Christmas Greetings 2012

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Счастливого Рождества Христова и С Новым Годом!

From our family to yours we wish you Peace and Love in a world full of darkness.

May you know the Light and Hope of Christ! 

Thanks so much for your prayers and support! It's hard to believe that our furlough year in the US is nearly half over! 

Summer of Transition

Have you ever said "Good-bye" to home, to everything familiar, to everything that you love? Knowing it will never be "home" again? This is a critical phase for kids who have grown up overseas, one that can leave them at worst embittered towards God, their families and America, or at least leave them more confused than the average teenager about their life and their faith. 

Thank you so much for investing in this critical transition for our kids and our family. You have not only helped us get to and stay on the mission field, but you have helped the children and family that have grown up there get re-integrated into American life. 

As Gillian entered college this year, our whole family was going through this transition with her. We determined to give our kids and our family the opportunity to do this transition as well as possible. God provided for Gillian to attend the "MK Transition" seminar put on by Barnabas International, and our whole family attended the only of its kind "Debrief and Renewal" seminar for whole families put on by the Missionary Training Institute. In the meantime we put 10K miles on the van!

Personal Updates:

Bill: is enjoying being able to "give something back" to a supporting church in Rochester, NY by mentoring and counseling church staff, and assisting the pastor with staff development from a spiritual formation perspective. He has also spoken at the small group leaders' conference and gave the gospel presentation at this week's Christmas Eve service.

Priscilla: has done an amazing job making the missions house a home for us, and keeping the family on track as we learn a new routine and rhythm of life in the US. She participates in Community Bible Study and volunteers as a reading aid at a local city school and with various charitable projects at church as well.

Gillian: just finished her first semester as a freshman at Wheaton College (IL), enjoying her Education major, Bible and Spanish courses. She has lots of friends within the community of MKs and international students, but is enjoying learning more about America too. We visited her for Family Weekend, then she came to Rochester for Thanksgiving and now Christmas with other students from our supporting church here.

Karina: is a junior at Penfield High School and playing French Horn in the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (RYPO). She also has a fantastic horn teacher! In February she will be playing in the RPYO at Carnegie Hall in NYC! Between school, church and orchestra she is meeting lots of new friends. One of her tasks this year is beginning to discern whether to follow a career in science or music.  

Liam: goes to Bay Trail Middle School and is in 8th grade. This transition was particularly tough for him, but an enrichment program has provided some consistent relationships for him. He has enjoyed having a room of his own, riding bikes around the neighborhood or on errands, throwing an American football with Dad, and Christmas lights.

Olivia: is a first-grader, and loves everything about school and America. Everything is "the best ___ ever!" except when something reminds her of home in Russia. She cries for a while, but then dives fully into whatever is happening at the moment.