Today is the church’s first picnic of the summer. We are out on the gulf of Finland enjoying the sun and fellowship with our friends. The picnic ended with a lovely thunderstorm which sent all of us running for cover. Fortunately it passed quickly and the sun returned.

Ramona and the kids getting their feet wet in the Gulf of Finland

Aaron & Timothy walking out to a sandbar in the Gulf

Abby playing in the sand

Hallelujah, the hot water is back on! Oh wait, we now have hot coffee coming through our pipes. I sure hope this is part of Starbucks entry plan into Russia.

The hot water has been off this week as a repair crew has replaced some of the old pipes in the building. For the next hour after turning on the water it comes out very dark. Oh the fun!

What is it about spring that is so much fun? For starters it is the flowers and lovely weather. Tonight we get to a little of both. We all walked down to the local hotel which has a large yard in front and smelled the tulips. Timothy made sure that he smelled each and every color of tulip. They were yellow, burgundy, white, red, pink, and multi-colored ones. It was also fun to see the different variety of tulips. Ah, the simple pleasures of spring…

The family n' yellow tulips

Abby and Tim playing in the grass

Yellow tulips

A lovely spring day in St. Petersburg with highs reaching nearly 70 degrees! Ramona and I decided to take the kids out to a park across town called Tavreichesky Sad. It’s a lovely little park with nice trail and decent a playground for the kids.

Timothy studying to be an accountant and practicing on his abacus.

Kids near a flowering bush.

On our way home we found this colorful bear and could not pass up the photo opportunity.

Today is our tenth year anniversary! The Lord has been so good to Ramona and me. We are so blessed to have each other for life.

We celebrated the day by taking a day off from the kids and dating like the old days. Ramona and I went out to the mall and enjoyed a few games of bowling, we shared a meal at a Mexican restaurant and even watched a movie together.

Marriage is such a blessing.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers out there.



Today at church we had a guest speaker by the name of Gayle Irwin. He is the author of the book, “Jesus Style” and a tremendous speaker. I highly recommend getting a copy of his book.

At long last our church’s new worship album is out. It is in Russian and is called “Into the Holy of Holies.” Anybody who would like to obtain a copy please contact me or leave a message under the comment section.

Ramona and I had the pleasant surprise of meeting a young lady, Masha, at our church who is from Petrozavodsk and was a part of the English language camps. She also spent some time in the states as a bible school student. Masha has spent much time with my parents in MN. What a blessing to see her again.

Abby is growing so quickly. Her hair is getting longer and it’s finally come to a point where Ramona can start to braid it. Admiring my daughter’s hair I had to snap a shot of her with braided hair.

Aunt Luciya as we call her in Russian is one of our more vocal neighbors. One of our first encounters with her happened in the winter when Timothy was young. She began yelling at us for not bundling him up enough. We have always taken her criticism light heartedly and over time we have developed a good relationship with her.

Luciya is crippled with a bad leg and a hand which is pretty much limp and very deformed. She has had a hard life. Her son disappeared several years ago and there has been no word from him since. She still holds out hope that he is alive.

Everyday Luciya walks her dogs about the courtyard. The kids love them and are always trying to touch and play with them.

Tonight Aunt Luciya let the kids each walk one of her dogs. What a blast they had walking them about the courtyard. Finally we got everybody together on the bench for a quick picture. With happy heart and smiles on their faces Timothy and Abby waved goodbye to Aunt Luciya and her dogs and came in for dinner.

A lovely spring flower growing in our windowsill. My wife has developed quite a green thumb. We have fresh basil growing and she recently planted lettuce and parsley.

On the way home form worship practice today Ramona and I decided to stroll through a local. As we walked we heard a band and then somebody speaking on a loud speaker. As we grew closer we realized that it was a graduation ceremony for Navy cadets.

Officer on stage displaying his war medals. He seemed to be the most decorated at the ceremony.

View of graduating class and podium with commanding officer giving his address.

Divers of some sort. I love the outfits!