Cell Phone Dump | Transitions

Our last week in Albania is a bit of blur in my mind.  With so much on my mind, counting hours, checking lists, measuring baggage limits... it's no wonder we forgot our good camera and the drone for our last trip to Metalle.

Furthermore, two of our teammates were absent due to a family funeral, but the poppies were so pretty, they necessitated a stop, missing people and equipment aside.  I failed to take into account user experience and bright sunshine...

A parting shot to remember Metalle on sunnier days...

Some teary hugs goodbye... (pardon the mid-riff -- Ellie's growing like a weed and clothes shopping is at the top of the list upon returning to America)!

A last sunset in Albania for a while...

(below) My eager travelers, ready for the first flight.  After being asked WAY too many times (for months leading up to our departure) if they would be woken in the middle of the night, versus early in the morning, if it would be light or dark when we woke them up... (such are the questions from one who still struggles to understand a clock), it was a lot of fun to wake them at 2AM and tell them it was finally TIME!

Ellie borrowed my phone to take a photo of the sunrise...

We arrived to a very quiet airport in Vienna with lots of space to work out extra energy.

On our big flight from Vienna to Chicago.  These are the smiles of two passengers unaware that the in flight entertainment system would be largely inaccessible due to ear buds too big for children's ears... (lesson learned, headphones purchased for our summer road trips and return flight in October!)

We had a little misunderstanding and while we thought Reni's stroller was gate-checked in Albania, we actually did not get it returned to us until the very end.  Until we could arranged assistance, Reni sat astride one of our rolling bags.  Then, when we arrived in Chicago, we were blessed to have the assistant of this kind young woman.  Given that we were all operating on way too few hours of sleep, it was so nice to just follow someone else through O'Hare, even though it's a very familiar airport.

There were a few delays before our last flight, so the kids requested to try Cool Ranch Doritos -- oh the fun of trying new things in America!

A tummy full of junk food combined with the fact that it was midnight Albania time, both kids conked out HARD.

We eventually reached Peoria and were so pleased to be greeted by BOTH sets of parents/grandparents and our nephew, Elisha.

The next morning we settled in a bit into our temporary digs at my parents' home, then we visited the new assisted living facility where both my Grandmother Whiteford and Grandpa Van Orman (and Marilyn) now live.

Grandpa ordered in lunch from a local restaurant and we visited and celebrated Nathan's birthday!

Our long day of travel to America had fallen on Nathan's birthday -- not exactly the most special way to celebrate...

 It's good to be home!

It's a Wrap

The last week of school is usually filled with fun activities.  End-of-school parties.  Field Days.  Excursions.  Our home school was no exception, thanks to Miss Pam!

Some gummy worms

Corn starch

Some time in the microwave

And voila!  Edible slime!

It tasted better than Ellie's face lets on!

And it as even more fun to play with!

Thanks, Miss Pam, for some extra fun in school!

My Albania

(For those of you reading this post by e-mail, click here to view the video embedded above)

Albania released this promotional video yesterday in attempts to draw tourism here.

I just wrote on Facebook, "We leave for America in a little over 48 hours and this video already makes me homesick for Albania..."

We have been blessed to have visited nearly all of the places featured in the video (some more than others -- it is a very small country, but some places are harder to reach)!  We recognized Berat, Gjirokaster, Kruje, Valbona, Benje, Shkoder, to name a few (was that canyon Skrapari? We haven't been there yet)!  We love exploring this land though finding the time to do so seems more difficult than navigating the roads!

I love the kids in costume, and recognized some of the subtle differences based on origin/geography.   Nathan loves the children engaged in traditional games we see regularly played outside our windows.

Also, the first stone-arched bridge IS as scary to cross as it looks in the video, especially when you see rushing water below you!

In the beginning of the song, the girl sings about a lahuta (sp?), and briefly you see a toddler boy pulling a bow over an instrument, but you only get a glimpse of the top portion of it.  That was a lahuta.  It's an instrument of which I was unfamiliar until recently.  I can thank my daughter for introducing me to it this spring!  Ellie is interested in all stringed instruments, but particularly those indigenous to Albania.  She has acquired a çifteli, and then this spring, we purchased a lahute.  The instrument (not the one we purchased) dates back to Illyrian times (about 2000 years ago)!  If you see us this summer, Nathan hopes that we can have it displayed on our information table!  It's a gorgeous piece of craftsmanship, carved from a single piece of mulberry wood, that will likely spend more time hanging on a wall than sitting in Ellie's hands...

To be sure, not all of Albania is as picturesque as the video portrays, but she does have a beautiful people, stunning landscape, and unique culture.  Lately we have heard some Albanians express concern that the traditions and qualities that make Albania unique are slipping away.  I noticed how many of the kids were portrayed in activities like spinning wool, weaving carpets, churning butter, stacking hay, and drawing water,  Many of these activities continue today, albeit in more contemporary clothing than depicted in the video!  We are trying to soak up as much as we can about the land and people we are here to serve and feel blessed that Ellie and Reni get to know and appreciate their culture first hand. We hope they will grow up to be proud of their Albanian heritage!

On the same side of the sea...

I can't even remember when we were put in touch with each other.  It's certainly been well over a year.  Her family was preparing to adopt from Albania... we had completed two Albanian adoptions and lived there now... a mutual friend said we needed to meet, (of course!) and thus began a friendship over e-mail (or rather, Facebook Messenger, to be exact). :-)

There was a preliminary match with a sweet girl we knew from our days in Elbasan during Reni's adoption and we couldn't have been more excited.  Then we learned that God had other plans for their family and the girl we knew was going to another family instead.  

A few months went by and all of a sudden they had news!  A little girl in Durres was going to be theirs!  As it goes in the adoption world, some things unfold quickly while other steps are delayed.  At one point I wondered if we would ever get to meet in person as the date for our summer trip to America marched ever closer and they did not have that the last piece in hand before buying tickets.

Then all of a sudden, she announced they'd be flying over within days!  Not only did we get to meet in person, we got to meet each other's whole families!  Margaret and Sam got to attend our special baptism service, then a week later, bring the whole family out to the village to participate in a kids' program and have lunch together.

Ellie and Reni were thrilled to meet English-speaking friends, born within the same years as they! (Between ages 11 and 7!)  Not to mention, GIRLS!  (We seem to have a shortage of little girls in the missionary community here :-) )

While we're sad to have a limited amount of time to visit, we are grateful for the days our paths have crossed.  This sweet family cares deeply for this country and many folks doing Kingdom-work here.  It's not every day we get to meet folks who share some of the greatest loves of our hearts (Albanian missions and adoption)!

Even in the busy-ness of preparing for a transition to America, God has sweet gifts for us and we are grateful... 

Meet Jack

Ever since the hamsters bit the dust, Reni has expressed interest in having a pet of his own again.  Preferrably a dog.  Um, not so practical for us in this stage of life.

So when Luis brought this little gift, discovered in the field next door, Reni announced it would be "Jack, [his] pet for a week."

Jack appeared to be a bit less aggressive, slower moving than the hamsters and a better fit for Reni.  Reni's primary job seemed to be to protect Jack from the eager, careless hands of our younger neighbor friends.

He hung around the grape arbor for a few days, but hasn't been seen since Saturday.

Nice knowing you, Jack!

First round of 'goodbyes'...

It's become our tradition.  The first weekend in May I bring my camera and Nathan holds the reflector and we take some 'senior photos' to remember our friends at the center before they graduate and leave.  Because it's May, the roses are always lovely, but the weather can be fickle so we may have dramatic sun one minute, then it's overcast the next.

Over the course of three years you grow to love these kids! They are each special in their own ways.  We pray God's hand of protection on them as they step into an uncertain future.  The first four will leave... the last six will continue at the center and we will see when we return in the fall!

Our family with the 'seniors.'