Summer Wedding

Kellan, Ella, and I were very blessed to be able to travel home in June to attend Matthew and Jessica's wedding. For those of you who don't know them, Matthew is my nephew! It was a great time to see lots of family and friends! The wedding was beautiful and the kids and I enjoyed being there.

Ella's favorite part of the wedding was dressing up, getting her hair fixed, buying "clompy" shoes with little heels, and dancing!

Patiently waiting before the wedding with Grandma!

Kellan and Ella with another nephew - Michael!

My family after the wedding!

Kellan and Ella attempting to dance!

Family pictures before the wedding! I liked this one!

Picture with my niece - Ann!

Dancing with the groom after the wedding!

The kids were able to stay in America when I came back to Moscow. We thank all of our family and friends who helped them have a GREAT summer there doing lots of different things! It was a summer they will not soon forget!

End of Year English Club Party

Our first baseball/kickball event went so well at the beginning of May that our English Club students decided that they wanted to do it again for the End of Year Party. We met in a different park and had another great day playing baseball and kickball, talking and getting to know each other better, and of course - eating!

Kellan had to participate in the baseball part!

Of course, Ella did too!

Explaining the rules of the game!

Soaking up the sun!

Lots of snacks to share!

Taking a break in the heat! We are not used to heat in May! It drains us!

Enjoying each other's fellowship and relaxing!

Learning to "Country" dance to "Cotton-Eyed Joe."

Dancing!

We decided to give prizes for different catergories to students who participated in our English Club! The prizes were - VIP seats at church, dinner at our home, a trip to the movies with another American, Derrick, and an outing to Starbucks! This ended up being a wonderful thing for building relationships with the students. A middle-aged atheist man actually made use of his VIP seat in church one Sunday and sat on the front row of our church service. We had a great dinner in our home and our pastor was able to share at length with the other students there. The movie and Starbuck's outings were also a hit! Our English Club just started a new year 2 weeks ago. Continue praying for this ministry. This is a GREAT way for us to meet many non-believers in Moscow who are wanting to improve their English skills!

Ella and Derrick - An American college student who studied Russian here for a semester. We miss him terribly! He is now back home in America!

Kellan's 5th Grade Promotion

Mr. Hays welcoming everyone to 5th Grade Promotion!

I can't believe Kellan started 6th grade last week!

Kellan listening to Mr. Hays' well wishes for every student.

5th graders!

Class Picture. Kellan is peeking over everyone in the back!

Proud Mom!

I cannot come up with words that describe what a wonderful teacher Kellan had in 5th grade. Mr. Hays was very influential in Kellan's life academically, but more imporantly he was a HUGE influence spiritually. We will forever be grateful to Mr. Hays for all of the time and energy he put into his 5th grade class this year.

Ella's Kindergarten Graduation - May 2011

Ella before her graduation from Kindergarten!

In her cap and gown!

Cute Cake!

We love Mrs. Afanasenko!

All of the Kindergarteners!

The proud brother!

Ready to dig in!

Kindergarten students - Mrs. Afanasenko - K Teacher

Mrs. Graham - Elementary Principal

Silly Faces!

Ella had a GREAT year in Kindergarten at Hinkson. We praise the Lord for her teacher, her classmates, and all the friends she made during her first year there. We are looking forward to a great year this year in First Grade again with Mrs. Afanasenko! Continue praying for Ella as she grows and matures here in Moscow!

Ladies Learning to Cook

Back in May, Deana started a group for ladies who were interested in learning American recipes. For those of you who know us well, know that this is definitely of the Lord. In America, we never cooked or ate at home, but Deana has learned how to cook here in Moscow and is now using those skills to create opportunities to share the Gospel. She started this group for ladies from the English Club. We decided that it would be beneficial to open this group up to ladies from our church as well so that they could come and meet these English Club ladies, get to know them, build relationships with them, and inivite them to church. These are pictures from the first meeting back in May. Continue praying for Deana as she leads this group once a month. Im sure there will be more pictures to come from this group in the future!

Ella's Class Trip to the Zoo - And 1st grade!