Days 50 - 56

Look up and this is what you will see entering our apartment building.


Milanesas Fritas.........this is what I usually make when I don't know what to make for dinner.


Time to fly but too bad that Lufthansa canceled Jon's flight.

Enjoying McDonalds on my birthday! Not too sure why Nathan has that expression on his face.


Christina and the boys made me a mask. I love it!!!


It's grocery shopping time at ASHAN.........the Mecca of grocery stores in Samara. It's a "hypermarket" in other words it is huge and I love it. I don't get there too often but when I do, you better watch it. I can fill that basket and drop the rubles. Actually the prices are great there so I try to stock up.


"The people on the bus go up and down, up and down". Unfortunately for poor Sharon going on transport is torture for her since she gets motion sickness. We're on our way to our students wive's group on the bus which is better than riding on a marshrutka (a passenger type of van). The bus fare: 18 rubles which is 60 cents.

More Thankfulness

It has been such a great week and I am becoming more and more convicted about my need to be more grateful for all things and to be content in all matters. So here's my list for the past week.
1. So thankful that my two boys love each other. Yes, they fight a ton but at the end of the day they adore one another. I heard Josiah tell Nathan the other day "You're my brother best friend".
2. I love how my husband made my birthday such a special day for me.
3. Grateful for 36 years of life! Grateful for all the trials that the Lord has put me through.......they have only caused me to mature in my walk with Him.
4. Started reading Levitcus which has made me thankful that "Christ abolished the Law" (Ephesians 2:15).
5. Enjoying living in another culture even with all it's difficulties (language barrier, cultural differences, and cold weather), I am really loving Russia.
6. Thankfully Jon checked his flight that was due to leave this morning and of course it was CANCELLED! Just glad he didn't go all the way to the airport to get turned down. He will be able to fly out on Friday morning which gives him a couple more days with the kiddos.
7. Had to laugh out loud on Sunday during church service. Jon had to "pass the offering plate" on Sunday morning because the guy who usually does it wasn't there. When Jon finished and came back to sit in the pew, Jojo told him "Good job Dad!".

Birthday Day at McDonalds

Josiah has been wanting to go to McDonalds for a while now so that's what we did on my actual birthday day! For all of you who are wondering..........yes, it tastes exactly the same as it does back in the States. We don't eat here too often and when we are in the States we NEVER eat at McDonalds but the boys love it.

My Birthday Dinner

Saturday evening Jon and I got to go out on a date night and celebrate my birthday. So thankful once again for our Christina who is so great with the boys......it's such a good feeling to leave the kids with her knowing that they are in good hands and that they absolutely love her. Not to mention that they basically kick us out the door and tell us to leave.

I chose to go to "U Paleecha" for my dinner. It's an amazing Russian restaurant. I love their food. They also make delicious cakes which we love to buy on special occasions. The restaurant isn't too big inside and it is kinda hidden. You actually have to go downstairs to get to the restaurant.



It's kinda dark inside but it is really cute. I forgot to post the pictures of what it looks like inside so I will do that on the next post! The only bad thing is that they allow smoking in restaurants here so unfortunately some man came and sat right next to us and lit up.........bleh! We didn't let it get to us though.



I love this soup......it is called Solyanka. I could eat it every day and not tire of it. Jon had borscht. He says that this restaurant makes the best borscht and he should know since he has had borscht a ton!!



Here's me posing with the dill! A staple in every Russian meal. I had a yummy meat kinda pie. It was delicious.


Jon had polmeni which is a very typical Russian dish with "smetana" or sour cream...another staple in every Russian meal.

Josiahisms

So, Thursday night we got to babysit Collin Tahmisian, the 7 month old baby of our fellow team mates. He really was a good boy for the most part but he definitely missed mommy and daddy..........this was expressed through a bit of crying and screaming of course!

After Bryan and Alex came to pick up Collin, Jojo came and told me......"Mommy, it's o.k. if you only have two boys". I then asked him......"You don't want another baby?". He answered.........."No thanks mom!".

Valentine's Day

Well Jon and Nathan were pretty sick on Valentine's day so Jojo and I got to go to our team meeting with Rick Holland. It was a great evening as always. I am so thankful for our team and for the great girlfriends I have in the missionary wives! Below are some of the cute pictures I took of Collin (7 months) and Miriam (2 years old). They are such cutie pies and total hams for the camera.

Days 43 - 49

Being crafty again and finally finished some note cards.


My favorite winter olympic sport! Watching cars get stuck in the heavy snow and ice. Too bad the scooper came and cleared the path.......it really makes for a fun day watching the cars try to get out.


The grocery store I walk to. It's only about a 12 - 15 minute walk depending on the weather. It's called "Perekroystik" which means crossroads. This is where I buy my ground beef and some other products I can't find anywhere else.


Day 46....oops! I had to go to the dentist. From the outside the building doesn't look that great but inside it was real beautiful.


V-Day!


Another little sickie.


My two favorite preachers in the world!!!!

More Happiness

Well even though we've had a house full of sickies there has been much to be thankful for and lots of things that have brought a smile or laughter to my heart.

1. A fresh blanket of snow which makes everything look so pretty outside.
2. Grateful that Heather found a good dentist and that she was there to help me out on Monday when I had to go to the dentist for a broken tooth!!
3. The boys are all feeling better today!
4. A fun team/Valentines meeting with Rick Holland on Sunday evening.
5. Leftovers for dinner tonight, that means I didn't have to cook!!!!
6. Redeemed my iTunes gift card from Christmas for some fun songs and thankful that Jon downloaded them for me onto my iPod even though he isn't crazy about any of the songs.
7. Dancing alone in the kitchen to some of my fun songs!
8. Amazed that in Exodus 33:11 it says "Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend". WOW!!!!!
9. Laughing that I actually wrote #7 and then #8!!!

Cabin Fever

It has been a real cold winter this year. I am sort of a weather nerd because I keep record of the daily temperatures. It is real fun to take out my old calendars where I log the daily temps and see what the average temps are. Anyway, this year it has been the longest period of time we have had with extreme cold temps. The last 6 weeks have been too cold. I am not complaining but just stating a fact. In the mornings it is usually below 0 (Fahrenheit) and will warm up to about to 3 - 5 degrees above 0. No fun, especially when you have little ones. For Josiah this isn't really a problem because he loves to stay indoors but Nathan is always on the go and loves going outside. I try to keep them as busy as possible and I can't help but feel bad for them. Truthfully though, they have been great about it.

This day they decided to take out all their toys! I think it took longer for them to clean up than the actual time they played with their toys!

Sweet Tooth!

I don't know what it is but lately I've been on a baking spree. It must be the cold weather or something. Anyway, fudge and I have a love hate relationship. I love eating it but I have never been able to find a recipe that works........until now! This fudge didn't even last a whole 24 hours.


"Stinky Buns", well that's what Josiah thought I said when he asked me what I was baking. This recipe comes from my friend Karla's husband! Yep, that's right...HUSBAND!!! I guess he is a real great cook and baker. Nice!

Happy Heart

When I joined Facebook and started blogging I chose to never comment on political issues or to not even get too deep with my status updates or blogs. I also made a choice to never complain about the weather or illnesses. I'm sure I may have broken these rules in the past but I do try to keep an active awareness of the kinds of things I DON'T want to express. Lately on Facebook and even on a couple of blogs (of people who I don't really know but admire) I have noticed a ton of complaining about anything and everything. It could be that I am trying to be sensitive to having a complaining heart in my own life that brings these things to light or maybe it's because I am trying to teach my boys to not complain or whine so much! Anywho, as a result I am starting to keep a weekly little log of the things that make my heart happy!

1. Jojo told me I looked pretty : )
2. I caught the boys hugging and telling each other "I love you".
3. Rick Holland came to Samara!!!
4. Jon washed the dinner dishes..........again!!!
5. Finally found a great fudge recipe.
6. Being able to wake up before the boys do and get some time in the Word and in prayer.

What made your heart happy this week?

Days 36 - 42

View from our living room window. It's been so cold this winter!


Chocolate from Penza. I love the beautiful packaging.


Trying to be creative. Created a Valentine embellishment for a future scrap book page.


Yah! Getting Nathan ready for bed time.


Making fudge!


Self-portrait. Oops, I didn't know but I guess you're supposed to do one every month. I suppose the idea is to see how much you've changed.


Yummy pecan cake I made for our wives group craft time!

Making Wreaths

Friday the 5th we had our monthly craft time with our wives group. I think I say this every time I post something about our crafting times but these women are so gifted artistically. Usually the missionary wives come up with an idea but this time a student's wife and a pastor's wife came up with the idea of making wreaths. Believe it or not but the actual wreaths were made by hand from twigs they found on the street. Now note that it is hard core winter time right now and I don't even understand where they found all the twigs......maybe they took them off the bushes? They also made 16 of them!!! It was a lot of fun decorating the wreaths with all the different nuts, cinammon sticks, rose hip, leaves, and several other spices. We all had a wonderful time!

Mr. Terrible

In her broken English and heavy accent, I can just hear my mom saying......."Nathan, you are terrible" (rolling the r's also).

Nathan kept wanting to dip his fingers into the powdered sugar bowl and I kept saying no. I stepped out of the room for one second and he tipped the bowl over. Then he drove his little cars over it like it was powdered snow. BOYS!!!