я не знаю, но Ты знаешь

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Psalm 46:10-11

I have learned how to change my keyboard to the Cyrillic alphabet, which keeps me from totally butchering the Russian language by trying to spell it phonetically. Marc uses it all the time, because he types rather than writes his homework. I can print in Cyrillic pretty well, but learning their cursive system has me stymied. I'll get it eventually, I hope--it's really, really beautiful, and I'd like to be able to write notes to people without looking like a five-year-old.

Anyway, the title above sounds like this: Ya nee znayou, no Tee znayesh, and translated into English, it says, "I don't know, but You know." I have decided this is my theme. When the girls and I went to the Central Baptist Church in Moscow yesterday for a women's event, it was the consistent phrase in every prayer--I don't know, but You know. As these beautiful women prayed aloud for their country and their countrymen, sometimes weeping, over and over they said, "I don't know, but You know." I think it touched me not only because I was thrilled to be able to pick up what was being said, but because it speaks to where I am right now in my transition. I don't know why God has brought me someplace that is so hard, but He knows. I don't know why I couldn't be somewhere where the transition would be easier, but He knows. I don't know why I couldn't stay where things were comfortable for me and my family, but He knows. He knows, and He is God, whose ways are unknowable and unsearchable. But someday, He will tell me, and together we will laugh at my incident with the coat tag, at my making chicken wings in the kitchen store, at my inability to pronounce the Russian phrase for "until next week." All of this will make sense to me then, and until then, I'm just choosing to have faith in the One who loves me enough to die for me.

We woke up this morning to a covering of snow on the ground. It really is quite pretty. We have such a pretty view from our kitchen window. The forest has a blanket of white, and the trees are all kinds of different colors--technically, this is still fall, though that seems odd since it's snowing. It is bitterly cold here--the high this week will not reach above freezing. You can imagine that our Florida babies are sure this is as cold as it can possibly get. WRONG! Muscovites think they're having a nice fall. :o) Maybe this is Indian Summer? Oh, well...we knew it was going to be cold.

Well, it is 10:00 in the morning, and only Hannah is up here. We stayed up late watching the new Veggie Tales that my parents sent through a volunteer team coming from Kentucky. We also enjoyed some JIF peanut butter. Really, really good stuff. When we were out yesterday, we noticed that several stores had Christmas decorations out. We saw the most beautiful Christmas ornaments in a kiosk in the mall at our metro, but since they were around $100-$150, I'm pretty sure we won't be purchasing any of those. YIKES! Can you imagine? I'm so glad we brought that kind of stuff with us. I should go make some kind of breakfast for Hannah. I hope you all have a wonderful day wherever you are, and that you continue to believe in the One who knows even when you don't. Blessings!
His,
Kellye