Christmas Tree

We've got a Christmas Tree!!! Life is SO cool! We received a gift designated to be a Christmas tree - we had to get an artificial tree and they're really quite expensive. From the US we received some ornaments and lights - so we got down to it and it's decorated and flashing and it's really WONDERFUL!

Without ornament hooks... make your own

It's our wedding anniversary photo frame!

Our tree is a bit crooked!

An idea of how tall the tree is!

The Dream Giver

It's a book by Bruce Wilkinson.  It's been selected as the theme for summer camp in 2009.  So we're excited to get to work, reading, planning studies and in general getting ready for interpreter training!  How cool is this?!  We even have the Dream Giver DVD.  So I'm excited, because I've been pumped about purpose for the past 15 years or so, and this is just up my alley.

Somedays life may be hard, but the next day G0d turns around and shows you a rainbow.

Teaching, a calling

I hope you all know that I've been teaching the last two months.  It's a really rewarding occupation and with the visa situation in Russia - it allows Amy and I to stay here without leaving every three months for three months.

It has been really tough.  My schedule changes almost weekly and it's been very hard for us to establish a pattern of any kind.  And I've been bucking and fighting it tooth and nail.

Which is certainly NOT what I'm supposed to be doing, nor has it been very obedient.  G0d called us here and called us to this for us to be here.  As I'm teaching, Amy is learning Russian, working with the staff at the cultural center, making contacts, building relationships, etc.

It has been incredible to see her flourish here.  I need to keep a better perspective about how G0d is working and that we're a team.  The past two weeks have been incredible.  We had guests from America (Kate & Sherry) who run a pregnancy center stateside.  While they were here, Amy visited several schools, a medical institute, and one of the local universities.  She was able to share with folks, have meetings, and just really really shine.  (She wouldn't say that, but I can). 

So it was a tremendous reminder to me that WE are here serving and that my teaching is good enough if only it serves as a conduit for Amy to be here.

But that's not all.

I'm having all kinds of opportunities with my students as well.

Just yesterday I was able to share about the crazy day I had (the students asked because of the goose egg on my forehead).  I told about how the car died on the way to the airport and wouldn't start.  Much to my personal shame, I am NOT mechanical - so couldn't fix it myself.  But, I was able to share that we pr@yed and that the car started.  I talked about how G0d is listening and how He wants us to talk with Him and that He hears us.

It was really quite cool.  Some eager expresssions, some chagrined, some disinterested.  Divine opportunities are waiting for us in every day life.

Our director of studies has noted that I'm the only teacher with frequent student cancellations.  My students all enjoy my classes - especially one-on-one students.  But my classes are cancelled often.  In fact, last week 13.5 hours were cancelled.  It's because of pr@yer.  We had guests for 2 weeks and I wanted to spend some time with them and the m!nistry... so G0d made that possible.  Isn't that cool?

So, I shared with her that we had been pr@ying for less teaching.  Voila!  Opportunity to share.

Here's another from yesterday.  I chose the warm-up topic of superstition yesterday.  It's a great conversation and really gets into some sp!ritual issues.  So three groups of my students discussed Russian superstitions with me.  It's double useful conversation: I learn about Russian culture AND it's a sp!ritual conversation.

So I learned a great deal about superstitions - one of my students invented the word stuperstition which we all thought was really funny.

I was asked by a student why Americans say "Oh, my gosh" instead of the British varient "Oh, my G-d."  So I was able to share about how our country was founded on Chr!stian principles and that respect for G0d is one of them.  Something I never imagined being able to ask in class, "Do you know what the 10 Commandments are?"  So conversation and opportunities abound. 

If you open your eyes wide enough, sometimes you can see what G0d is doing.  I'm not teaching just for our visas.  I'm not being pulled away from what we came here to do.  I was called to it.  It is where I am supposed to be.  I need to stop fighting against the time teaching.  I'm here for a reason, He knows what He's doing... struggling against G0d's calling... it's not gonna get me very far... 

Jeff and the no good, horrible, very bad day

Have you ever read the childrens' book about Alexander and the no good, horrible, very bad day? Well, my day wasn't that bad. It was so full of blunders though that it's worth a comparison.

We've had guests for 2 weeks. It has been wonderful! Sherry and Kate came to visit us and work with Victoria at the Pregnancy Resource Center. They had a ball and really have encouraged Victoria so much. One of the local universities wants to have Victoria back to speak with 3000 students over several months!

Well, they got up at 4am and we at 5am to take them to the airport. It's already a bad day, because they were leaving. In Russian you say, "встать не стой ноги" to get up on the wrong leg. Well, Kate was standing in the hallway and she said, "Dad, I don't know how it broke - I didn't do anything."

It's been so fun having them here, it really has been refreshing to see how honest they are and how dependent we all are on each other. This place feels pretty foreign at first blush, so the ladies were following on Amy's heels in the store, asking for permission to go and buy a coke, and they were so proud when they walked home together without for the first time.

And we were proud of them. It takes a lot of guts to go out alone when your vocabulary is: hi everyone, bye, thank you, yes, no. (Kate's vocabulary grew every day).

So anyway - I digress. The shower cord broke. Do we have an extra one? Actually, yes we do! G0d already provided in our early morning time of need. I felt like a jack-of-all-trades as I repaired the shower before brushing my teeth.

We all got ready and left the apartment to load up Jim & Sally's car.

No light. The hallway was dark, the stairway was dark... so we hauled six suitcases down a dark staircase - I ran back to the apartment for a flashlight! Just another funny stumbling block in daily life.

We managed to get all the luggage in the car, get the back of the car closed, and we were on our way.

As we neared the airport, the car stalled. No reason that I can think of. Just stalled. Now, I commented earlier that I felt like a jack-of-all-trades. This definitely ends at anything mechanical. So I was terrified and really trying to figure out what G0d had in mind for us. The airport was in sight - but probably too far for hauling luggage.

We pr@yed. The car started - no problems since. We made it into the airport, checked in, and got Kate and Sherry into security. As we waited in sight, we watched them pull Kate aside. They started going through her bags, I wanted to bust into security to protect here, when she came back to the security door.

"The ketchup! I can't take it on the plane!" Kate called to us. Oh, no! The gypsy ketchup (it's delicious). So, we have a few extra bottles of ketchup and America will be poorer for it.

(I know this is a long entry - sorry - at this point it's about 7:20am, and I have a whole day of calamity left to share with you).

We returned home in еле-еле (barely moving) traffic. It's actually our first snow in Tyumen that's stuck. So winter has arrived and you know how people drive in the first snow....

I immediately jumped into grading exams for my students and writing the end of semester report for three classes. Amy glanced at the clock and sent me off running to teach my first student (you'll remember I'm teaching English for both of our visas). So, I get to work at 9:57am just in time to teach at 10am when the call comes in that my student has cancelled.

I head to another firm where I teach to pick up some folders I need for writing my reports. I get the folders, head home, and realize that papers were at work the whole time. So I head back there. Mind you, this all required one hour on a bus and 30 minutes of walking. (Amy did accompany me on the walk to help talk me down from my frustrating moment of WASTED time. --> y'all probably remember that I'm a bit type A (yes, a bit) and that wasting time is hard for me).

So I got to work and took off my boots to put on shoes. Why would Jeff mention this in the tale of his day? Well, because I bent over to put on my shoes and WHACKED my head on the corner of the shelves. What was my initial reaction? Of course, to pull back. So I BANGED the back of my head on the underside of the desk. I kind buckled down to my knees and just started laughing. Laughing so hard I was crying a little bit. So, when the director of studies came on the scene, I'm on the floor with a bump on my head, a little bit of blood, and tears running down my face - what a sight!

So that was nearly the end of the whole situation. I'll just add that I made a great language mistake teaching and told students that a tea cup sits on an adultress (saucer is what I thought I said).

I hope you're laughing, I sure was.

Amy's first caviar!

Mmmm mmmm good.

She's a real Russian girl now!

My shedule

...is changing all the time.

I was reading in my B!ble on Monday morning and G-d shared with me about the lesson He wants me to learn. In order to lead , you have to be equipped to be a good leader. In America, I worked at UM for 13 years. I put in my dues, learned a lot about the system, and started my own personal career. I slowly moved into leadership and then moved up the ranks.

In Russia, I was mostly thrust forward into working with folks - although I did start out small at summer camp. Well, it looks like the current needs really outweigh my abilities to be a good leader here at this moment. So G0d moved me out of the possibility to lead. I'm so busy teaching, I hardly see Amy sometimes. Well, I think He really wants me to experience what it's like for the nationals to work and live here.

So, I have little control over my own time. I get home between 8pm and 8:15pm most nights. Amy and I have dinner - talk for a while - collapse and then sleep.

Well, we asked if you would all pr@y with us. So - it's working. My work schedule hasn't reduced, but my hours are better. I'm not home at 10:30pm, but 8:30pm. Now it's changed again.

I'm going to be finished by 7pm every day starting in 1.5 weeks.

All of my classes were canceled for yesterday. One of my individual students canceled today. Two students canceled last week. It's getting better.

I have been able to appear at the Cultural Center (CEC) every day so far this week. I'm going to be at two meetings and three functions next week. It is a HUGE answer to pr@yer. Thank you and please keep it up! It's so encouraging to know that you are all out there supporting us in so many ways! Thank you thank you.

In January my hours are supposed to reduce by 10 hours each week! This is gonna be huge.

I've actually studied Russian more this week than ever! And I can feel the improvement. I'm reading my B!ble on the computer in Russian as well. e-sword is a GREAT free program.

Disco Shower

So this morning started like any other early morning. Dark, feeling a bit groggy, and headed straight to the shower (via the tea kettle to get the water boiling... we're becoming a bit more Russian daily). I'm in the shower, slowly sorting through the fog of my thoughts when the light goes off.

and on.

and off.

and on.

and off.

and stays off.

I gently say, "please turn the light back on."

and on.

We have guests. They're great - but they're not used to our wonderful Russian apartment yet. So, the light switches don't all turn on by flipping them up. They don't necessarily correspond to the location where they turn on the lights. So I think Kate was trying to turn on the toilet light when I was in the bathroom (they are TWO separate rooms).

So I had my first ever disco shower. It was cool.

Sharing with the Orphans

It was great to hear Sherri & Kate sharing with the orphans about what is so important to them. They were talking about making the right choices in a future spouse, about purity, and about dating. It was funny - because the room had both boys and girls, aged 12 - 18. So it was a very WIDE range and seems as though many of the kids were quite shy to speak up about dating.

Apparently at the orphanage all the kids think of each other as brothers and sisters - so not so much happening in the world of dating there.

Sherri and Kate had a Q&A with the kids and shared about their lives and families.

Tomorrow they'll be sharing with a group of women from the medical college in Tyumen.

Uspenko - orphanage visit

Our guests, Kate & Sherry, along with Victoria, Lena (interpreting), Amy & I went to visit the orphanage today at Uspenko. It's about 40 km from Tyumen by car and houses about 42 children. The system of orphanages in Russia is different than you might think. This orphanage (children's house in Russian) used to be a home for hard of hearing children, but is now an orphanage. Most of the children do have living parents. They have been removed from their homes by the state, because of issues at home. Usually a single parent home or a home in which one or more of the parents is an alcoholic or drug addict. The children are allowed to go home and visit on weekends and holidays. Sometimes this is good and of course, sometimes not.

It was an incredibly clean and modern facility compared to what one might expect. The Tyumen region is really quite wealthy and many of the children have their own cell phones and they ALL have their own mp3 players. The players were a gift from a company in Tyumen (as were the exercise room and many other acoutrements in the orphanage).

The director is a really wonderful lady who seems to genuinely love the kids. Each and every one of them. She knows them all by name and knows their hopes and dreams. It was really nice.

Lena shared with us that she does not think it typical of orphanages throughout all Russia. The one in her village is not nearly as nice and the kids have many problems.

If you have time, please pr@y for these kids that:
- they would flee alcohol and drugs as a form of escape
- they would not be exposed to cigarettes, pornography, etc at such a young age
- they would feel loved at the orphanage
- their parents would be healed so they can return home
- they can hear the truth and accept JC

World Upside down

Well, when you’re not really an organized person, and you teach yourself over the course of your life to be organized, this usually means only one thing. You’re coping. You’re not really organized, you’ve developed systems and methods for fooling yourself and others that you’re really organized. Here’s how to tell if you’re really organized. Do you always clean up after yourself? Do you clean up after others? Does it drive you crazy when things are neat and orderly? Then you’re really organized. If you run out of organization steam or you just put things in the same place so you don’t lose them, you’re not organized. You’re coping.

I’ve been coping since my junior year of college. As director of Campus Information at UM, I stretched my coping skills to the max and really fooled a LOT of people. Well, I was pretty organized, but I did it through tools. A planner, a calendar, reminders… all tools that kept me on track. It was especially critical for me that these tools had backup possibilities.

I told my colleagues and assistants, remind me – I don’t mind. I forget as often as I remember. Especially with things changing so often. Well, it finally caught up with me. Not only has it caught up with me, but I’m in the center of a vortex of disorganization.

My work schedule changes every 8 weeks. I’m constantly meeting new people and having a meeting here a let’s-get-acquainted there. Without a calendar or organizer, I’d be lost. Well, enter the pocket pc. I’ve had one for YEARS. The current one is 2 or 3 years old now. It’s great. Somehow about 2 weeks ago, it stopped syncing with my computer though. I’ve tried to get it to sync, but after 2 hours of wasted time, I’ve given up for a while. It’s very hard for me, because it’s one of my coping tools. My schedule has changed 3 times this week already and I have 3 meetings that aren’t usual. I’m so nervous about messing up and not showing up it’s crazy.

Well, There’s another thing that’s not working. It’s my cell phone. At first it was a simple thing. The headphones stopped working. It was annoying, because I use them to listen to Russian radio. Without as much exposure to constant Russian, it’s really great and it’s just natural speech. Nothing specially recorded, just people talking to people. Well, I took the phone in (3 times before I actually saw a repair technician I might add) and then it died altogether. So, now I don’t have my phone. (enter Super Sasha who lent me his old phone to tide me over – alas I haven’t taken the time to program all my numbers in it, so I have no idea who’s calling or any phone numbers of who to call.) So I’m stranded without another of my pieces of technology. So, I use this tool to listen to Russian, as a calculator (we’re constantly converting prices), as a voice recorder, and a backup to do list and calendar. It also doesn’t sync (because I don’t have it with me now – they promised one week… it’s already the second week and I’m told it’ll really be more like 3 months… please pr@y).

Our internet is causing problems at home too… well, I’m not complaining. I’m really trying to do less of that. I’m trying to be really positive and just take what comes. So I’m using paper tools for a little while to keep things on track so I’m not falling apart.

Too much dependence on technology. Here’s how I use it. Laptop on the fritz, pocket pc won’t sync, phone died. There’s too much going on here and I use technology as my second brain. My pocket pc is the world’s most useful dictionary… ugh!!! My watch even died. What is G0d teaching me?

Cool gadgets and cooler friends

So our friend Angie got us this cool octopus. We use it all the time! Really, every time we do laundry. Yeah, usually it holds our socks. Isn't this the coolest thing that you've ever seen?

Speaking with Elementary Students

It's SO much fun to talk to students. They're excited to be learning and it's so cool to see their progress. Sometimes, really funny things happen.

Today Amanda (one of my fellow teachers) asked a student, "Is it cold outside today?" He answered, "it's dirty."

Well, it's true. It's dirty. We're stuck in between real winter and fall... so there's MUD everywhere. Amy's already wearing boots -- and I should be. Yeah, my shoes are NASTY. Have a look.

seriously, one day's worth of mud

Winter Gear

Well, when you live in Siberia, your outer clothing is really critical. It's VERY interesting that people invest in their outer gear, because they (we) all spend a LOT of time outside. It's sorta like the place to be seen.

It's frustrating how much some of these items cost, but it's a required necessity to survive the temperatures! Here's Amy modeling some of the clothes that will protect her throughout the approaching winter....

Her green hat! It matches her American winter coat
(which doesn't match the weather here)

A real winter coat. Amy picked it out with our friend Tammy

Check out the heel on these boots! It's crazy. This is a VERY moderate boot. Russian women teeter around in stiletto heel winter boots!

Here's a really happy moment about midnight last week. The first "big flake" snowfall!

Love ... it's such a great topic

So this week at Discussion Club, we had a couple of surprises. First, I had planned to talk about personality profiles as we continue to get to know each other... as we got ready to start the talks, Amy & I had a short conversation and realized that the language abilities of the group gathered probably wasn't going to make it through the conversation. Every week we have some different folks, and most of the strong speakers were not present this week...

... so we changed the topic at the last minute. To Love. It was a HUGE hit. We suddenly ended up in this amazing conversation sharing about the book: The Five Love Languages. It was really enjoyable. Next week we're going to continue our conversations with the Four Loves by C.S. Lewis.

Here's the quick recap on the Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman

Are You and Your Spouse Speaking the Same Language? He sends you flowers when what you really want is time to talk. She gives you a hug when what you really need is a home-cooked meal. The problem isn't your love it's your love language! In this international best seller, Dr. Gary Chapman reveals how different people express love in different ways. In fact, there are give specific languages of love: Quality Time Words of Affirmation Gifts Acts of Service Physical Touch What speaks volumes to you may be meaningless to your spouse. But here, at last, is the key to understanding each other's unique needs. Apply the right principles, learn the right language, and soon you'll know the profound satisfaction and joy of being able to express your love-and feeling truly loved in return.

Promises Promises

The Russians say, не бросай слова на ветер "don't throw words to the wind" unless you can fulfill your promises.

Well, I PROMISE there will be more blog entries soon (in fact, this already fulfills the promise - that's cool).

It's been a very busy couple of months. Here's some quick news to share:

- B!ble college finishes up today. Ehud and Neiva Garcia have been here teaching for two weeks and they are great friends and incredible instructors.
- we have snow in earnest and it looks like it's here to stay.
- Amy has Fall boots and finally a winter coat. I'll post special pictures too. She still needs more winter gear though - boots, winter hat, winter gloves. Funny that gloves aren't enough, but there there are fall and winter varieties.
- I interpreted for 5 hours on Thursday. My brain hurt until sometime Friday. It's SO difficult - especially when there are lots of the0logical terms and English IDIOMS.
- I think I'm getting an ear infection, pr@y it's not the case
- PRAISE - I have a verbal agreement that in January my teaching load will drop 10 hours (nearly in half!) This is an incredible answer to PR@YER. Thank you, thank you.

Off to Russian lessons this chilly Saturday morning!

D-Club - How full is your glass?

One of my favorite topics to discuss and get a really good discussion going. Draw a picture of a glass. It's a half glass of water. Describe it... It's half a glass, it's half full, it's half empty.

We had a GREAT talk. Because it was a holiday week, we had fewer people than usual - only about 10 people, but the conversation was GREAT. We had a good talk and really started to talk about what it is that make people who they are.

It's really fun to start getting to know all of the folks who are attending. Please keep us in your thoughts as we're hoping that these discussion continue leading deeper and deeper.

A food entry

Well, I'm really behind in the blogging, sorry all. Here are some food highlights from the past couple of weeks.

These are the chocolate chip cookies that we baked for the interpreters and the staff at the CEC. It was really fun to have a few moments this last week to spend together and to serve those that we love here!

Last week, Amy made this DELICIOUS Russian meal for us!

In a feat of incredible skill, Amy created this delectable chicken pot pie. Can you not see it's beauty? It tasted even better and had the flakiest crust --> I am SO blessed.