June started out with a visit from some dear central-Illinois friends, led by Nathan's brother Steve (above). Ellie and Reni embraced them all right off the bat and did NOT want them to leave!
They provided useful training in sports ministry -- teaching character through competition.
(below) And three days were spent in staff training on discipleship. We were blessed to stay at a small hotel in the south, owned by friends. We used the rooftop as our classroom!
Reni found a good buddy in Ethan who generously carried him around when we were out and about. Ethan is an arborist, of sorts, so it was appropriate to photograph the two of them in front of this enormous tree!
One of my favorite photos from the entire summer (below)... I just wish you could hear his playing. Ellie has her own çifteli and is always eager to see others who play. With only two strings, the chords seem to be quite limited... nevertheless, I appreciate that she embraces this part of her heritage.
The same day our Illinois friends left, our besties from Kosovo popped down for a quick overnight visit while they had some meetings in Tirana. It was restorative and the hours between guests was ample to wash sheets and turn over beds! The kids were thrilled to have visitors at their school Tuesday morning. Below, they are learning the art of 'quilling' (I was jealous -- I'd love to try that sometime!)
A few days later, Charisse and Hannah arrived to stay through the end of the month (Charisse) and until July 13 (Hannah).
We really loved having these university students with us. We converted one of the rooms in the center downstairs into a bedroom for the girls (John moved into a house up the street) and our kitchen table grew to have these three eating and living with us for the next few weeks.
Hannah helped with English conversation group... She brought a lot of wonderful ideas for new ways to engage the students.
And Charisse taught art classes three mornings per week. They were a huge hit!
Two mornings per week we visited the Valdete Trust and brought activities for the students there, now that their classes had finished for the summer. One morning we planned an Hawaiian luau complete with 'tickets' to the island, music, beach and water games!
The kids enjoyed getting into 'costume' to make this theme come to life.
Continuing the summer fun, we enjoyed the World Cup and Reni got futboll fever. Face-painting by Charisse didn't hurt either. We cheered for our Ballkan neighbor, Croatia, and hosted many showings in the center.
Another highlight of June was surprising the kids with a lunch visit from their former teachers, Anna and Abby, along with their two husbands. Anna and Jaron now live in Albania, and Abby brought her husband, Tommy, for his first visit. When we brought the two fresh university grads to this country five years ago, we couldn't have imagined how it would capture their hearts!
Sometime mid-month our girl Els turned into a teenager! We treated her to an American breakfast (she chose chocolate chip pancakes) at a special restaurant in Tirana. Then we took her to a movie with one of her friends.
Nathan has the tradition of making them a special, homemade birthday cake. This year Ellie requested a guitar.
About a week later, we got a call from home that we needed to hurry back to say goodbye to Dad. We bought tickets. Then had to cancel those and buy another set to leave even sooner, the next day. Ellie was amazing with the quick adjustment and hasty departure. She was also a great travel buddy, her international travel experience starting to show. That, and chewing an entire packet of bubble gum on our descent into Chicago.
(Below: Nathan drops us off at Rinas -- thankfully a not-too-early morning flight. Reni was under the weather and stayed home.)
I will spare a lot of details, but it's one of those life passages you never know how will play out. Dad went faster than I could have imagined, yet he waited until we (Ellie and I) got home. We arrived around midnight Saturday. He passed away less than twelve hours later, at home. I was out taking a walk to stretch my legs and move my feet which still felt the effects of a long day of international travel. I was gone less than 10 minutes and came in the house and immediately knew what had happened. I still can't believe I missed that moment after traveling so far.
Nathan and Reni hopped on a plane two days later. Low and behold, who was on the same flight but Abby and Tommy! Nathan reported they enjoyed a coffee together at the Rome Airport to pass the time of the layover -- and nearly missed the connection to Chicago!
I still crack up at the photo below, Reni's first morning in the States. The "Breakfast of Champions": a plate of crispy bacon and a root beer. We let things slide when one gets an unexpected 6-day trip to the land of unhealthy food.
The rest of June was a blur, and already documented here. Suffice it to say, we felt surrounded by a lot of love and support from family and friends. We are so blessed. We also take incredible comfort in our faith, knowing that we have the promise of heaven and Dad's confidence that he was ready, whenever his time on earth was done.
(below) Dad's online obituary and his death notice as posted in the village.
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