Easter

     

     This Easter season was full of many blessings!  Our friends in "Spring Village" had a party that was a sort of Passover Seder dinner.  We felt blessed that they invited us.  Each person shared ways they had seen God's mercy that week.  It was encouraging to hear stories- including Buryats who are desiring to grow closer to Jesus!

     At our church, we had a special Easter service.  A long time ago, Liza had asked me if I would sing a song for Easter with a group of them.  What I didn't realize was that it was a sort of "band" and that they had planned for me to be the only singer!  They wanted me to learn the words by heart, which is always a bit more difficult in a second language.  Thankfully, Zhenya (the guy in black in front) sang, too.  He and Liza ended up needing the music, so I was able to peek at the words from time to time.  =)  

  

     Something really special this year is that every family in our church did something unique (song, skit, video presentation, poem) to contribute to the morning church service.  Our family sang the song "I am the Resurrection and the Life" in English.  When we practiced at home Ike was break dancing on the floor to the song.  But once we were up front at church, he was very shy and hid behind me part of the time.  =)  We ended up singing this song later at English Club as a time filler, and it was really special to sing these words as a prayer for those who where there and listening.

Some of the kids sang a song, too.

We enjoyed our traditional Easter feast with our church family.

     Sunday evening we had a talent show for our English Club.  The coolest part about this was that some of the youth from our church planned this event and took ownership of it.  While we had less than normal of our student crowd, we had more than normal friends of youth in the church.  It was neat to see them reaching out to their social groups.  Through the different talents displayed, people were able to see and learn about Jesus, too.

     Each of our kids opened up the show with their talents.  Ike told a joke, Ella played the piano, and Anneka showed a painting of mountains that she made.  This was a nice way to break the ice for other contestants, and it was fun for our our kids to take part.  Each of our kids also got to be volunteers in other "acts".  In this one, Anneka breathed in helium and spoke in the lowest voice she could as a part of a show on electricity.  It was very funny!

Ike also got to be a part of the electric show.

And Ella, too, with this long lightbulb!

     There were many amazing talents displayed by students.  Leif was one of the judges, and it was hard to choose the winner!  Contestants got points based on talent and how much English they used.  To end the show, Bruce did this chalk drawing to a song that was perfect to describe Easter.  Several students didn't know what Easter was about and were interested to hear it's meaning.

     Leif and Dave, two of the judges, with the second place winner.  Something VERY cool that we just learned is that he lives in the village where we are moving to!  AND he has a daughter Anneka's age!  =)

     My sister sent us a special egg-dyeing kit this year.  The eggs are decorated by wrapping them in pieces of silk.  It was really special for us to do this (she did her own eggs across the world at the same time), and so beautiful to see the results!

the pieces of silk all layed out

Here's how some of them turned out.  I forgot to take a picture before we ate a few!  =)

     At preschool, Ike's class made Easter egg drawings during art time.  The kids' private art teacher has said before that our kids always do things "outside of the box" and never quite do the lesson exactly as she plans.  She is a wonderful teacher and both embraces and celebrates this part of them.  When I saw these eggs hanging on the wall in Ike's classroom, I was able to see what she means.  All of the eggs from the class were more or less like the top two on the left and bottom three. And then there is Ike's egg (top right) - an "egg robot".  I love it!  =)

     Ike was also asked to bring in an Easter craft to display in the hallway at school.  I was told the day before, and that day was so busy that we only remembered 20 minutes before he had to be at school.  He quickly made this chick coming out of his shell.  Ike used tons of glitter glue, and it was so windy outside that I dropped it (still very wet) on the ground on the way to the car.  Ike was very cheerful about the results, however, and said it turned out better than the original.  =)

   Our lives have felt very busy this spring.  We had wanted to take a little family getaway during the kids' spring break, but then three different things came up (including guests from Canada) that we couldn't miss.  So for a couple of nights before Easter, we went and stayed at Inka's in the village.  She's gone now, so we had her place to ourselves.  We hiked around and played together.  It was delightful for us all!

The kids racing after a staggered start

Ike driving with Mama

   

     We dyed eggs together to take to church 

... and had an egg hunt for the kids

     We enjoyed our tradition of opening Resurrection Eggs that tell the story of Jesus' death and resurrection.

     And then the next week, John and Sharon brought and hid chocolate eggs for the kids to find!

Easter shouts to all the world the best news we could ever hear!

Our Little School Boy

Ike, standing in front of his new school

         It's been on my heart to give Ike a boost of Russian before we move to the village this summer.  We have several little boys who live in our new neighborhood, and we want for Ike to be able to play freely with them, having confidence and understanding in the language.  We prayed about it, and a spot opened up in a local preschool here for Ike!  We could see God's hand in leading Ike here, as the school is very close, the director knew us because she used to work at the girls' old preschool, and it was very easy to enroll him for two months.  He's there for almost 5 hours each day, and already we can tell a difference in his Russian. 



     I peeked in one day when I was at his school, helping a friend with an English class.  I was amazed at how quiet it was with so many 4 and 5 year olds!



     Ike really likes the school playground.  I love how many Russian playgrounds make things out of old tires or bottles.  It's very creative and fun.

     A couple of days Ike has had special programs at school.  On this day he got to hold a dove.  This was very exciting for him!!


     Sometimes Ike attends my friend's English class in the preschool.   It's a great program for the Russian kids and is exclusively in English!  While some parts are too easy for Ike, he is also learning letters, sounds, and parts of reading.  It's this class that first piqued Ike's interest in going to Russian preschool, so even though we're phasing him out of the English class, it has been a blessing to us. 

Family Glimpses

     I was looking through the pictures on my phone and realized that there are so many little things that have happened the past weeks that I've captured and don't want to forget.  So I'll put them together in this blog.  We heard about this family that came to Ulan Ude for a few months to live.  They decided very suddenly to come and have seven kids with them (plus three back in the States).  It was very fun to meet them and special for Ike to have a couple of English-speaking boys to play with!

     During rest time and before bed, our kids like to draw and make beds for their dolls and create things out of modeling clay- all while listening to Adventures in Odyssey.  I peeked in one afternoon and snapped this picture. =)

     One of the popular methods for a lot of teachers here, unfortunately, is to yell at students.  Ike and Ella have been going to the school of arts, but the dance teacher yells so much that Ike began getting an upset stomach just thinking about the class.  =(  He's so active, so we tried putting him in this boxing class.  Since the girls were within the age range, they tried it out, too.  It was great (the teacher was really kind), but it was super late.  We didn't get home until 10:00pm on a school night, so we decided to check out other options.

     One of the best things about spring is snow that packs!  Our kids just love making snowballs and snowmen.  They had to wait all winter for it!

    One night our friends invited us to a jazz concert.  The singer was an African American artist, and it was SO FUN to hear songs we knew in English!  I was so glad we went.

     In honor of Matthew's 10th birthday, the kids got to go on a sleigh ride.

It was as beautiful as a fairy tale!

That same day we went sledding.

     Ike was delighted by everything.  The weather was right at freezing, and he exclaimed, "Mama!  It's like summer with snow in it!"

And, of course, the kids had to make a snowman!

In art class, the kids made a puppet theatre.  They've had fun since them making up stories for us.

     Preschool dance is very serious business here in Russia.  The kids have had extra Saturday practices for a couple of months now!  Ike likes Saturday practices okay because they are in the mornings.  He told me that he can take yelling better when he's not so tired.  The funny thing is that it's probably true!  We did recently pull Ike out of the school of arts for another kindergarten option, but his teacher told us she didn't know what she'd do without Ike dancing in the performance.  She asked if we could just bring him once a week for practices.  We're thinking about it.  ;)

Now the snow is gone and the mud is here.  Ella and Ike made a sand cat.

    Everyone is butchering their cows these days.  My friend Sveta's aunt was selling her beef, so I went to pick up my bundle.  It was so interesting how people were practically diving for the best meat!

     To celebrate the nice weather, we had our first family picnic of the year.  We're so happy winter is officially over!!!

     Our pastor's wife, Lena, has been teaching Anneka how to sew.  Anneka loves it and has a knack for it.

She made this purse last week.  It's so cute!!

     After lessons last week Lena invited us for sweet rolls and tea.

     Ella and I have been getting special one-on-one time together the past couple of weeks, as Ike is in kindergarten now.  One morning we babysat this little guy for a friend.

Another morning, we did a sewing project together.  She made a pencil case.  

Ike with little friends at church

The kids went to the trampoline place with Matthew for his birthday.  Such fun!

House Progress

     Our house in the village is coming along!  I took this picture out of our friends' window.  Ours (a duplex) is the one on the far left.

      Leif has been spending a lot of time with our friend, Denis, putting in windows, doors, and floors.  We are hoping to put in stairs, electricity, plumbing, and inner walls in the next few weeks... still with the goal of moving in around the first of June.

     I had a very encouraging conversation with a lady recently.  She said that hearing about our upcoming move has been very challenging for her.  She felt that God was tugging on her heart, wanting her and her husband to do the same thing in another community, but she knew it was way out of her comfort zone.  They are moving forward, though, and already have started a home group in another nearby village.  She asked if we can meet regularly to pray together.  So cool how God is at work!