Yes we are still alive!

Well it's been forever.. we've had an interesting couple of weeks since camp. First our computer crashed which was so much fun to deal with - I never knew it was possible to have over 1100 viruses on your computer (this is WITH the latest Norton whatever anti-virus protection installed on the computer). So we are back in the world of cyber communication and I really.really.will get camp pictures uploaded.

One thing to pray about - a few days after the English camp ended we found out that the police were visiting the homes of almost every young person that had gone to the two different camps. In some cases the police stayed in their apartment for hours, searched through things and kept asking, 'what did they do to you? What did they feed you? Did you drink anything strange? etc. etc. We spent a tense few days expecting a police visit here at our home, but they never arrived. It has been very frustrating because technically the police are calling the Baptists here in Russia a *cult*, but technically in the laws they are given the freedom of religion etc. So anyway, James tried to talk with several of the parents and every single one was very grateful and thanked James for the camp. We are really praying that the police visits will not deter any of the youth from being allowed to come to the weekly Bible studies.

In family news - Caleb celebrated his 3rd birthday on the 11th!! I can't believe how grown up he is.. such a little man. The kids are doing great. We did have quite a traumatic experience Saturday - James was gone to the Pastor's meeting in Moscow so I took the kids for a walk. We were walking down the sidewalk when we heard a crash - I turned around to see that a large 18 wheeler type truck had gone up onto the curb and struck a baby in a stroller. The vehicle behind the truck just happened to be an ambulance so all we saw was the Mother yelling 'you killed my baby' as she ran with her child and jumped into the ambulance. When James got home that evening I told James I couldn't sleep until I knew if the baby was okay - so James said he'd go down to the hospital and check. (what James does for his poor emotional wife! :) Anyway, he found out the baby had miraculously survived (the stoller was completely crushed under the wheel) with only a concussion and scrapes. James then decided to go to the store and bought them a nice stroller. When he returned to the hospital with the stoller the other visitors had left the room and he got a chance to sit and talk with the parents for quite a while. Anyway, it was neat to see how God turned a traumatic experience for the kids (Rachel especially was very upset about the whole thing) and turned it into a way to share Christ with this family.