Spring is here!

The showers stopped mid-afternoon and the sun came out in all its glory during supper. We took some time to enjoy the sunshine and warm breezes on the grassy spaces beyond the soccer field...

running down hillsides is nearly as fun as sliding down them covered in snow...

Ellie has taken to applauding herself for anything she deems laudible. Here, she's proud of not falling.

How is this not kissable?

Flowders

That wasn't a misspelling... that's how Ellie says "flowers." She has some cute ways of saying many common words (e.g. thlee = three), and words that we haven't quite distinguished yet. All in all, it's a very fun stage.

Easter Sunday

What a blessing it was to be home for Easter this year and get to be with family! The morning began with worship with Steve, Rachel and their kids at Crosswalk, followed by a yummy noon dinner at "the farmhouse" where Isaac, Rachel and Sam are staying until their house in Columbus sells. We (the Woffords, Dad, Mom, Hannah, Ellie & I) were joined by Grandpa and Grandma Whiteford.

Enjoy the large batch of photos below as the mountain of work awaiting me here back in KY seems enormous and I don't know when I'll get to blog again next! It's going to be a busy week! Nathan comes home tomorrow!

Before we even got inside, Ellie had to take a ride on the swings...

Sam brought his trampoline from Ohio with him and (above) Isaac is showing Ellie how to jump on it. While all this equipment at Grandpa and Grandma's old home would have been fun to have when we were kids we may never have discovered all the fun one could have in a haymow or on a hayrack!

Sitting around the table Dad reminded us of Grandma's traditional lamb cake (covered in coconut) which she would serve on Easter Sunday. I actually have one of the two original cake molds but didn't think to bring it up with me! Instead we 'settled' for sugar-free creme pie with raspberries.

Dad videoing the snow fall (which you can see better below)...

Ellie's first Easter Egg hunt

They were 'hidden' in rather obvious places (see the pink one behind her?). She is, afterall, still two.

Sam found one of the few with 'real' candy inside

...most of the others contained teddy grahams or cereal (which Ellie had to eat entirely before she would move on to locating and opening the next one).

I think this photo is hilarious because it looks like Grandma is trying to nick some of Ellie's candy!

Els giving me a 'nose kiss'

This week at Gigi and Gjyshe's house

Giving her grandparents a workout...

brushing up on her Boggle skills...watch out Uncle Jerry

singing Bible songs with Aunt Hannah in their jammies

snacking on goldfish with Grandpa Van

having fun with numbers and dry erase marker books
under Gigi's supervision
...more photos to come

Ellie with Her Cousins

2 Waggoners together again, 2 more to go...

It was so nice to be back with Ellie again today and I was excited to hear her new words and see the skills she picked up while I was gone! I packed her potty chair and told mom that we expected the same results we got when they watched Reagan for us one summer when he was a puppy. Well, all I will say is Ellie has yet to master that skill.

She can now say her name ("Elleeeee"), "me", and uses "stop" and "go" in a fun little game. She's also enjoying playing with Gigi's alphabet magnets on the fridge, and can read her name when written or typed. Whoa!

I also got to see Dad's video footage from the aftermath of the explosion near Vlashaj village. I don't know how to describe seeing home after home with no windows or doors remaining (literally looked like driving by a ghost town as you made your way down the road to Vlash -- if you've been there with us before, Marikaj [where PSF used to work] took quite a hard hit too). In some cases the roofs were completely blown off too. Nearest the blast site, all that remain of beautiful hillsides of olive groves are little bitty brown stumps. The village of Gerdec was crawling with search and rescue teams and special forces men searching for munitions that were blown throughout 2,500 acres of surrounding countryside. The most sobering site were lines of news crews and clusters of people waiting by the road side for some sort of news about their missing family members.

In Vlashaj, a silver soccer ball was almost unrecognizeable (at first I thought it was a crumpled soda can) as the air had been completely sucked out of it. You could hear the crunch of glass as Dad walked in the first floor of the ministry center and you could see that the glass on the 4 interior doors (they have frosted glass windows on the top and bottom to allow daylight in) had been blown out and even the wood stove doors were blown open and ashes sprayed across the floor. Had the blast occurred 15 minutes earlier, those rooms would have been full of children. The conditions of the upper level are still unknown as the metal door at the top of the stairs is bowed inward and 2 grown men could not shoulder it open. The door jam will probably have to be completely removed and the door replaced. Inside the Proseku's home, interior metal doors were blown off their hinges and the windows that for some reason didn't shatter have frames that have bowed out. Dad's greatest concern is that the entire frame of the house is twisted. It's impossible to imagine the effects of such a concussion. It lasted a mere second and was over, but it's going to take many months to rebuild.

I promise I will try to post some Ellie photos soon! And keep praying for Nathan down in Peru with the Asbury College students! Thanks for your continued interest and concern for our family!
Update: Nathan just called me (Thursday AM) and is quite sick with altitude sickness (that's what the clinic diagnosed it as, though he says he feels like a malaria relapse).

Link to Planters' Blog

Here's a great update from Mom and Dad's blog with an account on the status in Vlashaj, which was less than 2 miles from the blast site.

Late Monday Night

The Waggoner family is currently spread out all over the place. I just got off the phone with Mom and she now has Ellie saying her name, "me", "the end" (at the end of books), and "just fine!"

Dad is coming home tonight and we're all anxious to see him again and his photographs (hopefully I can get some posted when I get back from this conference).

Meanwhile, Nathan has been patiently working his way down to Cusco, Peru. The bad weather in Atlanta on Saturday turned a 1.5 day trip to Peru into 3. They should be arriving sometime on Tuesday (they were supposed to arrive on Sunday, but missed the flight to Lima, then couldn't get on a connecting flight to Cusco until Tuesday). Visit http://asburywgm.blogspot.com to read updates.

Thanks to all who expressed concern for the damage sustained in Vlashaj. The ministry building thankfully has barred windows on the first floor to protect from looting (I think the front door is secure). The Prosekus home (featured in the only footage of the explosion and also owned by Planters) is a different story and it may be months before they can move back home. More importantly, everyone is safe. Had Dad and Mandi not been delayed in leaving the village, they would have been on the autostrata and potentially in a more more dangerous place. As it was, they were out in the street and away from flying glass. Also, the kids program had wrapped up shortly before so none of the children were in the center when the windows blew out
(whether they were injured in the homes, I don't know). Nevertheless, this traumatic event will be one they remember for a long, long time. I hope to share more current information when Dad gets home.

Video footage of the explosion

This video was shot by the Proseku's (Mom and Dad's ministry partners) in Vlashaj. The major explosion comes about 3 minutes and 15 seconds into the video. (more text below)




At the end you see Genti and Shpresa's entry way where the ceiling has collapsed. It seems like just yesterday Mom and Dad had completely renovated the house for them to move into. Genti is staying in the village to guard the properties as they have no front door and the windows have all been blown out. According to Dad (who I got to speak to this afternoon), most of the village has evacuated as there are fears that the other tunnel full of munitions isn't stable. Dad is going back to Vlashaj on Sunday to fully assess the damage.

Keep praying for everyone affected!

Another update

If you're reading this in Europe, Shpresa is supposedly on Euronews. They got footage of the village before evacuating to Tirana. From there, Mersin jumped on a motorcycle and took the footage to TopChanel (?) which is now being broadcast on the rest of the continent.

Dad said it blew the metal doors out of the door frames and they saw car after car with concave roofs. I've heard that it was felt in Macedonia.

Please Pray for Albania

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/15/europe/EU-GEN-Albania-Explosion.php


I just got off the phone with my mom who told me she got a call from my dad that there was a major explosion near the airport in Albania.

My dad was in the village of Vlashaj (very near where the explosion took place) and was knocked to the ground by the force of the blast. He has described the damage to the Planters Ministry Center in Vlashaj and the home of Genti and Shpresa (employees of Planters) as "significant". He described the village as in utter chaos. The force of the blast blew out a mountain side and knocked buses over and caused flights to be suspended at the airport. We'll let you know more as we hear it.

Spring Break

Spring Break! What wonderful words in the academic calendar. A break, a sign of warmer temps to come, new growth, and for the Waggoner family...travels.
There are suitcases everywhere in the student center. I am about to take Nathan and the Peru team to the airport in an hour. In our apartment, another pile of suitcases and bgas (for Ellie and I) to pack in the van after the team has been delivered. I've scanned copies of passports, synced PDAs, weighed baggage. This is our ritual every Saturday morning on the ides of March. When we return, our mini daffodils will be in bloom (I can't remember if I've ever seen them in the bud stage).

While Nathan is going to Peru (and will experience all four seasons in 1 week -- I'll let you figure that out), Ellie is going to visit her grandparents in Illinois, I'm flying to a conference out west, and Reagan will literally get to frolic in meadows as he spends a week with girls at the Asbury Equine farm.

We should all come back better for the change in scenery. We'll be sure to post some picts, daffodils and all.

PaPa and Nonna

Here are our favorite photos of Ellie with her grandparents from last weekend's visit...

Nonna was always willing to share lots of love!

Ellie quickly learned who would help her sort out the yummy candies and raisins from the trail mix bag

New Ellie phrase today, "Ouch! You okay?"
(Considering she still doesn't do 2-word combinations, any phrase is really cool)

Hotel Swimming Pools are Great

Where did Daddy go?

There he is!

Snow Day in Cincy

Our one night overnight with Nathan's parents in Cincinnati turned into 2 when the weekend's snowstorm continued until late this afternoon. Reports of unplowed interstate access ramps and icey roads enticed us to stay another night in our cozy hotel room. We ventured out for meals at the Applebees across the street, one of the few restaurants (or businesses, for that matter) even open.

New words this weekend: tissue, snowball, hat, ta-da, ah ha, okay, Tiny Tim, and "I don't know."