Idle and Blessed

I have actually kind of enjoyed having such limited internet access lately. It forces me to focus on where I am. (But unfortunately, the lack of pictures doesn't help YOU focus on where I am...sorry! :) ) Thanks to those of you who are taking the time to comment! I appreciate the connection to the outside world. Sheesh, I appreciate any connection at this stage of the game. But I'm communicating more than ever before with the people here, and although that's still not as much as I would like, it's good. Nadya, Sasha, Tanya, and Slavik are amazing for putting the time and effort into talking to me. And because of it I really feel like I finally have deeper friendships here... (So, Family Camp Team, when you see those people next week, please give them a high five or a "best communicators to the poor American girl" award.) This week has been like one of those dreams where you are trying to run but your feet aren't moving. Like running through mud, I would im...

I'll be home two weeks from now. I'm still partly longing for home and partly longing to stay here...although the exact ratio between the two varies minute by minute. I'm just really lonely. Being an infant language wise and a nineteen year old in every other respect is strange. I want to have deep conversations, I want to connect deeply, but all I can do is speak in phrases like "I want to sleep," "Jesus is my Savior," "Please give me more coffee," etc. Maybe this is what being an adult stuck in a toddler's body is like. Oh wait, that doesn't happen. There might be a reason for that. So lately, on the days when Nadya is home and not working, I just corner her and tell her I want to talk. We clean the house, make food, wash clothes, whatever. But we talk. It helps a little bit. She is very encouraging, always telling me how well I'm doing. But it's hard to be patient with myself. I feel like a month and a half should be plenty o...

It seems like 2 years since I last posted! I don't even remember what day that was. Hmm. But I am currently back at Sasha, Nadya, Ruvim, and Vitalik's. For those of you who know them, you know how blessed I am to have such a sweet host family. I know I say that about all of my families, but it's so true. I wish I could stay with all of them at the same time, actually. Another reason to long for heaven! But since they have a very poor internet connection, I'll be updating my blog and reading emails a little less than when I was with Din and Inna, who are now in Teberda at the teen camp. They left me a key, though, so I can come here and feet Malish (the crazy cat), blog, etc. I have lots of homes here. :) Ok, so I moved on Saturday. Then on Sunday after church I went with Dinis to Min Vody to pick up...AMERICANS!!! I had never met them before, but I was still really excited. They are from a church in Georgia who has been sending teams for teen camps about as long as Fell...

Hello all. I'd like to start by thanking Mom, Kent, and Cory for the funniest comments on a blog post to date. I agree that I should stash a goat somewhere at Belmont. It seems very environmentally friendly to drink milk from my own goat. So let's see...Thursday morning Dinislam was like "Hey, why don't we take you to Kislovodsk today." Of course, I had planned on going Friday, but I'm no longer surprised by the changes in my plans. :) So I packed up and we drove the 2 hours from Karachaevsk to Kislovodsk. There Din handed me over to Arkady, a sweet friend of ours I met at camp in 2006. We went and rented me a one room appartment, where I journaled and prayed and read my Bible most of the day. It was so fun to be independent for a day. I made my own food on the tiny stove, watched some Russian news on the tv, and just spent time communing with the Lord. It was a breath of fresh air. That night Arkady, his wife Tonya, his daughter Erina, and I spent a couple ho...

So today, bright and early, we set out on the great adventure of STAVROPOL. Too bad all I saw of the city was the one big store we went to. Like I said, God's working on that whole "I like to make plans and envision them in my head and stick to them" thing in me. But regardless of my slight disappointment at not experiencing the city, it was a good day. Dinislam, Inna, and I spent about 5 hours shopping in this ginormous store called "Metro." It's kind of like Walmart plus Sam's Club minus a lot of American things. But peanut butter? Yes. Russian chocolate to bring home for the fam? Yes. A movie in Russian so I can keep hearing it when I get home? Yes. Plus we got most of the food for the Teen Camp next week, which is A LOT. I'm sure gas mileage was significantly lower on the way home. There was probably 40 pounds of food back there... Oh, and a few things I just had to take pictures of. This one is for Mom: Yep, it says House. Actually, "Doctor...

Yesterday, on my birthday, we went to a restaurant for dinner. We ate here - a little cabin thing on the Kuban river. Beautiful. And we took a bunch of pictures. This is Inna and her daughter Lianna, who turns 6 this month. So blessed to spend my birthday with these sweet people. This picture is really dark, but if you look closely you can see my JELLO CAKE with candles flopping everywhere, and Robert who thinks it belongs to him... My card from Venera. It says something like "Today is your birthday...I hope you get everything you dream of...etc." Something like that. Ok, this one is off topic but I want to show you anyway. This is what we do in Sunday School -- go outside and try to keep them busy. This week was crazier than most because there were like 35 kids under 12. There's a shortage of teachers, so we've been combining the age groups. I think they could use some structure, but until then, we just play. Here is what the Lord has been encouraging me with the pas...

If you catch Dinislam when the kids are asleep and Inna has recently made him some food, you will have the privilage of hearing his heart on everything from the Russian army to his dreams for the future --- all without needing to say more than two words. (Have I mentioned he's a talker?) Last night was one such occasion. He has such a cool life story, which I can't even go into in a blog post, so you'll just have to sit down and talk to him someday. But currently, he told me, his life involves working from 8 to 6, coming home, working on remodeling the appartment, and going to sleep around 12. Work, work, work. When he was telling me this, something clicked in my head. The other day Inna told me "When you are here, and during the camp weeks, Dinislam doesn't work. It is good." All this family time I've been a part of the past two weeks is not their normal. Inna's normal is going whole weeks without spending time with her husband. I'm starting to re...