Enjoying The New Year

The group that celebrated New Year's in our home.

A week into 2012 and I’d say things are going pretty well.

We had a wonderful time celebrating New Year’s in our home with 21 other people. We enjoyed lots of games, lots of food, sparklers, and several of us spent three and a half hours trying to put a 1,000 piece puzzle together. We gave up at 5am and most everyone was asleep by 5:30.

This last week has been refreshing. Not only are we enjoying the hopes and expectations that come with a brand new year, it has also been the first normal week we’ve had since, um, forever. First it was traveling, then it was holiday guests and holiday schedules. But starting this week—at least for a little while—extra things seemed to have slowed down and we’ll get to focus our minds on actually being here.

Before the new year, Katie baked some sweets for our neighbors again, and we went around and said hello to those we had already met and introduced ourselves to those we hadn’t. We were invited in for tea to three of our neighbors’ apartments, and enjoyed getting to know them all a bit more. It was a lot of fun, and made living here feel even that much more like home.

Also, we used the collection from our combined assembly last month to buy Christmas gifts for the kids at the children’s home for the disabled, and yesterday a few of us went out there to deliver them. Due to sicknesses, we weren’t able to spend time with the kids, but we got to talk with the staff and are excited to know the kids will be enjoying their gifts.

Olya, Katie, and Vlad after we delivered the toys to the children's home.

This next week we’ll have a missionary from St. Petersburg staying with us while her visa is being processed in Kiev, and then the week after that the Hindmans finally return, which we are thrilled about.

So that’s a little bit about what’s been going on with us. We hope to return this blog to its regularly scheduled updates starting…now!