Now for something completely different...

These pictures need little comment. You laugh at them. We cry.

(Click on any to enlarge.)

The first set I call Russian Feats of Transportation:






The next set is called Building Blunders:

Offices of the Russian State Construction Company, no joke

Followed by Shame on Russia:



And lastly, Only in Russia:

This is not abuse. This is life.

Just a little higher, PLEASE!

At least they are trying to be safe.

Granny tan

The sign reads: "This is our favorite store!"

So much for Church and State

How does God mean for us to stay?

With last year's changes in visa rules, we have been struggling, along with all missionaries and most expatriates in general, with the question of how to get a new visa once our current one is up in July. To get the background and context, read my earlier post here. In sum, we can't return on the kind of visa we came here on, a one-year business visa. Now, such a visa would require us to leave the country every 90 days and be gone for 90 days, obviously impossible. Getting three-month visas in succession was a second option, but door appears to have closed too, as I have heard of some being denied entry for 90 days after applying for a second such visa. The last option, a work permit, seems the only other option, and I thought I had that base covered. In fact, I was most of the way through the process with a company who was to hire me as a coach trainer and consultant - a very good fit I thought.

That prospect suddenly fell through a couple of weeks ago when the director felt like God was not giving her peace to move forward. Without going into details, the circumstances were not clear to me how this came about, but what is clear is that God has other plans. Now I get to watch him work out a new direction. This turn of events came at the end of the school year as life winds down here in St. Petersburg. Russians all leave the city for the summer, and it's hard to get anything done as a result. So I was already beginning to ask questions about where God was leading us for this fall and beyond. Now I started to feel that He may be about to initiate more substantial changes than I had envisioned. I don't think we are leaving the city or changing fundamental direction, but I have a hunch that something is brewing. Stay tuned.

What did happen is almost immediately an offer came from the International [Christian] Academy here for Diana and I to come work there [very] part time in exchange for a visa. To be honest, Diana was the real object of their affection. Her gifts at teaching English have been discovered, and they suddenly are desperate to fill a hole. Giving a work permit to a woman with husband in tow is a questionable practice here, so they need an excuse for me. At first it was change light bulbs once in a while, but the more we talked, the more it became clear that there were some cool avenues for me to use some latent gifts to be a blessing there. Gifts, in fact, that were remarkably close to the ones that got summoned recently with my work at the Russian Christian school with their middle schoolers. We are talking about themes like youth ministry, counseling, and team building. I'll leave it at that for now.

Pray with us that we would be obedient to God's direction and not jump too fast. I am most nervous for any new obligations for Diana at this point. The problem is we are too late to get a new work visa in time for our mandatory departure in July. So now we have to get a 3-month visa and have to leave again in October. Pray we get a work visa by then.

Shto? What?

Whether at school, play, or at the market, we are always acquiring language. Each of us has improved in our Russian, and all of us have different methods.

Lyle already spoke Russian fluently before arriving in St. P, but, there's always more to learn. He's written about Ludmilla, our tutor, who has helped him hone his speaking, writing, and reading abilities. They often discuss politics, news articles, and current events. Lyle's challenges have been to teach in Russian and learn how to phrase ideas so they are understood from a cultural perspective.

I (Diana) arrived with a foundation in Russian being able to read Cyrillic, to understand most of a casual conversation, and usually to make myself understood. Of course passive knowledge usually exceeds verbal ability, and my gap between these two is wide. Ludmilla has taught me all the cases and verb aspects I did not know and gives me the freedom to try new vocabulary. We laugh a lot during my lessons, and I am always grateful for her when I leave a lesson. I understand much better, but am still slower to speak. Over the summer I plan to intensively review my notebook (a completely full composition book).

Because we homeschool her, Lydia, 9, does not have the constant exposure to Russian that the boys do at their school. Once school started, her playground friends were not as available. Church, her bi-weekly art class, and visitors were the only consistent Russian venues for her. But this has not stopped her from amazing us with her abilities. Just yesterday she met a lady at the playground, who she remembered meeting last fall. Lydia was so excited that she understood and could carry on a conversation about a variety of topics with her! Lydia answers the phone and, on occasion, deciphers something faster than I do. Last fall she could only answer very minimally at best. God gifted Lydia with a compulsion to be with people, and this gift has served her well in language acquisition.

The boys. Of course little ones tend to pick up language easily. Simon and Kerith were pretty quiet at school until late fall when the teacher realized they were starting to understand well. Kerith, she thought, got a kick out of speaking Russian. Kerith studied with a tutor at school as well, and now he works with one intensively 2 hours each day during June. He's a quick study and can read as well as speak. Both he and Lydia consistently use a computer language program called Rosetta Stone.

One particular benchmark was when Simon started to babble in Russian during playtime by himself. He talks in made-up sounds, words, and phrases, just like all kids do when learning to talk, but this time, Simon was clearly babbling in Russian. Lyle and I would hide ourselves outside his room door and bite our cheeks from laughing at the transformation occurring right in front of us. Simon's intonation is flawless; he sounds like a Russian 4-year-old!

So, we all progress, reach a plateau, and then progress some more. It's exciting to think about our language abilities a year from now.

Because of Samuel

Scott and Tricia Kennedy entered our lives through an email. Friends of theirs, who attend one of our supporting churches, Church of the Hills, in Duluth, GA, suggested Scott and Tricia contact us upon learning their adoption journey would lead them to St. Petersburg. Last winter Tricia wrote to us explaining they would arrive in December near the holidays. Could they look us up?

Sure, we said. Look us up when you get here. Oh, and could you bring some things from the US for us? Little did we know how that first email would impact our lives over the coming months.

During their December visit, Scott and Tricia stayed for 10 days due to mandatory adoption regulations. They met their future son, 5-year-old Samuel, only once or twice, and had lots of time on their hands otherwise. We took them Christmas shopping and spent part of Christmas Day together. What a joy! Scott and Tricia are "kid magnets", and they attracted our kids from the very first minute. It was easy to feel like we had known them for years, and they certainly brightened our first Christmas without family. We prayed for a positive outcome of the adoption process so that they could return for a court hearing. The months passed with no phone call.

Finally in April, Scott called. "We're coming!" We were blessed to host them in our apartment and share in their joy when the court officially appointed them as parents of Samuel. The end of a long road was in sight. Despite their busy trips out to the orphanage on the outskirts of town, legal matters, and the emotions of such an endeavor, Scott and Tricia wove their way deeper in our family's heart. Scott even played handyman and helped hang light-blocking shades! They brought over American treats too -- peanut butter, chili mix, and very special gifts for the kids.

The Kennedys headed back again to GA for only a week before returning to finalize the adoption. This time they would arrive as 2 and leave as 3! Again, they showered us with love and brought over more items in storage with Lyle's parents and homeschooling books. A big highlight was taking our kids swimming in their hotel pool. (see picture) After a wonderful dinner together, we parted for the last time. It was raining, appropriately. The dreary weather mirrored our feelings.

The Kennedys are home now and learning to live as a family of three. We thank God for bringing Scott and Tricia into our lives and for allowing us to share their selfless journey of adopting Samuel.

It's a wrap!

It's finally springtime, and we are approaching our one year anniversary in St. P. It feels like we are emerging from our winter cocoon, just like the trees and flowers. Reflecting on the school year, we notice the kids' growth and development in particular. And they are thriving just like the blossoms and new leaves.

In September we knew practically nothing about the school Zhatva ("harvest") and had not a scintilla of idea about what our boys would accomplish during the school year. I remember Kerith and Simon sitting at the "First Bell" program with their classmates on day 1 with a glazed-over look. They did not understand what was happening to them, nor could they understand what was said! I (Diana) sat in the audience of parents tearing up because, well, because we were sending my boys off to school for the first time in a brand new country with a brand new language, new teachers, and new cultural rules. It was a lot to digest for all of us.

Nine months later we sat at the "Last bell" program watching Kerith graduate to the 1st class. I teared up again, but not because of the unknown, but because God brought us through the obstacle course of Russian schooling. Kerith and Simon were not clueless anymore! They knew everybody and participated in the class recitations and songs.

Pictured here are:
1. The school.
2. The boys' class singing a song.
3. Kerith's future 1st grade teacher praying over the upcoming class (who seemed more interested in looking at their class pictures).




Kerith's shining moment was reciting his own verse (click on the video below) to the crowd. He projected loudly and spoke slowly and almost without accent.

Loosely translated (and regrettably not with the original rhyme and rhythm):

Yep, now we're already big,
Going to study in 1st grade.
So for our cherished Kindergarten,
Today is our last day.


Everybody cheered, and we said a prayer of thanks.

Back to my old tricks

By the end of college I knew that my music degree was not what God was calling me to use professionally. Where I ended up instead was doing camp counseling and then outdoor education for the next year, experience that marked me for life. Among the ways in which this time impacted me was what I learned about life in community and group dynamics. One of my favorite activities was variously called "group initiatives," or the "ropes course" and other similar names. I loved running my groups through difficult challenges that forced them to learn to work as a team, listen to and respect each other, and honor the weaker members. After every challenge we would debrief and learn lessons about relationships and the way the Body of Christ functions (that is how it does and should function) that we would apply to the next activity, to cooking out, to all aspects of community life. Koinonia became my favorite word.

This work became the model (indeed unconsciously) for my work in Richmond to pull together leaders across the city and make a team out of them who would work together for the city's transformation. God had me serving as convenor, team builder, and administrator for a pretty tough group of heads of ministries, churches, and businesses. While it lasted, it was a blast. Whether it was too big for me, or whether it was a vision ahead of its time, I don't know, but I see now that God was working on me for the next phase of life here in St. Petersburg. Of course I don't fully see that vision, even though I have clues.

All this to say that I got a surprise invitation in May to help a struggling group of kids become a "kollectif" (a team). The principal of the school our boys attend asked out of the blue if I had any team building experience. It seems their 6th graders were having a hard time getting along and accepting new kids (who were still coming in late in the year). My answer was all she needed, and we set a date.

I took them to the small island/park that is located between the school and our apartment. It's one of my favorite places around - took some great pictures there last fall. Joining us was Lydia, which I justified since she is not much younger, and since she actually feels not accepted by her age group at church (some of these kids also attend our church). This would give them an opportunity to accept a new outsider.

We spent the whole day doing group-building activities using "props" from around the island that I had scoped out in the days preceding. We started with simple things like "trust falls" (1st picture) and built up to a river crossing challenge (#2), and an "escape" (#3).


I've led scores of these kinds of activities with hundreds of kids exactly this age, but I was really taken aback by what I saw.


It wasn't just that they were hard to control from talking or not listening; I've seen plenty of that.

It wasn't just that they didn't follow directions; they didn't care.

It wasn't just that they didn't listen to each other in planning their activities; they were slow to do so when it was discovered.

It wasn't just that they rode roughshod over each others emotions when they got hurt; they had no clue how to be sensitive to those emotions when they knew they needed to make up. I like to hold back and let the group work through things on their own, but these guys made me spoon feed them every step of the way. Even poor groups from the States had a better relational base on which to build than these guys. The girls were more clueless than the boys at handling the emotions of others.

And it wasn't that they were mean or even unkind. It wasn't that they were resistant or slow. In fact they were quite teachable.

I didn't know what to make of it all. Of course I fear that this is a general weakness, which was a depressing conclusion to come to, considering these were Christian kids (which actually does make a big difference in this society) from (mainly) 2 strong mature fellowships. My head spun that evening and next day. What was God saying to me? On the one hand, it makes me want to get more involved in the school and our church. On the other, it overwhelms me with the enormity of the problem. Is it too late to work with adults? I doubt it, but it sure underscores my conviction that I need to work with a few deeply rather than with a lot superficially.

And Lydia, she finally got accepted at the very last minute (almost literally) of the day, when she pulled something I'd never seen. I'll let her tell you about it at her blog here.