Home Sweet Home!

She is here! We have waited a long time to bring our girl home. God gave us His heart, He provided the means, He heard our prayers and taught us how to seek Him more deeply. Her name is Eden Glory. "Eden" means delight, and so does her Mongolian name "Bayasaa." She is adjusting well beyond our expectations and she is truly a delight. But our greatest delight (and glory) remains in the love and faithfulness of our great God - Father to the fatherless and Redeemer of His lost children!

Third Time a Charm?

This was our third visit with Bayasaa. We didn't have any "officials" with us this time, so we could stay and play for as long as we wanted! It took about 30 minutes for all the kids to warm up to us...and then we were flooded, especially Zeke! We were also able to meet with Susie, our social worker from Holt, who hopefully made some headway with the "higher-ups." We are praying that the final committee will meet this week. Bayasaa's birthday will be March 16th...

Fine Lookin' Fellows

This is my crew! In the back (left to right) there is Munko and Olambayar, our maintenance guys, and Sansar, the newest addition who has begun researching cultural traditions related to funerals and death (tough first job!). In the front we have Dawaa in the middle, my "right-hand man" and good friend, and then Saihnaa and Gerlay on the ends, who have driven three water wells and will begin implementing the slow-sand filters they've constructed next week. Right now, though, we are all dressed up and ready to welcome the new Mongolian year. Happy Tsagaan Sar!

The Big City

Relaxing AND stressful. What a pleasure to stay in a nice highrise, surrounded by an assortment of restaurants and cable TV, for a few days. And yet, the traffic and chaotic errands add heaps of frustration. But best of all we were able to visit Bayasaa again. We continue to hope and pray that the final committee will approve us in the next couple weeks...

Boys Will Be Boys

Growing up with two sisters there are just some things that Krista will never understand about little boys. Why does everything, from sticks to toast, turn into a gun? What is the fascination with small cars and mini-soldiers, ALWAYS crashing or fighting? Why do they feel the need to jump from several steps up on our ladder/stairwell, at great risk to life and limb? And why in the world would Saiah put his underwear on his head and run around his preschool class? Well, at least his teach thought it was hilarious. For obvious reasons we will not include a picture with this blog...

Christmas Blur

That week of Christmas was such a blur that I forgot we had pictures! Here I am entertaining the crowds. It was fun to tell new people about the amazing (and somewhat strange) birth of Jesus...especially because there are so many similarities to Mongolian culture. The signs and wonders of Jesus' birth marked a humble yet glorious destiny far beyond even that of Chingis Khan. Long live the King!

Shadows of Dreams

Land of the blue sky...and icy toes. It is now -20s (a mild winter) and I finally pulled out my thick wool socks. I may even need a scarf soon! I like this picture because it sums up our city and much of Mongolia. There is a huge post-communist infrastructure...that flour factory in the distance is HUGE, and very empty. Many of the development efforts are now hollow "monuments to failure," a sign that the Russians forgot to invest in the most important things - people. So many Mongolians continue to set up and survive in their traditional gers, living in the shadows of their industrialized (now computerized) dreams. May God grant Mongolia peace and self-respect as it struggles to become like other nations...

Family Christmas

Once our 2-day "Birth of King Jesus" extravaganza was over we were able to relax in our own home over Christmas break. Of course several of us had colds and our house can be a small space with two boys, but it was a pleasant and refreshing time overall. This is our candlelight carol session (right before the unwrapping frenzy). Now we are back to work and school, with our minds full of exciting goals for 2007 and our hearts full of passion to share our King.

Our Little Angel...

This is Zeke, our oldest son (6). His English school did a small Christmas program, and here he is playing the angel Gabriel. Isn't he sweet?! Of course the next day, when I asked him to stand up with us in church and sing a praise song, he responded, "It's my life and I can do what I want." Thank you, Disney. Upon later discussion we discovered that is a quote from "Mighty Ducks 3," and that our lil' angel has a photographic memory when it comes to cartoons and movies...

Our team

Over a year ago our team in Mongolia was down to four people...now look at us! And most of the bigger kids are away studying in Taiwan! We are truly blessed to have each of these special people. Sure, sometimes it is difficult - gender, age, culture, personalities, etc. On our team we have brothers and sisters who have been born in the U.S., Canada, Korea, Vietnam, and South Africa (plus Isaiah was born in the Philippines!). But we are all citizens of Heaven, striving together to bring others home through Jesus.

Lookin' like Christmas

Well, it's been white for quite some time now, but we just put up our Christmas decorations this weekend. The boys had a blast (notice all the branches decorated within their reach). Sure it's a 3-foot plastic tree (we put it up on a box to look taller), but there is just something about celebrating our King that warms the heart and lightens the spirit! We plan on inviting about 60-80 neighbors (over 2 nights) for a Christmas feast and to introduce them to the birth of our living Khan.

Mischievious

This is our youngest, Isaiah. You will probably notice right away his charming looks and the glint in his eye. His Mongolian pre-school teacher sure does! Every day she calls him a "mischievious little boy" with delight. Mongolians, like most cultures, think that naughty boys are adorable and obedient helpful girls are a blessing. Sometimes we aren't so sure! He always makes us laugh, though, and we certainly enjoy having an extrovert in the family.

Friends in the Family

I had a lovely trip to Baronghara yesterday (our first sub-zero day!). My partner Dawaa and I met with some church leaders to talk about ways the church can use projects to reach their community and/or better support their "elder." This is the "elder's" family...no, not the older man, and no not the husband (although he assists). Her name is Batjargal and her husband in Munko, and they have a lovely joy-filled family (even though their only income is grandpa's social security). Please pray for them!

Halloween for Jesus?

This is Bodio and Aruka. Bodio graduated with an English degree (at 19) and is now translating for CAMA. Aruka is studying Japanese...I'm not sure why. They were both a part of our community research team this summer, and they are both helping to lead the youth group here in Darhan. Here they are making pinatas. Why? Because we are preparing a Halloween party for English students. Mongolians already know about Halloween... all of the bad things anyway. As Christians we want these students to know that Halloween is really holy day, a day to laugh and celebrate victory over evil through Jesus. So that's what we'll tell them!

Toothless

Zeke lost his first tooth. Most Mongolians tease him that he "looks like a grandpa" now. I tease him that he needs to stop fighting at school. But he is thrilled. It hung in there for a week or two and then, of course, he must have swallowed it or something. So here he is writing the Toothfairy a note to explain the whole situation. And yes, she did leave him a nice dollar (is she American?) under his pillow from Grammie ... now Isaiah wants to lose his teeth.

Mongol funeral

I had the privelege to attend a funeral yesterday. We piled into cars and headed to the cemetery at 7am on a Wednesday (they must bury on Mon., Wed. or Fri.). It was neat to see how cleanly everything was prepared and the small traditions (sprinkling milk and seeds, piling white stones)...despite the cold steppe wind. It was a very special day because Tsingay was a Christian (notice the cross on top). The family, mostly "Buddhist," respected Tsingay and his wife Digit (in the wheelchair, with the orange blanket) and pastor Tsogoo was able to read and explain the hope we have in Christ (for 2 minutes). Unfortunately, not many who die in Mongolia share this hope...

Cooking

Here is a happy three-some, huddled over our one-burner making an evening meal. Zeke absolutely loves to cook...unfortunately, he almost always wants soup (that's what he has almost every day at Mongolian kindergarten). Saiah, on the other hand, just likes to watch and stick his fingers into whatever is close by. Oh, and notice the head chef's hot new haircut!

Thirsty

We've started a new venture in our little community this month - "driving" for water. I hired a young guy named Saihnaa, who is taking evening Bible courses, to research local materials and methods for drilling wells (our "western" method was difficult and expensive). So we started hand-drilling the first two meters (until we hit water) and then we simply put a pipe in the ground (with a point on it) and start pounding it down. This was our first well (we are now on our third and taking orders for more!), with Baljee and Gerlay doing the heavy lifting and pounding. Pray that 8-10 meters is deep enough for clean water, and that we figure out a way to keep the wells from freezing throughout our -30 winters!

School time

First week of school. For Zeke this is 'old hat' - Mongolian kindergarten in the mornings, English 1st grade in the afternoons (plus an hour with mom doing homework). Zeke is now counting by 10's, doing addition, and already starting to read with phonics! For Saiah things are still kind of new. His very first day he was so excited that he forgot to cry...but the next couple days he would scream 'mommy' or 'daddy' as his Mongolian preschool teacher kept him from attempting a desperate escape. Finally, after just one week, he has decided he is a 'big' boy and likes going to school. He likes the snacks and even takes his nap there! There is still time to get out and play with friends, though. Not only are the Bergevin girls cute, but they have horses too!

Meeting family

Over the weekend we visited the capital city where we met with our adoption agency worker, Susie. Much to our surprise, Susie took us to meet our daughter Bayasaa ("Buy-suh"). We all got a bit of time to play with her and at lunch time Saiah sat down next to her and asked for his food. Zeke was a bit more stand-offish at first. We were also surprised with the news that we may have first committee approval within the next couple weeks and then we can foster our daughter till the second committee approval comes through! We are thrilled with these developments (even if we did walk around in a daze the rest of that day). Change is coming fast and we could not be more pleased!!