The wedding day for Max and Stacia has finally arrived. The day is a lovely one and ceremony and activities when off without a hitch, or at least almost. There was the minor problem of the unity candle not wanted to light, so somebody stuck a match in the top and they lit it instead. I had the privilege of sharing at the wedding. The message I shared was in Russian, so it was a bit of a challenge. A few friends in the audience said that they didn’t have anything major to tease me about in my speech, so I guess that means it went ok. The message wasn’t for my friends, but for the couple in any case.

The couple caught up together in the wedding veil.

The couple posing over a local canal for a picture.

My lovely bride and me on the wedding day. There was a dress code of pink for the wedding in case anybody is wondering about my bright pink tie?!

Stacia and Max are getting married tomorrow, so today is dress rehearsal. As we arrived to the church there was a flurry of activity as people were getting decorations set for tomorrow’s big day. This young couple is renting one of the local Lutheran churches for their church ceremony. It’s a very simple, but lovely chapel. I will be speaking at tomorrow’s wedding and great privilege for me.

Stacia and Max explainng how the service should go.

Aaron standing pretending to give his message.

The flower girl – not really, but ain’t she cute!!

We have recently started a home group at our apartment. It is a great blessing to study the Bible together the young people of our church. So many of them are eager to learned and soak up the Word of God. What a privilege it is to be on this journey together with them.

Ramona and one of the guys having tea before our lesson.

Sunset the night of our Bible study.

Tonight a good friend and former colleague from work invited Ramona and I out for her birthday. For the past two years our Russian friend has been living and working in Spain. We enjoyed celebrating this special day with her. We hope to visit her in Spain for Christmas or at least sometime when it is cold in St. Petersburg. We have an open invitation which has so far gone unused.

Birthday girl and her boyfriend.


Birthday girl and another former colleague.

Today we are heading out to Pushkin to visit some friends of ours. It is a lovely day as we spent it walking through the park and eating watermelon. The kids have a blast. They also really enjoyed the commuter train ride there and back.

Tim and Abby riding on the train.

All of us hanging out at the park.

Tonight is our scrimmage with the local team. They are a great bunch of guys and are giving us five outs to their three and not counting three strikes an out. Even with all the handicaps they have given us we are still beaten by them. We did not get shut out however and scored one run.

Pitching to the opposing team.

Ramona up to bat.

Faking a slide back to first base.

Two mornings in a row I have taken pictures of Timothy’s train tracks. He builds them himself and comes up with some terrific creations. I am always impressed with his imagination and designs. This is by far his favorite toy.

In preparation for an upcoming scrimmage with a local team, our church youth group is having a practice tonight. Some of the guys have never played before in their life. We are going over the basics of throwing, catching and hitting.

Today Ramona and I have a babysitter and we decided to go rollerblading. The best place to go rollerblading in the city is in Palace Square near the Hermitage. There is a large paved lot which no cars are allowed to drive on. To our surprise there was a large concert going on to celebrate some famous singer’s fiftieth birthday. Though a lot of our skating area was closed off we still went to the square and skated around to polkas/waltzes that were being played by army bands. Still it was a lovely evening.

Ramona in front of the Hermitage.

A shot of the flag on top of the Hermitage.

The Hermitage with Port-o-Potties lining the foreground.