St. Mary of the Angels

I found a photo online of the church that I visited first! Hopefully, when Erin gets here I can put my own pictures on the photo blog.

I have been checking in at internet cafes to get email and see how the guys are doing. You can only put so much info into a text message! So email is still the most effective way to find out what is going on at home.

Tom said they watched a couple of Nathan's zombie movies yesterday. I am glad that I missed out on that.

If I were in Krasnodar I would escape the heat by staying in our airconditioned apartment. If I were in California I would go to the mall. Here in Assisi the only place to beat the heat is in a church! I spent most of yesterday in two different churches. I went back to St. Mary's and I went up the hill to St. Francis' church.

St Peter and Paul Day

Today is a holiday. I thought Russia had a lot of holidays but Italy has some interesting ones too. A lot of markets and stores are shut down for the day but most of the bars are still open!

It is very tranquil here. Not at all like Rome. Franciscan monks stroll around barefoot singing. Groups of monks meet for discussion and prayer on the church steps. Doves walk around in church like they own the place. This is a very spirit-filled city. There are not many tourists to be seen. Most people seem to be pilgrims here... perhaps to experience what St. Francis did while he was here. Cameras are rarely seen and photos are not allowed in the churches.

Yesterday I was at Basilica Santa Maria Degli Angeli. Today my plan is to go to the Basilica dedicated to St. Francis. It was built after his death. The church he actually attended was Santa Maria Degli Angeli.

Assisi

Assisi is beautiful and hot! I got to Rome and found the train station right away this time. I rode into the Termini Station and was able to enjoy lunch at McDonald's. I have an Italian cell phone number so I am able to talk with the guys back home. And with Erin in the states. The chip for my phone was only 20 euros... not a bad deal.

I left Termini and travelled to Assisi. It was a two hour train ride. The train was nice. My hotel is lovely. I wish I could post a photo. I have already visited the church where St Francis first heard from God.

I had dinner at a little cafe and then I had to go in search of the internet! I will be here in Assisi until the second of July. Maybe by then I will stop speaking Russian and actually get out a few words or phrases in Italian!

Tom and Vasa got up early and took me to the airport. I hope they were both able to get some rest today. We left our place at three am. Tom said that they had car trouble on the way home. But, they did make it back safely. Spencer was hanging out over at Andrew's. His family is back from Helsinki and then will leave tomorrow for Moscow. Spencer just has to get his fix of being with his other family!

Where am I going?

I am headed to Assisi, Italy. http://www.umbriabest.com/cities/assisi/index.htm I will be ther from the 28th until the 2nd. I am hoping to meet some WorldVenture people while I am there. then I head to Rome to meet up with Erin and James.

Either Tom or I will keep the blog updated. He will have tales to tell of his travels once he reaches America in late July.

The guys are staying home.... they keep joking about having a party.

I just can't imagine Nathan's youth group and Spencer's friends (Tobias &Andrew) causing to much trouble.

Hopefully, they won't try to prove me wrong!

leaving on a jet plane!

Tom and Vasa will be taking me to the airport at 3 am. My flight leaves at 5am. We had a lot to do today getting me ready to go. The most important errand was our HIV testing.

Yep, it is that time of year again. Each year as part of the visa renewal fun we have to be re-tested. We had the tests done around 9:30 and the results were ready by noon.

Our family watched "V for Vendetta" for this evenings entertainment. Right now Alonna, Vasa and Tom are watching "Pink Panther".

Lena and Dima stopped by to pick up a CD of their wedding pictures. They are living with Dima's parents right now until the repair work on their new apartment is finished.

Lena Parhomenka told me not to forget Russian while I am gone. I am to listen to, read and speak Russian whenever I get a chance. Actually there should be some Russian tours at some of the sites. Lena wants me to take one every week!

Tom says he has found a new language helper. She is 2 1/2. She speaks slowly and repeats everything she says and everything everyone around her says so she is easy to learn from! One of the many benefits for taking in a Russian family. We are getting lots of practice in.

from 2 to 7!

On Tuesday and Wednesday of last week there were two quiet adults in this apartment.

On Thursday we added three more adults and a preschooler.

On Saturday a teenager came into the mix.

This morning Tom and I were discussing how clean the apartment is. We have 5 adults, 1 teenager and 1 preschooler in the house right now. The kitchen and bathroom are clean.

Why is it hard to keep those rooms clean when it is just three adults and a teenager?

Maybe the two adult guests that are here are the reason it is so clean!!

*** Special thanks to Becky in North Carolina... we went through the twinkies in the blink of an eye!

Tortured Child Will Stay in US

Adopted Russian Child Tortured by Foster Mother to Remain in U.S.

MosNews


The adopted 4-year-old Russian child who was beaten by a U.S. woman will stay in the area and be adopted by a new family.The child, whose name and picture is being withheld by the newspaper, is a United States resident and will not return to Russia, The Evening Tribune reports.“I saw him about three weeks ago, and I have had contact with the foster parents and others who have contact with him, and he is doing very well,” said the child’s legal counsel, Thomas Fuoco of Angelica. “Yes, he will still be around here. I don’t foresee any difficulties in this family adopting him, and the three of them make a wonderful family.”

On Tuesday, Allegany County Court Judge Thomas Brown sentenced Jane Cochran, 44 to 120 days in jail, 90 days on electronic home monitoring, five years of probation and to serve 100 hours of community service. Her husband, Timothy Cochran, 49, will spend 60 days in jail and will be on probation for three years.The Cochrans went jointly to Russia to adopt the child and as a result, he will remain here.“He is a U.S. citizen. If both parents go to the foreign country and adopt the child, upon return to the United States he becomes a U.S. citizen,” Fuoco said. “The problem is, when one parents goes, the other has to file papers. But when both go, it’s automatically done.”On Jan. 31, Alfred Police charged Jane Cochran with second-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child and charged Timothy Cochran with endangering the welfare of a child.

Police said Jane Cochran allegedly beat their adopted 4-year-old child from Russia because he did not read his prayers in English well and allegedly cut the child’s ear with scissors while making other threats.Jane Cochran was asked by her attorney, Nick Jonas, if she used a wooden spoon, a belt and other implements to beat the 4-year-old and she said “yes.”

Spencer is home!

Yesterday Spencer came back from Moscow. He left home on Tuesday and was there until Satuday. He was with our friends Jody and Melanie http://www.ratsnrussia.blogspot.com/

Melanie and Jody were students at the language school. Melanie was the one who took me to Vishevoy Reenock and exposed me to aisles and aisles of clothes! They have three children.

Spencer was orginally going to go to Khabarisk to visit them. But the other person he was scheduled to fly with was afraid to fly that far away for her first airplane trip. Then we found out that their family was going to be in Moscow for several days. And Leeza (the kids former nanny) agreed to go on that trip. Moscow is only two hours away by plane but Khabarisk is 9 hours away.

Spencer said that Leeza was so nervous that she grabbed his hand at take off and didn't let it go until they landed. She is 23. They arrived at Melanie and Jody's apartment by metro! (subway) We gave Spencer taxi money but they decided to use public transport instead.

Spencer was not blown away with Moscow. There are beautiful things to see there but it is loud, busy and full of rude people. Like... New York! He said people didn't apologize for bumping you like they do here. And many things they wanted to buy were expensive. That is everything except for telephones. He used the birthday money from us and his grandparents to buy a new camera phone.

He went to Red Square once and to McDonalds three times. Teenagers have priorities! Melanie and Jody left very early Thursday morning for a trip to Poland. Fortunately for Spencer and Leeza she has family that live in Moscow. So they were able to spend Thursday and Friday night with Leeza's Aunt and Uncle.

Spencer was completely immersed in Russian while he was gone. He enjoyed being with Aidan, Leia and Makayla. He didn't enjoy the "white nights". He said the sun went down at midnight and came back up around four a.m. It was hard for the little ones to go to sleep. He said McDonald's tasted like "normal" and Red Square was "cool". He seemed most excited about the new cell phone!

Food choices

Yesterday for dinner I made a spaghetti and meatballs. I chose to go over to City Center and get the ground beef. They have the best ground beef in the supermarket there.

When I asked the woman at the counter for a kilogram (2.2lbs) of ground beef she looked at me and then told me she had a question. She wanted to know why so many foreigners like the plain ground beef. I told here that many Americans like to eat hamburgers. She asked if we had good tasting beef in America.

Here in Russia it is common for the ground beef to be mixed with pork. The pork makes the beef taste better.

our house guests

Our guests have a two and a half year old daughter. Her name is Dionna.
(dee-ohn-nah)
She is such a joy. Last night she sang for us for about a half hour. She sings about whatever is around her. She will sing about chairs, dishes, towels... basically whatever is in the room she is in.


Last night she picked up one of my crochet hooks and used it as a microphone. And she can switch from Russian to English without any trouble!

Her parents have planted a church in Derbent, Dahgestan. They are Russian nationals who graduated from the BLTC two years ago. We were blessed to have been here on our scouting trip when they graduated. We attended the graduation, Tom also taught some of the final sessions, and he remembers most of the men who were his students. (Lena and Alexei were also in that graduating class). And now it is an honor to have them staying with us.

The church is in a Muslim area and right now they have about 40 people. Their names are Alonna (ah-loan-nah) and Vasa. Vasa told us last night at dinner that they have seven different people groups attending the church. He said that each week they allow a different people group to do the worship. They are enjoying songs from each of the nationalities represented.

Vasa also told us about a time when he went to go have some copies of songs transferred from a floppy to a disk. The clerk asked him what was on the floppy. When he heard that it contained Christian music, the clerk threw the floppy back at him and refused to do the work.

I asked him if living there was dangerous. He said “yes, but there is danger all over the world.” They are very committed to the area even though he knows he could be killed or harmed.
Please pray for the church in Derbent and for those who are willing to work in that area.
Please pray for a safe birth of their second child. Alonna will be here in Krasnodar until the baby is born.

new look...

my new hairdo for the summer! 

The woman who did my hair told me that her mother is African and her father is French.  That means I had a FRENCH woman doing my FRENCH braids! 

Women from Cameroon doing hair on a Russian beach!

 cotton candy... just like they used to do at the State Fair!

Anapa sunset

Anapa BLTC Women's Retreat 2006

We enjoyed having makeovers, the beach and great teaching by Diane and Linda. Each woman has a new hairstyle... cut and/or color according to what she wanted.

We had women from Uzbekastan, Dahgestan, Russia and America.

The hairstylist, Janath, is from Houston, Texas and has 27 years experience. She teaches in a college and owns her own salon. On the bus coming home a woman from Uzbekestan asked me to tell Janath that her name in the Uzbekastani language means Paradise. And that is Paradise as in the words of Jesus saying "today you will be with me in Paradise".

I left home worried about my ability to speak Russian. I came home with a refreshed spirit and having been told that "it is obvious" by the way I speak that I "have spent a lot of time with Russians"!

I need to go and get our home ready for some guests that are coming this evening. We have a missionary couple who work in Dahgestan coming to stay with us for awhile. They are Russian nationals and they work under difficult living conditions there.

Yesterday was 'Travel Day'!

Congrats to 3 former LA Lakers (Coach Riley, Shaq & GP) for their recent NBA Championship title! I’ve only read about the NBA playoffs on the internet, as sports here have a bad case of World Cup fever, & nothing else.

Alida left for a women’s leadership retreat in the beautiful resort city of Anapa on the Black Sea…one of the benefits of living so close to the water. I took Spencer to the airport for his flight to Moscow. He & friend Leeza will be visiting some former language school students who moved away. Leeza had never flown before, so she relied on the experience of Spencer to guide them thru the airport protocol. Meanwhile, Nathan & I are enjoying incredible silence!!! I’m not saying that Alida & Spencer are loud & noisy…but having too less people around certainly changes things…especially when they are two loud & noisy people! (The opinions of this blog post do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of the owner of this blog, & may be representative only of the guest commentator).

Making friends in Russia

Making friends takes time here. First you are an aquaintance. Then you become a friend... if you are fortunate you may graduate to close friend.

We have someone that we know whom we consider a close family friend but this person doesn't think they know us that well yet. It stings a little bit. But, we understand it. It is a cultural difference.

Maybe, we Americans call someone "friend" too soon. Maybe, Russians don't do it soon enough. We will continue to love this person no matter what. It is worth it!


And thank you to the close friend who told me my old blog color was about to make her sick... she is a true friend!

you have the right blog!

Tom asked Lena to take a new photo of us... here is one of the poses you can see two others on the photo blog.

www.sharpmomphotos.blogspot.com

another Russian holiday!

We watched a great movie tonight with Alexei, Lena and her brother Slavic. They came by to tell us about how church was today. We were being lazy "heathens" (as one of my Aunts would say) and didn't go. Everybody needs a day off now and then!

Spencer baked a cake for his Father's Day gift to Tom. All I had to do was make the frosting! I never made frosting until moving here. But, when you cannot go to the market and just buy a jar you 'do what yah gotta do!'

Nathan made lunch and took a special trip out of the house to purchase a card for his dad. Only somehow between home and the store he got it in his head that today was Tom's birthday and not Father's Day. He came home with a very funny birthday card for his Dad.

Remember where we live? This is Russia and Father's Day is not celebrated here. When Alexei came over he told us that today is a holiday... Day of Medicine. Seriously, there is a Day of Knowledge and Day for Teachers and so on. Today is Medicine Day.

Happy Day of Medicine!