Conference In Thailand

  Whenever our long winter can be broken up, even just a little, it lifts our spirits soooo much!  We had the privilege of going to our SEND Russia conference in Thailand this year.  It was so nice to have time with people from our team, leadership from America, and to get to know others serving in Russia more closely.

 

     It's also a breath of fresh air when we can hear good teaching in English and sing praise songs in our heart language.  It was also very encouraging to hear reports of what God is doing- not only in Russia, but all around the world!

 

 

 

     One very special gift is that Leif's mom, Irene, came to the conference to help with the children's program.  The kids loved being with her (and not just our kids!), and it was fun for her to see us in a beautiful place, enjoying flowers and interesting animals together.



 

      The kids program far exceeded any of our hopes or expectations!  They had a whole super-organized and fun program on what it means to stand strong for God.  The teachers had costumes and acted out Bible stories and the room was made into a castle.  Here, the kids were building a wall.  They still talk about the time and the lessons they learned.  It's so special when third culture kids can have these times with other kids just like themselves.  They really bond.

 





    Anneka and Lina were inseparable the entire week!  Their common language is Russian, so at any given moment you could hear little girls chattering away in Russian.

 



     It was really special to have Anna Blaker come and help with the kids program.  She lived in Ulan Ude with her family a couple of years ago and is now grown up and living in the States.  Ella and Anya also just love to be together.  They call each other "My Ella" and "My Anya". 

     The kids got to act some things out, too!

 

 

     The place where we stayed is a service for missionaries and Christian workers.  It was a lovely property.  In the afternoons we had time to talk with others and play fun games like this one where you throw blocks of wood.

... and we spend a lot of time swimming!

 

 

I just love these snuggly guys!

 

 

     Kelsey (in the middle) is 16 and joined her mom at the conference.  Her mom is in charge of caring for SEND Eurasia missionaries and led a very special time for the women.  Kelsey also worked with the kids, and these two girls just LOVED her.  They would sneak up to her window in the mornings and follow her around.  She was very sweet about it, too!

 

 

     On two of the nights, they set up vans for anyone who wanted to go to the market.  On the first night, Irene stayed with the kids, and Leif and I enjoyed a date together.  We went to this place where hundreds of little fish bite off little bits of your feet and legs.  It was so crazy!  I can't believe we did it and actually sat there with our feet in the water for 15 minutes!  They eat off dead skin and calluses, so our feet were soft and smooth afterwards.



 

     The other market night, I went out with Irene while Leif stayed back with the kids.  We had a nice dinner with John and Sharon and did some Christmas shopping.  It was very fun to have this time together!

 



 

 

     The flight back is 6.5 hours, from Bangkok to Irkutsk.  The kids did great.  It's really nice not having to change time zones too much.  We don't have to deal with the jet lag like when traveling to Moscow.

 

     We waited in the middle of the night at the train station, before our final leg of the trip back home (an 8-hour train ride).  The kids were playing some sort of game, and the security guard came to watch.  We all slept almost the entire train ride!

 

      After the conference, we also had a week of family vacation time with Irene.  I'll tell about that in a blog post soon!

Grancy

It has been a tough stretch for us as far as having to grieve the loss of people we love.  A few days after Jami's grandpa Charlie died, a good family friend Cheri died (I will probably blog about this later), and then two weeks to the day after Jami's grandpa passed away, my grandma "Grancy" also came to the end of her days here with us.  She was very special to us, and we will miss our visits to her, her straight forward talk, and the cards that she would send for holidays or just to keep us informed.  She had really been waiting for this day for quite some time.  It was very hard on her when her husband, my Gramps, died now about 15 years ago and her soul left her body on what would have been their 72nd wedding anniversary.  We are thankful that she got to meet each of our three kids, but are a little sad that they will have little or no real memories of her.  I talked to my dad and he shared that the end went as well as he could imagine.  He and two of his three brothers were able to be there with her and hold her hand as they shared stories and memories before she passed on into eternity.  Their other brother is already there now as they will spend time remembering their mom together.  Dad had high praise for the care at the hospice house where Grancy spent her waning hours.  I have always heard good things and have such respect for people who spend their lives caring for those who are imminently facing death.  They were great for the family and helped the last hours go by well.  Deaths like this usually hit us twice.  Once when we hear the news, and then again when we travel back to the States and our loved one isn't there waiting for us.  We love our Grancy and are so thankful for the love that she showed up.  We will miss her.

The one memory that may stick with our kids, at least Anneka, is getting to ride on Grancy's walker.  I think sometimes it was tough to tell who was happiest about this, Grancy or the girls :).

We love our six year old!!

I had been planning on posting this blog the day I flew back to be with family.  Better late than never!....

      "Will you be sad tomorrow that you can't hug your five year old anymore?", Anneka asked me the night before her birthday.  "Nah," I said, "because I'll still be hugging my Anneka Dorothy, and I'll love hugging you at six!"  My mom always told me that she enjoyed me at every age, and I think that's helped me to not feel sad about my own kids growing.  It's really rewarding to see them grow and develop.  And I have to say that in this last year, it's been really great to see Anneka mature and blossom.

     For her birthday breakfast, Anneka wanted everyone to have their own puffed pancake.  Puffed pancakes are what we eat every morning before school, but usually it just takes 3 to feed the family.  =)

     It was special to have gifts from my parents and grandparents to open on her actual birthday.  Anneka wanted her hair fixed like a fairy named Fawn and then she wore her new fawn dress from her great grandparents.  So fun.  For dinner we let her choose whatever she wanted.  She chose walnuts in the shell, avacodos (hard to find here), pelmeni (kind of like dumplings) and these fish.  We all ate the fish to be polite, but were musing at her choice of foods!

     We wanted to emphasize relationships that Anneka has (through the team, church, and school from last year) instead of focusing on her classmates from this year that she'll less likely continue knowing. We also knew that it would be a great chance to connect with some parents that we don't really know and hope to begin a relationship with them.  We realized that she has a lot of friends and didn't even invite everyone  (as our space is limited).  Anneka took special care in picking out little gifts (notebooks and pens) for her friends and writing their names on them..

     When we first asked Anneka what she would like for the menu for her party, she said "soup" (probably thinking of her Russian friends).  This was laughable, as she doesn't herself really like soup.  We decided on pizzas and also veggies and dip and fruit/dessert pizza (pictured above).

     Anneka really wanted a clown to come to her party.  I asked around and got a phone number for this lady.  I didn't actually know if she was a clown or not until she showed up.  She led with lots of trivia questions and comparison games.  It was a little touch-and-go there for awhile, but she ended with games that everyone liked.  In this game, Leif got to dress like a famous Russian cartoon character.  

   

     We go to swimming lessons with this boy and his mom on Saturdays.  It was fun to see him get into the songs and games at the party.

These are Anneka's new friends from church.  

... and a friend from school.  Anneka's two school friends stayed after the party, and they all had a marvelous time jumping off of the bed and giggling.

Even Ike got into the games towards the end!

This picture is blurry, but I like it because it shows Anneka's pure joy!

     I had planned on ordering a cake, and we found a place where Anneka could choose what she wanted.  Unfortunately, the one she wanted (a Barbie cake) they couldn't make.  So I made her one.  I set it on our covered balcony to keep it refrigerated, but the sun shone into the windows and acted like a greenhouse.  All of the frosting began sliding down!  Thankfully I caught it before it all turned to liquid, and I just made a point not to point out that Barbies dress became strapless.  Anneka loved it.

      Happy Birthday, sweet Anneka!  Your name means gracious gift of God, and that is what you are. We look forward to another wonderful year together!

To God Be The Glory!

     On October 25th, my beloved Grandpa, Charlie Parsons, went to sleep and woke up in heaven.  My wonderful husband was so supportive to send me out on a plane the very day we heard the news so that I could come and be with family during this time.  I  brought little Ike with me, and his presence has brought joy during a time of sorrow.  I feel so blessed to be here during this very special time.

     My Grandpa told us before he died that he wanted his memorial service to be focused on Jesus and not on himself.  The song "My Tribute" (To God be the glory) was played, and this has been the theme of these entire two weeks.  God has blown us away by His goodness.  My grandpa lived his life well.  He would always quote Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all of your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths".  And he lived this verse out.  Jesus touched many people through the life of my grandpa.  Hundreds of people came to his service, and some people made decisions to trust God with their lives on that special day.

These are just a few of the things that I'll treasure from this time:
*sweet times with my grandma and staying a few nights with her, talking and praying
*seeing Ike and my parents interacting and just loving one another
* having the privilege of helping with  things that needed to be done for the memorial service (writing the eulogy and helping to put together a picture board).
* hearing stories of how God changed people's lives as my Grandpa was faithful to share with them
* hearing fun stories about my Grandpa
* time with extended family
* seeing healing in relationships
* marveling at how God  perfectly times things- even Grandpa's death- to bring maximum glory to Himself.

This week I ran some groceries up to my Grandma's room in her Senior Living apartment.  The lady who helps clean once a week was in there, crying.  She just couldn't believe that my Grandpa was gone.  She motioned to all of the cards displayed (already there are well over 100!) and she sobbed as she said, "I've never seen so many cards!  He deserves it.  He was so good.  I am so sad".  She said that my grandparents were like parents to her.  It was amazing to me that this lady, who only knew my grandpa for 4 months (and mostly in passing) was so touched by him and my grandma.  But then I realized that when we live allowing God's spirit to flow through us, God produces much fruit!  And everyone who trusts in Jesus has full access to His Spirit!  What a gift to have my Grandpa as an example of someone who lived out of the love and power of God's spirit.  I pray that my life, too, will bring God such glory!  I fly back to Russia this morning with my busy little guy.  I'm so excited to see and hug Leif, Anneka, and Ella again!    I'll close with a few pictures from this time here in the States:

And a picture that my family sent to me.  I think Leif and the girls got along just fine!...

Very Full Weeks

     Our past weeks have been very full and yet as I have a moment to type this afternoon, I'm having a hard time remembering everything.  I'll let the few pictures we have taken stir my memory a bit...

     A couple of weeks ago I got a call from a lady I met at the market this summer.  We've become friends over the months, and she was stuck in the village, doing whatever you do with dozens of pigs while her mom was stuck in the city with her two small children and no money or food.  The hired hands that were supposed to help with the pigs got drunk and ditched them.  And the pigs had gotten out through a hole in the fence and were attacked my some hunters' dogs.  All to say, my friend was needed in the village, but her mom needed help, too!  I was so happy to have the chance to bring her family groceries a couple of times and get to know her mom better.  They were so grateful and gave me this chunk of meat that was in their freezer.  (I'm so glad I have a crockpot... I just threw it in there with some spices and it came out really yummy!)  When my friend found out that I'd gone there by bus (about an hour ride) with little Ike, she said that we'd shown them more love than relatives would have shown.  I praise God for this, and hope that they continue to see how much God loves them!

     We've had lots and lots of guests over the past few weeks.  And most times I totally didn't get out my camera!  This time we helped feed people who helped the Blakers move.  This week we had our team over to plan out our goals for this next year.  Once a year we have this kind of long meeting.  It takes a lot of time, but it's really good and important stuff.  And it's also encouraging to thank God for all that He's done over the past year!

     Another time, we hosted a baby shower for Natasha.  It was a good turnout and many people gave of their talents and time to make the shower extra special for Natasha.  I think she felt very loved.  In this picture, two teams were in competition to make diapers out of toilet paper.  The kids laughed, as this was a funny sight to see a diaper on a babushka!

    Isn't this little guy so sweet?!  His parents are a part of our home group.  This last week we had two new people come... and one was my friend who gave us the meat.  We gave her a Bible, and I'm praying that God will use His words to really speak to her heart.  Another lady wants to invite one of her friends who doesn't know much about Christianity to come.  We're going through the book of Mark, so it's a perfect study to introduce the Bible and Christianity to people.

     Last week at English club a couple of new people came.  And two of my friends that I've met outside have expressed interest in coming.  A lady called Leif just last night who is interested in coming with her college-aged son.  Pray for this club, as it truly is way that we're sharing God's good news.

     So far it's been going well with being in charge of the little ones at church.  The lessons are so simple and organized that I don't have to do a lot of prep work.  I've found that if I capitalize on their short attention spans at the very beginning and then stuff them full of snacks that they stay quite happy!

     And now I've run out of pictures, so my brain is not working to remember anything else.  We know that the nature of our lives here is to have really busy times and then not as busy times.  Right now is a busy time.  We are thankful for all that God is doing and trusting Him for a little reprieve soon, too!

Happy Harvest Day

     We enjoyed celebrating Zhatva or Harvest Day with our church family a couple of weeks ago.  One very special part of the day was Vlad and Masha dedicating their baby to the Lord.  We are thankful to be a part of this family's life and are excited for them as they seek the Lord with their family.  We are starting up a home group with this couple with the hopes of reaching out to unbelievers.

We had a meal after the service, where everyone brought dishes from the harvest.

   

     Ella played with her little friends.  Galina made this hat for Ella and a matching one for Anneka.  They're so cute and were a labor of love!   Leif and I are now in charge of the little ones (ages 2-4) during children's church.  They're busy, busy, busy!

     It was so cute- on the morning before our Harvest service (at home), Ike seemed really tired.  I told him, "When we get to church, you can sit on Inka's lap and go to sleep".  When we got there, I had to run home really fast to get some songbooks.  When I returned just a few minutes later, Ike had already made his way to Inka and was totally out!  He stayed that way for 2 hours.  This last Sunday he seemed tired, too, so we told him we could sleep on Leif.  But no luck!  He needed Inka.  =)

     Vera brought sunflowers to give to the kids.  They took the seeds out and ate them.  Anneka was very excited about this.  She and Leif are the squirrels of our family.  They often have sunflower seeds or pinenuts in their pockets.  I like them both, but to me they're a lot of work for a small reward.

And Leif got the privelege of feeding Ike watermelon!  Messy, messy, but oh, so good!

     There's a new family that's been coming to our church for the past few months.  They came to the last member's meeting and people asked them what made them decide to stay at our church.  They said a big reason was that their girls had made friends with our girls.  This was encouraging to us.  We like this family and look forward to getting to know them more!

We love the way he says "Ella".

Our Green Pumpkin

     As we live in Russia, it's fun to keep some American traditions.  One that our family has done each year is carve a pumpkin.  Last weekend, Anneka had a homework assignment of making a creation out of a vegetable.  Also, she's been asking for awhile now if we can roast pumpkin seeds so that she can take them out on the playground and share them with her friends.  So it was a perfect weekend to find a pumpkin and have some fun family time together!

     There was only one pumpkin at the outdoor market (where the grandmas sit and sell vegetables from their gardens).  It's not the traditional orange, but we bought it immediately!  Since this was for Anneka's school assignment, we let her choose the face and draw it on the pumpkin.  Leif asked me if I thought it was too scary, and I was like, "no, it's fine".  But I totally wasn't thinking about the fact that it was going to school.  And that it really is CREEPY and people here don't have Halloween as a holiday!  For whatever reason, I just though Leif was asking if it was too scary for Ella and Ike.  

     When we took it to school on Monday, the teacher gasped!  It was then that I realized what a strange/creepy thing this really. is.  I explained about the tradition, and I actually think she really liked it.  The kids all gathered around and oohed and ahhed for 4 minutes.  

     Here are some of the creations that were on display from Anneka's class.  Sorry the picture quality isn't so great.  As you'll notice, the jack-o-lantern is hidden in the back.  Whew!  Next year, we'll think this through a little more!

Acts of Kindness

     On the same day we finished up Ike's medical tests to apply for his residency (that makes 21 trips to different doctors in less than one month!), we got this huge package from a family in Germany that we've never even met!!!  It was such a lovely surprise, and oh-so-fun to open!  I just love how God knows just when we need encouragement and how He lavishes us.  

   
      The package was full of all sorts of fun things- clothes (here, Anneka and I are sporting our new shirts), fun German candy, games, peanut butter, marshmallows, baking powder, fast rising yeast, a soft blanket, scarves and gloves, ETC!

     The family that sent us the package are friends of Inka's.  It was perfect because Inka was at the dentist (in our neighborhood) the day the package came.  She popped on over afterwards to be with us while we  opened it.  It truly is amazing how God provides for much more than what we need.  He loves to remind us how much He loves us and He often does this through beautiful people!

     Another act of kindness was the other day when Ike and Anneka and I were out running errands.  (Ella was with Leif as he helped some friends get firewood).   Anneka wanted to stop into a second-hand store and say hello to the lady working there.  We had just planned on saying "hi" and going, but there was a bin of hats for 50% off and Anneka found one she liked that was a good price.  The lady didn't have change for my 500 ruble bill, so she told me to just give her the small change that I had and that would be good.  I was about 10 rubles short (about 30 cents) and she told us that was good enough.  On our way home, however, I had change again and asked Anneka run in to give the lady the 10 rubles. (I stayed out with a sleeping Ike in the stroller).  The lady wouldn't take the money from Anneka and told her to go and buy ice cream with it.  As you can imagine, Anneka was soooo happy!

     And another day I went to pick up the results from Ike's HIV test (it's required for applying for residency).  I had gone a little out of the way to give someone a ride and then there was a traffic jam... so I arrived there about 15 minutes after closing.  The guard at the door told me "sorry, come back Monday".  I asked him a few times if there was anyone there and he said that all of the offices with the results were locked up for the day.  I told him it was a bummer because of the traffic jam and that I have three kids and it's hard to get down there.  He paused for a minute and then said, "let me check".  He found one of the doctors in a different part of the building.  He told her that I was his American friend and she was so nice and got the results for me!  That kind man and lady saved me probably 3 hours of time and hassle!

     I'm so thankful for unexpected blessings!

First Day of School

     After eight trips to the doctors for a "simple" update on Anneka's medical card (this is not including the three trips for swimming lessons), and buying needed school supplies, Anneka was ready for her first day of kindergarten!  I took a picture of most of the supplies as we checked them off of the list.  Some interesting items were a board game, a bag of dirt (not pictured), indoor sandals (also not pictured), medical gauze, toilet paper, coloring books and makeup remover cotton circles... in addition to the normal notebooks, glue, folders, etc.

     One item written on the list we had NO IDEA what it was!  It was like a scavenger hunt going from store to store.  Usually the person working would give a little smile and then send us on to the next place (fabric store, household store, furniture store, hardware store, etc.)  But finally a lady knew where to find it, as she'd just seen it at a large hardware store a ways away.  Anneka is holding the mystery item (foam rubber) in this picture on the morning of her first day.  It'll be interesting to know what she'll use it for!

     We still haven't found a preschool for Ella.  We'd talked up "school" so much for her when we thought she was going that now she keeps asking when she will go to school.  On Anneka's first day, we made it special for Ella.  Leif stayed home with Ike while I took Ella to the store to buy school supplies.  Then we had our "first day" of school at home and learned about different shapes.  After Anneka got out for the day, we all went out for lunch to a local cafe.  I'd forgotten how crazy it is to eat out with little ones.  We had fun, but we won't be doing that again for awhile!

     Ella and Ike love playing together in the mornings.  I try to include them in daily tasks, too.  This week we grated zucchinis that we got from Inka and Vera.  Of course in this stage of life, my "helpers" create more work.  But they have fun, and I have to remind myself that it's not all about efficiency!  

Fun vs. Excellence

     The more we live here, the more we realize that different cultures place higher values on different things.  I'm seeing more and more that Americans place a high value on "fun" and Russians place a high value on "excellence".  This doesn't mean, of course, that Americans don't value excellence or that Russians don't value fun (although they don't have a direct word translation for "fun").    We enrolled our girls in swimming lessons for a way to get exercise, connect with people (I'm going to Anneka's lesson with a mom and her son that I met a couple of years ago on the playground), become comfortable with the water and learn to swim, and to have fun!  But what I didn't know was that swimming here is serious business!

     First of all, to even be allowed to go to the pool, they require blood, urine, and stool samples from the kids and checks from the pediatrician and dermatologist.  They also require chest x-rays from parents, the same lab tests as the kids (plus one more), a dermatologist, and a gynecologist for the moms.

     Anneka has had very little experience in pools, and yet in her first lesson the teacher was shouting, "One, two, one, two, one, two!"  as she kicked and had the kids jump into the pool with their heads submerged.  Maybe they do this in the States, too, and I'm just not aware, but it seemed like that would be something kids would do a few lessons into it in America.  It was all very professional and very skill-focused.  Thankfully, Anneka took it in stride and moved through her fear.  Now jumping in is her favorite thing to do!

     Ella's class is on another day of the week, and her sister had told her all of the things she would do.  Frankly, I think it freaked her out!  I had a Russian class, so Leif took her, but she cried so hard that I walked them over to the pool (she would have cried just as hard with either parent... I was just there for moral support).  We weren't sure what to do because we'd already paid for the first four lessons.  And we were pretty sure the instructor would go easier on the little ones!

     I left a bawling Ella with Leif on the steps of the pool.  Leif said that when he tried to coax Ella into the water she wouldn't budge, but when the instructor gave her commands, Ella obeyed right away.  And she ended up loving it!  She even slept with her swimming sandals this week because she's so excited for her next lesson.  We are very happy that this has been positive so far for both girls!

     Leif had an operation on his shoulder this week, so I'll be going with both girls now to their lessons for awhile.  It turns out that some of the stitches in Leif's muscle didn't dissolve, so the surgeon had to re-open his wound and take them out.  Yesterday he had to put another stitch in and it's draining a lot, but so far so good!  We appreciate your prayers for a full healing in his arm!