November in Review, Part 1

November started off with a visit from our WGM colleague, Lisa!  She is exploring a few possibilities for future missionary service (she has served in Bolivia, Uganda, and done short stints on the Tex/Mex border as well as in Argentina) and considering possible service with us!

Above we are visiting a village neighbor.

One of the fun bits about hosting guests is the opportunity to play tourist.  We were excited to finally see the improvements to Skenderbeg Square in the center of Tirana.  The center was closed for months, then finally opened during the summer while we were away.  It's now an enormous pedestrian zone.

The kids are learning their US currency with play money they earn for certain activities during school.

One evening I came in the kids' room and discovered that just about every figurine or Lego man/woman had been commissioned into a giant battle!  #lifewithboys

One evening during girls fellowship we made our own dry-erase boards...

We cut scrapbook paper and put those in photo frames.

What's life in eastern Europe without scaling enormous cold-war era monuments?

Reni nearly gave me a heart attack.  He's completely fearless.

And when one is in a former amphitheater, one must strike a gladiator pose.

Nathan couldn't resist bringing back this light up volleyball.  It's quite the novelty here!

Nathan and a small contingency from our village church attended a reception honoring the 125th anniversary of the founding of the evangelical alliance in Albania.

Luli's testimony will be featured in an upcoming WGM publication.

Here he is skyping with a portion of the communications team.

Last spring we visited this family in Metalle.  Mom was expecting child #3.  I just had to go and meet the new baby!

And I was the lucky one to pass on this home made quilt made by our friend Bonnie during her stay in Albania last summer.

Nathan and Luli led the kids on a demonstration of searching for 'good soil' to scatter their seeds after teaching the parable of the Sower.

A coloring page reviewing the four places the seed fell.

And tying in the theme one more time through games where the balls represented 'seeds.'

Next post -- Thanksgiving!

An Extra Measure of God's Goodness

I am writing this on a Tuesday afternoon (though it may be posted a few days later).

It's a national holiday in Albania.  Independence Day, to be exact.  So we declared the center closed.  We still did school with Ellie and Reni, but this afternoon when Nathan would normally be outside hosting rec time, we are holed up in our apartment. Then later, when we'd normally be having meetings and studies (they are all postponed), who knows what we will be doing?  Dinner will be on the table when we feel like it -- not when our schedule dictates.

Last week while our American friends and family celebrated with feasting and shopping and family time, I confess I struggled in my heart that I wasn't getting a holiday.  I really wanted a few days with nothing on my slate.  Not to sleep in or play board games, but just to catch up.  We have had frequent power outages this month, new activities on our agenda, and just plain seasonal busy-ness and it's meant that work has been stacking up.  I have a list of thank you notes to write as long as my arm.  We have four separate drafts of newsletters sitting in the Cloud, unfinished. And blogging?  Well, blogging has always been therapeutic for me but given that I've posted a whopping 11 times in 5 months (which used to be my monthly average)... that should just explain the state of our lives.  It's not been for a lack of material. But I know. I know we're not the only ones who are busy, so thanks for understanding.

So while I'm not getting a four-day weekend, I will gladly accept this one afternoon and evening. Right now Pandora is streaming instrumental Christmas tunes, the fire is burning, and Nathan's made me some special (i.e. brought from America) swiss mocha within arm's reach in a pretty Christmas mug.  Meanwhile I sit on the couch with the laptop, responding to e-mails, dumping photos, culling images, and now, writing in this space!.  The kids are happily playing away in the other room. For at least an hour this afternoon, all feels right and balanced in my world. :-)

I found these gems this afternoon from our last Sunday in America. It may have been one of my favorite days of the entire four months in America.  If the Vermont crew had been with us, it would have been perfection.

My parents hosted a cookout with Nathan's family at the farm.  Cousin Dan smoked meat and we ate on the back deck after taking some family photos with the Waggoners.

If you look closely, you might be able to tell that the prairie winds were blowing!!

Ellie and Reni adore their Waggoner family.  I'm so grateful for the friendships that they have with their like-aged cousins and that the older ones are so understanding and inclusive of them.  They are great role models.

Rachel asked me to get a few family pics for them.  Of course I was happy to oblige... Next time I'm home Caleb will be graduating from high school and on his way to college (gulp)!

Since our last visit to America, Mom and Dad put a deck on the back of the farm house.  It feels like they added an extra room!  I think we ate all but one meal out there whenever we'd visit.  And somehow, no matter the size of the group, we always fit on the deck!

These two are separated only by 7 months and an ocean, but when they are together, little else keeps them apart.

Thanks, Hannah, for supplying the s'mores ingredients!

Where's Mom?

What is it about fire pits and gatherings?

We eventually all gathered around the fire and sang hymns.  It was lovely and beautiful and the perfect way to wrap up our time altogether.

Then (though I missed the apex with my camera), it was as if God smiled down and gave me one more beautiful prairie sunset to enjoy before returning to Albania's beautiful mountains.

How They are Thankful

It's hard to believe that it's been ELEVEN years since we met this sweetheart, the day after Thanksgiving 2006.  I can barely remember life before her! 

Her "thankful" list for 2017:  Nonna and PaPa, Tua and Pippa, Friends, Music, Family, Gjysh Gigi and Aunt Hannah, Christmas Day, God, Love, Cookies, and Fun.  Yeah, I'm thankful for all those things too!

This guy is growing UP!!!  Here he is posing with a school project -- a homemade wigwam made with all natural elements from our back yard.

His thankful list: Legos, Food, Mom, Cookies, TV, Dad, Wii, Cake, Water, Chicken, Toys, Hot Wheels, xBox, Ellie, Beef.

Sounds like a boy.  Food, family, and Entertainment. I'm just glad his sister made the list. :-)

October Re-Cap via Cell Phone Pics

My mind spins at all we've seen and done in the last month!

Here's a re-cap via my cell phone...

Our last Sunday in the States was at Crosswalk Fellowship, pastor-ed by Nathan's brother, Stephen.  Nathan's parents and sister also made the trip to Illinois to send us off.  Sunday evening's supper was a cook out at the farm.  We ended the evening singing around a bonfire.  I couldn't think of a better way to spend one of our last night's with family.

(Above) The last few weeks we were in Illinois we were joined by my dad's cousin, Dan, from Texas.  He was a lot of fun and it was nice to reconnect with him.  He helped drive grain trucks and tractors during harvest and also cooked some mean meat on the grill.

Loading up to depart for the airport (above)

Traditional family pic on the way out (below)

Goodbyes don't get any easier -- if anything, only more difficult.

(below) Let's splurge on a favorite candy to take our mind off of goodbye's and fears of things like ear pressure from altitude changes! :-)

Yay for having nice and helpful flight attendants on our big flight to Vienna!

And then we crashed hard in the Vienna Airport.

We are back in sunny Albania!

We brought video greetings to the church in Vlashaj from Mom and Dad V.O....

...and a nifty card shuffler from Mom and Dad Waggoner for game nights...

We have a new part time helper for Vlashaj Kids' Club on Saturday morning.  She's fantastic, shown below using our new curriculum from CEF (thanks to Nashana Jackson's church's VBS for buying that for us)!

It was fun to see the kids immediately reconnect with their village friends...

And we returned right at the beginning of pomegranate season! (below)

The year the kids are starting off school with the age of the explorers.  The first week of classes Miss Pam had them building boats and floating them in our packing trunks, which conveniently held a good amount of water for such an activity.

I'm frequently asked what some of my favorite Albanian foods are.

Here's one:  perime zgare (grilled vegetables, drizzled with balsamic)

That's sweet green and red peppers, zucchini, carrots, eggplant and onions.

You better believe I ordered it the first time we had an opportunity to eat out.  And it costs a whopping $2.50.

Great object lesson during Vlashaj kids club one Saturday...

Our friends, Steve and Anita Booker, came for a week and helped me photograph a huge bulk of inventory for www.HandmadeInAlbania.org
And bless him, Steve culled ALL the pics we both took. Culling is my least favorite job in the photography process!!!

They also prepared a special time of Bible study and encouragement for our staff. 

We are grateful for their sacrifice of time and resources to serve us!

(below) An adoptive family from America stayed at one of the Planters apartments in Tirana for about a week while they finished up the process of adopting a 10-year-old girl (not pictured).  Our kids enjoyed getting acquainted with theirs...

We were also able during the Bookers' visit to coordinate the photo shoot for the Jonathan Center's fundraising calendar.  The Jonathan Center serves families and their children with Down Syndrome.

We couldn't believe our eyes -- we round REAL Oreos and they were on SALE!! Of course, we stocked up because you never know if you will ever see them here again!

Ellie continues her proficiency on guitar.  Here she is watching a YouTube instructional video for a favorite Chris Tomlin song... (pardon the messy desk, though to the right of the computer you can see last year's Jonathan Center calendar!)

And finally, a photo during Girls Night.  It continues to be one of my favorite nights of the week and I dearly love each of these precious young women.  Pray for our friendships to only deepen with time. 

Okay, these pics haven't been beautiful, but I got a blog post up!  I feel like (maybe) life is getting back to a normal schedule...???