Harvest and English Club

     This is a nice time of year, when the babushkas sit outside and sell amazing vegetables and canned preserves from their gardens.  It's also a time that we celebrate the harvest at church (a type of Thanksgiving Sunday).  This year, some ladies made this great tree, and everyone in the church wrote several things they were thankful for onto the leaves.  The kids sang a couple of songs for the special day, too.

 

We all enjoyed a feast after the church service of foods that everyone contributed.

 
     Leif has begun a series of talks on the book of Ruth, as it's not just a book of the Bible for women, but for everyone.
 
     Dima and Natasha dedicated their new baby to the Lord.  He is so tiny and precious!  They thought they were having a girl at first, as this is what the ultrasound technician had told them.  What a fun surprise!  It is always such a blessing to see young families who are honoring God and living for Christ.


     We've had a good first few weeks of English Club!  We have had some new people come, and I've been impressed with the lessons that teach both about English and about the Bible.  We're working methodically through the Old Testament.  We do some fun things in between lessons.  Recently, I've been doing little kid lessons with the sons and daughters of English Club members who come. On this day, we had the kids set up a little store. 

     Those in English Club were divided into two groups and given recipes.  They had to go to the store (one at a time), purchase their items, and follow the recipes.

     By the end, we had a delicious salad and some no-bake cookies.  One new lady said that she was just "delighted" at the end.  She said that she learned English AND how to cook in one day!  =)  So cute.

     We're looking forward to good things with the English Club and are praying for God to work in mighty ways!

Our Little Team

     Most of our team is gone right now, on home service.  Because of this, we are small, and for team meetings we've taken advantage of the nice weather and the ability to all travel together in one van.  Last month, we went to a beautiful overlook called Sleeping Lion Rock.  John was visiting.  We loved the beautiful view, climbing a bit together, and enjoying one another's company. 

 Unfortunately, Inka was sick that day.

     Ella had a grand time collecting money that tourists had thrown everywhere for good luck.  By the end of the day, her cup was full of change.  We later washed it three times in both soap and water and vinegar (in the jar for 3 days) and got all of the obvious dirt off.  But when Ella went to the store to buy gum with her change, the lady wouldn't accept it.  We had it counted out in neat little piles, but she was really rude.  Ella said that it was maybe Mean Store Lady Day.  We then went to our fruit stand where gum was half the price, and the lady gladly accepted Ella's money.

     At the end of August we BBQ'd hamburgers (a rare treat!) out at Inka's.  It was also nice to enjoy this time together.


     Speaking of Inka, I forgot to say in our summer blog that one of her friends came by when Irene was visiting.  She was going through a hard time and we all prayed for her.  Later that day she called Inka, amazed, as a specific prayer had been answered!  She wanted us all to know that our prayers had worked!  Since then, she's had more hard times.  We are praying for her to know the love and truth of Christ and continue to share with her.

     Lately, moments like this seem to be happening more and more frequently, where we see God answering prayers and showing His power and love to people.  And at the same time, we can see that there is a battle going on for people's souls.  I love how when we pray for opportunities to share and to serve that God graciously provides those opportunities... and He also gives the wisdom and strength we need for the moment.

Little Actress

     Anneka's been practicing to be a part of a skit for a couple of weeks now as a part of her theatre class.  We weren't sure when the show would be, but were pretty sure it was awhile still.  Well, Anneka came home on Tuesday and said, "It's tomorrow!!"  She was BEYOND excited about it. (For the sake of grandparents, it's posted here for your viewing pleasure.)  It was funny because we found out that we needed a white shirt, white tights, black shoes, and white hair bows... all the day before the performance!  Thankfully, we didn't have to adjust too much in our schedule for it to all work out.  =)

 

Here's a still picture if you aren't able to see the video.

      The skit was a part of a special holiday here for the older generation (I'm not even sure how to say that in English).  Different kids danced, played the piano, and recited lines for the event to honor these people.

     Anneka invited her friend, Kristina, who came and brought her flowers.  What an exciting day!!
 
     We had Kristina, Bogdan, and Adriana over for dinner afterwards to celebrate Anneka's debut in her acting career.  It was the perfect way to spend the evening.  =)

The School Year Has Begun!

     Fall is here, and so is school!  Our sweet Ella is now a kindergartner.  She goes 5 days a week and comes home tired, but she is doing so well!  Already she has homework and has to memorize riddles.  She seems to understand much of what is going on, as she'll tell us what the days' lessons are about.  She has friends, and the other little girls are always sweet to greet her each day.  We're so proud of how well she's transitioning, as it's not easy to do everything in a second language!

Ike likes riding his bike to school

     Ike has a new school, too.  His preschool class from last year was simply too crazy to put him in again (32 screaming two and three year olds and one exasperated teacher).  There's a private preschool less than a block from our home, and they agreed to take him two mornings a week.  He goes for 4.5 hours each time (this includes breakfast and lunch), and it is a long time for a little guy.  One day last week he said he didn't want to go, that he didn't like school.  We all prayed together, and when I went to pick him up, his teacher said he was so happy all day.  He told me, "I got used to it!  I like school now!"  They have little classes like music, drawing, math, and even English.  We are thankful for this opportunity, and it's helping him to better understand Russian. 

     Until Anneka's teachers return from the States, I get to have time homeschooling her.  We had a little back-to-school lunch out together.  She's a hard worker, and a good sport about having Mom as her teacher.  She's also going to a Learning Center for Russian lessons once a week.  This way she can grow in her reading and writing in Russian.

     We try to integrate fun activities into our days.  She loves to paint.  Right now she's working on a past/present/future storyboard with paintings to tell the story.  This picture is one that she made especially for Heidi. 

     We have a book of science experiments you can do with kids.  This one was more science and art combined- structures made from beans and toothpicks.  We had fun as a whole family making them.

     Three days a week, Anneka is in a theatre class.  We originally thought we'd enroll her in an art class, and then she found out about the theatre program, and she REALLY wanted to join!  I was a bit hesitant about it because to me, that seems hard to learn lines in a second language!  But we prayed that God would lead us to just the right thing, and so far this has been wonderful!  There is one other girl who is new to the theatre program who is Anneka's age.  They became fast friends.  There is also another boy their age, as well as 20 or so other kids their age and older who have already been in the program at least a year.  They do all sorts of exercises from playing charades to doing cartwheels, to memorizing poems and practicing reciting them with motions, to impromptu acting out what the teacher whispers into their ears, to acting like animals (and studying more about the animals) to finger exercises to stretching, to mime work, etc, etc.  We're really impressed.  We are thankful for this door that the Lord opened that we didn't even know was an option!

     Ella and Ike love to go and drop Anneka off at her theatre class because there are usually other kids to play with outside.  There's this monument that the kids slide on, as well as a skateboarding ramp that they run around on.  This day we ran into a girl who's Grandma goes to our church (and she sometimes comes, too). 

     One weekend Anneka went with Leif to the village, and Ike and Ella and I had fun with playdough.

     Ike is our buddy while Anneka and I have school.  He likes to join in with as much as possible.
He often prefers to color the water with paint than to put the paint on the paper!

     We go on little field trips as exhibits come to town.  This was at the Tropical Animal Exhibit.  Anneka must have held 4 or 5 huge and scary snakes among other crazy animals and huge lizards that day!

     A butterfly exhibit came to town.   The kids all loved having the butterflies resting on them!  It was so interesting watching them hatching out of their cocoons and the drying their wings before flying and eating for the first time!

Feeding a monkey a cucumber!

     May we always love learning and use what we learn for God's glory!

A Summer Smattering

     Before I write about things that are happening this fall, I realized I have pictures from this summer that I never posted.  And since this blog is largely for our family to look back on, I couldn't not include them.  Of course, I realized that there are many things from this summer that we simply didn't take pictures of.  We'll just have to trust our memories for those things.  =)

       At the beginning of the summer we prayed for our kids to have friends to play with on the playground.  It wasn't really happening, and Anneka often seemed reluctant to go outside.  But in one moment everything changed!  It started with our kids trying to sit on the opposite side of the teeter totter from Leif.  Soon more kids came, and then it a grand boy/girl competition.  We're a bit mystified by how this happened, but after this teeter totter moment, our kids all of a sudden began playing with all of the neighborhood kids and would beg to go outside every day.  What an answer to prayer!


   
     This little girl is Ella's favorite playmate from our courtyard.  She and her little sister (who is Ike's age) were outside basically all day every day.  One day the kids found this puppy behind a cement wall.  They loved and doted on this puppy almost  every day,  and this little girl's family took it in as their own pet.


 
     I love how the neighborhood kids all play together.  Often they would play organized games like tag or little sing-song games or games where you had to have your feet off of the ground or where you could only move if you were wearing a certain color.

     This little girl taught Anneka how to make bracelets from little rubber bands.  It's all the rage here.  They would sit outside for long periods of time, sharing rubber bands and learning new techniques.  Ella also picked up the hobby, and now both girls make bracelets.


     These are friends from our building that we have a relationship with.  The boy is so friendly and loves our family.  He always tells me how beautiful I am, which is very sweet.  This lady is a believer and we've enjoyed times of encouraging one another and helping each other over the past few years.


     When Leif's mom was here we had Chingis's family over for dinner one evening.  They have 4 kids, so it was very bustling in our little apartment.  =)


     Irene and the kids wanted to surprise me with decorations and special homemade bread on my birthday, so Leif took me out on a lunch date to a great restaurant that overlooks the city.  The weather was delightful, and it was so nice to have this time together.


     The family bought me a blender, which we've been using a lot for smoothies and pureed soups.  ;)

We met up with Masha, Aryuna, and their boys at the playground one day. 

We read the Bible as a family each night before bed.

     Just days before Anya was in the hospital with encephalitis, we met the family at a playground and then stopped at this store afterward for pigs in a blanket.  The kids all enjoyed riding around in the car carts.  Anneka was very sweet to push Ella around.

     For the 4th of July, we had a picnic with some other American friends before heading to the horse races for the Buryat sports festival.  While we were there, someone had thrown a cigarette out of their car, and it lit the field of grass on fire.  Picnickers from all over came racing with anything they could use as a shovel to put it out.  Thankfully, they were successful!

     Anneka learned how to swim this summer.  Bruce used to be a swimming instructor and was very kind and patient with Anneka, staying in the water a long time.  Her sandals kept coming off of her feet, and the current was pretty strong.  But they stuck with it!  I used his tips for how to float and was amazed at how easy it is!

     Another day I met two moms with their kids in the woods for a little hike and picnic.  It was nice to have the time to talk with them.  From one of the conversations with Sveta, I learned that they are interested in being a part of a home group... and they live very near to us.  We've been praying about another couple to start a home group up with.  Leif has also talked with her husband, and we all plan to meet together soon to pray about this together and share what God has layed on our hearts.

      Our friend, Ira, invited us to her dacha (family cabin/garden plot) for the day.  We enjoyed a nice lunch together, complete with watermelon.

 We took a group picture with the camera's timer.

     Our pastor, Sasha, and his wife, Lena, had us over for lunch while Irene was visiting.  The kids played in their yard, and we had a nice time talking.  They are building onto their house and are praying about adopting kids.

     We met up with Leif after he had a preaching/training conference on Lake Baikal.  He's such a good papa to our kids!

     Inka was in a driving competition for women along with a team of a few other women and one man from her village.  They competed against quite a few other teams from other villages (13 I think).  We've all been praying for ways for Inka and another Russian family there to connect with people in her village.  This turned out to be the perfect thing!  Many of the competitors were Inka's neighbors, and they practiced for this competition several evenings, going late into the night.  The man who was there recently became a believer.  So exciting!

     After cheering Inka on, our family went to the river to swim and have some nice sunshine and family time.  It was one of my favorite days of the summer.  At one point, I said, "This day is practically perfect.  All we need now are cookies".  Within minutes, Inka showed up (after a contestant lunch and award ceremony... they got 3rd place!) and she had cookies!!!  The others from her village came, too, and Leif interacted a bit with the new believer and his son.  His son sees the change in his dad and seems open to Christianity.

 Here's a picture from our "perfect day".  =)

Air, Water, and Food

     This summer, thousands of acres of forest and land have burned in Buryatia.  I took this picture from our balcony one morning.  The air was so smokey that it was hard to see the next building.

     Then we had a couple of good rains!  One week later, at the same time of morning (give or take a few minutes), I took this picture.  What a difference!  How wonderful to breathe in fresh air.

Leif and Ike, waiting in line for water from this blessed truck.

     There was some sort of accident at a local factory recently, and all of the water in our region was shut off.   It had been off all day, and we didn't know how long it would be off.  Leif took some buckets to a local well/pump, and it was out of water.  We went to stores, and I was able to buy 2 small bottles (like 12 oz. size), but that's it!  Later that evening Anneka looked outside and saw this water truck.  She was SO excited because she'd just been reading about the Great San Fransisco Earthquake and how the people had had trucks just like this one to get water at that time.  We gladly went outside with our buckets.  Water is another wonderful thing!

      ... And now it is potato season.  I still haven't gotten totally used to how BIG of a deal potatoes are here!  People's lives revolve a lot around potatoes.  This big truck was delivering huge bags of potatoes to people in our building.  Most people have access to home grown potatoes from their own private garden plot or from family.  Potatoes get them through the winter.  I prepare potatoes a lot more often here than when we're in the States, but even still, it's only like once a week.   I would guess that most Russian people have potatoes in some form at least once a day.