Little Ella is 2!!

Our little Ella is two! And what a birthday she had! The evening before her special day, we went to the circus with the Brubachers. The kids loved seeing the animals (bears, monkeys, dogs) do tricks and the acrobats and trapeze artists swing. And they perhaps loved jumping in the jumping castle out front the very best! I have no idea where our circus pictures are. It's a big mystery. So maybe someday they will turn up and you'll see them!



Then on Ella's special morning, Leif made waffles and we went for a walk to the pet store where we bought a hamster!! (more on this in another post) Both girls were elated.



In the afternoon, we went on a picnic at the river, again with the Brubachers. It was a HOT day, and we pulled out the kiddie pool. Ella liked being in the van. The kids pretended they were on a safari and there was a driver and then others acted out different animals out the window. They were pretty cute. Ella liked being the driver best.





What a great day for a picnic! (roasted hot dogs and shashleek)





And a two-year-old's birthday would never be complete without digging in dirt!!



Ella's ladybug cake turned out to be quite yummy. The wind kept blowing out the flames before Ella had a chance to blow the candles out.





We tucked the girls into bed and Masha came home with a beautiful cake (Ella is holding it) and this adorable dress. We got the girls out of bed to come and see Masha and these nice gifts, and Ella was happy to put the dress on over her jammies. Masha is staying with us for a couple of months and both girls love her! Happy Birthday, sweet Ella! You are such a funny, sweet, smart, independent, kissable girl!! You bring so much joy and richness to our lives. We love you!!

Working Hard

I feel like these past few weeks have been a whirlwind! I've had these pictures uploaded onto the computer for over a week now, and there is so much progress at the church, that now they're outdated! I'll post them anyways. =) Right now there's a team of 6 men from Forward Church in Canada who are helping to add on to our church. Everyone in the church has been pitching in in some way to help. It's been exciting to see... and there's amazing progress! (Pictured above is Leif sawing out an old window while the girls yell out his name.)



In this picture, the men are putting a floor/ceiling over the new basement to start a new room that will be real flush-toilet bathrooms and a kitchen! One of the Russian brothers said that he thought people would still want to use the outhouse, but most everyone else disagreed! (especially in the winter!)



This lady's husband had been drinking a lot, and life was hard. He started coming to our church a few months ago and helping the men with the construction and the change has been dramatic. His wife was so amazed that she's been coming to help with the construction project and started coming to church, too. A couple of weeks ago, her husband gave his life to Christ. She is asking good questions, too, about God. We're looking forward to knowing them more and more!



Adam from the Canadian team got this nail stuck all the way into his arm. He's okay!



The kids and I took a morning snack to the workers one day.



Yesterday we stopped by and they have done so much!! I'll have to get pictures soon.

самый лучший папа

While I was out shopping last week, I saw a t-shirt for sale that said "самый лучший папа", meaning "very best Dad", and I knew Leif had to have it for Father's Day! Anneka, Ella, Ike, and I are so blessed to have Leif in our lives!



A team of 6 men from Canada flew in on Sunday (Father's Day) and had breakfast and showers at our place in the morning (because we currently have hot water), and then Leif gave the main talk at church and had a meeting after church. But in the evening, we have a nice time of building fun creations together with straws and connectors.



And the girls even gave Leif a massage!



Ike strolled around in his walker. He likes to get where he wants to go but gets frustrated when he can't get there fast enough. It's amazing how quickly he is growing and developing!

Both Leif and I are so blessed to have самые лучшие папы (very best dads) ourselves. Happy Father's Day!

I'm very behind on blogging. The days race by so fast, and I feel like by the time I sit down at the end of the day, my brain is already fuzzy and ready to sleep. Here are some pictures from lunch at my friend, Ira's house a couple of weeks ago. Daniela, my Swiss friend, was also there with her two daughters. Her youngest is just three months older than Ella. Ella quickly picked up on Swiss-German because I walked into the room where Ella and Elianne were playing, and Ella was shaking her finger at her friend, saying, "nein-nein-nein" (no-no-no). I've also heard Ella telling people no in various forms in Russian. She's got that one down. Ira's son is just 6 months older than Anneka, and they get along well.



Ira and her mother are so hospitable and welcoming. I'm hoping we can make a little weekend trip to Lake Baikal together in July!

Grocery Shopping

I took the kids with me to the grocery store last week. We walked there (and of course stopped to play on the playground), and it took 3 hours! Today Lira (a really nice teenage girl from our church) stayed with the girls at the playground, and I took just Ike with me to the store. I'd planned on getting him to sleep in the stroller and leaving him with Lira, but he didn't follow my plan. Of course, he fell asleep after we were about a block away from the girls! I like going to this store because they have edible meat and you can pick things up off of the shelves instead of asking for them behind the counter. I usually make a big trip to the bigger store each week and then go to grocery kiosks/stands nearer to our apartment (still quite the excursion with three!) on other days. I felt pretty silly pushing a stroller AND a cart around the store. As I was leaving, the lady who worked at the bag check told me I could leave the baby with her next time. =) Actually, she worded it more like this, "Why didn't you leave the baby with me? Next time leave him with me!" I had Anneka take a picture of me with all of the food I carried home, but it unfortunately didn't turn out. It was an impressive pile. I'll try to get a good picture next time. Then I dropped off the food and Ike and Lira stayed with Ike and Ella while Anneka and I went to another store. It's actually a building full of a lot of little stores/stands. So you have to ask for what you want behind the counter, but there is a big selection of all sorts of things from pig fat (pictured above) to pets to food to fabric and toys. I did something I've never done before. I bought a cake for Ella's birthday tomorrow. It's a ladybug cake and she loves ladybugs. And Anneka liked it. We'll see how it tastes tomorrow! Anneka loves to be mama's helper. Yesterday she helped me clean the office. After she was done with each task I gave her (dusting, wiping down tiles, scrubbing corners on the floor), she would exclaim, "They'll say it's a STAR!". I love how she wants to hold my hand when we're out walking. Today she said she'd watch Ike while I put Ella down for her nap (it takes about 5 minutes because I read her a short book). Anneka made a little sign with a picture of a crying baby on it in the shape of an arrow. She told me that if Ike cried she'd put the arrow on the floor in front of the room Ella was in. Sure enough, the last 30 seconds or so I heard Ike crying and when I came out of the room, there was the sign on the floor, pointing the way to Ike. She's so creative! A couple of weeks ago she made this outfit for Ike because "he's the king". We did get a picture of the food that Anneka and I carried home. It's about 1/3 of what I got at the other store. Hopefully we'll be stocked up for awhile now!! This morning Leif had an area counsel meeting and then he worked on his talk for Sunday and now I just got a text from him from the immigration office saying that he's DONE turning in Ella's paperwork for her residency here!! Hooray. We are celebrating! =)

Okay, so this time it's a real obstacle coure!

All week anyone who needed to get into the church had to climb in through the window. But for today's Sunday service, they set up this new obstacle course (4 meter drop below)....

  We made it!!

Birthday Party

The girls were invited to Lina's birthday party last monday, held at her kindergarten. It was such a cute/fun party! Here they are, waiting for the party to start with friends, Nate and Matty. such a cute lineup of kids... all waiting to greet the birthday girl with noise makers and a hearty "Congratulations!" The ladies who led the celebration did such a good job! Marina was a Russian beauty and the other lady came as a visitor from many different countries in different costumes. Here she was from the middle east, teaching a dance (Anneka eats stuff like this up!) Here the kids are making origami and coloring it... ... this is Anneka's creation Ella loved being in Marina's arms, right in the action! Lina, the birthday girl, is on the far right, helping her mom with a relay race for putting multiple pigtails in little boys' hair. standing in line for pin the tail on the pig. The three pigs in Russian are called Neef-Neef, Noff-Noff, and Noof-Noof. At the end of the party, Anneka asked if she could start going to Lina's school. We live too far away for her to go to that one, but we do have news on the school-front for another blog soon!

Obstacle Course

This is the way to get to church now that they are buiding on.... balance on this ledge and go under the ladder. (I didn't take a picture of the entrance where you walk over mounds of dirt)... Then squeeze through this narrow opening. Be careful not to knock the wood down onto your head! (The "bridge" Anneka is standing on is an old door)... ... then balance over a narrow walkway with holes in the planks (not pictured)... and then walk across this bridge. Don't walk out too far on the wooden planks or they'll flip up and send you down into a hole that's four meters deep... ... and if you keep your eyes open you may see this cute puppy or a sweet (but very dirty) old dog milling around. You may have to shoo them out of the church during the service. And I had to throw in a picture of our two great guys! Ike cut his first tooth last Friday and is working on the second one. He's very drooly and wants to gnaw on everything in sight!

Watering Seeds

Living in a 10-story apartment building, our kids don't get to just run out in the backyard to play without the accompaniment of an adult. They don't get to experience having a dog or a garden. So I'm always really happy when we visit people (especially Inka!) who have these luxuries. We visited Inka in Zaigraevo on Wednesday and the girls helped her water her garden.

All three kids just love being outside. Ella is always bringing us our shoes, saying "outside! outside" and she squeals with glee when we agree. Ike falls asleep pretty much immediately upon exiting any building. It's hard to tell in this picture, but Ella lately has wanted three pigtails in her hair. She's our little triceratops.

I love the analogy of seeds and how they grow slowly with water and soil and sunshine. The growth is imperceptible, but very definite. It's a good reminder to me as we live and work here. And it's a good reminder to me as we pour into our kids... we're watering those seeds that will one day grow into wonderful plants that bear vegetables and fruit.

It was warmer outside than inside. It was 63F (17.3C) inside and even though the official temperature was colder oustide, the sun felt so nice and warm on our faces.

Inka and Ike- a moment outside when he was awake!

We all like this swing!

... and Ella liked pushing me on the swing. After a lovely lunch with Inka we hiked up the hill and looked out over the city, praying for the people there. God loves them so much!

The Walls Came Tumbling Down

Many of the men in our church have been working to add on a couple of rooms to accomodate for more people on Sundays and to have a place for the kids to have Sunday school... and with heat! We used to have a little kitchen upon entering church and then the sanctuary room. Well, our teammate, Dave, helped one day to take down the wood stove (brick-by-brick) and the wall between the kitchen and sanctuary came down, too! This was actually okay, as it was in part of the later plan. The only thing it means for right now is that church is very challenging with three kids! The above picture is the view when you first walk in the door. When I took Anneka and Ella to the bathroom during the service (an outhouse with a hole in the ground), everyone watched us put on our coats and hats and head out. And when Ike has needed diaper changes there is literally no place to go. Thankfully everyone is pretty gracious. If you're interested in seeing some of the pictures of construction, check out Dave and Martina's blog: http://davemartina.wordpress.com/ Leif has helped out a few days when he's had time. Next week the men are making a big push to get a lot done before a construction team of 6 men from Canada come to do a lot of the work on the new building.

Here's another view that shows the wall down. This was taken at the very end of the service. I let Anneka and Ella join Inka in the kitchen as she got tea ready for afterwards.

We were so excited on Sunday to greet Sasha! He arrived by train just after the morning service from having served for a year in the army! Also you can see some babuskas in the picture. One of them is thrilled that I'm a few sizes larger than normal. When she sees me, she squeezes my fat and exclaims loudly about how I am a totally new shape. I'm glad she's happy about it, but I won't mind if I return to my former shape. =) Along the lines of "walls tumbling down", I took the month of March to pray about returning to Siberia with THREE KIDS! I honestly didn't know how I would do it when Leif was gone, as I often felt overwhelmed with two. Just like Joshua and his men marched around Jericho, I "marched" through prayer over this subject. And I am happy to say (and know that it can ONLY be by God's grace!) that it's going well! I feel like I've had many moments of pure enjoyment in these sweet kids and that God has given me patience beyond myself. I'm a little hesitant to share this because I don't want people to stop praying for me in this area! But if you are praying, THANK YOU, and please continue! Those walls are tumbling down and God is giving me the grace I need for each moment of each day. And I know that God uses our family as a light here.

Friends, Lines, and Russian Soup

We had our Romanian friends over last Saturday. It was so nice to see them! The kids played well together. It's hard on Anneka to not know Russian, but I'm proud of her for trying different phrases and words. She gets so tired at the end of days where she's around Russian a lot, but already we are seeing improvement. When I point it out to her, she is encouraged.

Adriana and me and Ike. They thought his name was yak (as in the animal) at first. That gave me a good laugh. And it's funny because sometimes I accidentally call him "Eek" when I'm talking about him with Russians, as Isaac is pronounced "Ee-sak". So funny.

We played a rousing game of twister among other games. This week we found out we had to get more medical documents for the girls. We stood in four more lines and went to two more clinics. Leif has been really good at meeting people wherever we go and several people have asked for his number to get together later. At the immigration office yesterday afternoon, I tried counting all of the people waiting in line in the hallway. I think there were 70 people there!!! Today I made lunch for a group of some of the local church leaders. I just found out about it this morning, so I quickly went online and typed in all the ingredients that I had around along with the words "Russian" and "soup" and found a recipe for a sweet Russian cabbage soup. It turned out pretty well. The weather is so nice today. Matty and Nate came over this morning and we went outside for a bit. One lady asked me if all 5 kids were mine. haha! Renata and Martina came over and made lunch for the church workers while I made lunch for the leaders. It was nice to have them here.