Days 322 - 328

 

Day 328  Really enjoying going through The Excellent Wife

   

Day 327 Not too sure what this lady was doing at the park with the

horse, but she lit up several times.

   

Day 326  Naynay being himself............silly!

 

Day 325  The boys playing with the little snow on the ground.

   

Day 324  Yay- the snow is here.  Let's see if it will last.

  

Day 323  Our science experiment.  

 

Day 322  Multi-tasking!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Yes, I do realize that I am 2 days late but we celebrated Thanksgiving tonight with our family and some friends.  We really enjoyed our evening and even though it was a lot of work to get the whole meal ready...........it was really so much fun.  The menu for dinner was as follows:
Turkey  (my second time making one, our first time in Russia)
Green Bean Casserole (recipe from The Pioneer Woman )
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy (recipe from my friend Heather)
Corn
Stuffing (recipe once again from The Pioneer Woman )
Dinner Rolls (recipe from The Mother Huddle )
Broccoli Salad (this is Jon and Zhenya's favorite)

For dessert:
Pumpkin Cream Pie (recipe once again from The Pioneer Woman )
Chocolate Peanut Clusters (recipe from my friend Heather again)
Cheesecake Balls (recipe from Econobusters)

 

These were yummy and super easy to make!

 

Jon likes raisins in his stuffing so he got his own!

  

Thankfully the turkey came out super moist!  It's been two

years since we've had turkey so it tasted so good.

 

And this is the turkey that our friends brought!!!

 

Everyone enjoying the meal.

 

Then we worked off the meal with some Wii action.

So last but not least I am so thankful for my beautiful family.  

The Lord has blessed me with a great husband and two

beautiful and healthy boys.  And I am also grateful for the 

friends we've made here in Russia.  Such a blessing to be

surrounded by like-minded believers.

Countdown To Thanksgiving Day 1

Yesterday and today have been all about preparation.  I'm exhausted but it's a good kind of exhausted.  Lots of cleaning, cooking, and baking!  Plus today I had the opportunity to teach at our wives' group.  It has been a long day but we are looking forward to a nice big dinner and sharing about what Thanksgiving means to us to our Russian and Ukranian friends tomorrow evening!

 

Tonight we also put up our Christmas tree!  It has become a tradition that I make a few snacks to go along and we also listen to Christmas music.  On the left we have pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, in the middle we have peanut brittle, and on the right we have chocolate peanut clusters.  I think Jojo ate more than half of the peanut brittle, while Nathan consumed most of the chocolate. 

 

 

The bread is drying for the homemade stuffing.

 

And ta-da Mr. Tom the Turkey is defrosting in the refrigerator.  He isn't quite as big as the turkeys in the States but he will have to do the job.  

Today I am so thankful for our wives' group.  These women are the wives of the men who are being trained to be pastors.  They are a real neat group of faithful ladies who desire to grow in their walk with God.  It is such a blessing to be a part of this special group of ladies.  It is also exciting to see God working in their lives.

Countdown To Thanksgiving Day 2

Happy Thanksgiving America!  We will celebrate Saturday with our family and some friends.  Today I worked on a little craft that I've been wanting to do for a while now.  I got the tutorial from Heart Of The Matter.  They are corner bookmarks and I thought I'd make a few for the girls in my small group.  My small group meets on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month so that means every year it lands on Thanksgiving but I don't cancel simply because for us here in Russia it is just another day.  Jon taught all day today and by the time he gets home he will be pretty tired!  So, instead I'll let my girls know how thankful I am for them and give them a bookmark!

 

Even though I already said it, I am so thankful for the young ladies in my small group!  We are going through the Excellent Wife and we are all enjoying it immensely.  I'm so grateful that Jon also encourages me to continue ministering this way because I really do love it and it means so much to have his support!

Countdown To Thanksgiving Day 3

Today Josiah and I finished our unit study on Thanksgiving.  Throughout the month of November I also had him do some sheets where he drew a  picture of what he was thankful for and had to copy a verse.  He doesn't know yet but I'm giving him Thursday and Friday off!  We both need a break!  I really need to get some baking and cooking done also!

 

We made a little book of all the material we used for our unit study.

 

Jojo is thankful for his grammas and his tias (aunts-my sisters).

His grandma Maria is even wearing her glasses and after he

drew his gramma's pictures he said "my grandmas are crazy!"

He also chose to give his tias purple hair.

 

He also gave thanks for his Uncle Jay, Aunt Cori, Kate, 

Luke, and their new puppy Lucy.

On the right he is giving thanks for Zhenya and Christina. 

He drew Christina with a big belly since she is pregnant!

Some of the other things that he was thankful for: "famle", "frns",and cousins.  He never once mentioned being thankful for materialistic things but I'm sure if he would have thought about it Legos would have been his top choice!  It was a fun study for us and we finished our study by watching a short clip of Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving on you tube!

And I'm thankful for the opportunity I get to homeschool!  It has been quite a learning process for me.  I have been stretched in more ways than I ever imagined but truth be told I am enjoying it!  Plus I am learning new things every single day!!!

Countdown To Thanksgiving Day 4

Today I made some paper pumpkins to get ready for the table setting for our Saturday evening dinner.  I found the idea over a month ago but I didn't bookmark the blog site.  So, I searched the internet to see if I could find it and this site was the closest I could come to the idea I saw. I did the best I could with what I remembered!

 

The pumpkins would have looked better if I had some fall double sided paper.

Today I'm thankful for God's Word and for the Holy Spirit who illuminates so many truths from Scripture so that I am able to battle the sins I struggle with in my life every day!!!!

Countdown to Thanksgiving Day 5

This is my attempt to be a creative baker.  I got the idea from the Family Fun website.  Of course we can't find real marshmallows here and no fudge stripe cookies which means you just got go with what you have.  Instead of doing just the cookies, I decided to bake some cupcakes and put the "pilgrim hats" on top.

And today I'm thankful for our supporters that allow us to live here and to be able to minister without hindrance.  I know that so many of them sacrifice on our behalf and we praise God for all of them.

Countdown To Thanksgiving Day 6

This evening we had our team Thanksgiving dinner.  We had all the fixings except for the turkey.  Chicken served as a great substitute.  It is always so fun to get together with our team.  The Klassens hosted even though they're Canadian and Heather did a great job to make everything so festive for everyone.  Here are some pictures from the evening.

 

And today I am so thankful for our teammates, especially for these above ladies.  I can't imagine living here without their friendship.  Not to mention how much fun we have when we get together.

Countdown To Thanksgiving - Day 7

As you well know Russians obviously don't celebrate Thanksgiving.  So, as you can imagine it can be a little difficult to get into the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday.  This year though since Josiah is older I am trying to help him realize the importance of this special day and making an attempt to celebrate the best we can.  Our big Thanksgiving celebration will culminate a week from today.  I am going to have a big Thanksgiving dinner and have some of our Russian friends over for a traditional American Thanksgiving meal.

I begin our countdown though with a fall wreath the boys made for Thanksgiving.  The first step to making this wreath was to head into the forest and collect acorn tops.  Of course the boys did otherwise while I worked.

 

We then painted the inside of the acorn tops.

 

Then I glued the inside so that there would be a little bit of a shine to the paint.

 

Before we glued the acorns on, we made a paper plate wreath with leaves glued on.  

 

And here's the finished product!  A Thanksgiving wreath.

 

It wouldn't be a Thanksgiving countdown if I didn't express the things which I am thankful for.  

This year our family is extremely grateful that we received our 3 year temporary residency.  I

don't think I can truly express how thankful we are.  The best part about it is looking back on 

the whole process and seeing how God grew us as we waited upon His answer!

Days 315 -321

 

Day 321 - Jojo wanted some blue Kool-Aid

  

Day 320 Earlier this year when we had a womens' conference at our church,

a lady hand crocheted these little hearts as a reminder of our day.  

 

Day 319  A few weeks ago there was a local election..........I think for mayor. 

Anyway, this man's campaign was for a cleaner city and he put these trash

cans throughout the city.  They say "clean city" on them.  The funny thing is

that a lot of these trash cans were put in areas where workers don't go around

collecting the trash so you can imagine what a mess some areas are.

 

Day 318  I liked the way the sun was hitting the building lit up in the back.

 

Day 317  Nothing but gray skies lately.

 

Day 316  Making some pumpkin puree.  I made a yummy pumpkin chocolate

chip bundt cake this night.  I did plan on taking some pictures but by the 

end of the night our guests and my family pretty much ate the whole thing.

 

Day 315  Rainy day.  We were walking back to the car after picking up our tax id numbers. 

Don't ask why we have to do this because I have no clue!!!!

Caramel Apples

I have been wanting to make caramel apples for the longest time.  So, the other day when I had my small group I thought I'd make some for them.  It was a lot of fun making them and even though they don't look so pretty they tasted real good.  They are also a bit tricky to eat but that's the whole fun of it!!!

 

I had to add a little bit of chocolate!