The First Day Of Kindergarten (for real this time)

     After countless medical tests, long lines, talking with administrators, and getting all of the proper stamps, Anneka's first day of kindergarten finally arrived!  In the morning as we were getting ready, I heard Anneka signing to herself, "When I am afraid, I will trust in you".  At first I felt a little sad thinking of my daughter feeling afraid.  But then I was filled with joy, as I saw that she was turning to God in her fear.  She was very excited, too!  Here's a picture of her in front of her school building.  When I told her the name of her school was "улыбка", which means "smile", she liked it a lot.
   

     Most kids go to kindergarten from 8:00am to 6:00pm.  They eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner there.  This is totally mind-boggling to us.  The waiting line is thousands of kids long to get into the kindergarten, too.  It's really a miracle that they let Anneka in.  We're not sure if it's because we have 3 kids (there's a new law in Russia- an incentive for increasing the population- that your kids can enter without a line if you have 3 kids), or if it's because she's not eating meals there that they let her in.  But we're glad about it!  Anneka just goes from 9:00 to 12:00... a perfect length of time for her age.  It's a tradition to take a small gift to your teacher on the first day, like a box of chocolates.  Anneka has two teachers and one specialist (speech therapist), so she brought three boxes of chocolates.  

     When I went to pick Anneka up, I could hear her voice on the playground from a block away, chatting away with a new friend.  When I met her at the classroom, the girl (Ksusha) was holding Anneka's hand and came up to me and proudly declared that Anneka was her new friend.  Such an answer to prayer!  It was a sunny day, and on the way home Anneka and I sat on a bench and ate a little snack to hold her over for lunch.  It was nice to sit and talk about her day.  And Ike slept through the whole trip.  (Ignore my greasy hair from not showering for days.)

     It took awhile to get home.  The normal commute is a brisk 15 minute walk, but it probably took us an hour.  We had to go to three stores in order to find cheese for our lunch.  A young man and his mom are living in the apartment next door to us for the next month.  There isn't a stove or oven over there, so they'll be sharing our kitchen with us.  I wanted them to have lunch already prepared for them  for their first day.  This was on the walk home from the store that finally had cheese.

     I took Ella to a little bakery stand and she picked out these special little cakes to celebrate Anneka's first day of school.  Ella loved having this honor, Anneka was so happy about it!

     We ate our cakes together and had a family night.

     I think Ella is going to like Anneka being at school AND she'll like it when she comes home.  Look at that smile!

     Happy first day of school, Anneka!  We pray for many more good days!

Laundry

     We're in that time of year when laundry takes a couple of days to dry.  Jeans can take up to three days.  It's getting really cold at night but warm in the daytime, so inside of our apartment is colder than outside most of the time.    I need to set up a system on our balcony for hanging clothes like these neighbors.
 
     We've had one week without hot water and have another week to go.  Today we all took showers at the Brubachers when we went over to plan an English Club (to use as an outreach).   But the clean effects of this quickly wore off this evening as the kids and I met a friend and her son at the park.  They got buckets of water from the fountain and then tilled a "garden" in the dirt (which turned to mud).  My friend was worried that her son would get sick afterwards and didn't want him to have ice cream when we offered.  (it's commonly believed that getting wet and drinking/eating cold things can make you sick.)

 
    But the girls and I got some ice cream on the walk home and sat on a little bench to eat it.  Ah, the little pleasures!

Joy!

     There have been a lot of exciting changes in our church, and not just with the building.  We see people drawing closer to Christ, giving their lives to him for the first time, and making steps in their faith.  In a month, the room should be ready for the kids to have their own church program.  But for now, this is what our kids do during the Sunday service...

     Ella has four friends that are her size.  She giggles and hops and runs around with them.  We just have to harness her energy during quieter times of the service.  =)  Here she is with Esther, rolling on a makeshift bed.

     The kids LOVE playing in the dirt during church.  Each week our kids come home filthy dirty but exceedingly happy.  It's really nice that the weather has been okay for the kids to play outside.

 

     When Ike isn't sleeping or eating, he gets passed around.  There he is in the back row.  His baby friend, Diana, is also pictured.  She started walking at 9 months old!  Ike is only 7 months, but he definitely wants to catch up.  I bet he will.

     This lady started coming to our church after she saw huge changes in her husband this past spring as he worked alongside our great men.  He looks completely different than he did just a few months ago, too!  She has made friendships with many of the ladies and this Sunday publicly proclaimed that she wants to live for Jesus.

     After church, the girls found this puddle.  Oh, the joy!

     Each day Anneka looks outside to see if there are puddles to know whether or not to wear her rubber boots.  Ella wears her boots all the time, rain or shine.  People on the street tell me that rubber boots will hurt her legs or that they're too hot or that they're too big.  But these people don't realize how much Ella loves her boots.  My parents sent her a second pair after her first ones were literally shredded.  Sometimes out of the blue she'll talk about how Baba and Grampa sent her boots.  And then she giggles with glee.

The First Day Of Kindergarten... Almost!

     I have been nervous about sending Anneka to Russian kindergarten, but we keep praying that God will open or close doors and show us what to do, and He is definitely doing that!  We went in on Monday, and because we weren't able to get Anneka's TB test in time, her first day will be next Monday.  BUT because of all of these medical tests that she's had to do, the speech therapist recommended that she be in a special speech group in the kindergarten to help her in learning Russian.  I inquired about it on Monday, and even though the group is at it's cap, they made an exception for us since Anneka won't be eating meals there.  We got to meet her teachers and classmates and they are all so nice!

     Anneka and I prayed together before going to school and specifically asked God that her teacher would be nice and that she'd make a friend.  And even though we were only there a short while, God answered both prayers immediately!  Vera, a kind lady from our church that went with us, said that she knew the speech therapist from her work in a different kindergarten years ago and that she's excellent and kind.  The normal teacher was also so welcoming and sweet.  Anneka wasn't allowed into the classroom because she didn't have her entire medical card finished, but this little girl came out to play with her while I talked with the teacher about school supplies that we needed to buy.  The were so cute together!  In the background, you can see that each child has a little cupboard to store their belongings.

     Because Anneka is in this special class, she has a lot more needed school supplies than kids in the other classes, but as we were buying them, I felt so happy because I knew that she'd be using things like paints, clay, drawing books, etc.  She loves art projects, and this will be right up her alley.

     The kids in Anneka are all older than her (another exception they made to allow her into the group).  I feel peace about it, as she now LOOKS like the other kids' ages (she's so tall!), and often kids who are a little older are more understanding in playing with someone who doesn't speak Russian as their first language.  Pray that Anneka will be able to catch up, as there will be a lot of homework (this will be good and challenging for me, too!)

    
     We had a lot of fun shopping for school supplies after visiting the school.  I took a few pictures on the walk home.  Anneka loves cats.  And there are plenty of stray ones around!

     This cat ran right up to Anneka.  Of course, she couldn't resist picking the cat up!

     As we were coming up to our building, our neighbor girl was entering, as it was her first full day of 1st grade.  Her mom just had a baby and she plays outside a lot, so we met her over the summer.  She loves it when we come outside, and greets us with a hug.  She was at the clinic the other day when we were there, too.  She and Anneka got yelled at for hopping down the hall together. 

    
     Anneka got a new princess backpack.  She is soooo happy about it.  Ella wanted her picture with a backpack taken, too.  =)

     Nettie went with us the other day to the private clinic in case I didn't understand everything the pediatrician said.  She said that Anneka's heart is large and to make an appointment with the cardiologist (who is currently on vacation).  What does this mean?  Nettie and Anneka were teasing each other as they put on blue booties that everyone needs to wear to keep things sterile.  We had to buy 3 sets of these as part of Anneka's school supply list... also a roll of toilet paper.  =)

     And this picture was taken today in the state clinic.  I thought it would be fast, as we were there just for a TB test and they have special hours for this in a special room.   But it was CRAZY!  This picture does not even begin to show how crazy it was.  I felt weird snapping a picture down the hall in order to really show it.  Tuesday mornings are when they pediatrician for babies is in, and everyone with their baby was there, with multiple babies crying, many people standing around in the hallway, bouncing their babies.    I was so thankful that my new friend, Ira, was with me to help me because we had to get a special paper from the pediatrician first and then stand in line for the TB test.  Ira was able to cut in the pediatrician line because she told everyone it would be quick.  I would have never known to do that!  I was shocked at how many people were getting TB tests.  The open hours were from 9-11 this morning, and we got in at 10:59 (with many people behind us still!)  I'm sooo glad we got it done, and so thankful for Ira's kindness.   Anneka worked in a little workbook while we waited and was so patient.  And Ike slept.  Through all of the crying of the other babies and everything.  And Ella has a cold, so she was home with Leif while he caught up on emails.  =) 

On The Bus

  
     On Saturday, Leif and I (and Ike) went on a date.  We wanted to take advantage of the nice weather and go downtown one last time before all of the fountains are shut off (actually, the main on already was!) and the flowers die.  It was such a lovely day.  Since our apartment is by the end of a bus route, it makes it easy to get on a big bus with the stroller before it gets super-crowded.  Ike slept soooo long.  He knew we wanted some kid-free time to talk!

     The main vehicles we ride on are called micro-buses.  They are little buses or large vans.  I took this picture so I wouldn't forget this story.  The lady standing up but kind of hunched down in the far middle was changing seats with someone who wasn't afraid of the draft.  It was actually very warm on the micro bus, with all of the bodies inside, but many people here think that open windows will make you sick.  More specifically, they think that drafts will make a certain part of your body sick, like your neck or your back.  I even have some foreign friends that now believe this is true, too.  I'm not quite there yet.  But anyway, this lady had her sweater up all the way over her head and asked the driver to close his window.  And then she asked a teenage boy if he was afraid of the draft and would trade her seats.    People also think that drafts are very bad for babies.  Thankfully, our babies like some wind.   I tell people that they are "tempered" and it seems to be an okay answer.

     On Sunday, Leif had to go to church early to help ask questions of a lady who has decided to get baptized.  This meant that I took all three kids on the bus by myself!  He offered to take one of the kids with him, but I thought that might be too much for any of them to be there an extra hour.  And it was an adventure.  It all went pretty well at first.  We got on the end of the route, and I decided to pay for three seats because I had the baby, the big diaper bag (full of snacks and things to do during the service in addition to changes of clothes and diapers), the stroller (for easier sleeping for Ike once we were there), and the too girls.  Normally kids under 7 are free if they don't take up a seat.  But I knew everyone wouldn't fit on my lap!  Very quickly the bus filled up and was standing room only.  A lady asked me if Anneka could be on my lap.  That was kind of a trick, but we managed (and paid for just 2 people then)... but when we got to our stop, the van was so crowded that it was a squeezing challenge to all get off.  Anneka paid the driver, while I grabbed all of the stuff and waited for Ella with my arms out.  But Ella wanted to stay on the bus!  At first I thought she was just afraid of the lady who was trying to help her, but no, she didn't want off that bus for anything.  By then, Leif had come to meet us at the bus stop and I had to get back on and grab a kicking and screaming Ella off of the bus.  I'm sure we were some show!  It took about 10 minutes for her to calm down.  I wonder how long she would have been happy all alone on that bus?  Funny girl.

Kid's camp in Mongolia

 

 I (Leif) had the wonderful opportunity to return to Mongolia again this summer.  I wrote and shared a bit about trips to Mongolia last year, and I am excited to be a part of connecting brothers and sisters in Christ from Mongolia and Russia, and seeing how God will use the churches in the two countries to see God's glory go out to all peoples.  The focus of our project was to put on a children's camp for local Mongolian children.  On one of the planning days, before the planning meeting between the Russian team I traveled with and the Mongolian brothers and sisters we partnered with, I hiked up a hill near were the church meets at the edge of Ulaanbaatar (capital city of Mongolia) and saw this rainbow.  It was just a reminder of God's love and mercy and how He gives us amazing promises. 

 

 Here is a picture from the other side of the hill showing the area of town where the church meets and puts on a children's program each week.  If you look closely in the background you will see a stark contrast of new, gated, guarded and expensive apartment buildings and small old individual houses and a number of yurts all intermixed together.  The church gathers in a yurt in a section of poorer houses and yurts.  Most of the children in this church come from that little neighborhood, and it was fun to see how excited they were to see us and how much they love their teachers and the teens and young adults that help at children's church.

 

I forgot to get a picture of the church yurt from the outside, but this is one just a half block away that looks just like it.

 

 Here we are inside doing some planning.  One of the reasons I came was to add English as a possible translation language, but we had a Mongolian contact that spoke Russian very well and did most of the translating and interpreting.  This made it easier for me, and nice to not have to work through double translations. 

 

I did have fun talking with some of the Mongolians who did know English, and was happy with how the whole group really did a good job of getting along well and enjoying each other despite our language barrier.  We all had plenty of great opportunities to laugh.

 

 Here is a picture of four out of the five Russians I traveled with as well as one of the young Mongolians that helped.  Like I said, I was very pleased with how our whole team worked together, and this group did a good job in traveling, working, and hanging out together and I loved times to pray together with them all.

 My job at the camp was to lead the sports/games.  The kids seemed to  love everything.  Thankfully we had a very nice day our first day and were able to be outside. 

 It seems that the more physical the game was, the more the kids liked it.  Typically for the game pictured above the workers just have to tag a kid and they stop, but in translation it changed to having to catch the kids.  They had a great time, and all of us who were chasing them had fun and got a really good workout!

 

In addition to games, we all participated in various skits to share about how God gives us life, love and meaning.  By the way this skit shows the fifth Russian that I traveled with.

 

 The kids did a great job of being energetic and running around for the games, but calming down to pay attention and listen during the skits and teaching times.  I was very impressed with them, and am praying that God will used this to help each of them and their families to know and love God.

 

 We had this camp outside the city at a Christian camp, and I loved waking up in the morning and looking up on the hill to see 60+ Mongolian children gathered around a cross.  This symbol of our Lord Jesus is a reminder of the amazing love and sacrifice Jesus made so that we could all gather to Him and live in His loving presence forever.  Please pray with us that this message of love and sacrifice would reach all nations and touch the hearts of all people.

September 1st

     September 1st is a big day in Russia.  Not only does it officially mark the first day of fall, but it is the first day of school!  It doesn't matter which day of the week the first falls upon, September 1st is THE day.  Today we met up with some new friends at their daughter's first day of school ceremony.  I love how it's a family event.  Everyone meets outside for a welcoming program for 40 minute or so, and then they enter the building to go to their classes.

     The kids wear uniforms and they all look so nice.    Everyone comes and brings flowers for their teachers. The little boys wear suits and ties and the girls where skirts or jumpers and white shirts and their hair is all done up in braids and puffy white bows.  Some bows are so huge they are larger than the girls' heads!  

     I wish I'd gotten a better picture of a group of kids entering the school grounds.  It all feels so festive!

     Yesterday evening, we had this new family and the Brubachers over to play a game.

 

     The boys played and played together, and our girls just clung to Liza.  So cute.  They were all pretty loud and wild, running around and screaming.  Last night Egor was so excited from the events that he kicked and shouted in his sleep, reliving everything.

 
      We let the girls stay up until 10:00.  At one point, I went into our "reaading room" and saw Ella cuddled up with Liza.  =)

     We're looking forward to growing in friendship with this nice family!

Everybody's Doing It

     These last weeks, we've been making the rounds of medical tests for Anneka to enter Russian kindergarten.  Every child who enters the Russian school system has to go to each of these doctors:

* Pediatrician
* Psychologist and Educator
* Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor
* Surgeon
* Orthopedic Doctor
* Optometrist
* Dermatologist
* Neurologist
* Dentist
* Gynecologist
* Speech Therapist
* Audiologist
* Dentist

They also have to have these tests:
* Electrocardiogram
* Urine
* Stool
* Blood
* Another test with a swab that I don't know what it is
* Chest X-rays from the parents

....Plus a home visit to make sure that the child has a safe and proper living environment,
.... and copies of birth certificate, insurance, medical card, & immunizations.

Isn't this amazing?!?!  I definitely feel like we are experiencing Russian culture as we do all of these tests. I've had different Russian friends that have helped us along the way.  It's actually been a neat way to form new relationships with people.  And Anneka has been a really champ.  She LOVES going to the doctor!  (It's a very good thing.)

Today we got her lab tests (pictured above in the patient room).  All we have left are the speech therapist and a final checkoff with the pediatrician (and picking up some lab results).  The end is near!

Crawling Ike

 This is for you, aunt Claudia!

 Leif has been in Mongolia on a mission trip (more in a later post) for the past 8+ days.  We have definitely missed him and are eagerly awaiting his return tonight.  God has definitely helped us around here.  The kids have been behaving really well (after a rough patch a couple of weeks ago), and we've tried to have a lot of fun to help pass the time more quickly.  In the above picture, the girls were kitties and had to go to the veterinarian (me) to get their paws all bandaged up.

We made a calendar for 10 days (the original length of the trip) and had a fun activity each day.  I'm trying to remember all we did: made bracelets, dyed and decorated Easter eggs, made flower belts, playdough, puppets, ice cream (with chopped up candy bars they picked out at the store) and a pizza cookie, went to a birthday party, had a scavenger hunt for a harmonica, took the hamster for the ride of her life, opened a package, had a mock wedding, had a few friends over, watched Mary Poppins, etc (I can't remember everything).  The girls got into it!

The highlight of our week was when Nettie spent the night and played with us!  It was so fun to have her here, and I was able to run to the store for milk and take a shower!

        Here they are, making creation with paint.

     I caught a cold the day after Leif left and had LOW energy.  One night all three kids woke up more than once! And every other night at least two kids woke up.   I'm definitely lacking for sleep, but know that God has been sustaining me.  Thankfully the cold has been pretty fast moving and the kids are all still well.  Thank you for your prayers for us!

     We can't wait to hear Leif's stories of all that he's experience these last days!  

Ulan Ude Summer Conference 2012

     We used to have a conference with all of the other SEND Russia missionaries every year.  But Russia is so huge and airfare is so expensive, that it really added up.  Also, the winters are so L-O-N-G that someone very wise came up with a great plan!  Every other year, we all just have team conferences (something simple and inexpensive) and then on the off years, we go to someplace warmer than Siberia in the winter!!  It actually adds up overall to be less expensive than all meeting in Russia every year.  And everyone is happy!  Our team had a business meeting for 8 hours on Monday in Ulan Ude and then headed to Lake Baikal on Tuesday for tent camping for 3 days.  Three of our missionaries had parents in town, so they joined us, too.

    I wish we'd gotten a better picture.  This was an old lady and old man putting down the road.  They were so cute!

      Once out at Baikal, we had lots of time to just play and be together.  While I can't say it was easy tent camping with such young kids, I also loved seeing the girls so happy playing, playing, playing!

     

     The water was definitely cold, but not icy cold like normal.

     Anneka and Ryan, jumping the waves.  Ryan said that Anneka knew how to have fun... a great compliment!

      Ella and Elianne- cute little buddies.  As you can probably tell, there were times when it was cold... but I came prepared with many layers of warm clothes!

     We put Ike in a dry kiddie pool to keep him contained, but he just climbed over the edge and ate the sand.

    I love my guys!!  Ike, I'm sorry about your pink socks.  I couldn't find your socks very quickly, so you ended up with Ella's. 

     I loved Inka in her hat.  And I loved wearing the hat that my cousin, Brenda, made for me, too... it was nice and warm!

     Nettie was Ella's buddy.  She always wanted Nettie to show her her tent and stuck to her side.

     Anneka loves seeds and nuts... even the kind that take a lot of work that you have to shell.  Pine nuts and sunflower seeds are among her favorites.  Before we went to Baikal, I let her pick out a treat at the store and she chose sunflower seeds... a PERFECT snack for the outdoors!!  She and Ryan sat here for a long time shelling their seeds and eating them.

    A Dora swimming suit with horse rubber boots.  Quite the combo.

     I remembered to pack all of the swimming suits except my own.  Somehow Leif convinced me to go swimming in his shorts and a tank top, even though I'd been freezing all day (in multiple layers).  And I'm so glad he talked me into it!  This was probably my favorite part of the whole trip.  Swimming and playing with my family and others.  Ella LOVED being in the water.  She had a major meltdown when I took her back to the tent to finally get dressed.  It was 9:00pm and she was shivering like crazy, but she did NOT want to leave the water!

In the mornings, Dave's Dad (a pastor) gave wonderful devotionals and we enjoyed times of singing praises to God together.

Ella and Darin, playing in the sand.

    The teammates and parents from Switzerland and Germany sang a song in German for us all!

We have a great team.  I'm thankful for each and every person! My teammate, Martina, put together a video from our conference.  If you're interested, you can click here to view it.