Vera (Faith), my neighbor

My neighbor Vera comes over almost everyday because she sits home alone most of the day and gets lonely. My children come yelling, " Babushka's (grandma) here!". We sit and drink iced tea and talk about life. She is 70 years old and has diabetes. She says she is in pain most of the time. I love to sit and listen to her stories of life, which are usually sad. She says she believes in God but does not trust him since she had a mother who believed and died at a young age.

The other day she came over upset about a family fight she had with "dyet" (grandpa) her husband. I listened and offered to pray for her. She seemed very grateful afterwards. I am praying that God will make her plus her daughter and her daughters boyfriend (who is our landlord), open to the gospel. They are all very nice people and we are thankful for such a good landlord.

Vera, means faith in Russian. Pray with me that they will have "vera" in Jesus!

12 years.... where did they go!?

My little girl turned 12 on July 17th. I love to recount the story of there 1st birthday just as my mother-in-law Jean does with her kids. They love to listen to it over and over again. My father loves to recount my birth to me too.I can never forget it because he loves to tell it and I guess it has made me feel special too.

We didn't do too much on her birthday because she really wanted our friends, the Hayes, to be at her party so we are postponing it until August. She requested caramel rolls for breakfast, lasagna for dinner and she had a friend over. They spent the day swimming, talking, and playing some video games. My wish for my daughter this year is to grow in confidence in who God made her, as she transitions into a young woman, with a balance of humility; to experience the awesomeness of God like never before, and to be full of grace while discovering that grace for herself. I love you Haillie! You are beautiful and I am so thankful to God for you! I so appreciate your thoughtfulness, and passion. You make life colorful!

God Bless America!

It is always interesting celebrating holidays in a country where they are not celebrating, of course, the 4th of July is one of those.
We always try to gather some other Americans and have a party or picnic. This year was spent with our new friends the VanMeters, plus a visiting A/G media guy Grant Huegel, known here as Hugh Grant,since Mark kept getting it wrong.

I try to find things that help get us into the holiday, so the kids and I made some flags from construction paper. Then, I found some patriotic episodes of Snoopy, Andy Griffith (when Opie is getting bad grades in history, its a great episode), and a Little House on the Prairie episode of a Russian immigrant who, celebrates the 4th with Walnut Grove, whose patriotism is failing because of higher taxes. He inspires them with his great attitude and opens there eyes to there blessings by telling them of the hardships from his motherland.

I know that there are many who feel America is not great anymore, but I am here to say , I have seen many places in the world and after living here I am convinced that we have taken and continue to take our history and freedoms for granted. We have the unique priviledge of rights. Yes, it is true we hold power even if we don't exert these liberties. What a blessing, this rich heritage we have of truth, justice, and the pursuit of happiness! So people ask, why are we such optimists in comparison to Russians? History. For us, with a little hard work and good attitude we are rewarded. Russians have not been afforded these liberties on the contrary,they have worked the land and been faithful to their country only to have it stripped away with no explanation! Everyone here has a story of countless injustices and tragic deaths in there family history and present life.
I don't know why I am so fortunate to have been born into my country but I know that I have a responsibility to give what has been given to me, to share the hope that I have been so fortunate to know. To whom much is given, much is required, and I want to be a good steward of all that has been given to me through being born and raised in a great christian nation. I am truely thankful for all those who sacrificed to make it what it is.

Royal Ranger Camp

The church we attend meets in a huge tent on the edge of town. It has about 3000 in attendance, it is said. I really can't tell but it is a lot. They have around 250 Royal Rangers that meet in different regions of Krasnodar and the surrounding areas. The last couple of weeks they had their camp which had around 175 campers from as far as, St. Petersburg, in attendance. Forty percent of the kids at the camp were unsaved and 26 of them gave their hearts to Jesus!

Mark was able to attend and be a small part of this great camp. We went up one day all together to attend the festivities, it was a lot of fun to watch them do their skits and celebrate. They know how to celebrate and have fun! All was great except for the mosquitos! Which should be recognized as the national bird, there are so

many and so big! Rivaling our supporting state of Minnesota!

happy birthday boys!

Since we have 2 June birthdays I like to do them together especially when they have the same friends, so we had an outdoor birthday party. We rushed to throw it together since we had just gotten back from our retreat in Turkey, but we managed to make a Mickey Mouse pinata head and we played some outdoor games.

Happy birthday Jonah! You are a very special kid! We enjoy your fun-loving character, you make everyone love you!

noah and jack

My little boy turned 10 last month! We had been promising a dog once we got into a house as far back as a year. It helps the kids during transitioning from 1 country to another to have something to be really excited about.

As promised Mark came through with a golden retriever, for Noah's birthday. As soon as I saw him I suggested 'Jack' as his name and surprisingly everyone agreed that he was a Jack.

I am surprised that so far he is a pretty easy, well-behaved dog, even at 7 months old. Jonah who was very fearful of dogs is now a dog lover. He was cured at the Hayes' because they had a little indoor dog.
Happy Birthday Noah! We are so thankful for you! You put lots of laughter in our life!
We love you!

our blessing!

After seeing lots of houses in the city that were incredibly over priced, we decided on a cheap house in the country. When I say cheap it is in price alone because this house by far is the nicest house we saw. It does have its' downfalls like; no phone line, no gas line, and we have to drive over our friends who don't own a vehicle because it is so far out. But, the perks are; neighbors (except 1) are far away, and low traffic so that the kids can ride bikes easier.

I couldn't show you all the rooms but it has 3 bedroom, 2 full baths,3 balconies (1 enclosed), living room,and a big 3rd floor that we are going to make the master bedroom/office/scrapbooking room.

Ya, it was worth the wait, and I am so thankful for the blessing! He did it again! He blessed us above and beyond our imagination!

krasnodar

We have arrived! We found a gruzavik (truck driver) to drive all our belongings down to Krasnodar with Mark and our friend Steve leading the way. It took 2 full days to get down while it just took me 3 hours plane trip with the kids. Every part of moving went smoothly and we feel blessed. All our stuff fit perfectly into Steve's garage and they were so nice to keep us in there home until we found a house.

So.. what turned into just a few days, at the most a week to find a house, turned into close to a month. 8 kids, 4 parents, and a team of 4 college students ( for one week), all living together, fun! Actually we feel so blessed that the Hayes' were so gracious and kind, and it seems to be a sign that if we can live together that long, we probably will work well together!

You really find out what your made out of in those stressful times. God seems to take all control from you and your left with a decision on 'how am I going to do this' and then I remember, 'Oh ya, just like I did last time, relax and trust that God has a plan'. Easily said, harder to do. So after some crying and debating on if this is what God really wanted us to do, I decided to be patient. Also, easily said. With 8 eyes looking to me, to be there anchor and navigator too, keeps my attitude in check.

I must give credit to Christine for being such a gracious, patient person. Her sweet, steadfast, positive character encouraged me. And just that they were genuinely happy to have us living with them made us feel thankful.

Well.. the rest of the story next post. Along with house pictures.

goodbye St. Petersburg, I love you!

We have been deciding on where to live in Russia, St. Petersburg, where we have lived and invested in ministry and friends for 5 years or, Krasnodar, where we have opportunities for an expanded ministry and better living. We did a quick trip to Krasnodar, which is straight south of St. Petersburg by Ukraine and the Black Sea, and after much thought and prayer decided we needed to move to Krasnodar.
I have done my grieving along with my daughter who is of the age where transition is getting harder, and said my goodbyes to the people and this city that I have grown to love! With all its culture and beauty it is surely the "Venice of the north". I know that the memories and the nostalgia of 'what was' is what we grieve but, life keeps going and we are being pulled by God into a new chapter of ministry and so I take this moment to say, I love you St. Pete and I will miss all that was, in hopes that we accomplished all that we were meant to, as I feel was accomplished in me from the experience of opening my heart and mind to a lost city... and country. I will always cherish you and all that I learned in my heart, my first Russian love.