Patient Update!

Deana returned home from the hospital this past Monday. It was a long wait trying to get out of the hospital, but we survived. The doctor discharged her around 3:00. I asked the nurse to order us a taxi home then. Long story, short, we left the hospital at 6:15 when a taxi driver finally came for us. The taxi driver that eventually picked us up ended up being a real blessing though. I had been speaking in Russian to him for a while in the car. Finally, I needed to say the word therapy in Russian and had no idea what it was! I turned to ask Deana, thinking maybe she had heard it in the hospital, and when I did the taxi driver said, "You may speak English with me!". Thankfully we had quite the discussion during our 2 hour ride home in Moscow traffic. We found out that he is a once communist, KGB trained, atheist, now orthodox Russian man who lives in a different city now and comes here to work as a taxi driver for 2 or 3 weeks at a time and then goes home to his wife and son for a week. He is now Deana's personal taxi driver and takes her to and from the hospital for her therapy 3 times a week. He is great at helping her in and out of the car as well. Pray for him. His name is Vadim, but has us call him Simon!

Therapy has been pretty tough for Deana. They had her walking on a treadmill already for 30 minutes on Friday and have encouraged her to use her crutches and walk around the apartment as much as she can. She has been doing that the last 2 days. Pray for her as she goes to therapy on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It is pretty scary for her to go in and out of our building down steps in the ice. The taxi ride there takes her anywhere from 1 to 2 hours, depending on traffic.

You can see pictures, above, of the only in-home care we can afford! They help her put on her cream to help with swelling and re-wrap her leg each day! It is quite interesting to watch. They have been really good through all of this. I'm sure it has been hard on them as well.

Everyone was incredibly nice to me today at church. At one point though, I almost had a nervous breakdown when 4 Russian women were speaking Russian to me at the same time wanting to help cook, clean, and anything else needed. One person at a time is hard enough to understand. They will be helping us out some this week and some want to visit with Deana to lift her spirits!

This week the family will not have to endure my cooking very much, thankfully! Tomorrow night a wonderful co-worker is bringing dinner. (thanks Charlotte) Tuesday one of the ladies from our church is coming to our apartment to cook us dinner. (The only problem is she will use our products to cook and we have none! I guess I will be going to the store to stock up on things we normally do not buy!) On Wednesday, our neighbor (that you have read about many times earlier) will be making our dinner. She will be making me a shopping list tomorrow that I need to go buy and give to her so she can cook our meal. She has already made us Russian breads filled with jam, cabbage, and pears. On Thursday, two other ladies from the church want to come help clean and maybe cook something for later in the day. They were 2 of the four talking to me at once. They were starting to ask me what needed done and how they could help. Another lady standing there said, "What are you asking him for. His wife is the one you should ask about cleaning!"

We are proud of Kellan for making the 4th grade A-average honor roll at his school! We are proud of Ella for learning all of her ABC's now! Ella wanted you to see the cake that she made and decorated with her grandma before she left! She was so proud. She and her grandpa went out and decorated the snow with the left-over sprinkles.

Thanks for all of the emails, prayers, cards, and encouragement through facebook! You don't know how much that helps! Blessings to you all! Today, we sang one of my favorite songs at church: "Worthy is the Lamb seated on the throne. Crown You now with many crowns; You reign victorious. High and lifted up, Jesus, Son of God. The darling of heaven crucified. Worthy is the Lamb!

Worship the Lamb!

I'm sure I have LOTS of mistakes in this, but I'm too tired to check for them! Sorry!

Deana is recovering from her surgery!

Deana is recovering from her surgery at the European Medical Center. Her surgery was this morning. Everything went as planned and she has been doing very well. We had a very LONG check-in process yesterday because the doctor was in surgery when we arrived about 11:45. Deana finally got into a room a little after 4:00. She was a bit worried because the nurses did not speak English, but she has handled that well! Most of the doctors speak English and they have an interpreter when necessary. She is not in a private room . She shares a room with a young Russian girl who had knee surgery. Lori and my mom spent most of the day with her. I went up after my language class and a Russian couple from the church we attend went by to see her today. THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS! She should be in the hosptial until Sunday. I'm sure she could use some emails from home if you are willing!

At the beginning of December a couple of Kellan's Sunday School Teachers came up to me and told me that they needed him to be a wise man in the Christmas play but that he would not agree to do it. They asked me to talk to him about it. After I thought about it, I decided I wasn't going to make him. He has been pretty brave just going to the Sunday School where there is no English spoken and I was fine with him not doing it, but I did want him to think about it. So, I told him that the teachers talked with me and that I thought he should pray about whether God wanted him to do it or not. After about 5 or 6 days he came back to me and said that God told him he should do it!

He was not very happy about the costume, but orange is his favorite color! He was really nervous, but he did a GREAT job. When I took him to the room where his teachers were, I asked him if he needed me to stay and translate anything, but he didn't. He said he thouht he understood. When it was over, I told him he did a great job and that his bow was PERFECT. He laughed and said, "I had no idea what to do! I just followed the one in front of me!"

I was a very proud daddy! He did a GREAT job!

PLEASE PRAY!

I'm sure most of you who read this knows that Deana broke her leg on January 4th after her language lesson. She was coming down a set of stairs outside and fell. Thankfully, I had just gotten to my sister's apartment which is only about a 6-8 minute walk from where she fell. We ran over and another friend (thanks Kris) drove around to where she was and drove us all to the European Medical Clinic.
The first doctor ordered x-rays and a CT scan and discovered 2 breaks. He told us that he thought it would need surgery but that the main doctor would need to examine her the next day (thanks Lori). The "main" doctor found a 3rd break and did advise surgery. We went back today at 11:00 (thanks Rhenn) and were hoping that Deana would be admitted today for surgery in the morning, but the swelling had not gone down enough. We will go back on Wednesday and try again. If the swelling is down enough then, the surgery will be Thursday morning.
Other prayer requests:
1) Kellan started back to school today.
2) Olga returns tomorrow to begin keeping Ella again.
3) I return to language lessons tomorrow.
4) Pray for Kellan and Ella this Sunday when they say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa for a while. (Ella is now ready to go to the beach with them! She has told us all what she will do when she gets there.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We hade a great time with some friends who are living in Ufa, Russia over New Year's weekend. They were here and stayed with us for 3 nights. On New Year's night, we walked around red square for a couple of hours. I stole these pictures from them. They take much better pictures than me! We enjoyed eating out with them and taking them to IKEA here in Moscow. We showed them a very quick tour of part of this great city!

GRANDPARENTS ARE HERE!

We have had a good time visiting with my mom and dad since December 26th. The kids have really enjoyed seeing them here. They are headed to my sisters today to spend the rest of the time, but we will be seeing them a few more times while they are there. They head back to North Carolina next Monday, the 18th.

DECEMBER PICTURES

Just a few pictures from Christmas time!

1) Kellan will kill me for this one, but Santa made it to Moscow with a snowskate!

2) Ella got a doll that she can practice her beauty school skills on!

3) Kellan and Ella have LOTS of fun together. (usually) Especially when he agrees to do what she wants!

4) Ella posing in front of our Christmas tree!

5) Kellan and his good friend James! They were both wise men in the play that their Russian class did at school. Good job boys!

WE WANT TO SAY THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR ALL OF THE EMAILS, CARDS, SKYPE CALLS, AND FACEBOOK MESSAGES THAT HELPED MAKE OUR CHRISTMAS SPECIAL.

We celebrated Christmas Eve with some of our colleagues here in Moscow. We took the kids out sledding for a couple of hours before enjoying lunch together. We then had a candlelight Christmas story! It was great being with our family, friends, and co-workers that God has given us here.

On Christmas morning, we woke up late and found what Santa had left each of us. I must have bveen a bad boy because my stocking had 2 items in it. 1 pack of gum and 1 pen. I guess Santa didn't shop to well himself! We then went to my sister's apartment and had a late lunch there with her family and 2 other journey guys here.

On Christmas night I went to Good News Baptist Church for their Christmas service. I was really tired and didn't want to go, but it was INCREDIBLE! God really blessed my Christmas by being there. They had lots of music and drama and lighting. I was very impressed by all of the hard work that they all put into making it such a special service. (For those of you who have been to Moscow or who know the Chekalin Family, this is the church where he is the pastor.)