this might be bad timing.

I'm a little cranky.

I'm giving up chocolate for Lent.

And my car is dying, and I have this sinking feeling that I'm going to need to buy a new one.

open up the sky.

This is the video to a new worship song I heard for the first time in church today:

These lyrics have really been sticking with me today:

We won't be satisfied with anything ordinary
We won't be satisfied at all

Open up the sky, fall down like rain
We don't want blessings, we want you
Open up the sky, fall down like fire
We don't want anything but you

Lord, let this be true of me.

siberian fast food.

This is the design on the t-shirt I bought my brother in Russia:

the russia adventure, the conclusion.

After a long day of traveling, I made it back to the U.S. I've spent the last couple days hanging out with my family, and will be driving back home later tonight.

I'm still processing what this trip means for me - trying to understand what God has taught me and what he wants to do in me through this. In some ways, I'm eager to get back to my life - to be in my house and see my dogs and be at my church and with my friends. I miss those things.

But I don't want to get complacent, either. I don't want to just settle back into my routine, only to find that years down the road, the only thing these last two weeks have left me with is some fun memories.

I've been feeling God stirring my heart toward a change for several weeks now, maybe even months. And I think its time to do the hard, concentrated work of trying to figure out what he's called me to do.

In the midst of this, I am still going to get back to my regularly scheduled life, at least a little. I'll probably start blogging about home decorating projects and recipes again soon. Maybe this weekend, I'll take pictures of our new preschool and infant nursery rooms at church to show you. (I only wish I had bothered to take before pictures, because there's some seriously cool stuff that's been going on there).

the russia adventure, day 10 (moscow).

If I could sum up this day in two sentences, I would say first, that I did Moscow in a day. Ad second, that the weather today was much more life what I was expecting when I planned to go to Siberia in February.

We got up early this morning to fly to Moscow. Moscow is 2 hours behind Ekat, so it was still pretty early in the morning when we arrived. It was slightly warmer, only right at freezing, but that just meant that the snow falling was more of a rain/sleet combination. And everywhere it was just very wet and slushy. Luckily, it stopped snowing part way through the day - otherwise I don't think we would have made it through everything I wanted to do.

We were picked up at the airport and driven to the C&MA Russia guest flat (basically an apartment filled with lots of beds for when members of the C&MA team need to stay in Moscow). We got settled and the boys got a chance to run around a bit after being cooped up on the airplane. Diane, one of the C&MA missionaries in Moscow, met us, then we walked to the metro. This was actually the worst part of the day - the snow/rain was at its most biting, it was a bit of a hike, and both boys were clearly miserable. (I didn't really enjoy it, either).

Moscow has one of the longest and most elaborate subway systems in the world. Also, most of the stations are very beautiful, almost like museums. They have beautiful mosaics on the walls, or sculptures, or elaborately painted ceilings. Though to be honest, I had little time to notice such things. I was too busy trying to keep up with JB (the speed racer) or to reassure Iris that I was right there with them. She was paranoid about losing me, which I actually appreciated.

(Statue of Lenin just outside of Red Square.)

After getting off the metro, we walked the short distance to the Kremlin and Red Square, and passed a small communist rally on the way. I finally ran out of space on my camera's memory card and had to borrow JB and Iris's camera. It was gray and visibility was not great (as you can see in the photos). Had it been nicer, I might have wanted to walk closet to Saint Basil's Cathedral (if you have a picture at all in your head of a Moscow landmark, this is most likely it). We tried to get a picture of all of us, but Gavin was not having it (we got a much better one later).

(The entrance to Red Square - ignore the guy picking his nose in the foreground.)

(Carter, all bundled up in his stroller.)

(GUM Department Store, on one side of Red Square.)

(The Kremlin, on the the other side of Red Square.)

(Me in front of Saint Basil's Cathedral.)

We stopped at McDonalds, which was an absolute madhouse, then took the metro to Arbat. Arbat is a walking street and is lined with souvenir shops and street vendors, and has two Starbucks. The Starbucks was especially important as a bribe of hot chocolate was one of the only things that kept Gavin going.

I picked up a few more souvenirs, mostly for me - a Christmas ornament, a few tiny matroshka dolls for a special commemorative project I have in mind, and a beautiful watercolor of Moscow. Then we stopped at Starbucks, where I got a Moscow Starbucks mug and Gavin got a sugar fix. Then, outside, we got a much better photo.

(Me, JB, Iris, Gavin, and Carter).

By then it was getting pretty close to the boys' bedtime, at least Ekat time, and JB, Iris, and I were all pretty exhausted, since we were up early and had been up late the night before getting ready for the trip. So we headed back to the guest flat and ordered Papa John's pizza, then just relaxed until we went to bed.

the russia adventure, day 9.

Tonight was Ladies Club. Every two weeks, several ladies get together to do some sort of craft. Sometimes its a planned activity, and sometimes Iris just gets out beading and scrapbooking supplies, and lets them work on whatever they want to.

Since I love making jewelry, Iris asked me to pick up some supplies and bring them over with me. I also brought some examples of things I've done, and some beading magazines, for inspiration.


After crafting for about 2 hours, the ladies take a coffee break (and eat snacks) and discuss the latest chapter in whatever book they're currently reading. Right now, they're reading Captivating, by John and Stasi Eldredge, though this week they didn't discuss the book directly too much, so with Iris's translation, I was able to follow along.

the russia adventure, day 8.

Friday was even more low-key than Thursday. Iris and JB planned a family movie night (which basically means a movie and pizza sitting on the floor). And during the day, we mostly packed for Moscow, and JB and Iris made plans for their upcoming year-long home assignment.

So, since we didn't do anything particularly interesting, I thought I'd show you some pictures of JB and Iris's apartment. Some of these are photos of theirs, so if you've ever read Iris's blog, some of these might look familiar.

(The single bathroom is actually two separate rooms. One
has the toilet, the other has the bathtub/shower,
sink, and washing machine. The dryer is in their bedroom closet.)

(This actually isn't so bad, except the tiny space you see
between the sink and the edge of the washing machine
(in the bottom right hand corner) is all the room you
have to get dressed after your shower, in the steamed
up bathroom. I'm continually impressed by
how much stuff Iris can fit in a small space).

(This is the other side of the sink bathroom - not because
its big, but because its too tight to take just one photo).

The other things I wanted to show you, from their apartment, is some of the hand-crafted stuff that JB has built.

(For this,, he cut slats out of folding screens
and replaced them with photo frames.)

(This is a cabinet they use to store DVDs. Each photo
frame can be unlatched and lifted up to get to
the shelves underneath. Pretty neat idea, huh?)

the russia adventure, day 7.

Today was really low-key. Iris and I and the boys hung out at the apartment all day, while JB ran a few errands. I spent most of the afternoon importing and editing photos, and writing my blog posts for the days before.

Then, at night, JB and Iris hosted Action Group, which is kind of a cross between a small group and a planning meeting. Not many people were able to make it this week, so it was a pretty small group. JB translated for me, which actually worked pretty well - better than I expected.

the russia adventure, day 6.

Today was JB's day off, so he stayed home and read and relaxed and Iris and I did our own version of relaxing. Which basically means that we went out to eat and went shopping.

We started at a restaurant called Shtolle. Iris told me that Russians eat three courses for lunch - soup, salad, and a main course. You order all three at the same time, but you never know in what order they're going to arrive. There's also no guarantee that your food will arrive at the same time as everyone else's.

The main course are pie crusts, filled with meat or vegetables.

(My pie is on the right and was filled with chicken, onion, and
greens (dill and parsley). Iris's pie had mushrooms, onion, and boiled egg).

I also had a vinaigrette salad - beets, potatoes, and mushrooms, covered with vegetable oil. My soup was called solyanka - a tomato, broth-based soup with kielbasa and vegetables.

I also tried Iris's salad, which included eggplant. This means that I have well-surpassed goal number 22 for the year (eat three new fruits and vegetables). Since I've been here, I've had pomegranate, Chinese cabbage, persimmon, beets, eggplant, and tonight I'll have sweet potato fries.

After lunch, we stopped at the souvenir market outside the Church on the Blood, where these vendors set up booths to sell all kinds of things - matroshka dolls (basically nesting dolls - matroshka means little mother or mothering dolls), jewelry made with locally found stones like jade and onyx, birch boxes and other containers, zhel (blue and white pottery), and hahlahma (wooden bowls and other dishes that were painted and lacquered).

We also stopped at a bookstore called Dom Knigi, literally translated house of books, and looked through several Russian toys for kids.

Once we arrived back at JB and Iris's apartment and the boys woke up from their naps, we all bundled up and walked to the train park (called that because there are broken down trains there).

(Carter rode in a special sled that you can either push or pull,
just like a stroller, and JB pulled Gavin on another sled. I focused
on staying upright myself, since my boots still have no traction.)

(It was hilarious watching Carter try to walk in the
snow, because it was up nearly past his knees. And
that's just the most recent snowfall - there are several
more inches packed below our feet.)

(Gavin (he's the one in blue) loves the ice slide
and is absolutely fearless on it - we've decided he's
destined to be an Olympic medalist on the luge. The
cold weather actually doesn't keep people indoors, at all.)

For dinner, Iris made fajitas (Mexican food in Siberia - don't you just love that!). The only difference is that you can't find traditional tortillas, so we used lavash instead. These are like thinner versions of tortillas.

the russia adventure, day 5.

(Ekaterinburg, in Russian.)

So, this is not only my first international trip, but I've also managed to be in three different continents. Ekaterinburg is about 10 miles from the Europe/Asia border, so we drove there so I could take pictures standing in both places.

(Me and Gavin - Asia is on the left, and Europe is on the right.)

(Iris took this photo, since you know we don't see this much snow in Portsmouth.)

(In Russia, brides and grooms travel around the city and takes pictures at all
kinds of landmarks. The bridesmaids and groomsmen wear ribbons and sashes
to identify their position in the wedding party, and tie these and wine
bottles up near the border for good luck.)

(May Peace Prevail On Earth.)

(These are the distances to several key cities - Geneva, Berlin, London,
Copenhagen, Guangzhou, and Paris. The three on the bottom were added
more recently, all cities is Kyrgyzstan - Osh, Uzgen, and Bishkek.)

After the border, we drove to Mega, a local mall that includes Ikea. This is important because Gavin could play in the ball pit in Ikea while we were shopping. The mall is actually a lot like ours - clothing stores, sports stores, bath stores, stationary stores. There was even Claires and Hallmark stores. We met the Irvins (another family serving here in Ekat) for lunch at Ikea, then headed back to JB and Iris's apartments for the boys' naps.

After dinner, Alyona came over the show us how to make blini. These are a lot like pancakes, but dinner and less dough-y. Russians eat them for breakfast, wrap them around meat for dinner, or dip them in honey, sour cream, or sweetened condensed milk for dessert.

(Gavin loved helping to mix the batter.)

(Alyona doesn't speak a ton of English, but she tries. Also, in this
picture, you can see how small Iris's stove and oven are.)

(My blini wasn't quite as neat as Alyona's. Or Iris's, for that matter.)

(Me, Alyona, and Iris.)