Okay, so this time it's a real obstacle coure!

All week anyone who needed to get into the church had to climb in through the window. But for today's Sunday service, they set up this new obstacle course (4 meter drop below)....

  We made it!!

Birthday Party

The girls were invited to Lina's birthday party last monday, held at her kindergarten. It was such a cute/fun party! Here they are, waiting for the party to start with friends, Nate and Matty. such a cute lineup of kids... all waiting to greet the birthday girl with noise makers and a hearty "Congratulations!" The ladies who led the celebration did such a good job! Marina was a Russian beauty and the other lady came as a visitor from many different countries in different costumes. Here she was from the middle east, teaching a dance (Anneka eats stuff like this up!) Here the kids are making origami and coloring it... ... this is Anneka's creation Ella loved being in Marina's arms, right in the action! Lina, the birthday girl, is on the far right, helping her mom with a relay race for putting multiple pigtails in little boys' hair. standing in line for pin the tail on the pig. The three pigs in Russian are called Neef-Neef, Noff-Noff, and Noof-Noof. At the end of the party, Anneka asked if she could start going to Lina's school. We live too far away for her to go to that one, but we do have news on the school-front for another blog soon!

Obstacle Course

This is the way to get to church now that they are buiding on.... balance on this ledge and go under the ladder. (I didn't take a picture of the entrance where you walk over mounds of dirt)... Then squeeze through this narrow opening. Be careful not to knock the wood down onto your head! (The "bridge" Anneka is standing on is an old door)... ... then balance over a narrow walkway with holes in the planks (not pictured)... and then walk across this bridge. Don't walk out too far on the wooden planks or they'll flip up and send you down into a hole that's four meters deep... ... and if you keep your eyes open you may see this cute puppy or a sweet (but very dirty) old dog milling around. You may have to shoo them out of the church during the service. And I had to throw in a picture of our two great guys! Ike cut his first tooth last Friday and is working on the second one. He's very drooly and wants to gnaw on everything in sight!

Watering Seeds

Living in a 10-story apartment building, our kids don't get to just run out in the backyard to play without the accompaniment of an adult. They don't get to experience having a dog or a garden. So I'm always really happy when we visit people (especially Inka!) who have these luxuries. We visited Inka in Zaigraevo on Wednesday and the girls helped her water her garden.

All three kids just love being outside. Ella is always bringing us our shoes, saying "outside! outside" and she squeals with glee when we agree. Ike falls asleep pretty much immediately upon exiting any building. It's hard to tell in this picture, but Ella lately has wanted three pigtails in her hair. She's our little triceratops.

I love the analogy of seeds and how they grow slowly with water and soil and sunshine. The growth is imperceptible, but very definite. It's a good reminder to me as we live and work here. And it's a good reminder to me as we pour into our kids... we're watering those seeds that will one day grow into wonderful plants that bear vegetables and fruit.

It was warmer outside than inside. It was 63F (17.3C) inside and even though the official temperature was colder oustide, the sun felt so nice and warm on our faces.

Inka and Ike- a moment outside when he was awake!

We all like this swing!

... and Ella liked pushing me on the swing. After a lovely lunch with Inka we hiked up the hill and looked out over the city, praying for the people there. God loves them so much!

The Walls Came Tumbling Down

Many of the men in our church have been working to add on a couple of rooms to accomodate for more people on Sundays and to have a place for the kids to have Sunday school... and with heat! We used to have a little kitchen upon entering church and then the sanctuary room. Well, our teammate, Dave, helped one day to take down the wood stove (brick-by-brick) and the wall between the kitchen and sanctuary came down, too! This was actually okay, as it was in part of the later plan. The only thing it means for right now is that church is very challenging with three kids! The above picture is the view when you first walk in the door. When I took Anneka and Ella to the bathroom during the service (an outhouse with a hole in the ground), everyone watched us put on our coats and hats and head out. And when Ike has needed diaper changes there is literally no place to go. Thankfully everyone is pretty gracious. If you're interested in seeing some of the pictures of construction, check out Dave and Martina's blog: http://davemartina.wordpress.com/ Leif has helped out a few days when he's had time. Next week the men are making a big push to get a lot done before a construction team of 6 men from Canada come to do a lot of the work on the new building.

Here's another view that shows the wall down. This was taken at the very end of the service. I let Anneka and Ella join Inka in the kitchen as she got tea ready for afterwards.

We were so excited on Sunday to greet Sasha! He arrived by train just after the morning service from having served for a year in the army! Also you can see some babuskas in the picture. One of them is thrilled that I'm a few sizes larger than normal. When she sees me, she squeezes my fat and exclaims loudly about how I am a totally new shape. I'm glad she's happy about it, but I won't mind if I return to my former shape. =) Along the lines of "walls tumbling down", I took the month of March to pray about returning to Siberia with THREE KIDS! I honestly didn't know how I would do it when Leif was gone, as I often felt overwhelmed with two. Just like Joshua and his men marched around Jericho, I "marched" through prayer over this subject. And I am happy to say (and know that it can ONLY be by God's grace!) that it's going well! I feel like I've had many moments of pure enjoyment in these sweet kids and that God has given me patience beyond myself. I'm a little hesitant to share this because I don't want people to stop praying for me in this area! But if you are praying, THANK YOU, and please continue! Those walls are tumbling down and God is giving me the grace I need for each moment of each day. And I know that God uses our family as a light here.

Friends, Lines, and Russian Soup

We had our Romanian friends over last Saturday. It was so nice to see them! The kids played well together. It's hard on Anneka to not know Russian, but I'm proud of her for trying different phrases and words. She gets so tired at the end of days where she's around Russian a lot, but already we are seeing improvement. When I point it out to her, she is encouraged.

Adriana and me and Ike. They thought his name was yak (as in the animal) at first. That gave me a good laugh. And it's funny because sometimes I accidentally call him "Eek" when I'm talking about him with Russians, as Isaac is pronounced "Ee-sak". So funny.

We played a rousing game of twister among other games. This week we found out we had to get more medical documents for the girls. We stood in four more lines and went to two more clinics. Leif has been really good at meeting people wherever we go and several people have asked for his number to get together later. At the immigration office yesterday afternoon, I tried counting all of the people waiting in line in the hallway. I think there were 70 people there!!! Today I made lunch for a group of some of the local church leaders. I just found out about it this morning, so I quickly went online and typed in all the ingredients that I had around along with the words "Russian" and "soup" and found a recipe for a sweet Russian cabbage soup. It turned out pretty well. The weather is so nice today. Matty and Nate came over this morning and we went outside for a bit. One lady asked me if all 5 kids were mine. haha! Renata and Martina came over and made lunch for the church workers while I made lunch for the leaders. It was nice to have them here.

Praising God Through Art

I'm always trying to think of ways to incorporate our kids in praising our Creator and connecting with Him personally. As Anneka loves drawing (she loves all sorts of art projects!), I've found that this is a way that we connect with one another and with God. We play a song about God and then as we listen, we draw what God brings to our hearts and minds. It's really neat to see what Anneka comes up with. The rule is that we don't talk at all during the song, but once it's over, we share our artwork with one another. This is Anneka's picture from today. The top is "God shining down". Below that are "the people of the world who are praising God". Next is "God holding the world in his hands". Then, there's a heart for love and at the bottom is a girl singing. (it's a little hard to see in the picture.)

Ella often joins us, too. Here's her creation from today. Both girls are layered in clothes, as our apartment is VERY cold. 1.5 weeks ago it was 91.4 degrees in our warmest room! And now we have to wear long underwear inside (Ike was even in his snowsuit yesterday). We all have runny noses, but this happens every year after they shut the heat off. It's par for the course.

We inherited these dressers from the Wickers, and Leif's mom was nice enough to paint them pink for us last summer. I looked everywhere for handles that fit (as the old ones were broken off), but coudn't find any. Martina had the great idea of using ribbons for handles... and today I put them on! Anneka helped me thread them through the holes.

They turned out pretty good! Ike likes them. =) Today Leif is helping to tear down a room at the church to prepare for a team of workers this summer who will build on an extra room. Yesterday it was so stormy... loads and loads of rain! I LOVE it when it rains here, as it rarely does, and I feel like it cleans the air. But it does make it hard to get warm when the heat is turned off. Our water and electricity were out yesterday, too. We had some guests, but I could only offer them warm tea from what was left over in the tea pot. And we sat in the dark. Also, I had Ike out in the elements and was scolded for taking a baby out into such horrible weather. But he was all snuggled up next to me in the baby carrier, sleeping. He likes the rain.

A Very Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day isn't celebrated here in Russia. Women's Day is the big holiday, celebrated in March. But Leif and the kids helped to make me feel very special and loved last Sunday! They made me sweet little cards and a big Mother's Day poster and brought me breakfast in bed with a heart-shaped pancake. It was so nice to go to church and be with friends there after having been away for 4 1/2 months. And we had a nice time as a family that evening (Leif made some awesome meatballs!) I love my family so much! I'm so thankful for them!

Medical Tests

This week we are making the rounds with medical tests for Ike to apply for his temporary residency and Ella to apply for her longer residency. It's nice that we can do them both at the same time, as it is a tiring process. Yesterday we took the kids to get tested for TB and were told that they wouldn't give us the results for them unless Leif and I got chest X-rays. Thankfully the kids didn't need to go with us for that, and the girls got to play outside with some nice teenage girls from our church while we went to another clinic. Leif got his chest X-ray without a hitch, but right when I got into the changing room the electricity went out. We waited for awhile, but it never came back on, so they told us to come back later. We ran some errands and came back after a couple of hours, but it was still off. It was off in our apartment building, too. It's no small feat to climb 7 flights of stairs in the dark carrying a baby and wearing high heels. We also came home to find that our water was shut off. Today the cold water is on, so we're counting our blessings! The picture above is from the communicable disease clinic. We waited in line (thankfully there were these nice benches to sit on!) and right when it was our turn, the nurse came out and said that they were closing for a half hour break. Thankfully I brought a book to read to the girls! Ella was such a good girl with all of her blood draws and pokes. She didn't cry at all and even offered her second arm just in case they needed it! This was a huge answer to prayer, as these tests can be so hard when the kids are emotional! The only strange thing at that clinic was that I had to change Ike's diaper when they tested him for STDs and when I asked if I could wash my hands, the lady said it wasn't allowed. In other news, I overhead Ella practicing how to say "who's there?" in Russian during her naptime today (I taught the girls to say that when someone comes to the door). And Ike is now rolling over from his front to back and is very close to rolling from back to front, too. The weather has been nice the last couple of days (in the 70s). I had a hood over Ike's head, but not a hat, and a lady told me he'd be crying all night because his ears were exposed. But it turned out he was just fine- he even laughed quite a bit that night for us! We'll be happy when this week of medical testing is over!

We made it!

After 30 hours of travel (our quickest trip EVER!), we made it to Ulan-Ude! The trip went amazingly smoothly, even though as I look back I wouldn't want to repeat it. =) God gave us the grace we needed for each moment as it came. He reminded me that He will always do that- things aren't always easy, but He is always with us, each step of the way. We made every one of our connecting flights with zero moments to spare. We literally boarded the planes right after arriving to the gates. On the first flight from Spokane to Denver we had four seats because of some frequent flyer miles my grandparents gave us. Even though we had three seats on the overseas and Europe flights, they checked our fourth bag for free because of our fourth seat when we checked it! Hooray! Leif was such a champ with the little girls. We had to be split up on the planes (the flight attendant even made us switch back after we traded with a nice man so that we could all be together. I felt badly, as I had to wake him up to make the switch. Leif even had to deal with Ella getting airsick all over. In the picture above, Anneka is watching a show on our portable DVD player. Some fellow missionaries recommended us getting one when when Anneka was born, and it has been great to have on trips. She probably only used it for 2 hours out of the 30, but those 2 hours were lifesaving ones!

Here we are in the Moscow airport. Our longest layover was here- almost three hours... but we needed every minute to get through passport control, check our bags, and get through security. The last flight felt SO LONG (six hours), and we were so happy to be greeted by our teammates for breakfast when we arrived to Ulan-Ude! Now we all have major jetlag. The girls woke up at 2:00am yesterday morning, and even though we kept Anneka up all day until bedtime and only let Ella sleep the length of a regular nap, they both woke up at 1:30. All day they have been wacky. They're all now asleep, and it's 8:00pm and Leif and I are heading to bed shortly, too. Right now we're cooking up 20 pounds of meat! My Dad got me some seasoning to make Italian sausage, so we're mixing, cooking, and freezing it for yummy meals in the future. Mmmmmm. It smells so good. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be well rested and ready to begin engaging more in life here!

Ike's Dedication and Church Sendoff

On Sunday we dedicated Ike to the Lord with our church family here in Spokane. He is such a loved little boy, and it is neat to think about him growing up to become the person God has created him to be. We were also blessed to have our church pray for us as we are heading back to Russia in just a few days.

These past weeks have been a whirlwind of visiting churches and Bible studies and getting together with some of our supporters. A couple of weeks ago we got to visit a weeknight Bible study in Harrison, Idaho. It was especially fun because my grandparents own a lake home on Coeurd'Alene Lake and we got to stay there and have extra time with family. Here's my grandpa helping Anneka to ride a bike.

... and Grandma holding little Ike.

Last week Leif went to be with his mom, and I stayed at my parents' house with the kids. We had some warm weather, and the girls loved running in the sprinkler and playing in water. Anneka even went into the lake up to her neck with my dad. They enjoyed popsicles, and playing-playing-playing outside.

And Ike liked kicking around on a blanket on the grass and feeling the warm breeze. I'm so thankful he's such a happy little guy!

Sweet Times

We're blessed by so many amazing friends and supporters! These past weeks we've had some sweet moments of sharing, playing, singing, praying, learning with the people in our lives. I wish I'd remembered to get out my camera more. Above are visits from Erin (Oregon), Stephanie (Montana), and Carol (California)... what a gift when our friends can come to us!!



The girls loved having Erin here. She played with them and colored with them. She's so great. I love when our kids are included.


Egg dying with three generations of friends (only the kids are pictured.) =)



Great conversations with Ron and Gretchen

The time is zooming by until we leave for Russia again. This is always my least favorite part- the packing and moving and saying goodbyes. I'm praying that we'll go through this time well, filled with God's peace and abiding in Him.

Anneka's Preschool

Since January, Anneka has been going to a local preschool two mornings a week. We decided to do it for mainly cultural/social reasons- allowing Anneka to get a taste of her parent's home culture and playing with other kids who speak English. They also take the kids outside every day, which Anneka loves. And they feed the kids lunch- a definite bonus. Anneka really likes her school. She has made a lot of friends there and is a delight to her teachers.



Here's a close-up of the same picture, taken when Heidi was here. Our camera broke, so we don't have any new pictures. But our new camera came in the mail today... so we'll be taking new pictures soon. I'm so glad it broke while we were in the States- it makes it much easier, less expensive, and quicker to replace! =)

Heidi

As missionary kids, Anneka, Ella, and Ike have already experienced many hellos and goodbyes in their short lives. There are some hard things about this, and yet there are many wonderful blessings they have, too. We had to say "goodbye" to Heidi last summer. Her family lived in Ulan Ude and now is back in Canada for a few years. Since Heidi is already in the second part of high school, she won't be returning to Russia with her parents. This is sad for us, as we LOVE her, and our kids do, too! It was a gift a couple of weeks ago when Heidi was able to miss a couple of classes and fly down to spend a long weekend with us. How fun it was to say "hello" to Heidi once again! We loved having her stay with us! Anneka was above-the-roof excited, as Heidi is one of her very favorite people in the world. They have a special relationship.





On Saturday we went to Riverfront Park for a nice day outside. We slid down the wagon slide, looked at the waterfalls, fed the goat garbage and rode on the carrousel. Then we headed to Finch Arboretum for a chilly-but sunny- outdoor picnic.



Heidi went with us as we shared at Cheney Community Church and talked with people at the potluck afterwards. Ike liked it when he got Heidi cuddle time.




We took advantage of the sunshine and had barbequed hamburgers with my parents later that evening. We don't know when we'll get to see Heidi again, but we're thankful for these moments and even more thankful that our friendship will continue- even across the miles.