The Walls Came Tumbling Down

Many of the men in our church have been working to add on a couple of rooms to accomodate for more people on Sundays and to have a place for the kids to have Sunday school... and with heat! We used to have a little kitchen upon entering church and then the sanctuary room. Well, our teammate, Dave, helped one day to take down the wood stove (brick-by-brick) and the wall between the kitchen and sanctuary came down, too! This was actually okay, as it was in part of the later plan. The only thing it means for right now is that church is very challenging with three kids! The above picture is the view when you first walk in the door. When I took Anneka and Ella to the bathroom during the service (an outhouse with a hole in the ground), everyone watched us put on our coats and hats and head out. And when Ike has needed diaper changes there is literally no place to go. Thankfully everyone is pretty gracious. If you're interested in seeing some of the pictures of construction, check out Dave and Martina's blog: http://davemartina.wordpress.com/ Leif has helped out a few days when he's had time. Next week the men are making a big push to get a lot done before a construction team of 6 men from Canada come to do a lot of the work on the new building.

Here's another view that shows the wall down. This was taken at the very end of the service. I let Anneka and Ella join Inka in the kitchen as she got tea ready for afterwards.

We were so excited on Sunday to greet Sasha! He arrived by train just after the morning service from having served for a year in the army! Also you can see some babuskas in the picture. One of them is thrilled that I'm a few sizes larger than normal. When she sees me, she squeezes my fat and exclaims loudly about how I am a totally new shape. I'm glad she's happy about it, but I won't mind if I return to my former shape. =) Along the lines of "walls tumbling down", I took the month of March to pray about returning to Siberia with THREE KIDS! I honestly didn't know how I would do it when Leif was gone, as I often felt overwhelmed with two. Just like Joshua and his men marched around Jericho, I "marched" through prayer over this subject. And I am happy to say (and know that it can ONLY be by God's grace!) that it's going well! I feel like I've had many moments of pure enjoyment in these sweet kids and that God has given me patience beyond myself. I'm a little hesitant to share this because I don't want people to stop praying for me in this area! But if you are praying, THANK YOU, and please continue! Those walls are tumbling down and God is giving me the grace I need for each moment of each day. And I know that God uses our family as a light here.