Christian Fellowship can't be beat!

We have had 2 absolutely wonderful days!  I am going to start with our Sunday~We got picked up at the light up on Karl Marx Rd.  Yeah, right here a block from us is Karl Marx Rd.  Anyway, beyond that point, we were on our way with the Loomans.  I am going to include some pictures, so I hope you enjoy them.  We made it to church, and no wedding today.  There was a nice crowd, but not too crowded.  The service got started, and we sang a song, and then we all prayed together.  At that point, a musical group was introduced that was visiting from the capital of Ukraine~Kiev.  They started sharing God's blessings and testimonies, and would introduce and sing a song, and then move on to their next song, with an introduction of God's blessings.  It was really pretty neat, however, it did go on for a bit.  We would think this song would be the last, but then they would sing another song.  This lasted until 12:20, at which point one of the fellows from the group finally got up and started to preach.  I have to say that one of the things that I have really liked about the preaching in Russia is how straightforward they are with how to put God's word into practice in practical ways in our lives.  So, he preached, and then they were closing out with one last song, and people started coming forward to repent.  It was really cool.  I think there were at least 6 people who accepted Christ as their Savior right then and there.  What a blessing to experience!

Now, I would like to add some sweet little things.  Um, the church has not been packed, nicely filled, but not packed. (keep this in mind for later)  Iris (our friend and translator through the service) told us that also normally there is not that much going on at their church, and that we really have come at an unusual time of year when there does seem to be quite a bit going on.  We're like, "YEAH, YEAH, you probably tell everyone that."  And she says in effect that normally there are 3 sermons (their service, if you remember, lasts 2 hours), and normally there are not a lot of other things going on.  So, God has been adding some special treats for us.  I really wanted to get a picture, but did not want to be disrespectfu.  However, I mentioned that to Iris, and she said that taking pictures is not a problem.  She said that people do it all of the time.  So, I decided that I would take a picture of the group, and walked down to the balcony railing to get a better picture.  At that point, I wanted to get a picture of a group of women all sitting squeezed into a pew.  This had really piqued my curiousity because there was plenty of room for them to sit in other pews.  I did not understand why they would squash all together.  So, I finally got up the nerve to point it out and ask Iris why all of these ladies were sitting so tightly together.  So funny~~we are all so much creatures of habit.  Her response was this.  "Normally our church is packed, and there is hardly room to sit, so everyone has to sit very tightly together.  Those ladies always sit together, and even though it is not packed, they still choose to sit together."  So, they were sitting together because those are THEIR seats, and you know, you have to sit in the same spot when you go to church.  hehehe  I loved it!

We enjoyed our church service once again.  Then we were on our way to the village where Tim and Iris live.  It was really a beautiful day, and was warming up.  We traveled out to their village, and were so blessed by their hospitality.  Iris really put out a spread for our lunch.  It was delicious!  ~~The best part though was the fellowship.  It was so nice to spend time with Iris.  Diester and the guys were playing baseball in their back yard.  Iris showed me her lovely garden (puts mine to shame, but gives me hope for next year), and then we got to meet their goats, Shalom and Hosannah.  I sat in the sun a bit, and soaked up the sun.  Something I am really missing~~and then we had dessert again!  We came in after a bit, and then we got to share stories of our lives.  For those of you who know who this is, Edith Schaeffer from L'Abri was at Tim and Iris' wedding in Switzerland.  All of Tim's family (from Wisconsin) got to stay in the chalets at L'Abri, and Edith Schaeffer gave them a signed book on marriage that her and her husband Francis (deceased by this time) had authored.  What a treat!  It must've been special all around~~Iris got tears of joy in her eyes as she spoke of their wedding.  Oh, I should ask to see pictures.  I still have time.  It sounds liked it was a total blessing for them.  Ahhhh!  When God blesses a marriage!  What sweetness there is!

Okay, so we enjoyed fellowship with them until after 7:00 pm.  It was just like we have known them for years~~that kind of fellowship~~sharing stories of God's provision and him bringing us out of our past lives.  How nice is that!   Then it was time for us to head home.  I took some pictures of us heading out.  First, the Siberian hillsides that they overlook are just beautiful, and go on forever.  As we were still leaving the village, there was an older woman just sitting out on a stoop in her flowered dress with her scarf on her head.  I mentioned to Iris that I wished I could have had a picture of that~~it seemed so Russian, and she told me that that lady was selling fresh milk.  Oh my! ! !  Then, we went a little further, and came upon the 2 shepherds bringing the village cow herd home for the day.  Iris explained that everyone with a cow will milk the cow in the morning, and then the shepherds come by and get the cow, and basically round up all of the cows in the village, and take them out for the day onto the hillside to graze, and then will bring them home in the evening, and the cows basically exit the herd when they get to their home.  Then their own farmer will milk the cow for the evening milking.  One of the shepherds was on foot, the other one on a horse (would we call him a cowboy?)  Wowsa! The culture here is just a tad bit different.  What an amazing bit of history that still takes place today.  I loved it!  And Iris and Tim do have running water (thanks for the prayers for their well), and electricity.  What am I trying to say~~modern conveniences in the midst of ancient traditions and ways of life.  It is sooooo cool! 

Then before we came all the way home, we stopped at the METRO.  Just like a Sam's Club.  We picked up some things there, and Iris picked up some things.  We came home, and crashed for the night!  What a day!   Thank you God for the Loomans, and for your blessings on our day!

Now to try and post the pictures with this!  I hope you can see them.  Michelle      

2 Relaxing Days

We have had 2 days not seeing the boys, and it has actually been very relaxing.  No 5 hour drive to and back from the orphanage, just waiting for the days to pass.  We get to go see them again on Monday, but in the meantime, we are relaxing.  I almost wrote relazying~~I am not used to chillin' as much as I have here in the last 2 days.  I will give you the highlights~obviously not much about the boys because we have not seen them, so if you are looking for that, you will not get it today.

We had a lot to do on Friday~Diester made a list, and we got busy.  Don't ask me what all we did, but some of the highlights are:  A big long NAP (I think that was almost 3 hours long), playing Scrabble (Diester won by the skin of his teeth), making dinner and homemade chx broth (for some soups for when we get the boys), answering some e-mails (have loved hearing from the ones who respond), and don't forget our bible study, and prayer time.  (God just keeps revealing himself to us.  For that I am thankful!)  It was a good day!

Yesterday was our Saturday, and once again we had only a few things to do, so we took it easy.  I think this might be what vacation is supposed to be like: relaxing.  Feels really weird to be in Russia experiencing 'vacation', but I will take the downtime.  I know it will not last, and life will be in full swing again.  We woke up in the morning to find that our toilet didn't work.  YEA!  Some things in life are just not exciting to face.  So, Diester decides he is going to learn the proper Russian phrase to let the concierge know that the toilet is broken.  I say, Go for it!  Then, we spent some time piddling, and me trying to pass some time in God's word; and Diester asks me if I think he can pull off communicating with them, by taking this issue up with the concierge.  Well, I am not sure who would end of paying for the maintainance, so I explain that to him, and we agree that he could do what his plan was, but it might be best to contact our interpreter first to see if she would suggest a different route.  Sooooo, here we go, calling Ilena on a Saturday.  She is very gracious.  Diester called her, and she lets us know that she saw on the news that the cold water is being turned off for a two days in our certain region of Krasnoyarsk.  WHAT!?  TWO DAYS!?  Seriously, that would never happen in the U.S.  Okay, we do have hot water.  (An interesting thing that I found out~~probably happened when communism/socialism was in full swing here, is that the hot water we are getting does not come through a hot water heater in our apt, or even in the apt building.  It comes from the one single source in this region where the water is heated for everyone, and then you have to draw it.  I have waited for 40 minutes (with the shower going full blast~~as full blast as it gets here), and finally gotten some hot water.   Now that makes sense why we have to wait so long.  I must have been the first one drawing it on the mornings that we had to wait that long.  We aren't in America~~

So, what else have we been up to?  Oh, we went to a souvenir shop yesterday, and got a couple of items.  We did that in the morning, and on the way home we picked some things up from the grocery store (we have been eating in, as we are hopeful that this is saving us money).  It was nice to get out and get some fresh air.  So, then we headed home.  We decided to make chili~~nothing like at home.  I didn't have ground beef, so I used chx as my meat.  Then I realized that we did not have a can opener.  So, I used some of the black beans that I had cooked, instead of the kidney beans that I had bought in a can.  It turned out tasty (I had brought spices from home), but just different. 

Then I took another nap (AHHHHHHHH! ! ! )  Lovin' that!  I could get used to that, but Diester will come and wake me up after a bit if it is getting too long.  He says he wants to make sure I will sleep at night.  (I think he doesn't like being 'alone' for too long.)  Turns out he napped out in the living room while I was napping in the bed.  We both needed it for sure!

The plan is to eat lunch with the Loomans this afternoon.  Besides spending time with them, I cannot wait to see her garden.  I think I saw a sneak peek on FB, and it looks lovely.  So, yesterday, we decided that I would bring some potatoe salad for our lunch, and I needed some potatoes~did not have enough.  So, we went to the market again, but they did not have any potatoes that looked very good.  And, actually on our way into the market, there were several farmers and their wives selling veggies from their garden, including fresh dug potatoes.  Around 10 sets of peddlers right outside the market.  That would never be allowed in the US.  So, we decided to buy the potatoes from a farmer.  Once we got the other stuff I needed inside the market, we headed outside.  When we were heading out, the wind was picking up, and the sky was darkening.  Diester was concerned that the farmer with the potatoes would already be packed up as it was also starting to rain.  Fortunately, he was just starting to pack up, so we headed toward him, and Diester greeted him (in Russian), but also stated that we are Americans.  Diester pointed to the pail of potatoes that we wanted, and then held out some change for the farmer to pick out money from this handful.  Obviously, there was not enough change to pay for these potatoes, so the farmer was not taking any of the money.  Diester said questioningly, "Nyet?" and the farmer said "Nyet, Nyet" so we could tell it was not enough.  Then Diester dug a little deeper, and brought out some more coins with bigger denominations, and sure enough, the farmer went through the handful of change, and pulled from it what he charges (we figure it was around 40 rubles), and then he handed us the potatoes that had been transferred to a bag, and then, it was so sweet, the farmer held out his hand for a handshake, and Diester shook his hand.  (There are a lot of Russian people who are awed by Americans.)  As Diester's mom said, he probably went home and told his wife that he sold potatoes & shook hand's with an American today. 

We came home, made our dinner, blah blah blah~~ how everyday boring can this get?  Then we made potatoe salad, cleaned up, and played Scrabble after skyping with Diester's mom a bit.  The girls were not available, as they were off to a campout sleepover with a church group.  I have to let you know I won in Scrabble!  I broke Diester's winning streak~ YAY! 

That is about it.  It is early Sunday morning.  We got to skype with the girls, which makes my day good, and now we are getting ready for our day at church, and with the Loomans.  Have a blessed day yourselves~~hope all is well with you!  May God bless you!

     

Discipline 101 (Diester's title for today~~I am struggling with a good one)

Today, we went to the orphanage wondering what we would be doing with the boys.  We were really hopeful for nice weather so that we could play outside with the boys, but the good Lord had other plans for us today.  It was raining.  I had grabbed a couple of books to help 'create' some bonding, quality time with the boys.  On they way to the orphanage, we were making some plans to help fill the time.  We also prayed about this, and then the idea came to have the little guys show us their beds, where they ate, played, went to the potty, etc.  That would take a bit of time.  When we were walking up to the orphanage once we got there, we could hear singing and music coming from the music room.  I actually got a bit excited knowing that we could watch them in this lesson for a few moments.  Well, you know the drill, we have to get the plastic shoe footies on our shoes, and then we take turns using the restroom (the one and only for adults).  As we were waiting to use the restroom, the class let out, and were heading to go to the potty themselves, and R.A. was walking by, and noticed Diester.  He stopped in his tracks, hollered "Pappa" pointing to Diester, and the teacher let him come to us.  He is a teeny little fellow~~it really hit me today how very small he is.  SO CUTE!   He ran to give Diester a hug, and then they made him leave for a moment to use the potty with the rest of his group.  (They each have their own potty chair.)   He said to Diester (in Russian, mind you) "I'll be right back after I go peepee."  It was really sweet.   AND then, dun, dun, dun, dun.....we were once again lead to the 'music room' (stimulation overload) to play with the little guys.  We were introduced to the fact that I.A. actually likes to play the accordian also.  He got his hands on it before R.A. got to the room after going potty, so we got to see little I.A. attempting to play the accordian, with the movement, and marching around.  There is only one for the children, but they must get a turn on it because he didn't act like he didn't know what to do with it.  The music teacher asked our interpreter to please get the boys involved with music somehow, because they love it so much, are musically inclined, and she feels we are obliged to do it as their parents!  We certainly plan on it if that is where God leads us. 

So, the music started, and we played for a bit with that.  After a while, our interpreter left for a bit, and we decided to have some down time with the boys.  Okay, they know about down time, but NOT with us.  We have been nothing but 'BIG TIME FUN' (Diester especially) for them, so down time does not seem to fit in their minds with us.  Reality hits!  We try to sit down to read.  I sat R.A. on my lap, and Diester had I.A.  As we sat down, R.A. was not happy to be in my lap.   He would look at the pages, and then totally turn 5 pages at a time just to get done with the book.   Then he got fidgety, and I spent the majority of the time trying to get his attention on the book with him fidgeting.  I finally just set down the book, and just held him as he continued to squirm.  I was speaking in Russian telling him everything was okay, to sit calmly, etc.  Diester was helping with some additional phrases that he had written down.  So, we looked pretty funny I am sure.  When Diester saw me struggling, he carries I.A. over to get his notebook with the Russian phrases in it, and comes back and is helping me to try to calm him down.  I was just not letting him go.  (shaking in my boots the whole time).  However, at a point, he settled down.  I just rocked him, and he let me rock him.  Then I tried with a different book.  We found a page with animals on it, and he was identifying all of the animals.  It was quite amazing~~I could tell because he was saying the name, and I had the name (in Russian pronunciation underneath the picture).  That settled him for a bit.   Then he was done with that book, and again done with sitting on my lap.  Well, I let him fidget some more, and then he calmed down.  It is really hard to write about this because I want to just write about how everything is going just peachy, and today, it did not feel peachy during this time.   I know Diester wanted to come over and take him from me to help me out, but there is actually bonding going on through this struggle.  We cannot give into their every whim.  With children that have been institutionalized, it is important that they know you are in control.  He was actually even crying at a point because I would not let him go.  He also was saying "nyet, nyet, nyet" (which is no, no, no).  However, towards the end of this scenario, I turned him around to ask him if he would like to go play now, and he was actually not terribly upset with me.  It was all about a power struggle, and we worked through it as best as we could.  Diester and I are not going to be a barrel of laughs for them 24/7, and so we need to start providing this order and discipline in their lives with us.  This is what you read about in preparation to adopt, but it is difficult to put into practice.  So, we got through that.  There were no grudges held, and he was not upset with us after this.  (As Diester and I talked about this later, we felt like that was a really good thing.)  Then we went back to interacting with some of the more stimulating things that they wanted to do.  Several times I had to get I.A. out of things that he shouldn't have been getting into, and it gave me the opportunity to grab ahold of him, and refocus him, but in the meantime, I just loved on him playfully, and did some interactive playful things with him, to which he was giggling.  That made me happy.  In the meantime, Diester was playing peek-a-boo keep away with R.A., with R.A. using an open umbrella as the object to hide behind.  They were giggling, and having a ball.  At one point, the umbrella seemed to be starting to take a beating, and Diester decided that the umbrella needed to be put up, at which point R.A. went over to the couch and started to have a meltdown.  Diester went back to him, and stroked his head, and hugged him, told him that everything was okay, that he loved him.  Diester proceed to pick him up and toss him in the air, because he know that R.A. likes that, and then he got his mind off of that.  He redirected his temper tantrum.  Then the time came for them to go get ready to eat lunch.  I.A. was taken first, and then we were asked to leave R.A. with the music teacher while we toured their bedrooms, bathing/potty rooms, play room, and dining room.  It is really kind of neat how it is set up.  I enjoyed seeing where they ate, and we actually got to see the little one eating.  Diester couldn't believe how he could get this big spoonful of soup in his mouth, but he maneuvered it quite well, and I don't believe he was spilling much.  Interestingly, these careproviders (picture this) lay the hanging portion of the bib, that is attached to each child, on the table, and set the bowl on the bib.  That way, the food does not fall onto the child's lap beyond the bib.  It seemed pretty effective.  We got to say goodbye to the little guy before we left his area.   Then we headed back to get R.A., but he was already gone to prepare to eat, and so then we took a tour of his area, and got to say goodbye to him before we left.  It was a special time with both of them. 

After we said goodbye to I.A., and we set him down to let him go back to his group, he sat down (instead of standing with his group), and lowered his head, and just looked downtrodden.  It was obvious that he was sad to see us go.  There is bonding going on.  Praise the Lord! 

So, we made it though the time with them.  I say it like that because it was kind of rough.  However, "mamma said there'd be days like this".  We have read enough, and talked with enough adoptive parents to know that there are going to be challenges and tough times ahead.  We got a glimpse of that today. 

Tonight, I actually got together with some of the women who do missionary work with their husbands here in Russia.  Women from Switzerland, Canada, and Australia~~quite the range, but all sisters in Christ.  What a blessing to have that fellowship!  We had treat, watched a movie together, and then we shared fellowship and prayer.  It was such a treat.  (And, I did NOT fall asleep during the movie for those of you who know me well. I had had a nap.) 

Now, I am tired and it is way late.  We do not see the boys until Monday again. Have the whole weekend to do whatever.  Seems like a long time, and it is.  8 days and counting until we pick them up on Saturday, the 23rd of July.  We are so looking forward to getting them with us.  We don't know what to expect, but if you could please say a prayer about this for us as you finish reading this, we would be so very blessed.  Thank you so much for your support and love!    God bless you all!