Catching up continues in the New Year

November went by quickly in the sense that most of my time was absorbed in preparations for Global Leadership Summit and since that did not involve the boys there are less pictures and events to report on for them.

We did have one night in the hospital though with David for testing and we can gladly report that he does not have epileptic seizures. We are not sure what comes over him some times, but it is not that.

And then it was Thanksgiving celebrated on Saturday after the American holiday for the LCC community. Gregg had another meeting and the boys were not too settled about eating around tables with lots of people, so no good pictures of that. But there was time of activities for kids and they enjoyed that and mom got extra time for hanging out!


At LCC celebrating Thanksgiving also means welcoming the Christmas season, decorating the buildings for the Christmas program the next week. The semester ends early enough that to get participation the celebration is quite early. we saved one picture from after the program.

And then it was on to school charity concert the school held to raise money for families with children with heart problems.


And school Christmas entertainment:





And Advent and Christmas event in Silute:



The Christmas season seemed richer to us because there was interest from our Lithuanian church friends in Silute and Klaipeda in learning more Christmas carols- more are translated to Lithuanian than are in common use. So this is something we could do- teach Christmas songs!

Missionary retreat -Vienkiemis

Extended fall season

Fall 2011

The blog is hopelessly behind- I will not get to chronicle all of the happenings, even through pictures. We hit the ground running in September and did not slow down until November when I already felt I would not catch up with the blog. I did occasionally post pictures and short status updates to my facebook page which has become easier for many people to use and access.

The fall had some challenges with adjustments to increased demands at school- Erik in first grade and David in a class of 16 for kindergarden. Erik tends to take a bit to attach to a new teacher (and in this case there are several special subject teachers too). So he made sure it was an effort on their part. But in the end he has adjusted well and is increasingly doing well with his work. His grades at the end of term -first trimester reflect good work in Math and Lithuanian- the two subjects that people really measure by in primary grades, and he does a good job in the other areas too. The hardest thing is to hear words dictated and write them down. This is Lithuanian so everything is phonetic.

David started well and he does excellent work in all the academic things. He is challenged in emotional and behavioral areas however. He enjoys art and especially painting so we are hoping to help him find constructive outlets in this area. David has noticeably improved in Lithuanian language, conversing freeing with friends and moving back and forth between English and Lithuanian at home depending on what the boys are playing- if they have played it or watched it in school, it is likely they will switch to Lithuanian to play it at home.

David has also gotten interest in soccer/football as well as basketball. This helps him use some of the extra energy. Erik continues to do well in soccer as well and added basketball this fall- but not quite with the same passion as football.

The boys ask from time to time about having a pet or having a younger sibling. We are not planning for either in the immediate future, but it is good to see their interest in this normal kind of family growth.

summer summary and September here and almost gone

We left for the US on July 15 and returned on August 16, meeting up in Chicago- mom had a conference for a week first before we could head back after our vacation time was up. Family visits, a few friends, a couple of churches that we attend anyway with family, a quick dip in the Atlantic, a tour of Turkey Hill Ice Cream "factory", and a short visit to Black Rock camp with a long afternoon of swimming for the boys were some of the highlights.



September 1 is first day of school. This year with Erik being a 1st grader the celebration was a special welcome to school, and a gift from the director of the school. And there was special entertainment and just one lesson which the parents sit it on. We borrowed our friend Grazina to be with David for his first day in the classroom since Gregg was teaching.




fresh salmon from the market- quite a spectacle for the boys. And what was their request- cut the eye out!

David likes to get the camera and take shots of all kinds of things including himself. We also had various pictures of our small church group that meets in Klaipeda.





a day out in Palanga

Just returned this evening from Ieva's birthday party. We probably had pictures 2 years ago from the same play place where she had her party. Ieva and David are in the same class at school and Ieva is probably closer to our boys than to some of the girls at the party!