Winter Time

It has been unbelievably cold for California this winter! Well, it's been incredibly cold for Californian natives. Today in church I saw a lady wearing what I would have been wearing when we lived in Russia when it was below 0.....I had to chuckle on the inside when I saw her. I never thought I would say this but I miss the snow! My boys especially miss it also.  I particularly miss those days when we would get big snowflakes and it was so quiet outside when we would go on a walk. Meanwhile, I'm going to enjoy some winter wonderland pictures from Russia

Novosibirsk, Russia

Jojo in the forest in Novosibirsk, Russia.

Ice sculptures in downtown Samara, Russia.

Sledding fun with friends in Samara, Russia.

Trick Or Treat

This was Nathan's first year trick or treating and Jojo's second year. The boys had a blast as we joined some friends up in Lancaster. First we went to their church to enjoy some fun and games.......

 I saw a lot of Duck Dynasty costumes.........

After church we hit the neighborhood..........

 and we the boys got a ton of candy!

Our Ninja and Optimus Prime

The boys with their friends.

I've realized after being Stateside that Halloween can pose quite a dilemma amongst believers. Boy, did I feel the heat on this one! Why would a former missionary family partake in this day's festivities? Well, I think Grace To You's article on Halloween really sums up what our family's convictions are on this "day".


"There's another option open to Christians: limited, non-compromising participation in Halloween. There's nothing inherently evil about candy, costumes, or trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. In fact, all of that can provide a unique gospel opportunity with neighbors. Even handing out candy to neighborhood children--provided you're not stingy--can improve your reputation among the kids. As long as the costumes are innocent and the behavior does not dishonor Christ, trick-or-treating can be used to further gospel interests.

Ultimately, Christian participation in Halloween is a matter of conscience before God. Whatever level of Halloween participation you choose, you must honor God by keeping yourself separate from the world and by showing mercy to those who are perishing. Halloween provides the Christian with the opportunity to accomplish both of those things in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's a message that is holy, set apart from the world; it's a message that is the very mercy of a forgiving God. What better time of the year is there to share such a message than Halloween?"

If you want to read more, you can go directly to the page.

 

Forneris Farms

In our ongoing efforts to get out on Saturdays, we headed to Forneris Farms the weekend before Halloween so that daddy could enjoy a pumpkin patch too. Forneris Farms is located right across the street from where I used to work. They have amazing produce and probably the best ever strawberries! I love that they're local and have been around for over 40 years.

The last time we were here, Jojo was 2 years old...........

and now he's 10 years old..........

The ladies at the grocery stores were right.........time flies!

It was another gorgeous day! Actually it was quite warm.....I still can't believe it was the end of October and we were so hot!!

We basically just went to take pictures and hang out but Jon and the boys did go on the train because I had promised the boys. I guess they have an amazing corn maze. I'm thinking next year Jon and I will have to go out on a date and try out the maze!!

I'm Back....

It's been a while since I have posted! With school starting again and all the activities at church, time has slipped away from me! I can't even believe that Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away. It's been 9 years since we spent Thanksgiving stateside and with my family........can't wait!

It has been quite fun doing some new things these last couple of months, from going to Bible studies, pumpkin patches, being a part of women's ministry at church, and visiting new places.

The boys are enjoying their homeschool group and absolutely loving AWANA! I have to admit that it is so weird that they are attending AWANA...........I was an AWANA clubber myself at the very church we're going to now.

Lots of things to be praising the Lord for this season!

Psalm 63:3
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you!

Approaching the End of Summer

We've had a real enjoyable summer even though it's been a summer of a lot of change!!! A lot has happened in the last 3 1/2 months but by God's grace I think we have learned so much from little trials here and there.

We are slowly plugging into ministry at church, we've found a homeschool group for the boys to be a part of this school year, we've visited some fun places, and we're making things work while we live at my mom's home.

One big goal we had this summer was for Josiah to learn how to swim. Every Saturday for about 10 weeks Jojo attended private swim lessons and lo and behold the kid is swimming! Last summer he was still too scared to stick his head underwater and this summer he is having us count to see how long he can keep his head under! I realize he's a little late in the game in learning how to swim but living overseas and having very limited time stateside made it impossible for him to learn.

Another big goal of course was for Jon to find a job. In 1998 Jon left his career as a certified financial planner (CFP) to attend the Master's Seminary. His main goal for attending was to learn how to correctly study and teach God's Word. After Seminary he really didn't have any plans to go into full time ministry. I guess you can say he took a bit of a rabbit trail and headed into missions. Our desire was to serve where there was a need and at the time there was a need in Novosibirsk,Russia and later in Samara, Russia. I got to say that last summer when he mentioned to me that he was considering to return to being a CFP, I was caught a bit off guard. I thought we would always be in full time ministry. Of course I knew our time as missionaries was coming to an end but I thought maybe he'd find an associates pastor position somewhere........when I was 12 I declared to myself that I would marry a pastor or missionary.......things weren't going according to my plans!

When I think about it though, I did marry a pastor and a missionary. Just because you have a "regular" or "secular" profession doesn't mean that ministry stops. Jon sees financial planning as a ministry in itself. Plus, he desires to continue teaching and serving any possible way he can. It's sort of humorous to see the expressions on people's faces when Jon tells them he's returning to financial planning. The expressions are ones of confusion.......it's probably the same expression I had on my face last year when Jon expressed his desires of returning to financial planning.

I'm thankful to say that I support Jon 100%! I trust him completely with the decisions he is making for our family. Actually, I'm so thankful that I'm not the one making all the decisions.......it's so nice to sit back and let my husband lead.

We have 3 weeks of summer left before we start school again. I see some beach days in the calendar, birthday celebrations, and lots of prepping for our coming school year! If you have some summer days left, I hope you enjoy them. I noticed on Facebook today lots of kids start school this week...lots of new backpacks, new school clothes, new teachers.......so fun!

Sun and Bikes

This past weekend the sun was out and even though it was a bit cool outside the boys begged us to take the bikes out.

Thankfully the boys remembered how to ride their bikes. It's 

been about five months since they have been bike riding.

 

The babushkee were out in full force going on their strolls. I 

actually had a babushka ask me to help her get across

the dirty snow....Jon said I did my good deed for the day.

 

The mamarazzi was also out in force......Nathan had enough at this point.

Meltdown

Thankfully spring has made it's way to Samara. This year the big meltdown wasn't quite as horrible. We had a few days of snow/sleet the last couple of weeks but the weather was a bit too warm for it to stick around and it all quickly melted.

 The above picture was March 2. This was the last BIG snowfall we had.

 By March 18 the meltdown was beginning.

On March 27 we can finally go outside in rain boots.

And today a couple of us made the switch from our winter coats to our lighter coats! Oh happy day!

My Workout

Well we have finally gotten a bit of snow! Seriously, this winter has been so mild. It just so happens every time Jon goes away to Shepherds' Conference we get a bunch of snow which means that snow accumulates by his garage. This means I get to shovel the snow so that when he returns he doesn't spend forever just trying to take the car out. He never tells me I need to do this but I figure I may get lucky and get a box of See's candies in return for my hard work (Jon if you're reading this.......hint, hint). So, earlier today the boys and I got outside to play in the fluffy snow and for me to do some shoveling.

 Nathan trying to help me out.

For the most part the boys played in the snow.................

while I worked like a mad woman.

My two cutie pies! They look so sweet and innocent here.

Here's the BEFORE picture................

and here's the AFTER picture! 

Let's just say I am one sore momma right now.

Hoarfrost

We woke up this morning to a beautiful sight. All the trees were white! It's actually been so cold the last few days but sometimes no matter how cold it is things can sure look so pretty. It's too cold to use the camera outside so I snapped a few pictures on the way to church from inside the car.

Our Little Dental Adventure

This past weekend I noticed that Nathan had quite a large cavity in one of his teeth. I felt like a horrible mom for not noticing sooner. He just saw a dentist 5 months ago and his teeth were just fine. Anyway, we have a real nice dentist here who works within a 15 minute walk so I figured it wouldn't be a big deal since she usually can get me in the same day. I should never assume that things here will go easy for me!

So, I called her first thing Monday morning. She said sure I can see him but I've moved. It's hard enough for me to understand directions in English so trying to understand in Russian was quite impossible for me. I asked her to text me her new address and I would see if it was too far for us. According to the map it definitely wasn't walking distance but doable by car or public transport. Only problem of course was that Jon wasn't home and even though I could figure out what bus to take there I just wasn't familiar enough with the stop or the exact location of the building. So, I figured a taxi could get me there. Thankfully my sweet friend Masha arranged the taxi for Nathan and I while she watched Jojo. After 30 minutes in traffic we arrived to our destination for our 4:00 appointment but the driver had no idea which exact building it was. There were like 5-6 buildings with the same exact address - 70 Revolution Street. The only exception was that the address my dentist texted me had additional info - Litera 2........I had no idea what this meant nor did my friend Masha but after seeing all the buildings I realized that it is basically the number of the building in that maze of buildings. I asked someone for help and was guided to the correct building...........PHEW!

Poor Nathan did great. He had to get his gums numb for the filling but he opened his mouth big and didn't even complain.  By this time it was only 4:30 and I figured it wouldn't be too bad getting home.

As we were leaving I took a picture of the building just in case Jon ever had to go there. As we were walking through the parking lot, Nathan says, "Mom, why do I still have my regular shoes on?" DUH...I totally forgot to put his snow boots on so we had to head back to the dental office and get the snow boots. As we finally get out of the labyrinth we turn on the street to walk towards the bus stop. After about 5 minutes, I realize we are heading in the wrong direction.....DUH again. So we turn around and head towards the correct way. We were finally at the stop and after 10 minutes I realize that none of the trolley buses are stopping at this stop. I asked a lady why the trolley buses aren't pulling over and she says you have to go to the next stop and points me in the right direction..........DUH again. Thankfully after our many detours we finally walked in the door a few minutes after 6:00. We get to go back this Saturday but thankfully I know exactly where we need to go and this time I think I'll just keep his boots on.

We saw these icicles on our little adventure and Nathan

thought they were pretty cool. He wanted me to try

and get one off for him!

Fresh Snow

We've finally gotten some real winter snow. It's been snowing now for more than 2 days non-stop! It really looks beautiful outside when it's like this. So, today we headed out to the park to meet our friends. The kids had a lot of fun playing in all that snow!

                                                         Jojo chilling out in a fort the kids found.

 

Jojo still wants me to push him on our sled! He and Nathan took turns while we walked to and from the park. I'm not complaining though because I get a bit of a workout in!

Winter Fun

While Moscow has been receiving record breaking snowfall, we've barely gotten any snow here in Samara. There's enough snow though to have some fun outdoors. Last week the boys and I headed over to Kuibashev Square to check out the ice sculptures, big Christmas tree, and enjoy a sleigh ride.

We also had a couple of friends come over so we headed outside so the kiddos could do some sledding on the dirty little hill by our home.............

Then yesterday we headed out again to do more sledding. This time we met our friends near their home at the Slava square.