7 Quick Takes Friday, December 31

~1~

We have Russian guests here with us for our Bible Conference week. They treated us to a home-made Russian meal this week. The star of lunch was Borscht.

~2~

Borscht, I learned, from watching- has beets, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions, tomatoes and a kind of meat. Our friends put in steak. We went to the grocery store to stock up on ingredients. I had to admit that I have never ever purchased beets. I wasn't even sure what they looked like. Really. My Russian friend grated the tomatoes and beets. I never thought of grating tomatoes before. Ever.

I liked the borscht, it was very, very good. Amie liked it, but was a bit disappointed to realize it was not watermelon soup...as she assumed from the pink color. Borscht is very pretty.

~3~

We also were treated to a dish that translates as "fish under a blanket". It was kind of like egg salad on top, with sardines underneath. The sardines kind of killed it for me.

Pretty, yes.

~4~

Bible conference week is so full- there is almost too much to take in. A favorite truth I enjoyed this week is this:

"Christ as God's sure mercies is the reality of all that God is and of all that God has given us; God's salvation, God's righteousness, God's justification, God's forgiveness, God's redemption, God's riches, and all God has and will do have been covenanted to us" -Isa 55:1-4; Acts 13:34-35

~5~

My friend, known as Graceful mom here on the blog, is visiting the States from Singapore. It was so good to visit with her today. I so desperately miss visiting and just hanging out with her.

~6~

Our new Russian friends have worked every day with Meg with her Russian studies. Most days, they worked twice a day on it. I am so grateful for this. I think she has done a semester's amount of work in one week. They've invited us to visit too, I am hoping to send her next summer.