Fresh Cow's Milk (and other things)

     Leif came home in the middle of the night this past weekend with this bucket of fresh cow's milk.  Our friends called and asked for a ride to their village (about 3 hours away).  Their own car had broken down, and they needed to get out there quickly, as their electricity was out and they didn't want their little piglets to freeze.  While it wasn't part of our "plan" for the weekend, we can see how God really used it.  Not only did it show love to this family, but on his way back, Leif picked up a Buryat couple who'd missed the bus.  They had great spiritual conversations for much of the ride back.  Leif was really excited and encouraged, and it is a reminder to us that often the greatest opportunities come not in the scheduled parts of our lives, but in the places where we are flexible and available.  So, for the past few days we've been figuring out ways to use the 5 gallons of milk before it goes bad!  We made yogurt, frozen yogurt, hot chocolate, and used it in a ton of recipes.  And now we're just down to a couple of cups to use in our waffles in the morning.  So great!

     The temps got up to just above freezing this week!  Which means that spring is officially here!!!  And it also means that the season of mud and dirt has begun.  The kids played and played outside during English Club, and Anneka's white coat turned quickly brown.  I tried to get the kids some rubber boots, but the salespeople at the stores just laugh at me and tell me it's way too early.  In my opinion, puddles= rubber boot weather.  Ella was very sad when the other kids were covering the snow with dirt.  We prayed together for one more good "snowman snow".  Considering much of each day is still below freezing, I think there's a good chance.  =)

     Sometimes people need a place to shower and get cleaned up, and they'll come to our place.  Anneka took this picture of us having lunch together with this guy who came over.  It was a slightly crazy lunch between church and English Club, but this man was very gracious with the busy needs of our kids!

    There were some other pictures I found on my phone that I wanted to post from the past weeks.  Ella and Anya are such sweet little friends!  They love each other!

     This was a very sad day.  Pastor Zhenya's mom died, and we went to the burial service.  As far as anyone knows, she never made a decision to follow Jesus.  Our hearts were so heavy.  At one point, I looked and saw three of Zhena's friends, standing with him, all grieving- one American, one Swiss, and one Romanian.  This was such a beautiful picture to me of God's love and the Church that he's given us as family.

     I love how sometimes people will pull up to the sidewalk with a car full of meat or honey to sell by the side of the road.

     I'm back into teaching Sunday school for the little ones at church every other week.  A couple of weeks ago I stayed home with Ella, who was sick, and Leif led the lesson.  Of course, the kids all love him! By the end of the service, the bigger kids had all joined his class, too! They are sweet kids.

     Ella has been really enjoying preschool. It's great because she has the same teacher and classmates as she did before our home service.  Usually I pick her up with Ike and then tote them home on the sled.  But this week there isn't enough snow for the sled!

     John and Sharon visited a few weeks ago. We hosted a welcome breakfast for them at our place.  They do a great job of caring for our team (and other teams in Russia)! 

     Their schedule is very full while they were here, so even though they stayed with us for a few nights, we scheduled in a "time slot" with them to make sure we got to see them!  It was the first night they were here, so we kept them from falling asleep (from jet lag) by playing the game Rat-a-Tat-Cat.  It was very fun to see them!