AUGUST UPDATE

I can't believe that summer is over! Time has just flown by. I want to begin by thanking all of our family and friends who helped my kids have a very special summer in America! They are spoiled, but it was well worth it for them. They made lasting memories with all of you! Also, thanks to everyone who was so kind to me during my short time there! It was great to see so many faces, even if it was only for a few minutes! We are blessed to have such caring and supporting family, friends, and prayer partners! We love all of you.

I just wanted to ask you to please pray for Kellan and Ella this week as they start school. It is hard to believe that Kellan will be starting 5th grade and Ella will be going to Kindergarten! Pray that they both have GREAT years at school and learn lots of new things! They are both looking forward to it. Kellan, however, is already whining over homework!

Some of the pictures you see above are of the Enlgish Camp that I worked at this summer. God blessed that in a mighty way and we are continuing to try to reach out to the campers and build relationships with them. The other pictures are of a new ministry I am trying to learn about sponsored by one of the Russian Baptist Churches in Northern Moscow. They have a ministry to those who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. They have 16 centers where people are allowed to go for help. There they study the Bible 7 hours every day. Just over 40% of those repent during this program and many stay in the church and become leaders in various ways. Please pray for this ministry. The pictures are of 1 of the 2 adaptation centers where participants can choose to go for a few more months to live and work and continue studying the Bible. They are asking for prayers that God would provide them with the money needed to finish a needed building and buy a tractor so that they can farm the land and support all of the centers with the food grown there. I will try to share more about this ministry later. Just begin praying for them!

Baptism in the Moscow River

Today we were able to watch 27 Russians be baptized in the Moscow River. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful time there! Wanted to share a few pictures from that as well. 2 people from our church were also baptized! It was awesome seeing and hearing the emotion as they came out of the river after their turn. Praise the Lord for these people baptized today! The picture of the group is the people from our church who attended. The 2 holding flowers were the ones who were baptized!

FRIENDS ARE HERE!

Our friends arrived from North Carolina yesterday! We are excited to have them with us until July 5th. When they return to America, our kids will be going with them to visit with family until August! Just wanted to share a few pictures from today!

LONG OVERDUE UPDATE

I am so sorry that this has not been updated in almost 3 months. Life has been crazy! Lots of things have happened since we last updated here.

1) Deana spent 3 weeks in America receiving her visa to be able to live in Russia. I was with the kids during this time in Moscow.

2) Deana returned home on a Monday and we moved to a new apartment on Friday of the same week.

3) Deana has had one metal pin removed from her leg in a minor surgery about 2 weeks after we moved to this apartment.

4) Kellan has finished 4th grade and made the A average honor roll at his school.

5) Ella is spending her last 2 days with her nanny, Olga this coming week.

We appreciate your continued prayers and support! You mean so much to us! Please pray for the following requests:

1) Jeremy - Language exam on Wednesday and Thursday of this week! This is a big deal and I really need to pass this test. However, I don't feel like I will pass all of it at this time. I will do my best and we will see what happens. Would appreciate your prayers for this.

2) Deana - Continue praying for her language acquisition. She continues to study everyday for 3 hours and is beginning to get out and use her language skills more and more.

3) Kellan - Kellan LOVES playing outside at our new apartment. He goes out and plays basketball or skateboards with the Russian kids out there. Most of these kids are older, but have been very nice to him. (With the exception of one) We praise the Lord that he is comfortable going out there and playing with them. Pray for him to pick up the language quickly.

4) Ella - continues to love life everyday. She is trying to discover behavior boundaries again right now and see how far she can push the limit. She is always happy and always smiling. We praise God for that.

5) Please pray for us as we travel to a conference next Saturday-Thursday where all of the missionaries serving throughout Russia will be together.

6) Pray for our friends, Joy and Heather, who will be coming to see us for almost 3 weeks the day after our conference ends.

7) Pray for the English Club that our church sponsors in July. The dates are July 6-16. Usually they have over 200 campers come to learn English. Many of them are unbelievers and are exposed to the gospel during this time.

8) Continue praying for Greesha and Slava - I am not able to see them much now that we have moved. Pray that I will be committed to go and see them on occasion and keep this witnessing relationship open.

9) Pray for our kids to have a great trip to America from July 5- August 14th. They will be spending this time with grandparents, family, and friends there. Pray for safe travel as Joy and Heather take them back to America in July.

THANKS THANKS THANKS! I will try to update again soon.

PICTURES:

1) Kellan playing basketball. He is the star of the team!

2) Ella's new favorite thing is taking a bubble bath!

3-7) Our winter-wonderland! I don't think that car is traveling soon!

8) 3 students from our English Club

9) Deana and her language teacher, Elvira!

It has been a BUSY, but GREAT week! Deana continues to improve every day. The kids are doing well! We have had LOTS of snow this week. I just took the kids out for about 30 minutes and in some places where people have not walked in our playground the snow is way above my knee! Ella has a hard time walking in it because some of it was over her hip. Kellan fell backwards to make a snow angel and went completely under! WE'RE READY FOR SUMMER!

On Wednesday, we had a Valentine's Party at our English Club. There were several unbelievers there and we talked alot about God's love for us! I gave a short devotion on God's love at the end and invited the students to a grammar group that was started this morning. After the grammar lesson this morning was church and I gave a short testimony today. We tried to coordinate all of this to attract some of the unbelievers to church. We had 3 unbelievers at the grammar group this morning, but only 1 chose to stay for worship. He listened very attentively and was very open. I saw some of the young people speaking with him afterwards. Please pray for him. His name is Sasha.

On Thursday I was invited by an old friend of mine to The Academy of Budget and Treasury of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. Wouldn't you hate to have to write that name alot! I thought I was going to listen to about 12 students present their power point projects on business in Russia. I told Deana when I left home I thought I would be home about 6. Well, I returned home about 11! When I arrived at the Academy (15 minutes late), Larissa led me into what I thought was her classroom, but when we rounded the corner, it was the shool's auditorium and it had about 150 students in it. The director of the business department was on the stage and when she saw me she said, "And now our American judge has arrived!" They all began applauding and I quickly figured out it was for me! I had no idea I was there to be on a panel of judges to rate the students on 10 different areas of their presentations. I listened to 5-7 minute presentations from 3:25-8:25 with no break! It was definitely an interesting experience. After the awards were given, I was invited to go back for tea with all of the judges and professors. Hopefully, I made some good contacts.

On Friday night we prepared for Mark and Marina's wedding and on Saturday, the wedding lasted all day. Thankfully, Deana was able to go and the kids went and had a good time as well. Congratulations Mark and Marina!!

THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS, SUPPORT, MAIL, EMAIL, AND ENCOURAGEMENT! YOU ARE ALL A BLESSING!

Last Monday we had a fantastic visit with our friends from Rzhev. They came to Moscow (which is normally a 3 to 4 hour drive) to visit with and encourage Deana! They have 3 children and we had a GREAT time being able to see them for about 3 hours here. Our pastor's wife cooked us dinner and we were able to fellowship around the table as well. There are a few pictures above from their visit with us.

I am continuing with language at the University. The first couple of weeks after our holiday break were great because there were only 3 or 4 of us in the group. This past week we had all of our students back and it was a little frustrating because 2 of them slow our group way down. I am beginning to understand more and more, but it is still very difficult to speak correctly! I may never! I had to take a break from the English Club and from music rehearsal, but hopefully I will return to both of those this week. I will be teaching at the English Club on Wednesday because the other teacher called and is sick.

Deana continues to go to therapy 3 days a week. She started her language lessons back last week on Tuesday and Thursday. Her teacher comes to our apartment to teach now. She is beginning to walk around the apartment without crutches and is doing a little better every day.

The kids are great as usual. Kellan had a class party last Friday night and had a great time sledding and playing games with his class. He has a great teacher and does well in schoo, just HATES homework! Ella continues to love being with Olga. She is beginning to work on writing numbers and letters in English.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for Greesha. He told me that his mind and spirit are much more calm now. I was able to tell him that I had asked LoTS of people to pray for him and that many of you responded and said that you were. He grinned very big and asked me to say, "Thanks!"

Our church family is helping us out so much right now. On Monday's and Thursday's 2 ladies are coming to cook and clean for us. I am learning how to shop for Russian products because they give me lists to shop for before they come here to cook. They have been a BIG blessing to us.

Thanks for your continued support and prayers! You are a blessing as well. There have been many emails, facebook messages, regular mail, and skype calls. Thanks!