The Gustafsons in Siberia: August 2008

We Lure Her With Vegetables

As we have heard from other parents, it can be difficult to get your children to eat certain foods. Vegetables tend to be a particular problem, but Anneka seems to be like the rest of her family and is a little bit on the odd side. We actually will use vegetables to tempt her to eat other foods. In particular, she likes small chunks such as a pea, kernel of corn, or part of a green bean. She will turn her head in disgust at different types of cereal or pureed foods, but as soon as you put one of these small vegetable chunks on top, it turns into a delightful gormet meal for our little girl. Yes, that is correct, we use vegetables to tempt our baby to eat. In other news, the sports square is coming along great. It should be completed within the week. The only things left are painting, putting hoops on the backboards and a cement slab for the basketball hoop that is outside of the enclosed area. It is exciting to see how things are progressing. We're looking forward to using it and building relationships in the community as we enjoy this facility with our neighbors.

Updates

The day camps are continuing this week, but in a different neighborhood (10 minutes from here). Leif feels like his lines for the skits are more ingrained in his mind after having a week to stir around in his brain. This summer has been a huge language stretch for Leif (in a good way). It amazes me how he always steps up to the challenge.

Last Friday, I met two ladies at the day camp and we sat and talked for a long while. I know that God opened up that opportunity and gave me the courage to go and sit by them. That morning I'd prayed that He'd bring me people to talk with and He answered!

These are the main 4 men who are working on the sports square. They eat lunch here every day, and lately I've been making it for them. Inka and Elisabeth have made lunch a couple of days, too. So nice. These guys work hard and it's nice for them not to have to worry about buying/making something.

This is the progress on the sports square. Actually, today it looks even better, but I don't have a picture. You'll see it soon, though.

"Papa!"

Oh, what a wonderful thing that has started in our house! I (Leif) was laying Anneka down for an afternoon nap on Saturday and although she seemed tired, she didn't seem to want to sleep. I was just about to leave the room and let her "cry it out", when she said in her sweet little baby voice, "papa". Well, as you can imagine the thoughts of letting her "cry it out" suddenly went away and I sat there with her rubbing her back trying to both encourage her to go to sleep and continue saying papa. As with some of her other milestones, she has taken off with this one. As she's playing, waking-up, going to sleep, or sitting in her high-chair she will babble away saying, "papa, papa." We have tried to encourage her to say, "mama," which you may remember she screamed out a couple of months ago but seems to have given up on. She does sometimes manage to get out, "mapa." It is evident that her language skills are going to grow qickly as she is decifering sounds. Also, it is cute, she loves to sing with her mama. Maybe we can get a video with that at some point here :).

Special Request Granted

My aunt, Claudia, wanted to see a video of Anneka crawling, so I took a little snippet before her nap today. Be sure to read about the day camp below, as I posted close together.

Day Camps

This week our church is putting on a day camp right in our neighborhood! (the next two weeks will be in nearby areas). Leif's role is the "sport's instructor" and he's in a few skits. My hope is to get to know more people from our ring of apartments. It's a great way to connect. Each day starts with games (also Leif's role). The kids were divided into four teams and did various relays. In this one, they had to run around an area without breaking the toilet paper. Russian toilet paper is pretty tough, though! haha.

After the game/sports time, the kids had a choice of a different "station" to go to: drama, art, music, or sports. In this one, Leif is teaching the kids flag football.

The art, drama, and music groups share what they've done/learned with the rest of the kids. Each element fits into the program.

At the end, Sasha ties everything together for a talk about Jesus and how much he loves each person. 40+ kids were there yesterday, and hopefully more will come today and tomorrow!

Sports Square Construction

We ate breakfast yesterday to the sound of a big tractor outside... and when we looked, we saw that it was a bulldozer, preparing the land for the long-awaited sports square! Hooray! Leif has been out there yesterday and today, helping to dig posts for the fence that will surround the soccer field.

They need to dig 30+ holes and many of the spots have huge rocks in the way. When I went out to take this picture, the guys were discussing if there would be a way to get electricity and a jack hammer for the job. I sure hope so! Leif's hands were SO blistered after yesterday, and they had only done 4 holes and 2 half-holes. Already, many people from the neighborhood have come and asked what is going on. And the location is perfect! It's right in the center of a ring of the apartment buildings in our neigborhood. We'll keep you posted on the progress. Leif, especially, is very excited, as this is the beginning of his dream coming to fruition.