Special Moments in March!

I feel obligated to begin this post with a disclaimer: in spite of all of these special activities highlighted below, the month had its share of mundane moments.  If you know of a way to interestingly document cleaning trash up around the playground, editing homework and visitor information guides, batch cooking freezer meals, turning over the guesthouse, meeting with a local tax experts, painting the kids' bedroom, etc -- let me know! :-)

The first of March we took our annual spring trip to the Share Education conference.  It's an incredible time for our entire family. We met up with our friends, the Duls.  Meg was president of our student leadership team back at Asbury in 1999-2000!  Our colleagues, the McMunns, also attended.  It was a joy to share meals together!

The youth program is a wonderful week of spiritual refreshment and fellowship for Ellie and Reni.  It's so good for them to reconnect with friends they have made at previous conferences.

On the final day, all graduating seniors took part in a farewell ceremony. We love the intentionality with which the conference staff invests in each of the kids, especially preparing them for transition and understanding their identities as individuals who have grown up with feet planted in two different cultures.

The day after returning from the conference, Nathan and some of the guys on our team hiked to Dove Cave with our visitor, Luke, an avid hiker,

While the guys hiked, the ladies visited a dessert shop for Women's Day.  I have no photos because I was sick in bed -- thankfully a relatively rare event for me (Cydil).

On Sunday we celebrated Luke's birthday.  Our family made him a custom t-shirt that reads, "A Real Man."  Bonnie made curry and we enjoyed a game of Monopoly Deal!

Soccer school resumed in March...

On Tuesday morning we said goodbye to the Andersons!  We were so grateful they came and served us and the community!

In honor of women's day, I shared the story of my journey to motherhood through Ellie's adoption to a group of special women from church and the gym.

I was so honored by everyone who came.  We enjoyed a dinner, made a beautiful pop-up card craft designed by Belen, and of course, we danced!

One of my favorite memories of the month was hosting a Sunday night dinner with our village teammates.  Forgive me for photographing the lasagna that Nathan and I made.  I actually didn't burn it this time, ha ha! And when one is preparing to return to the USA for furlough, all the carefully saved chocolate chips get used! :-)

Catch Phrase is a fun game -- and even more humorous when you're playing with a lot of non-native English speakers! Needless to say, we didn't keep score.

We took some more senior photos for Ellie -- this time in some of her favorite clothes with her favorite guitar! We took them at the waterfront city of Durres, about 20 minutes from our home.

The third weekend of March we were honored to celebrate the first birthday of Reni's cousin in the famous Albanian city of Gjirokaster, a 3+ hour drive from the village.  We stopped at the picturesque pitstop called Cold Water for a morning coffee to break up the trip.  I loved these pretty capuccino vessels and couldn't help but take a photo.

The party included lots of yummy food, music, dancing, and fellowship.

It's not a celebration without baklava!  And homemade is even better!

The morning after the party, we visited the old town.

Later we drove higher up the mountain for a beautiful view of Gjirokaster Castle

,,, and the old town.

Rain didn't seem to stop for the last week of the month.  I caught this sight of our neighbors chickens across the street trying to stay dry.

With a team arriving 5 days before our departure for the USA, we packed our suitcases before they arrived.  Our dog Lucy knows what it means when the bags come out.  She curls up on our bed like she is trying to convince us there is space for her too, lol.

On March 30, we were pleased to welcome this special group who came to serve the students, parents and staff at Valued Treasures!

Check back to read about all they did in April's post!

February 2025 | From Routine to Retreats, A Month to Love

 What a month!

It started with an overnight team meeting/retreat in Berat.  We are blessed to have such unique places to visit with a few hours' drive of our village. 

This town is considered a UNESCO world heritage site, boasting the largest concentration of Ottoman style architecture in the Balkans. Our group below, including the Ericksons (who provided our Bible studies), the Anderons (volunteers for 10 weeks), and Laura's mother, who was visiting from Argentina.

Pastor Genti provided us a tour of an old church that also doubles as a museum devoted to the painter, Onufri.  And we got to see where monks hid the Purple Codex of Berat (the Gospels penned in silver ink on purple parchment) from the N@zis during WW2! (below)

We had meaningful time in the Word, facilitated by the Ericksons

I absolutely love the combination of stone, iron and wood.  Throw in an arch and flower boxes and I'm over the moon.  Even in the dead of winter!

Pastor Genti also took us to a small museum outlining the history of the Jewish community that formerly lived in this city.

Our return home Sunday evening took twice as long as necessary given that our caravan got a bit lost -- but we enjoyed beautiful scenery.  And you can see that the next morning we were all smiles before the Ericksons left us to minister to others at a church in Tirana.

We were pleased for them to visit VT Albania this time!

In the midst of this, we had some work done in our kitchen so we decided to paint!  Brrr to having windows and doors open for drying!

As I referred to earlier, we were pleased to have help this winter from Bonnie and Peder, their 4th visit to Albania.

Bonnie continued her Thursday baking club -- it was a HUGE hit!

This week they made crackers!

Peder stained, treated, and helped install a privacy wall for our courtyard.  

Before Jeta existed, village kids played in our courtyard, and for their safety, we created openings in the gates for visibility.  It's not necessary anymore as the courtyard now is an outdoor space for folks staying in our guesthouse. 

Valentines Day meant we got to decorate Jeta with some of the sweet garlands Bonnie made 3 years ago.  But it also meant it was time to take our winter decals off the glass doors.  It turned out to be more difficult than we anticipated!  But also a good excuse to use power tools!

We handed out Bible verses and chocolates at that week's Alpha course.

And Bonnie and the kids made Valentine's themed sweets for church treats.

The Andersons took us out for coffee and dessert on Valentines Day.

And Pastor Genti had a love-themed message at church.

On February 22, the Andersons' son, Luke, arrived for his first visit to Albania!

For the most part, he joined into our regular life and activities in Vlashaj.

Nathan and I rolling taquitos for a team coming in March!  We start freezing meals several weeks in advance to distribute the shopping and prep work...

Below, Nathan helps Ellie with her Asbury dual-enrollment math class.  She would finish it the first week of March and we all cheered that she was likely done with math forever!!

Sunday evenings are often game night in our home.  The Andersons brought us a game and this particular evening my mom Facetimed from Peoria and partnered with Ellie for our game night!

Haircuts!!

We love Dena! <3

Below, my English students learning adjectives with flash cards...

Below, Ellie does a math project...

... with a musical twist, of course.

The Alpha Weekend Away looked like some sessions at Jeta for the teens...

... followed by ice cream...

...and bowling!

While Nathan and the kids were doing their thing, I drove up to Shkoder with the adults!

Before we checked into our hotel, we stopped for photos at this Ottoman Era bridge.  The sunshine was amazing!! And I played photographer.  It was a delight.

Then at the hotel (which we enjoyed to ourselves), a steaming glass of mountain tea was the perfect way to ward off the evening chill!

I was too involved to take many photos of the weekend, but suffice it to say, I really enjoyed some sweet conversations and fellowship.  I really love the community that is growing out of Jeta...

... and my partners in service.

Because we inadvertently scheduled our event the same weekend as Carnivale in Shkoder, Genti had the brilliant idea to go to the lakeside village of Shiroke for pizza. What a beautiful treat!

Merita has been experimenting with some hat designs for children.  Here is just one!

And some amazing friends gifted me a bagful of lemons from the end of the season. Such a treat!  I juice them and freeze them.

One of Bonnie's last classes was in teaching them how to make American pancakes!

And before she returned to Argentina, Gina made us empanadas for dinner one night!  So much work to make -- so quickly consumed!

And our third session of Alpha wrapped!  Thank you, Lord, for a tool to learn more about you and your purpose for creating us!  And thank you for the gift of friendships and hospitality -- a way to nurture those relationships.

Coming up soon: MARCH!

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