September 2024 | Sweet Memories, Abundant Blessings

September is a lovely month in Albania... the pervasive heat relents, the crush of summer visitors tapers off, and life resumes a routine.  The best part is that these transitions are more gradual than a flip of a calendar page.

We started the month off with dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Tirana to see Reni's paternal grandmother!  It had been about three years since we had seen her! 

Exercise classes resumed and I'm trying to get back into shape after a spring of sporadic attendance on my part.  Most evenings I was cooking for guests which meant I missed classes!  We also took a hiatus in July and August because of the heat and wow -- I have a lot of catching up to do!

On September 4 Mom and Hannah arrived! 

It was so kind of them to come and spend ten days with us.

They also serve as pack mules, delivering our Amazon orders and bringing other special treats!  Below, Ellie received her first electric guitar, purchased with her own money. She has already created some beautiful tunes, including using it to write and record the theme song for the Royal Servants podcast! Fast forward to the closing credits to hear our favorite part of the song...

We visited friends...

Enjoyed special treats like going out for coffee...

Enjoyed a staff meeting...

Give greetings at church...

Play table games...

Dinner at our friends' home, the Konis'...

Mom brought over iron-on transfers for the Crikut machine.  Nathan had too much fun.

Part of the reason for the timing of Mom and Hannah's visit was to stay with the kids while Nathan and I took a trip for our 25th wedding anniversary.  I don't know that we would have planned anything so special except she had given us some funds last Christmas for this purpose.  It was a very special treat and we enjoyed seeing a new-to-us place, taking lots of photos, and learning new things! It will remain a life-long memory! We will spare you the highlights of our cameral roll and share this one image from which maybe you can guess where we went... (hint: we didn't leave the continent).

The wonders of camera AI that (mostly) removed all of the tourists behind us, ha ha.

And now, BACK TO THE REAL WORLD...

Speaking of unexpected gifts, a previous guest left funds for us to purchase a new blue-tooth speaker to replace our other much-used portable speaker that only works when you slap with just the right force in a certain place on the right side... We identified a unit and then when we got around to deciding we should buy it, it went on sale! We use a speaker for so many events from kids club to gym class.  Thank you, D, for this gift!!

"Study Hall" hours resumed on Tuesdays and Thursdays with school.  Below, Ellie helps quiz Sela on her English homework.

How special to see Luli deliver the message at church one Friday evening!

It was also sweet to see my friend Arjana, who moved to Italy last year to pursue cancer treatment, come back to the village for a brief visit. 

We said 'goodbye' to our friend "S" (16) who has been a regular fixture at Jeta. This country is hemorrhaging teens and young adults like him who seek employment opportunities outside of the country. On top of a declining birthrate it's situations like this that lend credence to predictions that Albania will boast the oldest country in the world by 2050.

On September 18 we welcomed the Handwork family back to Vlashaj for a month. Our backyard neighbor, L, was thrilled for his best friend to return!

Ellie has resumed teaching music at VT Albania every Wednesday! Below she is featured with the boys in Group 1.

I follow her music classes with teaching a mix of English and Bible.  We are working through a different day of creation each week!  I don't have a photo of myself teaching so I will substitute it with an image of VT's lunch one day...

Near the end of September, we celebrated our dear friend Shpresa's birthday with a yummy cake at Bible study!  We so appreciate Shpresa's sweet spirit and faithful service to the Word and helping us understand and apply it to our lives!

As area team leader for the Balkan region of WGM-Europe, Nathan meets with each of our teammates on a monthly basis.  Below, we had coffee with the Artonis at a new dessert house which opened about 10 minutes up the highway from our village! If you visit us, we will take you there!

International grocery store chains are shifting to more and more English wording on their products (when we moved here, I calculated that most items we bought were potentially in one of about half a dozen different languages, depending on the country of origin). Below, the translation of these cups of ramen amused me.  But no judgment -- I'm sure my Albanian language skills are also the source of amusement to some!

One morning at Kids Club, Jaz found this little buddy had made his way into the kalceto!

Our big project for the month of September consisted of chasing down documents and crafting text for a grant proposal. Below, Nathan and Mandi pose in front of the municipality offices while they wait for a signature.

We have little experience in this arena but we believe that like most things, practice makes perfect.  We did not seek out this grant but embarked on this process as co-applicants with another like-minded ministry.  They have been great mentors to us in the process.  We are trusting God with the outcome, but if we win, it could help us further develop the practical training we offer through VT Albania to individuals with disabilities.

If you have ever visited the village of Metalle with us, you will know it's not far, but the road conditions substantially lengthen travel time.  Imagine our surprise to drive up one Saturday morning for kids club to discover this!

It meant that Nathan had to park the van and the team had to walk the remaining distance, but a small price to pay for the convenience of making future trips on asphalt and less wear on our vehicles!

Finally, the last pic of the month:  Ellie gets a much-needed hair trim.  We hope to capture her senior photos soon and this was a necessary first step.

August 2024 | Breaking up the routine

Routine is good.  Structure is good.  But we all need a break in structure and routine to allow space for creativity and rest. 

August is that month for us in the calendar year where structure and routine go out the window. It's absolutely lovely.  Not because we do nothing.  In fact, it's far from that.  We actually stay pretty busy, but it feels SO different it's sort of liberating... to be able to exercise more control over our days versus the schedule of the day controlling us.  

Here are photo highlights of August for our family...

We actually have time to do things like pick up our mail in Tirana, where I found this gift from Uncle Jerry -- the novel based on Season 4 of The Chosen! :-) 

We also enjoyed watching the Olympics and cheering on an expanded team from Albania!

We said 'goodbye for now' to Hannah, who had spent five weeks with us.

Reni enjoyed a special be-lated birthday dinner.  His meal of choice three (?) years running -- sushi!  A true treat for all of us (well, Ellie usually finds something else on the menu, ha ha). 

We were invited to coffee by these two lovely ladies to discuss the possibility of co-applying for a grant to benefit our respective works in the disability community.  That journey has been full of twists and turns.  We appreciate your prayers as we approach the application deadline this week! (as of this writing)

One of Ellie and Reni's friends has returned to serve in Albania at the international church during his gap year.  We took the opportunity while we were in town for our coffee meeting (above) to take him out for lunch!

While we suspend programs during the month of August, Nathan and I still opened Jeta periodically to the village kids and held "Film Fridays" where we showed the animated children's series, "Super Book", where present-day kids travel back in time to witness stories from the Bible.  Of course, Nathan also made snow cones and we cleaned out the freezer of any leftover frozen sweet treats!  Anything to make the heat more bearable!

 

One of our recent visitors brought us these cute popcorn boxes, so we had a family movie night with our colleagues, the Artonis!  

Because we don't have AC up in the loft where we have our TV, we rearranged our furniture to watch the film in a space where we would be more comfortable!

Our colleague Tiffany married her sweetheart, Bobby, on August 10. We watched a live-stream of their ceremony at Jeta and got all dressed up for the occasion!

We even bought dessert at the local bakery, because it's not a wedding without cake, right?

We hosted a visit one morning from an OM ministry team in Durres who wanted to learn more about the ministry of VT Albania.  We pray it yields future collaboration for us both to better serve individuals with disabilities and their families.  Below I pose with Cheyenne, with whom we share a mutual friend in Margaret M in Anderson, SC! <3

(below) Nature sighting on the roof of our home!

Cultural Trivia -- did you know that in Albanian culture an owl represents not wisdom but laziness/obesity? To call someone an 'owl' implies you think they're overweight! eek!

In spite of the heat, kids still need to be outdoors and active.  We are so grateful that the kalceto provides a shady place to play! 

On August 14 we were happy to welcome Luli and Hannah back after about 8 weeks in the US.

We bought a small desk to help Ellie further develop her music studio.  This is where she spent much of her time before school resumed for her!

The Picnic Table Project

To be honest, I (Cydil) am usually the one dreaming up the projects, and almost always they require Nathan's help to execute.

This project, however, was different. For longer than I can remember, Nathan has wanted to build a picnic table to enjoy in our little "park" on Jeta's property.  This month he was finally able to find a block of uninterrupted time to attack it!  Armed with a free PDF listing necessary components, dimensions, and instructions, he and Luis procured all they needed.

We invited our local friends to help, if they would like to learn a few skills.  We were glad a few turned up to help!

The Acoustic Panel Project

Then it was my turn.  The project stuck in my craw was to install acoustic panels in the sanctuary of Jeta.

Since hosting the Alpha course, which consists of substantial amounts of table discussion, I've always been frustrated that the acoustics of the space make discussion quite challenging. Over the years we have been meeting in Jeta we considered many sound-deadening options (the chief being carpet or curtains), but most of them were impractical in terms of maintenance and/or longevity.

Once I discovered the existence of acoustic paneling, and learned that we could source them in Albania, I was like a dog on a bone. By far it appeared to serve as the best solution for our noise problems.

It was not a cheap project, and it was only possible due to a special, unexpected gift to our ministry account. But we believe it is an investment in increasing the functionality of the space!  Of course, we believe we saved money too by installing it ourselves.

With Mandi's help, we picked them up from a warehouse about 20 minutes away.  But getting them in the van was more challenging than you can imagine, with the panels measuring 240 centimeters long!

We decided to install the panels on the north wall.  Below, we prepped the walls outlining the doors, windows, heating units, corners, etc. in black paint to hide any potential gaps between panels.

At various times, Nathan and I had help from our colleagues during different stages of installation.

One evening, Arjan came and lent us his laser level to ensure the first panels were installed true, even if the walls were not!

The work was slower than we expected, but we didn't want to be rushed or careless.  Mistakes could not be disguised. After the first day, we got in a rhythm.

In the process I learned how to operate a caulk gun! I also kept the worksite swept and clean, unwrapped panels, measured and marked for cuts, passed Nathan tools on the ladder, and ran the shop vac while he drilled and sawed.  We moved even faster if Luis or Luli dropped in!  What you can't see is that the laminated wooden strips were stapled to sheets of black felt.  Every cut created a thick mist of granular felt dust that coated everything!

With our leftover material we decided to wrap this column on the opposite wall.  Otherwise, the east and west walls remain painted plaster.

When we finally finished, we were relieved to see how it all turned out!  We pray it mitigates the issues of echo and makes it easier to hear in the space!

The rest ...

Ellie started dual-enrollment classes at Asbury, fulfilling a long-time dream to be a part of our alma mater! This is how she dressed for the day her first class went online! :-)

The Artonis invited us over one evening for a traditional Argentine asada!  Wow! What a treat!!

I love that we live in a place where we can just move furniture outside for dining!  

We weren't the only ones with a project -- Mandi had long wanted to address the table top of the rooftop table at Jeta.  The elements were brutal, and painting it once a year wasn't enough to protect it. He found a welder to make a new form to place atop the base, and the stone guys to measure and cut four pieces of stone.  

This table will now probably last the life of this building!

Thanks for sticking around til the end! More fun stuff coming up in September!