I am so sorry for not blogging lately. It has been a crazy week/weekend. Last Saturday we had a team come from the States to do some ministry. It was a great week! On Friday we had a prayer time with them as a missionary team and then we hosted a Mexican Fiesta luncheon at our apartment! It was so fun to have mexican food! They also brought us a bunch of goodies from the states: cake mixes, muffin liners, stuffed animals for the girls, spices, icing, apple cider, taco seasoning, cds, books, jewelery...you name it! It was super! We feel super blessed by them!

On Saturday, Philip and I went in with the team to Moscow for a day of site seeing! It was our first time as tourist in Moscow, so it was pretty neat! Brian led the team and did the tour guide thing! We left Saturday morning and took the express train, which takes about 2 1/2 hours.

(Train Station in Vladimir leaving for Moscow!)

This train took us straight into Moscow, where we stopped at a Starbucks and then headed to the metro to Red Square. This metro system is one of the deepest in the world. It was originally made for an underground bomb or nuclear shelter for the whole city during WWII (I think or it might be WWI) .

St. Basil's Cathedral

Welcome to Red Square! (That is the Kremlin Wall)

We then walked around the Kremlin Wall and saw the beautiful gardens. We ate lunch at a mall and then headed to Old Arbot Street to do some souvenir shopping! We spent about 2 hours there shopping and drinking more Starbucks Coffee! At 6pm we left on the train to head back to Vladimir. It was raining at this point as we ran to the train. Gwen was pretty tired, wet, and hungry by this time. Overall it was a great trip! I can't wait to do it again!

Russian Ballet takes place here (sorry about the H&M sign right in the way!)

Weather and Potatoes

Have you wondered if it is snowing in Russia yet? Well, don't worry, it is not...yet. Right now it is cold, but not cold enough for snow. Every day there are clouds...sometimes it rains, sometimes is just looks like it is going to rain. When it rains it seems even colder outside. The heat does not come on (they don't turn it on) until October sometime. Until then people just bundle up inside their apartments or use a space heater. Our apartment has actually not been too bad. We all wear our slippers and have long sleeves, but for the most part it hasn't been cold enough to break out the space heater. At night the girls have to wear their fleece pjs (oops, I only brought 2 for each!) to stay warm. I think it is perfect sleeping weather!
So, yes, it is cold and rainy and grey out most of the time. But today we did see the sun a few times and a little blue sky, which was nice! It is often windy too which adds to the chill in the air. Anyway, I love fall time, so it is great weather for me!!!! As you can tell in the picture above, Adalynn is armed and ready for the rain...her face is priceless!

(We walked down this little alley...)

We tried a new restaurant last Saturday. Well, new to us. Cara took us to get our pictures taken for our residency applications and afterwards we all went to eat at Papa Potato! You basically get a baked potato and get to pick what you want on it...cold salads or stew like soups. It was really good. It was so good I forgot to take a picture of my meal for you. Sorry!

(...and it took us to Papa Potato, which surprisingly looked pretty nice on the outside after walking down that alley!)

Adalynn enjoyed some blini, juice, and potatoes!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Russian Tongue Twisters

Kara's Russian...in tongue twister form!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Cultural Encounters Update

I have been trying to "do" my cultural encounters that I mentioned a few weeks ago. These are goals that Philip and I have made with the help of our field directors to intentionally make connections with people. One of my goals was to go to the market each week and buy fresh fruit and vegetables from the same vender. Last week I went and spoke in Russian while I bought my produce. This week I went back again. The lady recognized me and greeted me happily. She asked me how I was doing and I did the same. I told her that the tomatoes I bought from her were really good. I did pretty good asking for which foods I wanted to buy... (They bag all the fruit and I just tell her how much I want of each)...until the end when I decided to add that I wanted some bananas. She said something to me really fast and I thought she asked if I wanted just one banana. I said, no two. What she really asked me if I wanted 1 bundle of bananas. I said no, I want two...bundles. oops. I guess I will be making banana bread, banana muffins, and banana pancakes (which I just found a great recipe!) for the next few weeks!

Another one of my goals was to go to the local coffee shop and talk with a girl that I had met earlier this winter when we were here before. The girl's name is Allsue (well, that is how you pronounce it, I have no clue at the moment how it is spelled in Russian) and she works at the coffee shop. I was talking with her last year about me working at a coffee shop, Starbucks. Of course she knew what Startbucks was (who wouldn't!) and was interested. I decided to try to build a bridge with that by continuing to go in and talk with her, the best I can, while she is working. Last Friday, we all went in and I introduced her to Gwen, my new daughter I said. I said this all in Russian...then she said something to me in Russian. I got nervous, you know like you are all the sudden hot and sweat starts to gather at the back of your neck kind of nervous. There were a lot of people at the counter and I couldn't translate what she said fast enough in my mind. So, I stumbled over a few words and then said goodbye. Wheww...how is that for making a good impression!

(Here is Gwen enjoying her first time at the Coffee Shop)

At the moment Philip is working out at a local gym. This is one of his cultural encounter goals...to make contacts and build relationships with people at the gym!

Thanks for your prayers as we push forward in our ministries here!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Hot Pipes

We have this odd shaped pipe in our bathroom. You may look at it and think it is a piece of art, a number 9, or that is just looks funny. It actually comes in quite handy! Hot water runs through these pipes causing them to be hot. We hang our towels on them and when you get out of the shower, you have a warm towel! They also serve as a place to hang laundry if you want something to dry a little faster!

We usually keep our towels on them. Lately though it has been colder outside making it colder inside. Therefore our laundry takes a little longer to dry, so I have been using the pipe more for hanging laundry. Sometimes our hot water is shut off for some random reason. (We are on city water unlike in our other apartment where we had a hot water heater in our bathroom.) We can always tell the hot water is out when you touch these pipes and they are cold instead of hot. Just thought this was something interesting that you might enjoy knowing!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Behind Closed Doors

You'll never guess what was going on behind this door the other night during bath time. I had just finished giving Gwen a bath, and it was Adalynn's turn in the big red tub. (We are like the pioneer people, the poor girls use the same water...though I splurge and add more warm water to Adalynn's bath since she is second!) It was a warm"er" day, so our windows had been open and you will never guess what got in...a big, fat fly. Yuck. It happened to fly into the bathroom (tub room) while I was in the midst of washing Adalynn. Somehow we managed to all get in the bathroom with the fly, not on purpose. I was holding Gwen, Adalynn was in the bathtub, and Philip was jumping around trying to swat the fly with a newspaper. Now, this bathroom is a small bathroom...I mean pretty small for all 4 of us, a shower, sink, closet, washing machine, and a big, fat fly. It wasn't working well with all of us in there while Philip was trying to kill the fly. Gwen and I quickly escaped, leaving Adalynn wondering what Philip was doing jumping around. Only a few minutes passed before I heard the victory cry from the bathroom. Obviously the fly had lost.

See, it is not boring around the Gormong apartment! On a side note, Philip was asked to teach a class at the Bible School this fall! He will be teaching a week intensive on Paul's Epistles. He has some preparing to do, but I think he is pretty excited. What a great opportunity! Please be praying for him as he begins to prepare. He will have a translator, but it will still be different teaching in this setting.

Thanks again for always checking up on us! We appreciate your interest, prayers, love, and encouragement!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Furniture!

Saturday we finally got our couch, which means we can actually start playing/sitting in the living room instead of hanging out in the kitchen all the time! The truck was suppose to come on Friday afternoon, but they called (a friend of ours who helped me buy the couch) and said the truck was too full and would not make it to Vladimir that day. So, we waited until Saturday afternoon. The rain stopped just long enough for them to bring the couch to the apartment. We had to pay for delivery. You also have to pay (well, included in the delivery) per floor...we live on the 4th floor so we had to pay X amount of rubles times 4! I kind of thought that was funny. Good thing we don't live on the 10th floor!

Just wanted to show you a few pictures of our new couch, decorated living room, and sweet little girls!

Thanks for your prayers last week as we had a busy week! Philip led the Bible study time at church last night and it went well. There were only 4 kids last night at church for my lesson (2 which were mine!), but it was still fun! We are looking forward to a less busy week!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen