Cracking ourselves up!

Tonight we decided we are going to give you some thing that each one of us has done that made the rest of us crack up.

The other night at team meeting we were very tired, and trying to get done quickly. Becky was giving the night devotion, and we look over and Marca is slouched on Autumn's bed. We immediately started giggling, but Becky continued...at the end, Stephanie was trying to be funny when she said, 'Marca, do you want to pray?' She sat straight up...replied yes, and prayed the most beautiful, on topic prayer. We could not stop laughing...then the next morning when we were still laughing about it, she had no recollection. :)

Last Sunday when we went to church, Olga (our Hopechest rep), had said we didn't need to wear long skirts because it was so cold and we would be walking a lot. Melanie and Becky decided they would still wear their skirts, but Melanie's was really, really long...and it was snowing...by the end of the day Mel's skirt was so dirty and wet from Kirov streets that our translator, Valerie, took her skirt home with her to wash it.

Today we went down to the river before meeting the kids. The river in Velikoretskoye is special because an icon of St. Nicolas was found on the riverbank. There is a pilgrimage every year in June on foot from Kirov to Velikoretskoye with the icon. Some believe it has healing powers, and there is a holy spring to give you good health. Earlier today when we were there, Becky opened the door to the holy space and ripped it off its hinges...yikes!

Everyone is loving the sweet rolls that we have at meal and tea time! Rich is especially loving them...so much so that he is eating more than one in the morning when we arrive. This morning when he was on his second one he bit off a chunk of the side of his cheek. He has been wearing shorts in the gym and not changing before we head home, but tonight we had to stop at the store for water. The store workers were whispering and pointing as he walked by! Not a normal sight you would see in November in Kirov!

Stephanie is an amazing team leader! She has guided us through so many situations...her knowledge and love of the Russian culture is obvious. But.....it became abundantly clear on day 1 that she is not a cheerful riser in the morning. After the alarm went off and Autumn got out of the shower she tried to gently wake Stephanie a couple of times before she finally got up and headed to the shower without responding to Autumn's comments. When she came out of the bathroom she said, "Ok, I can say Good Morning now, I have had my shower."

When it comes to planes trains and automobiles, miss Autumn has been dubbed with the name narcoleptic. Why you may ask? Well it all started with the plane ride where she spent at least 6 of the 9 hour flight asleep straight! She could not sleep on the train however. I guess even narcoleptics can't sleep sometimes. We are hopeful for the train ride back to Moscow on Saturday! She quickly redeemed her narcoleptic reputation when we were heading to church Sunday morning via public transportation. We were only on the bus for a short while, but Autumn managed to fall asleep right away...it was not only a eyes shut snooze, but a full on head sag, eyes shut, mouth slack sleep! She followed that up by easily sleeping on the bumpy bus ride twice a day, every day to and from the orphanage. As she describes it, she can even sleep when it feels like her head is in a paint shaker! So on the plus side, Autumn is getting a lot of sleep...on the down side, we think she's probably gonna need to get checked out by the doctor when she gets home!

We do recognize that we have not talked about the kids yet, but to that we want to say when a team in ministering to kids in this way it is so important to be truly united as a team working together. This late in our week, it is becoming more and more evident that our time is so short and every single one if us is needed to love our kids! 

So now onto the kids...we are having so much fun being with them in all aspects, but especially during free time. Drawing beautiful pictures. Playing epic gams of pioneer ball, like volleyball but you catch the ball and throw it over the net. Teaching soccer and basketball fundamentals. Still making a ton of bracelets. Playing UNO. 

But our favorite? The amazing moments of quiet with just a few kids to talk. Our conversations are incredible. Hearing their dreams for the future. Learning about their friends. Talking about music. So many precious memories to take home with us!

Today is lesson, all Stephanie had to lead with was, 'There were 10 men with leprosy...' and every single age group finished the rest of the story about Jesus healing the 10. The wonderful thing about that was how much time we were able to spend on talking about being on the outside of a community, and what that feels like. Then more time on how joyous they were, and the one who came back t say thank you. Each kid wrote down 5 things they are thankful for and there were some very beautiful thoughts. Thankful for life. Thankful for friends. Thankful for America friends. Thankful for caregivers. Thankful for breathe...life...happiness.

Our last full day is with the kids tomorrow...please be praying for us extra hard! We can hardly believe the week has gone this fast, and are lamenting saying goodbye. Each time we have a team here it seems like we fall more in love with our kids!