Where Has December Gone?

I know we're not alone in the hustle and bustle of December. We're waking a little earlier, carefully planning each day's 'to do' list in order to get everything done so that it gets done.  On time.

I even had to schedule "blog" lest I fail to journal what this month has looked like for us!  Here's a quick recap of this month so far:

On the 1st, we had a cozy apartment full of company for dessert after church.  It was a treat to host  our friends, Kerri and Julie, as well as the Shackleford family and Rose.  We were introduced to the Shacklefords through mutual friends in the States.  They arrived in Albania just a few weeks before us and now live in Elbasan where they have a thriving ministry through education.  Their youngest daughter is Ellie's age and the two of them really hit it off.  Like really hit it off. It's a shame they can't see each other more often.

In preparation for the bazaars, our language lessons with Vera concentrated on memorizing scripts for potential interactions with customers.  Hence, we set up a mock booth and tried to anticipate just about any question we might be asked...

On a couple of different afternoons we did our modeling shoots to spotlight the various handmade scarves.  Here's a "behind-the-scenes" pic.  No, it's not warm enough for shorts, but this afternoon's session was rather impromptu and Abby was a great sport to shoot before we lost any more daylight!  The days are SO short this month, getting dark by about 4:30.

Last week we had our homeschool co-op Christmas party.  I thought you might enjoy seeing Ellie and Reni and the kiddos they have gotten to know this fall.  And yes, Reni is wearing antlers.

Here's me below with some of the mothers... what an unexpected blessing this fall to make new friends in the English-speaking community!  They have been a great resource and encouragement to us!

Saturday night we made Christmas cookies and set up a photo booth at the H*pe Center.  Here's a bunch of the youth with their missionary dorm "mom", Pam (from Georgia), one of their teachers, and Ellie...

 I think I mentioned that we will have the blessing of delivering food bags to our friends in Darshen on Christmas Eve.  This was made possible through the generosity of some folks in Rutland, Vermont.  For about $20 per household, we were able to purchase: 2 bottles of cooking oil, 2 bags of sugar, 2 bags of rice, 1 bag of corn starch, 2 bags of salt, 2 bags of rigatoni, 2 bags of spaghetti, a bottle of shampoo, 6 bars of soap, a bag of plain cookies, and a jar of chocolate cream (think 'Nutella').  Families with children will also receive an Albanian copy of the Jesus Storybook Bible; Every Story Whispers his Name.

Last night Nathan and I assembled 28 of the 30 bags (we were shorted a couple of items so we need to run out and purchase a bit more to finish off the last two bags).  Here's the bulk of them lining the downstairs hallway until we can deliver them on Tuesday.

We continue to make weekend trips to Vlashaj!  This Friday afternoon we will be part of a Christmas event at the ministry center where we will be distributing boxes of food to about 100 families in the community. Through connections in the Christian community in Tirana, our colleagues Genti and Shpresa secured the funds to purchase the contents for the village.  It will be a 'coming out' event of sorts for Nathan and I as our first formal introduction as the new face of Planters to the greater village community.  

Our Bible Study with the youth continues to progress.  This week we had to introduce the cell phone basket, if that tells you anything (wink!).  I don't think it was any coincidence that discussion improved considerably.  :-)

Ellie and Reni continue to grow and flourish in their learning.  They love reading, writing, drawing, and showing off their new-found history knowledge. e.g. Last week Ellie put on a fuzzy scarf and proudly announced, "I look like a ruffed grouse!"Abby had to clarify for us that a ruffed grouse is the state bird of Pennsylvania, ha ha.

Thanks for checking in!