April Rewind

In case you missed these on Instagram (and some others that didn't get posted there either...), highlights of our family time this past April.

Once a month we get together for a big play date at the Park in Tirana with our friends in the home-schooling community.  Here the kids are posing with the Wiersma brothers...

One Saturday after wrapping up our program in Metalle, we decided to continue the fellowship over pizza and puzzles...
We were able to finally complete a 1000-piece puzzle we started back in February!  We get the puzzles framed and hang them as wall art.  Currently we are working through a beautiful series by artist Greg Olsen.

Ellie continues to enjoy practicing speaking and writing in Albanian.  Oh the places she could go if we could get her real lessons...

Another afternoon we made a quick trip over to Durres to visit our friend Luli before he left for several weeks of ministry in the Balkans...

Spring time means a new Fanta flavor which Reni enjoys as the occasional special treat.  I think the current special flavor is called Dragonfruit???

During their study of the French Revolution in school, the kids made us Quiche Lorraine for lunch.  Yum!!!

No reason behind the photo below except this kid is too cute for words.  I mean, check out that hair.  And if you could hear his voice... he sounds like he's just sucked in helium.  It's fantastic. Especially because he's so well behaved and acts like he's a grown up.

Oh April in Shqiperia... it's so beautiful and green!

So John has been 'adopted' by our friend Endri.  Whenever John is here, Enri is usually close by, challenging him to something, like push ups. 

Oh, and that damage to our building... that's what happens when you have an incredibly wet winter.  The moisture in the ground works its way up through the walls and tries to find a way out.  Lovely, isn't it?  It needs to dry out completely before we can replaster and paint.

Last month I attended two funerals...

The kids painted faces on rocks one day for art class.  I really don't think Reni had any idea that he was inadvertently mimicking a famous painting until I showed it to him later...



Spring is also plum season.  The village boys know Reni loves these and usually stuff their pockets with extras for him from nearby trees.  If you ask me, they are quite sour/bitter, but he can't eat enough of them.

My friend Lumi brought us a generous cutting from her hydrangea bush.  Aren't those gorgeous??  I want a bush like that in my yard!

I was proud of their execution of this paper craft after our study of Creation.  (And I enjoyed it too!)

This flower shop has been around our old neighborhood in Tirana since before we moved to Albania in 2013, but I finally got around to taking Ellie's photo in front of it this past month (at her request)!  It's unusual to find this spelling over here...

We have dear friends who moved to Kosovo three years ago.  We hadn't seen them since last May (2017) Between our summer visit to the States and their winter visit to the States -- we couldn't make a visit any earlier.  They came to Albania for two days and we enjoyed some special time together!  Reni calls them his "best" best friends.

Spring time has brought a re-emergence of critters in our garden which Ellie enjoys catching and examining.

Reni decided to build a holder out of Legos for the remote control to their bedroom heater.  It swiveled and was held in by move-able clips.  He was pretty proud of himself.

Spring time means lots of blooms!  Eda poses with a lovely bouquet gift from her students.

These were my floral gifts from Reni...

My friend Arjana is a grandma!  We had fun meeting her new grandson, born a month early.  He was so tiny!

Our volunteer, John, had a birthday this month so Nathan took him caving to celebrate.  It was fun to explore a different side of this country we are less familiar with!

 Finally, Reni got a haircut which means extra cool hair styling that we can never replicate.

Looking forward to what May brings!

Limb Difference Awareness

I felt kind of dumb when I stumbled across the fact that this is Limb Difference Awareness month.
I know, there are so many of these causes attached to months and days of the year. but this is really one I should know by now, right?

Add to the fact that limb differences don't feel so different to us anymore, it is easy to forget that it IS different to so many people.  So in that case, it is good to shine a spotlight on the issue to increase our collective empathy and understanding.

For example, before we had Reni, I can't say that I seriously thought about issues like accessibility.  But right now, Nathan is going back and forth with an architect about handicap accessibility in a future bathroom design.  Once she finally made the stall large enough for wheelchair access, he had to go back and point out the impracticality of opening so many doors just to reach the bathroom in the first place.

I can't say I blame her, until you've struggled with opening that door while also pushing a stroller or wheelchair, getting to that soap dispenser from a non-standing position, reaching the upper levels of a building with no elevator and legs that don't work, or using a squatty potty when you don't have feet...certain struggles just don't cross your mind.

So we keep working.  Working on our understanding of struggles different than our own, working to help others where we can, working to be patient when we feel misunderstood. 

Signing off, a fellow learner.

Picnic at a Castle

There's just something about spring that calls us out of doors, am I right? 

On top of that, John has been with us for nearly three months now and the combination of winter and a busy schedule have meant that we have literally taken the poor guy no where outside of our village and Tirana.  We were way overdue for an excursion to show him more of Albania!

When the forecast called for weekend temps reaching 80F, it seemed perfect for a little road trip and a picnic outdoors.  We decided to invite friends and visit Bashtove Castle, about 45 minutes southwest of us, near the coast.

It was overcast thanks to Saharan dust that has been hanging in the air and casting a strange color on everything.  The upside was we didn't have to worry about sunscreen.

As we pulled up to the site Ellie remarked that she should have brought her archery set!

Castles here are pretty much a free-for-all which is fantastic for little explorers with imaginations...

... however it's not so fun for nervous mothers when there are no guard rails for safety!

It was really nice to have John with us to have an extra set of eyes on the kids!

For the majority of our visit we enjoyed the entire place to ourselves!

A warrior at heart (below)

Our friends from Tirana joined us and we enjoyed a bountiful picnic...

...and played games

...and sports

... and just relaxed with no agenda.  It was just what we needed.

Unlike most castles in this country which are built on defensible locations like mountain tops or hillsides, this particular fortress is on a flat field.  That flat field was great for some football. Not every day do we get to play soccer in castle ruins!

Reni had some great saves serving as goalie!

I was so glad Nathan brought the drone because traditional photos alone don't do justice to sharing the scope and setting of this potential UNESCO World Heritage Site listing. If you're interested, check out this footage Nathan edited into a minute-long video :

Overall, it was a special afternoon we won't soon forget.  Thanks, Albania, for such great treasures for us to enjoy!  We made some wonderful memories!

Easter 2018

The highlight of every church calendar each year is Easter.  The culmination of God's great rescue plan for the world.  The defeat of sin and death through Christ's death and resurrection.  In Albania it is no different!  Last year we celebrated with the greater body of Albanian evangelical/protestant churches in a march and celebration in a public square in Tirana.  This year, we were able to celebrate with our local village church family as well as our community.

Easter, of course, is not as joyous without reflecting on what took place on Good Friday, or, as they call it here, Black Friday.  I've grown to really appreciate Good Friday services with our village church family.  There is space for solemn reflection, there is the experience of joint communion, but there is also the understanding that we will celebrate together in just a few days.

Pastor Genti intentionally pushed the cross in the forefront, a symbolic gesture. The theme of his message was that Christ loved us until the end.  He had it within his power to avoid the pain and humiliation of crucifixion, but he was obedient to death, even death on a cross because of his great love for us.

Sunday dawned with questionable weather -- was it going to rain? Would the wind die down? Would the power return?

Below Endri and Arjan start up the grill to cook a massive amount of hot dogs!

Preparing 102 plates of food for lunch!
The menu included: chips, cabbage salad, byrek me presh (pie with leeks) and hasude (a gelatinous dessert with raisins, cinnamon and walnuts).

Shpresa serves up the byrek

Thankfully the sky cleared up so we could serve the food outside!  It was stifling indoors!

We had egg coloring for the kids, which was a real hit!

About twenty of our friends from Metalle joined us.  Of course, whenever there is a gathering, it's always an occasion for Albanian dancing.

I'm still working on my dance steps...and have a long way to go. :-) 

All in all, it was a great day!  He is risen indeed!