Celebrations!

    Our summer has been very full.  So full I can't remember everything and am very behind in blogging about any of it.  I looked on my phone to trigger memories and noticed that celebrations were a part of these past weeks.  Last summer we moved to our house, but it wasn't guest-ready, as we didn't have water, floors, or walls for much of the time.  Then we were in the States for our home service.  So when we returned we started inviting friends to come and visit us and see our home.  We quickly realized that it would fill up too much time to invite everyone separately, so we planned a party, together with Nettie, for our Ulan-Ude friends who hadn't seen our house yet.  We had over 80 people come in and out on one Saturday, and I took very few pictures!  This was our oldest guest.  I thought her shirt was priceless.

 And this was our youngest guest.  Sweet as pie.

    I laughed when I thought those were the only two pictures I took all day!  But then I found a couple more.  It was really special to be reminded of the dear people in our lives who support us and love us and pray for us here.  One really encouraging moment was at the end of the day.  Our friend Lena came.  She had recently lost her son.   She was able to share amazing life, truth and even joy in the midst of her deep grief.  Not only did her sharing make a deep impression on all of us believers, I know it deeply impacted people of other beliefs who were here.  Then she asked if we could sing some praise songs to God.  I felt God smiling down as we sang to Him and saw His light shining all around.

     The other picture I got was of a fun Finnish game called Mölkky.

We gathered as a team at Inka's for a meeting, prayer, and celebration of how God is at work.

My friend Asya's son had a birthday party and invited our family.

     The kids had a great time playing together, and it was really nice for me to reconnect with a friend I hadn't seen in awhile.

Mmmmm!  Eating buuzi together.

     Leif was gone on July 4th, but we celebrated with Nettie at 10pm that night.  Anneka had made a festive cake earlier in the day with her friend, Christina, and we all enjoyed eating it together.

     Then we went outside and lit sparklers!

    We have an annual tradition to visit Inka around July 4th each year.  This time it was a few days later, but it was sweet all the same.

We discovered a wonderful, green, secluded place along the river to swim in while we were there.

     Masha and her family invited us to celebrate Ilya's birthday.  They had a wonderful feast!


     The kids played on a jumpy castle and some other fun attractions at the park nearby.

     I already posted a blog about Ella's birthday, but something special about that day was that we ran into some friends at the store!  They let her pick out a present while we were there, and we gave them a ride into town, enjoying their company on this special day.

     Our neighbor had a birthday, too, and invited us.  It's really wonderful to have neighbors that we can share these special events with!

     Irene (Leif's mom) was here on my birthday!

We went to see Incredibles 2 at the theatre in 3D

     ...and ate dinner at an outdoor summer cafe by the river.  Andrew was with us, too!  I loved having them both!!

     Ike's buddy turned 7 and his family invited our whole family.  Ella took something that looked like a cupcake, and it was a cup of fish eggs.  ;)  She was quite surprised.

    Their family planned a lot of fun games for the kids.  It was fun to watch them all enjoying the day!

     Of course these celebrations only made up a small part of our summer overall, but they are bright spots in our weeks that we cherish in our hearts!