This Rugged JoyFull Home

I didn't know that autumn in Moscow could be this winter . How cool is that, literally speaking!  "Is it winter already? I thought autumn had just begun?"  I asked my friend last Friday as we prepared to leave her cozy kitchen after a refreshing ladies' group study on the book of John.  Too many take-aways this day from our discussion as with the weeks past.  As we said our goodbyes, I already planned on tackling my notes the moment I got back home. It's like finding nuggets of gold and you do not want to let go of your precious finds. Someday, when I grow up😊, I'll be able to share my learnings here, how privileged I am to be invited in this bonding of women "to stimulate one another to love and good deeds..." (Hebrews 10:24) and to pray for one another.  The smell of freshly brewed coffee made our meeting even more enjoyable.  " This isn't winter yet, wait till December and January. You'll see. This is just autumn." ...

( Note: If this is your first time on the blog, or have missed my first post about the topic on  family bankruptcy , you may want to catch the story here for a little perspective .) Who said that it's easy to share something about a story of family bankruptcy? Especially that of your own family? On the blogosphere? I mean, it's a lot easier to share only the note-worthy ones, the crisp and the glossy, and the filtered and the praise-worthy ones. But the messy and the stinky ones? The bloody ones? The ones that place you on a state of vulnerability? And haven't we been shoved enough social media drama on a daily basis? Keeping it REAL on our publicized world, admit it, is quite difficult. Because who would want to look stupid on the outside, to be judged, to be virtually mocked?  No one. But. There's a big BUT (to borrow my daughter's use of the word BUT as a conjunction on her other blog posts), in the light of eternity, it is always worth the risk and worth...

Kolomenskoye Park is a breathtaking  390 hectare scenery overlooking the Moskva River that was  used to be a royal estate located a few kilometers southeast of the city center in Moscow. I was given the privilege the other day of visiting this beautiful place and even tasted some honey at the Honey Festival which happens once every September at the beginning of autumn. Mrs. Svetlana, my Russian Language teacher brought all of the beginners on a field trip including Noah and myself to practice what we have learned in our class. Basic sentences like: Russian- " Я хочу купить этот мёд  в эту банку."  English- "I would like to buy this honey in this jar." Russian- " Можно попробовать этот мёд?" English- "May I try this honey?"   We rehearsed these dialogues in class and I felt more confident as we headed to the Honey Festival. Hopefully I'll be able to share more of what I've learned in my Russian class soon, but for no...