A Mops Morning

The kids made porcupines out of modeling clay and match sticks while the moms made a ceasar salad... everyone had a great time and left with full tummies!

Thought for Today

Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

Warren Buffett

small blessings...

As I was walking home today I was thinking that I was wearing the wrong shoes for a walk and wishing that I was already home. Just then I looked up and a friend from church pulled over and insisted on giving me a ride home!

Taras Bulba

Tom and I went out to see this movie yesterday with some friends of ours. The movie was based on a short story written by Nikolay Gogol and put out just in time for the 200th anniversary of this great Ukrainian-Russian writer. Set in the 16th century it is a semi-historical tale of patriotism, bravery, love and betrayal. The movie is centered around the mighty Cossack Taras Bulba and his two sons, Andrey and Ostap.

This is such a well made film and it holds your attention the entire way through. The battle scenes are explicit... lots of blood and guts that I tried to shield my eyes from!

I do admire the Cossacks. They were depicted as having great faith, living life to the fullest and never backing down from a fight for what they believed in.

Are you Facebook, MySpace or Twitter??

You Are Facebook

You are social, outgoing, and excited to connect to your friends. You are interested in your friends' lives, and you enjoy adding your opinion to the mix. While you enjoy sharing online, you don't want everyone to know your business. You value your privacy. Your life is an open book to those you know but not to strangers.

Are You Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter?

I enjoy Facebook much more than Twitter and I have never had a MySpace page... Tom did for a while but he rarely goes there anymore. Facebook is where most of our friends are!!

Just the girls...

Such a busy day… two of my friends came over and we filled out our registration forms together for an International Women’s Conference we will be attending in May in Ukraine. Some of the information on the form was in English and some of it in Russian so we had to work together to get it all filled out! We also went to the train station together to purchase our tickets. It was fun to be with them and talk about what we are going to do at the conference and what sight-seeing they wanted to do in Kiev.

The conference is being put on by Hillsongs Church. There will be three this year, one in London, one in Sydney and the third in Kiev. Neither one of them has been to Kiev before so it will be fun for me, the American, to show them around the former capital of Russia!

Thought for Today

Today we are afraid of simple words like goodness and mercy and kindness. We don't believe in the good old words because we don't believe in good old values anymore. And that's why the world is sick.

-Lin Yutang

the everything for 40 Rubles Store

Tom and I went out to the Mega Mall today to pick up some energysaving lightbulbs. As we were walking around the mall we spotted a 40 Ruble store. At today's exchange rate it would be the Everything for One Dollar and Twenty One Cents Store. We found ear plugs, an elbow brace, a pill box... just to name a few.

When Tom teaches he likes to use props. He had already found a compass he needed for a teaching he will be doing next month. And while we were at the 40 Ruble store he found his second prop... a pregnancy test. Now neither one of us looks like a spring chicken anymore, so can you imagine the look on the cashier's face when I paid for the pregnancy test??!! She looked me up and down, smirked and keyed in the item. As soon as we got out of the store I explained to Tom what she had done.

I would love to hear the version of the story that she told her friends after we left the store!!

Arts and Crafts from the Republic of Yakutia

More of Tom in Yakutsk

Pastors and Church leaders from the Republic of Yakutsk at Tom's seminar










Lenin and Tom











Fish drying in the window













Roman and Tom

Tom's Yakutsk Photos

View from Tom's Room















Tom and Igor, his translator






water dripping from pipe that created a beautiful sculpture under apartment building.

Thought for Today

Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon. ~Doug Larson

Hooray!!

Tommy is home!

Seedless Grapes and Sushi

At our local supermarket, Tabris, I found sushi that was very fresh... it had just been set out 15 minutes before I got there. The wasabi was just what I needed to help clear my sinuses!

The grapes that I found were actually the normal sized grapes you see in the states. Normally the seedless grapes that we find in our outdoor market are small.

The supermarket shelves were not all as full as they have been in the past. It looks as if they are ordering less. However, the number of people in the store has not changed they must be like me... simply buying a bit less!


Tom update:
Tom will be speaking to the youth group on Saturday and he has been asked to speak during the morning service on Sunday. He has also been scheduled to return to Yakutsk in December to speak on Boundaries.

Update on Tom

So if any of you were taking bets on whether or not Tom would be able to shake things up at a seminar for pastors...today's text message says:

Small scandal with topic masturbation because church never talks about it.

yep, Tom has the gift of stirring things up!

Thought for Today

If we all did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.
Thomas Edison

Tom is in Yakutsk!

Tom is in Yakutsk to teach a seminar on Healthy Sexuality. As he updates me I will keep you updated on how things are going!

Here are some excerpts from his email:

I made it ok. Flight was non-eventful...only 6 hours. It was weird to fly for hours over total darkness with no lights down below or anything. It looked like we were flying above the moon...eerie!

We have 20 men who are church leaders in the area who are in evangelical churches.

I'm excited about this opportunity & already committed to return in Dec when it's 'cold!' It was a balmy -23 when I arrived at 6am.

***
Please keep Tom in your prayers!

one of us is back in Krasnodar!

I spent Friday and Saturday on the train from Kiev to Krasnodar. I am so happy to be able to say it was a completely uneventful ride! It was my first time traveling that route alone. But, like Spencer said if he could do it at 18 then I could handle it at 45!

Tom left Krasnodar as I was returning home. He sent me a text message from the airport... I had just hopped into a taxi leaving the train station. He went from Krasnodar to Moscow and then got stuck. He had a problem with his ticket and was not able to take his orginal flight to Yakutsk, (click here to read about this city) affectionately known as the coldest city on earth!

Tom was able to get a ticket for today and should arrive there early tomorrow morning. He sent me a text message as he was waiting to board the plane so that is the most current info available on him! Stay tuned!

Kiev DTS 2008-2009

Spencer and me!

What some of them got out of the program...




Spencer and Igor




The whole gang!!

thought for today

You rise, you fall, your down, then you rise again

What don't kill you make you more strong

from the song: Broken, Beat & Scarred, by Metallica

Today Tom and I were able to hear Spencer's DTS team share their stories about their time during the practical phase of their training. They traveled to Lugansk, Ukraine and then on to Chisinau, Moldova.

Each team member took around ten minutes to share from their personal experiences of being abroad. The quote above came from Spencer's talk. He used it to illustrate the point that all of the experiences he survived were not able to kill him... they made him stronger and caused him to grow.

Tom and I had the privilege of meeting Spencer's teammates before their time in the field. He and I were able to see first hand growth in each one of those young people. And as the only mother in the room, I took pictures, cheered them on and shed tears of pride and joy as each one of them shared their stories!!

We have our new visas!

When we arrived at the Embassy today they were very apologetic for what happened yesterday. Even though it was a holiday two of the employees came in to make sure that we would be able to get our visas... the cranky guard out front was the one who got in our way!!

Foiled Again!

Tom was scheduled to leave Kiev today so that he could get back to Krasnodar and get ready for the seminar he is scheduled to teach in Yakustk next week.

We went over to the Russian Embassy to pick up our visas only to discover that they are closed today for a holiday. I showed the security guard that we were scheduled for a pick up today and he politely informed me that whatever was written on that paper had no meaning! No one but him was working so there was no one to give us our documents.

Ah, the joy of visa renewal!! And we chose to laugh about it with our taxi driver instead of getting angry. Everyone we dealt with last week assured us that Monday was our pick up day. Obviously, it just didn't click in their minds that today was a holiday.

So there you have it... Tom will be here until Wednesday with plenty of time to make his connecting flight on Sunday.

A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Chernobyl Museum…

Alida & I were headed to a small museum dedicated to the victims of the world’s worst nuclear accident in 1986. Of course there is an interesting day tour of Chernobyl, with only minimal amounts of radiation exposure to the participants – according to the website - however it’s a very expensive excursion. The former town is only 100km from Kiev, & a few people have actually moved back into their small homes to live out their remaining years. Anyway, on the way to the Museum we decided that it might be a depressing outing & changed our plans, opting for an Art Gallery instead. Once we arrived at the address of the Art Gallery…there was no Art Gallery! Instead we found the U.S. Aid Agency, an American governmental organization. (Insert your own joke here…) After passing thru the Marine Corp security, we were redirected next door. Still no Art Gallery…so we ended up wandering thru the markets instead. Although it was an uneventful time, it was probably less depressing than our original idea!
-Tom

Indoor Market

This an indoor market that Tom and I stumbled upon today.

Here are a few of the shots that I was able to take as we strolled about inside:


Meat, flowers, fruits, veggies and more are sold here...

















a bird found his way in and took a seat to watch all the action...

















close up on one of the butcher's blocks...

















We decided to go to the supermarket for our meat... all we purchased at the indoor market were a few pairs of warm jeans for Tom to take to Siberia!

Thought for Today

The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land. ~G.K. Chesterton

views from the balcony

We are staying in a 2 bedroom apartment in downtown Kiev. Not far from the main street of Khreshatik. Today is kind of a dreary day, but the snow has melted and the sun has peeked through the clouds a time or two.

The night time photo reminded me of the times when my parents would load us kids into the car late at night and we would drive around whatever city we were staying in and look at the lights!

Blessed by a priest on the train...

Saturday as Alida & I were sleeping on the train from Krasnodar to Kiev, Ukraine - the door of our coupe opened & in walked a Ukrainian Orthodox Priest in full gold garb & costume, chanting some words in Russian, splashing us with holy water, while an altar boy behind him carried the chalice filled with holy water.

The Priest said, "I am waking you up this morning to bless you & your travel." He then held out the gold cross icon to my lips, & when I kissed the air in front of the cross he said, "I see you are a believer." By this time I was sitting up, had put my glasses on so I could see, & wondering why we were being 'punked' on the train? Then the priest set a wooden collection box with a padlock on our little table, saying, "You are free to give anything to God...any amount of money - large or small..." Then like a great salesperson...he just stood there as Alida & I rubbed sleep out of our eyes. If I had been awake & thinking better I don't think I would have reached into my jeans pocket & slipped some rubles in to the wooden box!

For me, sometimes God DOES surprise me like a 'thief in the night' who busts into my life when I am sleepy or not paying attention. But unlike the Priest, he's not intrusive & much more patient. If I hadn't been asleep when the Priest came in, it probably wouldn't have seemed to be one of the most bizarre things that I have encountered!
-Tom

we made it!

The long train ride is over... we will be here in Kiev until we get our Russian visas renewed. We hear it can take up to 10 days.

Spencer gets back from Moldova on the 5th so we should get to see him while we are here!!

I will have to write more later once I recover from spending 23 hours on the train!

A MOPS Morning

Today we shared our entire time with the children. After singing a few action songs, led by Alyona, we had tea together and then dove into our craft time.

We made cards for International Women's Day, March 8th. If you are not familiar with that holiday you can read about it here: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

It was a treat to see kids and moms spending time together. After craft time we watched a short video of a cooking show with recipes specific for a Women's Day dinner.

We had 5 moms, 4 kids and one childcare worker with us. One of the moms, who was with us for the second time today, is from the neighborhood and does not actively attend a church. However, our MOPS mornings are a perfect fit for her... she was the first mom to arrive!!

Today a group of us are going over to visit one of our moms who just gave birth to her second child. Families or friends of the patients normally provide all of the food for the person in the hospital... so we are meeting over at the market to decide what food to take to her. I always feel bad when going to visit a new mom here. We will not be allowed up on the floor with her. She will have to come down from whatever floor she is on to see us!

Thought for Today

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Lesson Plans

I typed up a very detailed lesson plan, packed my bag and took off for my job teaching Business English at a personnel agency. After arriving early to set up my classroom I discovered that I didn't have the audio portion of the lesson.

So, on to Plan B. I had copies of an article on the Fast Moving Consumer Products industry that I had planned to use a time filler. And I decided that the homework I intended to assign could be done in class.

We started off with the warm up discussion questions that I had prepared. Then Plan B was quickly set aside in favor of an animated discussion of the financial crisis, and new governmental policies related to solving the financial problems for the elite while ignoring the social injustices faced by the elderly and disabled. It was exhilarating to hear them speaking so eloquently on such difficult topics. They only needed minimal corrections and gentle prompting with a few vocabulary words. (a few words came out in Russian and I had to offer the English equivalent)

And the bonus is that the lesson I planned can be saved for next time!

Happy Men's Day!!

Or more officially, Happy Defender of the Fatherland Day! The celebrating actually started on Friday with concerts, tv shows saluting soldiers and war movie marathons. The holiday is officially for those who served in the military, but, it is polite and customary to acknowledge all men on this day.

Yesterday was the Oscars!!













Russia had an animated short film entitled Lavatory-Lovestory nominated for an Oscar. You can read about it here:
http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=detail
nominee=Lavatory%20-%20Lovestory%20-%20Short%20Film%20(Animated)%20Nominee

I set my alarm to wake up at 4am and was able to see everything but the Red Carpet action! It was fun to watch one of my favorite American events here in Russia. In the four years we have lived here this was the first time we were able to see it. It was shown on Pervi Kanal (first channel) and was translated into Russian by a live voice over. Sometimes the English could be heard underneath. Reading about the show online is not nearly as satisfying as watching live on TV. However, to get my fix of celebrity news and find out who the winners and losers on the Red Carpet were, I did have to go online for that!

using up odds and ends

We put together a gift bag for one of our MOPS moms... this baby blanket was my contribution. Since it was made from leftover yarn from other projects all it cost me was time. I did most of the work while Tom and I watched the DVD's that Dad sent!

The mom who received it was so thrilled to have something handmade. I was thrilled to be able to shop for new yarn again... you know, as a reward for using up part of my stash!