Russ and Becca's blog

This blog is resurrected!

2012-02-12T21:36:00.001-08:00

It has been a while. Stuff is happening that we want to record, so get ready.

America!

2009-10-25T15:37:00.000-07:00

Becca has arrived safely in Dallas TX after a long day of flying from St. Petersburg to Frankfurt, and then on to Dallas. She said that she slept about 2 hours in St. Petersburg before leaving early for the airport, and managed to sleep about 3 or more hours on the plane over the Atlantic. Tomorrow she will fly to Seattle and then take the quick hop over the mountains to home (less than an hour in the air). She will be landing in Pasco about 5:00 PM, which is about the time I leave for my last night of shift work before getting about a week off. I've included a pic she sent me just before the plane took off from Germany.

Thanks to everyone who has been following this blog and remembering Becca and the team in your prayers. We are all anxious to hear about the trip 1st hand, rather than Russ' mindless ramblings in this blog...lol!

I realized I haven't ever published the website of the group she travelled with...check out Strategic Angel Care at http://www.sacorphans.org/

God bless!

Last day in Russia

2009-10-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Becca's last day in Russia. They visited another hospital and orphanage, and well as seeing the Church of the Savior on Blood in St. Petersburg. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Savior_on_Blood.

Becca inside the church

Becca is eating lunch in this picture, I think she looks really cute.
This is Becca and Veeka in front of the church

This is a pic of 3 boys in one of the hospitals they visted on the last day.

Email from Becca

2009-10-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

Today I thought I would just post an email that I received from Becca a few minutes ago.

Today we went to the church to talk, hang, and fellowship w/ the men. We presented them w/ photo albums we were up until 1:15am making! They liked them. We also gave book marks and wallets. Then we had a snack (like every morning) and then headed out to the children's hospital. We did a craft and got a group photo. There was a couple new kids there and a couple went home to their families.
There was a girl at the hospital today who was new and her name in English was Veronica. She went by Nica. She is 12 yrs old. She was in her room by herself and didn't want to join the group. She is an orphan. The other kids have families to go home to and she will go back to the orphanage when she is not sick anymore. Anya, one of our interpreters went in her room to talk to her. She was quite sad. Anya was (is) an orphan herself (she is 25). She eventually came out and did the craft and we got a group picture at the end with her in it. She also knew our other translator Natasha from an orphanage camp she went to where Natasha did the music. She plays all sorts of musical instruments and Neeca really took to Natasha and held onto her. She was so much more sad than all the other kids that had families to go home to.
Next we went back to the church to have lunch and then head out to the boys school. It was hard to work with the women director of the school. The people that work there really have no organization whatsoever and we came up with a plan and the last day was supposed to go smoothly however, they changed things on us when we had a schedule that was working. With our schedule they would have a game period, a craft, and a lesson. They didn't have to do the craft so, if they chose they could stay in the gym during that time. The directors decided it would better if the kids decided where they go. Yeah, that doesn't work because then they didn't choose to hear the message :( So, we sent Pastor Andre in to the craft room to give the message but so many of the boys didn't want to do craft so they didn't hear it. I was supposed to be in the gym and do sport because that was where I was to be for all three sessions but they keep everything locked and I left to go get a translator for Sean. Well I got locked out so I ended up helping John w/ some stuff and went into the craft room. It turned out to be a good thing. Although the guys in the gym personally requested that the American play with them. I felt bad. But, I got to connect with some of the boys who were in the craft room.
When I got in there one of the boys was obviously talking about me and his friend was saying my name and they were laughing. Long story short I guess he has a crush on me ;). So, their craft was a photo album with a picture of them on one side and a group photo of us on the other that we had taken Wed of those who would let me take a picture. Then around the frame they would color. I spend an hour sitting there "talking" with these two boys: yagore( Egor), and Vova. They drew and wrote all over a piece of paper that I got to keep. When it was time to go into a different room to give out their gifts Vova handed me his picture frame he had written my name in Russian on, which is spelled BEkA. But sounds quite different in Russian. I didn't want him to not have the group photo so I had Mary (which speaks some Russian) to go tell him I can make a copy of that group photo and that he should keep it. He wanted me to have the photo on him in the frame he made for me...ahhh!!!! It's a shame that it takes until the last day to make some connections and then we don't come back. I wish I could go back and talk with those boys some more. We just started to get to know each other. I wish I had my own personal interpreter because we are all "fighting" for the three we did have". But many things we say aren't translated. :( I will miss those boys.
Then, we headed back to the church for dinner. After dinner, we head upstairs for more fellowship w/ the men. Tonight we played some silly observation games. I never got or understood them until it was made obvious. Of course it might have something to do with the color of my hair they say... I don't know. John talks with the guys and encourages them with their walk with the Lord. Most of them, if not all, have come to know the Lord as Savior. At the end of the night, which was around 8:20, they asked us all to sing an American song...song of choice you may ask??? Old MacDonald! Alright...we sang it...they laughed! It was a great experience. Not at all what I expected but I am very much grateful to the Lord for this opportunity.
Right now, I am on the bus headed back to the University where we sleep. It was a late night. We were going to play Phase ten but after being up until 1:30 last night...I doubt it! Tomorrow we are going to go tour a bit in the morning, eat lunch out together, and then head to orphanage 14 to visit with 8 orphans. We will have a few hours with them. We might take them out to eat at KFC. Things cost a lot more here in American $$. I have to pay Ruebels but it still converts to more $ than we would pay it the states. Now I see why Sean brought $1,000 for the 2 weeks he is here! It goes fast.
I love you baby.
Becca
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Technology is cool!

2009-10-20T22:04:00.000-07:00

Technology is cool...take this picture as an example.
At 8:44 AM in Russia, Becca took this photo and emailed it to me. I received it at 9:50 PM Pacific time, 6 minutes later. I didn't check my phone until 9:56 PM, and then turned on my computer, and started up this site. It's now 10:07 PM, and I will have this picture posted on both her facebook page and mine within 5 minutes. For those of you keeping score at home, that's picture to global publishing in less than 30 minutes, with alot of down time due to me not having the computer on and not noticing my phone flashing.

And for some information on this picture, she said

"Beginning our Wednesday. Walking to the Metro."

Tuesday in Russia

2009-10-20T13:52:00.001-07:00

I have lots of pictures from a number of things in Russia, too many to share on one post. Thanks for keeping up with the blog and for continuing to pray for Becca and the team.

This first pic is 3 team members plus a translator. The translators name is Veeka. Becca has met some people from Ohio that are with the team for a few days as well.

I've incluced a pic of the team as they enter the childrens hospital, a street picture in town, and a pic of some of the young men in drug rehab that they are assisting. Becca tells me that all of the young men pictured are Christians, the drug rehab center is a ministry of the local church. The younger kids in the other picture are at the childrens hospital.

The team will be changing in the next day or so as portions of the team go to other locations or return to the states. The language difference is an obstacle for everyone to overcome. Continue to pray for their safety, Becca tells me that the older boys at the school are the most challenging, from what I hear it may be good that there is a language barrier at times over there.

Becca said that her trip has been a good experience for her.

Monday in Russia

2009-10-19T17:22:00.001-07:00

I Skype chatted with John Neese (team leader) and spoke with Becca on the phone for few minutes today. I am very happy to report that her phone is working now in Russia. It made a world of difference in the hour that she was up before I left to pick up the boys from school in just sending each other emails and pictures of what we have been up to on each side of the world. We keep our phone call short because I'm getting a good deal at $3.99 per minute to talk on the phone from Russia. Germany is a much better rate for those of you who may take your phones overseas. Data is free, so we are emailing fools.
This first picture was taken in a cab on the drive from St. Petersburg to Lomosov, where they are staying. Yep, it's blurry, even the camera was tired. lol!

The second picture is a paper she took a picture of over there...I just like the name of it. :)

The next picture is a view from her bedroom window. What you can see are all the buildings filled with the flats that the Russian people live in. Becca told me that most of the flats are about 300 sq. ft, give or take, usually take. There are some homes in the country that the richer people live in, and she may send a picture of that tomorrow.

I will include some prayer requests that I received from the team leader at the bottom of this post. Remember the team and all that they come into contact with in your prayers. Particularly pray for their health and safety as they minister to young people in Russia.

(From John Neese)

Wednesday (10/14), a 12 year old girl arrived at Child in Danger (CID). We all recognized her. She was at Children’s Hospital #15 on Monday when we got to visit there. She recognized us and was glad to see us. It made her arrival at CID a little more gentle. Please pray for her.

Thursday (10/15) evening at Child in Danger we ran into one of the Social Workers changing metro trains on our way home. He thanked us for coming and said he really liked our Bible lessons with the kids and said it was a shame that the Orthodox church didn’t do the same. This opened the door for me to share more about our faith with him. On the wet rainy streets of St. Petersburg near our hotel, we talked. He is 21 years old, Orthodox, and has not accepted Christ yet as his savior, but I gave him a lot to think about. Please pray for this young man to accept Christ.

On Friday (10/16) we had the tea with 4 of the 5 older kids. We brought a cake and cookies and sat in the small dining room so we could talk and share. In Russia, having tea is the social cultural norm. It’s how adults, teens and churches socialize. IN the USA, it would be comparable to saying “potluck”! We chatted and about an hour into the meeting, I asked if they wanted to hear why we were here. They agreed and I shared why, then I asked if they would like to hear what God has to say about entering into heaven. They agreed to this too, so using a simple Gospel Bead presentation I presented the Gospel. I invited them to pray with me to ask Christ into their lives. All said they prayed! Four kids accepted Christ that night that included a boy and three girls!

Saturday evening, (10/17), Team 2 arrived safely with all luggage and on time. Susan and Becca were tired but excited to be in Russia!

Sunday, (10/18), our group went to church right here on the campus of the Christian University.

Monday, (10/19), our group’s first day in Lomonosov. At 10am we met with the 6 guys from the drug rehab center at the Lomonosov Baptist Church. They were very open and some began sharing their personal struggles. It will be a great week with them! Tonight I encouraged them to begin thinking about sharing their personal testimonies with us. It will help them grow. Please pray for them as they start this. I thought this will be needed for their future as they will be able to share with others that have drug problems if they have practice now. At 12pm we went to the Children’s Hospital. There were 5 kids there to work with, and everyone was very open. We were given until 1:30pm. This site will be fun and easy. At 2pm we had lunch and 3pm went to the Petrohof Boys Home. These are at-risk kids that are very hard to handle. We had a rough time today, but we have a plan for tomorrow that should work better now that we’ve seen the kids and what we can and can’t do. We have the kids from 3:30pm to 5:00pm each day. Please pray that this will work and all things will work out. This site is going to be a challenge. Everything else is going fine.

Please send me your blog web link. I’m glad her phone is working now!

Blessings,
John

Comments are now moderated

2009-10-19T11:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone, I had to repost this update, I have turned on comment moderation, and also allowed anonymous posts if you don't have a blogger account. I had to delete the previous posting due to some comments, but here it is again for your viewing pleasure.

I spoke with Becca on the phone very briefly a few minutes ago, it was good to hear her voice. We didn't talk for long but I was able to tell her that we can get her phone working tomorrow. I did speak with John for about 3 seconds, so it appears that he is out of the hospital, thank you for your prayers. Continue to pray for the health and safety of the entire team while they are overseas. I should have more info to post tomorrow.

Phone problems, team leader dehydrated and hospitalized

2009-10-17T13:30:00.001-07:00

I spoke with Becca through Skype today at noon (Saturday), Saturday at 11:00 PM for her. Please pray for her team leader John, who was hospitalized with dehydration at some point before she arrived. There are 3 other team members in St. Petersburg with her, pray for their safety and jet lag recovery.
She managed to sleep for about 90 minutes in the Frankfurt airport and again on the flight to St. Petersburg from Frankfurt.
One other complication is her phone. I spoke with Verizon global support team and it appears that her phone needs to be manually configured to the network in Russia, I have sent her an email that I hope she reads when she wakes up and everything can get worked out. As most of you know, we use our Blackberries for EVERYTHING, and she really needs it while she is overseas.
She was able to see us via skype, we did not see her, but it was good to hear her voice. The younger guys didn't talk much on skype because they were staring at our computer desktop (A picture of Becca at Safeco Field) and talking to momma without seeing her.
Thanks again to everyone who helped support this mission trip. Keep her entire team in your prayers, especially John for a quick recovery and release from the Russian hospital.

Europe!

2009-10-17T11:43:00.001-07:00

Becca has safely arrived in Europe, I spoke with her on the phone after she landed in Frankfurt Germany shortly after midnight Pacific time. They had about a 4 hour layover in Germany before flying to St. Petersburg, where they were scheduled to arrive about 7:20 AM Pacific time on Saturday morning. I suspect that she is catching up on some much needed sleep right now with the rest of the team.
I have included a picture she sent from the Frankfurt airport. Here is an email she wrote on the plane that she sent shortly after landing.

Well, it is now 8:00 Seattle time and 10:00 Texas time. It appears everyone else is having no problem sleeping on the airplane. I on the other hand sit her wide awake. I believe we will arrive in Germany at 1:15 in the morning Texas time, 11:15 Seattle time. That's about the time I usually go to bed back home. I am a creature of habit and this doesn't bode well for me. We have a 5 hour layover in Germany. I wonder if I can get some shut eye there??? Hmmm...it will however be 9:45 am in their morning. Lord give me strength. Susan seems to be sleeping fine next to me. I bought, in TX, a neck pillow that is covered in the American Flag! No doubting where I'm from...AMEN! Every time I would head back to the restroom (which was a lot!) My "friend" Pete was there hanging out. Neither of us could sit in our seat long. He is a 60 year old man from Italy who has 4 children as well. His first one was born in '82 and last one '00- same year Gavin was born!! Funny huh? It's been nice meeting people from different parts of the world. I especially like the airline we are on- Luftansa -it's a German airline. So, the stewardesses are German(like my Grandma). I've enjoyed listening to them speak! I miss my boys already! I miss my husband! I pray for the Russian children and people. I can't wait to meet them all. I look forward to God changing me and hopefully revealing his will and plan for our life concerning adoption from Russia. Whether I feel led because of the trip or not. PTL!
Becca
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Flight over the Atlantic

2009-10-16T21:02:00.000-07:00

As I write this Becca and her teammate Susan (pictured) are over the Atlantic, closer to Europe than North America. They should land in Germany in about 3 hours, of course I'll post some more pics and information as I hear from Becca.
Please pray that they will all adjust well to the time change and get plenty of rest. St. Petersburg is 11 hours ahead of Pacific time, I'm sure they'll have some jet lag.
Drop us a note and let us know you're following her trip progress!

Becca's Russia trip

2009-10-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

I know it's been forever since I posted on this blog, but I have promised lots of people that this will be an easy place to keep up on Becca's trip...so here I go.
I took Becca to the Pasco airport EARLY yesterday morning (10/15) for her flight to Seattle and connection to Dallas. Her flight to Texas went well, however when she arrived at her hotel room it was pretty nasty.
Enter Jeff and Amanda Sodoma, who saved the day. Thanks for Jeff and Amanda for taking Becca in for the night and providing her a clean and safe place to rest before a LONG flight this afternoon to Germany and on to Russia. When they had Becca over, they sent me this pic, all I can say is I'm really glad my buddy Jeff didn't marry an Alabama fan. lol
Stay in touch by checking this page often. I will update it with information and pictures as I hear from Becca. Please keep her and her team in your prayers.

Update ready!

2008-11-22T23:10:00.000-08:00

Update ready is something we say at work when we want to get information out in a quick fashion to the rest of the operating crew. I haven't blogged in a while, so here are some random thoughts from the last few months or so.....

UCLA beats Tennessee....are you kidding me?
Wyoming beats Tennessee....that dull thud you just heard was my program hitting the ground.
Auburn beats Tennessee...c'mon, they fired their offensive coordinator AFTER beating us!
Tennessee beats Vanderbilt...God is sovereign.

Barack Obama whomps John McCain in the electoral college...congratulations Mr. President-elect, I sincerely wish you the best, as I am an American first, and a Republican second.
Ahem...liberal friends, please read my above statement...it's called losing with class, and I hope you will practice it when the tables turn next time.

Federal bailout....my congressman is fortunate that he voted NO twice on the bailout, or we would have thrown him out on his rear.
Republican party 2000-2008...what is wrong with you guys? Go home and don't come back. You're not welcome for hijacking my party the last 8 years.
President Bush...excellent job on the war on terror. On domestic issues, why did it take you 6 years to find your veto pen? Thanks again for the last two election cycles Mr. President and Republicans in congress.
Republican party...if you guys don't pull your head out, I will register as an independent. Don't even THINK about nominating Giuliani in 2012.

2008 sports:
Seattle Mariners-the first $100 million team to lose 100 games
Seattle Seahawks-I thought Holmgren came back this year to win the big one
Tennessee Volunteers-you have broken my heart, luckily spring practice is coming
Seattle Supersonics-thanks for leaving....my kids are becoming Lakers fans now...seriously, this is a family tragedy.
Washington Huskies-you guys are so awful colleges might recruit some of your players thinking you were a high school squad
Washington State Cougars-don't laugh at the Huskies...besides them you beat mighty Portland State.

So much for the rants. School is in full swing, and I'm very happy with the boys and their school. Seriously, the tuition is the best money I spend all month. We have family coming to town for Thanksgiving, the more the better, hoping to have a houseful.

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

More flag football

2008-09-27T17:10:00.000-07:00

It's sad but true, but these kids have more offensive talent than my Tennessee Vols! If we don't pull something out against Georgia or Bama I think I'm going to need to take a leave of absence from work until football season is over!

Football!

2008-09-06T13:41:00.000-07:00

This blog is not about my disappointing Tennessee Volunteers, who didn't show up and gave the PAC-TEN officiating crew the opportunity to not call a penalty for a lineman downfield at the end of the 4th quarter. I'll forgive this one as soon as I forgive Don Denkinger for his blown call in game 6 of the 1985 world series, and as soon as I forgive Steve Spurrier for forsaking his heritage as a preacher's kid from Tennessee and turning to the dark side of the college football world.

This blog is about flag football starting for Gavin...check out the pics, he was tearing it up, and had a great time.

In this first pic, he's driving for the "sack"

Going after the ball carrier
He got the flag!
Reading the defense, watching his blockers...he scored a touchdown on this run!

Watch this...it'll make you a better American.

2008-09-05T12:39:00.001-07:00

Just watch it, it'll make you smarter!

2008-09-04T16:45:00.000-07:00

McCain Palin '08

2008-08-31T17:45:00.000-07:00

Mariners lose again!

2008-07-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the 9th anniversary of freedom day (The day I got out of the Navy) we decided to take another trip to Safeco to watch our beloved Mariners play the Cleveland Indians. We had pretty good seats out in right field, in "Area 51" to watch our favorite player, Ichiro.

To make a long story short:

If you are a major league catcher, catch the ball!

If you are a Billion dollar organization, why would you rob me?

That's right, by the third inning I had been robbed. Not by a vagrant or other urbanite, but by my beloved Seattle Mariners. The score was 9-1, and it was time to buy some food. There should be a rule that all food is free if we are down by 6 or more runs.

Anyways, the game did get a bit interesting, Vidro and Ibanez hit a couple of home runs to make the score 9-4 going into the bottom of the ninth. Brady told me that he wanted to see Ichiro bat again, and I told him that if Betancourt could get on base we would be able to see Ichiro one more time. Sure enough, with two outs in the ninth, Betancourt managed to get a hit, allowing Ichiro to come to bat one more time. It is at this point that Becca leaned over and said that it would be great if he would hit a home run before we left.

Next pitch: a shot by Ichiro to right center, right over the wall for a two run homer and a final score of 9-6.

The good news in all of this, after this season every baseball season will seem like the Mariners are doing great. Here are a couple more pictures from our trip.

Nevada, Day 2

2008-07-12T00:42:00.001-07:00

Nevada, Day 1

2008-07-11T00:17:00.001-07:00

Arizona, Day 2

2008-07-11T00:13:00.000-07:00

Colorado Day 8, Arizona Day 1

2008-07-11T00:10:00.001-07:00

Colorado, Day 7

2008-07-11T00:03:00.001-07:00

Colorado, Day 6

2008-07-10T23:54:00.000-07:00

Colorado, Day 5

2008-07-05T21:24:00.000-07:00

Colorado Day 4

2008-07-05T08:56:00.001-07:00

Colorado Day 3

2008-07-03T17:01:00.000-07:00

Colorado, Day 2

2008-07-02T20:06:00.000-07:00

Colorado, Day 1

2008-07-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

Reagan video...just watch it, it'll make you smarter!

2008-06-22T16:02:00.000-07:00

Summertime...basketball camp...reading glasses

2008-06-21T21:53:00.000-07:00

One of the more frustrating things about this blog is the format of the text and the pictures. It seems that the easiest way to pull this off is to upload one pic at a time and type as I go to fill up the space.

Summer has started here at the Long house. We had some cool weather about a week ago or so, but that has passed and summer is here, with temperatures up into the 90°s. It was actually a bit humid today, with some isolated thunderstorms, which is unusual around here. Other unusual things that happen in the Northwest are meteor strikes (see my blog from February and Mariners WINS.

As far as our Mariners are concerned, we have the worst record in baseball. This is certainly the way to initiate my boys as Seattle sports fans. We hope to go back to another game this year, I think we're shooting for the outfield this time, maybe we can catch some balls (From the other team of course). :(

The first pic was taken a couple of nights ago when Becca was reading the boys a book before they went to bed. The second pic of course was taken when I blew out the candles on my cake.

Gavin played in basketball camp earlier this month, the rest of the summer will be our trip to Colorado, followed by swimming lessons for Gavin, Micah, and Brady in late July and August.
The last picture is further proof that 33 is near the end of the world. I'm wearing reading glasses when I'm on the computer or reading for a long time. That and I'm graying faster than either of my parents.

Well, that's all for now!

33!

2008-05-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm 33.

Memorial Day ballgame

2008-05-27T21:06:00.000-07:00

This weekend finally arrived! Early in April I bought 5 tickets to the Seattle Mariner's vs. Boston Red Sox, and we've been waiting for it to arrive. We even played tourist early in the day and took the boys up to the top of the space needle, something I hadn't done in 11 years of living in the Pacific Northwest...

You've seen the Mastercard commercials about the cost of a major league game, and the "priceless" line at the end of it. Well, I blew the commerical out of the water on total costs for the trip, but I can still say it was priceless. The boys sure had a good time, and Ichiro put on a show for us. If you didn't catch it on sportscenter that night, he made a spectacular catch in centerfield that saved us a couple of Boston runs.

I would guess that there were at least 40% Red Sox fans at Safeco field that night. It truly is "Red Sox Nation". They were so loud, that if you weren't paying attention, you couldn't tell which team had done something because the cheers were so loud.

It was a pitcher's duel until the 4th, when we got to see "Big papi" David Ortiz hit a home run off of Felix Hernandez. We answered in the 6th and knotted it up 1-1.

Then came the fateful 8th inning. If only we had pulled Felix before the inning started. Things got ugly quick, including walking in a run and waiting for a ball to go foul down the 3rd base line, which never went foul...it died in the grass, allowing all runners to advance. Arghhh!!!!

We did score two more runs in the bottom of the ninth, making it interesting. It was a great game, and we are looking forward to going back later this summer or in the fall.

Day shift!

2008-05-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, from the stamp you can see it is an old picture, complete with about 7-10 lbs of "License Class weight" on it.

I picked this picture over others because I am trading the office in the picture for a regular cubicle for the next year so I can concentrate on "outage preps". What this means in english is that I'm on dayshift for a year, with a cubicle, a phone, a window, and internet radio.

I am happy to be getting off shift for a while, although I've actually jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. This new job will be very challenging, but at the same time will prove to be very rewarding as well. Becca and I are rearranging our vacation plans based on the schedule change, and I'm actually available now for stuff like being a Sunday School teacher...lets see what happens.

Badger Mountain Summit

2008-05-03T15:48:00.000-07:00

The forecast for today said that we would hit a high of 72 °F sometime today. The boys and I planned on heading up to the summit of Badger mountain to enjoy the view of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and on a clear day Mt. Hood down in Oregon.

So much for plans.... It was a cold, rainy, windy hike up to the summit, but the Long boys made it to the summit successfully. Gavin, Micah, and Brady hoofed it up on their own, with Gavin and Micah serving as pack mules for the trip. Ethan got to go on the chariot ride as I packed him up as practice for my Mt. Adams hike this July.

At the summit, there is a small pile of gravel that Gavin and Brady climbed on top of for a picture. Micah refused to climb the extra 2 feet so I have a picture of him crying beside the gravel pile.

The boys were quite an impressive site to all the other hikers who were up there despite 50°F weather, wind, and at times lots of rain for this part of the country. They were good troopers, although Brady tuckered out on the way down. They each hiked on their own the 2.2 mile round trip to the summit and back.

This picture was taken at the beginning of the hike, there are no picture of myself or Ethan who was providing the 30 lbs + of pack weight for my conditioning.

I'm looking forward to hiking to the summit of Mt. Adams this July, I should have lots of pictures to blog about this summer. I will plan on running to the top of Badger a few times as the weather gets warmer. It's an ideal path for anyone who is interested in a quick trip and a great view. There is an 800 ft elevation change from the trail head to the summit in 1.1 miles, so it is ideal for trail running.

The last picture I've included is of my view for most of the hike.

2008-04-15T21:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I last blogged, so I thought I'd toss up some more pictures and fill you in on what's been going on in our world.

This first picture was taken at Anthony's restaurant in Richland for Becca's birthday dinner. For her present, she took a trip down to the Oregon coast with her friend for a spa and massage treatment. Anthony's was ok, but we both thought the food at the Bonefish Grill was better. You can't beat Anthony's view though. It is often interrupted by "Columbia Point snobs" who don't realize they live in eastern Washington and aren't as cool as they think they are as they run in front of the restaurant down by the river.

This picture is too cute to not add to the blog. Ethan is doing much better now, although he did give us another scare about a week and a half ago. Apparently when you are on an antibiotic, it will mask other stuff, like an ear infection. When he came off of his antibiotic after his blood work returned to normal, he spiked another fever and we thought his septic knee was returning. Another trip down to the hospital and some blood work was in order before we discovered it was thankfully only strep throat and an ear infection. Septic knee can sure give you perspective for the "normal" childhood sicknesses!

Ethan just turned two! It is especially a blessing considering the scare of the last month. He's a happy little guy, always blowing kisses and saying "Love you momma" and "Love you daddy". He's added "Gavin" and "Micah" to his vocabulary, so they are no longer all referred to as "Brady".

Well, that's all for now....talk to you soon!

Speech meet video

2008-03-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

A thank you goes out to Chad and Becky Eder for shooting this video up at the Spokane speech meet earlier this month!

Stitches, Sweet 16, and stuff

2008-03-23T20:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (Saturday) we went on an Easter egg hunt at the McClure's house. There were several families there, and probably 20 or 30 kids. The boys had a good time, and Micah pulled in quite a haul compared to his brothers. Ethan sat on the sideline and watched. He is not walking again yet, (two weeks now) but is finally starting to put some weight on the right leg, and will take a step or two to get from one piece of furniture to another.
It was pretty cold outside yesterday, in the 40's, and warmed up to the 50's during the actual hunt.
As you can imagine, I'm pretty excited that the Tennessee men's basketball team has reached the sweet sixteen in college basketball. I was running at the gym watching the last few minutes of the game, which I wouldn't recommend at all to anyone.
I was tired enough already from working out, and I was in the middle of a three mile run while I was watching the game. I bleed orange anyways, so as the game got close at the end, my heart rate was climbing, and I continued to run. I'm sweating off the lbs. I added at the hospital last week, and at some point I dripped sweat onto the treadmill. During the OT, I slipped on the wet treadmill, luckily landing on my right foot to the side of the treadmill, which was trucking along nicely. I timed it right and hopped back on and finished the run. Everything turned out fine, as I finished my run, and saw Tennessee win and Georgetown lose in a matter of five minutes.
If it was football season, there is no way I could have done that, my heart can't handle it. I'm pretty sure last year's TN vs. SC game took a month off of my life.
Tomorrow is the day that Ethan is scheduled to get his stiches removed. We thought we should take a picture now so everyone can see what it is looking like now. The swelling has almost completely gone away. The larger scar that you can see is where the drain line was at one point, but it is now totally closed up with a scab. The best news in all of that is that the swelling has not returned, the knee is not hot, and he is not pushing a high fever. We are very thankful to God for healing our boy.
Ethan is a real champ at taking his medicine four times a day. After taking it he always claps for himself for doing such a good job, which is a great contrast to how he handled medicine of any kind at the hospital. The picture you see here is the daily redressing of the gauze that is tucked over the surgery site. I'm sure his scar will fade over time, and I'm interested in what it will look like when he's playing basketball for Liberty Christian 15 years from now.
Well, that's all for now...talk to you soon!

7 days in a hospital :(

2008-03-16T19:31:00.001-07:00

When I wrote my last blog, I commented that Ethan was feeling low, and not wanting to walk around. Here is what our last week consisted of...

On Sunday, I stayed home from church with Ethan as he was still not walking around, and not wanting to put any pressure on his right leg at all. We were looking at his ankle, trying to figure out if he had "tweaked" it.

Becca noticed his right knee was warmer than his left knee and slightly swollen, so off to urgent care we went...

When I walked into urgent care with the little guy, they informed me that there was about a two hour wait, and I should probably wait at home where they would call me. I replied that I had a nearly two year old in my arms who wouldn't walk, so they ushered me straight inside. The doctor came in pretty quickly and sent me off to the ER of my choice. Off to Kadlec we went...

At Kadlec the ER was full of people, and the waiting line was long. Once again, we were ushered into a room inside the ER where we started a series of investigations. We went through x-rays and blood work, and the doctors consulted with orthopedic surgeons and Children's hospital in Seattle. At 11:00 p.m. the ortho doc had arrived and they drew fluid out of his knee, confirming a "septic knee" condition existed. He was rushed off to surgery at about 12:00 a.m. on Monday morning. The surgery took about an hour and a half or so, and he was admitted to the pediatric wing where he went through alot more pokes, and vitals before dad was allowed to lay down at 3:30 in the morning. Sunday night into Monday morning was a very rough night for us all. We learned after the surgery that another 24 hours without treatment could have resulted in kidney infection, brain infection, and death.

Monday through Saturday started a unique new "hospital routine" for the Long family. I (Russ) stayed the nights and split the days with Becca. Every evening a family stepped forward to watch the boys for us, so a special thank you goes out to the Hahn, Chvala, Laureano, Rice, and McClure families for helping us so much. This allowed Ethan to get some time with both mom and dad every night, and certainly helped a very stressed set of parents cope with the week. Ethan's fever of near 102°F finally broke on Tuesday, and he started to recover from the infection. As he recovered, his intense hatred of nurses and hospitals grew. He was carried throughout the birth center and pediatric wing of the hospital literally hundreds of times, just to give him a break from his room. Evenings were tough, as we went into our room to let the others sleep, or at least hear him screaming through walls and a closed door. He would fall to sleep around 10, or as late as midnight on most nights while we were there. Every 8 hours, he received another dose of IV antibiotics, which he would sometimes sleep through.

He was finally discharged from the hospital on Saturday evening, ending a 7 day stretch of agony that we are thankful is over. When we all got home on Saturday night, it marked the first time since mom and the boys left for church on Sunday that we had all been home together. Now that he is home, he will remain on oral antibiotics for six weeks, and will have follow up visits with the orthopedic surgeons. As of this writing, he still has a wrap on his right leg from his hip to his toes to keep his knee immobilized. We hope that this can come off on Thursday of this week.

We are thankful to God for saving our son's life, and thankful to all of our friends, family, and strangers that prayed for him while he was hospitalized. We are so very thankful for all of the visits and kindness that were bestowed on us during this very rough week.

Spring has sprung!

2008-03-08T20:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (March 7) was the Speech meet that was being held up in Spokane Wa. Gavin did very well at his speech competition, scoring a 49/50 from both of his judges and earning a "Superior" rating. One of the coolest things of the day is that he was the only 1st grader in the Bible division that was asked to go up on the stage and "give his speech" again. There were about 400 people in the sanctuary when he spoke on stage. That makes it about 600 total this week, as the school had the speech meet students practice by giving their speeches at chapel this week for practice. Liberty Christian performed very well at the competition, as they do every year.

I (Russ) stayed home with Ethan on the day of the speech and was unable to attend. On the way to the school that morning, Ethan decided to get sick. He was in bad shape all day, and it wouldn't have been a very pretty to have him up there at the competition.
He's still not feeling very well today, and for some reason has decided not to walk around...feeling bad, and just wanting to be carried...poor guy.

Today the weather was awesome! Gavin was outside by 8:00 this morning riding his bike around, and we followed him outside shortly.

The boys had a blast on the playground, as the pictures show. It's too early in the season for the wasps to try and take over the swingset as they did last year. My neighbors just put up a new one from costco, and I've forwarned them that the wasps seem to love the cedar. This year I'm putting up about a hundred of the yellow jacket traps they have at Lowes...maybe that will help. By the end of the summer last year we gave them the swingset. Here is a pic of Ethan smiling. He didn't want to do anything but sit in the swing this morning. That was ok with me, as it left me free to push him and then tend to the other boys.

The "B" is talking very well for a three year old. Right now we're not planning on pre-school for him next year, but he'll start K-4 at Liberty two years from now when Micah is starting 1st grade. Then again, we may do the same thing we've done with Micah and use Ridgeview kindergarten as K-4 before sending him to Liberty. That has worked pretty well for Micah and he'll do well in Kindergarten next year at Liberty, which is full day. That reminds me, Gavin and Micah are both registered for next year. Yikes! $$$

March 10 is the first day we can register Gavin for "coach pitch" baseball. Micah will be doing T-ball this spring as well. Gavin is pretty excited, and has a pretty good arm, which is obviously didn't get from his dad. He and dad were "popping" the ball into the mitt from 20-30 feet away this morning in the yard. I figure he's caught more baseballs in practice than I did in my entire little league career 20 years ago. (I held down deep right field for the Big Sandy Tennessee "B" team). We never won a game in two years despite coach offering pizza if we could pull it out. We were thankful for the 5 run limit rule. I did manage to break my nose in deep right field, which gets back to Gavin catching more balls in his short career than I ever did.

The last picture of course is me, in my "warm weather" Volunteer uniform. In the fall I'll be found wearing my jersey.

And yes, I know we lost to Alabama this year.

Until next time...take it easy....my next project is running some ethernet wire from upstairs through the attic downstairs to our bedroom so I don't have to stretch an ethernet cable down from the TV room upstairs when I play Call of Duty 4 online....it's definately some west Tennessee engineering.

Meteor strike!

2008-02-20T08:55:00.000-08:00

When I came left for work on February 19, the sky was very clear. Imagine my surprise when I saw what looked like the biggest, closest, and longest lightning strike I had ever seen. It was actually a meteor strike, and was seen from as far away as Vancouver WA and Boise ID. We were pretty close to the center of the action I guess.
It was a memorable enough event that I was actually relieved when I came to work and saw another Christian. That ruled out the possibility that I had missed the rapture. When it hit I checked the clock in my truck, 5:30 a.m. because I figured I was coming into a plant that had just scrammed from the biggest electrical grid hit in history.

Spokane bound!

2008-02-11T19:01:00.000-08:00

Today was the school speech meet for the 1st graders at Liberty Christian School. A large group of parents and grandparents had gathered in the school library to witness the event.

The G-man was the 13th kid to give his speech, which gave him time to get comfortable. He said that his knees were shaking while he was giving the speech for the judges. By my guess there were probably 40 people in the room watching the speeches.

His speech was excellent, quoting Matthew 5:43-48 and giving a short explanation of what the verse means to him. After his speech he sat down to listen to the rest of the 1st graders giving their speeches.

Micah is doing his first math homework in this picture. We used some skittles to help illustrate simple addition. After finishing the math problems he colored in the squares based on the different answers.

It looks like this summer will be the "summer of math and reading" in the Long household. Both
Gavin and Micah will be doing lots of studying in

the summer to stay sharp. This is all part of Russ' master plan to minimize his future tax burden and grocery expenses at the same time.

I took this picture of Brady and Ethan this afternoon out of picture guilt since they weren't in the blog yet. Of note is Brady being the #1 "picker upper" in sunday school this week, and Ethan saying "Matthew" when he saw his friend in the nursery.

More sections of building siding are falling off at work and landing all over the place. Watch out for flying projectiles big enough to flatten a car! The good news is...this is Eastern Washington so the wind will stop sometime after WSU has a top 50 recruiting class in football. Ha!

District Spelling Bee

2008-02-08T18:51:00.000-08:00

Today was the district spelling bee for grades 1-8. It was held at Liberty, so of course we had a much shorter drive than the families from Yakima. The school from Bothell did not come because Snoqualmie Pass is once again closed. This time all of the passes across the cascades are closed, so this sounds like as good a time as ever to secede and throw off the shackles of oppression the "Birkenstock wearing lefties" have had us under lo these many years. :)

The spelling bee was pretty cool. They had two practice rounds, where I was allowed to take the picture of Gavin you see here. When the actual

competition began, he received the word "about". It was very cute to see the look of relief on his face when he answered it correctly. He made his mom and dad very proud today.

The district spelling bee was only open to the top 3 spellers from each school. He was able to go with his two best friends, Matthew Ng and Matthew McClure. Matthew Ng came in 2nd place for 2nd grade, and Matthew McClure was the winner for the 1st grade competition. Gavin was a bit frustrated when he exited the competition at the word "weave". Nevertheless, he has now advanced further in spelling bee competitions than either his mom or dad, and we are extremely proud.

This coming monday is the speech meet. He came in first place for his class and now is trying to advance to the next round in Spokane. Dad is cutting out of work for a while on monday morning so he can be at the school and watch.

High winds!

2008-02-07T20:48:00.000-08:00

It was so windy last night that I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep at all. It's very wierd, but a windy night will keep me awake like nothing else. I think it's a flashback to growing up in tornado alley.
The house is fine, however.....

Hundreds of square feet of metal siding came flying off the side of the reactor building at work around 6:30 this morning. Thankfully, no one was in the line of fire. The gusts were around 60 mph, which means at my house in the wind tunnel of a canyon we live in, they were around 80 mph.

Big spelling bee tomorrow!

Winter storm 2008

2008-02-06T21:44:00.000-08:00

This has been a good winter for snow. Right now Snoqualmie pass has 160% of it's normal snowpack, which in the northwest means we have plenty of electricity to sell to California this year.
Two sundays ago we had 9" of snow, which was great. We went sledding at our friends house and the boys had a blast. The mighty Chinook winds melted it all away during the week, and we got 2" more on Super bowl sunday. That is gone now too. We have tons of pictures of the snow, and they are expecting more in the Cascades this weekend.
I'm guessing that this spring will be awesome in the Cascades...trip and pictures to come.

The first picture was taken of our Seahawks fan early in the morning on the day of the 9" snow. The second picture is a day later at the mall. Of course, school was cancelled, for a total three days so far this year. They are crazy if they think we're hangin around for school come vacation time this summer.

First blog post

2008-02-06T21:36:00.000-08:00

Ok, we're on...

We've seen a few of our other friends get these, and this looks like another good way to keep in touch with our family and friends scattered across the world. We promise to try and keep it up to date with the happenings around here.