Blog update: Russia
As you all know by now, on September 28, 2006, Rob and I welcomed Henry Grayson Macalik into our family! Henry is named for Rob's great-grandfather (Henry) and Uncle Virgil (middle name Grayson), and Rob and I feel blessed to have two well-loved, well-respected men to name him after. Overall, he's just delightful and we adore him! His sweet disposition and easy nature have made the strange sleeping hours and the drool-stained clothes worthwhile. It's tough work to be a parent, though, so it has been a bit since we updated!
The fall was a blur with Henry's birth in September and visits from grandparents. I want to say, though, that I really, really appreciated your encouragement! Knowing that you all were excited for us and thinking about/praying for us was fantastic. Eldon, if you will tell Margaret how much her note about the c-section meant to me, I'd appreciate it. It was helpful to have her support and encouragement in that unexpected situation!
The rest of our fall included some preliminary travelling to prepare us for the flight home at Christmas. Before going trans-atlantic, Henry had already visited Paris, France, Boleslawiec, Poland, and Dresden, Germany!
Our trip home for Christmas was for a good stretch of time but was still too short! The grandparents, I think, would agree! :) Henry, thankfully, was an angel on the plane! Ten and a half hours on the second part of our trip from Prague to Dallas, and Henry slept for, oh 25 minutes of it. Yes, I really did check my watch. But, the other ten hours and five minutes, he was talking to himself, gurgling, looking around the cabin...generally surprising the heck out of us.
As of now, Rob, Henry and I are in Moscow, Russia until mid-March. The Russian firm recruited help from the region for this busy season, so Henry and I have been watching the snow fall and trying to decipher the Cyrillic on the food labels. For the last two weekends, we've walked from our apartment to Red Square. It's quite an experience to stand in front of the Kremlin. We've yet to go into Lenin's Tomb, but I have a feeling that won't go unvisited!
Strangely, though there is little for us to do, this time is passing kind of quickly; we signed on for five weeks here, and we've already finished almost two! Our first week passed with little fanfare. The primary adventure was finding and getting to the American Medical Clinic because Henry had his first ear infection. The doctor was fabulous and very helpful. This week had passed with even less excitement until today when we had a chance to visit with a friend from Dallas who recently moved here and has a sweet new son as well. While they slept through their "playdate," we drank coffee and visited about this crazy life away from home.
I'll see if I can't post some pictures from here, but that may have to wait until we are back in Prague. (The weather in Prague, by the way, is "positively balmy" and here we are with snow falling as I type!) The photos from Christmas are in a new location. http://robandmel2001.myphotoalbum.com/
Until we update again, know that we miss you guys and would love to hear from you!
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