Green Planes, Stuffed Dogs, and Jet Lag

We walked around a bit in Bejing during our 15 hour layover.

     We've arrived in Michigan after our long travel around the world!  I say "long", but actually we got here in TWO PLANES which is the least EVER.  (We have had to take up to 5 planes before.)  It helped that Ulan Ude now has a flight that goes to Bejing once a week.  And there was a direct flight from there to Detroit.  We ended up being on the overseas flight about 15 hours because of a storm, but I can't tell you how wonderful it was to ARRIVE after that flight instead of saying "two more planes to go!".  The kids did great traveling.  Since we've had 3 kids, it was our easiest trip yet.  

     A couple of hours before we left, our friends Ira and Sasha came over and brought us gifts.  They gave each of the kids a stuffed dog.  Between their dogs and each getting to wear their own backpacks, the kids were so happy and cute.  Ike was very happy that we got to fly on a green plane.  Simple pleasures.

     Now we have a couple of weeks of conferences.  The kids are VERY jet lagged right now.  They've been waking up very early (as early as 2:00am) and then falling asleep at random moments throughout the day.  They are falling all over the floor at meals (and not really eating, but then really wanting to eat in the night), walking into walls and people, giggling crazily one moment and crying really hard the next. We appreciate your prayers to get back on schedule soon!

    So far, we've enjoyed the pleasures of Cheerios, chips and salsa, running barefoot in the grass, drinking water out of drinking fountains, swimming in a pool, and speaking English everywhere!  (although, Ella has been breaking out her Russian like never before!).  It's good to be back!

There's always time for fun!

     After everyone finished working for the day last Friday, we went to the river for a picnic of shashlik (shish kabobs) with side dishes and s'mores for dessert.  It was the 4th of July, too, so it was nice to be able to celebrate on our Independence Day.  Of course, most of the people there were Canadians, but we didn't hold it against them.

Ike and Matty played catch.

Ella and Anya played with the frisbees.

And after dinner I took the kids to the shore to swim.  The water was COLD!

Getting warm with Renata and a toasted marshmallow!

     Then Saturday was a very special birthday party for two babies who each turned 1!  Last year we threw a joint shower for the moms, so it was special that they had their birthday party together.  It was a grand affair!!  Lots of food and activities and games and treats!

     It was held at the church in the middle of the construction.  It was amazing how much they cleaned everything up to throw a birthday bash!  They rented these bouncy things for the kids to jump on.

There was a slide show that showed pictures of Dasha and Ilya from this past year.

     Then on Sunday after church, Leif took the Canadian team to the Buddhist temple to share with them more about the religion and about Buryat culture.  Afterwards, we met up with them and joined them for dinner at an outdoor museum where they serve posie (traditional meat dumplings).  The kids all rode on horses and loved it!  Ike must be allergic to horses because he broke out in red spots all over his back and his eyes were puffy and red.  Poor guy!

Such fun to ride a horse!

Happy girl!

     When our family came home, we got ice cream and let the kids play on the playground.  We're totally on a late summer schedule right now, as it's light out really late.  

     Then this Thursday we got together with our Swiss friends and their parents.  We wanted to connect with them before we head out for America.  On the table in this picture is both salted and smoked fish from Baikal that we ate.  Mmmmm!

     These two friends ate together on the covered balcony.  They were both sad to be saying goodbye to one another for the next 5 months!

     After a wonderful chicken dinner, we went for a walk, ate ice cream, and hung out around the fountain.  The weather was perfect and the kids were so happy!

     It was fun to watch the grandmas, as they were concerned that the kids would fall into the fountain!  They stayed near and frequently grabbed a shirt or some pants to pull a child back!

     There was a sign that said not to feed the birds, but people everywhere were feeding them.  Ella and Anya would pick up food from the ground and lure the birds with it.  There were roller bladers everywhere!  I love seeing families out and enjoying the evening and one another!

     Tonight we fly to Bejing for a long layover before we go to Michigan for a couple of conferences.  Let me just say that it is HARD to pack with three young kids!!!  But I think we're almost done.  =)  We appreciate your prayers as we travel and transition to a whole 'nother world!

Working Together

     These past couple of weeks, we've had a team of 6 men come from Canada to help us with construction on our church building.  They put in a system so that we can have running water and a real live toilet!  Also, we now have a room ready for a kitchen (with all new kitchen cabinets and sink), a new heating system, a retaining wall, a repaired roof and siding (among other things).  Above is the before picture of our church building.

     And this is the "after" picture after the siding.  (I used a different camera, so that's why the coloring of the fence is different.)

     Adriana's daughter stayed with our kids two days each of the two weeks so that I could be at the church and help to prepare lunch.  It was fun to be a part of the energy and the bustle.  Each day we served soup as a first course and then a second course such as buckwheat or fish or rice and meat.  

     There were between 20 and 25 people there for lunch each day.  After the meal, one or two people gave their stories of how God showed Himself to them and drew them to Himself.  It was an encouraging time to celebrate what God has done!  I also love seeing so many people working together for a common goal.  Many of the Canadians said that they now have a burden to pray for the people here and know better how to pray.

     Leif was there each day.  His main jobs were to put in a new chimney, repair the roof, and to build a couple of brick walls.  Who knew that he knew how to do these things?!  When he ran out of bricks, he continued to make a wall out of different shaped rocks.  I was impressed.  On Tuesday when I was there, there was a loud explosion and a huge gust of hot wind blew into the kitchen.  Debris was flying everywhere.  It totally sounded and felt like the roof had caved in.  Apparently, the inside of the water tank had been painted the day before and the fumes were trapped in there.  When Dima went to cut a hole into the tank, a spark went inside and it all caught on fire.  Leif and Denis were down in the basement at the time.  It blew Denis back and slammed the metal door into Leif.  I was SO relieved when I saw that they were okay.  When we first heard the explosion, we were certain that someone must have been seriously injured!  Another day, both of Sasha's legs fell through the roof as he was part of repairing it.  And another day, John fell down into the hole around the foundation.  But thankfully nobody was seriously hurt.  God was our protector!

This room was prepped and sanded and painted to be our entryway/kitchen.

     Yesterday I brought Ella with me.  We've been packing away our stuff this week, preparing to go back to the States, and we can tell that this has been hard on Ella.  Even though we've tried to make things as calm and positive as possible, she's been emotional.  Because of it, we've made an effort to give her more attention.  She liked coming to the church and played with Matty and Nathan while we were there.

We have hot water right now, so the guys came over each day to take showers after working so hard.  

     And Adriana's other kids came, too, and played with our kids.  It was nice for them to get this time together!

     I didn't get too many other "after" pictures of the construction.  Maybe I can post some after I get some from friends.  We know that church is so much more than just a building, but we pray that this building will be used for good things.

Kindergarten Graduate

     Anneka's a kindergarten graduate!  And boy, is it a big deal to graduate from kindergarten!  The parents have been meeting for months, collecting money and making plans.  Each family ended up paying about $200 in the end for the graduation and dinner that follows.  Anneka was blessed to have two of the same teachers that she did last year.  They have done a wonderful job of teaching her and caring for her.  We saw a huge difference from last year (preschool) and this year of Anneka assimilating into the class.  Several parents this year told us that they didn't know she was a foreigner.  It has been very positive for Anneka to learn and make friends in this environment.  We are so thankful for God's leading!

I love how all of the girls get all frilled up!  Our friend, Yulia, did Anneka's hair for her.

     They practiced for the last 3 months different dances, songs, and playing musical instruments.  They all each had lines, too.  Anneka, along with 2 other girls was in a skit.  They gave us the lines on a Friday and told her to have them memorized by Monday... and they were LONG!  We prayed about it, and I ran to the neighbors to have them record the lines so that Anneka could hear the lines without Leif or my accent.  She listened about ten times and had it.  We were thanking God!

So cute!

Here she is, receiving her diploma.

They all set off balloons into the sky.

Fly away!

     Then, after the ceremony, we proceeded to a cafe for a huge feast and festivities.  The kids had their own table with kid food (pizza, chicken kaboobs, fries, fruit, juice, cakes).  It's very cultural for kids to eat separately from parents (even at home) and for the kids to eat first.

Then a clown arrived with all sorts of fun games for the kids.

     We watched for awhile and then sat down at our adult table.  Our friend, Yulia, offered to watch Ike and Ella during the evening.  It would have been an extra $50 to add them, and we also knew they'd be pretty tired since we'd arrived after midnight that same day from our hiking trip.  It was nice to know they were having fun and not running around tired with so much commotion (they were at the program, though).

     It was nice to sit with other parents and get to know them better.  Some of the kids in Anneka's class live right by us, so it's especially nice to build that trust since the kids will come over sometimes (and the girls sometimes go to one of the girls' house, too).  Toasts are very common.  There were lots and lots of toasts.  We don't drink any of the alcohol.  I must have had eight glasses of juice!  We were happy to see that everyone drank responsibly and nobody got really drunk.

     There was so much food we couldn't possibly eat it all.  It felt kind of wasteful, but I also know that that's how they do parties here.  So we just enjoyed and felt very full by the end of the night!

     A face painter came.  The kids were SO excited!  I think this picture is so funny.  The girls are posing very seriously.  Anneka is trying to be more serious with her mouth closed, but she just can't contain her excitement TOO much!

And this is a friend who lives in the building next to us that both girls love.  

     The whole celebration was 7 hours!  It was an eventful and exciting day.  And very rewarding to celebrated all that God has done and how He's grown our little girl.  We're so proud of you, Anneka!

Shabur Hike (Part 2)

     The site where we spent our first two nights of the hike was of a concentration camp from WWII for Lithuanians and Japanese.  All of the buildings have been torn down since then, but this cemetary remains.  Lithuanian prisoners were buried here, while the Japanese prisoners were cremated and sent back to Japan.  It's sobering to be in a place like this.  Not only was this camp/hike a time of spiritual growth for the youth, but it was a time of growing in education about the history of what happened in WWII as well as a time to serve.  On two different mornings, the kids worked hard to put up a good portion of this fence around the cemetary.

     Ella decided to go on the hike on the third day, as it was only a little over a mile.  She wanted to be with Papa and joined him and his guys.

     But on this day, a HUGE rainstorm began about 15 minutes into the hike.  Adriana and I had our little boys, and we had parked the van and had a little picnic of really yummy salsa made from eggplant and spread it on bread.  We were happily enjoying our little feast when the first drops began.  Then it turned to torrents and even chunks of ice!  We began driving in search of the littlest hikers to see if they were okay.  We found Anneka with 2 of the leaders, taking shelter under her sleeping mat.

     And Ella and Kristina were camped out with Leif, sitting on their mat (not wanting to go farther).  So we piled the little girls into the van.

     With all of the rain and putting up/tearing down the campsite, the youth also learned a lot of life skills- getting and boiling water, how to put up a tent, how to dig a trench around a tent to protect from the rain pooling inside, how to make a fire with wet wood, etc.  

    Leif gave a devotional one night around the campfire.

     As we were chopping beets, potatoes, and onions, I couldn't help wondering what we would prepare if we were on a camping/hiking trip in the States.  I was pretty sure we wouldn't have soup and hot tea in the summer heat in the middle of the day, but I also couldn't really think of what we WOULD do.  It seemed like we would have a sandwich spread and lemonade.

     One day, Anneka helped by plopping big globs of mayonnaise into people's bowls onto their soup.  This is also something that I used to think was strange (and I avoided it).... but now I think it's yummy, too.

As we were preparing to pack up the last day, we had another rain shower.  We had an encouraging time of building up the kids through words of encouragement and gave out different prizes.  It seemed to mean a lot to them.

     It took us awhile to get back to the church, and the window of our van was broken out from some of the camping gear being pushed against it.  We ended up getting home after midnight (and they turn our elevator off at 10:00).  Adriana and the younger kids stayed the night, and we had to carry all of the gear and some of the kids up seven flights of stairs and then bathe them all.  It was really nice to have Adriana's help the next morning in cleaning and preparing for some guests that were coming.  And that very day was Anneka's kindergarten graduation, which I'll write about soon!

     We had an adventure and were again amazed by how God shows Himself in nature and through people.  We pray for these kids who came, that they will know God's great love for them and give their lives fully to Him!