Let the lessons begin!

The Lord has recently opened up an interesting door for me. Learning English is a big deal for many here in the Moscow area. It helps people get a better job or to move up in the job that they have. We do a free English club every Friday night in our home, and always have a devotion afterwards. It has been a great evangelism tool, and we've made many friends! Other than that, I have always said that I won't teach English. It is just, 'not my thing'. Well, for a while I have been praying about taking actual Russian lessons. I have just been doing home study with my husband since he already speaks so well. It has been going ok, but slower than I knew it should be. Going to Moscow was really not an option for me. It is a 2-4 hour trip one way. I do fine getting around our town of Domodedovo by myself, but going to Moscow by myself seriously terrifies me! Someone our family knows recently started a new business of teaching English in Domodedovo. My sister has helped them out some, but they have been looking for more teachers. I said that I wasn't interested until the idea came up that I could take Russian lessons from them. Not only am I now taking Russian lessons, I am also teaching English as an even exchange. She doesn't pay me to teach, but I get Russian lessons for free! I am really loving it! It is only a 20 minute walk from where we live, so it is very easy for me to commute by myself. It is helping me meet more people while I am getting more involved in the community of our area. It is forcing me to use my Russian, and I am hearing more Russian on a day to day basis now. I am excited to see how the Lord will use this, and I am so thankful to finally be taking real Russian lessons!
 

We're back!

Hello! As you can see, blogging has really been put to the back burner lately. Life has been different lately and I found it difficult to blog. There have been some days in the last couple months where I felt simply overwhelmed. God is good all the time though, and a very near presence when we are having rough times. My dad is healing little by little. He continues to live on the drink Ensure due to the loss of his mouth. I can't imagine how sick of Ensure he must be at this point! He has lost quite a bit of weight; I don't think this is the diet he intended on! : ) He had some severe pain where they removed his eye, but God answered our prayers and it is doing much better! : ) My parents are thrilled to be home and taking things one day at a time. God's grace is sufficient each day!

Right before we left to come back to Russia, my husband's youngest brother got engaged. We got to chaperone them. It was so sweet! We are so happy for them!!

 

 

We are so enjoying being back in Russia for a little bit. Prayerfully, we should only need to return to the states on more time before receiving a 3 year visa. I was thrilled to see the lovely fall leaves when we returned. For some reason I had thought they didn't have a fall season, but the trees are beautiful shades of yellow. We may have a longer winter here, but we are blessed to still be able to enjoy four seasons! : )

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! Have a blessed day!



 

 

Masha and the Bear

 

Today I want to share a bit of fun Russian culture with you. There is a cartoon that is extremely popular in Russia called Маша и Медведь or Masha and the Bear. Some of you living outside of Russia may have even heard of this adorable cartoon. I'm so impressed with it! It has been helpful to listen to as my Russian improves, but honestly you don't have to understand a word of it to know what is going on and enjoy it. I hope you will take a few minutes to watch this. If you have kiddos around, you might want to have them watch it with you. My 18 month niece Chloe loves to watch this. She just giggles and giggles the whole time! 

 

 

I love nieces!

I'm pretty convinced I have the cutest nieces ever! It has been such a joy to spend time with family.

 

 

Updates & prayer requests

We are back in the states once again. It has been a bit since I posted, and I feel like an update will be best for this post. First, I'd like to share with you the latest in our visa situation. As you have probably noticed we have needed to come to the states to renew our visas every 3 months for the last year. It has been really difficult to go back and forth so often, not to mention expensive.  Recently a new visa has been "brought to the table". It is still being discussed by the Russian government. It would be a 3 year visa, but it appears it might end up being 6 months in Russia and then 6 months in the states. Obviously that would not be ideal. My husband also read that they might be doing away with the visa we have been currently using. God always has a plan though and has been opening some doors for us!! Someone we have recently met in Russia has said they can help us get the visas we need. It would be temporary residency status in Russia and would be a 3-5 year visa! These visas are very difficult for us to get in Moscow. They only have a certain amount per area per year, and all the officials and wealthy end up using them all. Joel's parents have tried and tried to get this visa in the past, but have always been denied. Please join us in prayer that we will be able to receive this longer visa!

Secondly, I'd like share with you an update on my dad's cancer. He started chemo and radiation last Monday. They had told my parents they would be able to go home on the weekends until the end when dad would probably be too sick to travel. Well, things have not gone as planned. He was admitted to the hospital on Friday. He is extremely weak and cannot keep anything down. He has 5 more weeks of treatments ahead of him. This has been extremely difficult on my mom as well. Dad was admitted to the hospital on their 33rd anniversary. Please pray for my parents! Pray that dad will regain some strength. Pray for grace, peace and strength for my mom.

Thank you to all those who have been in prayer for us and our family. It is appreciated more than we can express. As difficult as it is to travel back and forth, I am so thankful to be able to be with my parents during this difficult time. We are currently in the Northwest but are on our way to be with my parents. I know it will be so hard to see my dad in this kind of condition. I'm thankful for God's grace and strength!!

Cherry Pickin'

Happy summer days to everyone! We have finally started having a real summer here in the Moscow area of Russia. I was wondering if it was going to come this year. This week we have actually been in the low 30s! (or 80s F) The sun may be warm but it is lovely, and we are certainly thankful we are not enduring the extreme temperatures that our family and friends in the states are having! This last Saturday after handing out tracts, Joel and I walked on a "back road" then through our beautiful forest on our way home. We were tired and hot, but we enjoyed walk together. I love all the wild flowers that grow in the forest here.

The other day a lady who attends English club and church invited us to her home to pick cherries. We spent the day on ladders picking and picking, but feeling we were hardly even making a dent in all her cherries. She has an incredible flower garden, which of coarse was my favorite part! Here are some pictures from our fun!

We made compote (a Russian juice) with some of the cherries to share with everyone on Sunday. Compote is basically boiled berries with a whole lot of sugar! We had to use some of our sugar cubes because we ran out of regular sugar sand (as they call it here).

Fresh from the garden!

One of my favorite things about this time of the year is all the fresh produce that becomes available. People start bringing delicious goodness from their gardens to share with others. This year the Reasoner family has joined the gardeners. We don't have a lot of space due to the dogs that guard the back of the house. They have already proved their ability to destroy by digging up an apple tree planted in the back yard. We have done what we can with what we have though.

The corn is definitely the star of the show! The only corn here is what we would call field corn. They eat it like we eat sweet corn. It's so hard to enjoy it after years of experiencing the amazingness of sweet corn! So...this is sweet corn! We have quite a few ears growing! This has been my mother-in-law's dream for a while, so she is just thrilled! = )

To the right of the picture are my babies. Green beans!! I love them!! I know it's a bit strange, but I seriously could eat fresh green beans like this every day! They are doing amazing, and we've been enjoying delicious fresh green beans! The rest of the stuff is doing pretty well. We have onions, garlic, carrots, cabbage, beets, potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini and pumpkins. I think that is everything! = )

So I had to take a picture of these. I have never seen anything like it. In addition to my bush green bean plants, we have these tall vine green bean plants that produce these insanely long green beans! I'll admit I was pretty nervous to try them, but they taste just like green beans should. Has anyone else ever had green beans like these? I'd love to hear about it if you have.