A Few Outreaches

 

     The holiday season extends longer into January here, as January 7th is when the Orthodox church celebrates Christmas.  This comes from the Julian calendar, while the west uses the newer Gregorian calendar.   Because of this, we got to be a part of a Christmas program geared toward reaching out to friends, family members, and neighbors of those in one of our sister churches.  They had heard about our play in December and asked us to be a part of this special outreach.  Ike fell asleep in Leif's arms right in the middle.  So sweet. (this season continues with the Old New Year at the end of January and Buryat New Year in February).

   There were a lot of people who came, and 40 of them were kids.  Each child got to take home a big bag of candy.

     It was nice because there was a meal in the middle of the program (which was 3 hours) to break it up nicely.  Our kids did really well with being patient (and hot in their costumes), and it was fun to mingle with different people that we don't often get to see.

    We pray that God used this play and other parts of this evening to draw people to himself!  It was fun to be a part of this.

     I also got to be a part of the English Club Christmas Party!  This is the first time I've been able to go with Leif to the club, and it was really fun.  Nettie graciously agreed to stay with our girls (and of course, they LOVED it!)  At this club, we played silly games, sang a couple of Christmas carols (and explained the meaning), had people act out the Christmas story, and then broke into groups for the lesson part.  During this time we teach grammar and study a Bible verse together and have time for discussion.  On this week, the advanced students (Leif's group) didn't come, so we sat in on other groups.  And then afterwards we decorated Christmas cookies.  I was thankful for this chance to be a part of the club "in person".  Exciting things have been happening through conversations in this club over the past few weeks!

     Ike (or Ella) hid our battery charger for our camera, so Leif was without the ability to take pictures when members from our church served at the local hospital.  I found this royalty-free picture and thought it looked just like a Russian hospital!  Often during the few days after the new year, hospitals are filled with people who almost froze outside or got into alcohol-related accidents.  Also, some of the staff is often drunk or unavailable.... so coming and volunteering is really shining light into darkness.   Leif along with others did everything from scrub floors to move furniture to talk with patients and workers about why they were there and to hand out the gospel of John and some copies of a local Christian newspaper.   One lady told Leif to leave his silly religion, leave his family and marry her daughter!  (a little strange)  People get bored in the hospital and really like visitors.  It seems like a lot of them were baffled that people would want to come and serve- without pay- during the holidays!

Anneka's New Year Program

     I was waiting to post this blog until we got Anneka's New Year's pictures back from school.  But I decided that I can just post that later.  As New Years is the biggest holiday in Russia, all of the preschools, kindergartens, and schools have special programs called yolkas.  The kids dress in special dresses and costumes and sing and dance.  Anneka's class practiced for weeks, even cutting out other subjects to go to music extra times each week.  I was SO thankful that Anneka's yolka wasn't on December 25th (as often this is the case).  The timing worked out perfectly into our little family's schedule.  Above is Leif with the three kids on the COLD walk to the yolka. 

 

     Our friend, Yulia, came over beforehand to fix Anneka's hair.   A few days before the yolka we were told that Anneka needed a fish costume.  Then we were told she just needed a green dress.  Then we were told any pretty dress would do.  We found out later that the music teacher felt that Anneka wasn't ready yet for the fish part, as the other girls had had extra afternoon practices (while Anneka wasn't at school).  This was devastating for Anneka- the first time she's been truly sad since starting preschool.  She came home in tears when she found out she wouldn't be a fish (and it turns out they looked like pretty mermaids).  The music teacher said that if Anneka can come to extra practices before Women's Day that she can have a special part in that program.  We'll have to see if that's realistic or not for our lives!

 

     

     It was hard to get good pictures with the dark room and all of the heads in front of us... and the swarm of kids!  But here, Anneka had a special part of a game where the kids balanced eggs on spoons.  She also did another game where she had to shovel a white ball (snow) around the room.  She did great, and she had a fun time, even though she didn't get to be a mermaid.  

     Ike got into the theme of the party and wore his new lion costume from Gramma Irene.  He wasn't so sure about Grandfather Frost, however.  (We think "he" was a "she")

     Grandfather Frost and his granddaughter, Snow Girl, are a part of every yolka.  Anneka thought Snow Girl was so pretty and wanted her picture with her afterwards.

     And we decided to get Ella and me in there, too.  It would be perfect if Leif were in it (he was taking the picture).

     And then on the way back, the girls looked like this.  They were tired and cold and crabby, and I was SO thankful for the sled so that we could just pull them along and kind of ignore the rantings. 

     When we got home, we were pleasantly greeted by Inka- this helped to take away the tears.  AND Anneka got a huge bag full of candy.  We have SO MUCH candy right now.  The kids got bags at our church play, and bags from the church play at the second church, and our neighbors brought a bag for each of them when they came for dinner.  CANDY EVERYWHERE!   We are rationing it.

     I had hoped the yolka would be a good place to connect with other parents.  But it was so crowded and hot and chaotic that it really wasn't.  I've had a few connections with one mom of a boy from Anneka's class.  (and we talked a little at the yolka when we had to take our babies into the hallway).  She has three kids, too!  And she talked to me first the first time we met when I was leaving the school after dropping Anneka off.  Pray for more opportunities to connect with those we are supposed to connect with!

Connecting and Having Fun!

    It's always nice during the holiday season to connect with people, as they are on vacation from work.  Most businesses shut down from January 1st through the 10th around here.  One day we went bowling with our friend, Ira, and her son.  I met her about a year and a half ago on the playground, and we've gotten to know each other better since.  She has to work A LOT (usually six days a week!), so it's special to get time with her.  Bowling has become the latest thing in Ulan Ude.  Several bowling alleys have been built recently.  The kids really liked it (it was all of their first time)!

S and A, showing off the balls that they chose!

     Ike loved slapping the bowling balls... we just had to make sure he wasn't too close to where they popped out.

     I love in this picture how Ella is flopped over the side.  She liked to "help" by pushing the balls if they went too slowly down the lane.

Ike was halfway down the lane before you could say the word "pins".  He's so busy and so FAST!

     We also had some neighbors from our building over for dinner this past week.  Their little boy had a great time at our place (he's normally very shy), and Ella took a special liking to him.

     We had some good conversations with these friends, but please pray that God will open doors to share more and more about Him!  Pray that they will have a hunger to know God and will see how much God loves them!

С Новым Годом!

     Happy New Year!  New Years is the biggest holiday by far in Russia.  We gave out some Christmas cookies to neighbors and a store worker for Christmas, and they weren't aware of what day Christmas fell on.  It's so interesting, as probably most everyone in North America knows it's December 25th!  Since everyone else celebrates New Years (and largely with family), we decided that we needed to celebrate, too!  However, with three small kids, we didn't want to go anywhere (Russians stay up ALL NIGHT.... the party BEGINS at midnight!)... so we invited the Jordans to come and spend the night at our place.  It was really fun.  We don't get to spend a whole lot of time with this family usually, and it was so great to have a ton of time to just have fun together!  We had fondue for dinner.  Alan said, "Fondue is fun to do".  "Yes it is, Alan, yes it is!"

Ike likes to feed people.  Here, he enjoyed feeding Eric.

     We went outside and lit sparklers and some small fireworks.  It was COLD (but fun)!  The kids were rolling around on the cold ground, so they were freezing.  We came in and warmed up with some hot cocoa.  Then we decorated some Christmas cookies.  We played a couple of games of Taboo and Beyond Balderdash and watched a short movie.

     Then at midnight, the fireworks started!  We had a GREAT view from our 7th story apartment which is on a hill that overlooks the city.  There were big fireworks as far as the eye could see, as well as big fireworks right in our courtyard.  (someone was even shooting them off of a balcony to the right of us).  We let Anneka stay up until 10:30, and then we could tell she was tired, so we put her to bed and promised to wake her up at midnight for the turn of the new year and the fireworks.  I have this picture to prove that she was awake because she doesn't remember a speck of it!  Her eyes were open, but she was still asleep!

     The Jordan boys are so sweet with our kids.  (Here they're playing hide-and-seek).  They all woke up and played nicely together the next morning.  Leif slept until after 8:00 and began making a great breakfast of pancakes and potatoes... and I got to sleep until 9:00!!!

     It was  relaxing day with the kids playing nicely and the guys playing Monopoly.  I got to skype with my parents and brother and talk with Juli.  We're blessed by having this family in our lives!  I had to post this picture of when Darin was getting ready to go.  I love how Ike is smiling and watching him from the couch.  =)

     I want to learn to play the guitar as my New Year's Resolution.  Leif said he'd teach me.  He taught me two chords so far.  I'm looking forward to learning more.  I think that this will be a good way for me to praise God and have an outlet, as I'm often home with the kids.  Both Leif and I have noticed what a difference music makes when it is in our home!

It's vacation time now (no school or work for most people), and we're on a later schedule.  This past week, Leif and I have stayed up past midnight each night drinking tons of raspberry black tea (with cream!) and playing a game called Lost Cities.  It's nice because the kids are sleeping in later now (8:00) that we don't have to wake Anneka for school.  It's dark in the mornings until after 9:00, so it's nice to get up a little later instead of at 6:30 and feel like it's the middle of the night forever.

Happy New Year!

A Relaxed Christmas At Home

     The girls woke up at about 6:30, very excited that it was Christmas!  The first thing they noticed was that baby Jesus was born (before that, the Mary in our nativity set was pregnant).  We told them that at 7:00 they could go and get Inka.  Anneka excitedly ran over there with Mary and Jesus in hand, and Ella awoke Ike with a kiss.  

     We all had fun opening stockings.  Ike got fun things like masking tape in his (along with toys, of course).  It was really special that my parents' Christmas package came the day before Christmas, and my Grandparents sent a little package for Inka that came the day before, too!  =)

Anneka and Leif, sporting some of their new treasures.

I had helpers when I opened my stocking.

Santa knew that Inka liked black licorice, and he went all the way to Thailand to get it!

     Then we enjoyed our traditional breakfast of Swedish pancakes.  Mmmmm!  Here, Ike is making the sign for "all done" (although he can actually say it now!)

A castle/tent was one of our family gifts.

     Anneka and Ella had been waiting all season to open this gift (really cool puppets!) that Erin sent us a couple of months ago.  She had tied little star-wands on the top that the girls simple adore!  They were also eager to open gifts from our friends, the Lacys.  It's so amazing how people thought of us and sent us presents!  

     The girls love dress-up costumes!  Gramma Irene sent them a horse and zebra costume and some dresses and tutus.

And Ike got a batman costume and a lion costume.

Then in the afternoon we relaxed and watched a movie.  

      The girls had made Inka a necklace and a bracelet and then later on, Anneka decided to make Inka a new pair of glasses and give her another packet of salsa seasoning mix.

And Ike decided he would do the dishes for us.

     We had fondue for dinner, lit candles on an apple pie to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, and lit the Christmas candle and sang some songs.  Anneka has been making up her own songs recently.  She had me write down one for her.  Here it is:

Jesus is our King,
Oh, He's such a nice guy.
He loves us and enjoys.
And if we ever faint,
from God our lovely Father we will sing and praise Him that He is our Father.
Jesus died for us on the cross.
Oh, just we are so happy that he died on the cross for us.
We love you, oh Jesus, yes you are our God.
The End.

I think on this particular night, her song begun with "love has a beard".  =)

It was nice to have a relaxed Christmas at home.  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve With Our Team

     We were blessed to have a team Christmas party on Christmas Eve.  While Christmas isn't celebrated in Russia by very many people, it is a major holiday for each of our teammates, which makes it a special time to celebrate together.  After snacking on yummy appetizers, we acted out the Christmas story.  Everyone did a great job, and it was very entertaining!

     Anneka's dream of being Mary came true, as no one else volunteered for this role.  Leif was Joseph, and here they're holding baby Jesus.

     There were lots of giggles as Ryan dramatically acted out his part of the angel Gabriel.

Here, the host of angels is visiting the shepherds.

   And the wise men followed the star to Bethlehem (very impressive the instant costumes and props people came up with!

All of the younger kids got a present.  They lined up in order of their birthdays.

Naomi helped Ike open his toy truck.

Ella loved her hippo!

     Then the adults and older kids had a gift exchange of food items ($3 or less).  It was fun to see what people came up with!

 In my opinion, I got the VERY BEST food item- a package of tortillas!!!

     At first Ella only wanted to be with Mama and wanted me to hold her.  But by the end, she was interacting with everyone and having lots of fun!

     Ike was overjoyed by all of the people who fed him food, as food is one of his favorite things in the world.  And he liked exploring in a new place.

     We had a time of singing Christmas carols by candelight in four different languages.  I love how we can come from different backgrounds and cultures but we're all united by our love of Christ and can celebrate this together!

     That night we continued our tradition of sleeping under the Christmas tree as a family.  What precious kids we have!

We always miss our family back home at Christmas time.  We are so grateful and amazed how God brings sweet blessings as we are away.  He's so good to us!