English Opens Doors

     One of the gifts we realize God has given us is just the fact that we speak English!  While there is not a high percentage of people who speak English here by any means, it is still something that people are interested in and is often an open door to getting to know people on a deeper level.  People want their kids to learn English, as they know it could help them to find better jobs and have greater opportunities when they grow up.  One of our new friends together with a local church recently created a space for people to come and learn English, with a library of English books.  Our family has both enjoyed borrowing books as well as has been happy to find a new home for some of our unused books.  We have been invited to utilized this space, and we are strongly considering starting another English Club at this new location.  It's near our home and can be a place that we invite local people who ask us if we teach English.



     This spring I met some ladies from Singapore who were here for a short time to teach people how to teach beginner English!  I knew that God's hand was in this, as I'd been praying about a course just like this...and had even looked for something online that I could do. I attended the 2-day course, and brought the kids with me on the second day.  We had to practice teaching certain rules of grammar.  The kids jumped right in with me.  =)  I feel that what I learned will prove to be beneficial.

     Now that it's summertime, we don't have our weekly English Club, but Leif gets together about once a week to play basketball with whoever wants to from the club (we have a Viber group so that people know they're invited and where and when to meet).  It's usually a small group like the one pictured above, but they have a good time.  Anneka has enjoyed going with Leif.

     We also hang out in other ways with people that we've met through English and other connections. This summer we've been having fun playing the lawn game kubb.

     My little local English conversation group is continuing through the summer.  We've had some new ladies come the past couple of weeks, which is fun.  We have a lesson, and then everyone wants to stay so we play games for a couple of hours afterwards.

     And, of course, drinking tea together is an important part of growing in friendship.

     We've been planning and preparing for our yearly "English Club on Baikal".  So far we've had more people sign up early than any other year!  Several new people are coming who have never come before.

     One of our friends had a group come from China to lead what was basically an English VBS,  It was a team of kids (with their moms, but their moms worked in the kitchen) and their English was perfect because they had all lived in the States previously.  We took our kids, along with 5 of their friends.  (There were a lot more kids there than are shown in the pictures.  I just dropped off the kids each day, so only quickly snapped these at the beginning and end of the second day.)

     The kids sang songs, played games, ate yummy food, did crafts, and learned about God- all in English (but translated so that they could understand the important parts.) In this activity, they broke into groups and acted out different Bible stories.  This group acted out Samson and Delilah.  Our kids all had a great time, and their friends did, too.

Family Camp

     We had the opportunity to attend a family camp put on by our local ministry partners' church.  We thought it would be a good way to connect with them more deeply, connect with others from the church (which has "sent" us to Spring Village) and to have some time as a family.  While it was a very busy week with little free time, it was really refreshing to not be in charge of anything all week- a rarity in our lives!

The roads leading to the camp were almost unpassible!

     We lived in yurts (pictured in background), and each day was filled with seminars for adults, lessons for kids, and activities where kids and adults all worked together.  This is not something we see very often in the culture here, so it was very encouraging for our hearts.

One of the early morning activities was putting Bible verses together in teams.

We ate in this dining hall.  

 

Our kids are so cute how much they love camp food!

     Here's an example of a meal.  (I think we probably had soup, too)

Everyone took turns cleaning up after meals.

 

     There were several meetings each day, with the topic of raising and disciplining kids.  Something that struck me is that what happens 100 years before a child is born impacts them.  The things we implement now will impact future generations.  

 

The kids enjoyed their program and performed different skits and songs for us.

I loved how our kids didn't know many people there, but they jumped right in and had fun!

 

The kids were all a part of making this fun wall with jar candles.

It made a cool backdrop for photos later.

Singing songs of praise to God!  

Nailing worries to the cross.

 

Ike's broken arm didn't slow him a bit!

  

     It was cold all week, so we had to stay bundled.  It was a bit tricky to always fit his arm into the sleeve!

 One day we had a sand-city-making contest

 Ta-da!

 The kids had a snack time each day.

 There was a fun obstacle course in the woods.

     The Dads took the kids on a "hike" one afternoon with special father-kid activities to free the ladies had a meeting.  The fact that the fathers took responsibility for the kids was a big deal for the locals and an encouragement to many moms.

      One day we had a series of challenges to accomplish as teams.  In this one, we had to fit everyone on the board without falling off.

 Preparing for round 2 of getting onto the board.

 The ball had to go into the center indent by just lifting the edges with ropes.

 

Our whole team had to go through a different hole each, without touching any strings.

 

 

 The kids went through the top holes.

     On the last morning, we had time to spend with God alone.  I could see that many moms with young children were pretty tired by this point.  I stole this baby away to join me in my time with God on the beach.  

 We had a bonfire on the beach the last evening with a special program.

 On Sunday before we left there was a baptism for new believers!

 

This was my favorite part.

 

     This week was a special opportunity for our family and we are very grateful for it.  Later on, we learned that many people there were looking at our family as role models, which is a bit scary to think about!  We definitely have much to learn as parents and appreciate any chances we have to learn and grow.

Grandpa Jack

Grandpa Jack with his daughter, my mom, wearing a Seahawk fleece and his seabees hat.

It has been a melancholy couple of days for me.  Jami woke me up on our Thursday morning (July 4th here but still July 3rd in the USA) because mom was calling to let us know that my Grandpa Jack was nearing the end of his life.  I slipped on some clothes and went downstairs for the video call.  Grandpa was already not responding to anything at that point as we saw him taking some of his final breaths in this life (he died within an hour of the call).  The hardest thing was seeing the sadness in Grandma's eyes as her husband and best friend of over 70 years was slipping away.  I wish I could have been there to hug her, hold her hand and cry with her and mom and my Aunt Reta and the rest of the family in person.  These are the moments that are hardest about the life God has led us to where we live half way across the globe.  But, what I really want to share about is not the final moments of Grandpa's life, but about the amazing 96 years that were filled with so many other special moments.  I often look at my life and am amazed at how blessed I am and so much of that starts with the blessings of the family that God gave me.  And I know a huge link in my blessed family is my Grandpa Jack.  He was intelligent (worked as one of the lead engineers for the city of Seattle) and strong (he even played tennis a few times a week into his early 80s) which are two characteristics that are so strongly sought after in this world, but the two words that I think of first with Grandpa Jack are kind and gentle.  I never saw, nor heard of, Grandpa using his strength or intelligence to hurt anyone or put anyone down.  He had a quiet humility.  I always imagine him as a dad to my mom and aunt, and imagine he was the perfect dad for a couple of little girls.  He loved everyone in his family so much and we all knew it and felt it.  And not just his kids and grandkids knew this, but I'm sure his nieces, nephews and other relatives would attest to the gentle and loving man that Grandpa Jack always was.  I have so many memories of Grandpa.  Here are just a few from my life. 

• Holidays.  Basically every Christmas and Thanksgiving, and often on other holidays, we were with Grandma and Grandpa at their house or the cabin during my growing up years and as often as we could make it in years to follow.  I will miss this next time we are in the States.  The table will feel a bit empty from now on.
• Summer break.  Grandma and Grandpa would always take my brother and I separately for a week each summer for us "country kids" to get a week in the city, and then take my cousins Ian and Britt to the cabin near Darrington to give the "city kids" a week in the country.  I have so many great memories on both sides of this.  Grandma and Grandpa would take me all through Seattle to the zoo, aquarium, waterfront, science center, the locks and various parks and museums and so many other places.  Often it would happen to be a hot summer week and we would spend days swimming and playing in the pool at their house and warm up with ping-pong on the patio (grandpa could put some crazy English on his shots!).  Grandpa would also take me to the tennis court and patiently hit balls to me as I would miss 90% and hit the other 10% over the fence of the tennis courts.  Then when my cousins would visit the cabin I'd spend a good part of the week with them, including most nights sleeping at the cabin when Ian was there, and go on hikes, swim in the river, play things like badminton, croquet, 500 and horse shoes, and get ice cream at the Whitehorse store.  These weeks were always the highlights of my summers and wouldn't have been the same without Grandpa.
• Seahawks games.  Back when it seemed like the Seahawks weren't very popular and I was small and dreamed of being the next Steve Largent, I can remember Grandpa coming over on Sunday afternoons to cheer the Seahawks on.  I remember him cheering when the Seahawks made a great play and his sweet, gentle laugh when Grandma got all excited even when it was the other team making a great play.  Maybe this is one of the reasons I like watching football so much.  One of my last memories with Grandpa is going to their apartment in the retirement home when our family was home a year and a half ago.  Lark and I watched together with Grandma and Grandpa, and it just felt so natural and good to watch together one last time.
• Supporting the family.  I'm not sure how else to write this, but what I am thinking about is how Grandpa made it to so many of the events that I or my brother or other people in the family were part of.  Grandma and Grandpa would often be in the stands for basketball, football, baseball or whatever game we were playing.  This really sticks out because some kids' parents couldn't even make it to the games, and I had not only my parents, but also my wonderful grandparents.  They were, of course, there for things like graduations, and I feel so thankful that they were at our wedding too.  Grandpa was great and caring for Jami and for others who married into the family.  
• Humor.  Grandpa loved to laugh and enjoyed a good joke, but he never did this at the expense of someone else.  He often laughed with people, but not at people and was such a great example of enjoying life.  I will miss seeing him open his eyes wide in mock surprise while not mocking anyone, and the gentle bounce as he laughed.  I love that he could laugh at himself, but not tear himself down.  
• Grandma.  Perhaps the greatest thing in all my memories of Grandpa is his relationship with Grandma.  There are far too few examples of good marriages in this world.  Far too few husbands and wives who love each other and enjoy each other.  I am forever indebted to Grandpa for his example of loving and enjoying Grandma.  You will notice that in basically all of my memories of Grandpa, there is Grandma.  It wasn't just that they endured over 70 years of marriage as sometimes happens, but they enjoyed over 70 years of marriage.  They wanted to spend time together.  They enjoyed each other and looked for ways to do things together.  There were of course things that they each enjoyed separately, but not as a way of getting away from each other or finding better company, but because they were so free in their love for each other that they could spend time on different things.  But it certainly felt like the majority of their activities were things together because they enjoyed each other's company so much.  I remember going to bed as a kid while mom and dad would play pinochle together and I would hear the wonderful sound of laughter from my grandparents burst out in the dining room and ring down the hall to my bedroom.  I remember Grandpa's enjoyment of Grandma was one of the biggest reasons why as a young man I wanted to have a life like Grandpa's.  I feel blessed to enjoy this life with Jami and am glad I have Grandma and Grandpa's example of a couple who spent time together, loved each other, enjoyed each other and together poured into the rest of their family and other people around them.  

I'm sure many more memories will come streaming into my mind and heart in the coming days and weeks, and really until the end of my life on earth.  As sad as I am and as much as I will miss Grandpa, I am glad that he is no longer suffering in pain or confusion as he was over these last years when his body and mind were weakened through strokes and dementia.  I am glad for the hope we have in Jesus, who was Grandpa's greatest example of kindness and gentleness.  I am glad that the hope Jesus gives, and that Grandpa is experiencing, is something that doesn't start and end on this earth but lasts into eternity.  I am glad, that Grandpa recognized that he needed the love and grace of Jesus.  I love my amazing Grandpa Jack!

Grandpa Jack with our little Ella.  He loved his kids, grand-kids and great-grand-kids!

Grandpa with Grandma, mom, Aunt Reta (his daughters) and Uncle Jerry.

I'm so glad all of our kids will have memories of Great-Grandpa Jack!  Isaac's middle name is Jack in honor of Grandpa Jack.

I love that this picture shows Grandpa laughing!  I will always remember his smile and laugh!

This one is a few years older, but I love that he has family all around him, as that was one of his favorite things.

It is pretty amazing how patient Grandpa was and how much he enjoyed the busyness and chaos of the family whenever we were together.  Of course the kids are pretty cute in this picture and it makes sense that he was smiling and enjoying himself here. :)

Birthday Girl

     Our Ella is 9!  While we celebrated in the hospital on her actual day, we met at a local park a couple of days later with friends.  Leif and Ella made pies together to bring and they also brought fruit and piroshky for a perfect birthday picnic.

     Ike and I were so happy that we made it just in time (with two minutes to spare!) to be with Ella to celebrate!

Make a wish!

   
   
     The park is adjoined to a little amusement park.  We all enjoyed rides together. Ella rode with Nettie and Anya on the ferris wheel.

      The ferris wheel was the only ride Ike could go on, but he was content (he had to sit out of the other rides, as the doctors said he needed to be careful, especially the first few days, with his arm).

Fun on the swinging chairs

and even a roller coaster!

fun with silly Papa :)

     The birthday was made complete with ice cream cones.  

     On another day, we went to a playground with Ella's good friend from our neighborhood, as she wasn't able to join on the birthday party day.

     Ella, you are such a sweet and kind person!  We love to see God's loving heart in you and how you desire for others to know His love.  We love you so much and are so blessed to have you as our daughter!!