And the baby's name is...

Ella. It means "light" and is from Leif's family line. It also works in Russian because of the letter a on the end, although she may go by "Elya" here, which means "the Lord is my God".

The middle name is yet to be determined. =)

Trip To The Village

Today we went with Inka and our teammate, Charlene, to a village about an hour away (less if there aren't trains on the tracks) called Zaigraeva. For years now, Inka has been praying about going to live in a village and to be a part of a new church plant. In the last few months, the opportunity has opened up! Zaigraeva is a regional center in Buryatia and there are no Christian churches there yet. Inka will move there along with a Russian family to begin a new church.




Last month, Inka bought this house! It's just the frame, and there's SO much work to do! She'll be dividing it into two parts- one for her and one for the Russian family. Her house is just a block and a half away from the site of the new church. Right now it's just a plot of land. The plan is to work on the church building next summer and in the meantime to finish Inka's house so that they can live and begin working in Zaigraeva this summer. One of the rooms in the house is pretty big and will be great for beginning Bible studies.





This will be Inka's kitchen and entrance to her side of the house. She'll have one small room for living and sleeping, a small kitchen, and an area for a bathroom. It's such a blessing that she'll be able to have water and a toilet! This is not common for a village home.



While we were there, the guys were putting in insulation and floor boards. It was amazing to see the immediate difference it made!




We smoked sausages for lunch. Anneka loved to be outside! When she saw the sand, she immediately said, " I want to go to the Red Sea". But she was happy with backyard sand as well. Leif took her to the outhouse, and she asked if there were pigs in there. (The outhouse at our Ulan-Ude church has pigs on the other side of the wall, and she's used to hearing them squeal.) So funny.



It was pretty cold and windy, but the sun came out and up against the house it was nice. We're thankful it didn't snow!



As we were leaving, one of the men had built a fire under the house. Charlene and I asked him what he was doing. He said the ground is still frozen and it's really hard to dig, so he needs to warm it up first. This is where the septic tank will go.

We have such mixed feelings as Inka is preparing to move! We are SO excited how God is at work and we are thrilled to think of all that God will do in Zaigraeva as a result of her move there and this new church plant. But, of course, we're sad as Inka is our WONDERFUL neighbor and such a huge part of our lives. When we return from the States, she won't be across the hall anymore!

We love you, Inka, and pray God's blessings over you! Expect some visitors in your new home!!!

The Conference

We've now come to the end of a busy- yet successful week. We trust that God brought the people that he wanted to be at the conference on how to share Christ with Buryats (and in that, people with Buddhist and Shamanist backgrounds). Leif did a great job of planning all of the conference details and facilitating the conference.



A huge part of the week was seeking God, praising Him, asking Him to show us His heart for the Buryats and barriers that exist in reaching these people... and to show us sin that's in the church that's hindering us. I really felt God's presence in this time (we divided into small groups to pray) and saw how God led us.



We also had times of sharing and brainstorming within groups. I (Jami) got to be in a group with two women who are from Korea but work in Mongolia. I really felt that they added a unique perspective than what I normally hear, and it was refreshing.



All of the women on our team kindly made yummy treats for our morning and afternoon tea times. Men from the drug and alcohol rehab center made the lunches each day.

The main speaker of the conference brought powerful insights from is work and studies in many asian cultures. On Friday, he shared some apologetics for sharing Christ gently with Buryats. In the west, our questions about God and faith are largely "truth-based" questions. In the east, they are largely "life-based". It was helpful to find ways to communicate more clearly with one another.



This little boy was at the conference with his mom. He's just a couple of months older than Anneka. Anneka was blessed to be in the loving hands of our neighbor and Lena. I returned to be with her in the afternoons and to make dinner for our guests. I was happy that she did so well and enjoyed her mornings. It was even nice enough for her to play outside! (now, it's cold again and there was even a blizzard yesterday!)



Here's one more picture. It's hard to see, but Leif is on the screen. =) Last week, he had his friends Erdenei and Sasha film a skit to be shown at the conference. They did a really good job.

We are encouraged to see the local believers here more excited about sharing their faith and see them taking ownership for their city and region. We leave this week excited about the future!

We'll Miss You, Matthew!

This week we had a couple of going away parties for Matthew Wicker (with the youth Bible study group and our team), as he'll be leaving this week for college in Canada. We'll definitely miss Matthew, and it's sad to think of him not being a part of our lives on this side of the globe.


Matthew's life will be full of adjustments! He's lived in Russia since he was one, and it's his home. A lot of people just don't "get" the life of kids who have grown up overseas. We know he'll do great in Canada, but that doesn't mean we don't send him off without lots of prayers! It was nice to have a time of praying for him as a team this week.

Things are coming together for the conference this week. Mondays are our rest day, and we've been able to relax today without too much worry about everything else that's coming this week.

The weather has been above freezing for the last three days, too! This has been wonderful! We went outside with Anneka one evening, and she loved playing on the playground equipment. I really should've had a camera. It was a combination of mud and ice and slush and garbage and glass. And she was prancing and rolling in all of it... so happy. (thankfully her snowpants, puffy coat, and boots protected her) I'm very excited for green lawns and sprinklers this summer!!

Today Anneka has a cold. It hasn't slowed her down at all. She's happy and active... just sneezy and drippy. I'm praying that she'll get over it quickly and that Leif and I will stay well.

Mystery Package

We received a big envelope in the mail this week with cute clothes for Anneka... and we don't know who it's from! There was no return address or note, and the zip code is from Seattle. We want to THANK YOU!!! Anneka loves her new clothes (including the one pictured above), and we do, too!

Esther Study

This year the women on our team have been studying the book of Esther together. I've really enjoyed both the study and the time together with the other women. Yesterday we finished our study by watching the movie "One Night With The King" and eating yummy food that everyone prepared. It really is amazing a how a book with no mention of God has God written all over it.... and is so applicable to our lives today!

I started feeling overwhelmed this week after writing out a to-do list. Not only do we have the normal daily/weekly things but Leif has been preparing a lot for the conference that'll be next week- finding people to be on a panel, a translator, finding people to make lunch and to bring in morning and afternoon snacks, inviting people from all of the different churches, etc, etc. Plus filling out a bunch of forms that we need to for home service, making doctors appointments, getting documents notarized in case people need to do things in our names while we're gone, paying bills, running errands for people who want us to bring back items for them, etc, etc... plus thinking about packing up all of our stuff so that there is room in our apartment for our friends to live here (collecting boxes and bags, making lists, clearing out drawers). Anyways, I'm skimming the surface here and I can't even explain all of it. It also has felt that everything we've done lately has taken WAY longer than it should- multiple trips, long lines, etc.

I've woken up early this morning and it was nice to be in a quiet apartment and to have time to pray and read my Bible and just listen to God. I was reminded of how He's always given us just what we need in the past, just when we need it. And He will give us our "daily bread"... including time, energy, and strength. And today I really did have more strength. And I got so much done! And so did Leif! We made a little dent in the list. =) I can tell people are praying for us.

Today when Lena got here, Anneka asked her if she'd like tea or coffee (in Russian) all on her own! She's getting a little braver in speaking Russian. It's fun to see. Lena and I made two meals to freeze for next week for when we have guests (for the conference). Little things like that help me mentally.

Thankful For Our Apartment

This week we signed another year lease for our apartment. I'm so thankful. It's hard to find good landlords, and often they'll want their home back after a year or two (or less!) Our landlords are great. And they made it through the extra-cold winter in their little other home (that you have to haul water and chop wood for heating). Woo-hoo! So glad that didn't change their mind for this next year! Other good news about our apartment is that our friends are going to live here (and pay the bills!) while we're in the States for five months. They're building a house really close to our apartment and Vitya has an office within walking distance, so it's a great location for them for the summer. We had them over on Saturday to talk about details. We'll clear out most of our things to leave room for their stuff. Thankfully, we can leave the big stuff like furniture. We had the kids eat dinner before us, since our kitchen is so small. They were so cute eating together. They all played together really well, too. They were in Anneka's room most of the time.



And here's an updated pregnancy picture- 30 weeks! I bought fabric and our pastor's wife, Lena, sewed me this shirt along with two others. She does a really good job. I feel like I'm about to pop. It's hard to believe that I still have another two months to go. This morning I woke up at 5:00 because I just couldn't get comfortable. It's all worth it, though!

Beauty Treatment

This is what happens when Anneka tries to put Mama's mascara on. She likes to help me with my makeup by handing me things as I ask for them. After I finish, I pretend to put mascara on her when she asks me to. Yesterday I left her with the makeup bag while I left to make a quick phone call (30 seconds!) and came back to a self-decorated daughter.



It was evident that she wasn't trying to be naughty. She felt so sad about it afterwards. Poor sweet girl.

Little Baby Bogdan

Yesterday we took dinner over to Marius and Adriana's and got to meet their new little baby Bogdan- a boy after three girls! He's so cute. When we first got there, a nurse came to check on him. That's standard in Russia- the doctor or nurse comes to YOU. I think that's great. It's not exactly easy to get out with a newborn- especially having to bundle up and take public transportation. In the above picure Bogdan is sleeping on the bed, wrapped in the blanket. Christina and Anneka were so cute with him.



Anneka was THRILLED to get to hold the baby (the picture just doesn't capture her joy). When Adriana was in the hospital, they gave her an ultrasound after a few days and saw a spot in her lungs and thought it was tuberculosis. They took Bogdan away from her and told her she'd have to go to a different clinic the next day for more testing. We all prayed and PRAYED for her. I could hardly sleep that night, I just kept thinking about her and praying. The next day we heard the good news that there was no spot! We were all SO happy, and she got to reunite with her baby and take him home.



Here are the cute girls.

Right before we got to their apartment, I dropped the pizza ALL OVER the ground!! I didn't know what to do. We took it inside, and everyone was so gracious. They said they didn't mind eating it. Leif picked out the rocks while I cut up the fruit and then we put it back in the oven to cook off any germs. =) I'm so thankful for nice friends!

I keep thinking of things to blog about, but our computer hasn't been working and then I forget everything (pregnancy brain). We haven't been as good at taking pictures when we're out lately either. On Monday evening Matthew and Heidi hung out with us. Of course this made Anneka VERY happy. She's always talking about Matthew and Heidi and wanting to call them on the phone. Or wanting Mama and Papa to "go bye-bye" so that she can have Matthew or Heidi to herself. I'm so thankful for the many people Anneka has in her life- near and far- who love her.

Something I did want to write about was our evening on Saturday. Leif and I went to the English school to engage in a conversation night about April Fools Day. It was fun to interact with the students and to see how they are progressing in their English. For the last hour or so, we had tea and cookies and the students asked us questions. There were 12 students there and 11 of them were Buryats. They asked why we are here and Leif told them. He also told them how he's studying the Buryat language right now as a way to connect with Buryats and to show that their culture and language are valuable... and to show that these valuable things need not be lost to have a relationship with God. Anyways, one of the ladies started talking with Leif in Buryat. And he did really well! Leif has said that he has more book knowledge in Buryat but less practice conversationally. It's much easier for him to read (and even write) than to speak it right now. But it was fun to see him speak. And I could tell that the students were happy that he was learning Buryat, too. It just felt like a neat time of building bridges... and having fun in the process.

Pictures from Easter

Anneka and I made this cake for the Easter dinner following our church service. Irene (Leif's mom) sent us the pan last year. I think it's really fun.


And here are some pictures of Anneka finding her candy and eggs:







She was so excited to look at her stash afterwards. We're spreading them out as "potty treats".




And here are the eggs we dyed. Our pastor talked about the Christian symbolism behind them- new life, etc. You'll notice that Anneka is wearing a sleeveless dress. I took her to church in a sweater,but now that it's at the freezing point outside, it's SO much warmer everywhere inside. Everyone except for Anneka and me were dressed in warm sweaters, but I'm so thankful we were comfortable!




And here are pictures from the dinner following the service. It really is such a gift to have this church family to celebrate our risen LORD with. We always miss our family back home, but God is so faithful to provide sweet blessings for us here.



I love how on Easter, it's culturally appropriate to say "He Is Risen!" (in Russian, of course) to anyone on the street. Anneka and I tried it out with the store workers. And they replied, "He is risen indeed!" We pray that more and more will know our risen LORD.

Resurrection Eggs

For the past few years, we've had resurrection eggs on Easter as a tradition to remember what Jesus has done for us. Each egg has a symbol inside that represents a verse from the story of Christ's death and resurrection.

While Leif hid the eggs, Anneka watched a little video about Jesus's death and resurrection(in Russian). I don't how much she understands, but she is a girl who feels very deeply. When it came to the part where stone was rolled away, she had tears rolling down her cheeks and she said, "Oh boy! The stone is rolled away!" It truly is amazing. May we reflect with such awe and wonder!

He Is Risen!

We celebrate Easter the same day as in the States this year. On Friday, Inka and Lena came over and we dyed eggs together. Anneka found it intriguing and loved to help.



Today we'll take the dyed eggs to church for dinner after the service.


It's gotten up to 34 degrees a few times this week. I took this picture a few days ago when we went to celebrate the LORD's supper with our church family. We normally walk down by the "frozen lake" but now take the route by the road.

We have a lot of fun pictures from this morning that I'll post soon. I just wanted to say "Happy Easter". We are so thankful for our risen LORD, who has all power to conquer sin and death.

Snow

I took this picture from out of our window last night. It's been warm enough to snow. Leif, Anneka, and I just came in from tromping through the snow. It felt SO WARM outside!! It was lovely to get out after a week of being in the apartment. I still feel so weak and my nose is STILL clogged. But my coughing is less and less and I'm able to sleep... which is wonderful after six or seven consecutive nights of hardly sleeping at all.

It sounds funny to say (with the snow), but today for the first time, I really felt that spring is coming. Hooray!

Sick, but recovering.

Well, our keyboard is broken and I just wrote a post about how sick Anneka and I have been (the flu) and how Leif has been lovingly caring for us and we've been home straight for the past 6 days. I fear that our keyboard will erase it again, and I'm still on the mend. Good news: we're getting better! Thank you to all who knew we were sick and have been praying. This picture was taken at Matthew's 18th birthday party the first day Anneka started feeling really bad. We left early.=( Now she's as fiesty as ever. So thankful.

A Little Song

Anneka likes to sing. Here's one of her little songs. She doesn't, however, like it when I sing. Well, sometimes she does, but it has to be on her terms- the timing and song that she requests. If I just start singing, she usually says, "Nopie, Mama. Don't sing that song". And at night she always likes me to sing her a song, but she wants it to be about certain subject matters. Her favorite subject for me to sing about is boys. So I made up a "boy song" that Leif and I sing to her a lot about how Jesus loves boys and girls and everyone in the whole world. But sometimes she wants a song about cats or about Mama or Papa or men. She's a funny girl.

I'm feeling SO much better today. Still stuffy, but SO much better. Unfortunately, Leif is feeling worse again. This cold is CRAZY!! Anneka hasn't had any more symptoms since her morning of sneezing. She's as full of energy and fun as ever.

We got our drain fixed tonight! I'm SO happy. The reason Leif couldn't get the drain part off was because it was super-glued on. At first our landlord used Anneka's PLAYDOUGH to fix the drain. I overheard him talking with Leif and saying that it should be okay as long as we don't use hot water or that much water and I was like "WHAT?!", but then I realized that it was just a temporary fix before he could find the right parts. Thankfully, the store had them tonight, and the permanent parts are already in and the playdough is gone. I'm planning on doing mass laundry tonight before people come to do their laundry tomorrow.

Yesterday we got a call from our friend from the train station. She asked if Leif had her passport, as he'd used it on Sunday to register the American family who is here. He did- neither he nor she had noticed. He rushed off to get it to her, but unfortunately there wasn't enough time. She missed her train. I feel so badly about it. Here, she selflessly gave of so much time and energy and then she lost all of that money for her ticket. And it was for her job, too! She was responsible for taking a bunch of students to be interviewed at the embassy in Yekaterinburg in order to work in the States this summer. And now she's not with them!

I feel like lots of things like that have been happening lately. I definitely feel "hard pressed on every side". But I know that we are not "crushed". I pray that we can stand firm and draw our strength from Christ and not from anywhere else.

Ring-Around-A-Rosie

Well, I (Jami) caught Leif's cold. And it's not a fun one! Yesterday all I did was sit and blow my nose and wipe my eyes and make lunch and dinner for Anneka and I was wiped out. And this morning, Anneka woke up sneezing a lot. Leif was the HERO yesterday, though. He took Annneka to church with him in the morning so that I could rest. (all of this was before he spent all afternoon- into the evening- registering the family that has come to visit). I took a bath at Inka's because the drain in our bathroom is broken and we can't do laundry or shower right now. Leif tried to remove the old one to put in a new drain, but it's STUCK and he doesn't want to rip something out that shouldn't come out! Unfortunately, our landlord is out of town for a few days and our apartment maintenance hasn't been there when we've called. So we wait. I realize how much I appreciate laundry and hot showers when I'm sick- to steam open my nose and to wash all of our snotty stuff.

Leif took this little video clip of Anneka last night.



This picture was taken a few minutes after the neighbors called and said that we were flooding their bathroom. Anneka and I had been taking a bath together and had a lovely time having a tea party (she loves to pour the water into her teapot and teacups). I'd drained some of the water and added some warm when it got cold... apparently that's when the flood began to happen. It's paneled off under our bathtub, that's why it's so hard to get under there. And there's a lot of uneven cement that covers everything. Not fun stuff!

A Sadness

Inka and I were with our friend, Lena, yesterday when she got a phone call that her Dad had died. She didn't know any details, but the news was so heartbreaking. He was only in his 50's and is the oldest of 4 kids... and three of the four have already died. While the cause of death is unknown, he was an alcoholic like over 90% of men here. And his life expectancy is right in the norm, too. (the average length of a man's life here is 52!) As I hurt with Lena, I also grieve over the fact that there are many Lenas who have lost parents so young. There are many people whose lives have ended due to darkness and emptiness that they try to fill. I pray that God's light will shine here brightly. And I pray for Lena's family- that they will come to know Christ's deep love for them and turn to Him.

It's still cold here, but the days are longer and the sun is stronger. It got up to 17 degrees in the day yesterday! The mornings are still in the -20s, but there is hope that spring is coming.

Leif has a bad cold this week. I feel so sad to see him so lethargic. He stayed home from class yesterday, and that's the first time since we've been married (7+ years!) that he's ever missed work or school because of sickness. I knew he must have felt pretty miserable. Right now we'd love to go to sleep, but the washing machine repair guy came (at 10:30pm!!!) He's six days late, but we're happy that he's here. I hope that we can soon be washing clothes again. I'm thankful that Inka has let us wash some things at her place.

I've been starting to do some preschool activities with Anneka. She's so much fun and loves to learn! I love to watch her explore and discover. I'll post some pictures soon once I get them off of our camera.

Oooh... it sounds like the repair guy found the problem and has the right part with him! It's nice to have some encouraging news!

As always, we appreciate your prayers!

Feeding Her Doll Broccoli

A couple of nights ago about 30 minutes before bedtime, Anneka decided that she wanted to feed her doll broccoli. I didn't know Leif was recording at first (hence, my chattering), and you can't see just how much broccoli she crammed into her doll's mouth, but it's still pretty funny. I hard boiled some eggs last night, too, and Anneka ate three and wanted a fourth... but doesn't that kind of seem like a lot?? So she had broccoli and an orange instead of a fourth. We think that she would eat ten hard boiled eggs if we let her. They're on her current top ten list of favorite foods.

Updated Pregger Picture (24.5 weeks)