Baby It's Cold Outside!

Thanks so much to all of you who prayed for safe and 'happy' travel. The boys did great considering the long flights and layovers and we survived, too! We had a great time at retreat and really enjoyed reconnecting with our teammates spread across all over Russia. One of the highlights of our time was getting to see Inna (our former nanny) again! She was there to help watch the little kids during our meeting times. Gavin enjoyed having "my Inna" back for awhile and she thoroughly enjoyed seeing Gavin and especially meeting and holding Carter. We even got to spend some quality time together sharing pictures of the past several months we have been apart and she even brought me a sweet birthday gift! Durning our time at retreat we not only spent time being ministered to (in English!) but we got to enjoy worship (in English!), prayer times, swimming, the sauna, game time late into the evening, special women's gatherings and we ended our time together with a communion service. I have to say I was really sad when retreat was over. I hated saying goodbye to all our friends that were going back to Krasnodar and other parts of the country- knowing that I'll have to wait 6 more months to see most of them again :( ! Though it was good to finally get back home- even though we didn't get back to our house till 3am b/c of long flights and layovers! Unfortunately the travel seemed extra long because Gavin was sick. Many of the kids are sick b/c not only did the little kids share their toys but they shared their germs and passed croup around the group. By the time we got back to our house Gavin's temperature was staying around 104 even with tylonel! His fever finally broke the next day and he's on his way back to being healthy.


The plane ride from Ekat


Inna and I

We celebrated my birthday yesterday very simply- we planned to have our teammates over- but their daughter is sick (with the same virus) so we'll get together at a later date. So, our little family enjoyed pizza, fries, brownies and icecream. JB and the boys gave me flowers and some great gifts (perfume and yummy body wash). Today JB and I got away for a cup of coffee and split a piece of cheese cake at a local cafe. We'll plan a real date night sometime soon- we're busy right now getting things together for our next English Cafe on Saturday.

While we were at retreat we spent a bit of time talking about a new problem that has arisen here regarding our visas. The following is a summary of the situation and names a few ways you can pray specifically for this new challenge:

"On October 4th a decree was signed by the Russian Prime Minister that presents serious challenges to the immigration status of most of our missionaries. The decree is designed to limit the ability of foreign citizens to live in Russia year after year on the basis of one year visas. This step is in keeping with the way that most European nations handle immigration issues. However, the accompanying opportunity that most of those governments provide for foreigners to pursue residency status, without undue difficulty, is currently lacking in Russia. Our team will need to work hard in the next few months to find solutions to this dilemma. Please pray for our staff, the Field Leadership Team and for the Field Director, Tim Crouch, who will work with lawyers, our partner churches and representatives of other mission organizations to seek solutions. "

Thanks for remembering us in prayer! We couldn't do what we do without you!

Oh... one exciting thing I wanted to mention- our babysitter, Alyona, is studying English and asked me last week if I had a book she could read to practice her English. I glaced over our shelf and immediatly pulled out our copy of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe from the Chronicles of Narnia series. I handed it to her along with our copy of the movie (that plays in English and Russian) for her to watch. She was very excited and asked if I would discuss it with her after she finished it. When she came over today I asked her how the reading was going. She said it was going well and asked me again if we could discuss the book when she finished. Please pray for our discussion whenever it takes place. She is always wanting to speak English with us and I've asked her to only speak Russian when she's here for our benefit as well as the boys. So, any chance she has to speak English with us is a real treat. She is not a believer, but she knows why we're here and seems open to spiritual things. Here's a pic of our Alyona:


...and a few more pics! When we landed back in Ekat we realized that Fall left while we were away and now Winter is here to stay! Here's Carter and Gavin all bundled up during our chilly time outside playing this morning. Notice the nice new green fence they put up around our playground while we were gone. Also, here's a pic of our building- our yellow car is parked in front of our entrance.