Ripples

Not long after my parents' first few trips to Albania, they were bringing over others (many through the Fellowship of Christian Farmers) who they thought would be interested in the agriculture ministry in Albania.  One of those couples were the Dumms of Missouri.  Ever since their first trip in 1995, like my parents, the Dumms have 'adopted' a village and been returning to Albania every year and bringing groups of their own, many of them returning several times themselves!

Through Mom and Dad I've heard of the Dumms for years but never had the pleasure of meeting them.  This past Friday they brought a team of 16 from their home church to Albania and their first stop was Friday night church in Vlashaj!

I told Mr. Dumm that I liked his JD hat and needed a picture with it him.  You might say farmers sporting green and yellow make me a tad homesick.

The weather was lovely so we met outdoors.  The visiting team led worship.

And afterwards we served refreshments. Someday (maybe when we're finally living in Vlashaj?) we will do better than store-bought cookies, potato chips and popcorn.  In the mean time, it gave everyone an excuse to linger a little longer.

I can't resist beautiful people in gorgeous light. ;-)  Love sweet "A".

Or this irresistibly adorable fella, L.  No doubt he's been on the blog a time or two (or three or four before).  Sometimes I could just put him in my pocket.

Outdoor church was taking place in the midst of a construction mess.  We're in the process of reinforcing the top of the wall and installing a little bit of fencing (to protect some little boys from themselves).

One of these guys (E, below) has also been on the blog a lot, but just LOVES to have his photo taken -- and he's pretty photogenic too.

Mrs. Dumm and two ladies making their first visit here!

In the mean time, back in Tirana we are winding down to the end of school.  The kids finished up their school year early thanks to Abby and Anna, but last week was our last co-op meeting with other home-schooling families.  And now Nathan and I are entering the last few weeks of Shqip II.

We've also been tackling a big list of projects (not all of which are photo-worthy). I've been working on re-vamping our Volunteer Guide for visitors coming to help us here in ministry (it's about a 25-page document with photos -- probably so long it will never get read!).  We also have a homework list of documents we need to create for the mission like creating an emergency evacuation plan and other policy-related necessities when hosting volunteers and other visitors in official capacities.  It's kind of been put on the back burner until classes wrapped up.

Also, since Abby and Anna left, the downstairs apartment has been painted (as well as our bedroom).  Thankfully it's not too expensive to hire painters, and included in that they move all the furniture away from the walls, roll up the carpets and take down the curtains as well as spackle the holes and cracks.  While everything is in the middle of the room, we've repaired cabinets and furniture, replaced broken hardware, tossed out junk, and sent rugs out to be cleaned.  I don't think any of those things have been done down there (at least the painting) in over 10 years! With guests coming to stay in the space next month we have a deadline, which is good!  I'm sure Nathan will be glad when I cease to ask him to pick up the drill and hang another curtain rod or picture on the wall!  But seriously, I'm blessed to have such a handy husband and that a former team was generous enough to leave us some amazing power tools!  We use them ALL the time!

Finally, anticipating that we will be transitioning out to Vlashaj in July, we have started to slowly pack up a few things, mostly sealing up our winter clothing in moisture-proof bags, as well as passing off some of the clothes the children have outgrown.

For those of you still reading -- I'm hoping to get back into my regular pace of blogging another time or two per week soon!