The Dean Family

If you have experienced an unusual amount of snow this winter, or you have had a snow storm even though you live in an area of the United States that does not normally get any snow, then you can blame us. Apparently someone in our family packed it with them before leaving Siberia. Before leaving from Russia I was telling my kids about America. My oldest daughter, Emily,  was 6 when we left for the field and she has forgotten a lot. Our middle daughter, Melana,  was 2 when we left, so she doesn't remember anything of America. Lilliana was born in Russia and has never been in the States. As I was telling them about the States, I said we would,  most likely, not see much snow in America. I said that when we are in Michigan and northern Ohio we will see some but that's about it. Well, everywhere we have traveled it has snowed. I'm not sure, but I think that one of our kids snuck the snow in their carry on.

We are enjoying our time back in the States. We were able to spend Christmas in South Carolina with Cassie's parents. After that, we went to Ohio had a family reunion/Christmas with my family. It was good for the kids to spend some time with their grandparents. Everyone had a great time. After the Holidays we started reporting back to our supporting churches. We have greatly enjoyed seeing many of the folks in our supporting churches. I wish that we could make it around to all of our supporting churches, but we are only taking a five month furlough. We can not exceed our time outside of Russia by six months. If we do we will loose our resident status and not be able to stay in Russia. By taking a five month furlough we will have an additional month in the event of an emergency. We are scheduled to leave on May the seventh. We will fly into Moscow and overnight there before flying on home to Krasnoyrsk.

Our youngest daughter, who was born in Russia, is getting a little homesick. On a few occasions I have  started our video presentation in a church meeting, and as she sees the photo of home she starts to cry saying "I want to go home." Of course she has also greatly enjoyed her time in America. They have greatly enjoyed their time with her grandparents, and their involvement with the various Children's Church programs. We appreciate the kindness of the Children's workers at all the churches we have been to. It is good for our children to spend some time in America so that they can better understand American culture. This will prevent or minimize reverse culture shock when they are older and come back to the States.