Family "Camp"
A wise missionary once told me the special importance of creating traditions for kids like ours, whose lives are lived in constant transition. People constantly entering and exiting their lives. Visits to their passport country every couple of years for brief periods. How important it is then to have certain points of the year to which they can anticipate to create and nurture special relational connections as a family and with others.
We have decided to make the last week of February one of those "immovable" signposts for Ellie and Reni that they can count on each year. That's the week we have attended a special education conference in Hungary. Initially, it was for periodic testing to gauge their academic progress and identify educational gaps. Because of the time and distance, we only attended every other year. But it has turned into so much more than a necessary school checklist item. Now it's a week of family camp, youth group, workshops, worship, and respite all rolled into one event. What we see it does for Ellie and Reni is priceless so we have prioritized it on our annual calendar, especially as we are terrible at taking vacations!
It was special to see this MK (above) return to help in the teen program (his parents are friends we made through this conference, and they used to live in an adjacent country)! He was Reni's small group leader and will graduate from Moody soon!
We have so much fun, we rarely take photos, but I couldn't resist this pic below... Reni would hang out with his friends until late each evening. On the last night, it may have been 3AM before he wandered back to our room?? God bless Mom A who chaperoned! Because the discount airline by which we traveled only provides service to Albania two days per week, we had 2 extra nights to pass between the end of the conference and our flights. We are so glad that we have dear Asbury friends and their families to visit. But first, we made a quick stop at Ikea! Reni gladly passed on shopping to catch a nap in the parking lot. :-)
We have so much fun, we rarely take photos, but I couldn't resist this pic below... Reni would hang out with his friends until late each evening. On the last night, it may have been 3AM before he wandered back to our room?? God bless Mom A who chaperoned! Because the discount airline by which we traveled only provides service to Albania two days per week, we had 2 extra nights to pass between the end of the conference and our flights. We are so glad that we have dear Asbury friends and their families to visit. But first, we made a quick stop at Ikea! Reni gladly passed on shopping to catch a nap in the parking lot. :-)
Our first hosts first made us incredible homemade pizza (again, no photos :-( ) and we really enjoyed seeing them again.
The second visit included a ranch full of sweet animals. Who can say 'no' to holding a lamb?
The second visit included a ranch full of sweet animals. Who can say 'no' to holding a lamb?
...or to a game of chess while the grown-ups chat?
In between activities, the kids read the packet of notes written to them by their conference friends and leaders.
And of course, life still goes on and during the week Reni enrolled in his online classes for next fall! It looks like a rigorous courseload and this doesn't include math with Dad!
Back in the village
Look who came to visit!! We kept it a surprise, which was extra fun! Check out Ellie's reaction.
Mari-Grace volunteered with us for 7 months in 2022, so only one week felt WAY too short, but we were grateful nonetheless and it meant a lot to her village friends that she came back. Below, taking her back to the airport at 2:15AM!
When your friends are virtual, you do things like make cookies over video calls! Below, Ellie made amazing cookies with a friend she made in Hungary.
I kicked it into high gear planning and cooking for our first big team that was to arrive on March 21. Below is a screenshot of my meal and activity schedule in Excel.
Before returning to Albania I discovered a recipe box of 72 freezer meals created by my college friend, Laurie. Oh my goodness, they are saving my life! To be sure, not all of them are possible given that some ingrediants are unavailable locally, but a lot of them ARE possible. To be able to batch prep and freeze 2/3 of the meals I would cook for a group means that I have MORE time to engage with our guests, less time spent cleaning up after meals, and fewer trips to the market while they are here.
Below, one of the friendly checkout girls at the supermarket who loves to chat with us (and scolds me if I don't choose her line)!
In preparation for my first meal prep, I laid out all the non-refrigerated items on the table because... where to put all this food? This is just grocery run #1 of 4-5 trips we usually make before a team arrives.
Of course, it's been so fun to try new recipes! Below this is the "Perfect Potato Frittata" from the Whole Foods recipe box. It was yummy!
Feedback from previous guests indicated that more hooks would be helpful in the guesthouse bathrooms (hence the Ikea trip in Hungary). I have to say, American hotels are short on this feature too! I hate laying my things on the ground! Grateful that Nathan is so handy!
For MANY years I have resisted my family's pleas to get a dishwasher. I have had a lot of reasons. For one, washing dishes never hurt anyone and it's a household chore that the kids can do. I also don't feel like we need to have every convenience just because it's available. But when it came down to it, we already have a small kitchen and I couldn't imagine sacrificing the cabinet space to make room for this appliance.
But... Nathan came up with a solution that allowed me to keep the old cabinet in the passthrough between our kitchen and bedroom and my resistance weakened! Then I saw our calendar filling up with lots of visitors and decided to pull the trigger on the purchase during a spring sale at the local appliance store.
But... Nathan came up with a solution that allowed me to keep the old cabinet in the passthrough between our kitchen and bedroom and my resistance weakened! Then I saw our calendar filling up with lots of visitors and decided to pull the trigger on the purchase during a spring sale at the local appliance store.
 |
| This empty hole mocks us |
Except when we brought it home, we didn't realize that a water tank on the side of the machine was cracked. Water leaked (more like 'gushed') and burnt up something electrical. Because we didn't return it within 24 hours (we had waited two days for the plumber to connect it for us), we 'forfeited' the right to get an immediate replacement. Instead, they sent it out for repair. Yeah. I know. Some things are just harder to navigate in another culture and language. So we try to have a sense of humor about it and make memes like this below... what Nathan calls our "Albanian dishwasher."
In the meantime, as of this writing, we embark on week 4 of working in a kitchen with a giant hole taunting us with what could be...
Reni has developed a significant interest in basketball and can be found playing outside every day, sometimes multiple times per day!
We never take safety on the roads for granted! We came across this accident just half a mile from the village...
...on our way to pick up our Albanian ID cards! Hooray! After 10+ years, it feels good to have something more than a piece of paper (that one ticket agent thought we printed off an illegal website) to prove our legality. We tried getting this done last summer but bureaucracy...
On the same day, we checked our mail and found this lovely treat in our mailbox! If you enjoy historical fiction, these are really, really good! I especially enjoy the narrator for the audiobook editions, but the author is overall swell. :-)
While Reni can be found playing basketball, Ellie is usually found with an instrument.
This is the month of Ramazan... the banner below reads,
"Welcome, blessed month of Ramazan. Month of forgiveness and mercy."
"Welcome, blessed month of Ramazan. Month of forgiveness and mercy."
Women's Day
We enjoyed a lowkey, yet nonetheless special Women's Day lunch! We enjoyed a catered lunch, a devotional message, and a special craft prepared by Belen!
Greenhouse Team Visits!
Waiting at the airport for them to arrive... Reni is trying out a "center part" to his hair... :-) It has been the topic of much thought.
Our friend Anneco had to move to a different house so we spent a couple of hours helping move her largest items. It turned into quite the adventure when the moving truck got stuck on the muddy hill leading up to her new home!
Below, celebrating the completion of a successful move!
Two in the group are special educators. While they assessed the students at VT and consulted with parents and teacher Mira, the rest of the team provided activities or the participants. These included games, crafts, nerf gun competitions, singing, volleyball, and bubbles, to name a few!
We also used their help to organize a storage area for the futbol school equipment.
The last Wednesday of the month we had an Alpha Reunion and Nathan shared the story of Jesus washing the disciples' feet.
One Sunday we took the group on a hike at the Cape of Rodon.
Catch a glimpse of that with Nathan's Insta360 video here. While the landscape is stunning, some of the footage is frankly terrifying.
What Reni can do in his legs is amazing (imagine hiking over hilly, rocky paths on stilts), but occasionally, he will opt out of the more difficult hikes, especially if he has already been there and done that. I stayed with him at this overlook while the others visited the castle ruins. While the day was gloriously stunning, clouds briefly rolled in to create extra drama and I got this image, with a little extra fun using PhotoShop tools in post.
On more than one occasion, this team gave us the gift of intercessory prayer. Not surprisingly, they listed these times as some of their favorite memories of their visit.
One fun activity we love doing with visitors on weekend evenings when we don't have programs going on at Jeta is a blind taste test of various local soft drinks and juices.
Each team member rates the drink and we reveal the winners and losers.
Winning, for the second time in a row: Ivi Lemon (far left). Losing: dhalle, aka Albanian "Gatorade."
It's not uncommon for the power to go out for 15 minutes, once per week or so. One day during the team's visit, the power went out for several hours. When it finally returned, power resumed on the floor where our family lives, but not to the guesthouse below us. Nathan soon discovered why. Below are the wires from our electric meter to our house. Yes.
It's hard to express how much we love hosting visitors and the friendships our kids get to make with quality people.
Along with lots of fun memories, like playing JackBox games in our loft. So. Much. Laughter!
Easter!
On Good Friday, we did an interactive cookie-baking activity prior to our regular Good Friday service. It walked through the story of Jesus' death and resurrection and was so cool!
Except... we should have used powdered sugar! In spite of relentless whipping via the stand mixer, we never achieved fluffy peaks of meringue because our local sugar is so granulated! Now we know for next year! The cookies were placed in a preheated oven, heat turned off, and oven sealed with tape (to represent the sealing of Jesus' tomb). And opened the next day to reveal hollow, white cookies (representing the empty tomb)!
Except... we should have used powdered sugar! In spite of relentless whipping via the stand mixer, we never achieved fluffy peaks of meringue because our local sugar is so granulated! Now we know for next year! The cookies were placed in a preheated oven, heat turned off, and oven sealed with tape (to represent the sealing of Jesus' tomb). And opened the next day to reveal hollow, white cookies (representing the empty tomb)!
The Greenhouse team enjoyed a special presentation of the Easter account on Saturday, followed by door-to-door distribution of bags of flour.
Easter morning we celebrated with a special service and message preached by Pastor Genti about the people to whom Jesus revealed himself following his resurrection. Our daily prayer is for Him to reveal himself to our beloved friends and for them to recognize Him for who He is!
Accidentally 'matching' sister-in-laws!
We enjoyed a lovely Easter lunch with these dear people, this year adding Easter-themed Mad Gabs to our traditions! :-)
We hope you had a lovely Easter celebration too, living in the freedom and abundant life brought to us through Christ's defeat over death and sin!
