I am home

A girl and her daddy. I realize most people's "prom" pictures don't have high-rise apartment buildings in the background, but most people don't live in Europe's largest city, either. I love this picture...not only because my daughter is so beautiful, but also because my husband is so good-looking. Wow!

O taste and see that the LORD is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! Psalm 34:8

I have nothing big to report this morning. It is already 10 a.m., and John-John and Marc are still asleep. We are absolutely exhausted from our time with the team from Mobile, but it is a good exhausted. We had a wonderful time with them, especially Sarah Beth, who traipsed all over Moscow, interpreting for them, reading for them, showing them things, and just generally being a big help. Of course, the group isn't much older than she is, so she had lots in common with them. It's always fun to do ministry as a family--much more fun than when I stay home with the kids and Marc goes and does something on his own. Sometimes, that's the way we have to do it, just because of logistics and school, but when we can all be involved, it's even better. I'd say it's one of the great joys of the mission field--ministering as a family--but it's also what we enjoyed most about Passion Play at home in the States. It was something we were all involved in, something we could do together for God. Nothing is better than that. If you haven't found some kind of ministry your whole family can be involved in, I really encourage you to look for something to do together. It builds your family like nothing else.

A good part of our week was swept up in dealing with the flood. Our neighbors have pretty much calmed down, and we think everything is basically dry now. One of the hazards of a high-rise apartment building is that when something happens in one place, it happens below that place, too. It's just one more thing to get used to, but I think we pretty much have. The other night, when the European Football Championships were in Moscow, I didn't watch the match between Manchester and Chelsea, but I could follow right along with the thousands in my building who were watching, because they yelled so loudly at every goal, foul, whatever. It's part of living in an apartment.

We did get to see a friend of ours from training, someone who lives in another part of the world but was in Moscow for a few days. Such fun! There is something about those folks you went through FPO with, something special, a bond that doesn't break. We caught up on news, on what she is doing where she is, on the dangers and joys of her job, what she is thinking of doing next. She's an extraordinary young woman, someone we love very, very much, and it was a great blessing to be able to hug her, talk to her, and see her beautiful smile. God is so good.

I am scared to say this out loud (or write it out loud?), but it's been a while since anybody in this house has asked when we could go back to the States. It's been quite a while since I even thought about it. We have been here nearly 8 months, we have settled in, we have made some friends, we have made a niche for ourselves...it's hard to think about being anywhere else. Of course, there are still trials and tribulations, but so much of my life here seems normal to me--things that seemed anything but normal 8 months ago. Riding the metro, walking everywhere, carrying my groceries, understanding only about 50% of what is said to me...none of these things seem odd any more. Now, they are just an accepted part of my life. One of the things that is such a blessing about volunteer teams is that we get the chance to see the world we live in through their eyes, and it helps us gauge how far we've come in a specific amount of time. For example, we had the team from Texas here in February, so that was only three months ago. In those three months, we have all made giant strides in speaking Russian. I watched Sarah Beth at one of the venues speak very confidently to an older woman. I watched her help order at the various restaurants the kids went to along the way. I realized after talking with an older gentleman about who the group was that I had not only understood all of his questions about them, I had also been able to respond to each question appropriately. When did that happen? Even with the angry neighbors and the flood, I knew mostly what they were saying and how to respond. And Marc? Don't get me started about how great he is at the language. Marc was the one most concerned that he just wouldn't be able to learn Russian. He believes himself to be a substandard student (not true at all, by the way), and he was so worried he wouldn't be able to do this. But he speaks better and understands better than anyone else, and he can hold his own with any Russian who comes his way.

An interesting side note about Marc, and I guess about me, too. Something weird has definitely happened to us, and we really only noticed it this week. Marc came to me at some point, sort of stunned-looking, and he said, "Kell, I have turned some sort of corner here. One of the kids just asked me what I did here in Russia, and I told him I was a church planter. I didn't say I was the media guy, but I instantly responded that I was a church planter. Isn't that weird?" The going wisdom in our company is that everyone in Russia, no matter their official title, is a church planter. That may be the idea, but I don't know how much Marc and I have bought into that until now. Always before, Marc would carefully explain that his job was to support the missionaries, to be Luke to their Paul, but never really seeing himself as Paul. Since we have been involved with English Club and different ministry things going on here, our feelings about that have changed. Suddenly, we see ourselves as church planters. We feel like church planters. We are church planters. And while that may not mean a lot to you, to us it means that we are settling into who we are now, seeing ourselves as missionaries, embracing who God has called us to be here. We are home, not just someplace we're scheduled to be for a few years. Does that make sense?

Well, I should go. Sarah Beth is heading to school and would like to check her email, John is finally up, and at some point, I should get Marc up and moving. We have a choir concert to attend this afternoon at Hinkson, so we should probably bathe at some point. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you are settling in to who God called you to be, and that you are ready for your husband's fortieth birthday party on Monday! Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye