Little Milestones

       Our Ella got her first haircut recently!  She strongly dislikes having her hair fixed, and her hair is so silky and fine that it falls right out soon after I fix it.  I use teeny tiny rubberbands that grip her hair, but she really doesn't like those!  We decided that we'd get her bangs cut so that "her pretty hair isn't covering her pretty eyes".   The hairdresser was afraid to give Ella all-out bangs, and since I was a little hesitant, too, she got a trim all around.   

 
     She was so cute sitting there for her haircut and she liked the results, but I think she's not too happy that I still have to do something with her hair to keep it out of her face.  Our biggest method for hair fixing now is distraction.  There's a little Russian show called "Luntik" (about a little creature that fell from the moon).  It's about 5 minutes long- the perfect length of time for Ella to watch while I fix her hair.  It's so funny because if someone else fixes Ella's hair, she'll sit very sweetly for them and we all ooh and ahh about how pretty it is.  But 9 times out of 10 she goes into her room and pulls it all out a few minutes later.

     In other family news, Anneka lost her two front teeth!  Her friend, Matty, lost his two front teeth, too.  We got a picture of them together before his grew back.

I just love how kids look with missing teeth.  So funny and cute!

Women's Day

     Women's Day is a big day here in Russia.  All women, young and old, are honored on this day.  Martina's language teacher challenged her to plan a special program for the ladies in our church and to give her first talk in Russian.  Lots of women came, and they invited others as well.   It was a special time of encouraging one another and focusing on how God is worthy of our thanks in everything.



     Nettie and I sang the song 1,000 Reasons in Russian.   It was a lot of fun, and the ladies really liked it.



     It was really exciting for me that my friend came, too.  It was her first time at our church, but she seemed really comfortable interacting with everyone there.  Her son played at our house during the women's program and had a great time with Leif and our kids!  Afterwards, my friend came over for tea and we had a lovely talk with Leif about what we believe and the differences between Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Protestantism.  I gave her a Bible in an easy-to-read Russian verson as a Women's Day present, and she received it gladly.  I am thankful for this friendship.

Then later that evening, Anneka and I took a gift to an older lady in our building.  She's going through a hard time, but I think it was encouraging to her to be remembered on this holiday.

     The kids made me special pictures for Women's Day!  I'm probably biased, but I think they are all budding artists!

Then on Sunday, Leif gave the talk at church.  He shared about how just as men and women are different, we need to be sensitive to approach people differently as we tell them the good news.

     The men all sang a song in honor of the ladies.  I just LOVE it when a group of men sing to God together.  I looked at each of them as they sang and prayed that God would strengthen them and grow in each of them.  What power and love and glory (to God!) are shown when men are living for Him with their whole hearts!

     They each also gave words of encouragement and wishes or blessings to the ladies.

     And the guys made the lunch for everyone to share together after the service!  Leif made these things called cheeseburger rolls (bread with meat and cheese rolled inside) and banana bread.

     And, of course, there was a program at Anneka's kindergarten for Women's Day.  Anneka had learned some lines the week before and then on Friday we were told she had new (even longer) lines.  We worked on them all weekend, and she did great!  It's very fun to watch her grow and develop in many new skills.

     There's a quarantine in the school right now and all of the other parents there were wearing masks.  We apparently missed the memo (and perhaps we weren't supposed to bring Ella and Ike with us).  But nobody yelled at us, and the little ones sat so still, I was in total shock!  It was a very pleasant performance in every way.  

Effective Parenting

 

 

     One of the things that's hard for us living here, is that we don't have many healthy families around us to learn from or bounce ideas off of with parenting.  Often others here look to us as their models/examples, when we feel like we need models/examples ourselves!  Leif and I have been praying for wisdom in parenting, and it's neat that recently, our pastor told everyone in the church (even people without kids) that he wants us to all go through a 10 week parenting course.  What's especially nice is that was originally made in English, so I was able to buy the book on my kindle to be able to fully understand everything.  People are going through this course in different groups, and we are facilitating one of them with the people in our home group.

 



 

 

     Something that has brought joy to my heart is a Tuvan family that moved here and became a part of our church and home group.  I lived in Tuva for a year after college, and the people there are so dear to my heart.  The mom has an amazing story of how God revealed Himself to her, and it's so neat to see this couple wanting to raise their family to love and honor Jesus.  This little girl's first language is Tuvan.  She and Anneka played so nicely, and Anneka was patient with her, knowing what it's like not being able to speak a language.  They dressed up and had a grand time playing!

 

 

     We love Masha and Vlad and their sweet little guy!!  All of our kids are always wanting to hold him.  He's just so kissable and adorable.  It's nice to be able to share our struggles with one another and pray for each other.

 

 

     Each week we watch a 30 minute video and then go through a list of questions together.  The discussions have been very interesting and helpful.

     Amak's family had to make a hard decision to let their kids finish out the school year in Tuva before they move here for good.  They tried being away from their older two kids for a month, but it was just too hard for all of them.  Then Amak was here for a few weeks without his family, but that was too hard, too!  So now they're back in Tuva, and we await their return this summer!

    We appreciate your prayers as we seek to love God with our whole hearts and to love our kids with an overflow of that love.

... and some more celebrations!

     February is often a hard month here.  It's dark and cold, it feels like spring will never come, and there's a spiritual heaviness/oppression that we feel more than at other times of the year.  We are thankful to have some special celebrations throughout the month, and praise God for these times of brightness in the middle of the winter.

     We celebrated Leif's birthday as a family and made him his favorite kind of cake- German chocolate.  His birthday was right in the middle of guests and meetings, so we kind of had to celebrate in pieces over a couple of different days.

      This week Leif and I went on a date to celebrate his birthday.  I had told him that his present was a new shopka (hat).  His other fur one had lasted a long time (over 10 years), but then the moths got to it.  He's been going through the last two winters with just a stocking cap- brrrr!  We found this ridiculously awesome hat.  The back part is leather and the fur part is fox.  We didn't notice that it smells like meat until we brought it home.  Hopefully the meat smell will go away soon.  =)  We had one warm day where it got up to 12F (-11C), but then it got back down to -28 again.  On that "warm day" I got the kids outside twice, and it was so nice to feel our faces.  When it was cold again the next day, my heart sank.  I've been thinking a lot about spring and how it still comes every year, even when it feels like it never will.  In the same way, we have the hope of heaven after this life.  God has amazing things in store!  He is faithful and we can trust Him.  Spring always comes after winter.

     This year Leif got a special package online (gifts from parents) so that he could watch NFL games.  Because of this package, he was able to watch the football games only a couple of hours after they ended.  This turned out to be extra-special, as our team- the Seahawks- made it to the Superbowl this year!!  We hosted a Superbowl Party for those on our team who wanted to come.  We put up decorations, and the kids made signs.

     Nettie made this incredible cheeseball (in the shape of a football).   She's from New York and didn't know who she would root for.  But after Ella gave her a Seahawks picture she'd colored and then we told her that the Seahawks had never before won a Superbowl, she decided to cheer for them, too!

     We put up a sheet and projected the game on the wall.  At first the game wouldn't load.  This had happened once before in the season and Leif couldn't watch the game until the next day.  We prayed and right away it started.  We're thankful for that gift from God!  It was fun because Art was a Colorado fan.  It is always a little more interesting when you can cheer against each other.

     Ike was too-cute in Leifs Seahawks hat and his Mr. Potato Head glasses!  And it was SO great when our team won!!!   Yay, Seahawks!

          We had some special family times on Valentine's Day.  Leif took Anneka out for lunch after picking her up from school.  She ordered a kitty cat made out of buckwheat.

     While they were gone and Ike was sleeping,  Ella and I had a sweet mother-daughter tea time.  She was sooooo happy the entire time, and said, "We have the best flamly in the whole world!"  I definitely agree!

     Throughout the week leading up to Valentine's Day, we put little notes to each other in these pockets that we made.  We shared with each other things that we appreciate and love about each person.

     It was encouraging to read what each person said, and a special time to share with one another how much we mean to each other!  What a gift that God gave us love!

...and more guests!

     Soon after our guests from Chita left, we were blessed to have John and Sharon stay with us!  They are very special to us, and we miss having them here with us in Ulan Ude all of the time.  (so we soak up any minutes we get with them when they visit).  They came bearing gifts... like brown sugar and decaf black tea and jewelry and a soccer guy for the kids.  Our kids loved their time with them! 

     Ella had picked out special ice cream from the store for dessert, but John and Sharon came home after Ella had gone to bed.  So we took a picture of them enjoying Ella's ice cream. 
 

     We also got to play a game (Rat-a-Tat-Cat) together.  Ella liked being on Sharon's team and Anneka on John's (Ike was sleeping). 

 

     We so appreciate John and Sharon's leadership and wisdom.  Because they've lived in Siberia while raising three kids, they understand firsthand many of the challenges that we face.  It was definitely encouraging to have them here.  We look forward to seeing them again this summer at a SEND conference!

Guests

 

 

 

     Recently, we had some guests from Chita (the next large city to the east of us) come and stay with us.  They were here for a meeting of many pastors church leaders from Buryatia and the Chita region.  We didn't know if there would be anyone staying with us until the day they came, and even then, we didn't know how many.  It turned out to be 3 men the first night and 5 the second. =)  The kids enjoyed interacting with them.  It's really fun that Anneka knows Russian from going to kindergarten here, as she can tease and express what she wants to communicate.  

 

 

 

     Our family has been trying to be more creative with playing games in the evenings.  On this day, Leif had been at the meeting all day.  The kitchen flooded (right after I gave the kids fudgesicles... needless to say, my attention was not on keeping chocolate drips contained).  Right after we got the kitchen cleaned up, the kids and I played a game where I had written a bunch of silly things to do on fish that were in a box.  In turn, we'd each draw out a fish and do the silly thing.  Well, the men arrived while we were playing.  The man in the orange shirt began playing with us.  The first fish he drew was to "jump on Mama's bed 10 times".  haha.  He loved the game, and the kids loved sharing it with guests.  Pretty soon more men came over and we all had fun playing together.

 

 ... and singing silly songs...

 

 

 ... with silly motions!

 

 

      And we sang some praise and worship songs, too. 

 

     The next day there was a big meeting here.  There were ten men in the meeting, and I made lunch for them.  The funny part is that I had just assumed there would be about four men (with three being foreigners), so I just made minestrone soup and put it in the crockpot that morning.  Minestrone soup is TOTALLY not Russian.  I think it's probably very weird to most people here.  We were gone all morning, greeting John and Sharon at a welcome breakfast.  We got home one minute before 1:00 (when the meeting was to start), and I knew I needed to make something to go with the soup.  Lunch is the big meal of the day here, so you need to have soup and then a second course.  I had planned on making some toasted ham and cheese sandwiches, but when I went to the bread stand, I ran my idea past the lady there.  I told her that we were having a bunch of people for lunch and asked if I could make ham and cheese sandwiches as the second course.  "Of course not!", she said.  Yikes.  So I quickly ran home and made some noodle/ham/cheese thing as well as the toasted sandwiches.  It's so nice because I put on a video for the kids and they ALL sat and watched.  Even two months ago, Ike wouldn't have sat for that.  And four years ago, this would have all totally stressed me out, but it doesn't now!  I love how God grows us.

    

     The meeting was an important one and it went really well.  It's encouraging to see/hear how God is working in people's hearts and how He's at work here!

White Month

 

     February here is known as "White Month".  Most Buryats hold various celebrations, family gatherings, and attend national concerts during this time.  It is a time of new beginnings.  We like to use this time to pray for the people here and to grow in our understanding of Buryat culture.  On Saturday, we had a time of prayer and celebration for the Buryat people.  It was so cool, as there were people from Russia (Buryats), Japan, Korea, Finland, Germany, USA, Armenia (I think), Romania, and Switzerland represented.  We ate white foods (a Buryat tradition) and enjoyed fellowship with each other.

 



 

     This group meets once a month, and Leif helps to lead the time.  Usually he shares a little something from the Bible before people pray for different regions within Buryatia.

 

 

     The kids played in the kitchen during the prayer time.  I loved these little Buryat dolls that Ella was playing with.  =)

 

     Then, last night the Brubachers hosted a "White Night".  They've been reaching out to a Buryat girl that they met in their neighborhood.  She came over and helped prepare posie (meat dumplings) and explained a lot about Buryat traditions.  Lucky for us, she asked if "Leif's family" was coming, and we got invited, too!  =)

 

 

     Martina made a bunch of white foods, including these cheese cakes, with the Buryat words of celebration for Sagaalgan (White Month).  I asked "E" (this Buryat girl), the meaning behind white food and she said it was a sign of a fresh start -everything being clean and new (and getting rid of the old).  Leif has heard that traditionally in February it's hard to find foods with a lot of vitamins in them, but milk products have vitamins, so people would eat a lot of milk products to try and make it through the winter. 

 

 

     Our little friend, Ilya, was there with his parents and uncle.  Ike always asks to hold him! 

 

 

     We played a game of Yahtzee (here, Leif is explaining the rules).  We had a fun time, and I pray that those who don't yet know God could see the light of Him in our lives. 

 

     While there are a lot of good things with White Month, there is also a lot of evil (people calling on evil spirits, etc).  It often feels very dark to us, and often it is a month when our kids have more bad dreams and seem to be more emotional.  We appreciate your prayers for our family.... for protection and for the light of Christ to shine through us.

Two Is The Number Just For You!

     Our little guy recently turned 2!  We had a nice family day at home.  The kids all made the cake together with me, and then the girls insisted on making the frosting and decorating it all themselves.  So I let them have the reigns.  They wrote "I love you, Ike" in blue frosting.  =)  He liked it.

     

     Ike got three new Nerf balls as a present, so we played various fun games with the balls (and a hoola-hoop) in our living room.   Ike also picked out his own present from his grandma- a race track with cars.  We all had fun assembling it and putting stickers on it (so much fun that I forgot to take pictures).  And we made pigs in a blanket (one of Ike's favorite).

     Ike is such a fun boy!  He's very sweet and quick to say "Okay!" if we ask him to do something.  He likes to do things all by himself, which sometimes makes big messes... BUT it is also very handy if he wakes up thirsty in the night.  He just goes to the refrigerator and gets himself something to drink.  =)  If he has a dirty diaper  he'll bring us a diaper and wipes.  One night I awoke to Ike standing on top of our bed, holding a diaper and wipes out.  It was both startling and funny. 

     I thought I'd show a few shots of our guy in action.  He's always on the go.  He rarely walks and usually runs everywhere.  He's very expressive and loves to laugh.  And loves to tease.  Here, he was guarding a package we'd gotten in the mail.

     Ike loves-loves-LOVES to help me in the kitchen.  He especially loves to use the electric beaters and the food processor.  I let him hold the beaters by himself and he's beside himself with glee.  I don't, however, let him use the food processor by himself.  And if I have to leave the room for even a few seconds, I always unplug it and take it off of the base.  Because he's smart and fast and loves that thing.  Here, he helped me make some scalloped potatoes.

     ... and here he's "helping" roll dough for pigs in a blanket.  If we buy them at the store, he promptly peels the bun off of the hotdog, says "garbage" and runs to the garbage and throws it inside.  But if we make them at home, he likes the bread part, too.

     I love this picture, because as I was taking it of the girls, Ike was in the background climbing the bookshelf.  Of course, I didn't tell HIM that I love this picture, as he's not supposed to do that.

      Sometimes Ike will get something in his mind and he's very persuasive that it should be this way.  For example, on this day, he really wanted a fork (and had gotten it out of the drawer himself) with his cereal.  It did not matter that the milk was dripping through the tongs.  

Ike loves playing with Papa...

   

... and on Papa!

     There is never a dull moment with Ike around.  We love him so much and are so amazed that God gave him to us!   God knew that our family needed him.  Happy Birthday, Ike!  We love you!