and I dozed a little. As soon as we got back to our apartment I ran out to get a little food. We laid Isaiah down to sleep about 7:15 and we laid down about 8. Overall we all slept well last night.

Please pray for us over the next few days as we jump straight back into our routine with very little break. Today I’m going to get us registered (S.O.P), and then tomorrow I start my lessons again. Cristy’s begin on Saturday. Please keep her in your prayers specifically as she will have to deal with a pregnancy in addition to all of her other work.

For all of you we got to see these past three weeks, it was great. For those of you we didn’t, we hope to see you the next time around.

-Thomas

Travels

We’ve come to our final week of journey on planet America.  Our travels have taken us to Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana and now North Carolina.  We flew out of New Orleans bright and early yesterday morning into Charlotte, North Carolina.  The flight was uneventful which is exactly the way you want it when you fly.

Thus far our trip has been great.  Here are the highlights.

• All of Isaiah’s appointments went well.  No major concerns.  We have some things to work on as always, but nothing serious.  We’re thankful.
• We were able to catch up with a few friends while in Yazoo City.  On Sunday morning I preached at Second Presbyterian Church of Yazoo City and was able to speak with the elders and deacons afterwards about the Tuvan Bible Distribution Project (TBDP…more on that in a later post).  Sunday night I spoke to the congregation of First Presbyterian Church of Yazoo City about what we’ve been doing in our work and also about the TBDP.
• Our time in Louisiana with my family (Thomas’) was very enjoyable.  I enjoyed doing a little woodworking and I got to play a Wii for the first time.  Cristy enjoyed some visiting and shopping with the other ladies and Isaiah enjoyed being able to spend a considerable amount of time outside in the mild weather, playing with grandmaw and granddaddy and all of his cousins, aunts and uncles.
• While in Louisiana I was able to speak to Riverdale Baptist Church about the TBDP.  Interest is high and many are eager to help.
• We woke up this morning here in North Carolina to snow covering the ground.  Being the south, everything here has basically shut down, so this will probably be a slow day.  My hope is to at some point and time talk with Beacon Baptist, Cristy’s old home church, about the TBDP.  

More to come.

-Thomas

The Wonders of Jetlag

I have a love/hate relationship with jetlag. On one hand you have the dizziness, lethargy, strange eating habits and of course the falling asleep in your pudding at 5:30PM when the dinner conversation is just getting interesting. But on the other hand there are some real benefits to jetlag. First, as one who regularly has trouble sleeping at night the jetlag tiredness that hits me about 5:30PM is so intense that I’m assured of having no trouble going to sleep when my head hits the pillow at night. I’ve crossed the Atlantic ocean roundtrip 12 times in my life, meaning on 24 separate occassions I’ve had to deal with extreme 7+ hour timezone difference jetlag. On every occassion the tiredness that hits me in the evening cannot be compared to anything else I’ve ever known in my life, not hard manual labor. Jetlag tiredness is total inability to function.

Another benefit of jetlag is the waking up early in the morning. Now most of you reading this might be asking “Are you crazy?” Well, perhaps, but that’s beside the point. What I mean is this; I’m not naturally a morning person. I usually force myself to be, but I prefer to see only one 5:30 per day. But at the same time I really like mornings. I like the peace and quiet of a still dark house when I get up. I like the gurgle of a brewing coffee pot as it puffs out those last bits of steam. I like grabbing a hot fresh cup of coffee, sitting in the stillness and reading. Normally, when I “force” myself to get up early I’m enjoying this time but with my eyes barely open and with me running into things. But with jetlag my eyes pop open at 4AM and I’m wide awake. No dragging, no running into walls. I wake up and get to enjoy the beauty of a still quiet morning without bodily harm. Now, again, I’m propped up against a wall drooling later in the day, but I consider it a reasonable compromise.

Another benefit is that I’ve found is that one can make the jetlag “last” a bit longer if he or she really works things right. This past summer when we flew back to Russia from the United States I “used” my jetlag to help get me on a schedule of getting to bed early and getting up early. For a little over two months we were faithfully going to bed between 9:30 and 10:00, and every morning I was getting up between 5 and 5:30. This worked fine until we had our first Bible study that went past 11PM. After that things just went down hill.

So right now at 9PM Central time I’m sitting here typing this about to fall face first onto the keyboard. I’m about to go lay down here in a few minutes and I’m looking forward to one of the few times in my life where I can lay down my head and almost assuredly be asleep within 5 minutes.

So the point of all this is two-fold. One, I thought it would be a fun way to let you know that we’re safely back in the U.S., and two, well, I forgot. But I’m sure it was something interesting. So don’t waste your jetlag.

-Thomas

Just So You Know…

We are still alive. We survived our own hectic (but greatly enjoyable) Christmas activities and the crazy Russian New Year. On Sunday we’ll be heading out to the family camp that many of you have read about. Thomas will be teaching some lessons and I will be helping with some crafts and a special activity for the girls. We’re looking forward to the 2 days that we’ll be spending with families like us–families with kids who have disabilities. Please pray for us to be an encouragement to the other parents and especially that we will point to Christ.

Tuesday morning we’ll be going to the airport to begin our trek to the States. We’re thankful to have the ability to return again so soon in order for Isaiah to see his doctors. Please pray for safe travels and good reports!

We hope to post again soon, but we also hope that you understand that with our traveling, it might be a while before we have a great big, fill you in on everything going on post. Thanks for your patience! We did recently send out a newsletter (Christmas Day, maybe?). If you didn’t receive this email, and you would like to, please leave us a comment or email us to let us know that you’d like to read our latest.

Happy New Year!