Full-Time Mom, Ukraine Visit, Church Callings, Family At Peace

Dear Family,

We have been blessed much in our family life, and the biggest blessing we received are our children, Alex (6.5) Jessica (5) and Sabrina (2.5). The life has gotten very hectic since then, but as we take time to read scriptures and to pray, we still enjoy much peace. There's so much we learn from being around these pure little ones. It's a joy to watch them having so much trust in Jesus Christ, to help us, one another, to forgive so easily and to be so willing to learn. There is a reason why Jesus Christ told us to be like little children. Although I had to work full time, to keep my legal status in the US, since 2012, once my husband became the US citizen, I received the freedom to resign and be a full-time mother (after 6 years of working for an international organization). By then my husband has grown in his profession, as a software engineer, and he is now a technical director at Interactive Strategies. We are still learning to live on one income, but the Lord has blessed us with many miracles allowing us to stay afloat despite the financial changes. And he continues blessing us. When I still worked, my employer paid for all of our family to visit my home country, Ukraine (the first time since I got married and started having children). We had the opportunity to go to their first temple and do the sacred work for our ancestors, and I also did much research and held many interviews with my living family members to gather as much information as I could. As a result, later, many of them, overtime, received their ordinances, still many more to go. I also started interviewing Sasha's relatives. He got disowned by his father and persecuted by his father for joining the church (one year before we got married), but it's still happening. His other relatives, however, appreciated my outreach to them and interest in their family history and were happy to give us much information. The challenge is now to put it all in the FamilySearch.org. Sasha also had the privilege to do temple ordinances for some of his direct ancestors. Jean and Bruce Bingham kindly helped us in doing much of this work as well. Currently, I'm a visiting teaching supervisor and a Primary pianist, so thankful for Jean and Bruce Bingham for the piano lessons, when I had stayed with them. Sasha has been a Primary teacher for 5-6 year-olds. Since he joined the church, he received his patriarchal blessing and served the callings as a ward assistant clerk, ward missionary, and one of the Priesthood teachers. He always tries to share the Gospel with anyone he can and enjoys going on splits with missionaries. He is at peace with himself and his family despite their attitude toward his joining the church. The Lord healed his heart, and he has been happy, which even his uncle and aunt had noticed, who since them, as well as other relatives, have been giving Sasha's father a hard time for staying out of his life. I hope you know that we love you and appreciate being part of your family.

Love, Natalia and SashaTrubnikov