The Few Days of Fall

     We often joke that here in Siberia we get two months of spring, one month of summer, four days of fall, and nine months of winter.  We joke, but it's based largely on truth.  Fall was already gone long ago, but we enjoyed it the few days that it was here! 

     We love to buy fresh produce from babushkas at the side of the road.  They often give the kids free berries or nuts, and it's so great to support them and to get organic goodness.

     I got to be with my friends as they tasted raw broccoli for the first time! (they liked it) This is a food that I always buy if I see it for sale (which is rare).  You can buy frozen broccoli here, but fresh is something extra special.



     Leif was asked to give the talk at church on Harvest Day.  He's been able to share several times recently, as our pastor has asked for help.   We enjoyed a yearly feast with everyone after the service.  I was so into it that I didn't take pictures!


     The kids like to hang out on this woodpile after church.  We like to see the fun and creative games they come up with as they play outside.

     This year we were given a lot of zucchinis from the abundance of friends' gardens.  Our kids made them into babies.  (The dark green zucchini babies didn't show up for pictures as well).  This was fine with me until one day I started grating a bunch of zucchinis and I heard sobbing coming from my children.  They were so upset that I was hacking up their babies.  So we then bought more zucchinis from some babushkas so they could have babies again.  And thus begun a fall full of zucchinis!

Ike with "his dog".

   We've had several new people at our English Club this fall.  We start out the evening with a game of some sort.  On this day, we had a panel of people that had to go on a scavenger hunt.

      Then we break into lesson/discussion groups.  Our focus these months is on the life of Jesus by studying different passages and parables in the New Testament.  We've had some good discussions both during and after the lessons (during tea time).


     Ike is my helper each week to make pizzas for our small group.

     Each Monday we drive to the village  and have dinner with these friends before our small group.  We are excited each week to see the progress on the building of our house.  This is what it looks like now:

   Lots of progress!  

      We typically return home at about 11:00pm.  Often at least one of the kids falls asleep in the car.

     This fall, I've been trading off every other week taking the preschoolers at church for Bible times and crafts.  We recently finished a series on creation.  On the off weeks I've been helping with the worship team.  I don't really know how helpful I am with Russian not being my first language, but the leader begged me to help them, and I agreed to do it for a few months.

     I was recently invited to a "sushi night" with some friends.  It was a lovely evening, and I really enjoyed praying with these ladies at the end of the night. 

    Yulia invited Nettie and me to make sauerkraut with her.  It was all of our first time to make it, and we made A LOT!  I'm using it now in soups.   Borscht tastes so much better with sauerkraut in it than fresh cabbage.

     Here's the jack-o-lantern we made this year.  We don't celebrate Halloween here, but it was fun to carve a pumpkin as a family . We each chose a part of the face to design.

    Leif's been taking an online course this fall, working on the understanding of the gathering of believers.  It's been challenging him in different ways and it's been giving us good things to think and pray about and to dialog with others.