Celebrating the Holidays With Family

It's such a gift to have been here over the holidays with family! We got the go-ahead from my doctor to travel to the west side to be with Leif's family over Christmas. Here are some pictures that show glimpses of all of the wonderful moments we've had over the past weeks....



Going to a Christmas tree farm to chop down a tree with Baba and Grampa, seeing lots of deer, decorating the tree together, playing with the dog...



Special times with Grandpa and Grandma great, working on "school", getting new dolls to play with, seeing Christmas lights...



Giggles, hugs, eating avocados, discovering drinking fountains, eating yummy breakfast cereal, hearing English everywhere...



Times with Leif's Dad and his wife Rebecca, and "Grancy", yummy restaurant food (Leif and I both gained 10 pounds in the first 2 weeks!), McDonalds playgrounds, delivering flowers for Rebecca's Flower Shoppe, new stores...




More giggles, mustaches, playing at the beach, not having to wear hats and gloves all the time...




Hair fixing (by Grancy), fun rides on walkers (from two great grandmas)...



New books, special reading and cuddle times...



Opening stockings, giving and receiving presents, sleeping in the living room Christmas Eve, making a gingerbread train, Frangos, advent and prayer times...



times with Great Grandpa Jack, giving gifts to those in need, acting out the Christmas story...



Playing with Great Grandma Margie, singing Christmas carols...



Playing, playing, playing with cousin Gwen, bubble baths, trip to the library, puppet shows, matching outfits...



matching jammies, more books, candlelight service, reflecting on Jesus...


... and many more wonderful moments!

We are now mostly settled into an apartment near my (Jami's) parents. I've officially been off of bed rest for over a week now! It's so nice to have this time to see friends and family and get things in order before our new little one arrives. If I don't go into labor sooner, I have an induction scheduled for the 24th... less than 2 weeks away! I'm feeling good (other than normal pregnancy hugeness and tiredness). We are truly blessed!

Leif is getting back into the swing of things with skype meetings and sermon prep. Hopefully now that we're more settled, we'll update the blog a little more. =)

God Watched Over Our Way

Moscow airport with Carl and John



Frankfort airport with Carl. Anneka asked Carl, "Why are your and Ella's heads so similar?" I carried around this foam mattress to lay across the seats on the plane and in the airport.




Below is what Leif wrote to our prayer supporters in an email upon our return. We're so thankful for God's kindness to us!....


We, want to pass on a huge thank you for all of your prayers for us as we travelled for 53 hours from Ulan-Ude to Medical Lake. We are here and tired, but see how God blessed us greatly at different stages of the travel.
-John and Carl traveled with us from Ulan-Ude to Moscow and took the girls and this let Jami lay down across a couple of seats!
-John and Carl then helped us get our luggage and girls over to the hotel room!
-We had a nice rest in Moscow despite Ella throwing up soon after we arrived (thankfully this was an isolated incident and not on an airplane)!
-There was almost no line at registration or passport control in the Moscow airport (miraculous for those of us who have experienced otherwise)!
-There were places to sit at every airport along the way, including some places where Jami could lay out across a few seats!
-The flight from Moscow to Frankfurt wasn't very full and Jami was able to go to the back and lay across an empty row of seats!
-Carl also ended up at the airport in Frankfurt at the same time as us and brought Jami and the girls into an airport lounge for food and a nice place to be!
-The girls slept almost the complete flight from Frankfurt to Denver!
-Ella took naps on every other flight too!
-No long screaming and crying sessions, and the girls did good too ;)!
-We made it to Spokane with all of our bags!
-Jami's contractions were controlled and she is still pregnant!!!
-Dennis and Linda picked us up from the airport!
-Dennis and Linda have volunteered to help us with the girls as we adjust from jetlag!!!


Anneka is pretty much over jetlag. Ella is NOT. We're thankful for my parents' help and are squeezing in sleep as we adjust to life here!

Flying Out In The Morning

We just got back from the doctor here in Ulan-Ude, and she has given us written permission to fly out in the morning. She prescribed stronger medicine for me for during the travels. She said that if I were to go into labor, the baby would come very fast. We really, really appreciate your prayers for this journey- 53 hours from the UU airport to the Spokane airport.

Ella has a cold and can't sleep well as her nose is all stuffy. Pray for the girls to feel well and be good little travelers. We trust that God is paving the way before us!

Happy Things And Sad Things

We had our last team meeting before we leave for the USA at our place this evening with dinner together afterwards. I was thankful that it could be here so that I could see everyone to say goodbye! Several people came to help clean and prepare earlier in the day, as Leif had to pay bills and meet with someone this morning and the Buryat Partnership this afternoon. I layed on the couch while everyone sat around our living room in chairs. It's so nice to have more space in this apartment!

Anneka was very sad tonight to say goodbye to friends. I just sang the sniffling little girl to sleep.

And yet each morning when we open a new envelope on our advent calender, she's SO EXCITED that we're one day closer to going to "Medical Lake" (in her mind, this little town is "America"). We have the calendar displayed so that the first ribbon of envelopes counts down to our departure and the second ribbon counts down to Jesus' birthday.

We talk a lot about how there are happy things and sad things about leaving Russia, just as there will be happy things and sad things when we have to leave America in a few months. It's hard to know how to help her through these emotions. I don't ever want her to be calloused in her relationships... it's a beautiful thing to love and miss people! But I want her to be able to process through these feelings as well.

A Place For the Kids!

Up until recently, a family of four (plus the grandmother) lived in this tiny room in our church It's a little wider than the width of my arms if I stand in the middle. It went- single bed, crib, crib (with no room in between). Now they live in our old apartment and the room has been cleared out for a chilren's program during the church service!




Anneka has really enjoyed this time and has been singing the songs after she gets home. Last Sunday, Inka took Anneka to church (as Leif was at church in a village and Ella was home with Anna and me). It was so nice of Inka to do that! Pretty soon, there should be a new room attached to our church that will be even better for the kids. This current room is FREEZING (note the coats everyone is wearing). Thankfully, Anneka is hot-blooded and doesn't care about that sort of thing.

(pictures courtesy of Martina)

A Puppy Named Joy

Leif's trips to the village and to Chita (a city 10.5 hours away by train) were really encouraging the last few days. We have pictures, and if he has time he will post more about them. I continue to have lots of great help around here. I kind of started freaking out a couple of days ago when I realized ALL that needs to be done in the next week... especially as I'm not supposed to be doing anything. It's weird to be so helpless. But I'm doing better now. It'll all get done. And God is giving us His peace.

Leif is next door right now, meeting with a few men, and a sweet lady, Nina, from our church is making soup for everyone and caring for me and the girls. She brought her new puppy. Anneka is thrilled. Ella is very scared if he gets too close. I was surprised by this fear, as she normally loves to talk about dogs and point to them (as seen above)... but it turns out, she doesn't want to be too close. At moments it's been kind of crazy between the puppy peeing on the floor, Ella screaming, Anneka going wild with excitement to the point of freaking the dog out, etc. In fact, right this moment, Anneka is getting Nina to show her where he pooped in her room. This little puppy's name is joy. Who knew that when I prayed for joy in our home a couple of days ago, that he'd arrive in the form of a dog! He certainly adds a little bit of excitement around here!

Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving

Since we've lived in Russia, Thanksgiving has been the hardest holiday for me to be away from our family in the States. We have wonderful teammates who are like a second family, and yet Thanksgiving always reminds me that Thanksgiving is an American holiday (in November anyways) and that a lot of our teammates aren't American. This Thanksgiving we'd wanted to invite a lot of people over to celebrate (and now we have lots of space in our apartment!) and then I was on bed rest and everything changed. I never actually made invitations early on and nobody invited us (probably because they knew we couldn't come), but I must confess I felt pretty left out and sad about it all. So I prayed. I prayed that God would somehow allow us to celebrate Thanksgiving. And a couple of days later, Nettie asked if she and Renata could bring Thanksgiving to us! I was really touched by their offer, and really amazed at how quickly and kindly God answered my prayer. (and was reminded that if he cares about something like a holiday, how much MORE He cares about our family and this little baby inside of me!)

The day before, Leif made these Native American headresses (above) with the girls. Anneka didn't like wearing hers because she said it made her look like a fox. They love dressing up in costumes. And Ella always wants Anneka to dress her, not Mama or Papa.



Leif made an apple pie, mashed potatoes, and a green bean casserole, and Nettie and Renata brought everything else!! While the girls napped (both slept at the same time!) and the turkey baked(Renata found one after both girls searched and searched the city!), we played a rousing game of Beyond Balderdash.



Anneka and I found a template for placecards online, and she wrote everyone's names on them.



We had a wonderful feast!

Nettie leads a Bible study every week, and a girl that she's been pouring into came and joined us. It was really fun to share our tradition with her, and I felt like she was soaking everything in. In every spare moment, she read from different Christian literature on our shelves and she seemed really eager to learn more about God.



After dinner, the girls put together puzzles together and played games. Anneka and Ella loved the attention!



Ella really liked the whipped cream!



We shared things that we're thankful for and sang praise songs together. It was such a nice relaxing day, filled with God's goodness!



...and laughter...



and love.

Looking back at Mongolia

Wow, it is amazing how busy two little girls can keep a guy! That is certainly what I have been feeling with Jami sort of out of commission with being on bed rest. Because of that this post feels a bit outdated, but it is certainly worth it. I want to share about the trip the "triggered" this tough time for us. Okay, so the trip didn't really do that, but it sure feels like something crazy happens in the family every time I travel somewhere for a little while. Back in January I was invited to come to participate in a mission conference in Mongolia at the beginning of November. What I didn't realize at the time was that I was going to be given the opportunity to stand up and share with over 500 Mongolian brothers and sisters representing 81 churches and 10 mission organizations. I shared from the book of Acts, looking at the multicultural mission team that traveled with Paul, and how that was such a great testimony, and how today we can be a great testimony as we work together as Mongolians and Russians and Buryats and Americans. God loves it when we don't let cultural differences destroy our fellowship and service together, but honor and love each other as who God has made us to be. It was so encouraging to me to see this large group of Mongolians worshiping their creator in their language. I hope that I will get to see more and more Buryats able to do the same thing. God even opened up some opportunities to talk to people who are interested in moving to Russia to help bring the good news to people here, and we are trying to look at ways we can better connect the churches in Russia and Mongolia so that we can work together. Hopefully we will even do some sort of training together this coming year. Please pray that God will lead us in how we should continue to network together to see the good news spread!

Fumes

I probably should not be writing a blog right now, as all I can really think about are fumes. They've been painting in our hallway the past few days, and the fumes are SO STRONG! We've had our windows open and I've shut myself in the back room, but we can't fully get away. Leif told me yesterday that they even painted our door. It used to be a nice wood color. Now it matches the walls! I'm sure the hallways are much nicer, and we're thankful for the improvements. I will just be very happy when the fumes are gone.


The I.V. treatment worked temporarily but didn't stop the contractions. Now I'm on a couple of other medicines. I passed the sugar test, so I'm assuming that means no gestational diabetes.

Even though my feelings are kind of like a roller coaster right now, God keeps reminding me to trust Him and He keeps showing me how much we have to be thankful for through this hard time. I will write more on this in the days to come (right now I have a headache from the fumes), but I'll share a couple now. I had to wean Ella suddenly when the contractions started. I had planned on nursing her these winter months to give her the added benefit of antibodies. And with all of the guests and changes and the move, it seemed like weaning her wouldn't have been good in the middle of those times. But anyways, she used to NEED her Mama all of the time and was totally jealous of anyone else who got my attention. But now she happily goes to lots of people and is content without me. This is so nice to know that she's happy, and it will help prepare her for the new baby, I'm sure. I've also had some really nice times with Anneka, talking and reading together. Almost every night I let her fall asleep next to me while I sing to her and rub her head. (and Leif carries her to her own bed later). It's been really sweet to have this time with her.

Okay, my head won't last any longer. Thank you for your continued prayers!

I.V.s and More Help

So, it's been concluded that I have too much amniotic fluid and that's what's causing the contractions. The baby is big- weighing over 3.5 pounds (and he's only 27 weeks). My Ob/Gyn in the States wants me tested for gestational diabetes, as this often causes too much fluid. I'll get the glucose screening test on Monday. To stop the contractions I'm on an I.V. of magnesium every other day and on the off days I have an I.V. of some sort of nutrient from a calf that's supposed to help the baby. I'll get these I.V.s for 10 days. Already I've noticed a huge difference in not cramping/contracting. Unfortunately, there are other strong and negative side effects from the magnesium that I'm not enjoying so much. Two days down, eight to go! We're praising God that the baby is healthy and that he's staying right where he should be!

I'm so thankful that Leif's been with me these days. He helps distract me and keeps me company. Today there was a sewage problem underneath the building and the room was really stinky and cold and stuffy and I got really lightheaded and almost fainted. Leif called the nurse and she took out the I.V., opened the window, and rubbed my temples. It was very sweet. Tomorrow I'll be in a different room and Nettie will keep me company.




While Leif was leading the Buryat Partnership this afternoon, Lisa and Martina came over and made a TON of really yummy food for our family for this next week. What a HUGE gift! Anna watched the kids and got Ella down for a nap- and even cleaned!- while they cooked and I slept (It was hard to sleep last night as my heart was racing from the magnesium). God is teaching me so much about His love. I see how valuable it is to reach out to people in tangible ways when they're in need. I'm so thankful for the family we have in Jesus!

Thankful for Help

On Tuesday, Leif had to take care of a lot of running around/document stuff and Renata and Nettie were so sweet to take the girls and Matty while Leif and the Brubachers did their necessary work. Renata emailed me these pictures later that day. I'm so thankful that the girls are having fun, even during this hard time.



Ella was SUCH a good girl and fell asleep right on Renata's bed for her nap time. I guess she seemed pretty delighted that the kitty was right there with her. She was in baby heaven.



Anneka always loves it when she can be with Matty. (take note of her skirt over the pants... Anneka has been picking out her own clothes and dressing herself. Sometimes the combinations are quite interesting).


Today more helpers will come over to watch the girls. We're so grateful!

Tomorrow I will have a doctor's appointment and will be able to get a whole gamete (sp?) of tests as well as an ultrasound to try and figure out what's causing the contractions and hopefully get them to stop. As always, we appreciate your prayers!

Bed rest

This past week has been scary, as I had contractions and other worrisome symptoms. Leif was gone in Mongolia at the time, and at one point my friends were packing my bag for the hospital and I was saying goodbye to my little girls... and didn't know when I'd see them again. Thankfully God took good care of me and provided many different friends to stay with me and the girls until Leif returned. He was able to get on a train that only goes every 2 weeks and return early. It's so nice to have him back!

For an undetermined time, I'm on bed rest. This can be hard to explain to little Ella, who wants her mama's attention frequently. Leif has been really good with the girls, though, and he is good at distracting them away from me.

There were so many things going through my mind as Renata, Martina, and Shawna (midwife) were taking me to the hospital. I'm only 26 weeks pregnant, and Shawna was told they don't try and save babies here that early. I kept going back to the fact that this little boy is God's and is in His loving hands. When things are scary or sad or confusing, there is this wonderful truth to hold onto.

And now that I'm home, there's so much to be thankful for! The contractions have stopped, God provided so many people to show His love and care for me, I'm not in the hospital and can rest at home, Leif was able to come home early, etc. I'm amazed at how many people have called or stopped by to pray for me or to offer help.

And now that I'm on bed rest, I want to use this time wisely. It sounds tempting to just watch movies all day (and maybe some day I will do this), but with little ones it's often hard to take time to really focus on God and His Word and to draw near to Him without a bazillion distractions. I want to use this time for these things... and to read to the girls and to pray and to sing praises to Jesus.

We appreciate your continued prayers for this little one inside of me. We pray that he'll arrive fully developed and at full term. Pray for Leif, too, as he now has even more on his plate. Pray that we'll all go through this time well, drawing nearer and nearer to God.

Learning More About the Culture We Live In

We've had a conference this past week to learn more about the Buryat culture and specifically about Buddhism and Shamanism. It's been very helpful, with good discussions in groups about what this means and how our western worldview is very different from many peoples' worldviews here. Most of the group went to a Buddhist temple on Saturday to interview a monk and to learn. One Buryat lady that has been attending our seminar is a Christian and wants to know how to share Jesus with her mother, who is a Shaman. We all want to learn how to share Christ in ways that are understandable.



While most of the group was at the temple, three of us stayed and helped make a traditional Buryat meal with a Buryat family (and several of their friends) for everyone. It was so fun to talk with these ladies and to hear their stories... and specifically to hear how God has brought them into a relationship with Himself. It was also very fun to learn how to make the food! In the picture above, the ladies are cutting up noodles to go into a soup of just meat and noodles (and salt). They added potatoes to ours, but traditionally there are no potatoes.



I've had posie (meat dumplings) many times, but I've never made them before. I was so proud to make my first posie! Everyone was so helpful and encouraging in teaching me and the others how to make them.



In this picture, I'm holding a posie and she is holding a vareniki- both noodles with meat inside, but different shapes and ways of eating them.




Posie is steamed in a big pot. When you eat it you take a bite out of the noodle and then slurp the meat juices out of the hole. Yum, yum!



We enjoyed eating together and hearing one lady's story of how God has drastically changed her life. She was filled with joy and peace and it was such a gift to hear from her. We're so thankful for these opportunities to learn and reminders of how God is at work, drawing people from all over to Himself.

More and More Russian

Anneka and Ella have been around Russian speakers a lot these past few weeks, and I can tell a difference in Anneka's comprehension. She also is getting braver at speaking words and phrases. These high school girls from our church babysat last week for a couple of hours and took these pictures with our camera. It was funny to find later. They're both really sweet.



... interesting pose...




I've also discovered that Anneka is a little naughty with Russian sitters, and I think she pretends to not understand in order to get away with stuff. When I talk with her about it she cries really hard from remorse. And she always has me ask them if she was obedient or not- to kind of tell on herself. Such an interesting little girl.

Guests

We've been living in our new place less than a week, and already we've been able to have several guests. It really makes it start to feel like "home"! We want to make the most of these weeks before going back to the States and have made a list of people in the neighborhood we want to reach out to and people we want to have over during this time. This past week I started teaching English to a lady from our neighborhood and her 8-year old son. Anneka joined us and learned Russian as they learned English. It's nice to have baby books around with simple pictures and basic words to begin with. We had a nice conversation and used lots of repetition!



Ella and Anneka are both my little helpers when we prepare for guests. Ella follows instructions really well- it's amazing how much she understands! She loves to throw things in the garbage for me or pick up items off the floor that I ask her to and take them to designated rooms. Here, she stirred up the garlic butter... but when I turned my head she stuck a big glob of the butter into her mouth. She smelled like garlic for hours afterwards. So, she's pretty good at following instructions, but there are a few kinks to work out. =)





Anneka likes being our photographer. I let her take this picture. I wanted my friend Ira to meet Kandid and Daniela before we leave for the States. We had good conversation and it was nice to all be together.



The kids ate at their own table and then ran off to play. They played together really well. I'm proud of Anneka for trying more and more Russian! I tried to tire Anneka out earlier in the day so that she would actually sleep during her rest time, as I knew the guests would be here past her bedtime. (she often gets pretty crazy when she's tired). But my plans backfired and she didn't sleep at all. Thankfully she was a good little hostess and friend to our little guests.

I love how much room the girls have in their bedroom and how much room in our apartment in general! It really makes it easy- and fun!- to have guests with kids! I still have more to put up on walls, handles to put on the dressers, etc.




And another picture from our little photographer. =) Vitya and Sveta came over for dinner last night. They live in our neighborhood, too. They have three kids and one of their girls is Anneka's age. Sveta and I talked about getting the girls together in the mornings sometimes. She's a great resource, too, for things to do in this community- how to get into the swimming pool, music lessons, etc. We really like this family. Vitya was so nice to help Leif get all of the rest of our furniture and stuff out of the apartment next door. This, of course made more dirt and mess... but once this last batch is clean and put away, we're officially DONE with moving and settling!


And one last picture from Anneka!

Anneka is Four!

This week we celebrated Anneka's fourth birthday! We had a nice relaxing day at home, which hasn't happened in awhile with moving among other things. Inka came over in the evening and we played a few games. I cut a hole in this box for a ball toss.



Anneka is VERY into her babies right now. She makes sure that someone is always watching them if she has to leave the room for any reason. She has a girl baby and a boy baby, but up until this week they were naked. Inka sewed them some lovely clothes, and Anneka loves them! Of course, Anneka likes a different combination of shirt with pants/skirt than Inka had planned, but I guess that just comes with being four- being really decisive. (The orange baby that Inka is holding already had clothes). =)



Anneka requested that Leif make her birthday cake, and she really wanted a strawberry cake. Leif took his responsibility seriously and made a really yummy cake. He tracked down some frozen strawberries and a strawberry jello packet.



A few weeks ago when my parents and the Brubachers were here, we had an early birthday party. Martina helped me to decorate this doll cake. When Anneka first saw it she asked to be alone with it for a few minutes because it was "so pretty". When I returned to the kitchen, a finger-sized chunk of frosting was missing!



Martina fixed Anneka's hair so pretty in a braid that crowned her head. Ella wore her floor-length princess dress.





We played musical chairs, pin the tail on the donkey and duck-duck-goose.



Happy Birthday, Anneka Dorothy! We love you so much! You are such a funny, energetic, generous, adventurous, loving girl. You bring us so much joy!

Settling In

The work in our apartment is officially done! This past week, we've started cleaning, hauling out trash, moving in furniture, unpacking, etc. Alan, Art, and Eric came and helped move the big things and assemble furniture.



Thankfully, through all of this, the girls have been able to stay away from the craziness. They've had several different babysitters this past week. It's all gone well, but we are all TIRED. Everything takes longer than it seems like it should. Along with this, we've been trying to change our registration to our new place, and Leif has made 4 trips already to the office and has to go again next week. Yesterday we went with the girls and Ella had a meltdown just about the time we made it into the office (after waiting an hour in the hallway).



Nettie came and helped unpack boxes on Wednesday. It was really nice to have her help and company. Vera watched the girls one morning and when I picked them up, Anneka exclaimed, "I ate LOTS of candy today!" When I told Vera what Anneka had said, she told me, "I kept telling her that it wasn't good to eat lots of candy, but she just kept eating it". So funny. So funny that she didn't just take it away from her. I suppose in weeks like this it's okay for a little girl to have pleasures like candy. =)