the highs and lows of living abroad

of course there are many highs and lows of living abroad, it's true, (and many which are much more important!) but those i am focusing on now are:

low - missing familiar things
high - receiving those familiar things from people who love you

you have no idea how much excitement there is in receiving something like Jelly Bellies jelly beans, or Listerine mouthwash until you have received them in a place where you can't just buy them whenever you want. i am writing about this today because our dear friend, Courtney, from Ohio is planning a visit to "Mother Russia" at the end of April/beginning of May to see us. and she, knowing the joy i just mentioned, has offered to devote one of her two checked bags to us!

i regularly get the question from friends about what we miss from the States and what they could send to us, but i know that typically actually sending those things requires mailing a package overseas, which can be costly even for a small box. so, for those who have thought about it, here is your chance without paying for any mailing! we will have up to 50 lbs. worth of space in "our" bag.

so here is our "WISH LIST":

Drink mixes or Kool-Aid
Crest toothpaste (Nighttime formula)
Starbucks coffee beans
Listerine Arctic Mint mouthwash
brown sugar
bottle of Ranch dressing (i have some dry powder packets, but the taste just isn't same due to the taste of the mayo or sour cream)
maple syrup
dried Parmesan cheese
taco seasoning
chocolate chips
canned black beans
yellow mustard
Jelly Bellies
Goldfish crackers
books - "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini, and "The Diary of Anne Frank" (for the books, used is totally fine!)

if you would like to send us any of these things, please reply to this post with the thing or things you will get, so others can see (so Courtney doesn't end up bring us 10 cans of black beans or something!) and i'll contact you and get Courtney's contact info to you. She would like to have the things ready to pack by April 25th.

thanks so much, dear friends! thanks for thinking of us. we think of you often and dearly miss you!!!