Learning More About the Culture We Live In

We've had a conference this past week to learn more about the Buryat culture and specifically about Buddhism and Shamanism. It's been very helpful, with good discussions in groups about what this means and how our western worldview is very different from many peoples' worldviews here. Most of the group went to a Buddhist temple on Saturday to interview a monk and to learn. One Buryat lady that has been attending our seminar is a Christian and wants to know how to share Jesus with her mother, who is a Shaman. We all want to learn how to share Christ in ways that are understandable.



While most of the group was at the temple, three of us stayed and helped make a traditional Buryat meal with a Buryat family (and several of their friends) for everyone. It was so fun to talk with these ladies and to hear their stories... and specifically to hear how God has brought them into a relationship with Himself. It was also very fun to learn how to make the food! In the picture above, the ladies are cutting up noodles to go into a soup of just meat and noodles (and salt). They added potatoes to ours, but traditionally there are no potatoes.



I've had posie (meat dumplings) many times, but I've never made them before. I was so proud to make my first posie! Everyone was so helpful and encouraging in teaching me and the others how to make them.



In this picture, I'm holding a posie and she is holding a vareniki- both noodles with meat inside, but different shapes and ways of eating them.




Posie is steamed in a big pot. When you eat it you take a bite out of the noodle and then slurp the meat juices out of the hole. Yum, yum!



We enjoyed eating together and hearing one lady's story of how God has drastically changed her life. She was filled with joy and peace and it was such a gift to hear from her. We're so thankful for these opportunities to learn and reminders of how God is at work, drawing people from all over to Himself.

More and More Russian

Anneka and Ella have been around Russian speakers a lot these past few weeks, and I can tell a difference in Anneka's comprehension. She also is getting braver at speaking words and phrases. These high school girls from our church babysat last week for a couple of hours and took these pictures with our camera. It was funny to find later. They're both really sweet.



... interesting pose...




I've also discovered that Anneka is a little naughty with Russian sitters, and I think she pretends to not understand in order to get away with stuff. When I talk with her about it she cries really hard from remorse. And she always has me ask them if she was obedient or not- to kind of tell on herself. Such an interesting little girl.

Guests

We've been living in our new place less than a week, and already we've been able to have several guests. It really makes it start to feel like "home"! We want to make the most of these weeks before going back to the States and have made a list of people in the neighborhood we want to reach out to and people we want to have over during this time. This past week I started teaching English to a lady from our neighborhood and her 8-year old son. Anneka joined us and learned Russian as they learned English. It's nice to have baby books around with simple pictures and basic words to begin with. We had a nice conversation and used lots of repetition!



Ella and Anneka are both my little helpers when we prepare for guests. Ella follows instructions really well- it's amazing how much she understands! She loves to throw things in the garbage for me or pick up items off the floor that I ask her to and take them to designated rooms. Here, she stirred up the garlic butter... but when I turned my head she stuck a big glob of the butter into her mouth. She smelled like garlic for hours afterwards. So, she's pretty good at following instructions, but there are a few kinks to work out. =)





Anneka likes being our photographer. I let her take this picture. I wanted my friend Ira to meet Kandid and Daniela before we leave for the States. We had good conversation and it was nice to all be together.



The kids ate at their own table and then ran off to play. They played together really well. I'm proud of Anneka for trying more and more Russian! I tried to tire Anneka out earlier in the day so that she would actually sleep during her rest time, as I knew the guests would be here past her bedtime. (she often gets pretty crazy when she's tired). But my plans backfired and she didn't sleep at all. Thankfully she was a good little hostess and friend to our little guests.

I love how much room the girls have in their bedroom and how much room in our apartment in general! It really makes it easy- and fun!- to have guests with kids! I still have more to put up on walls, handles to put on the dressers, etc.




And another picture from our little photographer. =) Vitya and Sveta came over for dinner last night. They live in our neighborhood, too. They have three kids and one of their girls is Anneka's age. Sveta and I talked about getting the girls together in the mornings sometimes. She's a great resource, too, for things to do in this community- how to get into the swimming pool, music lessons, etc. We really like this family. Vitya was so nice to help Leif get all of the rest of our furniture and stuff out of the apartment next door. This, of course made more dirt and mess... but once this last batch is clean and put away, we're officially DONE with moving and settling!


And one last picture from Anneka!

Anneka is Four!

This week we celebrated Anneka's fourth birthday! We had a nice relaxing day at home, which hasn't happened in awhile with moving among other things. Inka came over in the evening and we played a few games. I cut a hole in this box for a ball toss.



Anneka is VERY into her babies right now. She makes sure that someone is always watching them if she has to leave the room for any reason. She has a girl baby and a boy baby, but up until this week they were naked. Inka sewed them some lovely clothes, and Anneka loves them! Of course, Anneka likes a different combination of shirt with pants/skirt than Inka had planned, but I guess that just comes with being four- being really decisive. (The orange baby that Inka is holding already had clothes). =)



Anneka requested that Leif make her birthday cake, and she really wanted a strawberry cake. Leif took his responsibility seriously and made a really yummy cake. He tracked down some frozen strawberries and a strawberry jello packet.



A few weeks ago when my parents and the Brubachers were here, we had an early birthday party. Martina helped me to decorate this doll cake. When Anneka first saw it she asked to be alone with it for a few minutes because it was "so pretty". When I returned to the kitchen, a finger-sized chunk of frosting was missing!



Martina fixed Anneka's hair so pretty in a braid that crowned her head. Ella wore her floor-length princess dress.





We played musical chairs, pin the tail on the donkey and duck-duck-goose.



Happy Birthday, Anneka Dorothy! We love you so much! You are such a funny, energetic, generous, adventurous, loving girl. You bring us so much joy!

Settling In

The work in our apartment is officially done! This past week, we've started cleaning, hauling out trash, moving in furniture, unpacking, etc. Alan, Art, and Eric came and helped move the big things and assemble furniture.



Thankfully, through all of this, the girls have been able to stay away from the craziness. They've had several different babysitters this past week. It's all gone well, but we are all TIRED. Everything takes longer than it seems like it should. Along with this, we've been trying to change our registration to our new place, and Leif has made 4 trips already to the office and has to go again next week. Yesterday we went with the girls and Ella had a meltdown just about the time we made it into the office (after waiting an hour in the hallway).



Nettie came and helped unpack boxes on Wednesday. It was really nice to have her help and company. Vera watched the girls one morning and when I picked them up, Anneka exclaimed, "I ate LOTS of candy today!" When I told Vera what Anneka had said, she told me, "I kept telling her that it wasn't good to eat lots of candy, but she just kept eating it". So funny. So funny that she didn't just take it away from her. I suppose in weeks like this it's okay for a little girl to have pleasures like candy. =)

God's Care For Us In Moving

Last week in our women's Bible study, something we read encouraged me to reflect back on how God has been at work in the past and how He has answered different prayers. I specifically remembered a time that I prayed that God would show me His love, and He answered in numerous, astounding ways. I sensed last week that He wanted me to pray that He'd show me how He cares for us. And once again, I can see the floodgates of His answering. We got a call on Monday from the guy who would bring us the moving truck, saying they were back from digging potatoes in the village. We scurried around, packing and disassembling. Even in the midst of it, I didn't feel stressed. I must admit I had in the back of my mind that we'd have all week to move out smaller stuff with our own van and to clean the apartment (you'll soon find out this wasn't the case, but it was nice to not feel worried!) We even went on a little family picnic in the evening, trying to keep things low-stress and pleasant for Anneka and Ella. On moving day, three of Leif's friends came which was a huge gift! We'd assumed that there would be a few guys coming with the truck to help us move, but it was just the driver. Between the five men, they worked fast and efficiently.

On Tuesday morning (moving day), sweet Vera from church called to ask if we needed any help. "I don't know!" was what I said, as sometimes it's hard to know what is needed. Other than the refrigerator and freezer, our entire kitchen still needed to be packed up. Vera came and I REALLY needed her! She and I packed up the kitchen- with her doing most of it, as I had needy girls and other rooms to help direct and help with. Another answer to God's care for us.

We know two Lenas with the same last name. I'd meant to call one Lena and had accidentally called the other. I told her my mistake, and she offered to come and help. She walked Ella around in the stroller to get her to sleep and took Anneka to the playground. Another huge help and reminder of God's care! I wish I had more pictures to post of everything. Another thing I hadn't even THOUGHT of was feeding everyone who helped us move! Juli called me and told me that it's expected I feed the workers. In the States, this would mean ordering pizzas or sub sandwiches.... but here it's a little trickier without a functional kitchen and in the middle of moving! Juli didn't even pause, though, after telling me about lunch- she simply offered to bring lunch for everyone!! She made a ton of egg salad, baked cookies and cut up fruit (along with pickles and juice) and piled it all in her backpack, hopped on a bus and brought it over! Do you see a theme here? God showing His care- and in ways I would've never even thought to ask for help!! We were all ravenous, too, after all of that hard work. Not only this, but Juli brought our family dinner and some treats for the week, too!

In the middle of moving, Katia called me to say that they wanted to move in the next day. "Ah!", I exclaimed, as we still had all of this stuff (and more) to go to the apartment as well as cleaning (and it gets pretty gross underneath furniture, etc)! She said, "Don't worry, we won't be there until 1:00 or 2:00". So I thought I had the whole morning to clean. Originally I'd asked Anna to come and babysit at 2:00 so that I could clean and I'd called the other Lena to come and help me. I tried to call Lena to ask her to come earlier, but couldn't get ahold of her. While we were loading up the truck with this stuff the next day (around 10:00am), Katia called me again and said that her husband had just left home with all of their stuff and would be over soon... another "Ah!" from me! The girls were wild, undoing stuff I'd done, rolling around in blankets, etc. I put Anneka to task, asking her to help Leif carry stuff down the stairs to the van. She loved it and wanted to carry really BIG things. So I let her. Leif got all of the stuff into the van and I had one room clean for Sasha to put their stuff minutes before he arrived. Then as I was giving the girls a snack next door, Lena showed up! I was so happy to see her... so thankful she came early! Both her help and the use of the Brubacher's apartment right next door (they're in Ukraine right now, getting visas) is another showing of God's care for us. Ella got a nap and Anneka got to watch Berenstain Bears, and Lena and I rushed around cleaning. And we got done minutes before Katia's whole family came back to settle in. Whew! It was a whirlwind, but now that it's done, it's so nice to not be doing all of that stuff now!!

Anna still came at 2:00, which gave Leif, Lena, and me a chance to take a last van load up to cram into the tiny room next to our new apartment. And there was even time for Leif and I to go on a date! I'm so thankful for the friends God has brought into our lives and for His care of us. The picture above is our new kitchen/living room with the wall knocked out. In the picture it's not painted yet, but it's looking good, and I'm feeling ready to settle our family in! And now we are just waiting for the finishing touches in our new place (floorboards, cabinets, outlets, lights). It's nice to have a little time of "limbo", hanging out at the Brubachers. Leif had meetings yesterday and has them all day today. The girls and I are playing- yesterday at our Romanian friends' place and today at the Jordans'. I'm thankful for these many blessings!