Author: Helen

This one is always challenging, because I never know where to start. To sum it all up, 2012 has been one of the most growing years for me personally. When I say growing, I mean spiritually and emotionally. This year unlike any other, I have felt like each day is a gift, a gift that you can’t just take for granted. I turned 31 this year and it hit me hard, because I have realized that years are flying by and I have not done all that I want to do. I have just touched the tip of an iceberg. I also have huge hope for the future and that God has some amazing things in store for me and our family. He has been nothing but faithful and loving. This year He gifted us our son Joshua, who has been nothing but joy and pure example of love and innocence. He has a great spirit about him, definitely a busy little bug. Oh how I love my children! God has gifted us the most precious gifts and watching them bloom has been the most amazing and breathtaking experience. We pray constantly to keep us focused and equip us with the right tools to teach them what is the most valuable in this life. He has blessed us abundantly with health and the growth of our business. Just when we get a little weary, He picks us right up with a miracle and we can’t help but smile and know that He is always just right there by our side. Why oh why do we so often forget that? This year Barry ran his first marathon. What a huge accomplishment for him, I am very proud of him for sticking with his plan and desire and finishing strong. Barry also started working with Fellowship and Market Place Christians and it has been nothing but a blessing to watch my husband grow and mature in his faith. Our princess had her first ballet and swimming lessons and loved both. Of course swimming involved a little bit of fear of the water but she was able to overcome it. Now that I look back on it, I think we could have handled it a little differently, but hopefully there will be other swim lessons 🙂 Barry and I had an opportunity to volunteer at church side by side for the first time and we loved it! We also committed to give above tithing 10% and have stuck with it, even in some doubtful moments. God has showed us over and over that He has our backs and never lets us down. It has been exciting to watch our church grow and change this year. We have fallen even more in love with it and the direction it’s headed. We are both extremely grateful for our families and that God has blessed us richly with gifting us our parents and grandparents for our children. There are many people that do not have parents or grandparents to visit and spend time with. I would call this year, a year of relationships. We have made some new ones and closed some chapters on old ones. It’s always exciting where God will take us next.
As for resolutions, we often times don’t set those, because it seems as we fail half way through, but if we don’t try we will never succeed. This year our goal is to be much less critical of people, nobody is perfect and never will be, all we can do is our best and be grateful every day for gifting us His Grace. Another big one is keeping a tighter leash on our money and evaluate where and why we spend. There are necessities in life and there is foolish spending on things we already have and want to simply upgrade. At the end it’s all just stuff but unfortunately we only notice hundreds and thousands of dollars later. The last goal is to cease every opportunity to serve, whether it’s making a meal for someone, baking something for your neighbor or letting someone in line to go ahead of you. It does not matter how big or how small these acts of service are, I know and believe that every single one counts. Often times it’s as simple as smiling at a perfect stranger.
Happy New Year!

I wait for Christmas every year and as it approaches, I often even get sad that it will be gone too soon.  Then I asked myself, what am I doing?  What is this all about?  So, I have decided to not get caught up in my feelings but to actually celebrate the Christmas season.  I have decided to do 25 acts of kindness before Christmas came and share it with family so that from early on, our kids would be exposed to doing good and serving others.  I cannot describe how rewarding and special it was, to serve others and remind them of what Christmas is truly about.  I wish I kept better track of all that we did, but that’s not what’s important, so here are just a few things.  We made some packed lunches for the homeless and drove around passing them out, bought some gift cards and passed them out to strangers, left a small gift for our mail man, rang the bell for Salvation Army, left poinsettia flowers for some of our neighbors, delivered some kids books (the true story of Christmas) to random doors of people with kids, bought a toy and handed it to a child in need, helped elderly when saw need, invited neighbors for dinner, made goodies for some of our neighbors, volunteered at church…  There were things we did not get to do this year, but will definitely try to do this month or next.  The biggest thing that has been on my heart is to go to the children’s hospital and hand out balloons to kids and to deliver flowers to a couple of nursing homes to people that don’t get visitors.  As I type this, my heart is overflowing with gratitude to my amazing God , who is all about love, giving, kindness and forgiveness.  I hurt for people that do not know what an awesome God He is and I feel convicted over and over for not sharing His greatness.  Majority celebrate presents, songs, and decorations and the most frightening thing is their kids will follow those exact same footsteps and where will it get them?  To the world of emptiness and always feeling as if nothing is enough.  That is the truth, there is not one thing on this earth that will make you feel content until you find Him, the One who created you, who knew you in your mother’s womb.    In fact, life is absolutely meaningless without Him, the one who gives me hope every single day and I will do my best to pass on that hope to my kids.  It makes me want to jump for joy that I have Him to love me at ALL times and to always be on my side no matter how much I screw up in life.  As I was reading the Christmas story to my babies this year, I felt like I was there when Jesus Christ was born and felt that indescribable joy.  While reading the story, trying to relay the joy of Christ’s birth to my kids and look at Bella’s lit up eyes was absolutely priceless.  I hope as they grow up, they will be shaped into people that serve the ones in need and always find joy in the one and only God.

Let me tell you, this year unlike any other, picking out and decorating our tree felt unorganized, unpredictable and just somehow chaotic. You would think two kids can not make that much difference, yes they can. I am not complaining in any way, just stating the fact that it was different. It was Joshy’s first experience picking out a tree with the family, but then I don’t think he quite understood what was happening until we brought it home and as soon as he saw it, a huge smile appeared on his little precious face. Bella was a lot more fun to decorate with as she understood how everything was working and what went where. They both love having the tree and boo goes to turn it on every morning 🙂 It’s definitely a beauty and we are yet to sit down and have Hot Chocolate by it. Hopefully very soon, we will find time and do that. I love Christmas season!

This holiday always gets me to stop and think about all that we have, all that our kids have, all that our families have. Every single time I begin to think and evaluate I come to one conclusion, give, give, give. I am not sure if I can even relay my feeling, but it’s a feeling of gratitude, it’s knowing that I did not deserve all that I have and yet God granted me my wishes and oh so much more. So, this year instead of just feeling like I want to give, I put a plan of “Acts of Kindness” for the next month. I will share some of the ways we will be serving our neighbors, church and just complete strangers. I want to make sure that my children understand the gift of giving, more so than receiving. It’s when we give , we feel most rewarded, not when we receive. Christ selfless giving and laying His life for us on the cross, does not measure to what we can give, but we can definitely pass on the gift of giving. Happy Thanksgiving!

I still cannot believe, my dear hubby ran 26.2 miles. It’s difficult to wrap my head around that number, as it seems insane. I am a very proud wifie that he endured such distance. Barry, Bobby and their two friends, decided to do something significant during their year of being 30 and the idea of a marathon sounded enticing, so they ran it as a team. The marathon took place in Fresno and the reason for the name is Fresno and Clovis. It was definitely an experience to remember but I am so glad he did it. I am next, Big Sur here I come in April  Looking forward having my lovie greet me at the finish line. Great job honey!

Happy Birthday to the most beautiful, wonderful, loving, kind and one of a kind woman, mamusichka! I always want to do something special for her birthday to show her how much we all appreciate her and all that she does for us. This year was a little different, as we were going to be out of town for the weekend, so I have decided to take her to a place where I have been planning on taking her for the last three years, the Grand Island Mansion. Somehow I just knew she would love that place and indeed she did. If you are wondering what type of a place this is…
“The delta’s historic Grand Island Mansion is a uniquely spectacular Italian Renaissance style villa. The Mansion is the largest private estate in northern California, and embodies the finest features of classical architecture and European craftsmanship.The four-story, 24,000 square foot 58 room villa is centrally located on Grand Island in the lush delta region east of the San Francisco Bay.
The mansion was designed by J. W. Dolliver, the renowned San Francisco architect, in 1917 for Louis Meyers, a native of San Francisco, and his wife, Audrey, daughter of Lubin of the Weinstock Lubin department stores.
Louis Meyers, an Orchardist, built the house as the centerpiece of his Orchard Empire and as a place to entertain his society guests who arrived by riverboat, such as author Erle Stanley Gardiner.
The Grand Island Mansion has recently undergone extensive restoration under the direction of Terrence Black, great-nephew of the original architect, making the private estate the premier facility for weddings, receptions, corporate retreats, business conferences and private events. Immediate plans for the future include full spa services in the elegant style of a bygone era.
Guests can entertain in the private English Hunt lounge and bar, overlooking the spacious interior courtyard Colonnade room with fountains, vaulted ceiling and Moorish arches. The historic house was built by the finest craftsmen from Europe and has five marble fireplaces, inlaid parquet flooring, rare handmade tile work throughout, imported wood paneling, luxurious period furnishings and authentic artwork. Other amenities include a heliport, tennis court, basketball court, private docks and classical Italian gardens.
The Mansion has been featured in such publications as National Geographic, Sunset Magazine, Architectural Digest, Victoria’s Secret Catalog, and Macy’s Furniture Catalog.
The Mansion and grounds are open for public viewing and dining during the famous Sunday Champagne Brunch, served 10:30 to 2:00, with reservations or by appointment.
The friendly professional staff is directed by Sandras Clark, an English hotelier who combines European tradition with a flexible creative approach to stress free event planning and coordinating, emphasizing personal service with a variety of packages, tailored to your special needs.
We had a very lovely Champagne brunch there, and I tried my very first Mimosa which was absolutely delicious. I am thinking of potentially making it a tradition, but time will show. I absolutely loved celebrating my best friend and the best mama that God could bless me with.
We also had a little get together at our home, which included our little bundles of joy, Bella and Joshy 🙂 Happy Birthday to the best Nana!!! We all love you very, very much!

Every year, Barry and I re-visit the subject of Halloween and whether we want our kids to participate.  So far it has been a fun enjoyable “dress up” holiday, but we will just take it one year at a time and decide what we think of it.  This year, Bella wanted to be princess Belle and has enjoyed her role quite a bit. Joshy was a little puppy, a very cute one 🙂  This year Bella was a lot more engaged in all that was taking place.  Our first exposure to Halloween was at our church, at Trunk or Treat, which is absolutely amazing.  The activities and fun games the church puts on are wonderful and innocent.  They have a section for lil people like Joshy and Bella and of course for older kids, anything from bounce houses to live band and so on.  This year unlike any that I remember it was exceptionally hot so being in huge crowds of people while kids “trick or treat” was not the most exciting thing.  Bella loved it, so it was worth getting out 😉  On Halloween we were invited to Nana’s and Papa’s house and boy was that  a lot of fun!  The way their neighborhood came together was one of the most neat things I have ever seen happen in a neighborhood.  So many people and kids were there, I can not even put a number on it.  Anything from hot chocolate to soda was served and of course a lot and a lot of candy!  Our little trick or treater 😉  has received a lot of candy, which has been sorted and mostly given away again 😉  Of course she got to keep her favorites 😉

The tradition is living, we have done it again, we went to Apple Hill. One of our favorite little getaways to drink some cider, eat apple doughnuts, buy pumpkins, apples and of course take pictures 😉 I love going back and comparing the pictures from previous years to watch how different the kids were. This year was even better, because not only did my parents come with us, Oleg and Lilya did too 🙂 The kiddos loved it, especially Bella as she got to ride a pony for the first time. The talk of fear and her stating that she was not going to ride it, somehow turned out to be false and our precious princess got on that pony and was the happiest kid in the crowd. Often times, she will think about something for too long and will start changing her mind as many of us do. It then becomes a big challenge to get her to think otherwise, but sometimes we succeed 😉
Our little man has turned 9 months and of course I could not pass up an opportunity of a small photoshoot. His progress can be found on “Joshua’s Page” He has been nothing buy joy and smiles and we are thankful for him every singly day. Thank you precious Lord for gifting us such gifts- our children. There is nothing more dear on this earth.

What a whirl of emotions.  I enjoy garage sales quite a bit and having my own sounded like a great idea, especially since our church decided to have another mega garage sale.  You might be thinking big, but I am talking mega, as in HUGE.  This year I volunteered at our church garage sale to price items, where I thought we would be given a bunch of stickers and have items lined up by price…well, I was wrong.  They did hand me a stack of stickers with a pen and I was asked to simply price items as I thought was fair.  My first thought, “are you kidding me”, my second thought, “this could be fun”.  One thing I was told is “we want to get rid of stuff, not keep it”, and “everything should be approximately priced, a dime on a dollar”. A dime on a dollar?  Do you mean to tell me that if a person paid $10 for something, now we get to sell it for a buck?  Yes, that is exactly what they meant.  It certainly opened my eyes to the idea of my own garage sale.  I have pre-priced everything before even heading out to help with church mega sale, but once I came home, I have re-priced pretty much everything as I realized things will not sell.  Our main goal for this garage sale was to get enough money, to send gifts to our sponsored children all around the world and in our case, we have seven of them, so that put quite a bit of pressure to sell for more.  It was a blessing to have our parents and Oleg and Lilya jump on board and with our team efforts it turned out to be a great day.   I don’t know how others organize garage sale on regular basis, for me it seemed like a big job.  Not only do you have to gather all of the things that you know you do not use, but you also need to price them, get them in one location and get up before the sun comes up to put it out in front of your house.  Oh, and of course the yard sale signs to put up where it would drive traffic.  Long story short, it was a great experience.  We teamed up with our dear neighbor and made it happen.  I was blown away by people bargaining, just when you think you already put a pathetic price on the item, they ask to pay less.  What do you do?  You sell it to them for less, just so that the item would leave your front lawn.  All of this experience made me realize how worthless stuff is.  Here we go out and buy all of this “stuff” to make ourselves “happy” and what do we get?  Just “stuff” that we eventually get tired of and want “new stuff” and the cycle keeps going.  All in all, things are worthless!  It became more clear than ever that our life here on earth is so temporary yet we so easily forget and carry on as if we are here to stay.  This sale has definitely put an end to clutter, I am all about useful, practical and needed items.  I took it as a great lesson from my Father above and am so grateful for this experience.

It was somewhat of a spontaneous outing for our little family, but we definitely had much more time to enjoy it this year versus last year. Leaving early makes a huge difference 😉 This pumpkin patch has become a small tradition without us realizing it. There is something about pumpkins that are just massive and kids all around in their costumes smiling for pictures. Of course there are other attractions such as the train ride, corn maze, hay ride and of course endless menu of fatty fried food. This year, we could not leave without an ice cream cone and a root beer float 😉 Joshy got to go on his first train ride, which he enjoyed quite a bit. It was a quality time well spent. I love our little family and thank God for moments like these shared.