Aging Child

Well, we are now the parents of a six year old. Here's Maggie with one of the candles from her cake in her mouth (already extinguished).

We had a pretty good turn out to celebrate. One of our neighbors said she was going to give Maggie a bunny. I was pround of how she didn't show her dissappointment too much when the bunny turned out to be a giant stuffed animal instead of the live little furry version.

People stayed for cake, which allowed all the girls to get to stay up WAY past their bed time.

A fitting festive occasion for the blessing of a growing and energetic daughter.

Ground Thaw

We're grateful for a break in the cold. It's been warm enough lately fo the girls to play with their sand buckets lately.
We've even seen snow melting and liquid mud puddles emerge. Thankful for the little things.

Festive Family Visit

The last two days were spent seeing lots of fat tailed sheep. Here we are visiting our neighbor's in the tent they live in.

Many Hands

Renee lets the women fight over holding Clara at our nieghbor's house. This lady who's holding her here wond the fight overall I would say. Renee and the lady on the right are in their traditional Mongolian robes for the celebration of the Lunar New year, know here as White Moon.

Candy Land

Some good friends of our sent the girls the game "Candyland" for Christmas. The girls have certainly loved getting to know King Kandy and his crew which has evolved only slightly over the years since I was a child. . . candy cane lane, lord licorice, and Grandma nutt to name a few. They even have began asking if we may go as a family to candyland--and often it becomes the destination spot in their playtime travels. Well, someone needs to imform them that they have arrived. I know of no better candyland than Mongolia itself! As a mother it has become quite a test in tolerance of other cultures and customs. We are just coming off of Mongolia's biggest annual holiday, the Lunar New Year, or Saagan Sar. Along with offering boiled mutton, steamed dumplings, milk tea, and fermented mares milk, candy is a not-to-be-forgotten main staple on the table. Saagan in Mongolian means white and often the holiday represents purity and newness, thus the white food. So, as you may have already guessed, the white variety of candy that graces the table is sugar cubes--my children are officially in heaven. Before I ramble on, some quotes from Maggie, Lydia, Johanna and Clara: "Do we do this again tommorow?" (Mom musters a reply about finding our way home in the dark without slipping in the snow with four kids and arms full of gifts first) "But Mongolians do this again tommorow right?" --Maggie "We have to eat this!" (An excited Johanna pops another sugar cube into her mouth!) "May I please have some water?" (There is not a drop of water to be found in Mongolian's homes--they do not drink water, and what they use for personal hygiene and to make milk tea is often carted in by hand from wells that are sometimes a kilometer or more away. Of course, Lydia, by this time has eaten so much candy that only water can douse the foggy sugar daze she is in!) Clara happened to turn, yes, believe it or not, four months old on the first day of this holiday. To celebrate, she not only had some cereal, but was given her first lollypop at our final destination around 10:30 that evening! Besides the sugar cubes there is a variety of other candy by the bowlful on the holiday table and parents are frowned upon if they attempt to limit their children's intake of this "poison"! The occasional moment when our children remember what we have told them previously about the multiple other visits we will have and to take only a little at each place finds them instead "saving" the candy for later in the convienient pocket of their traditional mongolian dell. What they forget at that point is that upon leaving every home, they are given a treat bag full on candy to take to our house! I know there are some of you who will see the photo of Clara and imagine my astonishment and may I say horror as she is treated to a nice big lollypop at the young age of 4 months! I should be used to this by now, although I think Johanna was at least 6 months old before her first Mongolian New Year.

Cheese Making?

We had an idea for a business in Bulgan. Cheese in Mongolia is almost all imported which makes it really expensive. People like it here, but can't afford it mostly. We want to hear from anyone out there who has experience making cheese. If you know anyone who happens to have like a home/farm small scale cheese making business, please get us in touch with them.

Renee Keeps the Home Fire Burning

I got home from the countryside late last weekend. There were no lights on. But there was smoke pouring out the chimney. Got in the house, and it was warm and toasty. Renee broke it to me in the morning that that roaring fire took her 3 hours to get going.

Mama's little helper

Johanna has been remarkably well adjusted to not being the baby anymore. Here she is helping mama by holding Clara, who is less and less willing to stay where you put her.

Invisible Hand

At a time when a lot of attention is being paid to the American economy, this phrase originally coined to illustrate a free market economic idea, has come to mind. Though I really want to borrow the phrase to contemplate God's hand moving through history, which is an inspiring and exciting idea, especially in Bulgan, regardless of economics.

Two examples of God's hand moving here our neighbor and house keeper.

Our neighbor's name is Otgonbayar. He is 40 years old, and has a young daughter and another on the way. He started building his house about a month after us. One day I needed to ask a favor, or borrow a tool or something. I went into his Ger (small whilte felt-walled tent) and he gave me tea and we exchanged names and ages, which are the two pieces of information most important about a person here. Then he asked what we were doing here.

Hearing the answer, he excitedly started ruffling through some trunks looking for some book. He came up with some AA materials and showed them to me. He explained how 5 years ago he had escaped from a life of alcohol addiction through this program. He seemed to be giving God the credit for helping him get out of this destructive life. Then we talked about Jesus.

Otgoo did some more digging in his trunk and came up with a Mongolian Bible! Since then we've had a few chances to read it together. One of our other neighbors asked me the other day if Otgoo believed in Jesus. So perhaps they know or see something I don't yet.

The invisible hand of God seems to be bringing His Kingdom here through one of my neighbors.

The second example is the lady that helps us clean our house now and then. Her name is Bamoe, and she's about 50. Her husband died about 5 years ago, and she lives by herself. She actually first helped us with painting the interior of our house starting in October. At that time, she would occasionally ask spiritual questions and about what we were doing here, what the differences in the 4 churches in town were. To me she seemed to show disinterest to the answers to her questions. Now we hear her singing hymns in Mongolian that we don't even know. One day I finally asked her if she had received Christ. She said yes. I asked when. She said July. So the invisible hand of God was working in her heart before we ever even met her.

I found the following succinct explanation of the origin of the phrase: "The invisible hand is a metaphor coined by the economist Adam Smith. In The Wealth of Nations and other writings, Smith demonstrated that, in a free market, an individual pursuing his own self-interest tends to also promote the good of his community as a whole through a principle that he called “the invisible hand.”

Similarly I think, If Otgoo, and Bamoe follow Jesus because they want something for themselves, the Kingdom of God will be the richer for it, whether either realizes this on earth or in heaven.

Countryside Hospitality

Mongolians are renowned for their hospitality. It’s built into Mongolian culture so deeply; it is second nature, especially in the countryside.

On a recent trip through the snowy mountains of our province, Jeremy and a group of believers visited several countryside families. Most are busy watching over their flocks, butchering some to provide meat for the upcoming New Year’s holiday, and just generally trying to keep warm inside their cozy round tents.

Farm houses are impractical here because country folk here must follow their animals to good pasture with the change of each season.

Nevertheless down home farm culture here is recognizable to anyone whose spent time in the agrarian parts of his own country. There is an expectation you will sit, talk, drink and eat and eat and eat, until your heart’s content, and beyond.

One of the first treats offered to a visitor is a hardened milk product called aaroal. You could imagine it almost like a sour cheese milk product, only harder than a dog biscuit.

One family offered us aaroal, which turned out to be unusually hard to chew. Finally upon examination it looked like a rock might have been molded into the piece that I took. That would have been unusual enough a thing to write home about.

I removed the foreign object from my mouth and dropped it discreetly on the floor. A quick survey of my teeth with my tongue revealed something was wrong. A big corner of my largest molar was broke and missing. Alarmed, I quietly reached back down to the floor to examine what I thought had been a little pebble in my mouth. It was my tooth.

I guess there are some hazards to the job of visiting Mongolians, even as hospitable as they are. You see the visitor’s worth is measured by his ability to accept hospitality.

Thanks God the tooth fracture didn’t cause pain and I was able to go on eating meat dumplings and drinking tea as we traveled from one family to the next. I was sure to steer clear of hard candy and this harder and now I know hazardous piece of Mongolian hospitality, aaroal. I made up for it by having other goodies like gravy tea.

"Fired Up" Jeremy's Brothers Record New Song and Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyJ72iZ3tW4

Facts about Bulgan

Some people have asked about more details about the town where we live. Bulgan has a population of 13,000 people, in a province of the same name having perhaps 65,000 people, and a million and a half head of livestock, but who's counting?

Our province is famous in Mongolia for having the best tasting horse milk. Mare's milk is a fermented low alcohol delecacy drank in huge quantities, especially at ceremonies and holidays.

Our town has a hospital, fire, police department, and an old soviet style flour factory which looks like a huge grain elevator. To my knowledge the factory is really not working.

Our town has paved roads layed out like two paralell rectangles I guess. One of the rectangles circumnavigates the town park. Towns that are well layed out are as rare as parks in Mongolia. Trees in parks are also quite rare. We are thrilled to have all three of these. Though the trees are beautiful and green in summer, they are a kind of Tamarac conifer that drops its needles in winter, and are hence known as Black Tree in Mongolian.

We have a small main market, two meat markets, with vegetables for sale all year round, mostly potatoes and the kind that don't spoil quickly. You never see lettuce, but can always find carrots. Most food is cheap here. We buy beef for about 1.25$/pound most times. But it's a little different in that the butcher's main tool is a blood stained ax and chopping block. Big hunks of frozen beef carcas are what you often see for sale in winter. Vegetables are also cheap. I think people shop here like they might have 50 years ago in America, buying a little from this shop, and little from that shop. Our super-market here is a far cry from the ones in America.

Winter's Coldest Days Haven't Froze Us Yet

Our thermometer is showing 25 degrees below 0 every morning. But when we get out in the car, it says it's -30 degrees. At night, the weather service says it's reaching -32 or -33 Celsius, which is only -27 or so Farenheit. Bulgan is historically warmer than other parts of Mongolia, which are reaching -40 this winter.

The good news is the days are getting longer, so the sun is helping to warm us more and more each day. Thank God for our in-floor heating system, we stay warm in bed all night. And wake to a house that isn't sub-zero. Putting your feet on the floor when getting up is a pleasure. Thanks to those who generously gave to make this possible. We are grateful!

Recent Family Portrait

Church Ladies on Christmas

Christmas Banquet at Erdenet Church

A couple days before Christmas, we were treated to a post church luncheon to celebrate Christmas with church family in Erdenet.

Clara's First Tea Party

But where's the tea?

Thanksgiving Table in our New Home

Well we looked all over for turkey, then high and low for chicken. Not finding either Renee turned to the canned chicken sent from the states, put it in a casserole with stuffing and all. Hot rolls, sweet potatoes, and even apple pie for dessert. Here's to being thankful for these and the One Gift Above All, and finding ourselves in His Loving Hands.

Sunrise Breakfast at 8:30

The View East

This is the view out our kitchen or dining room window. In the background there are schools, and a park with trees.

Coffee with Exotic Visitors

Here we are with our first visitors, all the way from Germany and Canada (Originally)

Home Portrait

Here we are in front of our fireplace.

Growing Together

All four girls seem to be growing these days. The three older ones wait in line to hold the baby.

Good Morning Gravy Tea

Stopped into my neighbor's today. They were making the day's tea. It's customary for a guest to stay and drink some. So I stayed. The usual milk tea was made, but oddly I wasn't offered any. First they needed to fry up chunks of fat, to which they added flour and salt. Then return the tea to the mix. The process took at least a half hour. There was no hurry. Then finally, they offered me my cup of gravy-fortified tea, complete with chunks of floating fat floating on top. Good to the last drop. And the second cup wasn't bad either.

Home Sweet Home

Last Saturday, we loaded up all our stuff on trucks and moved it three hours west into our new house in Bulgan, Mongolia. The roads turned white with snow about 50 miles before we got there. It was kind of memorable to move in on the first snow of the year. Mercifully, the snow covered many unfinished outdoor projects, which made concentrating on the interior unfinished stuff a little easier. Some of those jobs included hurriedly getting down new carpet before the moving truck arrived with furniture for that room. About two thirds done, the door to the room opened and the face of the driver emerged with a look that said he was unloading ready or not. We got ready quick, and he did too.

We got some great help unpacking that day and the next. Then our help had to go, leaving us with Renee's mom Ann to help with the baby and more unpacking. That second night a real cold wind came up. It gave our heating system a pretty good try. Without many curtains or doors yet, we had some bad drafts, especially upstairs. But the house stayed reasonably warm especially the rooms with heat turned on. Now we're in the city to bring Ann to the airport for her return flight. Since we have electric thermostat heat, our house can stay warm enough to keep the plumbing from freezing, even when gone for several days. Thank God.

Celebrating Birth!

Clara's body language here describes how we feel. Great to be out of the woods and in the clear. Thank God!

Clara Jem Bergevin was born October 8, at 4:45pm in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. She was 5 pounds and 19 inches. Mom and baby are both doing great. We thank God they both made it through a breach birth without surgery or serious incident. Thanks to those who prayed to help bring this blessing about. Relieved and grateful, The Bergevins

Clara Jem Bergevin is Here!

Lydia and Clara

Then They Were Four

Packing to Move

Renee spent a good part of the summer packing boxes for our move this fall. It's all pretty much ready.

Here it looks like Maggie and Lydia have Johanna packed in a trunk for the journey. Not that she appears to mind...

Night Work

Night fell on unfinished work, so the guys hooked up a light to try to finish this garage wall before calling it quits.

They got it done, then everyone inside the tent behind for dinner and much needed and enjoyed eats and sleep.

Warm Floor

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Here's a picture of the heating we put in all the floors of our house. After the thermal layer, this wire that gets warm when connected to electricity, then concrete is layed over, and in places tile over that. Thanks to many generous contributions, the price of the floor was easily covered. Thanks to God, we can expect to be nice and warm this winter.

Marshmallow Roast

Well, I think this September 1st photo captures are first and last marshmallow roast of the summer for us. Maggie and Lydia got to learn how to brown their own, and of course enjoyed eating them too.