Feeling like I should blog...

This Morning...

It is Saturday morning and Kellye and the girls have gone to Mega to shop and pick up a few things.  John and I are hanging out at the house for a few hours before we join some of our Russian friends who have invited us to a picnic this afternoon.  We treasure these invitations because they are tangible signs that we are being accepted into their everyday lives.  I cannot tell you how much we have enjoyed working with these young people each week and how much their friendship keeps us going some weeks.

Now, I must admit that I have been feeling a little discouraged as of late.  The details are really not all that important.  However, when discouragements sets in it is a hard feeling to shake...even when you can see external signs that things are looking up or that your discouragement is not really rooted in reality.  So, as you pray for us this week, please pray that God would help me work through this season quickly and that discouragement will be replaced with enthusiasm for our lives here.

We Finally Made It...

For months I have praying for us to just hold on long enough for September 1st to get here.  Why September 1?  Because that was a couple of weeks after the start of school.  That was the date I was praying that our lives would feel just a little bit easier.  And, you know what?  It does.  Thanks to some very generous gifts from people back home we were able to enroll our kids at Hinkson Christian Academy and have our first semester paid for.  Kellye is also teaching a couple of classes there to help defray the costs.  Why has this been so imoortant?  Well, I think the biggest thing is that this school is where all of the missionary kids in Moscow attend.  So, to be a homeschooled kid many times means that you get left out...even if it is unintentional.  It also provides tremendous social opportunities for our children who have not grown up in a home school atmosphere or on the mission field.  So, to be honest, this has released our family from feeling like prisoners in our own home.  Sarah Beth is playing on the girls' soccer team, Hannah is taking piano lessons and John-John is getting involved in Cub Scouts.  And, Kellye is getting to exercise her gifts as a teacher and is starting to have a ministry at the school in addition to all that she does for our family and through English Club.  So, this is a time to give praises for the changes in our lives.  Does that mean that every day is a good one?  No.  But it was not at home either, right?  Thanks again to all the people that are helping make this possible.

Football and Feeling a Little, No...A Lot, Home Sick...

For those of you who read this and know me pretty well you know that on most occasions I am a pretty happy guy.  And not just happy, but joyful.  I love living in Moscow.  I love the big city, all the different things there are to do and see here, and even riding on the buses and metro.  But last Saturday I was swept by a wave of homesickness that was pretty hard to overcome.  As you know, I am a nut about college football. (BOOMER SOONER!!!)  And at home my day usually started early by making a pot of chili and then watching CollegeGameDay on ESPN followed by 12 hours of football games.  Last year I missed most of the college season.  On a few rare Saturdays we were able to watch a few games during our field training in Richmond, VA.  But once we got to the field I was limited to watching the little game-tracker graphic on my computer with no audio or video.  In December our family purchased a piece of technology that allows us to watch American television through the Internet on my computer.  So, we were able to watch the bowl games and enjoy those, despite yet another Fiesta Bowl Sooner loss.   So, I had spent month looking forward to last Saturday.  We were gonna put ESPN up on the computer and watch GameDay and all the games into the wee hours of the morning.  And, as the show started, I stood in the kitchen and wept like a little girl for what was only minutes, but felt like hours.  I was so overcome by homesickness.  Silly, isn't it?  I was doing exactly what I wanted to do.  It was not that I was accustomed to being AT the games, I was watching in the kitchen just like I always do.  But I was so homesick and lonely.  I eventually got over it and was able to watch and enjoy the games and plan to watch the Sooners tonight.  But, this one little thing reminded me how much my life has changed over the last year.  In most ways I would tell you that it has changed for the good.  But, man, when homesickness and discouragement come, they come heavy and hard.

FaceBook

This past month I became part of the FaceBook generation.  If you don't know what this is, you really should try it.  It is an Internet tool for networking with family and friends.  Well, in the past two weeks I have made contact with and become reacquainted with friends that I have not seen or talked with in 20+ years.  It really has been amazing and such a tremendous blessing to me.  So, to all of my FaceBook friends, thank you for encouraging me over these past two weeks and making me smile.

Well, I had planned to tell a few more stories and share more with you, but the time of the picnic has just been moved up by two hours and I have to get going.

Blessings,

Marc