Weekend Re-Cap

We are back in our routine and it feels good. 

Friday night we were back at Vlashaj. While Nathan was sharing out in the living room with a packed house of youth, the kids were back in one of the sleeping rooms with their friend Elio.  Yes, playing one app or another... it keeps them pretty quiet (ha, ha)...

I wish I had gotten a photo of the room but it was packed.  Not a single coffee cup or chair to spare!  Next week we are going to be implementing some exercises/activities to underscore the idea of faith in what you can't see.  Would you pray for us that the Holy Spirit would help them 'see' what can't be seen?

Afterwards we got a big surprise gift from our friend Eda... She and her mom baked this for us from scratch...

That's 80-plus pieces of baklava... weighing about ten lbs of honey-soaked pastry and nut sweetness.

This is Eda demonstrating how her mother cut it so symetrically.

They call it a flower pattern.

It reminds me of old-fashioned quilt designs.  And it tastes as good as it looks.

The next morning:

Singing a song with motions...  unfortunately Ellie is doing motions for the macarena... Hmmm... who taught her THAT???

"L" is cramming below for Bible memory time...

Ellie and Reni have lots of friends who like to help them!

 Ambra is their favorite friend and it's now our custom to just come down to Ambra's house on our way back to Tirana because that's where our kids can be found after Kid's Club.  We hear all kinds of stories about what they do at Ambra's...

(no photo for this) Of his mud spattered jacket -- "I slipped in the mud feeding the baby chickens at Ambras..."

I can't tell you how cool it is that the kids have friends like this and I can let them go and explore.

This past Saturday the team distributed Operation Christmas Child Boxes.  We were going to do it on Christmas day, but so many kids showed up, kids we had never seen before, and we didn't have enough, so distribution got postponed.  I think it was more fun to surprise them this way.

For all of you who participate in this program, enjoy these next few images...

Probably the best part of our weekend was an impromptu lunch with Ambra, her sister, Xhesi, and her mom, Xhani.  After cleaning and locking up the center, we drove down the hill to pick up the kids.  I stepped in the house to announce our departure.  I got cajoled into bringing Nathan in and staying for coffee, which turned into bread and plums and then dhalle (a yogurt drink) and finally egg and cheese byrek.  Without any translation assistance, we had a really nice visit for over an hour, learning all about the origins of their family and their arrival in the village, their family in Greece, and plans for Ambra's birthday on Tuesday. Abby paid us the highest compliment when she told us that our language classes were paying off! I think we got about 80% of what they were saying, but they were patient and slow.  And probably spoke simply for our benefit, but it was rewarding nonetheless and encouragement to keep on keeping on!