Harvest Party 2012

After last year's successful Harvest Party, my fellow missionary friend, Katie and I were looking forward to fall so that we could do it all again. We decided to move the party to an earlier date this year (October 4th) which ended up being a great idea! As you can see in theses outdoor photos we had beautiful weather and even sunshine! We decided to take advantage of the great weather and hold the costume photo session outside!

Since I live in the village, it is easier for me to obtain the props we need for pictures and decorating. This year, we wanted to go with a more 'natural' decor and we thought birch wood would be just perfect. Logn story short, after eyeing some cut down trees which were lying in the front yard of a house in the village, I saw that the family of a boy who attended Sunday school years ago had just taken delivery of a load of already cut birch logs. BINGO! I felt much more comfortable asking them if I could "borrow" some of their firewood and promised to bring it back in a few days. They agreed! The Lord also provided beautiful pumpkins through a new convert who planted way too many and was giving them away! The hay came from another family in the village who owns a few cows. Perfect!

I just love this photo!

My wonderful hubby caught on to what I was looking to do with the some of the logs and was so nice to drill out two holes for tea light candles! Thanks, honey!

An added bonus for us missionary wives was to find BURLAP! We realized we live in potato country but burlap had yet to be found. Go figure, I stumbled upon it one day when I decided to tag along with my hubby. We stopped at a store which he frequently visits that sells all sorts of "stuff". My purpose in going into this particular store was to find some parts for our son's robot costume. Not only did I find my "buttons" that I needed for the costume, but I found BURLAP! I had separated from my hubby to look around a bit and when I found him to share my excitement over my burlap purchase he replied, "Yeah, I knew they sold that here." Hmm, well, I was still excited!

Inside decorations

Once again we planned on this being a costume party. 

Dressing up in costumes is definitely a highlight for the kids!

I just have to share all of the costume photos! 

We shall start with our kids because, well, I like them the best. 

Our daughter - Susan from Chronicles of Narnia

I LOVE this photo of my daughter who is growing up way too fast!

Ryan - Our Ninja!

Timothy - our robot!
MOST CREATIVE COSTUME AWARD

He was SO excited about wearing his robot costume!

The paintbrush!

I think you can guess what this one was!
MOST FESTIVE COSTUME AWARD

Army Man!

The pirate!

A very appropriate costume - the clown!

Karate boys!

A cute little lady bug!

Little Miss Honey Bee!

Prince Caspian!

Pocahontas!

Pippi Longstocking
MOST FUN COSTUME AWARD

Mr. Policeman
CUTEST COSTUME AWARD

Last but not least - a cute little pea pod!

Brother and sister cuteness!

Once everyone's costumes had been judged, the kids changed into clothes they could play in and we all went outside to wear off some of that excitement and energy!

Sack races are great games to do just that!

This year I decided that these missionary kids need to learn what it means to "bob for apples" so that is exactly what they did!

These guys were the first in line and you can tell by the looks on their faces they just weren't too sure about this whole idea!

After a few kids trying to no avail to grab an apple, we had a "go-getter" that went in face and all!

I was enjoying the fact that a few of the parents were even shocked that I (being a nurse) would ever have the kids do something like this!

Priceless face!

Then, once again another winner...

...and another!

Next game on the schedule - pumpkin bowling. 

It looked really neat with the colored water bottles and the kids loved this game, but for me, being the one to set up and reset the "pins" every time, it took way too long. 

This game will NOT be on the schedule for next year!

Now, on to the food!

In addition to the coffee, teas, carbonated drinks, and water, a new addition to the beverage menu this year was hot apple cider which turned out deliciously!

We decided on soups in bread bowls again this year since it was such a hit last year. We have a lot left over but it is nice to have a variety of soups to choose from.

One of the ladies was asked to make this pumpkin shaped cheese ball as an appetizer and it was perfect - not only did it taste very good but it was a beautiful addition to the table decor.

We also enjoyed popcorn (even caramel this year!), nuts, trail mix and raisins which helps to hold everyone off until it is time for the meal.

Dessert for the kids was scarecrow cupcakes, while the adults enjoyed more grown up desserts such as pumpkin poppers and pumpkin crunch cake!

We had a "guess how many popcorn kernels are in the jar" contest for the adults.

And a "guess how many candies are in the jar" contest for the kids.

One of the last two games for the day was (in my opinion) one of the most exciting. The kids definitely thought so as they could probably be heard from across the street as they cheered each other on!

The kids were in pairs and they had to knock over the bottles of water and plastic bowling pins using a tennis ball which was placed inside the foot of a pair of tights that they wore on their heads. Sounds confusing, but it was hilarious to watch!

The last game of the day was a "build a scarecrow game". Without explaining all of the rules, the kids received bags of clothes and items and they had to work together while being timed to build their scarecrow. A few of them didn't quite get all of the rules so we had some confusion with this one but it was nice to see the kids working together.

This photo above made me laugh! 

The girls are attempting to "stuff" their scarecrow!

Teamwork!

The results were quite entertaining as well!

Team B scarecrow - the winners!

Team A scarecrow

Just a few days after our perfect Harvest party weather we received this...

October 10th

...and we were so glad it was time to start thinking about a white Thanksgiving!

Surprise!!!

The next big event on our summer calendar was celebrating my 40th (August 13th) and David's 42nd (August 15th) birthday. Usually, we go out on a date on the 14th to fit it in the middle and in order to prevent having to buy (and eat) two cakes! This year we had a wonderful surprise that we had never before experienced on our birthdays since we have been on the field (which I will share later in the post). As the calendar would dictate, my birthday fell on a Monday and David's was on a Wednesday. We were so looking forward to our date anyway and then because of something I saw at the mall the week before we were even more excited. The week prior to our date night I had met up with some of the ladies in the city for a brief shopping trip and as we were walking into one of the largest shopping malls here we saw this...

TGIFRIDAYS IS HERE IN SIBERIA!!!

I couldn't believe my eyes! We had visited one in Moscow but to have one all the way over here was so awesome.

So, we really looked forward to eating out and trying some barbecue ribs for the first time in, well, a very long time. The food was super yummy as we had hoped it would be and we returned home to celebrate with our wonderful kids.

On Mom's birthday, we buy a cake! Why not?!

My Love and I. (Please ignore the still unfinished house.)

The next day being Wednesday we prepared for our mid-week service as usual. I felt bad that we had nothing planned special for David after the service since his birthday fell on a Wednesday. However, David and I had noticed over the weekend before our birthdays, that our kids and a few of our Sunday school kids had some sort of plans that they were keeping TOP-SECRET from us!

Once the service had ended, Lena (Rita and Yosya's mom who we have told you about in previous posts) had the job of "stalling" us in the new house where the adults meet for services, while the kids prepared the old house (where the kids meet for SS and Wed. evening services) for a surprise party for David and myself.

Once the room was ready, Lena lead us and the other adults over to our old house to see what the kids were up to. We were welcomed by a loud "Surprise!" and little heads popping up all throughout the house. They had all worked hard to plan the party and make us a gift! What a blessing!

All of us all around the table.

As it worked out, I had made Ham and Cheese Stromboli and actually had some left over (a very rare occurrence) so we were able to warm it up and share with our guests for the party.

The kids asked Lena to make a cake for the occasion and she made this beautiful chocolate zebra cake!

I also received flowers from Rita and Yosya's grandmother. We are so touched by special gestures like this from her and are praying for her salvation. Please pray with us for Margarita's salvation.

Here is a closer look at the banner the kids made. Notice the "fish" symbol. 

It says, "Happy Birthday, Dee Dee and David!!!"

After the food and hot tea, it was time for our gift to be presented. The older girls brought out this...

It is a photo collage of pictures that the kids took themselves (except for the photo of us). Once they had all the photos they wanted,  one of the unsaved mothers took to them to the city to have them printed out...just for us! It was so touching seeing them go to all this trouble for our birthdays.

We ended the evening with an impromptu singing of a traditional song here which would translate, "It's a shame that birthday's only come around once a year." If I had known they were going to sing it I would have recorded it but we weren't able to catch it on video.

What an encouragement the young people were to us today! 

We are so thankful for our growing church family!