Have you been on your knees before the Lord praying for our residency to be accepted by the end of this month? The Lord has granted us this request and has heard our prayers! We are overwhelmed with the faithfulness, graciousness, and love of our God. His hand is on us, guiding us, leading us, and providing the way for us to be in His will. We give thanks to the Lord and our hearts are filled with songs of thanksgiving to Him. He deserves our utmost praise!
Psalm 65
For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song.
1 Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion;
to you our vows will be fulfilled.
2 You who answer prayer,
to you all people will come.
3 When we were overwhelmed by sins,
you forgave our transgressions.
4 Blessed are those you choose
and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house,
of your holy temple.
5 You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,
God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,
6 who formed the mountains by your power,
having armed yourself with strength,
7 who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.
8 The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
you call forth songs of joy.
9 You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it.
10 You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
11 You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.
12 The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.
13 The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing.
The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ps 65.
Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen
Today we did a lot of running around. Once this morning and then later this afternoon for over an hour. But it was all worth it because at the end of the day we came home with residency stamps in our passports!!!!!! We got on Monday to get registered. We are official! Praise Jesus!
Spring is on its way over to Russia! Yesterday it was quite a bit warmer out. Now when I say warmer, I am not saying 70s and 80s like in Indiana! It is warm enough that the snow is melting...soon the roads and sidewalks will be big yucky puddles. Oh the joys of spring in Russia. Oh, and did I mention that at night the puddles may freeze and then you have to enjoy sliding around on them during the early morning hours? Oh yes the price to pay to have warmer weather. I'll take it! 
This is Adalynn looking through the fence at the muddy road.
Sharing a swing!
Adalynn was "helping" push Gwen!
The Kingswood University team left on Thursday evening after our Women's Day celebration with Grace of Christ Church. We had wonderful time! Here are some things that the team was able to do while they were here!
(part of the team at our house!)
The team was led by Dr. Peed, who actually served in Africa with Philip's family when they were on the mission field years ago!!! Dr. Peed was known to Philip as Uncle Bill. Adalynn went around saying, "Where is Uncle Bill?!" It was neat to see Philip serving along side Uncle Bill after all these years!
During our celebration of Women's Day, I led a craft for the women and children. This was the event that the KU team helped with! We had almost 50 people attend, both believers and non-believers!
Grilling the shashlyk---this is a something that most Russians like to do together!
But we are so excited that this team is here ministering and encouraging our relationships with Russians!
Thanks for your prayers! Coffee on Monday night went really well! It was a great time! Philip had a meeting on Tuesday with 6 people from the English Club he meets with once a week! They had a great time as well! The team has enjoyed interacting and meeting these people! Our contacts have enjoyed practicing their English with the missions team.
More to come...
In honor of Men's Day, one of our teammates, Kerry, bought all the guys on our team some chocolate. I thought it was really funny to see that the chocolate was specifically for men. So specific that there was even a picture of this on the chocolate!
(picture of a woman with a line through her!)
We also got some goodies from Philip's parents which included some Fruit Roll Ups (actually from Philip's socking back at Christmas!), Gushers (Philip's too), muffin mixes, cards, Puffs for Gwen, a cord to attach my lens cap to the camera, beef jerky, and treats for the girls!
...pop the bubble wrap...then...
...you eat the tags off the new clothes...
