Life this Week

Did you think for a minute that you had a hard time brushing the snow off of your car this morning?! There was a sign up the other day saying they would be removing the snow from the parking areas (the road) around our gated apartments. I suppose people are suppose to move their cars for the day or the time. We do not have a car, thank goodness, so we did not have to worry about it. As you can see, I suppose they just shovel around your car if it is not moved! They actually bring in a big truck and remove the snow and then there are often a few men or women who are shoveling snow after the truck here and there along the road.

It has been snowing every day this past week. Not blizzard like snowfall, but enough to have mounds of snow piled up here and there!

Gwen started off sitting straight up in the sled...

...then she started to slide...

...and slouch...

Philip is gone this evening at the English club that he has helped out with in the past. Anja, the girl who actually teaches the class, asked if I wanted to have coffee this weekend! I am so excited about this opportunity! I have been praying about meaningful relationships for 2012 here in Russia...with Russians. I met Anja right before we left to go back to the States before Thanksgiving. She is extremely nice, knows English, and even has a little girl between the age of Adalynn and Gwen! Please pray with me this weekend as we meet. Pray that she can see that I have been with Jesus. Pray that she is drawn to the Lord and that the Holy Spirit would begin to work in her own heart and life. Pray for courage for me as I speak in Russian, talk about life, and just be myself in a country that is not yet my own.

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen
(who by the way is sleeping THROUGH the night...7pm-7am!!!)

God is Good

I wanted to take a minute and share with you all how the Lord answered one of our prayers since being here. We arrived in Russia 2 weeks ago on a Wednesday. Before we left the States, Adalynn starting running a low grade fever. The morning we left for the airport, she had a temperature. We decided to go ahead and go and pray for the best. Of course she did fine on the flight and we thought we were in the clear. The next couple of days were pretty rough. Adalynn threw up (probably mainly from exhaustion and not eating good food for a day), and still ran this low grade fever.
I think it was Sunday morning when Adalynn starting saying that her bottom hurt. After about 2 times of going to the bathroom (#1), she started to cry whenever she went. She kept saying, "It hurts! My bottom hurts!" Of course we tried to coach her through going, but she still cried and cried. We got slightly concerned and started talking to people via facebook (friends and family who are in the medical profession). I thought maybe it could be a urinary track infection from her symptoms. All of the people I talked to via facebook also thought this was true. Concern did set in then. We had only been in country for 3 days and now we were having a medical need for our child. Now, before we even came to Russia for the first time, I remember someone asking me what would be the hardest thing about living in Russia. I remember saying it would be anything with the girls. Medical problems or something along those lines because I would have no idea what to do and how to go about it. Of course we have our field directions and other missionaries here to help, but it is not like in the States. That was my big concern.
Well, here that concern was at our doorstep, our field directors had not returned from vacation yet, we were all jet lagged, missing home, and tired. The enemy was trying to defeat us. We started to pray. We asked some close friends and family to pray for Adalynn. Our missionary friends here called a doctor to come to our house on Monday to look at Adalynn. We knew there was possibilities of blood tests, urine tests, and other things that might happen to Adalynn. Adalynn does NOT like any of these things including doctors. As a parent your heart just aches for your child when they have to go through something they are scared of or dislike. I was dreading the doctor's appointment and the tests that were going to have to take place.
Sunday night we pumped Adalynn with cranberry juice, prayed, tried to get her to go to the bathroom (which she refused and just cried), and prayed some more. Philip and I went to bed discouraged, concerned, and a little overwhelmed. I went to feed Gwen late that night and I remember tears streaming down my face as I cried out to the Lord, asking Him to be with us and to give us a sense of His peace and presence.
Monday morning Adalynn still didn't want to go to the bathroom. She knew it was going to hurt, so she just held it. It was sometime around 11am when Adalynn all of the sudden decided she had enough and had to go to the bathroom. She sat down and went...without crying! She even looked surprised that it didn't hurt! We were surprised too! Every time after that time when she has gone she hasn't cried!
The doctor came later that morning and looked Adalynn over and said she thought Adalynn looked fine. The doctor put her on some herbal supplements just in case and then left. (We had our missionary friend there to help interpret)

(There are drops that Adalynn takes 3 times a day and then she has to soak in a tea bath for 4 days)

We also decided to go ahead and take a urine sample the next morning just to check for bacteria. It came back from the family medical clinic's lab with little concern. We are pretty sure Adalynn had some sort of UTI, and we believe with all our hearts that the Lord heard our cries and healed our little girl.
We told Adalynn that we need to thank the Lord for healing her bottom because He is the one that made it all better.
Now before every meal when Adalynn prayers she says, "Dear Jesus thank you for my bottom!"
...and we say, "Praise be to God!"


Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen