Over the Ocean and Through the Airport to Albania They Did Go...

Visitors from home are always a highlight -- especially when they come about somewhat spontaneously!  After the property purchase next door, we really wanted my Dad to be here to consult on the next steps of property development.  

Needless to say, his trip was full of meetings.  Meetings with the architect, meetings with a contractor we have used for previous projects, and meetings with the mayor of our zone (for legalities).

But it was also good for reconnecting.  We documented a lot of Dad's visit on his camera, so I don't have some of memories of the more 'fun' times, like crashing the women's Bible Study, hosting a game night for the men, and visiting homes.

Below, Dad asks Bardha to pose with his walking stick.

Dad was accompanied by his neighbor, Norm (below right).  Norm has been to literally every continent (including Antarctica), but he'd never been to Albania.  He took great care of Dad and fit in so well with our family.  He was a blessing!

One Sunday afternoon we had some of the staff over for coffee and dessert.  Lots and lots of laughing.  After unity in the Spirit, I think humor is the glue for any team.

Before we knew it, it was Thanksgiving morning and time to say goodbye!

Thanks for coming, Gjyshe!

Special Helper Spotlight | Miss PAM!

When people love your kids, they find a special place in your heart, right parents?

So it should be no surprise that we have a special corner in our hearts full of love and gratitude for our 'neighbor', Miss Pam.  She comes to our home three mornings per week from the next village over to help our Ellie with homeschooling.

And as most people who have ever home schooled can attest, some kids just seem to work harder for someone who they know isn't required to love them unconditionally (i.e. someone who isn't his parent).

Pam also brings a her own approach and creativity to teaching Ellie and we see Ellie responding and progressing under her methods!

So this Thanksgiving week, while we reflect on all of the gifts we have been given, this special help from Miss Pam with Ellie is right up there at the top!

Party Time at School!

I used to think I had it pretty well altogether.

I like to plan.  I keep lists, a calendar, a schedule on paper and one online.

But there was this one time.  (My parents love to tell this story at my expense.)  They were visiting us in Kentucky.  Nathan was away with a team of students on spring break and I was hosting my parents.  Ellie had a spring performance of some type at her pre-school and we were going to sit on bleachers in a gym and watch the kids sing some songs and carry paper flowers, or something of that sort.

Ellie's class starts to march into the gym and my stomach sinks in horror.  Every single child in her class was dressed in a powder blue shirt.  Except Ellie.  She was wearing red.  Somehow I didn't get the memo. It didn't make it on the calendar.  My face and neck were the color of her shirt as my parents silently turned and looked at me.

Fast-forward six years and this time it's just my Dad visiting.  I go to pull out Reni's lunch bag from his back pack and a slip of paper falls on the floor.

"Ftese," it reads.  Invitation to an inauguration celebrating the opening of the new school.  All parents are invited to attend at 11:00. 

[Gulp]

That was like 3 hours away.  No time to worry about it.  We'll drop Reni off at class and come a little late after class.  

I take him into his class room and the teachers are all wearing heals and pantyhose, tying balloons and hanging decorations.  The little girls are in dresses and tights with pretty bows in their hair and Reni is wearing his 3rd best denim shorts and a grey sweatshirt with a moose-head on the front.

[Gulp again]  I do my best to explain that we'll be late, but that we're coming, silently stressing with unknown questions barraging me as I take in the scene.  Are we supposed to bring flowers for the teacher?  What does protocol require in this situation?

A few hours later we arrive to a packed parking lot and the sounds of clapping and children's singing. I've never been more grateful for school uniforms.

Reni is going to shoot me some day for posting these images.  He groans that he has to wear a 'dress' at school.

Below his non-conformist spirit is on full display during the singing of the Albanian national anthem.

Yes. I have to say it was the first pre-school program I've ever attended where the refreshments included adult beverages (below).  Just a cultural observation.

The food was incredible, thanks to the sister of the head teacher who runs the school (I'm pretty sure that sentence was full of mis-placed modifiers).  She has her own restaurant!  Sadly, it's not near our village!
There was byrek, shish-kabobs, boiled vegetables, salad, sausage, cheese, and assorted desserts!

The grown ups got the good stuff.  The kids ate sack lunches from home.

Here's Reni with his desk buddy.

Open For Business

When we transitioned to Albania, I inherited the women's crafting project.  I didn't accept it begrudgingly, but with a certain weight of responsibility. I like marketing, business plans, and whatnot.  But this is no lemonade stand.  What lemonade stand ever had to deal with multiple currencies?  Or paypal payments?

We decided last year to transition from jewelry -- which had a very low profit margin and was split evenly between the women -- to knits, which was something the ladies had a knack for, and which allowed each woman to earn according to her ability, labors, and creativity.

Last year they rolled out a bunch of goodies for the winter season and many friends in the States responded very well, purchasing dozens of scarves and headbands for a chilly winter in America.  I was tickled to surprise them with their payment envelopes at Christmas time.  THAT was fun.

 Giggles, tears, stunned silence.

This year I worry about the knitters' expectations for sales.  I mean, how many more of my friends in America need scarves?
 

I've been photographing all the new merchandise, then tagging, cataloging, and posting it online.

And with each one I breathe a prayer that it might be bought, that faith will grow with each sale and that answered prayers will wrap and warm hearts just like these scarves wrap necks and warm bodies.

So this blog post is to announce that the Knit Shop is open for business.  With all new merchandise for the 2015-16 winter.

We've got some legwarmers, hats, and finger-less gloves.  We even have a few pieces for men!

If you'd like a little piece of handiwork from Albania, pay our shop a visit and drop me an e-mail.  I can answer any questions you might have and if and when you want to make a purchase, I can bill you online and my Dad will hand carry it to the States, where it will be shipped to any address in the continental United States for a small fee, on or before December 1, just in time for Christmas.

http://villageknitsalbania.blogspot.com/

Back in the Books

Adult education ain't no joke.  And we're just taking one Albanian course, 1.3 hours, 3 times per week.  Between that and the commute, we're looking at three mornings a week filled up, full, gone.  Just typing it here feels like I'm a baby.  But really, we're falling into bed right after the kids each night. (They told us language learners need more sleep each night - that was no joke either).  And, oh yeah, there's home work.

And in case you can read my Shqip above, Simon is a fictional character from our textbook.  I was to write him a letter... "i dashur Simon..."

There's my rough draft notebook and my official 'homework' notebook.  It's no term paper, but as any student of language can tell you, there's something satisfying about putting foreign words on paper... even if it's only a letter or short story.

I feel like we're soaking up so much.  And it's going to be over all too soon.  But as we were reminded yesterday, language learning never ends.  Even of my own first language.  Totes.  All the feels, hashtags and such.

Tetor e dyte (October, part 2)

I've come to realize that September is a tough month for me in Albania. I like to be busy and 'productive' and for someone like me, I've yet to figure out the best way to deal with the way life is in this culture and our family's schedule come together during this particular month.

Then there is October.  I think this past October more than compensated for any emptiness I may have felt in September.

 Life has been busy.  Full of so many wonderful, good things.   And most of that was not anywhere on our radar at the beginning of the month.  (Because, after all, if I could have planned it, I might have spread it out a bit, right?)

Things like, oh, negotiating a property purchase and dealing with all the vagaries of visiting offices, banks, notaries, coffee shops (yes), and currency exchange places, etc., etc..

• Like drawing up a wish list and meeting with an architect to make a master plan for the property in light of the changes in boundary lines.
• Like preparing merchandise for the Village Knits booth at a craft show that is two weeks earlier than last year.
• Like finding out that my Dad is coming for a visit in less than two weeks!
• Like getting a message from a college friend whom we haven't seen since we only had one child but who is visiting Europe and asks if she can 'drop-in' for a couple of days to Albania.  (How cool, right?)
• Like showing hospitality and sharing a meal with someone  new to the country and taking a weekend afternoon to show some city dwellers our family's favorite little bit of nature, away from the hustle and bustle
• Like dealing with back-to-back colds and sick kids who can't sleep through the night because of congestion
• Like squeezing in a trip on a business day/non-Albanian-class day to go to another city to pick up a certain child's Albanian passport that's been sitting in a government office for say, five months, waiting for us to make the time to come and get it.
• And then there was the especially frequent electricity outages that seemed to take place during those blocks of time I had set aside to edit photographs or do laundry... [sigh]

Chrissy was only here for a few days so we took the kids out of school on a Tuesday (when we didn't have class) and drove up to Shkodra to visit one of our favorite castles in Albania's history.  

Somehow we completely forgot Reni's stroller and back pack (yeah, major brain lapse), but we did happen to have his 'boots' with us.  Turned out to be not the worst thing in the world because it allowed him to explore a lot of places on his own, rather than observing it all from the confines of his stroller or back pack.  Oh, and he napped pretty hard in the car on the way home.

We love this Ottoman-era bridge north of town.

"Aunt Chrissy" made pumpkin cookies with the kids Wednesday after class so we'd have treats for women's Bible study that night.

The kids have been BEGGING for autumn decorations (of which I have none, save a few pumpkin-scented candles).  We were unsuccessful in our one trip to look for a pumpkin (which we were told later were kept under lock and key at a particular produce market in Tirana).  This was the first year the kids really said anything about decorating our home for any holiday other than Christmas so I kinda felt a little "mom-fail" for not anticipating this and bringing stuff with me from America.

Thank you to whomever gifted me with a pumpkin cookie cutter years ago.  Reni knew we had it and so the cookies were his idea to get in the fall spirit.  I have no idea what Ellie is playing with in the background.

Before we knew it, it was time to take Chrissy back to the airport!  Though her visit was brief, we were so touched she went to the time and expense to see a slice of our life.  But before the airport, we squeezed in a super quick trip to Kruje.

The weather was exquisite.  The colors of our photos from Kruje just popped.  No editing necessary!

Bye Chrissy!  I'm so sorry we didn't get a photo with Reni too!  (something about him having school, or something) ;-)

Working on our Sweet Tooth!

'Tis the weekend for lots of parties and we were no exception (except that ours would have happened regardless of any 'holiday')!  It was our weekend to hang out at the Hope Center, which is always a lot of fun.  I was particularly happy that Ellie and Reni wanted to jump in and participate too!  Check out some of the fun games that Pam planned!

Which team can eat more in one minute?

Who can identify the candy bar without its wrapper?

And what about relay of picking a random food item out of a bag and eating it thoroughly?  While your friends are laughing and your competitor is also making you want to laugh?

Somehow Ellie and Reni were the 'anchor' legs on their teams and while Ellie got a head start in eating, her brother got it chewed up and down the hatch before her!

A great come from behind victory!

And of course it's not a real fall party without bobbing for apples.  Somehow my kids got out of doing this game!

Then said apples were sliced up and served with a side of salted caramel sauce (homemade) and chopped peanuts!  YUM!

And then the power went out, which ended the possibility of making our s'mores, but we decided to save those for next time!

Bye-bye October!

A Dozen Ways to Serve | A Calendar

When we moved to Albania I packed up all my photo equipment and wondered how much of it I'd get to use when we arrived.  I remember thinking maybe I'd take photos for other missionary families (who are always in need of a current 'prayer card photo') or maybe I would teach basic photography as an outreach. 

Of course those were just my guesses and I've really not done much of either.  

That doesn't mean my equipment has been collecting dust though.  There was the Portrait Project last year and photographing products for Village Knits, on top of documenting regular ministry events.  But lately I've been snapping the shutter outside of our village too. 

Last spring I started serving as the cover photographer for Ilira Magazine, a Christian women's magazine that also serves as an evangelism tool.  

One woman I photographed in May was an Albanian pastor's wife whom I knew of through some family connects going years back.  More recently though Ada started a foundation to serve families of children with Down Syndrome.  It's called the Jonathan Center, in honor of her nephew Jonathan.  The cover story shared the story of its inception. 

I had heard of the Jonathan Center more than a year earlier, through our connections at the maternity hospital where Ellie was born.  We were told that they were called in to counsel families who delivered a child with an unexpected diagnosis of Down Syndrome and that they were instrumental in preserving families that might otherwise have abandoned their newborns. 

It was a delight to meet the woman behind the group raising awareness for Down Syndrome in a culture where rearing a child with special needs is especially unusual, where such differences can often be perceived as shameful, and resources are difficult to come by.

In addition to counseling and support groups, the Center also provides a variety of therapies to help these children reach their developmental potential.

A few weeks ago I received a message from Ada asking if I could meet her for coffee because she wanted to ask my help with something for the center.  A short time later we grabbed a coffee before my Albanian class and she told me about their annual fundraiser, a calendar featuring images of their kids.  Unfortunately the photographer they used the prior year was unavailable so she asked if I might be able to help. I immediately agreed! 

Last weekend we met up with a dozen families served by the Jonathan Center and had a wonderful time photographing their beautiful children.  It was special to help them feel celebrated and loved!

The photos below are a handful of unedited images which will not be appearing in the calendar but represent a sample of our time altogether.

Now to work on retouching the final images for the calendar!  (What else to do on these long autumn night?) I can't wait to see the finished product!