Not Your Typical Friday Night

We had to buy more coffee mugs last week!  That's a good problem!

It's Friday.  That means lots of hot chocolate and hot tea, but more importantly, discipleship time for us in Vlash after church.  Would you pray for us?  Would you pray for the students who attend? 

We praise God for the opportunity to cultivate the soil of tender hearts.

We praise God for students who attend (including a couple of girls who recently moved into the community and for whom the Message is brand new).

We pray for the eyes of their hearts to be opened by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We pray for lives to be transformed and spiritual growth to occur.

Ladies Night

I'm playing 'catch up' on the blog here!  A little over a week ago I lost the use of my laptop.  I think it was going on six years old, which in laptop years is probably 85.  Some of the keys were sticking and the monitor had a funny hitch in it, depending on the tilt (it would freeze and turn green), but it still worked for my purposes.  Until it took a nose dive off the coffee table onto the floor.  Yep, brought it all the way here and used it for not even three months...

Fortunately it was Thanksgiving week and Nathan found a good deal online that my parents will bring me when they come over in February.  In the mean time, Nathan and I will share the other laptop.  Sharing didn't seem too inconvenient at the time we opted not to purchase a replacement here in Albania (minimum 20% more than we would pay in the States), but apparently I didn't realize how often we are usually on the computer at the same time!

Right now I have use for a few minutes so here are some photos from last week in Vlash...

Our colleague Shpresa invited women from her church in Tirana to join the women of Vlashaj for an evening of testimonies and eating.

Yes -- the power went out briefly at the beginning and out came the cell phones!

Shpresa welcomes everyone

One of the village ladies brought this cake which translated reads, "God bless you"

Refreshments included muffins, an egg byrek and a tomato and onion byrek along with apples and oranges.

The Day After Thanksgiving...

Ever since 2006, the day after Thanksgiving has been significant for us.  It's the day we met and held Ellie for the first time.  Friday morning in sharing with her about this special little 'anniversary' Nathan held Ellie in an impromptu re-enactment after breakfast.  "Hold me longer, Daddy," she said.  We'll hold you forever, Els.

Given that Friday was also a holiday in Albania (Liberation Day), we arranged with the help of our friend Kerri to meet up in Elbasan with Reni's Dyzi. We are indebted to Dyzi for her love of our Reni boy until we could get there to hold him ourselves.  We hope we can maintain a relationship with her as Reni grows.  

We met up at a little shopping mall (new since our stay in 2010) with a play place and let the kids play.  I know the photo below isn't tack sharp (between the low light, motion, and shooting through mesh... yeah, excuses) -- I just love the look of joy on Dyzi's face.

I don't know that my children have ever gotten to play in a real ball pit before!  They loved it -- and I love it that Dyzi jumped in with them!

We were pleased to bring our dear friend, Vera, with us to Elbasan for the day.  Kerri is center and Julie is on the right.  Thank you, friends, for translating for us!  Hopefully we won't need your translation assistance forever!

For those of you who have adopted, I'm sure you can understand how much it means to know that your child had someone to show them love and to love in return before you.  I know it was terribly hard for both Reni and Dyzi when he came into our family, but he is an emotionally healthier individual because of Dyzi's love!

Here's to more visits to Elbasan.  It's nice having family in Albania.

(don't Nathan and I look like giants?)

How We Spent Thanksgiving

This year our Thanksgiving holiday happened to fall on the same day as Albania's Independence day (celebrating 101 years as a sovereign nation), so it was a holiday for all!  While it may not seem a big deal, it really helped the day "feel" like a true holiday.  Everything was just quiet (a rare thing in the city, indeed!)

It was also a beautiful dry, clear day for the first time in over a week.  I grabbed my camera and walked over a couple of blocks to Mother Teresa square for a few photos of the bunting over the Boulevardi.

Look!  Snow on the mountains!! 

We were so happy to be invited to join the Hosaflook's and friends for Thanksgiving dinner.  We had never been to their home before so we had to laugh when we read the directions and they ended with the instruction to turn left at the garbage cans at the top of the hill... When we got there, it made total sense!

We arrived around two.  Below is Pam.  She works at the Hope Center where we volunteer a couple of Saturdays a month.  She is making rolls for dinner.

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Below is Faby -- she grew up in the orphanage in Shkodra and was taken in by David and Kristi when she aged out.  I LOVED talking to Faby who is now married and a mom of three.  I don't even know where to start to describe our conversation -- so much interesting stuff about orphanage life, understanding the Albanian orphan 'care' system, her integration into life in the 'real' world/mainstreaming, etc..  She's pictured with her youngest son, standing next to Ben, the H's oldest son.

Upon arriving we learned that our host David had most likely broken his arm in a football game earlier in the day.  He had made some phone calls to determine the hospital with the best orthopedist and made an appointment.  Nathan offered to drive him and accompany him for the duration of his visit.  

That meant lunch was postponed indefinitely but we had lots of veggies and crackers and dip to snack on while passing the time visiting, in between the random Skype call that would come in from friends and family elsewhere.

(below, Faby and Kristi) 

The adults' table...

I was super camera lazy... I think by the time Nathan and David returned it was all about filling kids' plates and eating!  We had all the traditional fare (except we had chicken, not turkey -- I haven't spoken to anyone in Tirana who had turkey for their Thanksgiving!) -- sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn casserole, cranberries (from dried), stuffing, pickles, and rolls!  There was a lot of 'making do' with what could be purchased locally as well as dipping into precious reserves of goodies brought over from America (like cheddar cheese)!  All in all it was delicious and a taste of home!

We got home rather late, but were able to chat with both of our families via Skype.

We trust you all had a good Thanksgiving day too!

Is it cheating?

 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9

I memorized the verses above thanks to a lovely song on a Seeds Family Worship CD (all lyrics are directly from Scripture, ESV version).  Sadly, I don't know any Albanian Scripture verses set to music tunes (yet!), but it's not stopping me from selecting memory verses for Kids Club each week.  It's funny what a little thing like rewards positive reinforcement produces.  Rote memory seems to come relatively easily to our young friends, even without musical reinforcement, and we're throwing up a lot of stars on our attendance and Bible verse chart.

Our friend above, we'll call her Joy, apparently doubted her memory from the week earlier.  Does writing her memory verse on her palm 'count' as 'binding them on her hand'? ;-)  If so, is it cheating?

Watch out Mersin!  The kids found your guitar!  (By the way, yes, that is an Uno card being used as a guitar pick).

Working on the "Twelve Tribes of Israel" craft.

Reni and his buddy, we'll call him Leo

If you flipped Ellie's over, she may have deviated from the lesson and renamed some of her tribes names like "Daddy, Mommy, Abby, Anna, Reni and Zoe (Nonna and PaPa's dog)".

Stone by Stone...

Rozafa Fortress, Shkodra (2009)

We say, "Rome wasn't built in a day."

Albanians say, "Gur, gur behët mur."  Stone by stone the wall is built

One word at a time, we are learning the language.

One conversation at a time we learn another piece of this country's story.

One experience at a time, the eyes of our cultural understanding are opened a little bit more to see a bigger picture.

It takes time.  We might grow impatient but we are growing. And building our wall.

An exclusive 'club'

The process of adopting a child from Albania is a pretty unique experience.  On average (for the past ten years), about eight Albanian children per year have found families in the United States.  We're a small club and on the rare occasion when we meet each other in person there's an immediate understanding.

Since arriving here in September, we've been blessed to meet two families walking the adoption journey in Albania.  Both arrived around the same time we did in September (one family arrived a few days before me, the other a few days after Nathan), and this past week, both finally completed all of the legal steps to go home with their children.

Last Sunday night we met together for supper to celebrate and say 'goodbye'.

The folks below are Bethany Christian Services staff.  They came to Albania just a few months before we came to adopt Ellie in 2006.  When we met them, they had four children in their nest.  This fall they returned to Albania this fall (after marrying off one daughter, and dropping two others off at college in the States) with only one still at home.

Bob likes to tell folks that he met Ellie and Reni before we did! ;-)

We rejoice that we know of THREE more families coming to Albania over the course of the next several months. (Two of them we will be meeting in person for the first time and the third we are blessed to already call 'real life' friends.  They will be returning for their second Albanian-born daughter!)

One of those families is coming for "JM", a little guy from Reni's orphanage whom we met in July 2010 and advocated for on this blog for over a year (you may have noticed that his image was removed from the sidebar over the summer). He had some medical ambiguities, so he sat on the waiting child list for a long, long time waiting to be chosen.  I'll tell you there was great rejoicing in our house this summer when we got an e-mail from the couple whom God called to step forward and call him 'son.'  Over the course of the last few months we have fallen in love with this couple through their blog posts.  JM is a blessed boy indeed to be going to a home where he will learn about Jesus from parents who follow hard after Him.

The cost of adoption is high.  That's not a surprise to most.  While a family has to prove that they have the ability to financially support the child they seek to bring home, it doesn't necessarily mean they have the money sitting in the bank to pay for an adoption in cash.  I know this family has pinched and scraped and cut back, even going from two cars to one.  They are having a number of fundraisers to pay costs of each step in the process.  While most of us aren't within driving distance of their neck-of-the-woods, they are currently hosting a fundraiser which isn't limited by distance.  Click here to find out about some shopping opportunities from some of your favorite vendors where the proceeds benefit their adoption fund!  It might be a good way to kick off your Christmas shopping!

And someday, Lord willing, you'll see their faces here as we hug them goodbye and see them go home as a family of three!

Ellie's Language Lesson

When our new friends here learn that Ellie and Reni were born in Albania, their first question is, "Do they still speak Albanian?"

Due to their age at the time of adoption, they weren't even verbal.  And from what we have learned, most children adopted internationally usually forget most of their first language within the first six months in their new country.  Difficulties with speech and language can occur when a child has partially learned a first language, then has that language learning interrupted and subsequently starts language learning all over again with a set of new sounds, rhythms and vocabulary.

However, children between the ages of four and eight are at the best stage to acquire a second language.  That is Reni and Ellie ages exactly.  We've noticed that in spite of hearing Albanian on a limited basis (basically only Fri/Sat/Sundays) they are picking up vocabulary.  We would be thrilled for them to have more immersion experience, and perhaps someday that might come.  Their educational needs for the moment (Ellie's attention challenges and Reni's mobility) make Albanian school difficult for now.

Last night we pulled Ellie into a simple language exercise with Vera.  She is holding a 'gameboard' with images depicting six emotions.  Vera moves a photo of Ellie, Reni, or myself and places it on an emotion.  She then makes a true or false statement about the person and emotion and Ellie says "po" (yes) or "jo" (no).  This is only one phase of the overall exercise, but the point of this phase is to gauge comprehension (we have not yet moved to mimicry).