We have internet again!

We are super excited because as of today, we are now the owners of our apartment! Yippee! Last fall when we returned here, our landlady doubled our rent (yikes!) and told us that they wanted to sell this place. She was giving us the first opportunity to buy it if we wanted it. At first, we thought that we'd need to find a different place to rent. Yet, after really thinking about it, we believe that he was leading us to buy this place. We are so thankful and greatly encouraged when we see how we have so graciously been provided for. To all those of you who have helped us in this way... THANK-YOU!!!

AND, because we are now the owners of the apartment, David was able to go today and set up a new internet contract. That means we now have internet access here in our apartment again! After almost 3 months without it, it feels like such a luxury!!! We are so thankful! So hopefully, I'll be able to update a lot more often now!

I'll just give you a brief update on last week, as I wasn't able to post our 'weekly post' yesterday.

It was another busy week, yet nothing too exciting happened. I was busy with language learning and taking care of things at home, while David was occupied with language learning and working on different documents and projects. Oh, speaking of David, he did have quite the painful ear infection last week. (It appears that his hat doesn’t cover his ears well enough, and as he spends lots of time walking around outside [we don’t have a car], well, his ear got exposed to too much cold.) After looking in our handy medical book, we determined what antibiotic would be best for him to take. He then went and got some at a pharmacy. (Nope, you don’t need a prescription here for antibiotics… well, for pretty much anything!) His ear is feeling a lot better now, of which we are very thankful for! Oh, and he’s considering getting a new hat! :D

Last week, I was able to have some really good talks with Snyezhana (my language helper). Her 8 month old baby boy has been in the hospital for the last month, sick with bronchitis and it has definitely been a very challenging month for her. She shared some with me about the different Buddhistic and Shamanistic rituals her and her husband were doing in order for their son to get well enough to leave the hospital. I listened and asked lots of questions, trying to learn as much as possible as to what she believes. I caught myself getting teary-eyed at times, as I was overwhelmed with how much these people have been deceived. It definitely motivates one to keep-on language learning! (By the way, last Tuesday evening, Snyezhana and her husband went to a big Buddhistic ceremony which was centered around health. The next morning, they received a phone call saying that their son was being released from the hospital. Of course, they were thrilled about their son’s improved health, yet also very excited as they believe the ceremony had ‘worked’.)

Our girls really enjoy birthdays. As February is a big birthday month for both of our families, we have been talking about birthdays a lot lately. Well, the other day, we had a birthday party for their stuffed elephant and tiger. The girls had so much fun making a birthday cake with sprinkles and birthday hats for their stuffed animals and themselves. It was such a fun birthday party!

Our little Aria is becoming quite the artist! She likes to get a pen, a piece of paper and draw away. Well, until recently, she has just drawn scribbles, circles, and lines. I was amazed the other day when I saw what she had drawn! And, as I’m quite proud of her, I thought I’d share her drawing here. She told me that she had drawn Mary, Joseph, and baby J, in a manger with hay. (Our girls still talk a lot about the Christmas story!)

Tooth #2 has finally cut through for Micah!

I’m not sure why, but Nina calls all purses, “buckets”. She will walk around the house saying, “mommy, where is my bucket?” It just sounds so funny to me! Well, the other day she handed Snyezhana her purse and said, “here’s your bucket!” Silly girl!

Oh, and we are so thankful because it seems like the really cold winter weather is over! It now hovers around -20, and it is just wonderful! The kids and I enjoy going outside for about 20-30 mintues a day, and it helps SO much as the girls can run off some energy! Yesterday afternoon, I took the camera outside with us. As David was home and could watch Micah inside, my hands were free to take some pictures of the girls and the outdoors. (I haven't had any outdoor pictures on here in a LONG time!)

When Nina is all bundled up, she cracks me up! Her hood is quite big, and so her eyes are hardly visible. I think she will just feel so free when she can go outside without a hat and coat on again!

While outside, Aria just 'comes to life'! She absolutely loves the outdoors and never turns down an opportunity to go outside.

They were pretending to be dogs...

The girls found this rock pile several weeks ago, and have really enjoyed climbing and sliding on it. Yesterday afternoon, they found a piece of cardboard nearby which they turned into a sled. It worked great!

One of our two snow princesses...

I took this picture so you could see the 'cloud of soot' that forms above the city during the winter. You can see that the sky is fairly blue, yet hovering above the buildings is a dark, grey fog. Yep, that is all the soot from the coal that is used to heat the city during the winter. Hard to believe that that's what we have been breathing in all winter long! So, we don't really get 'fresh' air when we go outside. :D