The halfway mark...

I can't believe it's the halfway point of July already! I've been woefully negligent with my camera, but here are a few highlights from the month thus far...

My sister, Hannah, at the fireworks in Hopedale

 Yes, it was so chilly watching fireworks we were in sweatshirts or under blankets by night's end.

Nathan got some beautiful images of fireworks worth sharing...

Nathan found a great little app for practicing about 300 Albanian words and phrases, complete with games, tests, and the ability to record and playback your own voice.  Occasionally I can get the kids to play it (without giggling too much and making fun of the words).

waiting for the fireworks to start turned into a little opportunity to practice our Shqip (Albanian)!

My admonitions to take language learning seriously must have sunk in because Saturday night in her prayers Ellie asked God to help her 'learn the hard Albanian words.'

Some days we just might take more than one bath per day 'cause we really want to play 'farmer' and that can only happen in dirt...  (incidentally, Reni's shirt appropriately reads, Dirt Don't Hurt)

You must have been praying with us, because within a few days of sharing on the blog that Reni wasn't taking to his 'stubbies' he suddenly had a change of heart and saw their benefits.  We now call them his Power Boots.

I forgot about the reminder of summer's progression through the growth of the corn and soybeans.  The photo below was taken on July 4.  Most corn is now as tall as I am or taller.  The sprinklers are always on, but much less stress for Dad thanks to the ability to turn them 'on' or 'off' via a cell phone app.  That is unless the detasseling crew has flipped the electricity off at the end of the field... There's no app yet to override that. Technology in farming has changed so much since when I was last living in Illinois (in college).  It makes me feel old...

The photo above is a bit outdated (I had to share it here because we have so few images of us speaking -- thanks, Steve B!), but goes to show that though we're at our 'home base' we are still sharing about Albania!  This was at a community picnic last month in Delavan.  The last 4 Sundays we have re-visited supporting/partner churches to say 'thank you'.  But at the end of the month we share at another local church for the first time.  Someone asked me recently if this season has been 'hard', but honestly, we enjoy talking about what we love:  Albania, adoption, missions... it's a privilege.

Finally, because we have chosen not to draw a salary yet (in order to build up our ministry account for Albania), Nathan has been working for my dad whenever he can, and dad seems to have no shortage of projects on his list.  Sometimes that means working in the evenings when the temperatures are cooler!

Saturday was Nathan's last day of work for a while.  Tuesday (tomorrow) we leave for 3 nights in St. Louis with the Waggoner family.  We are looking forward to a little time away with nothing on the agenda but to relax, swim, and be together.  We return for a few days and then leave on Sunday for a mini-orientation at WGM, before we will have a week to pack up all of our personal stuff in the farm house. We leave August 3rd for a month of training in Colorado.  

Summer is flyin', but I don't think I have to tell you that!