Raia was dancing, or rejoicing, or something.
The weather today is just as beautiful as it was when we took these pictures, it's just colder now. (The temperature is a good bit lower than the Vladimir weather sticker is showing.)
Jaan and I painted again last night. We've been seeing a Great Spotted Woodpecker right here around our home recently, so of course we had to paint one. We had seen them in the woods before, but never right here. Jaan's painting is more than just woodpeckers, but I can't remember all the other details. I'll have to ask him to explain it to me again.
) was born yesterday. She shares a birthday with two other sweet little girls: Katya Korneichuk here and Eliana, the daughter of our friends in Indonesia. My Mom has already seen Caiden and says that she's beautiful! Praise God for the safe arrival of this sweet baby, and please pray for Shannon to recover quickly and well from the c-section.
On Christmas Eve I invited one of our neighbors to come up for our advent time. She's an English teacher, so she's interested in our holidays and the Christmas carols (although, we usually sing them in Russian ). Plus, she loves our children. Back when I planned, I had written a new note, which only works in Russian, but our verse was the same as the one on the list: John 3:16. Jaan and Raia were so excited about the balloons, that they couldn't listen very well, though.
By the way, this neighbor informed us that she was talking to Jaan recently and mentioned something about all the snow that Дед Мороз (Grandfather Frost) had brought us. He was very quick to point out that Jesus, not Дед Мороз, had sent the snow.
I particularly liked the message:
"December 25 - Isn't this baby cute? When he was born, he made a whole family happy. Jesus was born a baby, too. He came to make the whole world happy. Read: Luke 2:1-20. Enjoy your celebration today. Continue to learn about Jesus and love Him forever!"
(The pictures on the ornaments are from their first Christmases.) Our sweet children bring us so much joy, and Jesus does even more so; He is our Joy!
We had a wonderful family Christmas yesterday, and now the holiday season is just getting started here. Yesterday we had a quiet morning together, then went out for a walk in the woods. The weather was perfect: clear and cold with fresh snow. Will kept trying to get pictures of the snow sparkling in the air, but it didn't show up in any of them. All of us had a great time enjoying the beauty, sledding, and having fun together.
Jaan and Raia were so tired when we got home that they took extra long naps. While they slept, Will and I enjoyed the quiet and prepared our Christmas dinner. The children woke up to that, then the Christmas story, a present, and a birthday cake. We spent the evening visiting our neighbors with treats and Christmas greetings. (December 25 isn't a holiday at all for them.) Then it was bedtime. We had such a perfect day, I didn't want it to end! I'm glad we get to celebrate for another two weeks here.
There are a ton of pictures from yesterday. Hopefully, I will get to sharing some of those and the last little bit of advent soon.
My wish for you is that you will continue to celebrate Christ always, even if you live somewhere where Christmas is already over.
(Jaan was in desperate need of wool socks, so that was what they found in their bags last night, instead of any other reminder of sheep.)
For those of you who know and love everyone out here, and for all the prayer warriors who pray without knowing them personally, here's a random list of the news that Will brought back from the regional missionary-pastor meeting Friday:
Yesterday was one of Those Days. I won’t say it was bad, because I needed the reminder to cling to the Lord, and I am not unhappy with the way I responded to the children all day. . . but it was very hard. Somehow I forgot to figure how much Will would be gone on these last few days before our family Christmas into my plans. When I realized, I thought it wouldn’t be too big of a problem. Making Christmas cookies sounds like a good thing to do with the children on the long days without Papa, right? Somehow it also slipped my mind that last year we only had one little helper (Raia wasn’t mobile yet) to three adults (both my parents helped). This year it’s more like one adult, one hurricane, and one tornado. Add in that our day started off with a minor flood in our kitchen, which became a major flood running down our neighbor’s wall, and that the children were WILD, and you can guess how things went.
Oh, I was gratified to see that when I let them run free outside yesterday, they actually did run around screaming. It seems like no matter how much they do that inside, I take them out and they turn into demure little angels. Not that I would complain about that--they’re like me, God’s creation has a calming influence on them--but sometimes it is nice for the wildness to take place outside, not in our little apartment!
We did have some especially sweet moments. After nap time, Raia was fussy, so Jaan wanted to hold her and “pet” her to calm her down. She didn’t like that, but all three of us snuggled up on Jaan’s bed, and he got to pet her while she nursed. That did the trick, and we all got up happy.
And we all enjoyed our advent time, even without Papa. Jaan seemed to understand the story and did very well repeating that the Holy Spirit came down like a dove. However, when Will came home and went in to say good night, Jaan announced, “Papa, we learned that the Holy Spirit came down like a PARROT!” 
Tonight, again without Will, we’ll read
”December 23 - This is soft and fuzzy like a sheep. Jesus called Himself the good shepherd. Do you know who His sheep are? Read: John 10:7-18.”
(I didn't get any good photos of Jaan last night.)
Next:
(Yes, that's a smile. At least, she thinks it is.)
Next is The photos from yesterday show more of a whole day around here.
His feet got wet, so he had to rest them on the heating pipes for a while when we came in.
Last night's advent treasure.
The kids were so wound up! They combined both fourth grade classes, and it caused chaos. Oh, well! Both our children and the children there enjoyed the movie. Although, like Will said, "After a good night with them, you feel tired. After a bad night, you feel like you've been run over by a truck." It was a run-over-by-a-truck night for the adults.
. . . on December 16.
. . . on December 17. They made me laugh so hard on Sunday. I had to bring Raia home from church early. When Jaan returned later with Will, Raia attacked her big brother with enough squeals and hugs to make it seem like she hadn't seen him in a year. And in the midst of that Jaan announced, "We saw fireworks! I wasn't scared, but Papa was."
. . . on December 18. (Maybe this photo is better?)
They were just plain dried flowers, but I sprinkled them with lavender oil, to make them special.
We have a few busy days ahead. Here's for today
I haven't been quoting him as much lately, but he still keeps me laughing.
Last night we put one on the tree and one on our display shelf. Which reminds me: we haven't shown you our shelf!
This is just from the first week. Now we've moved down, and we're filling up the next one. Every day we look at our display and talk about what each little thing reminds us of.
While Will was hiding the bags, lighting the candles and getting the living room ready, we made hot chocolate and tea. Jaan and Raia were thrilled to find heart cookies and share a special snack.
Jaan always wants to sing "слава Богу" ("praise God") and nothing else, so last night we switched to learning a different Christmas carol: "Слава, слава Богу в вышних." Papa even let him help play it on the guitar! (Note the book lying open there. Jaan usually uses the animal book that has been his favorite since he was a baby as his hymnbook. It makes perfect sense to me, looking at God's creatures and praising Him!)
This made me laugh. When we were done, Jaan helped me clean up. We were too early, though. Raia wasn't done eating. She came back with her crumbly cookies, so Jaan sat right by her with the vacuum and cleaned up crumbs as she dropped them.
Last night, we came home from a long day at church with no naps, had a quick supper, and then visited with our friends from Viazniki. After all that, Jaan and Raia were too tired for much at all, but they found the bars of soap, listened to the story, and then fell into bed.
Today we'll be able to sing and draw the special time out a little more.
"December 11 - Hearts. Wordlessly, they speak of love, don't they? Jesus gave us some commands about love. Read: Matthew 22:37-40."
(I fixed the reference.)
For tonight:
"December 10 - It's soap. Do you like to wash? Washing turned out to be a happy time for a man who met Jesus. Read: John 9:1-7."
Also, I finished another bird painting yesterday. I was looking out our windows and at this picture while I painted. You can compare and let me know what you think. I'm not completely satisfied, so I'm very open to tips, suggestions, and constructive criticism.
