Every month is a good month when it involves fun and cute kids. Silas and Malachi are both really into coloring right now.  They are crazed.  Here is one of Si's Bible class masterpieces.

In the meantime, this is what was going on at Game Night.

And Z has a few things to master as well.

Maybe a little after-school Wiicreation would be nice, with little bro providing the music.

The last tests show that, unless something miraculous happens, he has about three to six months to live.  I'm not sure of his exact age, but he's about 30 years old.  He has a great wife, a six-year old son and a four-year old daughter, which correspond to the ages of Malachi and Silas. They are church planters in Vancouver.  They are pretty hippy and all-natural.  In so many ways, I see our family in them. Although we aren't close to them, I kind of feel like this is happening to us in a way because we are where they are in so many areas of life. I can imagine what it must be like to be telling your kids about this, and then months later, telling them that it hasn't gone away.  Explaining that it looks like dad will die.  I can try to imagine what it's like for his wife Jess - thinking of life without her husband, a single mom, and heartbroken.

I've cried many days over this.  I think about them and pray for them dozens of times a day.  My kids pray for them multiple times a day.  He has been blogging about his journey here.  He has some incredible and extremely important things to share. You really should read it. Lots of people get cancer, but most of them don't see it as an opportunity.  I don't know that Ryan would say he sees it as an opportunity, but he has definitely used this opportunity to share God.

As he says, we don't know why this is happening.  But, I do know one thing that has come of this - people are seeing God through Ryan and Jess.  What a glory they are to God. It is so common for people to hold to certain beliefs about God, until they are put to the test.  And then, they are done with those beliefs about God being good and loving.  But, not Ryan.  Sure, he's angry and scared for his family.  But, he stills (rightly) sees himself as an instrument of God.  And he has chosen to be a very powerful one. I pray he is healed. Like countless others, I will continue to beg God for that. But, whether or not God chooses to do that, I am inspired by Ryan, and I know that God is so proud of him for using this time to share the gospel and for choosing to continue to believe and live in the overwhelming love of God. I pray that I can be as faithful as my friend Ryan.

After school was out (at 7:00 pm) for Silas, we had a quick dinner, and the older boys and Rob headed to the park across the street. Ezra and I came a little later. They tossed the ball for Kona, until they lost the ball. And, then they rode the Lightening McQueen scooters around the Chernobyl statue in that is in the park. Ezra and I chased them. They like to play like he is the "Ezra Monster."

And, at home, Ezra is scooting around everywhere. Here we are, one day away from 8 months old, and he can't crawl, but he might be technically army-crawling. Though, I don't know if there is any "technical" when it comes to something like army crawling. Anyway, he is mostly on hardwood floors, so sliding and scooting is the most efficient. And, he likes to be efficient.

Women's Day is a big international holiday.  It's a shame that we don't celebrate it more in the States. A week or so before the holiday, we were told by Silas' teacher that there would be a program, and if we could, we should make or get some goat horns for him, since he would be a goat in the program.  We should have realized there was more to it, but we didn't.  So, he showed up in normal dress, with some goat horns Rob quickly made in about five minutes.  Remind us next time to get all dressed up for these events.  Seriously, we should know better by now.  Ezra, of course, was also sporting some big smiles for the occasion.

Oksana, Silas' teacher (whom Silas accidentally once called obezyana, which means monkey) was very helpful in helping Silas do hand motions. They had a few more games for the parents to take part in. In the end, he got the hand motions a bit more. He had trouble the whole time trying to keep his horns on, and eventually the music teacher just took them off, and he was back to a regular American boy in a Ukrainian school doing Russian songs while fighting for a chair. It's all in a day's work for this kid.

This is how a lot of babies here take naps - right in their strollers while on long walks. I think Z likes the idea.

Washing the fridge in preparation for moving back to Ukraine.

Aren't these beautiful flowers fresh looking? Rob brought them home for me 16 days ago! They just might last as long as we are in America.
And speaking of things looking nice, Malachi's spots are getting better. Though we are not exactly sure, it seems that it wasn't chickenpox, but a reaction to some Amoxicillin he took for strep throat. He was in distress over having to keep his distance from Ezra, and it was for nothing. And now they are all back to being all over each other.

There is a part of him that thinks he's done with naps. But on many days, if he lies down, there is another part that disagrees.