It's A Girl!!!

We went in for an ultrasound yesterday and found out that our baby is a girl!! Leif will be surrounded by a house-full of girls. There will be a lot of giggling. I'm really happy, as girls are so sweet, and Anneka will get to have a sister. Everything with the baby looked healthy, too. She's bigger than what is average for her age, but Anneka was, too. At least this way I can partially explain all of my weight gain! I'm definitely bigger than I was in the first pregnancy!



Anneka and I had a bit of a rough morning this morning. It's always a big trek to even get to the bus stop, and it's SO WINDY and COLD in February!!! She's a trooper and a good walker, but by the time we were halfway home, she was tired and frozen (there were even frozen little hairs on her face). It's so hard for me to carry her now, especially since I fell on my tailbone last week (it still hurts all of the time!). We stopped at the store to buy eggs and by the time we were in our building, Anneka was crying, and I was ready to be home. The eggs come in these really thin plastic bags. I was carrying that and a mixer in one hand and holding Anneka's hand with the other hand up the stairs. As we were on the platform leading to our apartment, I dropped the eggs on the floor and they splattered everywhere! It was so gross to clean it up (as dogs and cats do their business there, drunk people get sick there, etc.) The above picture was taken in our stairwell. There are often beer cans and bottles on the windowsill. This can is A LITER. The ice chunk next to it has been sitting there for days and hasn't melted a single bit (and it's inside!). I think I often feel grumpy at the end of February. It's so spiritually dark and I'm just ready for spring. Ironically, in three days, everyone will be saying "Happy Spring", as that's when spring starts here. But this morning it was -35F, so I hardly think it's close.

In other news, Leif often learns new Russian words as he's studying his Buryat. All of his books are Russian-Buryat. But today while doing his homework, he learned a new English word! Flounce- a ruffle that's sewn onto the edge of a skirt or dress or blouse. Will he ever need this word? Who knows!

Back to the baby, we're taking suggestions for names! It's great if it sounds pretty, has a nice meaning, ends in an "a" or has a Russian form, and has Scandinavian roots (to go with Gustafson). Any ideas?

Cutting is her new favorite hobby.

Anneka LOVES to cut things. We haven't found kid scissors for her yet, so she uses these tiny scissors from my traveling-sewing kit. She cuts and cuts and cuts several times a day. Anneka also has her plastic knives and loves to help cut things in the kitchen. This evening she helped me cube bread for a breakfast casserole (for our team tomorrow when we greet our new teammates). She ate HALF A LOAF OF BREAD while cutting. That girl has quite the appetite!

Whiter Than Snow

Yesterday was the "Whiter Than Snow" Buryat/Christian celebration. Leif and I sang a song about how Jesus makes us whiter than snow with four other men from the church. Anneka held baby Angelina on the floor while we practiced (she is so enthralled with her!!). I'm over on the right (not pictured) laying on a bed while we practiced because I fell really hard on the ice on the way to the church. I'm still recovering, but I think I'm getting better.



These women prepared tea and some snacks for everyone who attended the celebration.




These cute little boys passed out tea as gifts to some of the adults that came. They presented the gifts in a traditional Buryat way, showing respect to their elders and using this piece of cloth called hadok. Leif presented a gift to his Buryat teacher this past week in a similar fashion.



This was one of the many performers from the day. There were many songs and dances, short talks, and Bible verses read in both Russian and Buryat. This lady is wearing a white costume with a moon on her head for White Moon/Month. There were a lot less people who attended this year. I counted around 90 people in the audience (I may have missed a few), but it was still really powerful to see Buryats worshipping God in their own language and style. And we pray that people came closer to knowing Christ by being there.




Here we are, singing. (The other three men were standing at another microphone).




Another group singing. (Leif is on the far right).



This is just a picture of a few of us at the end. We had planned on taking Anneka with us that day, and I knew it would be tiring because she'd miss her nap. About an hour before we left, the Wickers called saying that Matthew could watch Anneka. (and we never asked anyone to watch her ) It was such a blessing to know that she was able to sleep and play at home and we could really focus on the day! It's neat how God provides in ways that we don't expect. I was also touched by a couple of Buryat ladies who said that they pray for me every week and for this pregnancy. I didn't even know that they knew I was pregnant! It's so cool to be a part of the body of Christ!

Sagaalgan

February is known as "white month", and is a major holiday for Buryats. Last weekend was a big new years celebration, and Buddhists commemorated by visiting the datsan and throwing everything bad into a big fire there. The "bad things" from the past year are often symbolized by throwing in shapes of dough or pieces of cloths that have been used by each family member. Although there used to be no religious connotations with Sagaalgan, it now has many spiritual/Buddhist connotations. People pray to their ancestors spirits and to other spirits or gods whose images are hung on the northern and northwestern walls of their houses. People give food to these gods and give gifts to one another. This is very much a month of purging the bad and cleaning up their homes, lives, yards, etc. People even eat lots of white foods. Leif took this picture at the datsan near our home. Our batteries were running out on our camera,and he wasn't able to get a good picture. But here are people coming to throw things into the fire.

This Saturday we'll participate in an outreach and celebration in traditional Buryat style of how Jesus makes us whiter than snow and He is the one who can truly cleanse us. There will be a Buryat speaker there who will explain the gospel message. We are looking forward to this time. February is often a very dark month here.



Anneka loves baby Angelina! She loves to hug her and kiss her and hold her. This Wednesday, I was in the kitchen with Katia and Anneka was in the living room with Angelina and Sasha. After a few minutes she came into the kitchen with Angelina's snowsuit around her ankles and some of her clothes on her head. She so badly wanted to fit into Angelina's clothes! In this picture she's settling for her hat.



Lena still comes to help around our apartment, which is a blessing. This week she watched Anneka a couple of mornings when Leif and I had to go and turn in our exit visas (to prepare for coming to the States in May) and when I had an appointment with the midwife (all looks good!). I'm not sure why, but Anneka is often emotional when Lena first comes. (She is never emotional when Heidi comes!! She practically pushes us out the door!) I think it's maybe a language thing, as Lena doesn't speak any English. But she's always really happy after a little while. They were building a tower together when I got home one of the days. And when I'm home with Lena and Anneka, they really enjoy each other.

It's Fixed!

Leif came home on Saturday after running errands with a happy surprise! He found a place that fixed our waffle iron! It was a miracle to find the iron in the first place and Leif would make a huge batch of waffles about once a month to freeze and have simple and easy breakfasts. We really missed it when it stopped working! This repair shop used Christmas lights to fix it... very creative, but it works! And that's what matters! We right away used the grill part of the waffle iron to make burgers for dinner. Yum yum.

A Little of This and A Little of That

Leif was gone for a few days to a meeting for many of the Christian leaders for our church throughout the region. They meet every month and take turns meeting in different places... often it's right here in Ulan-Ude. This is the only picture he took from the trip, but maybe sometime he can write more about it and borrow pics from Zhenya (another guy who takes lots of pictures). I found it interesting that it usually takes 6 or 7 hours to get to Uzbarguzeen (the village where they met), but with snow and ice on the road, it only took 4.5 hours! The ice has filled in a lot of the awful potholes. Nice.

Speaking of men and getting together, Leif has been really encouraged by a group of men from our church that meet every week. They look in the Bible and share what God has been teaching them, pray for one another, discuss theological questions, and encourage one another. Often these times will go for hours and hours. But the cool thing is that Leif has been a part of similar groups in both college and in Spokane, and he's seen clearly how God has grown mightily in each of the guys in the past (including himself!) and he's beginning to see the fruit of these times here, too. As each man grows closer to Jesus, he shines more brightly to all that are in his life (family, friends, coworkers, etc.) It's exciting to see and think about! There are 5 of them that come consistently and two or three others that sometimes join.

Happy New Year! This weekend is the third new years celebration here in Buryatia. We tried to get some pictures yesterday but our camera ran out of batteries. But we'll try again and will write more about it.

My belly button is now officially an outie. A couple of weeks ago, it semi-popped out where I could choose, innie or outie. But now it's just a plain outie. It's popped out three months faster than when I was pregnant with Anneka! We should find out the baby's gender in two weeks!

Something that used to really bug me was that whenever I would buy a notebook for class (or for whatever), it always had graph paper inside and not nice lined paper. But today, as I was sitting with some women from church, studying Psalm 119, I realized that I now love graph paper. It's so great. If you need to make columns the long way, you can just flip your notebook over and there are lines running the other direction! It's genius!

Now that Anneka is talking more and more, I've been thankful several times that people don't understand English! She will point out something odd about a person or call a lady a man (or vice versa) and we are all in bliss because nobody understands! Of course, I still use the opportunity to correct her, but nobody knows it. She was so cute last night. Leif shaved his beard because he wants to look the same for his exit visa picture as he will when when we leave for the States this summer. She looked at him, and declared, "Papa has chin!" What a discovery!

I usually go shopping once a week to a bigger store with Inka and then buy basics (milk, flour, sugar, eggs, bread, etc.) at our little local store throughout the week. Milk is really heavy to carry, so it's nice to get it on a separate trip from our store than to lug it up the stairs with the bulk of the weekly groceries. But our store has been out of so many things lately! Out of the last 12 times I've gone there to get milk, they've only had it 2 times!! Thankfully milk comes in boxes, so when they have it I buy a bunch and we store it in our cupboard. And speaking of food, our neighborhood now has a fruit stand!! I've already been there three times this past week! We eat a lot more fruit when the fruit bowl is full. The owner of the stand is from Armenia and is really nice. I'm so happy about this new stand.

Happy 32nd Birthday, Leif!!!

On Saturday we celebrated Leif's 32nd birthday. Anneka and I let him sleep in while we made cinnamon rolls and breakfast burritos. She also helped make signs for all over the apartment for Papa. She's getting to be quite the artist! She even remembered later when I asked her what she'd drawn. In the evening we had Inka and the Wickers over for a lasagna dinner. Anneka and I made this special crown for the birthday boy.




The Wickers made Leif a viking hat along with other creative and fitting gifts for Leif. Here, Anneka is attempting to make horns on her head, too.




This picture shows Anneka's adoration of Heidi. She had just put this hat on Heidi's head and thought it was just delightful.



We played this great game that I love. It's so funny. It's like the game of telephone, but we pass around little slips of paper with every other person writing the message in words and the others drawing the message with a picuture. By the end, sometimes the message has stayed amazingly the same and sometimes it is hilariously off. This game really works best if you have at least seven people to play. As it was Leif's birthday, our rule for the game was that each "telephone message" had to be Leif-related.



I made the ugliest cake in the world for Leif, but it tasted really good. His favorite cake is German chocolate. And he really likes the layers, so I made four layers. They slid everywhere and the frosting oozed all over. But thankfully nobody cared. =)

I'm so thankful for Leif and for his life! He's the most amazing husband and father. He's so creative and fun and thoughtful and caring and lovable. Happy birthday, Leif. I love you!

Busy and Fun

We've been really enjoying Anneka at this age. She's so creative and funny and loves to play, play, play... and it's really cute to both watch her and to play with her. She's also a big helper. I find that I'm getting more creative in finding all sorts of ways for her to help. Tonight she was the official sprinkler of cheese for the lasagna. She also helped me chop onions (she pretended on an onion with her play plastic knife) and roll out dough (I was multi-tasking 2 dinners... one for today and one for tomorrow). After flour got all over the floor, she helped me mop. Of course, after the cheese sprinkling I'll need her help again with the floor. =)

Anneka lately has been VERY into play-dough, drawing with markers, and painting with watercolors. She is always asking to draw or paint or "play play-dough, Mama". Today we had Lena watch her in the morning while I went to get my blood drawn, and Anneka cried until I affirmed her that Lena could paint with her.

As you'll notice in the picture, she doesn't have any pants on. She's taken 2 steps back with potty training since Egypt. On the way to Egypt (even with all of the travel) she didn't have a single accident... sometimes this meant rushing to the airport bathroom even after boarding, etc. But she did so great! Now she's having a couple of accidents a day. Oh, well. I should probably bribe her with treats again. She's a sucker for treats.


Leif and Anneka making faces at me while I was in the living room.




I love these guys!!




Katia knitted me this sweater. Isn't that so sweet!? I couldn't believe that she would take all of that time and effort to do that. I love it.

Well, I wanted to write more meaningful stuff, too, but Anneka is running around with markers and I can't focus and should probably get off and write again soon. =)

Ice Skating

Last weekend we went ice skating with the Wickers. When I told Anneka earlier that day, she got SO excited and wanted to try on her skates (a borrowed pair) immediately. She wobbled around the living room like a happy drunk.



But she was even MORE excited when we got to the rink! It was so cold with a wind, and yet she was content to keep skating with Heidi, Matthew, John, Sharon, Mama,and Papa. We took turns skating with her.





When the adults got tired, we pulled out a sled to tote her on. She liked that, too, but I think she preferred to be on her feet.




The saddest part was when we decided to leave because we were all so frozen. As soon as we entered the building to take off our skates, Anneka started crying really hard. We weren't quite sure why, but I think she suddenly realized how cold she was, and it hurt as her skin began to thaw (I know mine did!) But the sadness is forgotten now. She's been talking about it ever since and wants to go again! But it's been in the -40s the last couple of days... that's TOO COLD for me!

Refreshing Week In St. Petersburg

On our way back from Egypt, we decided to take advantage of being on the western side of Russia and visiting our friends, 'Jamin and Ashley, and their family in St. Petersburg. We are SO thankful for this time and it was really good for our hearts to be with them.


We had a night's stay in Moscow between Egypt and St. Pete. Heather and Adam and their three kids graciously let us stay with them. We know them from back when we were here with CCC. It was so fun to meet them as a family (we haven't seen them since they've been married or met their kids) and to hear about how God is working through their ministry of Bible teaching and training of pastors throughout Russia. Their little girl, Anna, is a year younger than Anneka. I was just amazed at the difference in their size. She was such a cutie pie!



Anneka was very tired by the time we got back to the airport the next day. She liked being wheeled around in the cart, and it was nice for us, too, to have this!



'Jamin picked us up at the airport and Ashley had made yummy wraps (and hummus!!) to eat for when we got there. We enjoyed catching up with them that first evening while the kids slept. 'Jamin and Leif lived in Ulan-Ude together for two years way back when. And Ashley is just a really easy person to connect with and fun person to talk to. She's also pregnant, just a month behind me. I seriously feel like in the week and a half since we took this picture, my belly has popped out quite a bit more, but this gives an idea. =)




One evening, Leif and I got together with this family (Kevin, Emily, and Josiah). We met them at a conference for reaching Shamans here in Ulan-Ude last spring. Right now they are learning Russian in St. Pete and will soon be heading even farther north to a remote place to work with a Bible translating organization with one of the people groups near the north pole. Emily is also pregnant. We enjoyed our time with them.



While the guys were at Bible classes, Ashley and I and the kiddos had lots of fun! On this day, Joyelle (4) went to preschool and we took Silas and Anneka to an indoor playground at IKEA. They LOVED it. And I loved sitting and talking with Ashley and drinking a McDonalds chocolate milkshake. Mmmmm. St. Petersburg seriously felt like a different world! I'm encouraged by the ways that Ashley is intentional about teaching her kids about God and about loving her family, teammates and neighbors. I feel like I learned a lot from her just by hanging out with her!



In the evenings, 'Jamin had some intensive studying that he needed to do, so he popped in and out while Leif often played with the kids.



Anneka loved dressing up and dancing with Joyelle.




On the morning of 'Jamin's final, Ashley was so sweet to keep Anneka so that Leif and I could go on a date. We'd both been to St. Petersburg before, but it's still fun to see the beautiful buildings and to experience the city. And I love riding the subway! Here, we're standing in front of a church that was constructed in Roman style. We went inside and a service was going on, and it was SO BEAUTIFUL! A choir sang from an upper loft, and the notes swirled around the entire room, so lovely and worshipful. People were praying and lighting candles. I saw one lady bring a carton of eggs to give as an offering. I thought about the contrast between light and darkness and prayed that the people there would be filled with a true faith in Jesus and that His light would go out to this whole country.

I'm so happy for our time away, and I'm so happy to be back home, too. God is so good in the gifts that He gives!