Istanbul

 We had a great time in Istanbul with our fellow workers from our organization.  This conference is annually, though it was our first time since last year we had just had Gwenyvere in the States.

It was a wonderful time!  We came away refreshed for sure though a little more tired since we had to deal with sleepy, grumpy, children most of the week!  Gwen and Adalynn both were able to get shots from the doctor who came to conference.  Maybe I can blame their grumpies, sudden clinginess, and sleepiness on the shots????  I am not sure how to even describe my feelings the first night as we sang songs in English with a group from our organization.   It was like I knew I was longing for this kind of fellowship and filling, but I didn't realize how badly I needed it until I received it.  I am not sure if that makes sense, but it was pretty powerful for me.  I am so grateful for a week of encouragement!

We stayed in a resort (probably not like what you are imagining, like the ones you may go to in Mexico and such, but it was still really nice...we even had air conditioning...and boy did we need it!).

 

We had an opportunity to go into the city one day and tour the touristy/historical parts of Istanbul!

 Blue Mosque

 Hagia Sophia

 

 Adalynn and Gwen both loved these lion statues that were everywhere in the hotel.  We had to stop and pet them every time we passed them...which was all the time!

We left Saturday morning bright and early.  Gwen threw up from motion sickness on Philip on the way to the airport, Gwen's two lovies were thrown up on, Adalynn lost her blankie, and we got stuck in traffic coming out of Moscow on the way home....so it took extra long to get back to Vladimir from the airport...like 5 hours long.

Thanks for your prayers!  We appreciate you!  

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Pictures

I updated our village post with pictures!  Go check it out!

VILLAGE POST

Updates

Prayer Requests and Praises have been updated!  So sorry for my lack of posting and keeping you updated!  You can see them by clicking on the tab at the top of the page under the title picture!

Blessings,

the gormongs

Happenings

 Last Saturday, Kerry and I Philip went into Moscow to pick up the newest member of our GP Team, Katie!  Katie is from Indiana also, but is a student at Kingswood University in New Brunswick.  This year is her senior year, and as a Global Ministry major, she is required to spend 5 months overseas doing an internship.  Her internship has landed her here, in Russia, for 5 months!  We just found her an apartment on Monday and today she has moved in---she had been staying with us since her arrival on Friday.  Welcome to the team, Katie!

Thank you for your prayers for Vika!  We are seeing God answer so many prayers this summer!  Vika moved to Vermont for work and study program with the local university here in Vladimir.  When we were meeting with her this spring, we kept telling her that we were praying for her and really praying that she would have a good time in the States.---we were also praying she would meet some believers and get plugged in!  

My friend, Sarah, has a friend (who I slightly knew in college) that lives in the same city that Vika was going to be for the summer.  Sarah contacted her friend, Meredith and then I followed up via facebook with Meredith.  Well, we got Meredith and Vika connected!  They met up a few months ago after Vika arrived!  I got in contact with Meredith a few days ago and she said that Vika had been coming to her weekly Young Adult Bible Study and she had been asking great questions.  Meredith had been going to pick her up each week for this Bible Study!  Wow!  Meredith also said Vika mentioned how she was seeing how God was answering the prayers we had been saying for her during her stay in the States.  Praise Jesus!  He is at work!  Keep praying for Vika!  She returns in mid-September.  Please also pray for Meredith as she continues to ministry to Vika!

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwenyvere

Lunch at a Hotel

2 weeks ago I was able to spend a wonderful lunch with Anya and Marina.  Both of these ladies own the language club that Philip helps out with each week.  I have been to the park with both ladies quite a few times.  They speak great English, but of course I try to practice my Russian with them.  This last time they told me that it was fun to speak Russian with me!  Are you wondering why my shoes are in the picture?  Well, Russian ladies are ALWAYS wearing heels and fancy shoes...I rarely wear these because I am not a fan of walking around with kids and heels.  To me that is just too much work!  But on this day I decided to put on my "Russian" heels!

For lunch we went to this hotel that overlooked a river.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We sat on the veranda for lunch with a wonderful view.  I didn't even feel like I was in Vladimir, let alone Russia!  We had some tasty food along with some really great conversation.  They both began to ask me about marriage and how to keep it a marriage these days.  I was able to share with them about how the God we serve really helps us in this area.  It was just a small window, but I feel like through talking about marriage I was able to point to the Lord in many areas.  I praise God for this because before I even went to this lunch, I prayed that the Lord would give me opportunity to point to Him sometime during our time together!  

Toward the end of our meal, they asked to read the book "The Five Love Languages" together.  They are really interested in how to learn more about marriage.  I thought this was a good book to start with, but I hope and pray to begin to share with them the truths that Scripture tells us about marriage.

Thank you for your prayers!

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

We are still without our computer. Our field directors are Stateside for vacation. While on vacation, they had some medical issues, so their return has been delayed. Why is this related to having no computer? Our computer is with them. So it returns when they return, which won't be until a week from Monday! I have so much to blog to you about what has been going on with our ministries here. But I will wait. Pictures are included of course! Our newsletter is going to be about 2 weeks late because it is our quarterly newsletter, which we cannot do without our computer and pictures...I'll give you a preview of posts to come! *Pictures of the village trip *Lunch with Anya and Marina *Playing at the park *Painting the church playground Thanks for keeping up with us, though the posts have been boring, pictureless, and few and far between! We appreciate you! *Blessings, Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Russian Villages

*UPDATED*

We have been without a computer for about a week, so I am sorry that there are no pictures for this blog post! I have quite a few of pictures sitting on my camera waiting to be put on the blog, so keep checking back! We will get our computer returned to us next Wednesday, so you can be sure that next Thursday there will be loads of pictures for you to look through! (Though I forgot my camera when we went to the village today! Grrr!!! But Kerry was kind enough to let us take some pictures on her camera!) Today we went to the village with our other GP friend, Kerry, and Russian friend Nastya! We had so much fun! Kerry and Nastya go to the village once very other week to bring groceries to the older people...grandmotherly type...Babushke. This ministry is called the Stephen Ministry. You can find out more about the ministry by going to Kerry's blog over on the right side bar (Ministry in Vladimir with Kerry). 

Kerry and Nastya picked us all up at 9am this morning. Yes, all 4 of us went, the little girls and all! The girls had their little head wraps on, ready for village life at its best. The drive is a little over an hour to Karpovo and Nikola Ushna. 

Once we arrived we stopped by Babuska R's house to drop off groceries and pick wild strawberries from her backyard! Adalynn LOVED the strawberries. And if Adalynn LOVED them, Gwen was IN LOVE with them. I think the girls ate a bushel between the two! The bugs weren't bad, and the the breeze made sure we were not too hot. After filling our stomachs with strawberries, we walked around the village (really we just walked down the street). We were able to meet the Babuska who broke her leg earlier this summer. She held Gwen, and of course Gwen giggled and chit chatted with her! Adalynn kept her distance. 

 The strawberry patch

It was time to drive to Karpovo, which is not but a 5 minute drive away from Nikola Ushna...a bumpy drive at that. Here, we met Babushka L. She also had some strawberries that the girls ate. Every time Gwen saw any green plant, she would reach her cubby little arm out and make noises and do the baby sign language for "more"! Babushka L showed us her lovely garden. It was full of beets, tomatoes, onions, garlic, strawberries, fruit trees, potatoes, cucumbers, and flowers! Her neighbor came by and I asked her if she had a garden too. She took me over to her garden and showed me all her vegetables and fruits. The gardens looked amazing! These ladies are hard workers, is all I have to say! Adalynn picked two cucumbers to take home. (She ate them for dinner tonight and loved them!) For lunch Babushka L made borsch from the fresh vegetables and greens from her garden. It was yummy! We sat outside and ate, which was hot because of the sun, but we all enjoyed it. Then we went to the neighbor's house and had tea. The neighbor and her husband were quite nice. They had Loui Armstrong music playing in the background, and the husband even mentioned that this type of music was his favorite. They even got some toys out for the girls to play with, which the girls thoroughly enjoyed! 

 The bathroom where they shower...they have to walk across their yard to bathe...we didn't try it out!

Around 2:30, both girls were getting tired, so we headed back to Nikola Ushna to Babushka R's house. Nastya and Philip carried water from the well to her house for her, and the girls and I picked strawberries to take home. Gwen and Adalynn ended up sitting on a blanket by the strawberry patch. Adalynn had a little basket that she would ask to be filled, then she would take the basket over to blanket, sit down, and then proceed to feed her little sister strawberry after strawberry. Gwen was in heaven. The only noises I heard while I was picking the strawberries, were of little Gwen as she grunted while signing "more", and Adalynn saying, "Gwenie, do you want some more?" The girls had strawberries smeared on their faces as proof of their "pickings". Philip, Nastya, and Kerry joined in the strawberry picking. 

 So much fun!

 Multi-tasking:  Picking strawberries and holding Gwen up!

 

We left around 3:30 and headed back to Vladimir. Gwen cried for awhile in the carseat, one because she was tired, and two because she never sits in a carseat. She finally fell asleep along with Philip and Adalynn. Once home we enjoyed some fresh strawberries with homemade shortcake and whipped topping. I think village trips should happen more often... 

Blessings,  

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen