Goodbye 2014!

Watch our short year-in-review video...

Christmas in Darshen

I think our Christmas visits to Darshen is one of my favorite of Christmas traditions! While distance prevents us to regularly visit this special hidden-away place, we are grateful that our colleagues Mandi and Xhina do.  And many folks who have visited us on a short-term team have been taken here and left profoundly touched, relating their visit amongst their favorite experiences in Albania.  I describe Darshen as the way all of Albania used to be when we arrived more than 20 years ago.

 

This year we traveled up and over Mt Dajti on the 23rd, the last day of school of 2014. It's always a matter of question if the weather will permit us going (snow can easily prevent us as a portion of the road rarely gets direct sunlight), but Tuesday dawned bright and clear and, dare I say it, warm!

 

Lest you think we adopted four more children, let me introduce you to some of our new friends this fall, the G-family.  They have found themselves in Albania unexpectedly on an interim basis while they discern where God would have them serve more permanently.  In the meantime, they have been joining us in the village on weekends and we invited them to visit Darshen with us on December 23!  We did a lot of activities with them in the days leading up to Christmas -- which felt a lot like having cousins visiting from out-of-town!  We will definitely miss them when they move on, but it's looking like they will be staying within half a day's driving distance of us, so it won't be a 'forever' goodbye, for which our family is pleased.

 

The obligatory photo at the mountain pass.

Upon our arrival, the village children came to our building where Xhina shared the Christmas story.

 

They sang some songs and then the G's shared a little drama they prepared to the song, The Little Drummer Boy.

Nathan shared the meaning of Christmas and why we give gifts.  (Mandi refused to translate and though Nathan was understood, Mandi couldn't resist and translated Nathan's Shqip anyway -- ha, ha.  At least we're making progress over last year!)

Then the American kids handed out gifts which we had bought together on Saturday with funds from a friend in the States.

As for the friends who gave the $ (you know who you are), the they were super excited about their presents!  For the sake of controlling chaos, we asked them to wait until they were home to open them.  The boys got soccer balls or racetracks (depending upon age) and the young girls got "B*rbies" and jump ropes while the older girls got nail polish, lip gloss, shampoo, lotion, hair accessories, and an artist's pad and paints.

 

 

Then Nathan shared with the representatives of each household gathered to receive their food bags about Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, known as the House of Bread, and how Jesus was called the Bread of Life.  As we gave them the ingredients to make their own bread (and other food), we hoped they might consider eating of the Bread of Life, so they might not hunger again.

 

Of the 1000+ posts on our blog, the post "No Place for a Baby!" is the second most read of all time. If you remember the little baby Nathan shared about, here he is, 2 years later.

The following are pics of the distribution for the sake of our partners at CBC in Rutland, VT, who provided the funds for these food bags!  Thank you!  They were gratefully received.  Please know we were thanked profusely on your behalf.

 

While Nathan was able to share briefly with the kids in Shqip, I was able to converse with some ladies I've met in previous visits.  The last time I saw them (Christmas 2013), I needed a translator!  How freeing that I could communicate more independently!  (Don't get me wrong, we have a long, long ways to go, but Nathan and I have both have marked improvement in our comprehension and verbal skills since moving to Vlash!)

 

 

What a privilege to serve as Christ's Ambassadors.  Thank you, thank you, for all of you who contribute to enable us to serve here on His behalf!

Merry Christmas 2014

Our family at the Mt. Dajti pass, on our way to Darshen on December 23 to hand out food bags and gifts.

 

The last week has been a blur.  It's been full of meaning, memories, milestones... (I turned a new decade while also marking 20 years since my first visit to this land that's now 'home'.)  So many pictures to process and share!  We have been blessed with a really special Christmas season and we don't take it for granted.

 

But today we just rested.  We stayed in.  Just the four of us.  I don't think in our 15 years of marriage we've ever had a Christmas like that before and it was kind of freeing to be able to honor some of the Christmas traditions we've had, but also give ourselves the flexibility to start some new ones.

 

I made Mom Waggoner's Quiche Lorraine for breakfast.  We opened gifts.  The kids wore their pajamas all day and enjoyed their gifts.  We opened a few cards and a surprise care package we had saved for today.  We Skyped with family.  I scrolled through my newsfeed on FB and enjoyed the snapshots of the celebrations of family and friends, of gifts stacked under the tree, and wonderful words reminding us of the significance of this special, miraculous day.

It really felt like Christmas Day.  In fact, as we were Skyping with the Ohio Waggoners Reni remarked with sadness that the day was almost over -- a testament to the anticipation with which he has looked forward to this day.

 

Oh yeah, but then there was a wedding a few doors up the street with car horns honking congratulations and the kids were lighting firecrackers outside our gate.  It served to remind us that things are just a little bit different here -- but we savored a day with no agenda nevertheless.

 

Yes, we are apart from family but God has blessed us with friends who feel like family. 

Sure, we're in a land that doesn't necessarily hold the same values and traditions of our home culture but it's feeling more and more like home.

 

Thank you for your cards, your notes of encouragement, your gifts, and overall support. Merry Christmas to all and thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 

 

The Boxes

They arrived Sunday night under the cover of darkness!

 

 

All the way from Ireland!

Shpresa carefully counted each case and the number of boxes in each!

Monday morning we attended the Christmas party for grades 1 thru 5 of our local public school where we entered quite the dance party!  It was held at a local restaurant that is primarily used for special events like weddings.

After some introductions and an explanation of why we give gifts at Christmas as well as who the gifts were from, we went about the frantic task of distributing 181 boxes to 181 patiently waiting students.

 

One of my biggest unexpected blessings was the joy I felt watching our kids (and the G-family kids, more about them later) jumping in so enthusiastically, helping us distribute the boxes.

 

 

Check out his losing battle of self-control!

One of 'our' boys.

 

 

Reni was all over moving boxes between Genti in the stairwell and returning the empties...

Our friend 'A' got the coveted box with the "Frozen" giftwrap. ;-)

Taking a break after all that work.

 

One of the students gave a well-spoken 'thank you', though the boxes, of course, were not from us so it felt a little awkward on our parts to be thanked so profusely (see my instagram for a pic of just some of the thank you cards!).

 

If you have ever participated in OCC, know that these kids were SO excited.  While some of them eagerly ripped into their boxes, others were so in awe, they refused to open them until they got home and could share the moment with their families.  Teachers told Genti with tears that some of their students had likely never received a gift before in their lives.  Nathan had the experience of giving a box to someone (a minority) who looked like she expected everyone at her table to get one except her.  And when he gave it to her, she was completely touched and surprised.

 

Thanks for letting us share the joy of this experience with you!

It's the Best Time of the Year!

Saturday we had our Christmas party at the Hope Center!  These kids are a lot of fun to be with, and they LOVE to have their photo taken (and play with my camera too), so they requested that we bring back the photo booth like we did last year.  Plus a few props!

 

The best we could do with our family in the pic!  Sorry it's not in focus!

We had some leftover cookie dough from when Mom and the kids made cookies a few days earlier o we baked some up and brought over tubs of icing, food coloring, and sprinkles.

 

I think iced cookies are pretty unusual in Albania (American desserts are quite sweet by their standards, actually), but they loved the icing so much I caught kids holding an icing knife and repeatedly adding dabs of icing to their cookies with each bite, or just dunking their cookies straight out in the icing bowls.  I was tempted to give a little lesson on 'double dipping', but I held my tongue. :-)  As I also did when I caught some pouring our American carepackage peppermint sprinkles and eating them by the handful.  Oh well. I've got a soft spot for these kids, I guess you could say. ;-)  And we're probably not making any more Christmas cookies this year anyway.

 

 

Hungry yet?