Buckle up! October was a diverse month!
There is always something to be installed! Here, Nathan hangs mirrors in the men's locker room.
Below, Nathan and Ellie lead worship for church!
Before we returned to Albania, we got a message from Pastor Genti. Would we want to see Albania play Poland in the new stadium? YES!
Attending a soccer match has been a long time desire -- and this one did not disappoint (Even though we lost in the final minutes).
You can see the 'serious' fans were on the opposite side of the stadium from us :-)
Ellie fully embraced celebrating her homeland.
Every October the association of evangelical organizations working in Albania gathers for an annual conference for a mandatory meeting required by the government. This year Nathan and I took turns attending so the kids would not have a disruption in school. I was the fortunate one who got to attend a forum for ministries working in the disability community.
The stories of need in this country wrecked me (particularly for those who deal with visual impairments). But we also heard an incredible presentation on the topic of how disability is addressed in the Bible and we were challenged in how we as churches were integrating those with disabilities into involvement in church ministry from the worship team to church leadership! Tiffany enjoyed the presentation so much, she asked the speaker to visit VT Albania to perform a staff training (happening next week)!
Above, great attendance this month for kids club! That's always encouraging!
So... the kids' passports were set to expire at the end of November and that presented some renewal challenges. The 18-week backlog in the USA meant that we could not get them renewed during our brief trip for Reni's prosthetic fittings... And traveling back through Europe meant the airlines had validity issues with their documents (they want passports to have a minimum of six months' worth of validity). Thankfully, as soon as we returned to Albania we were able to set appointments at the US Embassy in Tirana and the kids were issued new passports in just over a week!
Below, they get new photos taken.
The next day Jen and Andrew arrived from Toccoa, GA to help us with some big projects.
(Below) Andrew was born in Bulgaria and I can't help but think about how he and Ellie look like they could be siblings or cousins.
The kids helped re-paint the metal front gate at our home! I think the last time it was painted was during Andrew's first visit in 2015!
When my mom heard Jen was visiting, she begged Jen to grab some school photos of Ellie and Reni!
What do they say about the cobbler's children? They have no shoes!
And a special photo with their special teacher, Miss Pam!
The primary project I begged Jen to come and help me with was Handmade in Albania! With five knitters now we have hundreds of products to photograph and post online. The thought of managing it alone paralyzed me. Jen was amazing and brought so much energy. Before she left, every.single.item was photographed and posted online!
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| Here Jen styles a scarf on our model, Ester. |
Below, Mommy/Daughter matching hats!
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| Emma is our youngest model! |
Jen got a baptism by fire of the arduous practice of assigning skew numbers and creating product posts online! But having our new guesthouse space downstairs (the first floor of the house we live in) meant we could set up processing stations to organize and tag all the merch.
We'd be really encouraged if you would check out the merchandise from the shop! The ladies have some really beautiful products!
We have a lot of product to sell, as you can see from the boxes and bags on the couch below!
100% of the proceeds after shipping go to the knitter who made the item!
After years of dreaming of this trip, it was a sweet gift that it became reality. Jen could not have come on a better year to help -- particularly because I am still working on my masters degree online! As a thank you, we took Jen and Andrew to a special rural restaurant for Sunday lunch, then souvenir shopping in Tirana for all the family they left back home.
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| Ever thinking like a businessman, Reni immediately identified the symbiotic relationship of this pairing of a currency exchange shop next door to the souvenir business! |
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| Jen graciously did a WalMart pick up of some special grocery items for us before coming. WalMart graciously (or more likely, accidentally) threw in a bag of powdered mini donuts that Reni gobbled up! |
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| After a 6AM airport dropoff, we watched Dallas' most recent live stream announcing the new Chosen Christmas special! Oh my! We can't wait to see it! |
Our homeschool co-op meets once per month for social gatherings and an additional meeting per month for a field trip. October's field trip was to the Turtle Farm. Nathan managed to squeeze in a Zoom call while the kids took a tour. What a beautiful backdrop, eh?
Twice per week we offer after-school homework hour to help our young neighbors with their schoolwork. All the Waggoners attend (because I always have my own homework, ha ha), but Ellie and Reni bring a Kindle and read too.
We missed these guys attending circuit training for several weeks after Covid swept through their center. Nathan showed his enthusiasm at seeing them return with complimentary espresso.
Our dear friend and co-worker, Eda, celebrated a significant birthday near the end of the month. We all showed her our love by celebrating afterwards with cake and balloons.
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Mid-month we received a visit from our regional director, Joy. She has been staying in Tirana but making visits out to the village and we had meetings with her in the city too. The last weekend of October we spent Saturday evening and all day Sunday at a lovely getaway to the nearby city of Kruje that Joy planned for our WGM team.
Kruje was the capital of Albania around the 14th and 15th centuries (maybe longer, maybe shorter -- don't quote me). Perched on a mountainside it has beautiful views and the best shopping of locally made artisan goods(think of products made from silver, wool, and olive wood). It is a place we usually take visitors, but because of its proximity, we had never stayed the night there before.
The sunset inside the castle walls was lovely!
Of course, Ellie can't keep her hands off of an instrument when she finds one. Because business was a lot slower, we lingered in one of our favorite shops and the owner generously allowed Ellie to play this instrument, similar to a Russian balalaika.
(below) The Castle lit up for night
Had we known the size, we could have skipped the main course! The plank pictured below was an assortment of starters for the table. It included a variety of baked cheeses (on each corner), grilled vegetables (middle), and savory pies (byrek) in the middle. Other bowls held olives, yogurt, and pickled vegetables.
On Sunday morning we had a time of sharing testimonies and prayer for each other before we headed up and over the mountain to visit a national park, whose name was known to us by a bottled water company located nearby. So many photo spots along the way! None of us had ever been before but the journey was the adventure and we all took joy in seeing a new place and beautiful nature.
Once we arrived at the park, we had a picnic in a pine forest.
It was so restorative to be out in nature!
We drove a little higher up into the park and found a brief span we called the Enchanted Forest because of the concentration of colored leaves.
You can tell we don't see trees that change color very often -- we went a little crazy taking photos!
It doesn't matter how far you wander from civilization. One will usually encounter livestock on the journey...
We raced the sun to get the last good pics of the day before darkness fell!
This was the view facing the road (pretty colors)
... and this was the view facing the valley.
Thanks for sticking with us all the way to the end of the month (and this post)!
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