What have we been up to?

Last Friday we spent time with our little friends Elijah(eelia) and Diana(dee-ahna). Their dad is out of town and their mom works one day a week. We were privileged to be asked to sit with the kids. They are not used to being with anyone but their parents.

We will be going over there again on Friday. And I am eager to see what new verbs or words I learn this time. Last week I learned to say "let's go pee!" in Russian. I didn't have that lesson in class at school for some reason. And I don't have small kids of my own so I didn't have to learn it. Not sure what tomorrow will bring but I look forward to the adventure!!

Thought for today

To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.
Chinese Proverb

Tulip Time

When we were at the park on Sunday, along with young families out for a stroll, couples holding hands, and teens whizzing by on roller blades, these tulips were part of the sights we saw. Spring here in Krasnodar is a beautiful time of year!

4 items needed for a nap in the park

A park bench














A blue sky














A lap to rest your head on














and the ability to relax!

Dirt Cake with Gummy worms!!

Layer the ingredients in this order:

Start with brownies on the bottom of the bucket...



















add the chocolate frosting



















cover with crushed chocolate cookies



















And there you have it... Dirt Cake with Gummy worms!!















Tom and I are going to baby sit for some friends of ours today and this is my little treat for the kids!!

A MOPS morning

Tom came this morning to speak on How to Teach Your Child About Sexuality. He did a great job (of course I am not biased!)

We had 6 moms in attendance with children at various ages and stages in life so the discussion time was very rich. One of the moms remarked "how great it is that we have moms here with kids older than ours so we can ask questions and learn from one another!"

thought for today

He who is not very strong in memory should not meddle with lying.


Michel de Montaigne
French essayist (1533 - 1592)

you know it's spring when

You know that it is spring in Krasnodar when the water in your apartment either doesn't work or it is coming out brown... ah, the joys of spring!!

Russian Easter

Alyona, Vasa, Diana and Elijah
Diana has the microphone and Elijah is not looking!



















Alexei and Yulia and their children,
Leeza and Misha















Tom, Alexei, Yulia and Alida

Drunken Red Square drive

In Russian news...

Police fired for drunken Red Square drive

MOSCOW (Reuters)
Three off-duty Russian policemen were fired Monday for driving drunk through Moscow's Red Square in the early hours of the morning, dressed in their police uniforms. "A medical examination revealed that all three policemen were drunk," Moscow City Police said in a statement about the incident which took place Friday."(They have) tarnished the honour and dignity of police officers." Russians are some of the world's heaviest drinkers and demographers often cite high alcohol consumption as a factor in the low life expectancy of Russian men.
The image of national airline Aeroflot's subsidiary Aeroflot-Nord was dealt a serious blow earlier this year when alcohol was found in the blood of one of its pilots who crashed over the Urals, killing 88 people on board.

Thought for today

The more a man knows, the more he forgives.

Catherine the Great

more fun in the park

Our little friend Yanna, went from not wanting to get on the slide to not wanting to stop. Big sister Ira (eera) and mom were there to help her out!

Palm Sunday Concert in the Park

Yesterday, April 12th was Palm Sunday here in Russia. Our church celebrated with a concert in the park on the soccer field across from our building. We had a great turnout. One of the city officials came to oversee everything, the police were there and close to 200 from around the neighborhood came to hear the music.

Sergey Zanosa is a Christian Artist from Moscow who came down to entertain the crowd and share his testimony. His music has a rock edge to it and the words in his songs were very touching and personal. People filled the benches, stood around the square, and filled up the park just to listen. We hope this becomes a yearly tradition!

A Mops Morning

The kids made porcupines out of modeling clay and match sticks while the moms made a ceasar salad... everyone had a great time and left with full tummies!

Thought for Today

Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

Warren Buffett

small blessings...

As I was walking home today I was thinking that I was wearing the wrong shoes for a walk and wishing that I was already home. Just then I looked up and a friend from church pulled over and insisted on giving me a ride home!

Taras Bulba

Tom and I went out to see this movie yesterday with some friends of ours. The movie was based on a short story written by Nikolay Gogol and put out just in time for the 200th anniversary of this great Ukrainian-Russian writer. Set in the 16th century it is a semi-historical tale of patriotism, bravery, love and betrayal. The movie is centered around the mighty Cossack Taras Bulba and his two sons, Andrey and Ostap.

This is such a well made film and it holds your attention the entire way through. The battle scenes are explicit... lots of blood and guts that I tried to shield my eyes from!

I do admire the Cossacks. They were depicted as having great faith, living life to the fullest and never backing down from a fight for what they believed in.

Are you Facebook, MySpace or Twitter??

You Are Facebook

You are social, outgoing, and excited to connect to your friends. You are interested in your friends' lives, and you enjoy adding your opinion to the mix. While you enjoy sharing online, you don't want everyone to know your business. You value your privacy. Your life is an open book to those you know but not to strangers.

Are You Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter?

I enjoy Facebook much more than Twitter and I have never had a MySpace page... Tom did for a while but he rarely goes there anymore. Facebook is where most of our friends are!!

Just the girls...

Such a busy day… two of my friends came over and we filled out our registration forms together for an International Women’s Conference we will be attending in May in Ukraine. Some of the information on the form was in English and some of it in Russian so we had to work together to get it all filled out! We also went to the train station together to purchase our tickets. It was fun to be with them and talk about what we are going to do at the conference and what sight-seeing they wanted to do in Kiev.

The conference is being put on by Hillsongs Church. There will be three this year, one in London, one in Sydney and the third in Kiev. Neither one of them has been to Kiev before so it will be fun for me, the American, to show them around the former capital of Russia!

Thought for Today

Today we are afraid of simple words like goodness and mercy and kindness. We don't believe in the good old words because we don't believe in good old values anymore. And that's why the world is sick.

-Lin Yutang