Teaching Adventures

Date night…
Every Tuesday Alla, our babysitter, comes over and we head to our Russian tutor.
Every Friday, she comes again, but this time it is date night.

Last night we went downtown and walked around, people watching. We got on a retro metro (no really, it was a fixed up old metro car – but you’ve got to love my rhyme!) car and rode downtown. We walked past the Gucci store, Louis Vitton and a few other ritzy flipzy types. We strolled through a traditional market and then into the tsum department store (apparently there is one in every post-soviet country). We laughed at how hard it is to read Russian cursive … we’ve got the printing, that’s a piece of cake compared to the handwriting – you should see this stuff (click on pics for a better taste). We found this really cool bakery (still can’t find cinnamon buns though). Did some jeans shopping for Ang – happy birthday present!

Life just changes when the kids come around. Family time is really great .. but it sure is wonderful to hang out with my best friend and have lots of fun with her! So Alla comes every Friday so we can have date night … do you have any suggestions for us?

** This pic of Russian handwriting says “deeshish” which means breathe – thanks to Christine Pierquet for the photo.

One of the things we want this blog to do is to help you feel closer to us, so here is a little glimpse into my day:

7.30am I woke up, went and got Jay and kept him quiet so that Ang could get a little more sleep.
8am Breakfast time with the family, yummy cereal!
8:45am I walk to the boat where we work. After an hour of worship focusing on the character of God, I then evaluated the teaching of my coworker as he taught through the book of 2 Thessalonians.
1:35pm Now my tummy is growling- time for lunch!
2:10pm My friend asks me to pose for some pictures – she is teaching later this week and needed a ‘poster boy’ for some illustrations (check out the pictures section).
2:20pm I walk home and Angela gives me a quick hug before she leaves for a staff meeting at the boat. I put Jay down for his nap, put Cassie down for hers and tidy up.
2:40pm The doorbell rings and one of our students arrives for personal discussion.
4:30pm Just as he is leaving, Angela gets home and the kids wake up. Angela makes a yummy dinner for us and decides that there is lots so we should invite some friends over.
5:30pm Two of our coworkers come over for dinner and we have fun time together. We have been blessed with great friends here.
8:00pm Time to put the kids to bed. I take care of Jay while Ang reads Cassie some new Dora books she got in the mail and puts her to sleep. After Ang feeds Jay he is off to bed too (oops, no bath tonight).
9:05pm While the kids sleep it is a great time to get work done. I mark some of the student’s homework and post this blog entry.
Bedtime: soon!

What was your day like today? Leave a comment :)

Anyway, you know we’re learning Russian language, right? Well, one of the best techniques for memorizing something is to make it unique, special, so it stands out. And we can be pretty creative. So we decided to share with you one of our more recent creations. We hope you like it.

The Russian word for fish is рыбa (pronounced “ree-ba”). That happens to sound like one of our friends favourite singer’s – Reba. How much more unique and special could you get than if little old Reba turned up on a fish.

Yup, we won’t be forgetting Riba the fish anytime soon, that’s for sure. Neither will you I don’t imagine.

I try to speak to my kids in french. Then I leave the apartment and run into our local Babushka (Grandma). She speaks Russian and Spanish, so with my little bit of Spanish we try to communicate. Then I head over to the boat where we work. English is the language we use to teach in. Finally, if it is Tuesday we go over to our Russian teacher’s house. For two hours we try to learn Russian (and I am reminded how good Ben’s memory is!) and when we can’t understand we speak French to our teacher since it is her second language. Whew! I can’t believe I can even think straight with all of these languages swirling around in my head. Pray for us!

Speaking of prayer requests, please pray for the twin little nephews that are in my sister-in-law’s tummy. One is a little small and it is causing some concern, we need him to keep growing good and healthy. Please join your prayers with ours.

If we haven’t met you, we are a family of four who love Jesus and want to change the world (yeah, the youngest two are a part of this – even if they don’t really realize it yet!). We live and work in Ukraine but no matter where we travel or hang our coats, Winnipeg is where our family calls home. We love to teach people how to study the Word of God for themselves, and we do that through an organisation called YWAM, youth with a mission.

Baseball is a great game! I started playing when I was 8 with a great group of girls and didn’t stop until I was 20. When you get up to bat you are trying to do one thing, get the ball to hit the sweet spot. If the ball hits the bat at just the right place, it will be a great hit, maybe even a home run!
Last weekend as we celebrated thanksgiving I realized that I have hit that sweet spot in life. I have discovered what I love to do and I can do that to help others. I think that really is the sweet spot. Jesus said, ‘Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.’ To use another analogy:
“Sometime in your life, hope that you might see one starved man, the look on his face when the bread finally arrives. Hope that you might have baked it or bought or even kneaded it yourself. For that look on his face, for your meeting his eyes across a piece of bread, you might be willing to lose a lot, or suffer a lot, or die a little, even.” ~Daniel Berrigan Not that life is always perfect. Kneading dough isn’t always easy. But there is nothing quite like realizing your life has made a difference in someone else’s. It really is the sweet spot.