Friday, March 25, 2011

Stuff that's going on at the Walker's

Marshall's First "tie". Clip on of course.

Carl found his old sparring gear in the attic. Could still be useful for sibling fights.

This oak was over a hundred years old. As you can see it had rotted in the center.

The tree guys said that this happens when trees get old. Sadly, our owls have to find a new home. The tree guy climbed all the way up the 30 ft tree to make sure no owls were inside.

Marshall smiles at the park.

Grace is "King of the Mountain" on top of the playground.

Daddy and Marshall contemplating a climb up.

OK, this has got to be one of my favorite pictures of Grace, ever!

Marshall "on the edge"

Skipping off to the swings!

A hike in the woods.

The kids had to sit on every bench we passed (which was a lot!)


Thursday, March 17, 2011

"Squirrel's Curl" is in now print







Received my sample copy of my first book in print on Wed., Mar. 15, my Mom's birthday. Wish she was still with us. I am planning that all my grandchildren will have a copy. It's not the great American novel I always intended to write, but it's a start. And maybe, in a sense it is the great novel from me in that it might help someone have a more positive outlook, and recognize the blessings that are around us all.
The plan is that the book will be available for sale at the publisher's site, Authorhouse.com, store for 10.00 at at Amazon.com for 13.oo. I can also buy copies and sell them myself. So tell your friends, and when you receive your copy make sure you show them.

I am very pleased with the illustrator's work. It is an exciting adventure to see your work in print. Very motivating.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Getting Ready for Spring.

Grace wanted me to take a pic of her sitting on the model toilet at Lowe's. We compromised with pretend hand washing instead.
Getting goofy in the home improvement section.
Love Marshall's expression in this pic.
Sitting pretty at Lowe's
Peek-a-boo, Marshall

At the park.
Cricket rests in the kitchen
A sunny day is a perfect time to play with your umbrella
Spring means yard work
Amazing Grace stands on one foot!


Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Recap on Dnipropetrovsk







Dear Family,
Last post was not as thorough as I wanted so here is a recap on my trip to Dnipropetrovsk. As many of you already know the main reason I traveled to Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine was to meet Radmyla (Rada) whom I had been talking to on skype since November. We had talked everyday on skype for many hours. The flight there was long but I was relieved when the plane landed in her city. It was a cloudy day and the pilot said there was a chance we would have to land in a different city. But they were able to land us. It was a special moment in the airport when I saw Rada. She was smiling and gave me a big hug and kiss. I exchanged some money and we took a taxi to the flat she had arranged from a women she knew. After settling in we went to the market and bought food. It took me alittle while to get use to the different prices because they used ukranian money. But in dollars food was not very expensive. Rada is a very good cook. We cooked foods together and she made some really good ukranian dishes. We traveled around the city in the carbus. Its like a van and will pick you up anywhere. It was pretty cheap to ride in one. Of course Rada took me around to different places. It was could there and alot of ice on the streets so Rada and I walked together holding hands tightly so not to fall down. I met her parents, her brothers Dgeorge and Ruslan, and her sister christina. They are really kind and nice people. Rada's mother is very sweet and made some delicious borsh. Rada made some dish with pieces of liver. It had been along time since I had liver. But with alittle spicy mustard it was good. I had taken Rada and her siblings all out to the McDonalds in the mall area. Dgeorge is 19 and can eat well. While there I became very close to her family. Ruslan also speaks English pretty well and so he helped with some translation. Overall I had the best time there. Most important was that I was able to ask Rada to marry me because I love her so much. She has as wonderful personality. She loves to laugh and joke. When she is with her brother Dgeorge it is very funny. She is extremely kind and very sweet. She is very anxious to meet and get to know everyone in the family, especially little man. I know that distance may make it difficult to talk all the time but perhaps soon through email or the such she can get to know everyone. So now I filed the petition for her visa and we wait for it to be approved. Then in about 5 months she gets her interview for her visa in Kiev (Which I plan to be at) then she can come to the US. I hope all is well with everyone.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Addendum

So I must apologize to Aubrey. He was sincerely meant to be in the post along with every other family member. However, due to lateness of night and slacking memory Aubrey was missing from the post. But do not fear Aubrey, you were thought of and I knew what I wanted to say. Without further ado:
-Aubrey- You a nice and gentle guy. You can always find the one quiet place amongst the clamorous Cain Clan and whenever I need some time I just search for you, where you are probably sitting reading a paper. Though you find the quiet spots you also know how to find the fun and can wrangle with the rest of the "men". But the most important quality is that you captured Cara's heart. We all knew you had to be someone special to get Cara to want the silly piece of paper that declares your marriage.

Adam’s Expanding Vocabulary

Adam is doing better about responding appropriately to words, and occasionally using some of his own. When we rescue him from his crib each morning, he always says “Hi!” After prayers and testimonies at home and in church, he says “mamen.” Our most recent box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch (on sale!) had a wind up car, which has become one of his favorite toys. We pointed to it and said “car,” and now he refers to it as “caw.”

Thanks to day care and a video, he knows sign language for milk, more, and occasionally banana. He loves to ape the itsy bitsy spider actions and roll his arms all through “pat-a-cake.” He plays with his little yellow ball all the time, and he’s pretty good about throwing it now. He’s getting better at identifying us as “Mom” and “Dad.” We think he’s starting to get canines since he’s been whiney at nights.

We’ve all been sick over the last week, which was excellent given my unusually heavy homework load and the ethics portion of the bar I had to take Saturday, March 5th (the "multistate professional responsibility examination, or MPRE"). The MPRE was fine as far as I can tell, but we’ll find out in 5 weeks. Adam is funny, he has watched us blow our noses enough that he imitates us whenever you give him a tissue.

Actually, Adam imitates us a lot. When he finds my keys, he tries to stick them in a door knob, keyhole or no. He tries to put on his own socks, though hasn't figured out that the socks have a hole. He has watched us pick up his toys enough that sometimes he'll do it himself, though he has a hard time fitting it all into the toy chest. He isn't interested in any toy or device that we aren't interested in, which may explain his predilection for throwing balls and driving cars. He loved my old phone until I got a new one, now he's only interested in the new one.

Adam is pretty clever, by toddler standards. He's figured out how to open doors with handles (all the church doors are accessible to him), he knows how to turn door knobs, but has a hard time gripping them tightly enough. He turns on his own humidifier, it has a knob too. He loves toggling light switches on & off. He stacks things that don't belong, like my shampoo & conditioner. He shuts the bath drain when we're trying to get him out of the tub.

We’ve also had some intense rain and wind storms. The other week we were woken up at 2am by tornado sirens. We checked the weather on the internet and found a tornado watch, which wasn’t surprising given the wind. It was about 40 degrees when we’d gone to bed and about the same when we got up. But at 2am it was 70 degrees outside, which was eerie. However, spring is on its way! Crocuses and daffodils are poking up their heads and some of the trees are budding.

A New York lesson, hope grows in the power of the imagination



View picture 1 which has been our view since before Christmas of 2010.
The only change has been how high the snow is on the railing. Yesterday, we were excited that all the railing snow disappeared in the rain. However, this morning there is a new growth, about 4 inches. Pic two, view carefully and see the determination of the little pink geraniums who refuse to give up. These represent our New York hope for spring. Picture 3 is what Grace finds in Virginia in March usually. Notice what's missing.
The only way we will see a daffodil in March is to stick an artificial one in the ground. "Wait for it. Wait for it." How sweet spring is when it comes North. But we must be vigilant and quick to catch it before summer, which has no time to mess around. New Yorkers celebrate a beautiful spring day. It is nothing to take for granted.




Saturday, March 5, 2011

Proposal in the Ukraine




Hello Family,


Well now I am back in the USA. I came home on Wednesday March 2nd after traveling all day. Some of you maybe heard that I went to the Ukraine to meet a wonderful women named Radmyla (or Rada for short). Rada and I had been talking everyday for hours via skype since I came home from training in Nov. She is 24 and will turn 25 in July. Rada lives in the city Dnipropetrovsk. She lives with her Mother Natashiya, step father Gana, brothers Ruslan and George. She has two sisters Christina (lives nearby) and her oldest sister Victoria (married lives in England. Rada speaks english, russian, and ukrainian. We have many goals and ideas in common. She loves her family and wants to have one of her own soon. On Valentine's Day Feb 14th I proposed to her and she said yes. I know this maybe sudden since I have not written anything on the blog but Rada and I are very happy. The biggest hurdle is for her visa. It could take about 6 months for her to get her visa for marriage. So the date of the wedding is not set yet until we know about the visa. I have included a couple of pics. One is of me and Rada and the send is of me, rada, ruslan, george, and christina with her baby. Hope all is well and I will write more soon.