A really, really great night

You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever. Psalm 16:11Sarah Beth and her friend Rachel at last night's performance of Bella Notte.
Sarah Beth and Min make the sign for our family.
Alto power rules at Bella Notte last night at Hinkson Christian Academy here in Moscow.

Last night was probably one of the best nights we've had since moving to Moscow. Sarah Beth takes a choir class at Hinkson Christian Academy here in Moscow, and this weekend was their performance of Bella Notte (beautiful night), which was just fabulous. As you can tell from the pictures, the theme was top chef, and the music was so fun. She has made tremendous friends at HCA through the choir program, and we had such fun watching her have such fun. We also got to spend the night without our smaller children (an actual babysitter had them!!!), and we sat at the table with our friends Ed and Teri (Ed is the strategy associate for all of Russia, which means he's in charge of the work here for our company), Jeff and Karla (our beloved friends and team leaders), and Tiffany (a journeyman on our team). We laughed and joked and had a wonderful time. By the time we got home, we had just had a wonderful night. We did not manage to get Hannah home--she spent the night at Jeff and Karla's with Abby, her closest friend here--but the other two were glad to be home by the time we arrived.

I have no deep meaning to attach to this evening, no spiritual allegory in which I can compare our evening at Bella Notte to something Jesus did. However, I can tell you that I think these kinds of evenings are such blessings from God for us. They are encouraging and fun. We have friends to have fun with, a place that is ministering to our children, so many things to be thankful for as we look at six months here on the field. Russia is such a hard place. The people can be difficult to love. The climate is hard. The city is huge and impersonal. The language is beastly. Life here will never be "easy" like it was in the States. But there is fun to be had. There are deep friendships already with our colleagues. And as we learn more and more of the language, we can begin to see a way for this to be home. I cannot imagine being somewhere else right now. I know from others who have lived here that there will not be a morning where we wake up and suddenly things are easy for us. But I also know that there will be a morning where we wake up and realize that we are home. Evenings like last night bring that morning closer and closer.

Well, it's time to get breakfast done and get to church. We are taking the kids out to lunch after church at TGIFriday's, a gift from family. We are really looking forward to it! Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you are looking forward to a great day in the Lord's house, and that you are grateful for the fun in your life. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye