A New Puppy

     I've been trying to write a blog for a few weeks now, and something has been amiss with blogger.  And then, just when I was about to give up, it started working again!  I have a lot to catch up on!  But for now, we must share about the new addition to our family....

     When Ike had his ear infection, I stayed home with him, and the girls had Leif send me this picture when they were at our English Club.  A few minutes later they called with many sweet pleading cries of "please!  Someone has to save her!  This puppy is soooo cuuuuute.  And she doesn't have a home!"  Our kind friends agreed to hold onto the puppy for a few days while we decided, but really, who could resist this puppy?!?  The girls named her Cinnamon, and she has ever since added spice to our lives. 

 Cinnamon's First Bath

      We've had unusually warm days for Siberia!  Of course, our neighbor kids are in jackets and hats still, but we're soaking in the sunshine!  Ella loves our new puppy!

     She's growing so fast!  

     While we're on the topic of animals, we saw this cat up on this pole in our neighborhood one day.  The next day she was still up there!  We prayed for her and a few hours later she had gotten down.  Whew!

     Leif went on his annual mountain climbing trip, and the kids each took turns sleeping in bed with me.  Anneka read through a book series that she borrowed from her friend, Nate.  She reminds me of myself at her age, devouring books.

     Ike made this welcome home sign for Leif to see when he returned in the middle of the night.  It was all his idea to put it up where Papa would see it right away.

     One day I looked out the window and saw the kids getting up on the roof of the neighbors' banya (bath house).  Never a dull moment!

Jesus Is Risen!

     Easter is always a very special holiday for our family.  We enjoyed special celebrations at church, home, and with neighbors this year.

     The girls were in a small play at church that depicted the resurrection story.  Anneka played Mary Magdalene and Ella was an angel.  They both did a great job remembering their lines.  We had lost our lines and I thought, "oh well, Yulia will have them" (she's the person who wrote the play)... but she called me at 9:30 the night before, to tell me she'd lost her lines, too!  Thankfully everyone remembered enough to reconstruct them.  =)

     We enjoyed our annual Easter lunch with our church family.  I love how everyone brings something to contribute and we all sit together.  

Sweet Babushkas

     At home, we enjoyed our annual tradition of dyeing eggs together as a family.  Ike dived to the floor when Leif snapped the picture.  He's not into photos so much these days.  =)

 

We also had an egg hunt.  Each kid gets their own area to find eggs.

 Such joy!

 Leif hid Anneka's eggs in extra-tricky places.

     As a family, we have a tradition of hiding 12 "resurrection eggs" together with other eggs that hold candy.  We open them in order and inside are symbols that tell the story of Jesus.  Our kids love this tradition and we decided to share it with neighbors, too.  The kids all got into it and had a lot of fun.  

     Last night in our small group, we studied the final words of Jesus before He ascended into heaven.  We are reminded of the precious gift of the Holy Spirit that He's given us.  May we live out of His strength and not our own.  May we be filled with increasing wonder and joy of all that Jesus has done for us!

The Spring Melt

     In two weeks time we had a temperature difference of over 80 degrees (Farenheit).  It is always soooo muddy and gross during the Spring Melt, but somehow it doesn't even matter because we are so so happy that the height of winter is over.  Of course, most nights are still below freezing and we will undoubtedly get snow again over the next weeks.  But the WORST is over.  Hooray!  We got all of the kids rubber boots (a necessary village accessory). The problem with rubber boots if you wear them in the spring, though, is that everyone thinks you will get rheumatism if you wear them (because it's still cold).  So you have to weigh the advantages/disadvantages before putting them on.  When the roads look like this, though (see above), it's no question.  The car in the background was stuck in the mud for quite some time.  Cars all over were stuck every day.  It's part of the season.

     Muddy in the day and icy in the mornings.  This is a road that turned into an ice path in the night.  On our morning run we had to walk for parts to go around it.

     Anneka snapped this picture on a walk back from the store one day.

 

     We continue to connect with neighbors.  Ike has made a friend that he plays with almost every day.  I love that Ike feels comfortable calling the boy's mom to ask if his friend can play.  His friend often has his mom call us, too.  On this day he and his brother joined us for our art lesson.  It's soooo good to have Larisa in town to give us lessons!!




    Ella made this castle by dipping Legos into paint.  It was a very fun and creative activity for the kids!



    This neighbor called me one day and asked me if I wanted any seedlings of bell peppers.  She had planted them in February to get them started and had too many.  Peppers are a plant that you have to start inside several months before moving them outside.  This sort of thing hasn't been on our radar, so it was such a kind offer!  She showed me how to transplant them into larger cups.  I thought it was so interesting that she first killed microbes in the soil by pouring boiling water into the cups.  She said that peppers like it warm, too.  She told me that as it gets closer to garden season she will tell me what to do and when it's safe to start planting outside. 


 
   Ella and Ike played with her son while we transplanted the peppers.

     We were able to go to Zaigraevo to see Inka last weekend.  I didn't get any pictures while we were there!!  But I did snap this picture of her getting water from the well as a memory.  =)  It was great to catch up after months of being apart.

     Ike's buddy Bogdan had a birthday last week!  The plan was for them to go to the movie theatre but because of the tragic fire in the shopping mall and theatre in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, Russia had a national day of grieving and nobody went to the theatres that day. 




    Ike ended up playing at Bogdan's house for awhile and then they came here to play for awhile in the afternoon.  They rode their bikes to the store and bought candy. 

    We learned that it was Bogdan's Dad's birthday that very day!  So when his parents came to pick him up we had dinner and a cake together to celebrate.

The Birthday Boys

     The girls wrote letters to some penpals in the States to send back with a friend who was here!

Ike has been sitting on my lap this whole time while writing this blog.  I love it.  He's been fighting an ear infection, poor guy.  Hopefully he'll be feeling better soon!

To end this post, Ike wants to type on a few keys (I just taught him about the shift button)....

!@#$%^&*()(*&^%4#@@#$%^&*()-'[;./]=\

Sagaalgan

     Sagaalgan started on February 16 this year and lasted one full month.  We arrived from the States on the 14th, one of the important days of preparation for this important Buryat holiday.  We felt fortunate to be here during this special time, especially now as we are living in a Buryat village.  A few years ago we started a tradition  of  having a "white party" for Sagaalgan, which is also called "White Month".  This was a way to get to know some of the people from our Englsh Club better.  This year we had two white parties.  One for our English Club friends, and one as a way to get to know our new neighbors.


     The first party was at the Brubachers'.  We ate white foods and played silly games with white ping pong balls, cotton, and marshmallows. 



     We had a competition for groups to work together and build something with mini marshmallows and toothpicks.

This group won with their yurt!

     Dima has come to our white party every year since we began the tradition.We gave gifts of white soap and Leif shared a bit and gave a blessing from the Bible to each person present.

     The next day we had a party in our neighborhood.  We didn't know who would come, and it worked out perfectly!  I think I counted 28 people total, but people came in waves, so it was really nice for connecting and conversations.  I was so thankful that one neighbor knew how to make buuzi (traditional Buryat dumplings) and helped us out!

Ella, helping to get the buuzi ready to steam

     I really enjoyed getting to know ladies from the neighborhood.  This party has been a catalyst for us running together in the mornings and getting our kids together to play.  Everyone is so friendly!

Some of the guys, eating buuzi and talking

     The second wave of guests stayed until midnight.  It was impossible to put our kids to bed with all of the other kids over, but they did great!  At the end of the evening some of us moms and kids played games while the guys talked.

I wanted to get a picture of all of the kids, but they were always spread out!

Here are some more pictures of us all hanging out...

CUTIE PIES!!!

     It was so fun to be reunited with this friend again!  Right now she's in the hospital after an appendectomy.  I visited her this week.  Poor girl!

     One of our friends pointed out that Nettie's shirt looks like a party hat on this boy!  =) 

     Since the party, there's a group of 4 of us who go running in the mornings.  On this morning it was -20C!!!  Toooooo cold!

     Ike had this friend over yesterday.  His friend is so quiet and Ike is naturally chatty.  It was very cool to overhear Ike explaining how to play a very difficult game in Russian to his pal.  I was amazed that they could play!  They are both six.  =)

     We're thankful for the parties and for the ways that we've been able to continue to build relationships in the days following!

Ten Minutes of Fear, and You Are Home

     We're in the process of looking for a car right now.  This is a bit tricky because cars don't lose much value (price-wise) over time, but Russian roads are bad and do a number on cars very quickly!  So, of course, we want something reliable that will withstand our village roads.  In the meantime, Nettie has been nice to give us rides, we walk, and we take buses.  And we take taxis.  The taxi system here is actually quite fantastic.  If I understand Uber, it's like that.  A bunch of people with their own cars are signed into the taxi company.  When we want a ride, we just type our starting and ending address into an app and within minutes someone comes and picks us up for a very reasonable price.  This has created many interesting experiences and great conversations. 

       I mentioned in the last blog our connection with a neighbor we'd never met when we ordered a taxi. Leif has since run into him outside and he invited our family over. Another time our driver drove across the river because he wanted to avoid traffic.  Going over the river itself was very smooth, but going over the banks before and after the river made for quite the exciting ride!  One morning, a mom from our village picked us up.  We'd never met her before, but she has a daughter Ella's age.  She gave me her name and number to connect later. 

     The sign above says "Ten Minutes of Fear, and You are Home".  This sign was in the car of one of our drivers.  When we first got in he was helping jump start someone else's car.  He asked us if we could wait a few minutes so that he could help them out.  Then he said, "Don't worry- it'll just take 5 minutes and then I'll drive really fast". 

     Probably the funniest story was from this week.  Ike started going to a local kindergarten and I called a taxi to get home.  The driver looked at us and then said, "Let me guess you're names... Hmmm.... you're Mike, no- Ike!  And you are..... Jami!"  It was a little disconcerting because I'd never met this guy in my life!  It turns out his son in in Ike's class and the teacher sends out text messages each day with class information and had introduced us to everyone in the group.  It also turns out that he is a believer!

     We hope to find a car soon, but in the meantime we are thankful for the many blessings God has given us through this car-less season.