Our Random Day in Russia

Today we woke up a little earlier than usual with Jesse and Jonas waking up their little sister. It was a little after 6, so we put them all back in bed and made them lay quietly till 7. We were all a bit tired, since the night before, we hosted our annual Faculty/Staff Christmas Party and didn't make it to bed until after 11. The children were all in bed around their usual time but with all the activity in the other part of the house, it was difficult for them to fall asleep.

We all ate breakfast while listening to the Christmas concert at Grace Community Church. All of the missionaries are able to listen to it via livestream and it is such a huge blessing. On Sundays we are able to listen to MacArthur preach as well, which again is such a huge blessing, considering we go to church and understand very little of what is being said. Normal everyday conversation is not too hard for us at this point, but understanding a sermon can be pretty tricky.

After breakfast I put on a pot of Russian tea. I served it the night before at our Christmas Party and it was funny to explain to the Russians about this tea that we have every Christmas called Russian tea, but it really isn't Russian tea, and they agreed on that point as well. It is not even similar to anything they would drink. One Russian, the pastor of our church, Oleg, actually likened it to Theraflu! It really does taste good, but it has citrus tones.

Jonathan soon retired to his office for some good study time while the boys and Miriam played. I started baking one of our favorite Christmas cookies. They are a chocolate cookie, with a cherry on top and frosting on top of that. So yummy! I had quite a difficult time finding maraschino cherries here, but Heather Klassen found them in a specialty store. We love this cookie so much that I had already made plans to try and make the cherries myself and googled, "How to make maraschino cherries". Let's just say, I was glad she found them. The cookies turned out scrumptious! I even made a double batch.

The next few hours were pretty normal: lunch, naps, computer time for the boys.... I had supper planned but Jonathan mentioned walking down to a Russian restaurant called "Zsheelee Beelee". It is not far from us and would be a great experience, so around 4 we started bundling everyone up: tight, jeans, snow pants, jackets, gloves, hats, snowboots. It takes us about half an hour to do this if we work together. We headed outside where it had warmed up quite a bit from the last few days. The temperatures had been in -30's, but now were around 1 degrees F. We made it there pretty easily and began the de-clothing process. We were quite happy to be led to a whole room to ourselves, which was great considering we wouldn't bother anyone and we wouldn't have to endure the stares! We always get stared at when we head out, for almost no one in Russia has 5 children. No English menu was a setback, but we started making out the ingredients. We ordered random Russian "bloudie" or food and this is what we had: borsht (beet soup with potatoes), some other soup with meat and beans and onions and garlic, a piece of chicken with a sweet breading, Russian pork chops, a white fish fillet, and "pameighnee" (Russian dumplings with meat inside). To drink we got some coke and Kvas (2 kinds: one that tasted normal (sour tea) and another one that tasted like sour tea with a shot of horseradish). Everything tasted great except the horseradish drink. Yuck!

Upon returning home, we realized there was no cold water. Hot water, we had, but the hot water in our apartment is hot enough to boil chicken. Trust me, I have tried it, just to see. So I put a little hot water in the tub and then put all the ice we had in our freezer and went around to every faucet in our house to get every last drop of cold water still left in the pipes. There wasn't much, but enough for me to wash all the children, using only one pump of body wash each, to keep the bubbles at a minimum. Jonathan read the Bible. They were off to bed. Then, of course, the cold water came back on. A lovely brown tint at first, mind you, but we were just happy to be able to take a shower!

Now I have finished my white tea and cookie and am enjoying the quiet that only happens about this time every night. So, in all, it was quite an interesting day. Tomorrow will be nice I think, even though we won't make it to church. Our van won't start since it has been so cold lately. We will stay home and listen to the concert in the morning. I will probably bake something. The children will enjoy having no schedule, whatsoever. Jonathan will study and we will enjoy having him at home. And at night, we will listen to the concert again, probably. Not too shabby, as Jonathan would say.

There are so many reasons to love the Christmas Season. Being home with family is one. Enjoying the many blessings we have as a family and as believers is another. These blessings, we know, come from our Heavenly Father, who sent His only Beloved Son to be a baby in this very cold world. And that baby would grow and then die for this very cold world!

What a blessing to know and be known by Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate at this time!

From a Thanksgiving Party to Playing in the Snow

A couple of Sundays ago, all of our team got together for a little Thanksgiving Party. We had everything you could ever want for Thanksgiving, except Turkey, but chicken worked just fine. I made the chicken and dressing and pumpkin pie, Heather made the cranberry sauce and some bread that tasted just as good as the kind you get at Macaroni Grill, Natalie made the green bean casserole (which isn't too easy considering she had to make from scratch the condensed soup and the fried onions on top) and mashed potatoes, and Alex made all the children their own personal cupcakes.

After eating, the children spent their time playing. The boys dedicated much of their time to their Legos.





Jonathan did a short Bible Study on being thankful, not only for all the material things that we have, but also the ministry that God has given us and many others at this time here in Samara, Russia. We all prayed and after everyone left, we actually had our children in bed before 10 PM!

This brings me to something that has brought many a smile to the persons in our home: snow. It started snowing yesterday, not much, but just enough to take the boys out sledding. It is amazing how much this city changes, for the better, when it snows. It truly makes it a much more beautiful place to live. We have enjoyed looking at the white blanket all day today and even started a little Christmas baking: chocolate cherry cookies. Yum!

We are all looking forward to a little break next week. We will finish up Russian lessons, violin lessons, Russian school and Homeschool. It will be so wonderful to take it easy and enjoy some slow, quiet, family time at home celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

A Thanksgiving in Russia - As told by a second year-er.

(Jonathan and children watching "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving")

This morning I woke up right as everyone else was waking up, around 7:30 and made my way to the kitchen where I set out the bowls and spoons and cups and cereals for the boys who were ready to eat. I put some bacon in the oven and began making scrambled eggs and pouring the fresh-squeezed orange juice I had prepared the night before. The children enjoyed both breakfasts and then began doing their morning duties: cleaning off the table, getting dressed and brushing their teeth.

Jonathan began his Russian lesson at 9. Homeschool also started at 9 with the reading of a book about the very first Thanksgiving. After a snack, Nahum and Isaac continued with their schooling and I started making Cream Cheese Braid. Cream Cheese Braid is a light bread made from sour cream with cream cheese in it; a recipe that I inherited from Jonathan's Mom, and that we make every Christmas Season. Let me just say, it turned out perfect! I had my doubts since the flour here is a bit different and the cream cheese is actually a blend of sweetened cottage cheese and something else with vanilla. But, a little tweaking and wa-la! So I took some back to Jonathan and his teacher, who thanked me profusely. I try not to let her eat what I bake, because she always wants me to give her the recipe, translated in Russian, of course! Not the kind of homework I am looking for! After finishing homeschool for the morning and Russian lesson, we had lunch and shortly thereafter, Miriam and the Buds went down for a nap. I continued homeschooling and began putting together our Thanksgiving meal for the evening. Nahum and Isaac practiced their violins and then were allowed time on the computer, playing Star Wars, their most favorite game! Jonathan took Nahum and Isaac to their violin lesson and were back at 5 and we enjoyed our meal together.

This is what we had: cranberry sauce (The cranberries here are either mountain cranberries or red currants, I am not quite sure. But, they are smaller and very, very tart. Maybe next time, I will add more sugar), green beans (with bacon, of course), sweet potato souflee (Now, for some reason, sweet potatoes are unheard of here. Maybe it is because they have to be grown in a warm environment. Who knows? But, this makes finding them, well, impossible. So, since I LOVE sweet potato souflee, I had to find a substitute. My answer: pumpkin. So I made the recipe exactly as I would have with sweet potatoes, but I added pumpkin instead. It smelled exactly the same! I even added some marshmallows I had brought over from the States, But, it didn't taste the same. It tasted too pumkiny. So, I guess I will have to bring sweet potatoes next time and grow them on my balcony), sweet tea (decaf, from the States), macaroni and cheese (I found a very good white cheddar cheese I can buy here imported from Germany. It may not look the same as Mamaw's or Mimi's mac n chz, but it almost tastes as good), dressing (Ever since I got married, I choose to adopt the ways of Jonathan's family cooking. And they make dressing with cornbread. So I tried it last year, but it never turned out right. Everything here, from salt, to sugar, to cornmeal is more coarse than what we would buy in the States and it is not self-rising. So I brought some, of course! It turned out perfect since Russians love buttermilk and green onions, two of the ingredients that are so important to make dressing just right), and chicken (Yes, chicken. I would have to take out a loan to buy a turkey here, so we made due with chicken, and it turned out pretty darn good, too.) After eating, everybody watched "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving," which Jonathan had downloaded. Then we skyped with Jonathan's parents and the boys and little Kate were off to bed.

One of the highlights of the day was when Jonathan asked all the children what they were thankful for, while we were eating: Isaac said, "the cranberry sauce" (Isaac loves anything that is tart or sour), Nahum said, "family", Jesse didn't say anything (He was busy eating his mac n chz), and Jonas said, "the bathroom". Not sure why he is thankful for the bathroom, but Hey, we take way too many things for granted.

During naps, I was able to spend some wonderful time reading the Bible and drinking green tea. I read through some of the Psalms, like 103, and 100 and 98. These are all such wonderful Psalms of praise to Our Great God. Psalm 100:3 stuck out in my reading. "Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture." Sometimes I wonder at the plans God has for me, but this verse reassures me. He is God. How can this lump of clay argue with the Potter! "His loving kindness is everlasting!" (v. 5)

So, here I am, drinking white tea and eating cream cheese braid. All is quiet, because every child is asleep. Already thinking about tomorrow: Seminary Wives where Heather Klassen will be teaching from Ephesians and Friday Family Fun Night. I think we'll have chicken nuggets for supper tomorrow. Something easy for a change!

Just a little catch up:

Here are a few pictures from our summer back home in Huntsville, Alabama.

Catching Up

So, it has been quite a while since my last post. Much has transpired, so here are a few tidbits.

Jonathan and I continue to do our Russian lessons on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9 till noon while our Nanny, Oksana watches the children. The children love Oksana and they continue to learn Russian from her, which is a huge help. Nahum and Isaac are keeping up with their schooling each day and are doing very well. Nahum is a whiz at Math and Isaac loves learning all the sounds that the letters make. Jesse and Jonas are talking much more these days and trying so hard to be like their big brothers. Miriam has begun to walk and climb on virtually everything, which is a little bit scary. Every week, we have a Russian couple or family over for a meal. It has been so wonderful to get to know some of the people better this way, and the children absolutely love having people over. They boys have become champion sledders as they tend to go sledding about every other day.

It is very busy here and time goes by very quickly. We look so forward to the weekend when we can all be together and rest at home.

For Two Buds on Their Third

And Now For Isaac

For Nahum on His Seventh