ida lucille wiley

april 3, 1918 - june 16, 2009

...wife...mother...daughter...friend...sister...aunt...granny...great granny...great great granny...

she is home now.

I stand upon the ocean shore.
As a ship at my side opens her sail
to the morning breeze and begins to glide
across the water blue.

She is a beautiful sight.
I stand and watch her as she glides
with grace and strength into the clouds
on the horizon.

Just where the sky and the ocean meet
and come to mingle with one another.
When I hear someone cry out,
"She is gone." and I must turn and say to them,
"Yes, but gone only from sight."

For within the mind and heart she can always
be found.
For life is eternal,
Love is immortal,
and death is only a horizon,
and a horizon is nothing save the limits of our sight.

{author unknown}

if you are looking for an amazing photgrapher in the tulsa area...

then i HIGHLY recommend erin conrad. she took the wonderful and special pictures that are the new header of this blog, and the ones in the slide show off to the right...

we got to do this fun photo shoot last summer in beautiful woodward park right before we came back to moscow...and i can't wait to get more photos done with her!

she is talented and so kind and a joy to work with.

you can see more of her work here.

'tis the season {isn't every season?} for a lovely outdoor photo shoot!

all our bags are packed, we're ready to go...

not really, but close. most of our bags are packed but we're not quite ready to go yet.

soon.

but first, some more "see you later"'s, last time {for a while} on arbat street, last time {for a while} on red square, and of course, time with friends {most definitely not the last times}.

these are sweet days and we are trying to be very present in these moments. to quote adam duritz, "can't remember all the times i tried to tell myself to hold on to these moments as they passed..."

a few details from these last days that have been wonderful...

::time with friends and students

::silas' first wii experience - who knew a 20 month old could be such a tennis pro? {thanks liz!} or that his mama would rule the lanes at wii bowling? ;o)

::silas turned 20 months old and was totally happy to stay up 3 hrs past his bedtime with us on arbat while we looked at art, and then went right down to sleep without a peep

::dinner with friends at hard rock, moscow {not to mention joe perry's 'rock your world' quesadillas}

::our hot water went off and won't come back on until 2 days after we leave. {there are multiple and varied stories {depending on your source} as to why the hot water goes off for three weeks every summer on a rotation schedule throughout moscow, {i.e. cleaning/repairing pipes, vacation time for the workers at the plants, because they've just always done it that way, to save money, etc}...regardless of the reason, we'll miss you hot water....

{and just for fun...on june 21 we're on lufthansa flights 3189, 430 and then 5770 and this is a fun tool to track planes...in case you are into that sort of thing.}

{moscow} forever my friend

this morning it is hot and sunny and i am loving it! i'm headed to the american embassy dacha outside the city in a few minutes with a bunch of friends...beautiful day for a picnic!

last week was full and sweet...some highlights...

...finals week at hinkson:::tim's final chaplain acts:::coffee and croissants with my girls:::graduation:::after graduation party:::packing:::time with friends:::packing:::carried furniture out the door and down ten stories {to be taken to various locations}:::packing:::all school picnic at hinkson:::coffee house at hinkson:::hinkson talent show:::goodbyes:::made cookies:::packing:::ate cookie dough:::goodbyes:::time with friends...

so here we are, now in the month that we make the big move. hellos and goodbyes. happy and sad. bitter and sweet.


we won't forget you, sweet boy.


cherries from the ярмарка for breakfast!

{happy happy happy birthday brian!!! we love you so much and we hope that this day on the river with your beautiful wife and pups, sunshine, coffee, lunch, guinness, and celebrating your last 2 years in the twenties are so wonderful!}

{thanks, ray, for the inspirational lyrics you were singing as i typed this, thus the title of this post...}

hello goodbyes

goodbyes can be a tough thing, but very important, i believe.

we are in the midst of a season of a lot of goodbyes.

and they are sweet, even if they are hard, because that hard part means you've shared life together and that matters the most.

its strange to say goodbye to someone who you've formed a relationship with and know you really probably will never see them again...{"here, there, or in the air" as my mom says...}

so in this season with a lot of goodbyes happening, lets focus on the time we did have together and celebrate that!!! {and with goodbyes comes new hellos!}

{and in the www/skype/facebook/blog/myspace/twitter/email world we live in, we're really just a click away, right? :o)}

and because this is really just too good not to post...

{i don't know if you can tell from this still picture, sans the sound of hysterical laughter, but both silas and kai were immensely enjoying themselves here!}

if you have ever wondered why we are in moscow...

if you ever get the opportunity to meet becca, katie, katherine, tina or rachel, {the beautiful ladies pictured above} you'll be better for it.

these girls are so special to me. we have a lot of history and experiences together {packed in the last 3 years}, and we've walked through a lot of different seasons together. i'm so honored they let me in and let me walk with them for these years.

they graduate from high school this friday.

a few days after that, they will each be flying to the states to start a new chapter in their life. they are american, and they are going to america, but they are the ones caught in that unique place where their home country is not their own, and their own country is not their home.

they have taught me more than they will ever know.

and last night they surprised me with an experience i'm finding very hard to put words to. they sneakily organized with tim to get a key to our apartment, so when i was out at my friend's son's birthday party, they came over here, set up the apartment for the most lovely evening, including the most delicious dinner and dessert, fresh tulips, homemade cards, my favorite music and an evening with them...

{we said the things we should all say more often, we cried and laughed, we asked questions and answered questions, we reminisced and all talked excitedly about the next steps just around the corner}



that is why we are here.

ground rush

we move back to the US one month from yesterday...i think tim explained this really well the other day...

in skydiving there is a term called ground rush, where it feels like suddenly the ground is coming toward you {or the other way around} really fast. an adrenaline rush, for sure.

when you are skydiving {or getting ready to move from russia to the US}, you know that you will land {be back in the US} eventually, but in the meantime you have time to just freefall or coast under the parachute and look around, take deep breaths, etc...

but then at some point, it looks like the ground is coming really fast...

we are in the 'ground rush' phase of getting ready to move back.

so creative, isn't he?

{tim surprised me for my 27th birthday and we went skydiving, something i have always wanted to do! we highly recommend skydive airtight and jumpmaster steve phelps for your skydiving adventures!}

{the day we jumped...i just landed for the first time, tim is getting ready to go up}