Welcome!

Welcome Gwenyvere Priscilla

Big Sister Adalynn!

We are all in love with the newest addition to our family!

Gwenyvere Priscilla arrived on Tuesday morning at 12:14am. She as 7 lb 5oz and 20 inches long. We are so grateful to the Lord for being with us through the labor and delivery! We were able to have a successful VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section)! We, along with many other people, had been praying that we could do this and not end up with a c-section. Even after our doctor only gave us less than a 50% chance of success, the Lord provided a way!

We are all doing well...tired of course. Pray for us in the coming days.

Now that Gwen has been born we are waiting on her ss card and birth certificate. Once we have these items we will submit the paperwork for her passport. Pray that her birth certificate comes quickly!

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers this week!

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Updates

No, baby yet. We'll let you know when she arrives! We are trying to wait patiently!

June 6-12th is busy on the Russian field. A team from Indiana Wesleyan University will be coming to help teach an English camp. Also, the Bible College will be hosting Professor Vardaman as he teaches an intensive class on Christian Ethics (He was actually a former missionary to the Russian field!). Please be in prayer with us as these events take place over the next few weeks.

Our church planting team is doing well. They continue to meet each week. They are in the mist of launching 2 home groups. The church's name is Grace of Christ Church. It is exciting that we have a name! Pray for growth, boldness, and effectiveness as the team continues to reach out to the community.

We are still pushing away at language learning here in the States. I guess there isn't anything better to do as we wait for Gwen to arrive! She was due on Friday, so we'll see what this coming week brings! Pray for us!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and baby Gwen

Our Friends

Our dear friends from seminary will be leaving on Sunday, May 15th for Uganda!! They are missionaries through World Gospel Missions. We had a chance to see them briefly a few weeks ago as they passed through Indiana on their way home to New Jersey. Scott has been packing this week as Meg and the boys were saying their goodbyes to family in New Hampshire. We have known Scott and Meg before they became a family of 4. They are so dear to our hearts. They have made this "missionary" journey along side as. Please pray for them as they fly out on Sunday. Check out their blog: ON THE ROAD WITH THE RAMBOS. They have promised to keep it up once they are in Uganda:!
We love you Scott and Meg!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and baby Gwen

We are Still Here!

No baby...yet. Maybe she will come tonight, since I keep saying she isn't here yet:)! We have much to praise the Lord about this week!
We have continued to meet with our language tutor. I met with Sofya on Wednesday and Philip met with her on Thursday. Basically we just had a general conversation in Russian for about 45 minutes, and the we did some work in a book. It is good to get Russian out of our mouths...and have it corrected when needed of course! I was sharing with some people the other night that for some reason I just feel nervous about meeting with Sofya each week. She is a great girl and she doesn't in any way make me feel nervous. It is the whole getting Russian out of my mouth...I think it intimidates me or something. I have been praying that the Lord would help me, and Praise the Lord, He has! This past week went smoothly, and I felt like the conversation went well!
Our church planting team in Russia (consisting of 5 Russians, ourselves, and our field directors) have continued to meet each week. Last week our field directors and another couple from Russia had the opportunity to go to a leadership conference held in Croatia. Many leaders from around the European area came to this conference. The report said that they learned a lot and had a great time. We wish we could have been there with them! We Praise the Lord for His continual work in the church plant!
We are excited to be a part of Mt. Zion Wesleyan's mission team. They decided earlier this year to take us on as supporting missionaries! What a blessing! We will be going in July to reconnect with this church. They recently emailed us and want to provide a luncheon for us as well as a baby shower! How excited and what a blessing to us as second babies don't always get a baby shower! We Praise the Lord for faithful churches who have hearts for the world!
Over the last few months we have had a handful of people who have been supporting us for 2 years...their Faith Promise Commitments were coming to a close. We asked them to pray about continuing partnering with us as we return to Russia in August for the rest of our term. Many if not all of them have renewed their Faith Promises for our TERM or the next year! We Praise the Lord for a faithful believing team! Thank you, Cam and Elisa, Brian and Lisa, Jessica, Ruth, Nathan and Maria, Ron and Karen, Josh and Cassie, Bob and Vivian, and Dan and Cindy!!!
Have you praised the Lord today? Have you taken time to look back through your week and make sure you are giving our awesome God thanks for His grace and goodness? If not, see what He has done for us, and then take time and see what He has/is doing for you!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and baby Gwen

(We'll let you know ASAP when Gwen arrives...)

Office Space

Praise the Lord!

Our Global Partner team found an office space! After months of looking, being disappointed, and coming within days of having an office only to be turned down...we have officially signed for some office space! Our field directors and the others on the field are thrilled to have a place to settle down and make into their "office". Working from home doing financial and administrative things was not ideal, but the Lord did provide!

We want to thank those of you who were faithful in praying for this office space. We are excited to see it when we get back to Russia. We wish we could help move stuff to the new office! We'll make sure we post pictures once we get a chance to see it!

Thanks again, and praise to the LORD for his provision once again!

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and baby Gwen (who is still not here yet....)

ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЕС!!!

Did you know that in Russia they celebrate Easter too?! Of course you knew this...in fact someone reminded me last week that all over the world Jesus' name would be proclaimed in some way...what a celebration! We were unable to be in Russia this year to celebrate our Risen Savior with the Russians, but our hearts were united with them just the same!
Easter is the biggest religious holiday celebrated in Russia. There are traditional Easter cakes and other things that go on during this time of year. I do not know all of them, but next year I will be able to share with you from experience what goes on during Easter!

This year we did our own thinking of Russia as we reside here in the States (waiting for baby #2 to arrive). Our fellow missionaries, Jeff and Gelya, gave us some egg decorating wrappers from Russia right before we left! We decided to try them out! It was a lot of fun and the eggs turned out beautifully. I did my best at trying to read the directions in Russian...I think I managed to read the words "cold" and "egg". After that I decided to use the pictures to help me figure out what to do...then after that didn't work, it was trial and error. (I guess you need HOT water to the wrapping to shrink around the egg...I figured that out...eventually!) Anyway, I hope you enjoy the beautiful eggs!

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and baby Gwen

The different kinds of wrappers we received! Thanks, Jeff and Gelya!

The paper is placed over the egg...like putting the egg in a sleeve

This is how Philip did his eggs...smart...then the wrapping went on straight.

Dip it in the HOT water...I used a spoon to help push the egg into the water

My little dolls were not exactly centered, but oh, well!

My lovely egg...this is a popular, traditional Russian pattern

"He has Risen!"

New Partners!

We want to take time to thank Mt. Zion Wesleyan for their recent commitment in joining our team! We are encouraged and thankful for their recent Faith Promise! We are so excited to partner with this church and see how the Lord ministers to this congregation through the work in Russia! Last spring we were able to visit this church and share our vision during their missions week. I had a chance to share with their children about Russia...we are so excited for their investment in our lives!

Thank you, Mt. Zion Wesleyan!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and baby Gwen