Family
As many of you know we’ve always wanted a family, and we found out a few years ago that Mike is unable father children. We’ve wanted to receive the family that God gives us, rather than ‘making’ it happen by our own will. The Lord promised Abraham a family, but Abraham and Sara were unwilling [...]
Many of you will remember Oksana, the orphan who lived with us several years ago. She now has a two year old daughter named Valeria. Oksana wanted for Valeria to be baptized, and she asked us to be the godparents and participate in the baptism, which was in an Orthodox church (hence the headcoverings). Valeria [...]
Continue reading about A Postcard from Russia — Valeria’s Baptism
The end of the summer is upon us, and now is the time of harvest and of looking forward. The apples, mushrooms and berries (and carrots, peas, cucumbers and potatoes) are plentiful. Last week we were at dacha again for Olga’s grandmother’s birthday; she is 77 years old this year. On that day, August 28, [...]
Continue reading about A Postcard from Russia — Apples, Mushrooms and Berries
Recently one of Olga’s distant cousins discovered an old photo of her ancestors. Here is the photograph taken at the Silver Wedding of Nestor Grootten and Olga von Klemm. The celebration took place in 1899 in Riga, where Nestor worked at the time. We are working on identifying everyone in the photograph. Maximillian, Orest’s father [...]
Olga just created a slideshow of a visit to Finland a couple of years ago. We stay at a small log cabin. The place has a playful name: Koppero, which means ‘hovel’ but it certainly is not. As you can see, it’s on a beautiful lake and has marvelous sunsets. We love it there and [...]
The following was written by a friend (Kim) whose daughter (Katherine) suffered a severe brain injury. Kim is traveling back and forth from her home in Georgia and her daughter’s home in California – ——————– One thing I’ve learned for sure living in Tinseltown is that all that glitters ain’t gold. The “Lifestyles of the [...]
Please keep this in prayer — on the way to church yesterday Olga’s mother, Tanya, was hit by a car. She has lost some teeth and has a concussion. The neurologist said that she’s OK, but some of her upper jaw has been damaged so that it will be difficult to implant teeth in the [...]
We went to dacha a few days ago. Olga’s grandfather Orest is not feeling well, and we brought him to the city to go into the hospital. He’s 90 years old and though his health is failing, his mind is still sharp. I took this video of a classic dacha moment. Orest is building a [...]
Can you tell that I’m learning how to post videos? Here are four short videos from our visits to Olga’s grandparents’ house. The Russian summer or country house is called the dacha (rhymes with gotcha). In usage we say things like, ‘I am going to dacha’ or, ‘how was dacha?’. These videos are pretty poor [...]
At the risk of offending some people by leaving them off, I’ll make a stab at giving a Russian ‘cast of characters’ to help minimize confusion – Mike Cantrell: uhmmmm, me Olga Cantrell: my wife, we married in 2001. She is the BEST! Tanya Yaskevich: Olga’s mother Alla Pavetic: Olga’s twin sister who now lives [...]
Continue reading about A Quick Guide to Russian Family and Friends
