Idle and Blessed

Thanks for the comments on my last couple of posts, friends! I love reading them. It's like a tiny Christmas every time. :) I have little to say today. But it's still nice to post something, because I have few opportunities to express myself otherwise. Don't get me wrong - with a dictionary and a cup of tea, I can say pretty much anything if someone is patient enough to listen. But sometimes I just need to say full English sentences. Last night we skyped with America again, and by America I mean Kent, Larry, and Slavik. It's nice to feel like things are falling into place for camp, and like I'm part of making that happen. I can tell God created me to act as part of a team, part of the body of Christ, working for his glory. It's good stuff. Today was Lianna's birthday party, which Inna put together beautifully. Picture 15 kids running through a small apartment with sugar highs. But still, we dressed up as princesses and brides and ate ice cream and fruit. I w...

It's a hot day today in Karachaevsk. I feel like taking a long nap and finding someone to talk to in English. Today I saw a rich man's house being built near the center of town. Din has been doing some construction work there. The Italian tile in one of his three bathrooms cost more than six month's food for a family here. The indoor swimming pool he's putting in upstairs will be incredible, as will the big fireplace in the living room that has floor-to-ceiling windows. I'm tired today, so as we walked around the house I couldn't form any sentences. My Russian is the first thing to go when I'm tired. But the voice in my head was loud, wondering why a person could need something like that in a city like this. Down the street children play in the street with no shoes. 5 minutes down the road, old widowed women live alone surviving on the food they grow in their gardens. I wonder if that rich man cares much. I wonder if I'm any different. I constantly fight...

I'm dreaming in Russian again. Doesn't take long to get my mind back in Russian mode, although it makes for a bad night's sleep because my Russian dreams are always restless. I slept pretty well last night though -- almost 11 hours. Hard to believe I'm still tired after that, huh? But it's getting better. I'll be adjusted soon. Definitely by the time the tired Americans get here :) I forgot what I wrote in my last post...did I already tell you about going to visit the English tutor and her family? That was such a crazy afternoon, because even though getting to speak English is refreshing, it wore me out to endure the hours of questions. She was so sweet, of course, but like many people here, she was very amused by me and my American life. Her father in law, too. He asked me everything about my church, about religion, about what I learn in school, about world history. Not sure if he was quizzing me on the history part, or just trying to get an American perspectiv...

Hey all! I don't know how long I'll have to type, since I'm on Slavik's computer and he's going to skype with Kent and Larry in a few minutes. But I'll write a few things. I got here safe and sound on Monday, stayed up semi-late talking to Nadya/Sasha/Tanya/Dinislam/Inna (which didn't matter at that point, since I had been awake for 30 hours -- I'm telling you, not ONE WINK of sleep on the whole journey), and went to bed. Tuesday, yesterday, I rested a little with a very pregnant Nadya, then went to the women's meeting at church. That was slightly insane. I understood little, and the ladies are so very talkative and opinionated, and I was quite tired after that. When I got back home, we went to visit Misha and Galya, which was fun because Misha likes to try to speak English. Anyway, I was exhasted by bedtime. This morning Dinislam picked me up and we went to register my visa at the pochta - post office. I'm loving the small instances of grace the...

It seems like I've spent years of my life preparing for a Russia trip. I am always amazed at how much work it is, how much time it takes, and then by the time another year rolls around I've forgotten all of the work and only remember the faces of my family there. That's what Mom says having a kid is like. "Pain? What pain? Look at that face!" - every mother :) But I think I'll remember the 2011 debacle for a few years. I'm supposed to be in Moscow right now, you know. Boarding a plane for St. Petersburg. But I'm not; I'm in my room, suitcase zipped, ready to leave Nashville tomorrow morning. A two-day delay may not seem like a big deal, and it really isn't in the grand scheme of things, but it has been a huge emotional and mental shift to change plans so last minute. First, the airline cancelled my in-country flight and rebooked me for a day later, which forced me to plan an overnight stay in Moscow. Then I got word on Thursday afternoon (my or...

This week has been different. The girls moved out of the apartment yesterday - the apartment I've been living in a good chunk of the summer. Which is super weird, especially now that Anna has a ring on her finger and wedding planning has been taken to a completely new level. Bridesmaid dresses. Flowers. Colors. Ohandbytheway our lives are never going to be simple again. So I've been a Nashville wanderer the past four days, sleeping wherever I can find a friend's hospitality to allow me. Working every afternoon. I saw Anna and Luke the other day, just long enough to hear the proposal story and try on the sparkly rock to see how it looks on my left hand. I talked to Sarah on the phone a couple days ago, too, and finally got caught up on the last month or two of life. I cannot express how much I needed to talk to that girl. It's like life is normal again after that, at least for a few hours. Connecting with someone deeply, knowing someone deeply, is insanely rare. Aren...

For people who believe in heaven, we Christians sure don't talk about it much. I'm starting to wonder if we even care about heaven at all. Think about it. When was the last time you made a decision based on the reality that in an unknown number of years, the universe as we know it will be made into something new? I personally can't remember the last time I factored my beliefs about heaven into my daily life. Except maybe to comfort someone grieving death, we seem to think the afterlife isn't relevant to us now. At least, that's true for me. But in the past few months my convictions about heaven have shifted, because I've been thinking a lot about what exactly the Bible says about it. I don't get credit for this, because it's all Cory's doing -- he just had to go and actually read the Bible and actually preach on what it says. :) And what it says is not what we think it says. This idea of an actual place called heaven is a new one. It's not found ...