Who will rule?

Yesterday Russia's new president Dmitry Medvedev was inaugurated into office... one of his first acts as president was to nominate Vladimir Putin as prime minister. There is a question in the minds of some people here and abroad as to who will actually hold the power here in this country.







Please continue to pray with us for the future of Russia and her people!

Thought for Today

Cast all your cares on God; that anchor holds!
Lord Alfred Tennyson

Planting Seeds

On Sunday Tom and I were among the privileged few invited to the beginning of a recovery church here in Krasnodar... a planting of seeds.

Alexei had been thinking and planning for a long time. He decided it was time for him to start this meeting… a Christian recovery meeting. He didn’t call it that. He called it a meeting for believers looking for healing. Healing from addiction, bad habits and sin.

Tom was the one who was actually invited by Alexei. I was asked by Tom to come and translate for him. Tom, Alexei, me and 10 men from a local recovery program were in attendance.

The meeting will be held weekly.
Alexei will be the main teacher and he asked Tom to help him out as well.
Beginning next week members of AA will be invited to participate.
Alexei chose the format… he gave a 30 minute lesson that he wrote himself which included Biblical truths from Step 1 of the 12 Steps.
We took a break for tea and dessert.
Following the short break each person shared a prayer need and then the men took turns praying around the circle.

We think this was the first meeting of it’s kind here in Krasnodar… if not all of Russia

lost in transation...

A while back I got an email from a friend in America. She had received an email from a Russian speaking person, the person wrote in English, but something got lost in translation.

The confusing words were in the form of a question:

Can be eat phone?

At first glance I thought “this guy is a nut!” Then I read it again. I laughed. And I wrote back to my friend. The Russian verb ‘to eat’ is the same as one of the verbs that means ‘to have’.

So the question should be:

Is there a phone?

When trying to write in a foreign language do not rely solely on an electronic translator… it just might lead you astray!

comforting others...

A friend called in a panic needing someone to watch her daughter for a bit. I felt that after spending this week basking in the comfort of God, Tom and Spencer, and Arina (a teacher from our school and my massage therapist) I was ready to give some comfort to someone else.

We had recently purchased the movie Horton in Russian. I just knew this little one would enjoy it. She was not interested. She wanted to see the “hippopotamus” movie…meaning the movie Madagascar. I take out Horton and put in Madagascar.

Talking with Tom about it later he reminded me that perhaps she was looking for the comfort of something familiar. I get that.

When our family looks for comfort from the stress of living abroad we seek refuge in movies. We have old favorites that we watch over and over.

When we want to be comforted by God we might read a familiar passage from the word, meditate on the Serenity Prayer, turn on our favorite praise music or read from an old familiar devotional book.

Being reminded of the value of comfort came through a child choosing a video from our collection of old favorites. One of our favorite verses is “comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from Christ”. (2 Cor. 1:4b)

This little girl was feeling the stress of being away from home…and she needed a little comfort in her time of trouble!

weighing in!

I am grateful that I managed to lose 3/4 of a pound this week! Tom did a great job of making me get outside to walk eveyday. Exercise does help with Fibromyalgia so I know it is extremely important for me to do. And having him or Spencer walk with me is a wonderful bonus.

Knowing that I was going to post about the results of this week also helped me to think twice about what I chose to eat this week...maybe I should have done this sooner!

Apteka (pharmacy)

Wednesday is skidky (sale) day at our local pharmacy. We receive a 12 % discount on everything we purchase. Tom usually goes over to the pharmacy each Wednesday to pick up whatever we happen to need. This week he tried to purchase a muscle relaxer prescribed by our doctor for me. They didn’t have the one I needed. Tom came home and told me that they tried to find it but no such luck.

I got out our Russian book of medications and looked for a different one. I wrote down exactly what I needed it for, my symptoms and the names of three possible medications that should be available here. The young pharmacist patiently listened to everything I said and then took my list behind the counter with her to see what she could find. The older pharmacist/manager saw me waiting and said she would be right over. Armed with my list and my description of my symptoms they found an alternative medication for me.

The manager had the younger pharmacist read to me from the paperwork that comes with the medication… what it was for, what the side affects are and who should not take the medication and so on. It was funny because the manager would say “now read her this!” and “this is important for her to know too”. Because of all the reading I had done before going to the pharmacy and the new words I had looked up in my research I understood all of what was being read to me. She did a great job of reading clearly and slowly. Her final piece of advice to me was to receive a round of massages to help ease my pain. She told me "no less than five massages would do!"

Once they were assured that I understood what I was buying I was allowed to purchase it. I came home and looked it up in English on the internet and confirmed that it is indeed a muscle relaxer and is recommended by doctors for treatment of Fibromyalgia.

I know that sometimes, okay maybe often, even Russians complain about the nonexistence of customer service here in Russia. But, we have yet to encounter that at this pharmacy. Because of Spencer’s juvenile glaucoma, my fibromyalgia and Tom’s medical needs we have had many interactions with the pharmacists in this particular pharmacy.

They go out of their way to help us each time we walk in. If they don’t have what we need they will often order it for us… especially if it is one of Spencer’s glaucoma meds. We have been told by our Russian friends that this pharmacy is too expensive and that we should not shop there. The muscle relaxer I bought yesterday was only 9 dollars. I am sure that for some of our friends that is expensive. We will however, continue to be loyal to this store because they are so kind and loyal to us!

And yes, I have already had my first massage therapy session (the cost is only a few dollars per hour) beginning on Wednesday. Arina is one of our teachers at the language school, and she also works as a massage therapist to help supplement her income. She was actually a massage therapist before she began studying to become a teacher. She will come everyday until Monday even though this is a holiday weekend to complete the five sessions. Already I feel so much better!

Thought for Today

After spending this week at home and in pain I decided to to dig out a quote from The Call to Joy and Pain. It seemed most appropriate this week.

"...the happiest people in the world are not those who have no suffering- they are those who are not afraid of suffering."
Ajith Fernando

oh the pressure!

I have heard from many of our Russian friends that they can feel the barometric pressure change. This week I am experiencing it for myself.

In the states that my fibromyalgia was connected to weather changes. We have gone from sunny to rainy back to sunny again in the course of a day...writing that about Krasnodar just reminded me of spring in Kansas!

This past week I began to feel even minor changes in the barometric pressure and that is not fun! I have felt tired and more achy in my muscles than normal. In times like this I remember the counsel from my doctor in the states "to remove as much stress from your life as possible".

I have chosen to stay home from school. This allows me to sleep later and deeper because I am not concerned about missing my alarm and being late for school. Sleeping deeper and longer allows for my muscles to relax and for me to feel restored. I have greatly improved since Sunday but I know I still have a way to go to reach par!

Over the years my doctor and I have tried various "cocktails" of different medcations. But, she has wisely kept me off of pain killers. For one, they don't provide full pain relief for me and two, they can be addictive. I use a muscle relaxer or simply Motrin, restorative sleep, warm baths, mild exercise and healthy food choices. These have proven to be the most impactful for me.

Spencer brings home my assignments from school. Tom made sure that I got out today for a short walk. I am keeping up with my language helper time. I am grateful that Sasha has a great grasp on grammar and is able to explain things that I am missing in school this week.

Tom doesn't have a seminar this week so I get to relax this weekend as well... I am grateful for God's timing. If I had to choose a week to not feel well, this is a good one!

христос воскрес!!!

во истину воскрес!!!

He is risen... He is risen indeed!

We stayed up late on Saturday to watch the services from the Orthodox church in Moscow. The pageantry was awesome. Putin and his wife along with Medvedev and his wife were in attendance. I am amazed that people stood for hours as the service went on.

We started watching at 11pm. We were able to see the procession around the church by all of the priests and selected guests. There was a commentator who told stories about the service, the clothing and the symbolism. One of the things he mentioned that was fascinating to me was that the three top priests represented the Trinity. There were several candle abras with three candles... and the head priest wore three necklaces. The colors, sights and sounds from the service are imprinted in my head. We finally headed off to bed at 1am. They had just finished one part of the service and then all the priests went and changed robes and seemed to start all over again!

We got up and went to church on Sunday and it was truly a blessed day. Some of our non-christian friends that Tom invited to church actually showed up! We spent time with them after the service. He mentioned that at the Orthodox church he would have stood for hours holding a hot candle... while he could see that our God was kind by allowing us to sit down! He was also amazed at the number of young people especially the children. He brought his niece and his granddaughter with him. Please pray for him. He is still seeking, reading the Bible and asking Tom questions every week.

Our church did a huge luncheon out on the lawn. One of the men from Uzbekistan made Lamb pilaf. The lamb was slaughtered earlier in the week and then prepared on Saturday. There was so much food it was overwhelming. Easter eggs and Easter breads... there is so much here that is just beautiful!

Watching my friend's little boy with his Easter egg was a hoot! He dropped it in the dirt, wiped it off, licked it and then poked a hole in it with a stick! He is 18 months old!

I didn't feel well at all yesterday or today... I am in a fibromyalgia flare and barely got out of bed. I am grateful to have made it to church and disappointed that we were not able to attend a dinner that we had been invited to. I spent today in bed and right now tomorrow looks "iffy" as well. Please pray for me. I am scheduled to give my testimony to someone that I am mentoring on Wednesday. I worked on it a bit today with Sasha and we will finish writing it out tomorrow.

I wish I had photos to show from the Easter service. But all of them got deleted when we tried to load them. I cried for a few hours over that... I had such incredible photos!

Easter is by far my favorite holiday!

weighing in!

I have been working at losing weight for quite sometime now... I was 20 pounds down and then gained weight over the holidays. Tom and I are choosing healthier foods and walking whenever we can. I say that all the while knowing that my classmates from school read my blog and they all witness me eating a bag of chips and a snickers bar during our breaktime so I know I am still in need of reform.

Last week I wrote this in my journal:

Something is wrong with my bathroom scale. I think it lies to me. I can't prove it though. I cannot imagine what I may have done to the scale to deserve this treatment. Tom says that people lie when they don't feel it is safe to tell the truth.... maybe it is afraid I will get rid of it.
I wonder if I am getting on and getting off too much. I wonder if I have violated the scales boundaries in any way. Each time I get on it flashes me a number I know has to be wrong... I wonder if it is mocking me. Or maybe it is trying to keep me from being too proud or conceited... when I see that I have lost a bit I do tend to feel a bit self satisfied. I should thank the scale for this lesson in humility.

I realised after writing this that I personally needed more accountability so I decided to go public with my efforts. I asked Joyce and Stephanie to keep tabs on me. It worked. I am down a pound after the scale not budging for two weeks. Maybe this surge of bravery will come back to haunt me but here goes.

I am installing a weight loss ticker to help me keep track of my efforts.

all in a day's work

Earlier today Tom stopped by the school to drop off Easter Baskets for the teachers. I don't have any photos of the item that he made for them. It was a small rectangular shaped mirror with a mosaic of stones attached to it in a way that when you look at the mirror you can see the shape of a cross. Special thanks to all of you who sent us gift bags and tissue paper he was able to package them up with chocolate candies and present each teacher with his or her own mirrored cross!

As Tom was walking home from his trip to the language school he ran into our neighbor Olya on the playground with her youngest daughter. As they were talking she got a call from her sister in law, Lena P! Olya told Lena who she was speaking with and Lena had Olya relay the message that she wanted to come over to our home tonight. A few hours later Lena P. stopped by to purchase a necklace for one of her professors at university... she took the time to look at each one of the necklaces that Tom showed her and finally chose something she felt this woman would appreciate. She told us that this professor has been very honorable and has not asked for bribes or special favors to do extra work with the students. Lena paid Tom the equivalent of 4 dollars for the necklace. She was happy to have a unique gift to give to her professor and Tom's enjoyment comes from making the jewelry!

Just before Lena arrived Sasha came over to work on my language lesson. Our current lesson is on funerals... not a very joyful topic. She and I ended up doing more talking than anything else. She showed me a book she was reading so we ended up discussing the theme of her book. Before she left she apologised for not helping much with my lesson. I reminded her that for me to have a conversation in Russian is also lesson. There were two times tonight when I wanted to say something and I didn't know the Russian word. We looked them up in the dictionary and then talked about synonyms for those words. That type of real life lesson is priceless to me.

As Sasha and I were winding down her brother Pavlik called to ask if we had any new movies that he might be interested in. I asked him if he wanted to talk about the choices with Spencer. Spencer invited him to come over and have a look. Pavlik is learning English at school. But he wouldn't speak English with us. I told him that we make mistakes when we speak Russian but we speak anyway. He said that "speaking Russian is scary but speaking English is even scarier!"

Sasha (23)and Pavlik (13) left with a bag full of dvd's in full negotiations over who was going to use the computer first when they got home!!

Thought for Today

“Christ comes to the world as the example, constantly enjoining: Imitate me. We humans prefer to adore him instead.”

Soren Kierkegaard

food, friends and fun!

My friend and language helper, Sasha, Spencer’s best friend and language helper, Vlad, and Tom’s friend and translator, Dima, were here at the same time and they all agreed to have dinner with us!

Dima is one of the teachers at our langauge school and he is Vlad's uncle. He introduced Spencer and Vlad to each other last year. We have known Sasha for the past three years and she just started helping me with language last fall. Vlad, Sasha and Dima all speak English so it was easy for them to understand what we were saying no matter which language we chose to speak in!

The table conversation was a mixture of Russian and English with a bit of Spanish thrown in here and there. The meal was a Mexican casserole with Russian ice cream for dessert. When Tom offered seconds to Dima he reminded him that we are Americans and we will only ask once if you want more. Typically, Russians will ask three times. After that warning all the guys had seconds when Tom asked them!

I enjoyed having Sasha in the kitchen with me. After our language session she helped me with preparing dinner. We were able to get in some girl time and catch up on what she has been up to these past few weeks. Spencer and Vlad were sent to the store to get drinks and dessert and then set the table after getting their homework done. After dinner Dima worked on getting Tom’s PowerPoint presentation translated for Saturday and then we fed him dessert!

We had such a great evening…. I have to admit that earlier in the day I was experiencing a flare up of my fibromyalgia and I was not feeling up to having people over. I almost cancelled the whole evening. I took some time this afternoon before Sasha arrived to lay down and rest…. My muscles are still sore but having guests can truly energize the spirit!

mondays...

Tom went off to do his last teaching for the series on Male Sexuality at the BLTC. He took his crocks with him to wear while he is teaching since his feet were still sore when he left for the school this morning. He told me that all last week he had been alternating between a pair of shoes that were comfortable for walking and a pair that were comfortable for standing but not for walking in. But even that pair that was good for standing in are not as comfortable to him as the crocks are. It is part of the culture here to remove shoes in a home and some of the guys do put on houseshoes at the BLTC as well. So it shouldn't be too strange for Tom to change his shoes once he gets there!

He and Spencer left early to go and get the Audio/Visual equipment set up before the seminar. I laid in bed as they were moving about this morning... I am still not feeling well. My muscles are very sore and I feel a bit nauseous. I slept on the couch last night since I know that Tom needs to stay healthy to finish out his commitment at the BLTC!

Thanks for keeping us and all our work in our prayers... I am headed back to bed!

Boundaries Week 2

We had several new people today and it is exciting and encouraging having people attend who want to change and grow.



One of this morning’s highlights was when Tom, Spencer and Dima put on a little skit for us demonstrating what it is like to ride on public transportation. (an example of a place in our daily lives where our physical boundaries are not respected. Spencer stood really really really close to Dima playing music on his cell phone extremely LOUD. Tom stood on the other side of Dima talking loudly on his cell phone! Poor Dima was not warned ahead of time what was going to happen so all of his facial expressions as he reacted to Tom and Spencer were genuine! It was a slice of reality for those of us who ride public transport everyday… which included 20 out of the 24 people who were there this morning!

I lead the women’s discussion group for the first time and I am relieved that it went well. I began by saying that I was positive that it was “clear” to everyone in the room that I am a foreigner and that I am not capable of speaking Russian without making a mistake! After making that little announcement they all laughed and I relaxed… and just spoke without being afraid of making grammar mistakes. There was a person in attendance this morning who works full time as a professional translator. She came up to me afterwards to tell me how well I did. She complimented me on the diversity of my vocabulary. She was impressed that I was able to use the complex constructions that I have learned in school mixed in with the colloquial expressions I have learned from conversations with Russians. She helped me to realize that the challenging week we had in school learning how to express our opinions correctly was worth every minute!

Tom, Spencer and I went out to dinner at Heavenly Dragon to celebrate making it though this long hard week. Tom has been teaching all week at the BLTC. He is doing a seminar on Male Sexuality. He spent 5 days this week standing on his feet teaching! Then after doing the seminar today he came home took a nap and then he had a counseling appointment. The person he was working with today didn’t want an outside translator so I sat in to help him with it.

We are grateful to be active in ministry after two years of building relationships. We don’t want to sound as if we are whining about our schedule, we are truly glad to be serving!

say what?

I saw this on a friends blog and decided to give it a try! I am shocked at the results... I don't even have a post graduate degree. Maybe Tom's education rubbed off onto me!

whew!

After school today I felt so relieved that I survived another week of class that I celebrated by purchasing a new blouse... perhaps I was motivated by the theme of our new lesson that we received just before class ended; clothing! Or maybe I just wanted to reward myself and I am trying NOT to use food as a reward!

We spent the bulk of this week learning to express our opinions through agreement, disagreement, doubt, and so on. It was a challenging week but a great one. It felt good to learn how to express myself on a deeper level.

Some days in class I get frustrated with making grammar mistakes. Learning Russian grammar has not come easily for me. I blame my age. I daydream about being ten years younger and tell myself that I would be doing so much better if I had started sooner!

I remember talking with someone a few years ago about my frustrations with the difficulty I face memorizing all the grammar rules and getting used to the 6 cases that Russian has. She told me that she did great with grammar but it took her a long time to build her vocabulary. I truly love words... most nights before going to sleep I read from my Russian dictionary. Learning new words is not a struggle for me.

I work everyday on memorizing the grammar rules, declining words properly, and reviewing which cases go with which verbs. I keep praying that someday my over 40 brain will pull it all together. At least I can look back on this journey with thanksgiving for how far I have come!

Thought for Today

Each week I choose a quote to personally meditate on... today in my devotional reading I came across this:

"To understand others is to break through to them in a way that frees us from the burden of judging them, patronizing them or trying to control them."

James E. Adams from his book Let Me Sow Love

This news has been anticipated for a while now and in time we will come to fully understand what this means for Russia, but here is a bit of breaking news:





Putin accepts leadership of party
Vladimir Putin has accepted the leadership of the dominant United Russia party. The position should secure his grip on power after he leaves the Kremlin and becomes prime minister next month.

The nearly 600 party delegates at Tuesday's congress immediately approved his candidacy in an unanimous vote. Becoming head of United Russia will enhance Putin's power base in the lower house of Russia's parliament, where the party holds a two-thirds majority.

The move could also serve to undercut the authority of Putin's hand-picked successor, Dmitry Medvedev.

such a deal!

Usually I confine my knitting and crocheting escapades to my crocheting blog so those of you who are not yarn fans will have to bear with me for a bit!

I got out of school early today because there were just two of us in class. I thought I could either go and do my grocery shopping early or I could go and see if there was any new yarn at one of the craft stores here in town. Obviously, I chose the craft store!!

I found a 70% bamboo and 30% cotton blend today! It only cost $1.66 per skein, so I bought all that they had...10 skeins. I looked on line at bamboo yarn and there was one site that had it on sale for $2.80 most places charge close to $9 a skein.

I am a happy camper right now, I got a great deal on yarn, got out of school early, got a letter from my mom and a phone call from Erin... life is good!

Boundaries Week 1

Today was the first day of a three week series Tom is doing on Boundaries!

We had a great turnout…there were 23 of us not counting the kids in childcare!





The big highlight for today was a list of our “Assertive Rights”. This list made for a lively discussion during small group time as some of these go against the culture here. It was interesting to hear how many people thought that they were doing very well setting boundaries until Tom gave them this list!!

My Assertive Rights

1. I have the right to be responsible for my own actions.

2. I am not responsible for the actions of any other adult.

3. I have the right to make mistakes.

4. I have the right to be myself.

5. I have the right to be treated with respect.

6. I have the right to have and express my feelings, thoughts, and opinions.

7. I have the right to say “NO” and not feel guilty.

8. I have the right to change my mind.

9. I have the right to say “I don’t know”.

10. I have the right to feel and express anger appropriately.

11. I have the right to have my needs be as important as the needs of others.

12. I have the right to do things that other people may not approve of.

13. I have the right to ask “Why?” or “Why not?”

14. I have the right to ask for assistance.

15. I have the right to say, “I don’t understand”.

pray for us...

Tom starts a new series at the church tomorrow on Boundaries... we are spending today getting ready!

just doing my homework...

Our new lesson is about salary and the monthly cost of living. Our teacher Arina asked us to do some research on the minimum living wage here in Russia. When speaking about pay here in Russia all the numbers are per month and not per year like we are used to in America.

This is what I found online:

According to the Federal law " Regarding the living wage in the Russian Federation " the Government of the Russian Federation decided:

1. To establish a living wage across the Russian Federation for the third quarter of 2007 per capita 3879 rubles($164.81),for able-bodied population - 4197 rubles($178.32), pensioners - 3085 rubles ($131.07), children - 3704 rubles ($157.37).

All the amounts in dollars are based on today's exchange rate which is 23.53 if you want to look I used the website http://www.xe.com/ to do the calculations.

And for those of you who would like to read the original article in Russian you can click here!

Thought for Today

The most important thing that we surrender is our own self-- our desire to control our lives. Of course, we don't surrender and go into a vacuum. We surrender something in order to cling to God only. Surrender is the means to enjoying more fully the most beautiful thing in our lives--our joyous love relationship with God.

Ajith Fernando from his book The Call to Joy & Pain

America in the news..

It is not everyday that America gets mentioned in the news... unless it is about politics or the fluctuating value of the dollar!

Hearing about one event in America was pretty disturbing for me. I was shocked by the story from Texas about the 52 girls ages 6 months to 17 years that were removed from a polygamist compound. I actually had to look up the story online because I thought that maybe I had heard the number wrong in Russian. In case you are not familiar with the story you can click here .

Things like this break my heart... and I am sure that they break the heart of God as well.

spring cleaning!

As I was trying to study on Saturday afternoon...


I heard the rhythmic whacking noise of my neighbor cleaning a rug!

a day of rest!

Tom took a week off from teaching at the church and will start up again next Saturday. This month's topic is Boundaries!

We are all grateful for the short break... Tom is also preparing for a 7 day seminar for the BLTC, and Spencer and I have position papers to write for language school in Russian.

We all slept in this morning and then went to our respective corners and hit the books!!

finally!

Shopping here in Krasnodar is an adventure... sometimes things that are sold consistently for months disappear for several months and then show up again. I was grateful to find ground ginger.

I have a great recipe from a friend for soft ginger cookies and I was able to make a batch after this find at the supermarket!

Soft Ginger Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup soft butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp water
1/4 cup honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sift together flour, baking soda and spices. Set aside.
Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.
Beat in egg. Stir in water and honey.
Gradually stir in dry ingredients.
Shape dough into walnut size balls. Roll in sugar. Place on cookie sheet covered in parchment paper and flatten with a fork. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet 5 minutes before removing.

hanging with Spencer

Tonight while Tom was doing a counseling appointment here at the house, Spencer and I went walking down on Krasnaya, our main street here in Krasnodar.

I was glad that he invited me to go with him. I know that not every 17 year old young man is interested in hanging out with his mom!


I found the Miss Potter movie... about the life of Beatrix Potter and he found some industrial metal music.


Aren't we a pair!?

Thought for Today

Never allow yourself to settle for anything less than the attitude God wants you to have in your heart.

T.D. Jakes, from his book "Woman, thou art Loosed!

calling Dr Seuss fans!

if you like Dr. Seuss then go see this movie... we did and we loved it!!















Tom and I felt that it was very close to the book and the computer animation was very close to the Dr. Seuss drawings. We would really like to see it in English but it was nice to be in a foreign country and watch something that provided good memories from childhood and be comforted... even though it was not in our native language.

welcome back!

After three impatient knocks at the door I answer it. Looking through the peep hole I can see that Tom is standing out there and Spencer is behind him. I wonder to myself “why doesn’t Spencer use his keys?” When three people walk in and I can finally see that it is not Spencer behind Tom but our friend Sasha, dressed in Spencer’s coat and hat! Spencer was standing further down on the stairs so I could not see him at all. I shriek, jump up and down and hug Sasha over and over. I had not seen her for three months. She had many stories to tell us about her travels to Germany, Spain and Austria, and we hung on her every word. Normally, I hate surprises but this was a beautiful one!

How People Grow Week 3

Today was the last teaching for the month of March… and the topic for today was Understanding the Grace of God.







Here are a few of the points that stood out for me:
Grace and mercy are not the same
Grace is an experience and not a commodity
Grace is a verb
Grace is an ongoing process
Grace is only experienced in relationship
Grace is a supernatural gift from God to us

At some point during the seminar the little ones playing in the childcare room had an accident. Somehow through the game they were playing the curtain rod fell. They tried to put it back up and it fell down again. Lena the childcare worker apologized to Tom over and over and was very distraught over it. He finally told her what today’s topic was and reassured her that it was okay and that he would fix it. What a practical example Tom was of God’s grace. We tried to do this with our children as they were growing up… if something was dropped or fell our first question was “are you alright?” and not “what did you break?” People have always been more important to us than our things.

As I type this Tom and Spencer are over at the church repairing the curtain rod!

“Как тебе не стыдно?!”

kak tibyeh ne stidna?!

The first teens standing near us on the tramvai were two young men from the military academy. The next group was four teens… three girls and one boy. One girl could not stop laughing, one girl was doing graffiti on the window, the boy was doing pull ups on the bar that passengers hold onto to steady themselves, and the last girl was trying to get them all to settle down. She fussed at them to “be quiet” or “be careful” and when that didn’t work it was a loud “Как тебе не стыдно?!” or roughly translated “have you no shame?!” It only worked for a short while.

family fun!

Fortunately the flood in our bathroom didn’t last 40 days and 40 nights… it lasted just long enough for there to be about an inch of water on the bathroom floor. There is a pipe at the back of the washing machine that worked itself loose. The three of us had to work together as a team to get all the water cleaned up off of the floor. And Tom secured the pipe back into the wall. All that is left to do is to wash up all clothes that were soaked by the flood along with the towels that we used to dry up the floor. Just another day in apartment land!

thought for today

He was shirtless, dirty and seemingly disoriented. Lying on the ground near the bus stop was a man who appeared to be around 50 years old. He looked up at people as they walked by. It was not quite 9 am and he was still trying to get some sleep. Three and a half hours later, we stood at the bus stop waiting for the bus home. I noticed his bedding…a pile of clothing on the ground behind the trashcan in front of the bench where people sit while they wait for the bus. He was gone. Taking it all in I prayed a silent prayer for him. I don’t know if he will be there again tomorrow.

This evening as the wind picked up, rain began to fall and the sun went down the man from this morning came to my mind again. I rarely think about the population of homeless people here in our city. Back in California it was hard to tell who was truly down on their luck. We saw men standing near the freeway holding signs that said “will work for food” or “help a vet”.

Tonight as I sit in my warm apartment I am wondering how many needy people are out there and what resources are available to help them.

People watching..

Tom saw these boys outside playing with a large crate....so of course I had to get out the camera!
working together they rolled it past the garages and across the soccer field...









We were not quite sure the purpose of their game, perhaps it was just something fun to do on a sunny spring afternoon!

70th Birthday Celebration!

Last night we attended the 70th Birthday Concert for the director of the Kuban Cossack Choir!

We always enjoy the costumes...

and how expressive the performers are...

Here is the birthday boy; Victor Gavrilovich Zakharchenko!













You can read more about Victor Gavrilovich by clicking here and more about the choir by clicking here. We invited the Radjobov family to come with us and we all had a great time! It was a treat for us to include them in our outing... we love going to concerts but it is always more fun to attend a Russian cultural event with our Russian friends! It was their first time attending a concert and we were Thankful that it was a great one to start with!

How People Grow Week 2

Today we had a few more people attend the seminar Tom is doing at the church and we were thrilled to have the men outnumber the women!





Tom spoke on The 3 Secret Components to Personal Growth… Grace, Truth and Time. Tom shared with us how the Bible outlines growth as a process.

He shared about change versus growth and one of the things that stood out for me from that section is that “change” might be good but “growth” is better!

One of the most impactful pieces of information that Tom shared today were three equations:
Grace without truth equals license.
Truth without grace equals condemnation.
Grace plus truth without time equals an event mentality.

I came away with the understanding that all three components work together and are vital in life, in relationships and in churches so that we can avoid licentiousness, condemnation of others as we relate to one another and finally grace, truth and time are vital in order to avoid the expectation that growth will happen in ourselves or in others as an event when quite often growth is a process!

Are you a reader?

Our current lesson is on Russian literature... I have to confess I didn't think much about studying Russian literature until we were in the process of moving here.

I read a few short stories by Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy and Zoshchenko. I did read Master and Margarita by Bulgakov, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and am in the process of reading the Brothers Karamozov by Dostoevsky.

There is a rich treasure of books, poems, short stories and plays to choose from among the Russian authors... and I am grateful that we are being challenged to read them!

A challenge I am not quite thrilled with is memorizing... we were assigned poems to memorize by Monday! It wouldn't be so bad if we had not been told that every Russian school child can memorize poems this long! Did your school do this? I don't remember doing this in school. I do remember doing this in church! Did your church do Easter or Christmas programs and have all the kids take turns saying their "pieces"?

I remember one year my grandmother made me and my Aunt Lisa learn long poems... but it seemed like the boys got by with short ones. I remember one little boy proudly stepping up to the mic and shouting "HAPPY EASTER EVERYBODY!!!" he bowed and then sat back down.

Oh well... I need to go and start working on my "piece" for Monday!

Thought for today

"Christians are like nails; the harder you hit them, the deeper they go"

------ A Romanian pastor who suffered under Communism

like Christmas day!

Over the past few weeks we have been blessed with three care packages from America! We love it when that happens!! I am constantly overwhelmed by the love and support we have received since we made the move here to Russia.

Life abroad has it's challenges, one of which is learning to "live without", another would be learning to value what you do have and finally learning how to receive from others.

Thank you to those of you who have taken the time and energy to support us in this way... we truly value each and every gift!

another Monday...

Spencer and I were back in class... Tom was home working on his teaching for the Saturday seminar. Then he went over to help out with an English class.

I was craving chocolate this evening so Spencer was kind enough to go and get some for me... right after he came there was a knock on the door. We were both a little spooked by that. He opened the door slowly and it was Vova! He had been in Moscow helping out his brother with his construction business.

Vova was returning a suitcase that we loaned him and he brought us over some chocolate in payment! So not only did I get a snickers bar from Spencer but another chocolate bar from Vova!

It was great to see him again. He had lots of stories to tell! Including the one about how he surprised Olya with his early return from Moscow. He didn't tell her he was coming home... he calls her as he is walking toward our building and they talk about the weather and how much they miss each other, he gets up to their apartment door and knocks on the door. She asks him to hang on while she answers the door, not knowing it would be him. Imagine her surprise when she opens the door with her cell phone to one ear and sees him standing there!

Tom's March seminar begins!!!

This month’s theme is “How People Grow” and today’s topic was “Growth as a Process”.


Tom was pleased with the turn out… we had 20 people today including the two little ones in childcare!



Dima did such a great job translating, Lena B. was awesome with the children, Spencer was in charge of the audio visual, he did an excellent job handling the PowerPoint and showing video clips… and I got to wear a few hats today, I did registration, made sure that there were snacks for the kids as well as prepared the tea and dessert for the adults and finally making sure that everyone who worked got paid!

We had a few new faces today which were great to see… I have a few special memories I will carry away from today, one of them was seeing the two little girls in childcare so excited to see one another! They met for the first time back during Tom’s first seminar in November. And they had not seen each other since the end of December. The other memory is of the number of men we had today. There were an equal number of men and women. Typically topics like this attract women… so you can imagine my excitement when the women finished up our small group time ahead of the men. It truly thrills our hearts to see such enthusiasm for this topic from the men!

Tom has two more topics to cover in this seminar… and we ask that you pray for us as our family works to make this time comfortable and enjoyable for all!

just girl time!

Stephanie opened her home today for a time of playing with makeup and foot massages for the teachers!

This was one of the highlights of my week, I totally enjoyed putting make up on Stephanie's two youngest daughters... I rarely get to play like this!








Megan and me!








all the goodies!








Goar getting her feet massaged by Rebecca!






Tania, our school director, putting makeup on Brianna!

another day abroad!

Yesterday Tom tried to make a withdrawal from an ATM… it didn’t work. He tried another one… that one didn’t work either. He came home and called the bank in America to find out what the problem was. It turns out that someone in Texas had made a copy of his card and tried to use it at a Walmart. After 65 minutes on the phone he got the problem rectified and a new card is on the way. There are times when we are annoyed with our bank but yesterday was not one of those days… we are grateful that they noticed activity and immediately put a block on the account.

Final week!

We ended up skipping a week due to so many of the women or their small children being ill. Yesterday was our final meeting and Lena R. did a great job leading us.

One of the things that stood out for me from her teaching was that Mary Magdalene made history by being the first person to see Christ after his resurrection... it showed how much value Jesus placed on women!

Sunday outing!

Spencer, Tom and I all went out to lunch today... as we were walking we saw this band of Cossacks headed our way!

Happy International Women's Day!

As Tom and I were coming home from our lunch date to celebrate the holiday today we saw that our local outdoor market was flooded with a variety of flowers... mostly tulips from vendors we had never seen before!

Flowers are a major part of this holiday here in Russia. I was excited to receive flowers at school on Thursday and then again on Friday from Tom! We also noticed today that many women owned or run businesses were closed.

Here is a great way to describe the overall spirit of the holiday:

“We have many good holidays, but March 8 is special one, as on this day we congratulate our mothers, daughters, sisters and grandmothers,” Tomsk city mayor Nikolai Nikolaichuk said. To read the rest of this article you can click here


On Thursday the women from the BLTC were all treated to an incredibly beautiful Russian banya... we enjoyed the sauna, pool, the comfort & beauty of the halls we were in and the time of fellowship with one another. I am grateful that my first experience in a Russian banya was in a place so luxurious! We were split into two groups one group occupied the Africa themed room and the other group was in the Indonesia themed room. Some of the gals who had been before brought things like body salt scrubs and honey to massage into our skin... I am still feeling the affects of how smooth and silky the honey made my skin feel!

I love this holiday! On Monday we have the day off of school and the women from the language school will be enjoying lunch together!

To learn more about this holiday click here

smile for the day

We saw this sign when we were in Cyprus! (The Blind Beggar is the name of a pub)

passing the baton...

For a closer look at President-elect Dmitry Medvedev... click Here or Here.

Tom, Spencer and I have each heard various things from people about the voting process. One story is that there was an elderly couple who voted for the Communist Party candidate because they felt sorry for him, after having done that they had to face being chastised by their middle aged son for wasting their vote. Democracy looks a little different in this part of the world... it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Russia's presidential election

With 25% of the precincts reporting election results we are being told that Putin's handpicked successor Dmitry Medvedev has a commanding 63% of the vote right now... his closest rival only has 19%.

what to watch first?!

Yesterday we received a box that was full of TV shows! Thanks so much Mom, Dad and Nathan.

It is such a blessing each time we get things to watch in English. We do watch movies in Russian and enjoy them... but watching in English is our way to relax and recoup from the stressors of the day!

What a great problem we have now... what to watch first!? We started with one episode from the 1st season of Saturday Night Live and then went on to watch a few episodes from the 1st season of Arrested Development!

where did he go?

I used to get my shoes repaired at this little kiosk... until they came and carried it away!

trip to the pharmacy!

Often we communicate with one another through text messaging. It is cheaper to send a text than to make a phone call and it keeps us from having to speak in English in public places. Tom sent me a text message today asking me to pick up some sinus medicine on the way home. I was coming from my prayer time with the East West gals which gave me the opportunity to check with Joyce about how to ask for sinus medicine in Russian.

I went in and told them that my husband had "pressure" in this area, while demonstrating where the sinuses are. The young lady quickly led me over to the medication she thought would work best and suggested something for his immune system as well. I had my language helper session right after this so I showed Lena the medications that I bought. Turns out I got all the right stuff! She told me that the medicine I bought for Tom works really well, would help with him fight off this virus and should get him to feeling better soon!

We have many people from the church who are sick right now... our pastor, Lena's husband Valodia came by to tell us that Mia, 4 years old, she is the daughter of Alla... who led the Women's Bible Study last week. Mia was just admitted to the hospital with a high fever. She has already been sick for over two weeks. Please keep us all in your prayers... this seems to be going through the church!

Letters From Iwo Jima

The Island of Iwo Jima was located between the American armed forces and the mainland of Japan. General Kuribayashi and the young soldier, Saigo, stand tall and face the battle with courage, strength and dignity. I don't normally enjoy war movies but this one was well worth watching!

Prayer request:

Both Tom and Spencer are sick... Tom has not gotten out much this week. He felt good while the guys were here watching the football game on Monday but after that he took a turn for the worse. I made soup and we have lots of orange juice so he is being taken care of!

Week Four

Joyce did a great job today! I truly admired her courage... she taught us in Russian. Russian is a very complex language and although she made a couple of mistakes she was a great example to me about the importance of not worrying about doing something perfectly, the important thing is to "just do it".

She taught about Mary of Bethany from Mark 14 who anointed Jesus "with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head."

Joyce reminded us that it is more important to have Christ value what you are doing for him than it is to be concerned with what onlookers have to say about what you are doing... the people watching Mary of Bethany's act of worship toward Jesus rebuked her for the amount of money she wasted. And yet Jesus praised her, saying... "She has done a beautiful thing to me...she did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."

Next week is our last meeting with this study... thanks for praying us all the way through!

Super Bowl Monday...

Tom had a few of the guys from school come over to watch the Super Bowl. Yes, of course we know the game took place already but the DVD from Tom's dad just came on Saturday! Even though we all knew the outcome it was still fun to watch.

Spencer and I watched mostly for the commercials... I sat in the back of the room and let the guys who actually wanted to see the game have the good seats!

Men's Day

You can read more about this Russian holiday here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defender_of_the_Fatherland_Day

or here:

http://www.mnweekly.ru/national/20080221/55311621.html

I went out early today to get presents for Tom and Spencer. I realised as I was picking out presents that I was buying Spencer his first "grown up" gift. I gave him cologne. He has never had any of his own before. It had a great impact on him and I am glad that I followed through with that purchase!

Tom invited Dima B. over to watch a new Russian film with us. It is called Kiss Not for the Press. And it is loosely based on Putin's life. It was great to have Dima here to explain some of the cultural references to us. He truly added to our enjoyment of the film.




















I made lasagna for dinner and was pleased to find out that it is Dima's favorite food from his time spent in Canada years ago. Dima left with movies he borrowed to watch for the long weekend. He is our only male teacher at the Language School. Men's Day is one of the official holidays that people will get to take off work for. So we don't have school on Monday.

I believe that Tom and Spencer had a great day today... at least they had full tummies and they smelled nice!

Teaching English... I can do that!

The BLTC was asked to provide English lessons to the employees of the OVIR's office....which stands for Office of Visa, Immigration and Registration. They decide who can visit our area, who can live here, and who can be deported from Russia for up to 5 years. This is a very important relationship to develop... the administrator recognized Spencer and Tom from their passport photos as she has processed our paperwork many times before. She was delighted to meet them in person!

In English they shared about themselves, their families and practiced dialogues from the lesson about meeting each other. There were 5 OVIR workers, four of which will probably start the twice a week class beginning in March. Today's meeting was simply a preview of what the lessons will look like.

Tom enjoyed being able to teach the letters of the Alphabet "as speaking English is within his area of capacity". (his words not mine!)

the weather...

Snow, snow and more snow! This woman is one of the people who take care of the grounds around the apartment building... Tom was able to get a photo of her hard at work.

Week Three

This week was Alla's turn to lead... she did an awesome job teaching us about the woman caught in the act of adultery.






Alla sat on the couch with her 4 month old son on her lap teaching. She didn't seem the least bit distracted and had the full attention of everyone of us in the room!

Attendance was down from 17 to 10 due to sickness and the snowfall... public transportation practically comes to a stand still when the weather is bad. When I arrived at the church Tim was blessing us ladies by shoveling the walkway and the stairs. It was truly a welcome sight to see his servant's heart at work.

Thanks for praying for the women who are attending... many of them have obstacles to overcome each week just to get there and we have two more weeks to go!!

where did the time go?

On Friday I made the Apple Butter which Spencer and Tom totally enjoy... and then on Saturday I managed to get the bread baked to go with it!

Saturday I watched Yanna while Olya and Eera spent time at the mall together. On Sunday Spencer and I were both sick. Somehow Tom has avoided getting sick... so he was the only one to make it to church and then bring home Orange Juice and Kleenex for the sickies in the house.

So here it is Monday night and I have Bible Study tomorrow and have not even started translating the words I don't understand from the new lesson... as I was looking up the Bible verses I thought where did the weekend go? Normally, I get my study done on Sunday so Lena R. and I can go over it during my time with her on Monday afternoons.

Tom had Lena look over his schedule for the next seminar he will be doing at the church. She fixed a few grammar mistakes and then changed the wording on a couple of the titles so they sound "more Russian". It has been an adventure learning what goes over well when translated and what doesn't... we live and we learn new things here everyday!

***Please pray for Lena R. as she handles everything with the three kids at home while her husband, Valodia, is in Daghestan leading a seminar on prayer. Pray for him as well... he had a car accident there and he needs various insurance documents sent to him so that he can take care of the damage to his van.

bleh!

Tom was the only one healthy enough to leave the house today... Spencer and I are both nursing colds. Not fun! I am hoping to feel well enough for school tomorrow but I think Spencer would like another day at home!

Crock Pot Apple Butter

Crock Pot Apple Butter
12 cups of apples, peeled and cut into small pieces
4 cups sugar
1/3 cup apple juice
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp each, ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves

Mix spices in with the sugar and then place apples, sugar mixture and juice into crock pot and turn it on low and let it cook all night.

In the morning, there will be some liquid that came out of the apples as it cooked. Dip the fruit & liquid out by the cupfuls and place in a blender. Blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Be careful not to put too large a batch in the blender at one time and, because the mix is very hot, do not place the lid completely on the blender, but allow space for steam to escape. After blending a couple of cups from the crock pot, place it in another large bowl. After blending all the contents of the crock pot, return mixture to crock pot.

Cook on high with the lid off until the apple butter is as thick as you want it to be. Place in clean, hot canning jars and place lid on immediately. Tighten jar lid. Place the jars upside down until they are completely cool to help them seal better with all the heat against the seal.


*** I just wanted to add that Tom took a jar over to the rehab center for the guys along with some bread. They sliced the bread and put out the apple butter with it. One of the men decided it was better to eat by the spoonfuls!!

I guess this recipe is a keeper!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Tom came to meet me at school today, he had purchased some tulips for me and that totally impressed our teachers! We had planned to have lunch together because on Thursday nights he is now teaching at Transformation Rehab center.... which means that I knew he was coming to pick me up at school but our teachers didn't!!


It was suggested to us to go to a place called Wok. That sounded good to both of us... so off we went. When we got there we found out that all of their tables had been reserved. I was shocked because this is not a holiday that Russians traditionally celebrate. Obviously times are changing!


We went to Heavenly Dragon and had a great meal there. We both love Chinese food and this place was worth the bus ride and the short walk to get there!

Tom is now at the Rehab center teaching, Spencer is not feeling well so he went to bed early, I am sitting at the computer and just heard from Nathan that he is still sick... please pray for he and Spencer to get well!!