it's been a while since i updated this - sorry. it's always on my list to be better about that. we have only 5 weeks left of language school and we are working hard along with our teacher to cram as much in in this time as we can. it keeps us busy, but we are so grateful for the opportunity to do language here. we feel better equipped, in even just the everyday things of trying to buy groceries and get around the city. when we first got here, people would often stop us on the street asking for directions, and we would always stutter out something like "sorry, we don't speak russian" in our best russian of course. now, when people stop us, we can actually direct them to where they want to go! it's a really great sense of accomplishment to be able to communicate with people here.
i am feeling really great as far as the pregnancy goes, and i am so grateful for that! i am starting my 13 week and fortunately i never had to deal much with morning sickness. we had a great doctors appointment last tuesday and we got to see the baby just kicking it's legs and punching it's arms and doing what looked like headstands! it made me laugh so hard, and that made my whole body shake, and it would move around even more then. this is a pretty incredible thing to be walking through. we have a great doctor (she is israeli and has practiced medicine in israel and moscow) and she has been wonderful for us in this process. at my appointment last tuesday she did tell me that she wants me to rest more than i am, so i'm making sure that i make room for that. otherwise, everything is going great, the baby is healthy and growing very fast!
in the last month, tim and i got the opportunity to travel a little bit which was wonderful. hinkson had their winter break (a 3 day weekend) so we booked a quick trip to istanbul for the weekend with some friends just to rest and explore there.
this is the view of the blue mosque from the haggia sophia in istanbul.
three days after we got back from istanbul, it was our language school's spring break, so we met some dear friends, logan and heather, in rome. logan and heather are living and working in kuwait right now, so it was wonderful to meet friends so close to heart, so far from our homes.
here is me and tim on top of the dome of saint peter's basilica in vatican city overlooking all of rome.
the colosseum, which was spectacular, but actually smaller than i expected. my only context before this was "gladiator."
gelato in the sun in the famous plaza in vatican city outside of saint peter's basilica.
it was nice to be out of moscow for a short time and when we returned we felt refreshed and rested and ready to finish language school strong. it is very cheap to travel to so many different places from here, so we felt grateful to take a break from moscow and see some different horizons.
the break also allowed great time for brain storming about the chaplaincy that tim will be starting this fall (realistically this summer, and even now) at hinkson. we're really excited about that upcoming adventure and the Lord is just preparing our hearts more and more everyday.