Oliver in Glasgow

More Triathlon Pictures

I've been meaning to post these for awhile but my computer hasn't been functioning like it should.

family history

Looks like crazy writing? Yeah... So I kind of caught the Family History bug about a year ago. For some reason decided to check out Grannie's mom, Baba's, line because I noticed it didn't have as many names that had been discovered over there. Plus after our big family reunion I got hyped about the 'army of ancestors' Uncle John talked about. So I found a microfilm that is from Baba's old village in what was once a part of Austria (hey- an Unger connection, sort of), and since then I've been trying to figure out how to read it. I thought that Jordan or Uncle John could figure it out, it's in the Cyrillic alphabet after all- but oh no. It turns out that this is no common Cyrillic. It's in 'Old Slavonic'- a language used exclusively by the church during worship services. I think the ordinary chap understood it, sort of, but they didn't use it when they went out to buy borscht. So it's this super obscure language that hardly got any playtime back then, so you can imagine how hard it is to learn now. It's actually a gorgeous language, very poetic and lovely. I've emailed a bunch of professors and priests here in the LA area who still use it. I've taught myself a lot of it, I just need a little help deciphering the last names. For example, in this file here the second column from the left is easy overall- first names. We've got Maria, we've got Sasha, and then we've got something crazy in the middle. It's the columns with lots of words that's hard for me, and of course that's where all the last names are. So... if anybody happens to find a Greek Orthodox church and they happen to meet a priest who seems really cool- please stop in. Shake their hand, and ask if your sister can email them. I need someone who speaks this language to tell me how to read a few of these lines....

VERTIGO!

I just want everybody to know that I have not abandoned my blog- for the past several weeks I have just been really, really sick. I kind of thought that I was mostly just exhausted from taking care of my little dudes because they just hit this really, really active stage. These guys are climbing, running, jumping, whirling and just overall into everything. I was honestly just getting really dizzy taking care of them. At about the same time the doctor stuck me on some crazy medications because we are getting all set and ready to do another fertility cycle... at some point. Anyways, Ian started getting home earlier and earlier from work as my list of things I could do started dwindling- I couldn't cook- it made me too dizzy. I couldn't do the laundry, it made me too dizzy. I couldn't vaccuum, I couldn't get on the computer (hence the long absence)... I basically couldn't do anything. Finally Grandma Louise graciously agreed to watch the boys for a week up on her, well, it's practically an acreage. The boys romped and played and had the time of their lives and I got to rest. After the fourth day of not being able to watch a movie, look at the computer, or even look outside because it made me too nauseous and dizzy I decided to try something really easy- I went to the Family History Library to check out some nice, still, archival microfilms. It made me feel a bit queasy but I thought I would be OK. Well, I wound up puking all over the floor. My friend told me that something was really not normal with me. It was true, I hadn't been able to stand for more than a couple minutes without feeling pukey. Anyways, I went to the doctor right away and he diagnosed me with VERTIGO! It turned out one of the crazy medications he had me on has a small chance of causing this Hitchcockian little quirk. Once he took it out I got better and better. Once I felt a lot better though I was so mad!! My doctor did this to me!! But the good news is that I'm feeling sooo much better. Today I was even able to put in a load of laundry and yesterday I was able to watch a movie all the way through. My next one will have to be... you guessed it... VERTIGO!!

G00000000000000000000AAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey everyone. It's "On My Way Home" time again. I think our big goal of going home is achieved by reaching smaller goals. But many of us with good intentions fail to achieve our goals.
That's due to two main obstacles. They are procrastination and distraction. Time is a precious commodity and it is important to not count on doing tomorrow what we can do today. Wasting time can have serious consequences.

Distraction is another common way that good people lose their way. We must focus on the important things and not get lost on sidetracks or pet projects. The invisible guy scoring this goal couldn't pick the top corner if he lost his focus or got distracted. Life comes at us pretty fast sometimes, but we need to look at how much time we have and use it to accomplish the most important goals.

Let your homes be a procrastination and distraction free zone.

Luv to all, Mom and Dad

P.S. In the last installment of "On My Way Home" we challenged everyone to try different approaches to scripture study. Give us some feedback on how it went for you.

With the time it takes my to style my own hair, I swear I could have earned a hair stylist license by now. It must be those Kowalchuk genes, I know Meliss and Rach, Jaima, Em, just to name a few, all suffer with headaches, broken pony tail holders, and the vast array of complexities that come from having such thick tresses. I mean, do the celebrities do their own hair? I almost want to just hire this task out to someone else. It’s not so bad drying my locks once or twice, but week in and week out, the same routine … Sometimes I wish I could just shave it off, and join the club with Dad.

I’ve narrowed it down to just three steps- and the results are satisfying. First I section off and dry each piece, then I straighten it with the handy straightener Mom got me, then I part it and go! What a piece of work, though… each time I do my hair I pull out my blow-dryer, brushes, and other equipment, and set to work. Each piece must be meticulously dried, each section chosen by parting it carefully with a comb. If I section off too big of a chunk of hair, it won't dry, and if I section off too little of a piece of hair, it flies away when the blowdryer gets close. This could take years to coordinate and master! I need to take a break sometimes in the midst of the process, and lose myself in a good book or just let my arms go down and sit at my desk. I wonder if it would be socially acceptable to just walk around with really bushy, nasty hair, like the piece here.





it certainly is satisfying, though, the times when the moon is aligned right and things work out. one time i called meliss and was like, 'hey, my hair looks awesome!'