Unexpected Trip

     Soon before Christmas, we got the news that my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer.  As you can imagine, this came as quite a shock to everyone!!  As a family, we knew that we would do whatever we needed to do to help my mom.  We knew she'd be having a lobectomy soon and would need help after the surgery.  We decided that the best thing would be for me to go to be with her and to take one of our kids.  Bringing a grandchild would help to bring joy, and leaving 2 (instead of 3) kids with Leif, would help make things more smooth for him.  This is Anneka's last year to count as a "child" for air tickets, so she was the one we chose to come.  I was so touched by how Leif, Ella, and Ike all had such sweet attitudes, even though I knew this wasn't anyone's favorite situation. 



     It's so wonderful to be a part of Gods' family!  Ephesians 6:18 came to mind:  "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.  With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints".  We definitely felt covered in prayer and mom's operation went "beautifully" (the words of the surgeon).  We were carried by the prayers of brothers and sisters from all over the globe.  What could have been a really hard time was actually a time of God's sweetness and blessing. And wow!...My mom has lot of friends!  She was showered by cards, flowers, meals, and love in many other ways.



     Anneka wanted to have a special surprise ready for my mom for when she came home from the hospital.  She made chocolate-covered strawberries and bananas.   She had such a heart to serve and to take care of her "Baba". 



     One of my mom's friends ordered meals for us from Blue Apron.  All of the ingredients came delivered in a box with step-by-step recipes.  It was fun for me to prepare the meals, and we all enjoyed them!




     Anneka made special desserts for us several evenings.  Our favorite was tapioca with mandarin oranges.  =)




     Here in Siberia, Anneka has a spa business with her friend, Christina.  She brought her business to the States and mom regularly benefited from foot massages and manicures/pedicures. 

Anneka, painting cousin Nora's nails

Anneka, working on her Tornado oil painting

     Anneka had a day of testing in Spokane while we were there (and did awesome!) and did a unit study on horses for the 4 weeks we were gone.  But her favorite part of school was all of the art lessons she got with Grandpa.  She made an oil painting for the first time, learned some new sketching techniques, and made some really cool ceramic pieces.  It was a special time for both of them.

Anneka and Grampa, on frozen Medical Lake

     Everyone talked about how cold it was while we were in Washington.  But it was not cold.  It was snowy and white and beautiful.  We could feel our skin, our dry hands turned soft, and we could take deep breaths.  It was a little reprieve from the Siberian winter. 



      A special gift from our time in the States was getting to celebrate my Grandma's 92nd birthday.  It was wonderful to be with family and to see her joy at us all being together.



     Anneka drew a picture of hollyhocks (her great-grandma's favorite flower) as a birthday gift.




     And the very next day we celebrated my mom's birthday!  Anneka and my Dad ordered a special cake with an ice cream cone on top (my  mom loves ice cream!)  Anneka drew her a picure of ice cream, and we enjoyed a day of being together and celebrating her life.  Anneka's spa offered free services for the birthday girl all day.  =)


      When we bought our tickets, we didn't know the exact date of mom's surgery.  This was another way that God showed His kindness, as we arrived a few days before she went in to the hospital and were there until she feeling better and was able to even go on short walks.  It was encouraging for us to see the day-by-day improvement in Mom, and it was nice to leave knowing that she was in a good place.



     The Friday before we left, my Dad took Anneka to the Lion King musical.  They both LOVED it!   It was so cute to hear them talk about it afterward.  It is a memory they will treasure always. 



     While we were away, God took care of Leif, Ike, and Ella, too.  Ike had his seventh birthday while we were gone.  Our friend, Adriana, made him this amazing cake!  I promised him we could celebrate again when Anneka and I returned, and that helped him to know he would get two birthdays this year.  ;) 


     Leif took the kids skiing and sledding one day with neighbors.  Ella loved skiing, Ike- not so much.=)  Different neighbors, friends, and teammates pitched in with watching the kids at times when Leif had obligations.  Once again, we saw how beautiful it is to be a part of God's family and to be surrounded by His love and support in difficult times.



     It was very bittersweet to say goodbye to my parents. My heart felt very torn between them and my waiting family in Siberia.  We also didn't yet know the biopsy results from mom's lymph nodes. 

I posted the following words on Facebook after we arrived back home....

Anneka and I made it safely back to Ulan-Ude! Our first flight to Seattle was cancelled because of the snow. Amazingly, we got on a different flight that was supposed to have already left a couple of hours before but was perfectly delayed and then they held the doors for us to board (after they'd prepared the cabin for takeoff....there were even 2 seats TOGETHER!). We had other bumps along the way- airsickness, no shuttle in Beijing because of Chinese New Year, my purse strap breaking, our carry-ons being too heavy for them to allow us to bring them on, a problem with Anneka's passport, a few other things I'm not remembering. But before we left in the morning, as I was reading Psalm 91, the part in verse 15 that says "I will be with him in trouble" really stuck out to me. I had this peace and assurance the whole way. And He WAS with us! Every little bump was taken care of (for example, they checked our carry-ons for free and then we didn't even have to worry about hauling them through the Beijing airport!) My favorite story of all is that I kept trying to connect to the airport internet to find out Mom's biopsy results. But the internet wasn't working (not for other people either). Somehow for one split second, it worked enough for mom's message to get through to me. Only hers. (And others had written me during that time, too. None of my outgoing messages were sent either.) And we found out there is no cancer in her lymph nodes!! What a happy celebration Anneka and I had right there in the airport!! Thank you so much for your prayers for our family these weeks. We are truly grateful. It's so wonderful to be upheld by your prayers.♥️♥️♥️

January 7th- Russian Christmas

     This year's Russian Christmas was special.  The Buryat music group sang several songs at church and we were able to then share these songs with our neighbors.  It is so beautiful and powerful to hear these songs in Buryat style sung to Jesus!

We enjoyed a special tea time with everyone after the service.

Then our family headed downtown to check out this year's ice sculptures and slides.

This little boy apparently wanted to be in our family picture ;)

     They have this ice bowl every year for the kids.  They get inside and then they have to try and get out.  It's very slippery and difficult . Ella and Ike LOVE this ice bowl challenge.  It always kind of freaks me out because you can see blood splatters from other children who have cracked their heads.  You definitely wouldn't see something like this in America!

     There were the normal ice slides at the town square as usual, but there was also this special slide where 5 kids at a time raced each other.  There was a rule that the kids had to be on a hard plastic sled.  They got going very fast!  I had a good view from a bridge that crossed over the slide.

     Our house still needs another layer of insulation.  The winter has been cold!  This is common sight in our home, sitting by an extra little heater.  =)



     ... and lots of snuggles!  Anneka and I had to get lots of snuggles in with everyone before leaving for the States for 4 weeks. 

     A couple of days later, we said goodbye to our family and Ulan-Ude.  We left a special countdown calendar with envelopes for Ella and Ike to open every day.  They got notes from us every day and sometimes some little treats, too.  =)

     A special surprise and reminder of God's care was being on the same plane as our friend, Larisa!  God is intimately involved in all of the details of our lives!

Happy New Year!

        We had a festive New Year with family and friends!  We maybe don't celebrate New Years as big as most Russians, but we defnitely celebrate it more that we are in America.  On New Years Eve, our friends came over in the afternoon.  We enjoyed drinking tea together and sharing gifts.

     Then later that evening, The Giuras joined us for our annual tradition of fondue.  We ate a ton, played games, and hung out together.

Adriana made this incredible cake that tasted divine!

... and also these sugar and egg white swirls that were incredible dipped in chocolate fondue sauce.  =)

     At midnight, we all headed outside to light sparklers.  We also set off a few fireworks and some Chinese lanterns that we'd gotten as a Christmas present.  It was so cold that it was hard to get any good pictures.  Even the kids complained of feeling cold, which is rare when there are fun things going on!

   
     When we returned to the house, we discovered why we were so cold!  It was -43 degrees outside!!  Marius had to start his car every 30 minutes for the rest of the night and each time it barely started up.

     After we all slept in the next morning, Leif made us all a breakfast of pancakes.  We ate and then all hung out.  

     Some people played games, some went ice skating.  It was a great way to start the year!

     There are 2019 ice sculptures all over the city.  The kids wanted to make sure Heather Ann and Adam got their picture with one!

     One of Ella's closest friends here had her birthday the next day.  Ella was so excited to give her three small gifts and then wrap them up into boxes that made up snowman.  She enjoyed a day at her friend's house and ice skating at our little local rink.

Happy New Year!

Circus Tricks on a Horse!

     Yesterday our daughter was in a competition, doing circus tricks on a horse!  She only learned of the competition the day before!  I love how she jumped right in and stepped up to the challenge.  

It was fun watching the girls.  It takes a lot of strength to swing your body over a horse!

     We had to wait a long time for the competition to start.  We all completely froze!  Even though it was inside the barn, I don't think it made it any warmer than outside.  I've never seen Leif get so chilled in all of the years I've known him!  The kids went into the changing room for awhile and tried to cuddle with the barn cats to warm up a bit.  

   
     After the competition was another type of competition.  People brought all different types of salads shaped into various artwork.  Somehow I missed the memo and only brought a salad in a bowl (no artwork out of it).  But next year we'll be prepared!  We thought this horse was pretty cute.  But they were all incredible!! 

     Our kids have been part of things we never imagined they'd be a part of.  It's fun to see and we look forward to what future adventures they'll be a part of! ;)

Christmas

     Our Christmas followed our tradition on this side of the world.  We spent Christmas Eve with our teammates and Christmas day at home as a family.    I was thankful for the comfort and love of our "family away from family" as I was grieving the news of my Mom's recent cancer diagnosis.  It was good for all of our hearts to be together, acting out the Christmas story, singing meaningful Christmas carols together in several different languages, and just hanging out.

     I love watching everyone play their roles each year.  We loved having Heather Ann and Adam with us this year.  The guest always gets to be the donkey.  Lucky Adam!  ;)

     We ate good food, and the kids opened meaningful gifts.  We also had a fun gift exchange game.  Then we spent time sharing with each other parts of our lives.  

     Leif was very happy to share watching an American football game with friends. =)

 Anneka and Christina brought their spa supplies and gave out manicures and pedicures.

     Then we came home and slept in the living room (an annual tradition).  We were thrilled that Heather Ann and Adam slept in the living room with us!!!

 The next morning we enjoyed opening stockings and gifts together.

     It's fun that our kids are reaching the age where they're more exciting about giving gifts than receiving them.  They were each so excited for Heather Ann and Adam to open gifts they'd gotten them with their own money.  Ella got them special Buryatia chocolates.  Anneka got them homemade soaps from our neighber, and Ike got them a pig towel (as they are very popular right now- 2019 will be the year of the pig!)

Anneka loved the earrings Ike got for her!

      The Wicker family sent us gifts through Heather Ann and Adam.  How special to open them!  One gift is a box of conversation starters that are based around word teasers (American sayings).  This is a perfect gift, as most third culture kids don't know a lot of sayings like "let the cat out of the bag" or "take the bull by the horns" because most of their English just comes from us and interactions with teammates or family over skype. We've already started dialoging about these fun sayings, and Leif and I are learning some new ones, too!

 My dear friend, Erin, sent us gifts to open!

     The rest of the day we hung out and rested.  The kids tried out their new gifts.  Here, Ella was making chocolates with a kit she got from Baba and Grampa.

Ike and Leif put together a mechanical building set from Gramma Irene.

It turned out pretty cool!

Anneka read Ike one of his new books.

     We played new games together.  Heather Ann and Adam gave us one that they enjoy and we gave them one that our family enjoys.  It was fun to play them together!

     The next day our family went to the banya (local bath house) with some Christmas money from Leif's mom and grandparents.  We enjoyed having these down days together as a family.