An Aussie ray of sunshine

The last week of April and the first week of May were very special for us. We had a visitor from Australia! Our children’s pastor and friend Katie came to stay with us for two weeks. The excitement of the children leading up to her visit was palpable.

Although the snow melted early this year, the weather stayed quite cool for all of April and May. To greet Katie on the early morning she arrived there was a shower of snow especially for her. No longer a novelty for us, it was lovely to see her pleasure at this sight!

It was also lovely that the green had started to surface just in time for her arrival. It is not uncommon for the buds to wait until the end of May to spring forth. We even had a few days without rain or snow to enjoy the outdoors.

 

The suspense was great as she presented a GIANT bag full of goodies and gifts from home. We were so blessed to receive things like quality, fitted sheets, school books, measuring cups and vegemite – things we can’t get here – plus so many other treasures to bring smiles to faces. I wish I knew who everyone was that gave stuff so that I could thank them personally, but just so you know, we are VERY grateful!!

I think the first few days with Katie here were a whirlwind. We visited a well-known village not far from Krasnoyarsk and a museum of a famous writer there. We got to see some of Krasnoyarsk’s beautiful Taiga landscape, and some of the city’s sights, as well as a trip to the ballet. Katie was also able to help us judge a school English competition and took part in the kids’ camp.

 

But the most special part of her visit was the time she took to dote on the kids. They felt so loved and special, as did we all. Especially when I felt unwell and got an amazing breakfast in bed!

 

Katie and the girls made an absolute spread for our delectation one night – a kind gift from some more wonderful people – and we ate things like cheddar cheese and rice crackers. The former is an extravagant purchase here, and the latter is impossible to find. It’s funny how the things we take for granted as just ‘ordinary’ can take on the powers of the extraordinary when we can no longer have them!!

The worst part of Katie’s visit was when she had to leave. It wasn’t getting up at 4am to take her to the airport or finding out that we could have slept longer when her flight was cancelled, (we were grateful for the extra time actually), it was saying goodbye. The value of a visitor from home was priceless.

One of the hardest things about living so far away is not the different language, culture, food, environment, cramped living. It’s none of those things. The hardest thing is missing our friends. We’d just love to be able to have friends from Australia over for a meal or a cuppa, or for the kids to have their friends over for a play after school. Clearly we can’t do those things, but what that does mean is that when someone comes to visit us from the other side of the planet, our lives are injected with a pleasure that is immeasurable. We’d LOVE to have you come and visit us. There’s always room for one more!