Blessings in the Difficulties

     This fall we've had a common theme of seeing God in the difficulties.  He loves to show His kindness in every situation.  It's so wonderful to know that He is always with us.  One of the ways we saw this kindness was when Ike had to go in for rabies shots after a dog bite.  Of course, this wasn't our favorite thing to do, and he had to go in seven times!  But on one of the trips, we met this lady who needed a ride.  We drove her to her to a clinic and then to her home.  She was so grateful for the help and so excited for her granddaughter to meet English-speaking kids!
   


     She invited us in for tea and generously pulled out her precious omul fish (native to Lake Baikal) and preserves from her cupboard.  We had a lovely time and conversation and exchanged phone numbers to keep in touch.

     We didn't love that Ike got bitten by a dog, but we love how God brought beauty from it, as He loves to do!

We Have An Eleven Year Old!

     Last week we celebrated Anneka's eleventh birthday!  We had a special family time on her birthday.  As her birthday fell on a school day, we decided to take a field trip that day to the science museum.  It was especially nice because Leif had just returned from travels throughout Russia the day before (I'll share more on that soon).  None of the kids knew that our school day was going to be extra-fun, so they were all happily surprised!  Ella and Ike gave Anneka special gifts before breakfast.

    Leif and my gift to Anneka was permission to get her ears pierced.  She's been wanting this for a long time.  She was so happy she cried when we told her.  =)

Learning about Light

     Here are some pictures from the science museum.  We weren't sure what to expect.  One of our friends was a part of the team that started it up, and we thought it may just be a one-room thing.  We were pleasantly surprised at how awesome it was!

Making a Basket with Flowing Air

Images from Light

A Mirror that Combined Both Anneka and My Faces

Cool Mirrors

Different Shapes and Patterns

Our Little Dumpling

They also had places where we could take fun pictures!

Medieval Family

Submarine Excursion

     They had various optical illusion stations.  Here, Ike and Leif look to be the same size!

And in this one, Anneka looks tiny and I'm humongous!!

Overflow!

Mom in a Pot

     In this exhibit, you had to try and get through the obstacle course without touching one of the lazers.  If you touched it, an alarm went off and you had to start again.

Perfect Math

Don't Eat Me!

A Date With a Giant

Hanging from the Ceiling

    On Saturday we had a party with Anneka's friends.  She had the menu all planned and we prepared everything in the morning.  We found these fun sticks to make little meat, cheese, and veggie shish kabobs.

...and fruit kabobs

She planned a butterfly theme with fun decorations (including on the drinking glasses).

She also made her own cupcakes and frosting.

They turned out really cute!

     Then it was time for the party to begin!  The kids jumped and jumped and jumped on trampolines!

Ike and Bogdan climbed this wall.

Such fun!

     Then we call came back for lunch and the party!  The kids played a game where they had to pose as various animals and have others guess who they were.

Good friends

The Butterfly Birthday Girl

Getting ready to blow out her candles

     Anneka prepared some party favors to give as gifts to her friends.

     The next week, Anneka wrote a story about her birthday and created a cartoon to go with it in school.  It turned out really cute.  We're so thankful for our sweet Anneka!  What a blessing she is in our lives.  

Sweet Pepper and Little Monkey

     For 4 sweet months we enjoyed loving and being loved by our sweet Pepper kitty.  She was such a sweet, snuggly, relaxed kitten and she held a special place in each of our hearts.



     She liked being held and going on walks with us.  She loved being all snuggled up inside of Ike's coat (and his sisters' coats).



     On one sad Saturday in September, one of our neighbor dogs got chased after her and was too rough with her.  Unfortunately, she didn't survive.  =(  Of course, we all mourned her loss.  There would never be another cat as perfect as Pepper.




     Out of this tragedy, God showed His kindness and brought us a sweet blessing.  We learned that Pepper had a new baby sister (from the same mom and dad cats!).   Her family was looking for a good home for her.  And she looks just like Pepper!  While we knew this kitty would never replace Pepper, she is still a treasure all her own, and we thank God for his wonderful care in giving her to us!

Great Start To English Club!

     Our weekly English Club started out with great momentum this school year.  Many people were encouraged after our week of English Club at Baikal this past summer and wanted to bring their friends, too.  

At the beginning of the club, we start with some sort of ice breaker or group game.

     Then we break up into 3 different discussion groups, according to varying levels of English speaking abilities.

     For our discussion weeks, we read a news article and a passage from the Bible and ask questions.  Many people continue these discussions even into our tea time afterwards.

     Every second week we play table games.  This is a fun way to connect with people and to help them practice conversational English in a fun way.

     Different groups play various games, some requiring much English and some only just a little.

     We have a lot of fun and it's a great way to build friendships.

There's a group of preteens/early teens that plays together, too.  This is fun for Anneka.

     One week we had some special guests (not pictured).  They shared songs of praise to God with us in their heart languages.  This was really powerful and stirred up many questions about them and about God.  After that week, we had requests to sing songs ourselves each week.  So now we sing a couple of praise songs at the beginning of English Club.  Music has a way of touching our hearts like nothing else can.




     It's getting colder and colder outside!  For as long as they are able, the kids love playing outside.  They are usually running around so much that I just see little blurs of motion.  One day I saw Anneka and Christina outside sipping tea at their makeshift table.  It was so cute I had to go out and snap a picture.  =)

     I don't have any pictures of it, but for the last hour or so of English Club each week, we all have a tea time with everyone, where we can visit and talk about life and what's on our hearts.  We are thankful for English Club and have requests from many people to hold English Clubs in other places and on other days of the week.  This is something we're praying about.

Volcano Unit Study

     All three kids are elementary schoolers now!  Until December of this year, I am their teacher in homeschool.  On our first day, we awoke to this sign, flowers and candies that Nettie had left for us in the night.  What a special way to start the school year!
   


     Since all three kids are in different grades and levels, I decided to do unit studies with them.  We recently completed a Volcano Unit study.  We had fun learning about our amazing earth and making special projects.  On this day they kids made a volcano out of clay (they made the clay, too), rocks, and foliage.  Once it was completed, we made it explode.  What fun!




     We studied the different layers of the earth and made the inner core, outer core, mantle, and crust out of various foods.  Thankfully we had some marshmallows left over from when the team came this summer to use.




     We also learned about plate tectonics and used a boiled egg to model the movement of plates of the Earth's lithosphere.



     We made our own "lava lamp" with water, coloring, oil, and salt.  The heavy salt fell through the layers, taking some oil with it.  Then the oil rose back to the top after it separated from the salt, creating rising "lava".

We worked on an ongoing tablecloth, and added things as we learned them.

The finished product!

     This experiment simulated a submarine volcano, using hot and cold water to show rising and falling.



     Leif was gone for a couple of weeks, helping put on some conferences around Russia.  The morning he returned (after about 2 hours of sleep during travel), the kids showed them their lapbooks they've been making about volcanos.  They are full of many wonderful facts and even include a joke book. 




    They were excited to share, and Leif was excited to listen, even in his tired state.

What an amazing world God has made!