Crash Landing

The family landed back in Prague today after a long trip from Oklahoma (OK, sure... all flights with three kids and only one mom officially qualify as "long" - this one was no exception!) As usual, Jad and Danna were star travelers, and used their "Native American eyes" to help out mom this trip (the kids are about 1/16th Native American - so we've told them that they each have one eye and one ear from that side of the family.) Danna found a loose passport under their seat in the plane (whew!) Jad spotted one of his cowboy boots on the tarmac (I guess it slipped out of the bag after an over-zealous TSA search). The boot made the rest of the trip in Erin's carry on (sure, there was plenty of extra room!) The passport successfully got Danna back into the Czech Republic.

On landing in Prague, Erin got a rude reminder of how customer-friendly folks in this part of the world are. One mom, three kids, eight pieces of luggage, two luggage carts and a stroller. Pleas for assistance fell of deaf ears, and though Jad is big enough to push a cart, he's not big enough to see over the stack of luggage to steer it! Needless to say, they were glad to let me take over!

As if traveling along across the Atlantic with three kids wasn't hard enough, Erin caught a stomach bug somewhere just before take off. Emergency trips to the lav at 30,000 feet are even more fun when there's a sleeping toddler on your lap! Danna picked up the same bug and hasn't even been able to keep down ice cubes this afternoon.

Jad? He's the only one that actually slept much of the flight - and he has played hard, re-discovering all his toys, until he quite literally passed out on the floor in mid-play! Our newly adopted cat is not quite sure what to make of all this action, but I'm sure she'll adjust to the extra attention!

We're back! Hit the play button - life in Prague goes back to full speed starting tomorrow!

Update on Danna

Yesterday Danna and I took the 3 1/2 hr drive (one-way) to Dallas for her follow-up visit with her pediatric nephrologist. All went remarkably well!! Her dr was very pleased with her reaction to 8 weeks of low-dose chemotherapy and he suspects that she'll be in remission from nephrotic syndrome for 2-3 years. Her white blood count stayed within normal limits despite the treatment, which he saw as a good sign. And there hasn't been any protein in her urine for a few weeks, so these are all positive signs. She had no hair loss nor weight loss nor rashes -- nothing that would be considered a negative response.

This morning was the first time in 7 months that she didn't have some type of medicine to take-- it was wonderful! We are waiting to hear from the medical office of the State Department regarding paper work and tickets back to Prague. The sorting, organizing,and packing of the last 9 weeks (which included Christmas and Jad's b-day) begins today!

Thank you for all the support, concern, prayers, and well-wishes from so many of you -- REALLY appreciate it! Now, if any of you are near Oklahoma City, wanna come help me pack?!?! :-)

Erin

Back in Prague...

... where the eggs are so fresh that they come with part of the chicken still attached:

I've been chasing "White Christmases" all my life... and the year we all travel away from home to go "home" for Christmas... one comes here to Prague. It started snowing on Christmas eve, and we still have 2-3 inches on the ground! For a guy who's never lived through a real winter, this stuff is fantastic, and I'm enjoying the 20 degree weather!

Erin and the kids are still in Oklahoma City, but Danna is responding really well to her treatment, and we hope to be reunited back here in Prague later this month or early next. We can then "un-pause" our life and get back to normal living here in Prague... cleaning chicken feathers off of eggs, included!

New Year in the Azores

We rang in the New Year last night in the Azores... kind of. It so happens that 12:00 midnight in the Azores (and in Praia, Cape Verde) corresponds approximately to bedtime in Oklahoma City. So - as the Azoreans were wishing each other "Feliz Ano Novo", we broke out the "confetti" and engaged in what has become a Rubesh family tradition - making a huge mess!



As you can see in the video, Kyler's not quite sure what's going on, and doesn't seem to like the taste of our Dollar Store confetti that much! A couple minutes of Azorean celebration was followed by an hour of cleanup... but at least we kept things indoors and didn't alarm the neighbors this year!

Merry Christmas from Oklahoma City

Merry Christmas!

On the road again

I don't know if any of you have tried to set up appointments with medical specialists, school enrollment, and living arrangements from about 5000 miles away. Even with the wonders of technology - the Internet and VoIP telephones, it's not an easy thing! But let me back up a bit...

Here's a reader's digest version that will bring you up to date. In May '07, Danna was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome. Up until this last month, her course of medication has kept the syndrome in check, and we've had a "normal" year here in Prague - exploring castles, traveling around Europe, and starting Kindergarten. Well... that's all about to change a bit. Danna recently stopped responding quite as well to her initial medication, and her doctors here have recommended that she move to the next commonly recommended treatment. Unfortunately, the Medical experts at the US State Department (Kevin's employer) don't believe that this treatment should be done here in Prague, and have set up a "medivac" for Danna for further evaluation and treatment in the US - treatment that could take up to three months or longer.

We've now adjusted to the reality of this "exile" from Prague, and have gotten busy the last couple of days! Trying to arrange plane tickets, funding & approval for those tickets, a school for Jad, and most importantly of all, trying to set up Danna's appointment with a specialist... all from 6-9 timezones away! (What did we ever do before the Internet?)

The latest in our ever changing lineup sounds something like this: we have an appointment set up with a specialist in Dallas, just a couple hours down the freeway from "home base" in Oklahoma City. We have a planned flight out from Prague this Thursday. Kyler's just started exploring the limits of his "climbing" ability, so the cross-Atlantic flight should be "fun". We've contacted a school close to Erin's parents' house in OKC, and it looks like Jad should be able to slide in to American kingergarten next week.

One "fly" in all this this ointment? Kevin "gets to" stay put here in Prague while the rest of the family flies of the the US. He's planning to join them for Christmas... But being a "geographical bachelor" is not that much fun. At least he'll get Jad's legos all to himself for a while, and won't have to share his "Asterix and Obelix" books!

The kids are thrilled at the prospect of this "adventure". They established pretty strong roots in Oklahoma during our home leave before arriving in Prague, and have been regailing us with stories of all the friends and family they're going to see, things they're going to do, and places they're going to visit. Of course, the aforementioned friends and family in Oklahoma are pretty happy about spending some time with the family as well!

By the way... though Danna has a Kidney condition, she's really not "sick" in the common sense of the word. Though she knows her "kidneys don't wook so well", that's a little less important to her at the moment than her collection of Princess dresses, or the schedule of Saturday morning cartoons! Her course of medications so far keep her happy, healthy, energetic, and full of beans (she has an opinion about everything, of course). The treatment that will most likely be recommended when she sees the specialist next week is the normal course of treatment for kids with her condition... A condition which is most often outgrown as the kids head toward the teenage years and beyond.

OK - more as we know it! We'd appreciate your prayers!

A cowboy in Prague

One of the great advantages of overseas living is that you get to rub noses (sometimes quite literally) with folks from just about every nationality in this big wide world. In Jad's Kindergarten class of 16, no fewer than 10 different nationalities are represented!

Last Friday was "International Day" at Jad's school. Being a red-blooded Oklahoman/Emirati/Omani/Zimababwean/Oregonian, there was no question as to what Jad would dress up as. A cowboy! What kid wouldn't? He even brought his stick horse "Silver" (as in "hi-ho, Silver - away!") along for the grand parade of nations.

In addition to parading around in national dress, parents in Jad's class set up activity centers representing each continent - helping the kids make a craft or learn something new along the way. Erin helped with the Africa table - in honor of Jad's first home in Zimbabwe.

This week, Jad heads off on a new adventure... his first experience as a Kindergartner in the America (technically, his "home country")! It's going to be quite a difference... most likely, there will be one or two nationalities represented, instead of ten. And as Jad pointed out, "everyone will speak English!" And... he'll get to ride in a yellow school bus! As a fellow Third Culture Kid, though, I can't wonder if he's not going to miss being a cowboy flanked by buddies in Kimonos!