Another Wedding!

     In August we got to celebrate another wonderful wedding!  When we first met Marina she was just a girl, and now she's all grown up and married!  It's been wonderful to see her grow, especially in her relationship with God, over the years.  Some of her close friends threw her  bridal shower the week before the wedding. We shared words of wisdom and prayed for Marina and Zhenya.

     The shower was a surprise for Marina!  Her friends led her on a scavenger hunt that ended out in "nature".  It's always nice to have a good excuse to get outside of the city a bit and breathe in fresh air.

     The day of the actual wedding was rainy, but beautiful.  Marina and Zhenya invited Anneka and Ella to be flower girls and Ike to be the ring bearer.  We found out 2 days before the wedding, so it was a bit of a trick to find matching dresses in time for the girls.  But the kids were all thrilled! Anneka and Ella said that this was their dream come true.  =)

It rains so rarely here, that I feel like rainy days are especially delightful. 

Our little flower girls and ring bearer

     They also had a kids' table at the reception.  I think this is the best idea EVER.  It makes it so fun for the kids and so relaxing for the adults!!

     Ella and her friend Anya sat on the bride and groom's laps for awhile during the reception.  Marina and Zhenya were super sweet about it!

     It is typical to have a whole planned program during the reception (planned by good friends of the bride and groom).  The program for this wedding involved a trip around the world... people from different countries had various skits, traditions, and games that they shared.  The Hofstetters (from Switzerland) had this hilarious game where they "taught" Marina how to cut the sleeves and body off of Zhenya's shirts so that she won't need to iron them.  Then he can just wear a sports coat over the top.  She planted Leif and Dima in the audience to prove that others do this, too, and what a great idea it is!  Before the program, Kandid asked me to agree to whatever they asked me, so after I agreed that I did this, Leif stripped off his sports' coat to show this cut shirt.  I didn't know about it (nor did anyone else) and it was hilarious!!

          When it was time for the America portion of the program, we sang a song in English together with Nettie.

     The kids all loved dancing!  

... and of course, it's extra-special to dance with the beautiful bride!

A Wedding Week!

     This June, our dear friend Lena got married!  She has been coming to help us once a week for several years now, so she feels like a part of our family.  We've been praying for God to bring her just the right husband, and it's so cool to see the man that He gave to her!  It really struck me how BIG of a deal weddings are here.... especially in the church culture.  (And they should be, as they mark the beginning of bringing two people together for life.) We had a bridal shower for Lena, and one of the games was to put in order the pictures of many different married couples from the church from longest married to most recent.  The fascinating thing to me was how people knew the years and months of these weddings so easily!

     Everyone who gets married in Russia has a civil wedding at a special courthouse for marriage.  Then many people have a reception as well.  We got all dressed up and went to the civil wedding.


     The officiant of the court house stood up front and said some flowery words about marriage, and then Lena and Sasha signed their papers with us all as witnesses.



     There's a special room in the marriage courthouse for taking pictures of the bride with her bridesmaids and with children who are present.


The registration all takes place downtown, right next to the city square, opera house and fountain.  It is also a tradition for the bride and groom to take pictures with family and friends at the fountain.
   

We got a little distracted along the way, as it was a hot day and the water felt so nice!

     Ahhh!  That feels much better!

Our family with Lena and Sasha

     Then we all headed out into nature for a picnic!  Everyone brought something special that they had prepared.  It was a beautiful place and everyone was in good spirits.

The kids tried their hand at fishing.

... and were so proud to carry around little fish in a baggie!

... or in a cup.

     Then, three days later was the rehearsal for the church wedding ceremony. Ike was invited to be the ring bearer.  He took this job very seriously and did an awesome job!  For the practice he carried this ring of wood.



     And the next day, he did an awesome job of sitting very still up front for the whole church service and wedding.  It was a very hot day.

Between the wedding and reception were pictures for the wedding party.

     Ike and I didn't have time to travel all the way back home and back to the reception.  Bruce lives right downtown and offered for us to rest a bit in his cool apartment.

     Then we took the tram together to the reception and met up with Leif and the girls.  

     The reception was beautiful!  There was course after course of amazing food.

All of the kids even had their own kids' table with kid-friendly foods!  Everyone was happy.

     The kids played both inside and outside.

     There was even a dance instructor who taught us a couple of dances as a group.  It was truly a lovely celebration of a special couple- a day that we'll cherish for a long time!

Altargana

     This summer Altargana came to Ulan-Ude!  It's a special festival that celebrates the Buryat people.  Altargana is every 2 years and travels around to different cities in Mongolia, China, and Russia.  This festival is full of the best of Buryat culture shown through sports, music, competitions, and art.  On the Saturday, our family went to the big stadium that was filled with Buryat artwork from far and wide.  We ran into our friend, Ira, who we hadn't seen for years.  It was fun to go through the exhibits with her.

There were so many amazing displays!

Ella and me, looking into a miniature yurt, complete with furniture and a fire pit!

     Ira overheard that there was a fashion show in the auditorium.  The girls were interested, so we went in to watch.  It was captivating to see the various traditional and modern designs of clothing.  One group of young girls modeled very TALL Buryat hats.  Our kids especially liked that!

     Most of the audience was at the front, but we sat along the side where there was more space.  Ella ran up to stand with the photographers to get a good view.

     We ate a simple lunch together at a cafe in the basement after the fashion show.

There's nothing like a pig in a blanket!

      The next evening Juli called us and offered for her boys to babysit our kids while we went to the closing ceremony of Altargana with her and Alan. We originally had had three different things planned for that evening, but two were cancelled and one was moved to earlier. Our kids were thrilled, and we were, too!  We had to squish Alan and Juli into the van, as we had just bought a new door and the old one was still inside. 

     We ate some pozi (traditional Buryat meat dumplings) quickly outside of the stadium before the start.  This was the first time I'd been to the new sports stadium.

     Athletes, artists, and musicians were awarded grand prizes and honored in front of everyone.  If I remember correctly, I think these men were winners in the archery tournament.

     There were also many beautiful songs and dances on the field.  I was overwhelmed and my heart was filled with such love as I thought of how God created this world and these beautiful Buryat people.  It was one of the highlights of my summer.

     The weather was perfect.  Warm summer evenings are a rare thing here.  We soaked it in and cherished it!

A Special Visit From the Jordans

     One of the gifts of living overseas in our context is the deep friendships we make with people from all over the world!  One of the sad things is that sometimes we have to say goodbye to these people that we love so much.   This summer we enjoyed a sweet visit from the Jordan family.  They lived in Russia for 15 years but have been back in the States for the past 3 years.  When they lived here, we had the tradition of celebrating New Years together with a fondue spread.  Even though it was summer, we had to do have fondue to revisit our tradition!

     Our kids just adore the Jordan boys and had a blast with them!  Ryan was so sweet with our Ike.  Even though their visit was 2 months ago, Ike still asks me when he'll see Ryan again.  "Ryan is my best friend", he declared.

     Ella, enjoying a piggyback ride on Darin  

     The family spent the night with us one night before going to the village of Shabur the next day. And the boys spent the night another time, too.  Ryan had a "sleepover" in Ike's room with him.  What fun!

     It's nice to be with others who understand our life here and share a love for the people and place.

walking next to the stadium near our home

     The kids performed for us adults, and Ryan made Ike the hero in the performance, making him do all sorts of exciting tricks.  It was really cute!

     This family will probably show their faces in other blog posts as I catch up.  We miss them and were thankful for this time to cross paths with them again!