Bittersweet Hellos and Goodbyes

For the last three weeks, the Kerin family has been in Ulan-Ude, packing up their things to move to Ulan-Ude.  They were a part of our team since before we moved to Russia, and we have spent almost every holiday together and enjoyed their friendship.  It was so good to see them these weeks and spend time with them, and so sad to see them go.... and yet we know God has great things ahead for them in Ukraine, too.  Bittersweet.  We've tried to help them in any way we could- making meals, helping them pack, watching kids, etc.  On this fun evening (pictured above), some of us ladies met downtown for a spontaneous dinner and walk by the fountain.  There is a much funnier picture of when I ripped my pants open, but for obvious reasons I chose not to post that one.  =)

Here's the group of us!

A few days ago, we celebrated Michael's 4th birthday at an indoor playplace and rollerblading rink.  There were SOOO many kids that came!!  Here, Anneka was LOVING blading with Naomi and Andrew!

The guys helped pack most of the Kerins' belongings into two big containers that should be delivered to them in Ukraine in 3 weeks.  

There will be a hole here in Ulan-Ude without these sweet friends!  Through the lives of Gardner, Rebecca, and their kids, many people have come to know Christ and are living with hope that they didn't have before.  The Kerin's introduced us to a family that lives in our neighborhood.  We went to their place for dinner this week and had a lovely time.  They are very warm and kind and open to talking about spiritual things.  We're excited about getting to know them more.

We will miss you, Gardner, Rebecca, Andrew, Katie, Matthew, Michael, and little Joy!!!

Sally The Hamster

Picture courtesy of Anneka Gustafson

     We got the girls a hamster for Ella's birthday, as they've been really wanting a pet.  A dog, unfortunately is out of the question, as we live in a small apartment on the seventh floor.  Taking the dog out a few times a day in the winter sounds just plain awful.  And Leif and I are both allergic to cats.  So, a hamster it is!  We all went to the pet store to choose the hamster together.  Immediately, Anneka said, "Please, please, PLEASE can we name her Lacy?  I've always wanted a pet named Lacy".  When Leif and I both said that we'd have to talk about it as a family first, Anneka was near tears, she wanted the name to be Lacy so badly.  

     After we talked about it together, we decided that, yes, our hamster could be named Lacy.  But just 30 minutes later, Anneka asked, "What's our hamster's name again?  Insy?  Sally?"  She couldn't remember!  Both Leif and I liked Sally, so we just started calling her Sally, and Anneka hasn't known the difference.

     So far we only take Sally out to clean her cage, which is once every two weeks.  Sally has already been dropped on the tile floor and squished...and her cage has been dropped a few times, too (unsupervised toddler guests)... so we have to protect her!  Today Leif and I came home after a short date out, and Anneka had convinced the babysitter to feed the hamster bologna, cheese, and a piece of plum.  Hopefully she'll be okay!

Getting Pulled Over

     Someone stole our license plate recently, so we had to get a new one.  We had it propped up on the dash when we went to Baikal, but we still got pulled over.  We get pulled over a lot more in Russia than in America.  I haven't gotten pulled over yet while I was driving, and I'm SO GLAD!  Thankfully we haven't gotten any tickets yet.

In America, you have to stay in the car if you get pulled over, but in Russia, you have to get out of the car.

Doesn't Leif look happy in this picture?  I don't know that I would be smiling if it were me!

Masha's Bridal Shower

Masha is getting married in two days!  Last week, I hosted a bridal shower with all of the ladies from our church for her.  Katia and Yulia planned the games and everyone contributed yummy foods to go with tea.    I was so happy with the turnout (I forgot to count, but I think there were over 20 people who came), and I know that Masha felt encouraged!

When these ladies (pictured above) first came, Anneka said that she didn't want the old ladies to be here... definitely a time that I was very happy they didn't understand English!  But within minutes, she was laughing with them and acting like they were her best friends. 

Ike liked the attention from all of the ladies, too... both young and old.  Three of the teenage girls from our church came early and helped me out by holding Ike and making a cake.

Masha invited a few of her friends from outside of the church, too.  Ella really liked Tuyana and sat on her lap right away (usually she is shy with new people, so I was surprised by this).   After awhile, Anneka sat on Tuyana's other knee.  I think she really liked that the girls wanted to snuggle up with her!  =)

We each wrote a story about a memory we had with Masha and then she had to guess who wrote what.  Then she opened that person's present.  I had my friend, Lena, write mine for me the day before so that my bad Russian penmanship wouldn't be a giveaway.  =)  Inka also shared a message about Deborah from the Bible and we took time to pray for Masha together.

It's really cool because one of Masha's friends told her several times after the evening that it was such a nice party and she could tell that Masha was so loved by all of us in the church.  She used to wonder why Masha went to church and implied that it was a sect and that they just wanted to take from Masha, but after the shower she saw how much we really love her and are her real friends.  She was so happy that Masha has us in her lives.  I'm so glad that her friend had such a good time and verbalized these things to Masha!

Tomorrow I'm going to make a few pizzas for Masha's wedding on Saturday... for the bridal party to snack on between the official signing of the marriage certificate and the evening banquet (during pictures).  It's funny because just this week I was thinking that I know I've lived in Russia a long time when it doesn't matter to me if I have tomato paste in the cupboard or not to make sauce.  This week I just used ketchup and mayo.  Another time I used some sour cream and spices.  Anything goes!  But for Masha, I'll make sure it's good.  =)

Thai Guys

     A couple of guys who live in Thailand visited us last week and brought us new translated copies of a great book about sharing Christ with people in this area.... in Russian!  It's so exciting to see the copies in print after the long process of getting it to this point.  Our teammate, Shannon (who passed away), started the project, and then it was passed on to Leif and then Melly... and now it's a real live book!

     When the guys first got here they called us from the train station at 11:30pm.  We didn't know they were coming then, and our place was a wreck!  (Martina and I had watched some of the Kerin's kids that day to help them out with moving, so we'd had 7 kids here to make big messes).  Leif and I ran around trying to gather sheets and blankets and pillows.  We couldn't even do dishes because there was no water (hot or cold)!  But it all worked out, and they didn't care about the mess.

     We all went to Lake Baikal together last weekend, and they enjoyed experiencing Russian culture and relaxing after coming off of a busy time of working in Thailand.  In the picture above, they were watching as some of us played ping pong.  =)  We were glad to have had this time to meet them!

A Little Post Script To The Milk Blog

Okay, so I said I was too chicken to buy milk from the side of the road.  Well... yesterday we drove by this (pictured above) and my friend, Ira, who was with us asked us to stop because she wanted to buy some milk.  

They knocked on the gate, and this lady came out and made them wait a few minutes (to go and milk the cow?) and came back with two bottles of milk.  Ira had gotten one for us, too!  (she had no idea I had recently written a blog on the subject).  How could we not drink it?  I'm happy to say that it's very delicious and that we aren't sick!!

Independence Day

We've done so much these last weeks that I'm way behind!!  And I haven't taken pictures of everything.  We spent a few days around July 4th in Zaigraeovo.  Even though Inka is German, she celebrated Independence Day with us!  We went on a nice walk (Anneka got to hold the dog), and we found watermelon!!  Leif made hamburgers for dinner and it almost felt like America...  =)

Ella, making her mama laugh!

Anneka wanted a parade, so on the day our team came out for a meeting, she rallied people for her cause.  Notice how dirty she is!!

One day, Leif took a train to a city farther away to meet with the head Russian leader of the region.  The girls helped Inka wash her car.  Ike and I happily watched.  =)

The Happy Milkman

My happy milkman

I feel like milk is a big part of our lives here.  Here are a few reasons why:

* We have a nursing baby = several feedings a day and even in the night
* Our family drinks about 3/4 gallon of milk a day.  Milk comes in 1 liter boxes, so this means we go through 3 boxes a day.
* We are always getting evaporated milk as a free present at our store when we buy a certain amount in groceries.... our cupboard is full of these cans
* When Ella turned 2 we took her bottle away, and now she is more emotional and spills milk all over.

The name of this brand of milk above is translated as the happy milkman.  I love this brand- I like to think of a happy milkman.  I call Ike our vecyoli molochnik (happy milkman) and it makes us all smile.  I feel strange asking for several boxes of milk at a time from our little store.  But to get through 2 days we need at least six boxes.  Once I had someone ask me if I was buying a cow.  But most of the lady sellers in our neighborhood are very supportive of our milk-buying and say it's very healthy.  I go to these ladies for the majority of our milk purchases.

The thing I like about Russian milk is that it doesn't need to be refrigerated until the box is opened.  So you can store it in the cupboard.  The thing I don't like about it is that it tastes funny.  (of course, people who grew up here probably think that American milk tastes funny, too).

At first when we got cans of evaporated milk as gifts from the store, I thought "what am I going to do with these?"... and also " how am I going to carry any more weight than these four bags plus the baby home?"  But then one day when we ran out of milk, I looked online and discovered that I can rehydrate the evaporated milk and we can DRINK it!!  So now it's our "emergency milk" for when we run out of the regular kind and one of the kids is sleeping and I just can't make it to the store.

And one more thing on milk boxes...  I've seen several Russian families use a milk box as their "garbage can" in the kitchen.  They cut it in half and put their food scraps and used napkins, etc in there.  Our kitchen garbage can is as tall as Ella and we empty it every couple of days.  I'm always baffled by the huge difference of waste.  Milk boxes also make great starter pots for tomatoes, herbs, flowers, and other vegetables.

You can buy milk on the street sometimes from people who sell it out of the trunks of their cars.  So far I have not been so brave.  But I'm always surprising myself!

Our Jibber-Jabberer

Ella talks a lot with real words and says a lot of 2 and 3 (and more) word sentences.  But when she's "on the phone" she likes to jabber.  We love it.  We took this clip last week when we were visiting Inka in Zaigraevo.

Fresh From The Garden

Leif's friend, Grisha, who he first met 12 years ago, invited us over last Sunday. His wife made us a feast and a really yummy dessert that I can't wait to try. It was fun to spend time with them. They have a little guy who is Ella's age. They live in their own private home, and the kids loved driving around in this little jeep. There was a whole huge room on the main floor with just toys... no furniture... so there was lots of space for the kids to play. A lot of private homes here don't have running water, but Grisha's family has a well.

They have a cat and a dog- a focal point for our girls, that's for sure! As you can see here, Anneka even got to ride their (HUGE) dog.

In my opinion the best part of having your own home is having a yard for the kids to play in. The girls loved playing in the dirt and water!

Anneka was thrilled to eat vegetables from the garden. And by saying "thrilled", I'm not at all exaggerating. She ate four cucumers and a few radishes and kept saying, "I love these vegetables fresh from the garden!".

picking radishes

and of course, Ike loves the fresh air and quickly falls asleep outside. Every day they fill up the big tank behind me with water and then they can put a hose inside and water everything.

We hope to spend more time with this great family!

Little Ella is 2!!

Our little Ella is two! And what a birthday she had! The evening before her special day, we went to the circus with the Brubachers. The kids loved seeing the animals (bears, monkeys, dogs) do tricks and the acrobats and trapeze artists swing. And they perhaps loved jumping in the jumping castle out front the very best! I have no idea where our circus pictures are. It's a big mystery. So maybe someday they will turn up and you'll see them!



Then on Ella's special morning, Leif made waffles and we went for a walk to the pet store where we bought a hamster!! (more on this in another post) Both girls were elated.



In the afternoon, we went on a picnic at the river, again with the Brubachers. It was a HOT day, and we pulled out the kiddie pool. Ella liked being in the van. The kids pretended they were on a safari and there was a driver and then others acted out different animals out the window. They were pretty cute. Ella liked being the driver best.





What a great day for a picnic! (roasted hot dogs and shashleek)





And a two-year-old's birthday would never be complete without digging in dirt!!



Ella's ladybug cake turned out to be quite yummy. The wind kept blowing out the flames before Ella had a chance to blow the candles out.





We tucked the girls into bed and Masha came home with a beautiful cake (Ella is holding it) and this adorable dress. We got the girls out of bed to come and see Masha and these nice gifts, and Ella was happy to put the dress on over her jammies. Masha is staying with us for a couple of months and both girls love her! Happy Birthday, sweet Ella! You are such a funny, sweet, smart, independent, kissable girl!! You bring so much joy and richness to our lives. We love you!!

Working Hard

I feel like these past few weeks have been a whirlwind! I've had these pictures uploaded onto the computer for over a week now, and there is so much progress at the church, that now they're outdated! I'll post them anyways. =) Right now there's a team of 6 men from Forward Church in Canada who are helping to add on to our church. Everyone in the church has been pitching in in some way to help. It's been exciting to see... and there's amazing progress! (Pictured above is Leif sawing out an old window while the girls yell out his name.)



In this picture, the men are putting a floor/ceiling over the new basement to start a new room that will be real flush-toilet bathrooms and a kitchen! One of the Russian brothers said that he thought people would still want to use the outhouse, but most everyone else disagreed! (especially in the winter!)



This lady's husband had been drinking a lot, and life was hard. He started coming to our church a few months ago and helping the men with the construction and the change has been dramatic. His wife was so amazed that she's been coming to help with the construction project and started coming to church, too. A couple of weeks ago, her husband gave his life to Christ. She is asking good questions, too, about God. We're looking forward to knowing them more and more!



Adam from the Canadian team got this nail stuck all the way into his arm. He's okay!



The kids and I took a morning snack to the workers one day.



Yesterday we stopped by and they have done so much!! I'll have to get pictures soon.

самый лучший папа

While I was out shopping last week, I saw a t-shirt for sale that said "самый лучший папа", meaning "very best Dad", and I knew Leif had to have it for Father's Day! Anneka, Ella, Ike, and I are so blessed to have Leif in our lives!



A team of 6 men from Canada flew in on Sunday (Father's Day) and had breakfast and showers at our place in the morning (because we currently have hot water), and then Leif gave the main talk at church and had a meeting after church. But in the evening, we have a nice time of building fun creations together with straws and connectors.



And the girls even gave Leif a massage!



Ike strolled around in his walker. He likes to get where he wants to go but gets frustrated when he can't get there fast enough. It's amazing how quickly he is growing and developing!

Both Leif and I are so blessed to have самые лучшие папы (very best dads) ourselves. Happy Father's Day!

I'm very behind on blogging. The days race by so fast, and I feel like by the time I sit down at the end of the day, my brain is already fuzzy and ready to sleep. Here are some pictures from lunch at my friend, Ira's house a couple of weeks ago. Daniela, my Swiss friend, was also there with her two daughters. Her youngest is just three months older than Ella. Ella quickly picked up on Swiss-German because I walked into the room where Ella and Elianne were playing, and Ella was shaking her finger at her friend, saying, "nein-nein-nein" (no-no-no). I've also heard Ella telling people no in various forms in Russian. She's got that one down. Ira's son is just 6 months older than Anneka, and they get along well.



Ira and her mother are so hospitable and welcoming. I'm hoping we can make a little weekend trip to Lake Baikal together in July!

Grocery Shopping

I took the kids with me to the grocery store last week. We walked there (and of course stopped to play on the playground), and it took 3 hours! Today Lira (a really nice teenage girl from our church) stayed with the girls at the playground, and I took just Ike with me to the store. I'd planned on getting him to sleep in the stroller and leaving him with Lira, but he didn't follow my plan. Of course, he fell asleep after we were about a block away from the girls! I like going to this store because they have edible meat and you can pick things up off of the shelves instead of asking for them behind the counter. I usually make a big trip to the bigger store each week and then go to grocery kiosks/stands nearer to our apartment (still quite the excursion with three!) on other days. I felt pretty silly pushing a stroller AND a cart around the store. As I was leaving, the lady who worked at the bag check told me I could leave the baby with her next time. =) Actually, she worded it more like this, "Why didn't you leave the baby with me? Next time leave him with me!" I had Anneka take a picture of me with all of the food I carried home, but it unfortunately didn't turn out. It was an impressive pile. I'll try to get a good picture next time. Then I dropped off the food and Ike and Lira stayed with Ike and Ella while Anneka and I went to another store. It's actually a building full of a lot of little stores/stands. So you have to ask for what you want behind the counter, but there is a big selection of all sorts of things from pig fat (pictured above) to pets to food to fabric and toys. I did something I've never done before. I bought a cake for Ella's birthday tomorrow. It's a ladybug cake and she loves ladybugs. And Anneka liked it. We'll see how it tastes tomorrow! Anneka loves to be mama's helper. Yesterday she helped me clean the office. After she was done with each task I gave her (dusting, wiping down tiles, scrubbing corners on the floor), she would exclaim, "They'll say it's a STAR!". I love how she wants to hold my hand when we're out walking. Today she said she'd watch Ike while I put Ella down for her nap (it takes about 5 minutes because I read her a short book). Anneka made a little sign with a picture of a crying baby on it in the shape of an arrow. She told me that if Ike cried she'd put the arrow on the floor in front of the room Ella was in. Sure enough, the last 30 seconds or so I heard Ike crying and when I came out of the room, there was the sign on the floor, pointing the way to Ike. She's so creative! A couple of weeks ago she made this outfit for Ike because "he's the king". We did get a picture of the food that Anneka and I carried home. It's about 1/3 of what I got at the other store. Hopefully we'll be stocked up for awhile now!! This morning Leif had an area counsel meeting and then he worked on his talk for Sunday and now I just got a text from him from the immigration office saying that he's DONE turning in Ella's paperwork for her residency here!! Hooray. We are celebrating! =)