WE'RE BACK!!!!

Surprisingly and shockingly we made it back into our host country.  We are now in our city and back in our apartment.  The kids are loving being home.  They love seeing their friends, toys that were left here, and their room.  We still need to get registered, so nothing is 100%.  We are taking it one day at a time and counting each day as a blessing.  We are so thankful that our Father answered many requests to get us here, and even if it is not long lived we are still thankful that we all were allowed in together and will be together in whatever comes our way.  We had a great vacation, and I can't wait to post some pictures from our trip and from Elias's first birthday party.  We loved visiting with family and friends.  We are so thankful that we had the opportunity to go "home" for a few weeks and attend my brother's wedding.  We are feeling rejuvenated and refreshed and ready to begin life here again.  I am feeling more motivated and excited about getting back into a fresh and new routine.  I am excited about becoming more disciplined in my use of time and getting out more.  I am also happy to announce that I have weaned Elias.  This will free up some more of my time throughout the day.  But, for now we must get over jet lag.  Today we ALL slept in until 11 am.  Elias is teething and has an awful diaper rash.  He is also very fussy and cranky and is not sleeping very well.  He is waking up in the middle of the night for hours, maybe another reason why we all slept until 11 am.  Please lift us up during this time! Pictures are sure to come soon!  

The time it takes just to live life

I could write a book on that one.  If you are wondering where I have been lately, and I know that some of you are, I have honestly just been living life making it through one day at a time.  My normal everyday routine is busy and takes a lot of time.  It takes more time to run errands since most of it is done on foot with two beautiful little kids, more time to cook, more time to do laundry and hang everything up because we don't have a dryer, cleaning is done more often from living in a place where you need the windows open all the time and dust and dirt often fills the house more quickly, more time and effort to talk, study, meet people, etc.  Not to mention that I still have a baby who is nursing.   It can get overwhelming at times.  There is never enough time in the day to meet all the demands placed on me either from myself, family, or others.  I could go through my days feeling like a failure before they even begin, living in tyranny of the clock, or I could focus my efforts on the praise of my King and what is accomplished or done that day is done for Him.  My, how I need this shift in my attitude on most days!  That is why I am so thankful for the Word to remind me and point me back again to my need of the gospel and it's power in my everyday life.  I have been encouraged lately in the gospel and asking God to break me again and again, to humble me and remind me that I cannot prove myself to others or to him.  I don't need to earn approval because Jesus has already earned the favor of the King for me.  I need to live in His power and strength everyday and I want to live a life that His praise is always on my lips and in my actions and then that would naturally flow out from me to others.  Ministry is not something that has hours set to it.  It is a lifestyle.  It is everyday situations.  It cannot be compartmentalized.  It is an overflow of our hearts.  I am letting the gospel rain down afresh over me, and I hope that it will flow out from me to others I am around and come into contact with.

"The gospel is a word; so the church must be word-centered. The gospel is a missionary word; so the church must be mission-centered. The gospel is good news. It is a word to be proclaimed. It is a message. You cannot be committed to the gospel without being committed to proclaiming that gospel.

The church exists both through the gospel and for the gospel.

The problem is the gap between our rhetoric and the reality of our practice. The continual challenge for us is to apply this principle to church life and ministry without compromise." Total Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis

I don't want there to be a gap in my life.  I want to put to action what is already true in my own life.  I want to put feet, and hands, and lips, breath, and voice to it.  Please pray this over me and our family.

Here is a song by Sara Groves that has also encouraged me lately as well, it is called Finite:  It is a great reminder that I am finite and I will come to an end.  It helps me to keep the most important things in the forefront of my mind.

I'm not every woman
It's not all in me
I’m proud and guarded
When it comes to my needs
Try to keep the whole thing rolling
Try to keep an on time train
This frenetic fascination's
Really driving me insane
Anybody feel that?
Anybody feel that?
Anybody feel that?

What God meant by woman
I’m hard pressed to find
I'm chasing paper dreams
And a guilt undefined
Fighting to stay younger
Trying to stay thin and in control
Searching for a magic formula
A thing to soothe our souls
Wonderin' where the peace went
Wonderin' where the peace went
Wonderin' where the peace went

I'm finite I come to an end
I'm finite I come to an end

Try to keep the whole thing rollin'
Try to keep an on time train
This frenetic fascination's
Really drivin' me insane
Anybody feel that?
Anybody feel that?
Anybody feel that?

I'm finite, I come to an end
I’m finite, I cannot pretend
I'm finite, I come to an end
I’m finite, I cannot pretend

Don't Hold Your Breath

Hey family and friends,

You might ask, "Where has Ashley been lately?  Why isn't she updating that blog of hers?"  I think I remember warning you all to not hold your breath for this blog, the third one I have started! haha.  Matt has been gone for three weeks and he returns tomorrow.  We can't wait to run up to him and give him hugs.  I think we need to throw a family party tomorrow in celebration of daddy returning home and for us.....WE MADE IT!!!!  We didn't have any hospital runs, no one got sick, nor did we kill each other, all a huge feat!  ;)  We have honestly been in survival mode for the past 4 or so months.  Trying to work and re-work on our schedule to find what will work out best for our family.  Last week, I started studying with my tutor three days a week, three hours each time.  I am feeling really good about that.  I really enjoyed that concentrated time on studying the language with her, and I feel that I am already making more progress.  YAY!!!!  One lesson that I have learned while Matt has been gone:  take it one day at a time, one step at a time.  I couldn't really count down the days because honestly there were too many and that was actually more overwhelming than helpful, so I just took it one day at a time and we have made it.  Tomorrow at 3:15 pm he will arrive in our city, Lord willing!  And we can't wait!!!!

Big Sister

In the early morning or during nap time, big sister Harper likes to climb into her brother's crib and play with him.  It actually helps him to stop crying and to calm him down.  They are often in there laughing together.  That is when I know that something is up.  We started finding her in his crib around the time he was 4 months old.  Albeit, this may be a little dangerous, but it sure is cute.  The other day I found her in his crib trying to change his diaper.  This is also not the first time she has tried to change his diaper all by herself.  Haha.  He was completely naked in his crib and she had managed to get the diaper off but did not have time to put another diaper on him before I figured out that she was in his crib.  She is a great big sister and loves her brother very much, but we did tell her to stop climbing in his crib.  Ha.  She often does funny things with her brother when I am washing dishes or cooking.  Here is a picture of another time she decided to "paint their faces."

I could not enforce discipline after this matter because I busted out into laughter after I saw both of their faces and especially Elias's.  He looks somewhat like a cat.  The glitter pen just makes it.  Ha.

Wordless Wednesday

Our New Nest

One of my favorite things about our new city is that on a clear day you can see snow capped mountain peaks from all over the city.  When I am riding on public transportation I love looking out the window and seeing the mountains.  I have yet to capture this stunning view on camera.  It just isn't as beautiful as what I see in person.

Some of my favorite things about our New Nest & City:

The Park:  We have a HUGE park in the center of the city.  It has a yellow brick road and is one of the largest parks in Europe.  I can't wait for warmer weather and sunny days to explore the park more.

We have a mall.  It is a small mall without a food court, but granted it is a mall that resembles a mall in America with some relatively good stores.  I am thankful.  :)

We have a Subway, as in the chain restaurant.

It is twice the size of our old city.

By Russian standards, our apartment is one of the nicest that I have ever seen.

We have a big market near our apartment.

There is a very small park near our apartment that has a playground in the grass.  We went there one day and found cows grazing around the playground equipment, so my children couldn't play that day.  Haha.

There are some good restaurants here.  Just yesterday I went to a new French bakery in town.  It was awesome!


Some negatives or hardships:

We still do not have DSL Internet.  I think I wrote that it can take months here.  It has already been 4 months for us.  There is a family here that it took a whole year for them to get their Internet hooked up. Craziness.

My children don't get to play outside or even get outside very often.  There is broken glass all over our so-called playground right outside our apartment door.  The playground equipment consist of a broken half-slide.  Haha.

Our location is hard at times.  We don't live in the center so I can't just step outside and go to our big nice park or just walk down sidewalks.  We live about 15 minutes from the center by car and about 30 to 40 by public transportation.   We live near a village outside of town.

Here are some pictures of our apartment at Christmas.  I will take more pictures and post them soon.

The Gigantic Icicles

Those are the icicles hanging off our bedroom window.  Apparently, you are supposed to knock them down in the wee hours of the morning or late at night when people aren't out and about walking the sidewalks.  I think we are probably the only ones on our block who haven't knocked theirs down yet.  We've heard them being knocked down at 5:30 am.  It sounds like bombs hitting the ground.  I'm not a fan.  So we leave ours.  I want to see how long it will get.  But, I do hope it doesn't fall on anyone.  That would not be pretty.  Maybe on a hard day I will get out the hammer and knock them down to relieve some stress.