So, this is what a garage key looks like. Elisabeth posed for us with her key. Garages here are actually little metal sheds. Oh, you can actually see some in the background of the picture of Leif and me. In this picture, we're standing right in front of our apartment building. There's a green and yellow sign to the left of Leif's head, and that's our local little store. It's soooo convenient! Well, it's often convenient. Sometimes they don't have normal things like sugar and bread and it's hard if you're counting on those items to have guests over. I guess it helps us to learn to be flexible. Our apartment is the third balcony up on the left of the building (two above Jami's head with clothes hanging on the balcony). The third picture is of our new chair. We looked and looked for a rocking chair, but the only ones we could find were $700 or more. We finally found this chair for much much less and it kind of bounces. We both love it. I made the little wall hanging from some Asian fabrics I found here.
This summer, our team has had the privilege of having four interns here to help with camps and following up with students and families in Ulan Ude. Steffen and Nicki (left of picture) are from Germany. They both speak English very well and have been so willing to help in any ways that they can. Steffen was a night guard at the camps, making sure that everyone was safe and sound in their cozy tents. Nicki helped in the kitchen, so I was able to spend time with here there. Both of them have magnetic personalities and even though they don't speak Russian, draw many people in with their love. Steffen is sleeping at our place while he's in Ulan Ude, but we see him more at other places than at home! Nat and Ashley are Americans, although Ashley has lived in Moscow for the past four years. The students at the English camp adore them, and they've spent a lot of time following up with them since then. We want all of them to stay! 
Every week since the English camp, we've had a night to invite students to hang out, play games, sing songs, watch a movie, etc. Last Monday they guys had an American football night and the girls made pizza and sang songs. They're sweet girls.
We watched our friends' cat for a few days, and this lucky kitty gets half a fish at each meal. It's soooo funny watching her gnaw on the head of the fish. I don't know why it's funny because a fish is a much more natural thing to eat than processed food with preservatives... but it was still really funny.
I learned the word "vzglyad" in church today. It means "look" or "glance". I think it's a fun word to say... and interesting that it has 5 consonants all together. Speaking of church, today the guy who was supposed to give the sermon didn't come. Leif and I had prepared to sing a song (which we did) and Leif had thrown the written sermon he'd prepared last week in with the sheet music "just in case". As the men from church prayed together beforehand, Leif mentioned that he could share if there were no other options. I really like this about Leif. If it were me, I would not have even thrown in the typed sermon in the first place and then I don't think I ever would have freely volunteered something like that unless someone outright asked me first! But Leif is willing and I like that. He ended up giving it (without having read through it since last week). I get really nervous when he speaks... especially in Russian! It's such a hard thing to do. I admire his bravery.
We had a great time with Mama Irene. She left here yesterday morning on her way to Moscow and then back to the states. We only ran into one little problem with all of that. In Russia you must always be registered so that they can keep track of where you are and what your doing. Well, mom was registered with the rest of the Americans that she came in to the country with and it seems that whoever was doing the registering didn't register mom for a longer period (the others left July 16th). We, being at camp already at the time, never thought to check that. Well, at the airport we ran into the problem at the passport check. They brought us back into a security officer back room and told us that it was a problem. We wrote a little document that we signed and payed a roughly $120 fine. They said that everything would be okay from there, so we are waiting to hear that she has arrived safely in the states with no more fines.
On another note, we went to a camp follow-up for the church that meets at Shannon's. Some of the students from the English camp also went to this camp so we went to connect with them. One young man came over to me before the "program" started and asked if I came from a Christian family. We sat down together and I quickly shared about my family and then the program started (i.e. singing, slide show, and an invitation to come to the church that organized the camp). I was thankful for the short opportunity to share and hoped that we would have a chance to talk later. Well, that chance came quickly. Right after the program this young man started asking me all sorts of questions. He asked how I became a Christian, what differences are there between Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox churches, why are all of Adam's descendants sinful just because he sinned, why do Buddhist priests and Shamans have power, and others like this. In fact it seemed like he wanted to keep asking questions all night, but we both had to leave after an hour or so. It was great to be able to share, and such a gift that it was so easy. I was so happy to share about how God has shown me His love, and about how He loves everyone. I hope that this message that he heard at the two camps and from me tonight will sink into his heart. Please pray that He will decide to enjoy life with Christ for the rest of Eternity. Also pray that we will have more opportunities to talk and that he will connect with others in the church.
Okay, we thought we'd have a little fun with all of you. The picture above is the sign on the door of the bathrooms our child (no, it's not twins, but we thought it might be with how big Jami is) will enter in the future. Some will know right away, others may need to wait until the next blog or read through the comments to try to find out what this means and others may just want to give their best guess. It was an interesting process to get an ultrasound here in Russia. We had the privilege, though we felt a little guilty, of going with our midwife and being whisked to the front of a very long line of women waiting for their ultrasound, and had a doctor who is the best in the area and does a lot of teaching on ultrasound techniques. Also, she is good because she is known to not give false fears from her scans (unfortunately it is common for doctors to give a list of terrible or strange things that are wrong with your baby). The patients were signaled to enter the room by a light bulb flashing outside the door. Also, you need to bring your own blanket or towel for the table, I guess that cuts back on cleaning expenses. Then the process itself went pretty quickly. We saw different parts of the baby including the beating heart, and were given the dimensions. The baby is normal to slightly large, with an exceptionally large head. Actually, the doctor said something to the effect of, "that is a really big head." Then proceeded to look up at me and calmly said, "of course that could be because of the daddy." This is the part that may shock all of you in the U.S. medical system, we payed about $4.65 for the whole procedure.
