End of the School Year

     We have successfully completed another wonderful year of school!  When we returned from the States this winter (after an amazing school situation with my Mom as Ella's second grade teacher and the Northwest Christian Homeschool Enrichment Program for all three kids), we were thankful to be greeted by the Blakers and their incredible servants' hearts for our family.  They came all the way out to our village 3 days a week to intensively work with the girls and to pour into our family.  It's quite remarkable how much they covered in such a short time and it really helped our family to seamlessly enter back into life here.

     One day a month, the Blakers have a special day for all of the kids they teach, together.  There are kids from 4 different countries, and it's very special for all of them!

      On the days the Blakers helped another family with their schooling,  I did unit studies with the kids.  One of our unit studies was on popcorn.  We planted this popcorn kernel, and look how much it's growing!

     We also tried out fun new popcorn recipes that we shared with the people in our small group.  =)

Ike's kindergarten class, eating breakfast

     We enrolled Ike in a local kindergarten, and he was there 5 hours a day, 5 days a week. While this wasn't always easy for him, it did wonders for his language acquisition, and this transferred over into his neighborhood friendships.  Every time I popped into his class, he was happily playing with other kids.

A random picture I snapped of a spinning wheel in Ike's classroom

     Ike's school invited our family to participate in an event that involved 9 or 10 other schools in the area.  On this day we were practicing our lesson with some kids from Ike's class.



     When we were waiting to practice, the kids swarmed around Leif.  So cute!

 
     This picture is from our special presentation day.  The Buryat language teacher spoke in Buryat and shared parts of Buryat culture.  Ike's kindergarten teacher (middle) spoke in Russian and shared about Russian culture.  And we shared in English about American culture.  It was a neat experience for us all!



     The Blakers went back to the States the last month of school for the birth of their grandson, and I became the girls' full-time teacher.  They were real troopers, taking their schoolwork around town with me and being very flexible.

     Our last unit study of the year was on dogs, which was very interesting, especially now that we have a dog ourselves!!  I think the girls' favorite part was watching videos about the different types of breeds and making homemade dog treats.



     We've continued to have art lessons, and often other kids join us.

Fun masks!

     We are so proud of our Ike, who is now a kindergarten graduate!  His graduation was a very big deal and followed the theme of the Oscars.  

     The kids sang and danced and had lines they recited.

They received their Oscar and walked the red carpet.

Ike's personalized Oscar, with his name on it.  

     Kindergarten graduation here is a very big deal.   Because of the size of Ike's class (32 kids!) and size of the music room, they limited only parents to attending the graduation.  Of course, Anneka and Ella were crushed, as they wanted to be a part of this important day of Ikes' life.  This was hard on my mom-heart, as there was nothing I could do about it.  We prayed about it, and then only a couple of days later, the director invited our family to "perform a number" at the graduation ceremony. I immediately accepted, as I knew this would mean the girls could be there for their brother's special day!  Imagine their joy when I shared with them the news!  We sang "Father of Lights" in English.

     Ike with his family

I love these sweet kids so much!

     After the graduation, the parents and kids went to an amazing new indoor playground.  We had wanted to do something special for the kids anyways to commemorate the ending of a successful school year.  We didn't even know this place existed, and all of the kids had SO much fun there!

It was great for both big and little kids.

     There were so many climbing things that were made of colorful crocheted ropes.  If I'd known, I would have packed clothes besides my dress!  Leif went up with the kids.  =)

     ... And then our kids had their annual end-of-school celebration with their church class.  We went to a nearby village, and their teachers planned such fun games (in each continent of the world!)

Ike had to find a pair of shoes out of the pile with just a blindfold.

     Kids had to dump water from a cup into a cup on Ella's stomach.  She got soaked, but was such a good sport!  =)

     June 1st, which is National Kids Day, was a perfect ending to the school year and entrance into summer.  (June 1st is considered the first day of summer here, too).  We went to a park with friends.

    The kids had a blast, and we did, too!

Happy Summer!!!

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)....

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