Orphan Crafts

Many of the orphans at the special needs orphanage that we go to are unable to read and write, but they love to make crafts. Sometimes they ask us for some things we are unable to purchase for them because it is more expensive than we usually spend for their birthday or Christmas. We would like to give you the opportunity to help these children to get some things that are not provided by the orphanage, but that they would like to have. Several orphan groups gave us some items that they made which we could give you in exchange for a monetary gift. We would use the money to purchase a gift for their group or the individual who made the item.  We can not really put a price on these items since they were all hand made, but we will put a suggested minimum donation which includes shipping cost.  If you are interested in any of the items below, please contact us at Motovilov6@aol.com.

Bead Pictures - $18 - SOLD

1.  Pineapple bead picture.  The tiny beads are hand sewn on to create the picture.  

2. Grape bead picture.  

A pink flower bead picture is still available.

Pictures from painted seeds - $8

3.  Kangaroo seed picture -SOLD

4. Squirrel picture. 

5.  Bear picture she made. - SOLD

6.  Wolf seed picture. - SOLD

7. Flower with girl.

Crocheted pot holders - $20 - SOLD

9.  yellow and maroon pot holder - SOLD

10. blue and yellow pot holder - SOLD

Stuffed Dolls - $40

One of the teachers of the boys classes wanted to give something she had made to get some money for her group.  It takes her about a month to make each of these dolls.  They are all hand made.  The boys in her group have special needs.  Some of them have Down's Syndrome.    

11. Doll with orange hair

12.  The doll above is Masha from the Russian cartoon Masha and the bear.  -SOLD

13.  This orange cow is also being held by the teacher in the picture above.

Paper Mache Painted Plates - $10

14.  Fir tree with design along edge. - SOLD

15.  Cherry tree

Cross Stitch Pictures - $20

16.  Man on horse cross stitch

17.  Dog hand stitched picture.

Hand Stitched Napkins - $15

18. 

red and black stitched napkin

19. - SOLD

Clay painted figures - $5 each

20.
alligator, dinosaur, turtle, Saint Nicolas, cat

Woven Crafts

21. Hand woven rug- $20 

22. Woven table runner and coasters - $20 - SOLD

23. Coasters and mat for tea made from straw- $15 - SOLD

24. Pot holders made from reeds - $5

25. Braided rug - $15 - SOLD

26.

Fairy tale creature from Russian folk lore (Domovoy) made from burlap and embroidered with beads and other decorations - $20

27. - SOLD

Harvest

We thank God for giving us a good harvest this year.  One thing we planted was sunflowers.  There are many people here who enjoy eating sunflower seeds.  Anna and Marina, two of the orphans who stayed with us were excited when we told them they could take sunflower seeds with them when they went back to the school.  

 Alex and Nicolas enjoyed sitting in the wheelbarrow with the sunflowers.

 By the time we were done, they were piled up with sunflowers.

 Valera's parents have enjoyed helping us in the garden this summer.  Valera's father also helped Valera  with a lot of other building projects including the playground and fence.

 Zarina and Alex helped pull the very big red beets.

We also had a big pile of Carrots.
Some other things we grew that I don't have pictures of are potatoes, pumpkins, peas, yellow beans, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, strawberries, raspberries, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, spinach, salad, and eggplant.  We thank God for a good harvest!

Winter in Russia

Winter brought a lot of snow! We had some very cold weather -22 F for about three weeks when the sun shone but it didn't snow. We are thankful for the warm house that God gave us! Below is a picture of it with the piles of snow around it.

What do you do if you don't have a sled? These boys found a big piece of metal and they were all trying to ride down the hill together on it.
Alexander loves all the mountains of snow that are piled up from plowing. Whenever he sees one he wants to climb it.
All three of our children have had fun playing in the snow.
Zarina and Alexander dug a rabbit hole in the yard. Alexander is standing in it. Yes, that is how deep the snow is on April 7th!
The snow started to melt, but then we got another snow storm with about 4 more inches of snow. We will have a white Easter. :-)

Winter in Russia

Winters in Russia are Cold! In part of January and February we had about a 3 or 4 weeks when the weather was -22F. The nice thing about it is that the sun shone brightly during those days.

For New Year's Holiday, they usually put snow in the center square and make some snow sculptures and places for children to climb and go sledding. Below is our family near the snowman sculpture they had there this year. Yes, it was cold which is why all you can see are our faces. (not -22, but still cold).

Have you ever had a cookout in the middle of winter in the snow? Russians like to have cookouts any time of the year. Below is a picture taken from our kitchen window of Valera and his parents grilling some sausages.
At the bottom of this steep hill if you look closely you will see Alexander. Yes, he bravely went sledding on this hill by the river.
Zarina and Nicolas went on a smaller hill close by.
These men were ice fishing. We didn't see them catch anything, but there were several people ice fishing that day.

It has started warming up again, although it is still below freezing and we've had some more snow this past week. Alexander wanted to help Valera shovel the snow from the driveway. When he came back inside, I asked him why he was shoveling snow off the driveway. He said because there was a lot of snow there.
Zarina and Alex went sledding at a park with our previous neighbor and her children. Nicolas and Maude were at home because they were sick. There was a swing made of wood there.
Behind Alex you can see the long slide they had fun on.
Here is a picture from the top of the slide. It curved around part way down.
When it starts getting warmer and the snow starts melting, it makes it difficult to drive and easy to get stuck. Valera got stuck near our house 2 times. The first time was at night and he had to get a tractor to pull him out. Below is a picture of the other time more recently.
Here he is trying to dig away some of the snow. He had to jack up the van and put a board under the tire to get out.
We trust you are staying warm wherever you are. We are looking forward to spring although it will be another month or two before all our snow is gone.