Our internet has been out for ten days.  It's been very enlightening.  I realized how MUCH we use the internet (Bible study materials, Russian language classes and help, skype meetings, email, connections with family, friends & supporters, music, recipes, finding out the days' temperature, audio stories for the girls' rest times, ETC!)... and how helpful many of these tools are.  But I've also seen ways that the internet can suck time and make life seem busier than it needs to be.  So now we have internet again, and we're very thankful.  But I'd say these days away from it have been a gift, and I hope that we can take what we've learned in regards to our time and apply it!

     This man pictured above has been coming to our church.  Martina pointed out that he was wearing a GAP sweater, so I asked him if I could take a picture of him in his sweater.  It's always so interesting to see people wearing name brands that have come up through China.  It's so common that I honestly didn't even notice!  =)
    

     This picture is for my dad.  After church we have a light lunch together, and someone had brought a big jar of homemade pickles.  My dad makes pickles every year, and everyone loves them.  I, however, never shared the family's love for pickles.  But, boy, did Ella LOVE the pickles!  She had juice streaming everywhere (this is so gross to me!), and ate many of them.  She wouldn't let me take her picture, so I had to sneak this one in!

     I love how we have this time to talk with people and mingle after the service.  It's also nice for the kids to get a bite to eat so that we can put the little ones straight to bed when we get home. 

     On the way home from church a couple of weeks ago, Leif took Anneka and carried a sleeping Ella (who had fallen asleep on the bus) home while I stopped at the fruit stand to buy potatoes, milk, and a flat of eggs.  I was holding a sleeping Ike, and the lady who worked there kept asking me how I was going to carry everything (I got some bananas, too).  I told her that my arms are strong from carrying kids all of the time and it would be no problem.  But another lady there insisted on carrying everything for me (despite my insistence that it wasn't necessary).  She came all the way home and had tea and cookies with us.

     It turns out she's recently lost both parents and lives all alone.  She asked if she could come and visit again that week, and of course we said "yes!"  I was so touched by her kindness and took a liking to her immediately.   I love how God orchestrates our meetings with people and trust that He's brought this kind woman into our lives.

     The girls and I took some pictures that they'd drawn to the lady at work that week and a few days later she came over for lunch.  She stopped by another day, too, and has given the girls gifts from her little store.  She said that she's been thinking of us.  Pray for this relationship with this kind woman!

Sliding and Celebrating

     Leif had a birthday last week, and we-his lucky family- got to celebrate with him!!  It was a long day for Anneka, as she had both Russian and English lessons that day, but we decided to risk going downtown.  Thankfully she fell asleep in the van on the way and woke up refreshed and ready to have fun!  We stopped at a new game store first and Leif picked out a new game for our family to play.  This is pretty new here- to be able to buy good games.  So we were pretty excited.  Then we headed to the main square to slide on the ice slides.

     It was really cold- I think it was -35 that day.  But we were bundled and everyone enjoyed it.  Here are Leif and Ella (she wanted us to be with her when she went down).

I took pictures for awhile while I held Ike.  He went down the slide with us, too. 

 

Then Leif took a turn taking pictures (both of us took self-shots with Ike).  =)  He's pretty irresistible!

Such fun!

 

     

     These girls are hard-core.  Even after being outside for a long time, they wanted to keep going.  I love watching them hold their papa's hand!

 Here's the top of one of the bigger slides.  Ella got braver and let Leif push her down.

There she goes!

Ahhh... so happy!

     The girls sat on little hard plastic sleds that enabled them to go really fast!  Anneka keeps one of these sleds in her cubby at school for when the kids play outside (they play outside if it's -20C/-4F or warmer)... those days, we hope, will be coming soon!

     After a very yummy dinner at Subway (yes, you read that right! Subway is here!  There a few changes, like cabbage instead of lettuce... but mostly they are the same!) we headed back to the square to see the pretty lights in the sculptures.  Leif and the girls found another slide that was faster and slided some more.  I was frozen by then and cuddled with Ike.

     Then we came home for some German chocolate cake.  Ike konked out in the car, so we put him in his crib with all of his outdoor clothes on and opened up the balcony door.

The girls picked out face paints as a present for Leif. So after the cake, they had fun decorating him!

 

He was a VERY good sport!

a very, very good sport

     We love you so much, Leif!  Happy birthday!  We feel so blessed that out of all of the people in the world we get YOU in our family as such a wonderful husband and father.  You're the best!

Blessings At Our Door

     We met a young lady in the last few months who is a true gem.  She's serving God well here in Siberia, wanting to be a light for Him (and she truly shines!).  Her Dad sometimes drinks so much that he becomes violent and dangerous, so she and her mom have come to take refuge at our place a couple of times.... and what a blessing they've been to us!

     Our kids love them and they help cook (hence, the cabbage in the picture).  We pray together and have hopes that God will free this man (father/husband) from His addiction.  This is a dark place to live, but God is bigger and stronger than that darkness.  And he offers hope.

This young lady says that she believes our family is here to offer hope and to show an example of a healthy, loving family to many broken families.

     It's such a gift to meet people like these ladies and to see them loving God with all of their hearts.  They are blessings in our lives!

To The Unreached

     Last week, Leif had a few days of meetings with the Area Counsel to pray, research, cast vision, and start making plans for where SEND should send the next teams in Russia and to which unreached people groups.  There are over 100 unreached people groups all throughout Russia.  These men looked at which groups are currently being worked with and also looked at different statistics of numbers and locations and came up with several new places.  Exciting stuff.

      Ken was supposed to come, too, but he didn't get his visa in time... so instead of going to a retreat center, the guys met next door and skyped Ken into their meetings.

     While the guys had their meetings, Renata came and stayed the night.  It was really nice for many reasons- it was a big help that she stayed with the kids while I took Anneka to school (when it's so cold it's dangerous to take the little ones out in the mornings), the kids all loved having time with her, and I really enjoyed our time together, too!!

     Leif got me this new hat for Christmas, and Anneka tried on Renata's hat.  Wiith Ella's furry hat, we all made a very cute trio!

     We had a team meeting while John and Carl were here to hear about some of the decisions the Area Counsel had made.  Afterwards we had lunch- seven layer pasta and everyone brought different toppings (and yummy desserts).  It was fun to mingle and talk with everyone.

     We took a team picture (plus Carl and John).  The other kids were at their homes this time.

     Randomly, a bunch of us wore red/pink that day!  It was so notable that we took a picture.

     Carl and John stayed with us for a few days.  It was really nice to get time with them.  The girls were my helpers in preparing meals.  Anneka made their beds all by herself, and here she chopped the olives for pizza very small. =)  Our friends, the Knights sent us a BREAD MACHINE for Christmas and we LOVE IT and use it all the time!!  I tried out making some garlic pizza dough this day, and it was incredible.  I can never go back to regular dough again!

     If you turn your back, this little guy ends up here.  On top of the table.  We have to watch him like a hawk!

     Ella really likes helping me in the kitchen.  Here we made some cookies and cream ice cream.  You can see she's so proud!

 
     On Carl and John's last night, we played a rousing game of Twister.  Carl's back was hurting, so he was the spinner.  I was the first one out, so I was the photographer.

 Ike thought it was really funny and laughed at everyone.

We stayed up late talking with John and Carl and telling them our story of how we first met and ended up with SEND and in Russia.  It was fun to reminisce and to remember all that God has done.  Ike climbed up on Leif's lap in the middle and fell fast asleep.  So cozy with Papa!