Sledding

On Saturday we went to Haangite mountain to go sledding with some friends.  We rented a little room that had a stove and table in it so we would have a place to go warm up.  Oh, by the way, it was only -15 Farenheit.  We had lots of fun.  There has been lots of snow this year, so it was really hard work going up the mountain, like hiking through deep sand.  We stayed all day, until we couldn't feel lots of random body parts.  

  The Mongolians don't have much fear of injury, they had some sleds connected to each other like a train, 4 and 5 together.......Let me be on the back please, I don't want to be at the front when all the other sleds crash into the back of that first one!!  Then we saw several cars that were pulling sleds.......as we were leaving there was even a car pulling a sled full of children into an oncoming car, at least it wasn't moving fast!  Craziness.  There was also a horse drawn sleigh that looked lots of fun.  A great fun day......my toes are finally thawed out.

Party

SInce Mongolians celebrate New Year's instead of Christmas, we decided to have a party on the Sunday between Christmas and New Year with our Bible Study group.  The women in the group planned the whole thing and decided that they would bring the "real" food, and I could bring the "magical" sweet stuff.  I tried to keep with things they can easily get all the ingredients for.  I made Peanut Brittle, shortbread cookies, and Tony's favorite peanut butter cookies.  They brought a lot of food, some traditional Mongolian, and some not.  They had Hurshur (a fried meat pie), and something like a shepherd's pie, don't know what they call it in Mongolian.  One woman brought stewed chicken with rice, another made pineapple pizza that was really good.  It seemed that everyone had a very good time.  We are very pleased that there are so many families attending.  Two other families have young children that they are bringing with them.  One woman told me that she really enjoys coming to our study because we are close to the same age and have children their kids age.  It is exciting to have it going well, people are very interested in learning about the Bible and have even been bringing friends.  Please pray for these Mongolians and this study group as they come together.

Winter Shopping

I put these pictures up because this is just something you NEVER see in America, but we see all the time here.  SOme days I forget to take my camera with me on our routine shopping trips, but last week I remembered.  There were lots of people out shopping, getting ready for New Years.  They don't celebrate Christmas here, it is all about New Years......New Year gifts, New Year tree, and of course the New Year Party.  SO these guys are carrying their frozen sheep on their shoulder and then shoving them in their trunks.  While we were at the market I was watching one man try to fit his frozen carcass in his trunk and it wouldn't fit, so all these other people were standing around trying to help, of course frozen animal carcasses are not very flexible, so he was having a lot of trouble.  I wanted to get a picture, but with so many people around him, I couldn't get a clear shot.

In the wrong era

I am so excited, last night I made sausage, from scratch, for the first time, and it was good.  Sausage, Yum, I want to make sausage balls for Christmas, and we just recently found Bisquick, for the first time ever here!  Merry Christmas to us.......sadly weird, I know, but it is the little things that keep us going.

   Sometimes i think we live in the wrong era, we grind our own meat, bake our own bread, cook everything from scratch.........but admittedly sausage balls, and sausage pizza, are from more recent decades.  Yum......

  Merry Christmas

In the News

Tonight Eagle TV will be running a human interest story on our family.  There is a huge problem of human trafficking here in Mongolia (as with most all 3rd world countries).  About 4 years ago, after we had just arrived here, two girls ask to take their picture with our family, so we allowed them to.  Then a few months later our language teachers and other Mongolians would tell us that they had ween our picture on television.  Well, we had no idea what they were talking about, or how this could be.  So it turns out that somehow a "nanny" agency got our picture and has been using it as an advertisement.  They say we are a "european" family (everyone thinks we are German because of all the blonde) that has hired, and been very pleased with a Mongolian nanny.

ALL A LIE.  So now the company has been contacted, confronted, and people are trying to get to the bottom of this lie and get them stopped.  They are hiring girls under false pretenses and getting them out of the country to do, Lord only knows what.  The people are so desperate to get out of the country, especially the young people.  There is no industry here, very few good jobs, so the jobs that are available, are so heavily sought after there are many, many people seeking the same position.  So, girls are being hired by this "nanny" service, that is operating under a complete lie, hoping for a chance to get ahead in life.

Lots of Snow

This year winter has been warmer than normal, this week the highs have been hovering around 0 Fahrenheit.  We have had more snow so far this winter than any of our 4 previous winters, it has been at least a dusting of snow almost daily for the past week.  One great thing about the snow is that it is a natural air purifier, and knocks all the coal smoke and dirt out of the air on the way down.  Here is a pic of Mackenzie all decked out to go play outside (for about 5 minutes)!

Isaac Day

Today we are Praising God for our Isaac.  December 3 will always remind me of fear.  3 years ago today our son was 7 weeks old and stopped breathing in my husbands arms.  We spent 4 unbelievably horrific days in the Mongolian hospital with babies dying all around us, but God saw us through and got us to the best pediatric hospital in France.  While in Paris it was confirmed that Isaac had RSV, a serious respiratory virus that can cause babies to stop breathing.  He was on a ventilator for 13 days because while in the Mongolian hospital he contracted the psuedomonus bacteria in his lungs also.  All the while God was watching over us and brought complete strangers to us to help us find things we needed and even a place to stay, in Paris, for free!  God is SO good.  He promises that He won't give us more than we can handle, and when we think it is too much, we only have to hold on to HIM.  Isaac is such a delightful little boy who has brought so much joy and laughter into our lives, I am so thankful for him and can't wait to see what God has in store for him in his life.  Here in this picture he is wearing Mr. Potatohead's teeth.