A Warm Winter

     It's been such a welcome surprise to have returned to a warm winter!  We've experienced temperatures that we usually don't get until the end of February or early March!  I don't think it's been below -10 too often, and the sun has often been shining (unless it's warm enough to snow).  We've taken advantage of this and have spent free time outside.  Yesterday when Dave and Leif were at a meeting with all of the pastors from the area, Martina and I and the kids went ice skating.  There's a rink right in our neighborhood.   The kids had a great time, and I noticed progress in the girls' skating just from the last time they went a few days ago. 

 

       We had quite the time figuring out the system at the rink, and I had to go back 4 times for skates for Ella (she has very strong preferences about how anything on her feet should feel).  I'm sure the ladies working there thought we were crazy!  Afterwards, Martina got the kids hot chocolate and then took the older ones outside for one last skate.  I ran Ella's skates down to the end of the building to return them, except I forgot that I had my skates on and fell really hard on the icy pavement.  My leg twisted and popped in a really awkward position.  Of course, the lady who takes the rentals happened to come out the very second I fell and saw everything.  She asked me why in the world I was wearing my skates in the parking lot.  Between pained breaths I assured her that I forgot I had them on (more reason for her to think I'm crazy, I'm sure!).  Then she told me I had to get up immediately or I would get sick, sitting on the cold ground.  I tried and I literally couldn't!  She tried to help me and I couldn't get up!  She ran off to find my boots, and I crawled inside while no one was looking. 

     But the really sweet part about it all was that the girls were SO cheerful and helpful at home.  They were like little nurses, running around getting ice and pillows and making me comfortable.  They made lunch.  I sat there and instructed exactly how to make cream of wheat (something we like to eat when Leif isn't home because he doesn't really like it and we all do).  She did great!  (Ella helped with things like the butter and sugar). I realized that it took awhile to explain exactly how to do everything (more time than I would normally allow for), but it built great confidence and was really fun to see them in action.  They even took care of taking Ike to the bathroom (not ever something they volunteer for!) and putting him down for a nap.

 

     Soon after lunch the girls started making dough for dinner that night and when it was ready, they made pigs in a blanket.  I was thankful for this time to realize how much I can utilize them and it's a reminder to me of how it does take extra time to explain things at first, but in the end it pays off great dividends!  Today my leg is a tad better, but it still hurts!  I'm hoping it'll be back to normal very soon!

 

     In other news, Anneka has started up school again and is really enjoying it.  She takes her homework very seriously and has been reading new books to us (and to Ella and  Ike) a lot.  Here, she's doing one of her worksheets on Papa's lap while he's sharing about Jesus with a neighbor.  He couldn't understand why Jesus would love him when he's never done anything for Him.  They had an interesting exchange about the true meaning of love.  It was good to pray together as a family for this man and for God's truth to seep into His heart. 

     While Anneka's in school, Ike and Ella and I have done some preschool activities together.  On this day we learned about the letter "t" by tracing it into flour. 

     We're more or less back into a routine of normal ministry, but we're still doing things around the apartment to get set up.  Anneka is excited to have moved up to the very top bunk of a 3-level bed.  Ella is not so sure she wants to be on the middle bunk.  So our thoughts of either play space below or storage space above may turn to "mystery space" in the middle.  We'll see.  ;)

Snapshots from our Home Service (Part 1)

     A big reason why we have a blog is for ourselves... to look back and remember special things from our lives.  I wasn't very good about blogging while we were in the States, but there are some things I don't want to forget.  So over the next few weeks, intermingled with new blogs, I'm going to capture some of the memories we cherish from the past few months in America.

     The day after we arrived in Washington, we had a family reunion from my mom's side of the family.  The first day we met in Manito Park in Spokane (one of our favorite places in the world!)  Ike loved getting a ride through the Japanese Gardens on Grandma Great's lap.  She loved it just as much.

     This picture only shows the people who were there the first day, but it's special because it's around a bench that was installed in the Duncan Gardens in honor of my Grandpa (Charlie Parsons).  On the bench is inscribed the scripture:  "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest".  Grandpa would love that there is this bench in this beautiful place with these words of life!

     One afternoon some of us played bocce ball.  My grandma made a scavenger hunt for the kids with a lot of special toys, too.  On Sunday (my birthday), my parents hosted a BBQ at Medical Lake.  It was fun to take the kids swimming in the lake that I swam in a lot as a child.  =)

     We were only "home" for a few days, and in this time, our friends' (Kadie and Josh) baby was born and was in the NICU in Spokane.  It was incredibly special to get to visit them at the hospital, meet their precious baby, Andrew, and to pray over him and their family.  The timing couldn't have been more perfect!

      We were also able to catch our friends, the Shultz's, early one morning as they were driving through, on a family vacation.  We met at the Finch Arboretum, one of our favorite places.  The kids loved climbing the gigantic trees.  We didn't get everyone in this picture, but here are quite a few of us!  =)

    
     We moved all of our things into our apartment and then headed off to Montana for my brother's wedding reception.  We stayed in this cute cabin with my parents and enjoyed the beauty of Montana!  We enjoyed mornings together of fishing, my  mom reading to the kids, and playing in water on the lawn.

     It was hot, so it was especially nice to have the river to play and swim in.  The kids enjoyed riding in the raft with their cousin, Thaeden.  This was the first time we'd met him and my brother's wife, Paula.  We liked them immediately.

     One afternoon Ike needed a nap, so I took him to some shade and waited with the camera while Leif and the girls came rafting down the river.  They had a great time!

     We went to a lake nearby where crawdads were prevalent.  My brother had brought a bunch of traps to catch them, and here he is keeping them fresh on ice.  Ike was enamored, and it was interesting for all of us to taste them for the first time!

     We got to be with my Dad for his birthday and had a lovely breakfast outside that Leif had made. Our friend, Valera, had made a really cool picture of a fly fisherman on an artist's pallet.  We saw this at an art show in Ulan Ude, and knew immediately that we had to get it for Dad!  It was fun to be able to give it to him in person.  =)

     We had a couple more days to unpack all of our things into our apartment and then we spent most of August traveling around western Washington.  Our first stop was Vashon Island, where Erin organized an "open weekend" for any college friends to stop in or stay the night.  There was never a point when everyone was there at the same time, but it was so special to get snippets of time with each person and in such a beautiful setting!  The kids loved playing on the beach and picking blackberries.

     Stephanie gave them bottles of bubbles that don't spill (genius!)  These bottles actually made the cut of things we brought back to Russia with us, as they are so wonderful.  =)

Ella enjoyed helping Erin plant flowers in the beds around the cabin.

     And it was SO fun to have our friend Lynnette come with her little girl, Remi.  Remi and Ella are very close in age and were such sweet little friends!

     Next we visited my Dad's side of the family in Auburn.  My aunt, Sherrie, threw a baby shower for my cousin's daughter.  I loved that we were able to be there for this day!  It was a time of celebration. 

     We had a great time staying with my aunt Sherrie and uncle Mike.  The weather was hot (especially for western Washington!)- I think it reached 100 degrees.  I was quite thrilled with the heat because it felt like most of the summer we'd missed the heat.  We soaked it all in with a picnic...

... and then swimming and playing in/around the river.  I think here Anneka was some sort of mud monster. 

     After this, we got to spend an evening with Leif's aunt Reta and uncle Jerry at Green Lake.  We had a picnic on the beautiful grass, and the kids played on the playground there.  As you can see, the kids warmed up to them right away!

    We got to stay with our friends Kadie and Josh (the ones with the brand new baby!) in Renton.  I tried to tell them how crazy it is to have guests (especially guests with three kids!) and a newborn.  But they graciously insisted.  They even invited over our friends, the Ritchies, for lunch one day.  The kids had fun playing together (pictured above).

     After this we went up to Bellingham to get some time with Leif's dad, Eric, and his wife, Rebecca.  We had a special afternoon of remembering Leif's grandmother ("Grancy") who passed away a year ago).  We spread some of her ashes in the garden.  We each chose a special flower from the garden and shared special memories of Grancy.

     We also spread some of her ashes in the waterfront.  This was really important for us all, and we felt so blessed to have this time.

     Rebecca owns a flower shoppe, and on Fridays they give out free flowers (the ones that won't make it through the weekend).  The girls delighted in passing out these flowers.  Ike gave people free hugs (and often quite unexpectedly, as you can see here!)

     After this, we went to Darrington, the town where Leif grew up.  He wanted to spend a little more time here after the mudslide that happened last spring.  He gave sermons at two churches on two Sundays and we shared at another church on a Wednesday evening.  Leif also connected with a few friends throughout the week. But other than that, we used this time to relax at Leif's family cabin.  Irene stayed with us, and we enjoyed the fresh air and playing in the river.

    The kids's cousin, Gwen, was with us for half of the week.  It was really fun for them to all play together and make such wonderful memories!

     There's a little playhouse on the grounds where the cabin is.  The kids loved playing in and around it. 

   
     Of course, being outside and playing with cousin, Gwen, was wonderful.  But playing with Irene's dog, Polly, was right up there with everything else!

     Leif's Dad and brother came down for one day, and we went for a hike to this waterfall.

And throughout the week we enjoyed walking through the woods!

     Next, we went up to Irene's place on Whidbey Island and got time with Leif's grandparents and brother's family.  It's so fun to see the kids interacting with family!

     We feel so blessed that the timing worked out perfectly for us to go to Leif's cousin, Brit's, wedding on Orcas Island.  Here, we were riding the ferry to get there.  The kids were always excited when we got to take a ferry.

     We stayed in a hotel, along with Leif's mom and grandparents (in different rooms).  One day we danced around the room together.

 The wedding was lovely, and the weather was so nice.

sweet little cousins!

 

      I meant to attach a different picture than this one, but this one was so cute, I just left it.  We had a couple more days with Irene before we headed back to eastern Washington.

She lives right by the beach, so we took advantage of this!

     This was a whirlwind month, filled with many special moments. We cherish these times!

Back in Siberia!

     We're back in Ulan Ude and are getting settled back into the swing of things.   The Lord was with us in our travels.  Our flight from Spokane to Seattle kept getting delayed 20  minutes and then another 20 minutes, and so on, until we were cutting it right down to the wire of catching our flight to China.  Leif and Anneka waited at the gate to get our carryons that we'd had to check because of size, while the little ones and I ran to the gate. It was a long way across the airport to the gate, and they each had their little backpacks, but they were real troopers.  We got to the gate just as the airline attendant was about to shut the door.  I begged her to wait for us (Leif had our passports).  She was just about to shut the door when I saw Leif and Anneka way down at the end of the corridor.  I shouted, "Run!".  We made it just in time.  Then as soon as we got onto the plane, the hydraulics on the door broke, so we had to wait another 10 minutes... just enough time for our bags to make it, too.  It's a small reminder of God's care for us, and we're so thankful.

    On the day we left, it was snowing in Spokane.  Leif was so glad it was snowing because we all wore a lot of layers (including snowpants) onto the plane.  If we'd have packed them, they'd have filled a whole bag!

     The kids love being on the long flight because they get to watch movies.  And they slept.  Our most tiring stretch was the 7+ hour layover in Bejing.  The kids didn't sleep at all in the airport and were on the silly side because they were so tired.  

     We've been getting unpacked and organized this week, as well as catching up with people and trying to stay awake!  Our kids are still not completely over jetlag.  Anneka has been waking up in the middle of the night and then not going back to sleep.  At all.  And we make her stay up all day to get her back on schedule. By 6:00pm, our kids are begging us for sleep.  We try to do fun things until seven.  Then by 7:01 they're out like a light!  One morning at 4:00am, Ike came into our room and asked us a question.  I thought he asked if he could get a snack or come into our room so I said "yes".  It turns out he had asked if he could vacuum because minutes later I heard rusting in the closet as he got the vacuum cleaner out and proceeded to get everything ready to vacuum the hallway!  We try to get outside in the days to get over our jetlag.  Ike asked to play outside one day when it was -19 degrees.  We bundled up and had a great time!  That's actually pretty warm for this time of year, so we wanted to take advantage of it.  I even met another mom out on the playground with her little tot.  =)

     Another day we took advantage of the ice slides downtown with the Brubachers.  Our kids were so happy to play with Matthew and Nathan, and they loved the slides, too!

     Our friend, Asya, picked out this coat for Anneka to have waiting when we arrived.  I'd had a hard time finding anything in the States that was warm enough.  This one is so warm and works great!  We made this new discovery that by wearing a down vest under our coats, we are eliminating the need for 3 extra top layers!  This is especially wonderful with Ella, as she doesn't like to have her sleeves bunched up.  Our kids have been pretty good about the bundling process this time around, too.  The biggest problem this week has been that Ella gets really itchy right after all of her clothes are on and can't scratch with all of those layers!  The other funny thing is that Ella is convinced while we're bundling in the  hot apartment that she could never possibly get cold.  "But Mama," she'll say, "Cold never bothered me anyway!"  (she gets this from the movie Frozen).

     Ella loved the slides and often wanted to go all by herself without help.  This time she let Papa come with her.  =)

     On Wednesday we celebrated Russian Christmas with our church family.  It was so wonderful to see everyone and to celebrate this special day together.  Ike couldn't quite make it through the service without falling asleep.

     The choir sang some beautiful songs and the kids and adults both put on small plays.  We had a time for tea and treats afterwards to catch up with people.

     This little girl warmed my heart.  When she saw me, her face lit up and she came over and gave me a kiss.  She often sits by me in the services.

     I've listened to a couple of sermons on prayer this week in the middle of the night when I can't sleep.  It's such a good reminder of our good and powerful God and how important prayer is!  As we've gone around to different stores and met different people, I've been praying for them.  We may never know the results, but it's neat to think of God being at work in eternal ways.

     Leif is encouraged because the Lord brought two men to his heart/mind to pursue when we returned, and within this first week they both pursued him first... before he had a chance to call them.  We see this as a confirmation with these relationships and we look forward to good things!