abby's jokes

lena is praying with abby tonight in russian and she finishes and says "Аминь" (a-meen')....

abby: "mama says 'a-meen'?
lena: "yes."
abby: "papa says 'amen'."
lena: "yes, papa says in english 'amen' and mama says in russian 'a-meen'."
abby: "oh.... abby says "oh, man!" like in cartoon (dora). "swiper, no swiping... oh, man! hahaha!"

authentic ukrainian cuisine

ok, not so much. my wife decided to use some won-ton skins we had in the freezer for the last i don't know how many months. so she whipped up some egg rolls that could seriously have been from a high-class chinese restaurant. they didn't last long. :) my wife is so talented! here's a shot of the goodness:

john tetzel is not dead

i know, it sounds like the title of an episode of LOST, but it's not. :) john tetzel, as some will know, was an indulgence seller for the catholic church in the early 16th century, promising forgiveness of sins for money. it was said that he even claimed that the indulgence offered by pope leo x for the building of st. peter's basilica could pardon the violation of the virgin mary. martin luther, the great reformer, wrote his 95 theses largely in response to the practice of selling indulgences, and especially to the tactics of john tetzel. one of tetzel's "ad jingles" for selling indulgences is enshrined forever in scathing rebuke in the 95 theses. his line was: "As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs."

well, while we were in kiev to give birth to isaac (see pics here), i was in some of the shopping centers and realized that john tetzel was not dead, he had just moved to ukraine (and aparently switched allegiance from the roman catholic church to the ukrainian orthodox church). this is a "coffer" that stood by the entrance of the shopping center in downtown kiev for donations towards the construction of a new church in kiev, and i saw many identical ones in other shopping centers:


the translation of the inscription is: "place your brick in the foundation of the holy habitation and in her walls prayers will sound for you eternally". guess tetzel hasn't lost his knack for jingle-writing even after almost 500 yrs.! it's truly heart-rending that men would gladly sell out the truth of the Gospel of grace to finance their programs (and no, it's not limited to the catholic or orthodox churches!) luther also had a slogan of sorts which, while perhaps not as catchy, certainly rings loud even to this day with the great truth of the Gospel:

"Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Sola Scriptura, Solus Christus, Soli Deo Gloria"
(by Faith Alone, by Grace Alone, by Scripture Alone, by Christ Alone, to the Glory of God Alone)

the infection spreads...

so, since most of the people whose blogs i interact with have been "tagged" recently, it was only a matter of time. i was tagged by edna silva. here's the rules:

off we go with the random/weirdness....

1. i figure i'll thoroughly embarrass myself right out of the gate (though it really doesn't embarrass me now, it did for a long time).... i wet the bed till i was... 13 i think? only fortunately my parents put me on a then experimental nasal-spray drug to stop bedwetting called DDAVP. because it was new, i had to get monthly blood tests to make sure i wasn't being slowly turned into a mutant or something to that effect. as it turns out, in 2007 the FDA banned the nasal-spray cause a couple people died from using it and a few dozen others experienced seizures. for me all it ever did was make a lot less laundry for my mom and enable stress-free sleepovers. :)

2. okay, so now that i've embarrassed myself, i'll go for shock and awe. before Jesus saved me from the pit of hell, i was into all kinds of darkness. but probably the one that people are most shocked by is vampirism. yes, my friends and i used to drink each others' blood. people usually ask why. i suppose there was some kind of demonic rush in it. so now you know.

3. i LOVE spicy food. most people that know me know this about me, since i dump red pepper flakes on just about every meal. but most people don't know the story of how it started. when i was about 9 or so, my mom grew these super-hot little peppers (maybe thai dragons?) in her garden for my dad. one day my sister dared me to take a bite of one. of course, you can't back down from a dare from your little sister, so i took a small nibble off the tip. it really wasn't very spicy to me so i decided to show off and put the whole thing in my mouth and chomped a few times and swallowed. little did i know that the heat is primarily in the seeds. soon my mouth was uncomfortable... a few seconds later it was on fire.... a few seconds after that i was screaming for my mom to help and tears were running down my face. she shoved bread, milk and probably some other food products down my gullet to try and cool the burning. finally she gave me a tums and it killed the burning out (so if you ever ingest something too hot, run for the tums ;). but after that experience i started loving spicy food.

4. i played the cello for 3 years in middle school. i was 2nd chair out of like 11 kids (there was a chinese kid named evan who always got first chair... but i didn't have a chance since he was asian. :) try not to let my pure coolness in the photo bowl you over. :)

5. i really like order. if the house is a mess (usually thanks to abby these days) i really can't relax. i'll stop and make sure most things are put in their place. fortunately, my wife also loves order, so we tidy up together. one thing i can't stand is when a couch has some sort of cover on it and people sitting on it squirm around and the cover turns into a lump of fabric half-shoved down the crack between the cusions... drives me insane. (wes, this is dedicated to you! hahaha! :) it took me a while to realize that people are more important than order... a lesson i still sometimes struggle with.

6. i was a very fat child. okay, so i apparently i didn't embarrass myself enough with the first fact. in 6th (or maybe 7th) grade i weighed more than i did as a senior in high school, and was like a foot (30 cm) shorter... in fact, now at 27 i only weigh maybe 15-20 lbs. (7-9 kg.) more than in 6th grade.... it was not a good year for me. but at least i had company. here is a pic of me and my sister as professional fat kids.

7. i write poetry. i have since like 6th grade. granted, i write much less frequently now with all the things going on in my life, but still do sometimes. one poem that i will not forget is the last one i wrote before i was arrested for dealing LSD and consequently gave my heart to Jesus. the final lines of it are:

i need something, i need someone
this tangled web of pain i've spun
i fear the worst has just begun
i beg of you on hand and knee
someone out there set me free.

i didn't realize it at the time, but i think it was actually a prayer and the Lord definitely answered it. He is a wonderfully faithful God! "God will remain true though every man be unfaithful." Rom. 3:4

i hope that was amusing for someone besides just me. so, now in keeping with the rules, i tag the following people:

rick warden
josh dykstra
wendy hoff
matthew hawkins
eulogio crespin
cara denney
stephanie markey

the new car

here are some shots of our new car. no, it doesn't exist in america. its called a dacia logan mcv. put out by renault (french company). its a 7-seater which comes in very handy for all kinds of church stuff.

celebrating the new year ukrainian style

for our church's pre-new year's talent show, lena and i decided to sing a traditional ukrainian folk song called "Pidmanula, Pidvela" in full-on ukrainian garb. anyone living in ukraine will know this song. for those of you who don't, its basically a guy singing about how he was supposed to meet this girl on each day of the week and she doesn't show. the translation is something like this (attempting to keep some sense of the rhyme):

on monday you told me
flowers we will go to see
i showed up but you weren't found
you set me up, you let me down

on tuesday you told me
forty times you will kiss me
i showed up but you weren't found
you set me up, you let me down

on wednesday i was told
we'd walk among the marigold
i showed up but you weren't found
you set me up, you let me down

on thursday you told me
in sorrel walking we will be
i showed up but you weren't found
you set me up, you let me down

on friday you told me
we'd walk among the blueberries
i showed up but you weren't found
you set me up, you let me down

on saturday you told me
we'd work together, you and me
i showed up but you weren't found
you set me up, you let me down

on sunday you were saying
we'd be going to a wedding
i showed up but you weren't found
you set me up, you let me down

chorus (repeated between each verse):

you set me up
you let me down
you've turned my young mind upside down

next, the skit part we added. the guy (me) asks where she's been all week, and she tells him she's been at Bible studies and invites him to come to church on sunday. his reply is, "lena, i'd follow you to the end of the earth!" (that's where everyone cheers :) then the last refrain is our addition, where i sing:

on sunday you told me
at church service you'll meet me
i showed up and you were found!
you didn't set me up, didn't let me down!

hope you enjoy it!