A Paying Photo Shoot!

After seeing the pictures that I took of Alina and Pasha (January 7 entry), Alina's older sister called me and asked if I would be willing to come and take pictures of their "Mommy and Me" class. The teacher is about to take maternity leave and the moms are planning to make a scrapbook for her. So, I spent this morning in a small room with nine 2-3 year olds and their mothers. The teacher was very gifted, creative, and skilled in leading the children through a variety of exercises and developmental tasks. It was enjoyable to watch her work and to be able to catch the children in action. The down-side was that the room was very stuffy (no drafts or cool air for fear of sickness -- I was quite hot and almost woozy by the end) and a bit dim (though very nicely decorated). I realized how, more than anything, I enjoy working in natural light! I am happy to have a strobe/flash so that I can take pictures indoors, but I MUCH prefer to work near a window or outside! I felt quite limited in what I could do for them (though I got plenty of good action shots). After the moms got their kids all bundled up again and we were walking out the door, I asked the last few moms if I could just snap a few shots of their girls out in front of the center. They obliged (though the kids were quite tired after their learning adventure). I just took one or two of each of the kids, but I felt something inside me go, "Ahhh!" when I snapped these. Those are the pictures that I ENJOY taking.

Simplicity

I took this picture today as I was brainstorming for a way to illustrate the concept "simplicity" for an on-line photo contest. . . I don't know if it does the job or not, but I was going for simple tones and repetition in this high key image.

There Goes the Neighborhood!

For those of you who are not aware, our neighborhood is in the process of being seized for "development". Over 100 of the 145 houses in our neighborhood "pocket" have already been purchased and most of them have been partially leveled. Thus, we are surrounded by skeletons of buildings and trashpiles. It literally looks like the area has been bombed and abandoned. Almaty is also in the middle of a building crisis -- development has come to a halt and many of the big construction companies are possibly going bankrupt. Things are certainly in a "freeze" right now. We really don't know what is going to happen next. . . Perhaps things will pick up again by summer. Perhaps we will be living in this mess for a while longer. We never have had much of a view out our windows. We just lift up our eyes to the hills!

DDR: Dance, Dance Revolution

I gave the girls a DDR dance pad and X-Box disc for Christmas this year -- it has been a huge hit! Even Daniel and Andrus have gotten into it. On Friday night, Allison, Abby, Daniel, and Andrus spent 6 hours straight dancing! They got quite proficient and unlocked all kinds of levels and new songs. So now, when I hear the rhythmic thump, thump, thumping upstairs, I know what they are doing!

We just got back from Daniel's basketball game. Tien Shan won 41-30! It was fun to watch the guys at work. Daniel is enjoying participating in a team sport and learning new skills. It is a good year for him.

I almost forgot to mention. We are in the middle of a HEAT WAVE! It hit 20 F today! We almost went out without our coats, it was so warm :-)! The power of comparison is amazing.

Drama Divas, Golden Girl, and the Shoe Mound

Oh yes, they are young and oh so very dramatic!

For those of you interested in photography, here are a couple of pictures from my latest assignment. We were doing some work with reflectors. Both of the above pictures of Masha (Allison's best friend) were taken in the shade. The first was with no reflector and the second was with a gold reflector. What a difference that golden light makes! It just warms the whole picture up! Especially helpful in this winter light which has such a strong blue cast.

Tonight we had "office" at our house. Essentially that means that we hosted an active games night for the Young Life crowd. Lots of Mafia and yelling. It was a great group -- up to 30 kids and many of them were new. Great growth and outreach going on right now! Since Central Asians take shoes off upon entering a house, we always have an enormous mound of shoes in our entryway on nights like tonight!

Also, the fund-raising bake sale was VERY successful. This morning Jackie made a presentation at an international church here in the city and people were very responsive. In addition to buying cookies, many wanted to support a student's way to camp! They made over $500 to go towards the winter camp! God is good! The girls will be baking again this week. . . Wishing we could send some of those cookies through cyber-space :-)!

What? I am in the Doghouse?

Yes, she may be cute, but she really is a pesky adolescent dog! Digging, jumping, chewing - she does it all. Life is about to change for Trixie, though. We started a training program today, teaching her various commands. (Of course, we should have done this months ago and used raisins like Mark and Melissa!) We started with the "sit" command today. Here she is, hoping I am about to give her another treat. I asked Dan if he had any additional commentary about our dogs. "Not anything publishable. . ." was the reply :-)!

Young Life Babies and Cookie Factory

Ruslan and Zhanna's son, Rostik, spent the day with us again today. We really enjoyed our time with him. I believe he was also thoroughly entertained by all of the big kids and commotion in our house. Never a dull moment! Lily, Nastya and Shurik's daughter, also came over to play for a little while and take some pictures with us. It has been many months since I have taken pictures of the two Young Life babies together. Zhanna and Nastya went through their pregnancies together and their children were born a week apart. They are truly being raised as Young Life babies -- always in the middle of the action and loved by many young people! They are both so adorable. It was fun to take pictures of their sweet and animated expressions.

We also had a cookie factory going in our kitchen today. Jackie and her dear friend Diana worked for many hours baking cookies as a fund-raiser for the Young Life Central Asia Winter Conference. They baked double batches of chocolate chip, oatmeal, gingersnap, and snowball cookies which they will package and sell at several different churches in order to help pay for a few more kids to be able to go to the conference. Costs continue to sky-rocket here and everyone is having a hard time covering expenses!

Fabulous Fibers

Whew! The Arctic weather is continuing with no sign of letting up. I spent the day at Daniel's school, bundled in layers and wool coat, taking off a single glove when I needed to write. In addition to frozen pipe troubles, the extraordinary electric load in the city has been causing inconsistencies in power level, blowing the school's electric systems as well. School has been cancelled for tomorrow and Monday as they try to deal with the difficulties.

Today I attended a day-long seminar on the topic of making healthy transitions between cultures; it has given me some good things to think about. But it was nice to come home to a much warmer house. As I have heard more stories about the temperatures of other people's homes, I have become quite thankful for how well we are doing. In commemoration of the frozen life we are leading, today's pictures is of scarf fibers!

Winter Picnic, Haircuts, and Fried Potatoes

Snapshots today. . .The city continues to have problems because of the prolonged extreme weather. Gas is low everywhere and water pipes are freezing or breaking. Many of our friends are without water; others are wearing coats inside their homes. Daniel's school was again closed half-way through the day. Although they got the heat back on yesterday afternoon, several of the pipes had frozen in the meantime and some of the classrooms were without heat circulation. Thus, it was quite chilly. Daniel said that you could see your breath in some of the classrooms! So, Daniel and a number of friends came home to eat their lunches and watch a movie between their partial school day and the basketball game. It is nice that we still live so close to the school!

The girls and I also had haircuts today. Anya has been cutting my hair since the year Allison was born. I met her during the era when going to a salon was a cultural experience -- I had to go to the bathroom in the back and lean over the tub to get my hair wet! Now Anya works at a very prestigious salon. More prestigious than my budget can afford, as a matter of fact. But, Anya is willing to come to our home for a reasonable price, and we just have a little study break from our school routine!

Zara and I met today at her apartment. Her precious little guy, Aslan, played in the kitchen while we talked. Apparently, he watches his grandmother cook a lot. He was very intentional about getting out the potatoes, onions, frying pans, spoons, etc. .. He REALLY wanted to get out the oil, too, and pour that into the pans for frying. Somehow, Zara managed to talk him out of that step. I was very, very sorry that I didn't have my digital SLR with me. Sadly, this picture was taken with my cell phone. It would have been a wonderful portrait opportunity. Adorable little guy and very single-minded! Zara's necessary vigilance reminds me of my life once-upon-a-time. And somehow that comforts her :-)!

YAHOO!

Daniel got a nice surprise this morning. We received a call at 7:25 am that some pipes burst at the school last night. No heat: no school. Daniel got to go back to bed! Now he is off to Mega for bowling and a movie with his class. He was pretty psyched about his unexpected vacation day. The problem at the school should be resolved by tomorrow. I am just hoping our pipes don't break while Dan is out of town. It has been such a cold month. Usually the extreme weather doesn't last so long in Almaty; it is currently -5 F. Ouch.

Today I received feed-back from my photography prof on yesterday's assignment. She gave me excellent reviews! I was so pleased -- especially since I wasn't sure if I had gotten the lighting patterns exactly right. She is a great teacher (Bobbi Lane) - she has received all kinds of photography teaching awards and explains lighting, in particular, very well. I hope to continue on a high learning curve. She also said that Abby was a beautiful model, so Abby was quite happy, too. (And this compliment came just when Abby was frustrated with her grammar exercises, so the timing was good!)

Abby also went back to drama class today and she and Allison returned to rock-climbing and ice-skating yesterday. The school routine is back on!

Rembrandt, Loop Lighting, and Domino Donuts

Hey, this is starting to sound like a Johnny Carson skit. . .

I am taking a portraits class on-line. Today I worked on my images for an assignment about lighting patterns. Abby was my very cooperative model. I really needed a cooperative model today since I felt like I REALLY wasn't sure what I was doing. The assignment was to use the same setting, model, and single window light to create four different lighting patterns: butterfly (or glamour lighting), loop, Rembrandt, and split. The butterfly requires direct light placed slightly above the model and shining directly on the face, creating even lighting on the entire face and only a slight shadow under the nose.

The next pattern is called loop lighting. It comes more from one direction so there are more shadows on one side of the face than the other, but still a lot of light on the center of the face and under the nose.

Then, there is the Rembrandt or 3/4 lighting. Definitely directional and dramatic, lighting one side of the face entirely and a small triangle of light on the opposing cheek, making a nice shadow from the nose to the corner of the mouth.

And, finally, split lighting -- only lighting half of the face, often used to lengthen the face or make the bad guys look threatening. Not very complimentary for cute little girls, but it was part of the assignment!

Of course, since I couldn't move the light source, I was having to move Abby and direct her to tilt her head, chin, nose, mouth, etc. . . every which way to try to figure out each of these lighting patterns. And, at the same time, to try to make a pleasing composition and get the "catch lights" in her eyes to speak to the viewer, etc. . . I am glad that my children are willing to submit themselves to such torture!

Today was also a day of celebration! Boris finished practically all of this semester's "sessia", or study period, for his degree program! He brought a big box of Domino Doughnuts -- very delicious -- to our Monday Amazing Race Night. We thoroughly enjoyed this very big treat alongside the high drama of Season Seven. Congratulations, Boris!

"Starshaya" or "Strashnaya"

A funny thing happened in the junior high group today. Dan was doing a little devotional on the destructive nature of jealousy, using 1 Samuel 18:5-19. Masha was reading the last few verses of that section, where Saul offers his older daughter, Merab, in marriage to David and David refuses the proposal. When Masha was reading in Russian, however, she missed the word "starshaya" (older) and said "strashnaya" (meaning horrible, terrible, incredibly ugly in this context) instead. Of course, this sent everyone into howls of laughter and Dan said, "Now we know the REAL reason why David refused the offer. . ." It was an amusing moment for the group.

I forgot to mention something yesterday. It has continued to be VERY cold here. We have now had temperatures in the 0-10 degree F for about a month. Currently it is below 0 -- I thought my hand was going to freeze to the padlock when I was locking the car in the garage this evening (hard to do with gloves on). Dan went on a long run yesterday for his marathon preparation. When he runs for several hours, he hides some bottles of gatorade at strategic points along his route so that he can stay hydrated. When he reached his first bottle (after a little over an hour of running), he found that he had a genuine slushee -- plenty of frozen gatorade in the bottle. All of you people in warm climates -- this is the time of year to enjoy your advantage!

"Devishnik" at Gloria Jean's

Lena, Katya, Marina, and I met at the coffee shop this morning to celebrate Marina's birthday. We spent a wonderful couple of hours, enjoying the luxury coffee and pastries while visiting and laughing together. Katya organized a "How Well Do You Know Marina?" Game which meant that Marina was the judge and Katya asked the questions, leaving Lena and me to be the only contestants! We had fun, though, and discovered a few things that we didn't know about Marina (like how many years she has worn contacts and how many countries she has visited -- I never knew she had been to Holland!). Lena and I were fairly even on the questions. Lena has known Marina for longer (they went to school together -- the number of which I did NOT know) but I knew a few more recent things - like her shoe size since we skate together frequently and that she loves Pioneer Ball (which we play at the junior high camp). We gave Marina a coffee maker, cute cups, and coffee so that she can bring the holiday home. We are so thankful to have such a wonderful friend!

We took our Christmas tree down tonight. I guess it was about time. We did make it through western calendar Christmas and New Year, Orthodox Christmas, AND old New Year. I would say that we were trying to be culturally correct, but it really just happened because we have been so busy. Dan leaves tomorrow for a week in the Ukraine and he returns on the same day that Mike Glodo arrives to teach a seminary course here. I was really afraid if we didn't get the tree put away today, it would have been up until Valentine's Day! Our upstairs living room looks really bare right now. Probably better for hosting junior high youth group tomorrow, though.

Rostik and a Cow's Eye

John and Anita left (early!) this morning. One of our dogs got out in the night and we thought we lost her. Thankfully, she did turn up again by our gate while Dan was out looking for her once it was light. I picked up Rostik this morning for one of our days with him (Ruslan and Zhanna are on a big support-raising trip in America right now and I agreed to sit with him once a week). We had a fun day together. All of the girls pitched in to help - playing, walking, rocking, feeding. They have the routine down! I don't know what we are going to do tomorrow without any babies around! It was good to spend time with Rostik. I hadn't seen him in a month since he and his parents were sick over the holidays. He is growing fast.

Jackie also had a big biology experiment today - dissecting a cow's eye! While it was a little gross at moments, it was also very interesting. She was so pleased that she was able to dissect all of the parts without breaking anything. It was all very clear. Here she is explaining what all of the parts and functions are. . . What a student!

Crawling Baby and Beshbarmak

We have all been amazed at John David's development -- he has become a much better (faster!) crawler, even within the past few days. He has also started pulling up on any available "handle" he can find (including faces, arms, legs, tables. . ). He is a little motor and will be walking before we know it. We are so glad that we have gotten to see him at this stage. We are just sad that we won't be able to be part of his day-to-day life for the next year. But, it has been a joy to have the John A Burns family with us. . . the house is going to seem empty without them!

John and Anita took us out to a very nice Kazakh restaurant today. I had hoped to get some pictures of the family in an ethnic setting, but the room where we were sitting was pretty chilly (so we were all wearing coats while we ate), there was a large plate glass window behind our table (making heavy back-lighting), and John David was not in his most cheerful mood. SO, instead of the family with Kazakh decor, I took a picture of Anita's lunch: beshbarmak (literally: five fingers, usually eaten with one hand). Boiled sheep with onions (and a few potatoes thrown in) over thin, wide home-made noodles (the pride of every Kazakh woman). A bowl of broth is usually served alongside the meat, to be ladled over the meat and noodles or drunk straight from the bowl. Very tasty. It is amazing how much we now like the things that we thought were so unusual when we first moved here. Anita is very game to try and appreciate new things -- go girl! I think John liked the fried Kazakh dough best of all! (We handily polished off two whole baskets of these doughnut-bread "barsak".) We have really enjoyed having them visit us!

Medeo and the Lee Family

I know, I know. . . you keep getting "bonus" pictures. But, life is short and our days are full! And I like being able to give a visual representation of what we are doing on a day to day basis. I believe I will get back to one-a-day very soon. (And the extra pictures actually mean more trouble for me at the end, really, when I will still have to select only ONE photo to represent each day in the grand finale slide show!)

John and Anita had their final meeting today with "the sisters" (literally, the three sisters who run the adoption organization here in Kazakhstan). They have John David's passport with visa and are set to go! It was fun to get to meet several different families finishing their adoption process -- all very happy, with very cute babies (none as cute as John David, though :-)), all ready to get home! What a long journey. But wonderful to see families who REALLY want these children and are prepared to give them a secure family life.

After the meeting we headed up to Medeo so John and Anita could have a chance to get up into the mountains and see the world-famous speed skating rink. It is so rare that we are at Medeo during the day. (We usually go in the evening because it is very exciting to skate in the mountains when it is dark! A totally different atmosphere). So, I just had to include two pictures to show you the external and internal views (for those who have never been there -- 1600 m above sea level, very famous during Soviet era, many speed skating records were set there, beautiful atmosphere and views as you skate in crisp air, surrounded by mountain peaks and fir trees. And, our girls absolutely love to go and usually beg to stay for hours and hours.) Today, however, it was REALLY cold -- probably 0 F -- and our faces kept going numb. We felt sorry for John David, who was NOT skating, and didn't stay for hours and hours. Still, it was nice to get out.

Sasha and Katya Lee (and beautiful Dima) joined us for dinner this evening. I mentioned Dima in one of my earlier posts (since he IS one of Dan's best buddies :-)!) We had a nice evening together. We are really happy that John and Anita have gotten to meet so many of our friends (and that our friends have gotten to meet John and Anita!). It is so rare for us to have opportunities for our two worlds to intersect!

The Old Man and Laugh Out Loud

Well, you can tell that we are having continued "Baby Days" at our house! But we are enjoying them thoroughly since they will be far too few. John David got his visa processed today and it will be attached to his Kazakhstani passport tomorrow. Then, when he lands in the US, he will officially be a US citizen!

Daniel went back to school today. It was a little difficult for him to wake up this morning. Jackie has also been doing school work for the past week, despite the rest of us being in vacation mode. AP classes don't give much room for long breaks. Abby and Allison are enjoying their extended winter holiday. Next week will be a harsh reality (for the three of us)! Dan is also preparing to teach in the Ukraine next week, so he has been quite busy. . . But, we are all enjoying baby time!

Life is a Roller Coaster

Yes, life is a roller coaster. And John David is capable of the full range of emotions. He is a very happy boy with the most winsome smile and, yet, is also quite expressive when displeased. We were able to capture a few of his extremes today - the all-out expressive wail as well as the cute dimpled smile! John and Anita are embarking on their great family adventure. And they seem to be enjoying every minute of it! (Well, maybe not ALL of those middle-of-the-night minutes, but they seem to understand those come with the territory, too!) :-)!

We are really enjoying their visit. Since we usually only spend holidays together, our house has this extended post-Christmas feeling. We are relaxed and are enjoying being home together. It has also been wonderful for them to get to meet some of our close friends (our "family") here. Boris, Marina, and Masha were all over for meals on Saturday. They met many, many friends at Almagul on Sunday. Zara came over for the afternoon after church. Pat and Allen came over for a meal this evening. It has been really fun to share our friendships and our family both ways. We are so thankful for the addition of John David to the family and for the fact that his adoption brought some more Burns to Kazakhstan! John and Anita had several appointments today and an embassy visit tomorrow. . . Just a little more work and they will be free to go! They will be happy to finally go home. But, we will definitely miss them. . .

Feeding John David

Feeding John David is definitely a challenge. . . Though he makes a very distinctive mouth motion to indicate he is hungry, he definitely gives his mom and dad a work-out at meal time! He was given bottles with HUGE holes in the nipple when he was at the orphanage, making feeding time very efficient for the personnel. He has since switched to normal US standard bottles and is learning the skills of sucking diligently and persistently though his meals. He is a very social guy, however, and would often much rather watch what is going on around him. John David is also very interested in self-feeding. He loves the spoon and would much rather put it into his own mouth than receive it from a parent. Thus, he lies in wait, with arms outstretched to catch the spoon when it comes anywhere near his mouth. Two spoons are necessary to keep meal-time moving. If only he were somewhat accurate with his self-feeding, but he still is getting more plastered on his face than into his mouth! But that does not deter his efforts. . . His parents are also seeing that he is a very picky eater. Today, when given a spoonful of carrots, he made a grimace to rival his dad's "lima bean face". Now that is great placement! We are enjoying getting to know John David and these wonderful aspects of his personality.

Look Who's Famous Now!

John David Burns (our newly adopted nephew) has now made it to the Get Famous column! We are so pleased to meet him and have him and his parents in our home. Isn't he adorable? A very happy and responsive little guy. We spent a lovely day together today, just hanging out and feeling holiday-ish. It is so nice to have family here! And we are happy to help them break out of their Groundhog Day repetition and feelings of house arrest. We hope they will have many other memories of Kazakhstan as well!

Creativity is Flowing

Abby got this great digital camera for Christmas. A REAL camera - with zoom and options and everything. One like she has been dreaming of owning ever since Bryan Jones set her loose with his on Thanksgiving Day four years ago. Even then it was interesting to see the things that she chose to document -- the world through Abby's eyes. Well, since now she has her own tool, I made a folder for her in our photo archive and showed her how to download her photos. At that point she asked, "Can you teach me how to use Photoshop? I want to learn to do what you do." Wow. What a request. To teach her to use this massive program that I am just scratching the surface of myself! So, we began. I taught her how to open her pictures, make basic adjustments, save as a copy so as not to lose that original, etc. . . Then she really wanted to play and see what artistic effects she could make, so I showed her the artistic photo filters and let her play (for several hours). The photo below was the crowning picture of her experimentation. She chose a nice glowing edges effect for a silhouette that she took a few days ago. And then, of course, she couldn't resist the cloning tools, cloning eyes and teeth to make some real monsters out of herself and her friends! She was so happy while she was creating. What a girl!

The Amazing Race - Almaty

The Amazing Race has indeed come to Almaty. In response to our Amazing Race fervor, Jackie made her own version of the race as a creative date for Boris. He had to follow a track of clues in our part of the city, ripping envelopes and choosing detours. One of his final tasks was to kill the "local champion" three times in Halo (reminiscent of the contestants having to score 11 points against the local champion in a ping-pong match when in China). Boris made it to the check-point and was NOT eliminated. He even won the prize of the day which, sadly, was not a million dollars but WAS the second half of his Christmas present!

We also started the Amazing Race - Season Seven this evening. We decided to spread this one out over the the next few months, having a Race Night once a week with our friends. Unfortunately, seasons one and seven are the only series that CBS has released on DVD. I believe the show is on season twelve right now in the US? Would anyone be willing to tape these for us? Maybe we will get tired of them after a while, but it is interesting for us at this point. We have never watched any TV shows before (not since Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and early Saturday Night Live, believe it or not). But, for some reason the aspects of travel, race, and the age of our kids have all lined up for some entertaining family time.

Financial Aid and Home Remedies

Picture A - This is what was going on at our house today: filling out extensive financial aid forms, attempting to show how there is no possible way that we can even BEGIN to pay for our child's (children's) college education. Not an inspiring picture, but illustrative of this phase of our life.

Picture B (taken by Marina) - Allison did get back from her ski trip last night, and she had a ball. Here is a picture to show the grandparents that she is indeed alive and well! There were a few stories, however. . . perhaps some to rival her father's stories of black diamonds and deep ditches! Allison's story involved a large stone wall and the quick decision to duck under a taut wire. Her ear suffered most from the collison with the wall. She was laughing and in good spirits when she called to relate the story, though the local doctor was called in to examine her after the collision. She was the recipient of a local "home remedy" as well. Allison said that she will some day relate the story to her children. If you are curious, you will have to ask her to tell you as well!

I don't know if you can see the rope around Allison's waist with the piece of wood attached to the end of it. That is a necessary piece of the ski lift - everyone carries their own seat with them. You just clip your rope onto the tow rope and put your piece of wood between your legs. Allison said it was a little difficult when the tow rope was dragging on the ground and she had to physically hold it up for it to tow her! A great adventure. (Just so you don't think we are actually living near Vail or anything :-)!)