Moving Forward

Praise the Lord!!! We are 63%!!! Only 37% more to go!!!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, and Adalynn

News

I wanted to share with you all what the biggest accomplishment is in our lives as of today, July 1st! (Ok, so Philip and I both passed (did well) on our oral midterm this afternoon, but this is something non-Russian related!---something even more exciting!)
Adalynn has started crawling! Have fun watching the video! She is still trying to get used to crawling on hardwood floors!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, and Adalynn

p.s. Remember to check out our latest newsletter over on the right hand side of the website!

Adalynn

Our camera is currently not loading pictures on to our computer for some reason, so I have posted a little video of Adalynn to keeping you coming back to the blog! Thanks for your encouragement and prayers this weekend!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, and Adalynn

God's Blessings

I flew to Indianapolis, IN this past weekend for a wedding! One of my close friends from college got married in Goshen, IN! It was great to be a part of her wedding. Anyway, I flew by myself and left Philip and Adalynn here in South Carolina for 2 whole days without me! It was sad to leave them, but Philip did an amazing job with Adalynn while "Mom" was away!
I wanted to share with you something that God did to "encourage" me through this trip. As I said, I flew to Indiana. I don't prefer flying, let alone by myself. Of course there were layovers and switching of planes here and there. On my way home on Sunday morning I flew from Indy to Detroit, MI for my first flight. To be honest I really prefer not to talk to the person sitting next to me on the flight. It is awkward making conversation and knowing if you should keep talking or mind your own business. I, of course, had an open mind because the plane was going to be packed. I ended up sitting by an "older" couple who were flying to Maine for work/vacation. They weren't really old, probably like my parents age...(not old AT ALL!)...they were incredibly nice people! We made some small talk and then I ended up sharing with them about us going to Russia as missionaries! The man ended up being the doctor of one of the empolyees at Global Partners (our missions orginization!) We talked about the needs in Russia, missions, and family. They have a daughter (I believe) living overseas while her husband is getting his doctoral degree, so they know a little about being away from family. The wife was involved in missions with Campus Crusade (If I am remember correctly).
Anyway, it was encouraging talk with them! It gets better...when we landed they handed me a check made out to Global Partners toward our ministry!!! A CHECK! I had only known them for the 45 minutes flight and they had me a check! They said it was just a little encourgement for us along the way. (We had already talked about how God had provided in amazing ways throughout our ministry)
WOW!
They were a blessing and encouragement to us!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, and Adalynn

p.s. I ventured to talk to the girl sitting next to me on the flight from Detroit to Columbia...she was nice and I was able to share with her about missions in Russia as well. She said that she was hoping to go overseas in missions work someday as well! Guess I should fly more often!

p.p.s. I am procrastinating in memorizing the rest of my vocabulary words for tomorrow's quiz! Back to work!

*I am working on giving our blog a "face lift" so bare with me as it may go through a few changes in the next week!

Lately

Here we are eating lunch at our Russian teacher's house one afternoon. Lyudmyla is our conversation teacher. We had some traditional Russian foods for lunch as well as some stuffed green peppers. Of course, we did not just eat while we were at Lyudmyla's house. We also had school work to do! We had to "act" out a dialogue in Russian as well as give each other our "gifts" explaining what they were in Russian. We enjoyed our time away from the actual classroom! Here is what our schedule usually looks like each day:

M and F:
8:30-10 Learning to Converse Class
10-11:30 Conversation Class

W:
9-12 Culture Learning, Prayer, and Phonetics

T and TH:
8:30-10 Learning to Converse Class
10-12:30 Grammar
1:15-2:30 Conversation Class

The weeks go by slow...but we are learning a lot. The afternoons are filled with homework, playing with Adalynn, running errands, and fixing dinner. After Adalynn goes to bed...it is homework time again! We usually have over 75 vocabulary words to memorize each week plus reading, writing, and listening exercises! Our brains are so full!

Thank you for your prayers and support! We appreciate each one of you!

Praise the Lord we are 60% funded!!!!!!!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, and Adalynn

Pressing On

Today we had the pleasure of going to our teacher's (from our Conversation class) house for lunch and "class". Our teacher is from Ukraine and helps us by talking in all Russian! (ok, sometimes she has grace on us and speaks in English!) We enjoyed some Russian/Ukrainian food this afternoon. We were also supposed to bring a gift (something cheap) to give one of our classmates. This gift was suppose to be used to help us describe something. Philip and I of course did not bring wrapping paper or tape to South Carolina...so we used newspaper, stick-it notes, and rubber bands. Not too bad, if I don't say so myself! We enjoyed our time!

Language school is affecting us in more ways than one...

Language Learning

This is a picture of our fellow classmates who are in the beginners class. The older couple is ministering in the Ukraine and the younger girl has hopes of working as a translator with children in Russia or Ukraine. It's a small class, so you get called on a lot! Last week was our first week and it was pretty rough. No lies, a few tears were shed and I momentarily thought about returning back to Indiana in my mother-in-law's suitcase. The language is tough, but Philip and I are constantly reminded that the Lord will help us through this summer and help us pick up this difficult language. I asked Philip, between tears, last week how were we going to be able to share about Christ's love if I couldn't even say the word Jesus in Russian. I am reminded that it truly is going to be the Lord working through us, not in our own strength, but with the Lord's. The simple verse that you have heard often, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me", has more meaning than ever. Each morning I am asking for the Lord's strength to get through the day.

Thank you for your prayers! We appreciate them. Adalynn has her babysitter for the first time this week! She did ok today, but keep her in your prayers. Her babysitter's name is Keziah (Kayziah).

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, and Adalynn

p.s. What do you think of the new layout? If it is more confusing or you don't like it, I'll change it back! Let us know!

p.s. We are 58% funded!