Avoidance

Andrei is up grading students' work and David is between coughing fits (sleeping), so I guess I get to go to bed finish kitchen clean-up do a little blogging!

Do you ever analyze why you have trouble meeting certain goals? What gets in your way? The other day I was thinking about my household chores and wondering why I just can't get around to doing the floors. The kitchen floor gets sprayed with baby food daily and it just gets a little swipe with a rag, but I rarely do the whole floor.

What gets in my way? Honestly, I always feel like I should vacuum before washing the floor, and that means dragging the vacuum out. Which means the baby has to be cared for during that time period. And then I have to have the actual mopping supplies on hand. And before vacuuming I should do the dusting, right? It's not that the actual task of mopping the floor is hard, it's just that I have to FACILITATE the event actually taking place. I have to figure out what steps might lead up to my actually taking the desired action.

And then I wondered what else I could accomplish the same way. For example, why don't I read my Bible more? Well, I can never decide on a translation, and then I wanted to read the Russian translation, but I lost my copy, so I can only read the full version on my computer, or borrow Andrei's. And then I have to lug my computer around from room to room, and if David is awake then he'll want to come play with the computer. I suppose I could keep a Bible/notebook/pen in each room of the house, just to make sure it happens. Clearly, I need a system.

We will always have our vices to struggle with, but we can make it easier to come out on top.

A few things I've implemented:

-if I put my vitamins on the kitchen table, I'm more likely to remember to take them

-if I cut up fruits/veggies into cute/bite-sized pieces, I'm more likely to eat them instead of junkfood

-if I have a rag/other cleaning supplies within arms' reach, I'm more likely to take a few minutes to do a really quick dusting/mirror shining/whatever.

-same goes for making reading material available!

The only problem is that this system requires having stuff "out," which doesn't always work well with tidyness. Hmmm.

What works for you?

Being realistic

I'm realizing that I'm not sure how blogging is going to go this week. We're in week #2 of David's wet cough.    Every 30 minutes or so, he starts coughing/gagging/acting like he's being strangled, and then he is so upset he cries for several minutes. So...yep, lots of fussing (on his part) and holding. At least Andrei isn't sick too this time around, so there's someone else to share the rocking duties.

I still have some material to do David's 10-month update, though...maybe later in the week. His character manages to shine through even while he is not feeling well.

I'm getting big!

Celebrations

 I don't really have time for a lengthy post at the moment, so here's a little Easter show-and-tell (see my previous post for some other Easter thoughts).

One of the most common types of decorations you can find in Russian homes and posted on Russian blogs is the vase with branches, hung with little ornaments, much like a Christmas tree. My mother-in-law and I accidentally bought each other the same set of ornaments, ha ha!

This photo also features my ugly interesting eggs that I dyed using onion peel, chamomile tea, and instant coffee. It wasn't incredibly successful but I got some neat earthy tones.

I have to say that the store-bought dyes are more fun in terms of overlapping colors and other interesting effects. The natural ones take a while, so you basically just do the prep work and then leave them in there for a few hours, and then let them dry before you can tell what they're really going to look like.

I did get out the "He is Risen" banner, but didn't end up hanging it. However, David spotted it lying on the couch this morning and went nuts over the bright colors and the fuzzy felt. :)

I also had fun reviewing what I'd done other years while living in Russia. There was the year of the church retreat, the year where we learned a dance, the year of kulich-baking with my roommate, and an Easter afternoon spent going for a walk with good friends. What great memories!

Collisions

My husband ironing his suit for his cousin's funeral, as I loaded the dishwasher, at 1 am. That was what our Good Friday looked like.

The movable dates of the Easter season cause it to coincide with different events each year. This year Resurrection Sunday falls on one person's birthday, next year-on someone else's. An early Easter date means we might still be in the dead of winter. This year's late date (by the Orthodox calendar) means we're actually seeing signs of spring. And as always, it is pussy willows which are decorating kitchen tables and which accompanied believers to their Palm Sunday services last week.

There is always a lot going on in "real" life when a Christian holiday comes along. For example, who has time for Advent in the middle of final exams?

This year's Holy Week concludes with Labor Day weekend. People have been out grilling their first shish kabobs of the season, during the last few days of the Great Fast. Interesting how that happens. Today, on Holy Saturday, a local Christian school was having a sale that people were getting up early to go shop at. Meanwhile, Andrei has lost his cousin; his mom-her nephew; his aunt-her son.

Today I sang "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?" as I rocked David to sleep in his stroller in the front hallway.

The joy of hope (and hope of joy) of Salvation is hard to separate out from the pain and suffering of everyday life. Though Jesus is alive, we can't see him now, and we have to live the rest of our lives on Earth without some of our loved ones, who have already departed. But then there is the thought that we will see them again. So it all kind of forms a circle: the beauty of the universe, yet marred by sin, which is overcome by Christ, who will come, but for now we're still here, waiting for the beauty of a new universe.

11:24 pm. Too early to proclaim, "He is Risen"?