Our apartment and our time here

This past week, we moved into an apartment where we will be spending the rest of our time here. It belongs to our big family, and is made available to ‘people like us’ when we are in Germany. It has to be the nicest place I have ever lived in. It is probably twice as big as our apartment in Russia! It is such a blessing to us, as it is fully furnished, complete with kitchen utensils and toys for the girls! The apartment is just a good walk away from David’s parents’ place, and a hop and a skip away from a nearby grocery store. We are so humbled to be so generously provided for in this way.

What are we doing while in Germany, besides visiting with family and friends and waiting for our little one to come? It is our desire to use this time to the fullest that we can. The people of T-land practice not only animism, but also Buddhism. David and I realized that we really do not know that much about Buddhism, so we decided to take this time to learn all we can about it. We have found several good books on the subject, and while waiting at Dr.’s offices (and at home too :D), we have been spending time reading about it. I must say, I don’t really enjoy reading about Buddhism, but already I’ve been learning things about it that help me better understand the way the people of T-land act and think. We’ve also brought with us some good language learning material for the Tuvan language, as well as some recordings of people speaking. We are hoping to be able to continue learning it while we are here. Also, the apartment where we presently live is attached to a building that our big family here is renovating to hold Sunday morning meetings. David is planning on helping with the building project as much as he can.

Unfortunately, we don't have a Christmas tree yet... but hopefully this week we will be able to get one. The other day, the girls and I got ready for the tree by making some salt dough Christmas ornaments. We made stars and little bears. We'll have to include a picture of our tree whenever we get one and it is all decorated. :D