Christmas Day (Afternoon)

In the afternoon we met the Klassens at the Samara Square (Samarckaya Ploshed). Here are the kiddos in front of a big tree. The sign on it says "Happy New Year".


Everyone, including the adults, had a lot of fun playing in the snow. Josiah got clobbered in the face by a snowball thrown by "uncle" Brad. Jon did his best to get Brad back. Jon was also acting like a teenager and throwing himself onto the snow piles. He paid for it the next day.


This is a Russian Orthodox church. It is probably one of the most popular sites in Samara. It sits on a hill overlooking the Volga River. I have never seen it in person and we have lived here for almost 4 years!


This is another popular site which I saw for the first time. It is a memorial to Russian soldiers. The profile on this side is a mother and........


this is the profile of a soldier.


Then it was time for some sledding!

Nathan's Thoughts On Christmas

Well truthfully Nathan doesn't have too many thoughts on Christmas. He is our official light monitor......he won't allow anyone else to turn on the lights on the Christmas tree. He also likes to move pieces around on our nativity scene. He also loves to eat the chocolate treats people pass out during this season. I know he will enjoy opening presents too considering he has already opened one which wasn't for him!

Josiah's Thoughts on Christmas

Jojo just can't wait until Christmas arrives. He once again began in September asking us to put up the Christmas tree. I asked him one day not too long ago what Christmas was all about and he answered that it was all about presents. Of course I reminded him of the true meaning and now when asked he replies Jesus and presents! He thinks some magic guys came to visit baby Jesus and that they brought Him magic as gifts. He also wants to know how many shepherds came to visit Jesus.

December Wive's Group Craft Time

December's monthly craft was an angel craft, cookie decorating, and a cookie exchange. Here are some of the wives making the angel craft magnet.



Thankfully I didn't have to make any of the sugar cookies. I have a love hate relationship with sugar cookies. I ONLY like to eat them.



Now it's time for the cookie exchange!

Setting Up The Tree

The day after Thanksgiving we put up our little artificial tree. The boys were so excited. Josiah has been asking since September to put the tree up.

I have to include this picture because I look like such a dork. I can't believe Jon took this picture of me but oh well. The boys are eagerly watching momma put up the ornaments.


This is the ornament for 2000........our first Christmas together as husband and wife. We buy a special ornament each year. Actually this ornament was a gift by my sweet friend Kristin. The yearly ornament is usually of somewhere special we visited or a special occasion that year.


Here's Nathan showing you his very favorite ornament. It is the rocket ship from Little Einsteins. He is so attached to this ornament! He doesn't even want it hung on the tree. The first week he even slept with it. The "great" thing about this ornament is that it plays the Little Einstein's theme song. We all have the song memorized by now and throughout the day I find myself singing it........"We're going on a trip, on a special rocket ship.......". Thanks (I think) to Grandma Judy for buying the ornament.


This year we have a nativity scene. I have always wanted one. We actually bought it last year in Israel and I love it! I read in some blogs last year that families don't put baby Jesus in the manger until Christmas day and I really liked that idea so we are doing the same. When we first put the nativity up Josiah kept asking where baby Jesus was. It reminded me of the anticipation many had of the coming Savior and Messiah. So we too will wait for the arrival of baby Jesus to our nativity scene on the morning of December 25.


Nathan really likes the nativity scene also. Many days we find the lamb lying in the manger or the 3 wise men have been sporadically misplaced. The other day I found the shepherd's staff in little pieces (it was a twig so no big deal). After writing this I realize how appropriate it is to have a lamb lying in the manger since Jesus did come once and for all to substitute for that lamb : ).


And finally after some tasty treats daddy is reading a real cute story about Mortimer (a little mouse) who needed a home and tried to live in a family's nativity scene. But when he heard the Christmas story read by the father of the home he realized that someone more important was going to come and live in the manger. No worries, Mortimer ends up living in a gingerbread house. Real cute story and I love how intent Nathan looks.

Making Memories

Well now that Jon has downloaded pictures for me I am able to blog about current events. About a month ago we went to Auntie Heathers(one of the other missionary wives) and she made gingerbread men for the kids to decorate. Ever since then Josiah has been asking me to make some too. I don't know what happened to my cookies though.............I may have not rolled them thin enough. I also didn't have enough molasses so I didn't use the whole amount asked for in the recipe.



Nathan mainly ate the icing.


Jon decorated two cookies and then would eat the next one!!!


I kept making a lot of icing.......bowl after bowl!!

Christmas Past - Day 12

Christmas 2005


What better way to end my "12 Days of Christmas" with a trip to the happiest place on earth. This was a few weeks before coming to Samara, Russia. Jon and I absolutely love going to Disneyland during the Christmas season. They do an excellent job of decorating and of getting one into the Christmas spirit.

I can't believe Jojo has a pacifier in this picture. What was I thinking?



Only in California (and in the southern hemisphere) can you get away with wearing a t-shirt in December!!!

Christmas Past - Day 11

Christmas 2004
I know, I am blogging again about 2004 but remember it's my favorite year. As I wrote before I was super sad being away from home for the first time. Instead of sulking, I chose to have a Christmas Eve party. It was a lot of fun. We invited a lot of our new friends.
This sweet lady is Baba Zhenya. She helped us out a bit with Josiah every now and then. She went to be with the Lord last year, she had some heart problems. The other children are the Petrovich kids. The Petrovich family was the other missionary family that we ministered with.


Here's our wonderful neighbor Nadia. She really was an amazing woman and took such good care of us. We met a little bit after we moved in. I was trying to get into our apartment but my key was not letting me unlock the door. I was really flustered and I had Josiah with me. I got so upset that I kicked our metal door real hard. She then came out of her apartment to see what was wrong. Thankfully she spoke a bit of English and from there we didn't really have any more encounters but I thought we would invite her. I didn't think she would come but she did and ever since that evening we became real close with her and her family.


Here is Natasha (Nadia's daughter) and her husband Igor. The little boy is Vanya and he was Jojo's first little buddy. Natasha became a dear friend to me. She also spoke a bit of English........less than her mom but we were able to communicate just fine. I miss her so much. We would go on walks every single day and when it got too cold we would have "play dates" in our apartments. When I first moved to Samara and I would go out walking with Jojo, I would automatically look for Natasha but then would realize where I was........to this day I still find myself looking for Natasha and Vanya whenever I am out. Because of the situation we had with our previous church, I was not able to go back to Novosibirsk and say good-bye to her. Jon was able to go back and pack up our belongings and had to say good-bye to her on my behalf.


We didn't have a horse at our party but we did get to go on a one horse open sleigh one day. The funny thing is that Jon is super allergic to horses and he sat in the front. By the time we were finished he could hardly breath.


This is out in our courtyard. In the evenings all the fathers that lived in our big block would come out and make these slides and igloos. They would also pour water down the slide so that it would be slippery and get real icy. During the holidays they would pour food coloring onto the structures to decorate them.

The yellow coloring on this structure could very well be pee pee.


Here's Jon getting ready to go down the slide.

Christmas Past - Day 10

Celebrating Christmas 2002 in January 2003


In November of 2002, Jon's father was diagnosed with cancer, making this trip to Iowa an extra special one. Jon requested that as his Christmas present we take a road trip to the Black Hills in South Dakota. He and his family shared a lot of memories there. In a way it was a sentimental trip and one that we are so grateful we went on. It was quite the road trip to get there, I think it was about 7 hours. On our way there we stopped at the Badlands. What an amazing place and so eerie because no one was there and it was covered in snow. At this point I was about 1 1/2 months pregnant and on our trip up to the Black Hills I started bleeding. I didn't want to tell anyone because I didn't want to ruin the trip and have to head back home. It was at this point that the Oncologist at Children's Hospital of L.A. thought that my platelets mixed with Josiah's platelets and began killing his platelets off making the first few months of Josiah's life quite a scary one for us. Regardless of the bleeding I still managed to have a good time and I am so thankful for this trip because we made some real special memories that we will all have for a long time.


Well here's Mt. Rushmore! Have you ever been there? What an incredible sight those presidents are! This was only a year and a few months after September 11 so the general feeling in the country was still very patriotic. I have to confess that as we drove up to the mountain we went around a bend and as I caught my first glimpse I began to choke up. I was really overwhelmed with emotions, maybe it was because I was pregnant.


I love this picture of my in-laws.

Christmas Past - Day 9

Christmas 2002
The best present this year was being pregnant with Jojo!! This was Christmas eve and I didn't find out I was pregnant until the 27th.......a few days before our Disneyland trip.


AMAZING! My nephew is now 18, driving, and in college..........time flies!


My sisters mean the world to me! As I've gotten older I value them so much more and I praise God for their friendship. We always try to do an annual picture together!

Christmas Past - Day 8

Christmas 2004
Was blogging around in 2004? I really wish I would have done a better job of jotting down all my thoughts about living in a foreign land. It has been fun going back to the past years of Christmas but I think 2004 has been my favorite so far. Russians love to celebrate holidays and Christmas/New Year is no exception. Actually the New Year celebration is the biggest holiday here. You see, during the Soviet Union Christmas wasn't really celebrated and so New Year became the main holiday to gather with family, have a great big feast, and to give presents.

Here I am with my head covering and looking super pale because I barely wore any makeup to church on Sundays. I really didn't like wearing head coverings and honestly I struggled with the idea of having to submit to a "tradition" that I didn't agree with but oh well. I got through it. At least I didn't have to do much with my hair on Sundays!


Celebrating after church.


Josiah and the three kings!

Christmas Past - Day 7

Christmas 2005
Faithbuilders Bible Study


One of the great things about being back at Grace Community Church are the fellowship groups. And one of the great things about fellowship groups are the Bible studies. I didn't realize how much I missed Bible studies until we came back to GCC and became a part of one. Unfortunately that didn't last too long because we were back on the field pretty quick! This was our Bible studie's Christmas party. It was a lot of fun. And what is a Christmas party without white elephant gifts......also lots of fun.


I mainly posted this because of this picture........it's Nichole Greene who went to be with the Lord on November 7. Strange to think that at this point in her life she was healthy and had no idea of what the Lord had in store for her. I knew Nichole since High School. Our paths crossed again in College Life. I went on to High School staff and then lost touch with her but our paths crossed once again in Working Disciples (a former singles fellowship group at GCC). Jon and I got married and after a year we went to a smaller church and were then sent on the field. After 5 years we then returned to GCC and I was so happy to renew that friendship with Nichole. She was one of those friends who you can start off right from where you left off the last time you were together.