Here are a few recent pictures of Jaan playing with play dough and helping his grandparents pack:
One if the things that I love about living here is the Christmas season. While the holidays are winding down for most people in America, we're just getting started here. The churches that we know of celebrate December 25, at least some. Then we have New Year's; it's the biggest secular holiday of the year, but of course the church family has to enjoy it together, too. After that January 7--which is the Russian Orthodox Christmas--is our biggest church celebration. As our pastor in Moscow liked to say, "The Bible tells us to rejoice always, so we're going to take advantage of every day we can to rejoice in Christ's birth."
We had a wonderful family Christmas yesterday. Having my parents here really made it special. In the morning we had a Christmas breakfast, and Dad read the Christmas story. Jaan "read" along with him from his picture Bible. Right after that Will had to run out for the Sunday morning lesson with the orphanage children, then music practice. Mom and Dad joined him for church, but I stayed home with our coughing babies. The three who had been at church came home around 5:00. We went out and took Christmas cookies and cards to our neighbors, and then came back to a nice, hot Christmas dinner. Dinner was followed by opening presents; this was the first year that Jaan understood that. The last thing we did before putting two very tired children to bed, was my family's traditional Happy Birthday Baby Jesus cake.
The weather has been celebrating, too, I think. Both yesterday and today we've had clear blue skies. Right now I'm sitting between my two sleeping children, and sunshine is pouring through the window onto us. The trees we can see out the window are all lacy with frost.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas yesterday; don't forget to keep celebrating Christ's birth!
Will took my parents sightseeing in Vladimir today. We've just played
outside a little and had a normal day at home. (Raia did not like the
falling snow, but I sure thought it was beautiful!)
I thought I posted this one yesterday, but I guess I didn't. Aren't they cute?
(By the way, Anna and Abby, the Sasha I wrote about yesterday was Sasha Kondratyuk from Goose.)
Dad came out to video tape and photograph Jaan playing outside this morning. He and Jaan had a great time kicking and throwing snow.
Hurrah! My parents are coming. Actually, they're already in Moscow with Will. They'll arrive in Kovrov late tonight.
Hurrah! I finally figured out an easy way to go for walks, and so we got to enjoy the snow-covered woods and gorgeous weather this morning. I'll have to have Will get a picture of this, but for now you can imagine it. I put Raia on our sled, then tied a flexible piece of plastic behind for Jaan. I made a handle for him to hold and put a blanket under him, so people wouldn't worry too much. We have our sled train! Now I just need to find a horse to pull it for me. . . . 
Hurrah! As we crossed over to the woods, there was a babushka headed in the same direction. She stopped me, and I braced myself for a scolding. Yes, I did have the children dressed all "wrong," but instead of berating me too much, she just got them set right and then walked with us the rest of the way. We talked a lot, and she's now very interested in visiting our church. Her father converted from Orthodoxy, and several of her seven (!) siblings go to protestant churches now. She herself doesn't go to any church, but she loves the hymns that she remembers from her childhood. She hummed and sang quite a few for me, and was thrilled that I knew most of them. I don't even know her name--other than Babushka--but please pray that she really will come to our church!
This morning when Raia woke me up and I stumbled out into the living room for my quiet time with the Lord (and Raia), I was so tired that I could barely get my eyes open. I remembered that I had been encouraged by Isaiah 40:29 recently, so I went to meditate on those verses. I know verse 31, but I just really noticed the verses before it recently for the first time.
From there we've gone on to have a very nice day. There's a beautiful, fresh snowfall that Jaan and I have already enjoyed. We're going to go back out again after nap. The sky has even been a little bit blue, with the sun peeking out at times!
And when I was working on a Gospelink application for a new family with ten children, I discovered that the mother's favorite verse was the passage that encouraged me this morning!
I can't wait to go to bed. Either Jaan is getting another cold, or the one he just had is coming back. His nose is all stuffy. He hasn't been sick often enough to figure out how to breathe through his mouth, so he was up and down almost all night, crying. Will took care of him until 3:00, then he moved out to the couch and I took over. Raia didn't want to miss out on any of the fun, so she had to eat whenever she heard Jaan crying. Fortunately, after Will moved, Raia and Jaan started taking turns. I didn't get to sleep, but at least I didn't have two crying babies on my hands at any one time.
Will spent all day yesterday and today painting the room the church rents, and he's still not finished yet.
I was going to post some other photos, but I'm having trouble sending them right now. These are from Masha.
