Showing Off

Speaking of performances, our boys are not to be outdone! At our recent MK School Open House they were able to strut some of the stuff they have been working on... no not math, not reading, not art or science... body-building! Here's a shot of Uncle Larry's Mighty Men after their first quarter of intensive physical training. Saiah demonstrated a weight-lifting technique, Eli did the splits, and Zeke did 30 push-ups. We were all duly impressed!

Don't worry, they have also been toning their minds. Our two fellas stood up and recited about 2/3 of Luke chapter 2 (we're working on that last 1/3 this week). They also acted in a play called "The Fourth Wiseman" which their teacher wrote and directed. Good stuff! Of course now they are on Christmas break and all they want to do is sit around and play the gameboy...

Our Little Teapot

Here's our newest performer, Eden Glory, singing "I'm a Little Teapot" during the recent Christmas Open House at our MK school. She already has her next gig lined up - a special English performance for her kindergarten's New Year's Eve ceremony! In the meantime she continues to refine her dancing and twirling around the house. I even caught her the other day singing into the brush, "I am little and I am cute."

Usually that is true, but she also knows how to push our buttons sometimes! I've never known a slower eater... or toothbrusher... or dresser... or bedmaker... or toy picker-upper. Her favorite song lately at bedtime is "Lord, You Are." Singing it night after night after night we have begun to play with it a bit, like "Lord, You are more beautiful than pink pajamas" etc. But my favorite part is the chorus, where instead of "exalt" she sings "I exhaust You" over and over. I have to admit that sometimes I am exhausted, but she sure is little and cute too!

Meatlovers

Some days it seems we are back in the Middle Ages... one neighbor pays us back with a cow, another friend gives us a sheep, and all I can do is take the rope, smile in a bewildered "what am I supposed to do with this" kind of way, and say thank you! Thankfully another neighbor is an expert at butchering sheep & goats (not a cry or a drop of blood!)... unfortunately he can't do cows. But somehow we round up a crew of young guys and manage to quarter it just after sundown, fingers frozen to our knives (we are already -30s and it is NOT even winter yet!).

The next stage is thawing a quarter at a time so that we can butcher it into steaks, roasts, hamburger, etc. (notice I gave all of the organs, head and feet away to grateful Mongolian participants!). Larry is our Head Butcher, but we all got into the action... some of us more than others ;) Our kids didn't even flinch. Nothing like the feel of good meat between your fingers...

Trick or Treat

This year we splurged and bought cool costumes while in the "big city!" Meet our lil' ninjas and sweet princess! We had a little get together after walking around to each of our teammates' apartments (that didn't take long). Then we enjoyed some cookies and watched "The Great Pumpkin" at the Cutlers' (the wonderful couple who is filling in for a couple months teaching at our MK school). That's pretty much it... and then wearing the costumes again and again for the next several days!

Kindergarten 1st Quarter

Our school has completed the first quarter and wow was it fast. We have gotten a good start on the year, letters and numbers. Uncle Nghia came into take school pictures and got a great one of our class. Note in the boys' hands are their names. We have worked hard to get the kinders writing their names well and for open house we made signs with our names. Everyones' progress is steady and good; it has been a good but challenging first quarter.

I am so pleased the way God continues to prepare me for homeschool my three next year once we have moved. Starting with kinders and 1st grade is a great way to feel out teaching and get familular with the curriculum since next year I will have Zeke in 5th grade, Saiah in 2nd and Edie in kinder!

and Mountain Tops

By the fourth day of paragliding we were feeling pretty good. Unfortunately it got REALLY windy so we couldn't fly... couldn't even do much ground training! We tried for awhile, but between the rocky ground and getting pulled backwards (yes, I did a few backward somersaults) we soon called it quits. Thankfully we were able to borrow a couple wings to practice our kiting up in Darhan. Hopefully in November we will have a chance to go back and tackle a small mountain or two!

It's getting cold (0F last night), but frozen ground means no upward thermals and smooth sailing for beginners like us. Someday, though, we will seek out those thermals and higher mountaintops!

Blue Skies...

Larry and I began "flight school" for paragliding this past week. There is a club in UB south of town, with a nice ger camp next to a mountain and small river. The first 2 days were mostly introductory theory and ground training - practice controlling your "kite" while on the ground (except when I flew over a guy in a really strong wind). It's harder than it looks! Kind of like trying to hold 30 kites steady over your head, with about 100 strings attached to 5 straps for each hand.

On the third day we started with some small hills. All together we did over 40 of these small flights - about 2 minutes of graceful flight followed by 470 steps back up the hill. Who knew paragliding was such a tough sport!?

O little town of Hovd

Hovd is only a town of about 30,000 (10% Kazakh?). We didn't spend a whole lot of time investigating the area. We were in the local market a couple of times, got to know the main strip through town pretty well, and even went on a small road trip to a countryside Kazakh town about 30km away.

We didn't even spend much time looking at construction and building materials... although I did hear that you can build a decent sized one-story house with about 2,000 clay bricks ($500). We didn't see a single bale of straw...








Most of our time was spent on the northern end of town visiting Kazakh homes and going to meet with local officials. We had lots of great contacts with leaders and teachers, met a few farmers and herders and business folks, and discussed all kinds of living issues with all kinds of Kazakh folks in Hovd.

The Long Way Across

Finally some pics of the trip! Here's a couple of our favorite shots from the road... that long, winding dusty washboard road! Actually it was kind of fun to drive... didn't really matter if you stayed on the road or not. Thanks to God we never needed helmets or seatbelts (since our van doesn't have any)!



It was kind of like driving across Alaska and back, but without any of the trees, rivers or wildlife to look at along the way. There were lots of camels though, and plenty of shades of tan...

We camped out one night - set up in the dark, fried up a couple burgers, and our director (Phil) even slept out under the stars! He was really cold, and had to chase away a few horses so as not to get trampled, but he did it!



We did see a couple nice perennial snow-caps (about 4,000 meters), but Larry didn't bring any of his ropes... maybe next time.



Coming soon - a few pictures of the town.

Schoolroom

Some how the time thus far teaching has flown by! We have just completed our 5th week of classes we all seem to be thriving! I am so pleased with how my classroom has come into shape and there is something for everyone. Here we are just this last Friday both working at our math and then having fun with science. The table you see us all over is full of sand, basically a sandbox inside. We used it to make our volcano, which was a success when it, not just erupted, but exploded upwards getting me with vinegar. What a hoot!!!

Mongolia Field Forum

Not long after coming back to Mongolia we participated in our annual team retreat, where we prayed together, played together, and planned together too. This is a picture of the kids' program. We stayed in a very nice wooden ger, climbed some beautiful hills (with trees!), and even rode a horse or two... Zeke rode one of them side-saddle for over 100 yards hanging on for dear life! It was a great chance to worship and fellowship with teammates - some of whom we hardly ever see! And then we came home and got to work - organizing the house, preparing Krista's classroom, and making plans for the year in our community.