Paris with Sisters and Nieces (1)

Can you believe all the things that we have done in the last months? Tom and I have traveled many places: Tom to Rome, Athens, Amsterdam; I went to Paris. We have attended meetings and conferences and even said "hi" to each other in between!

This trip to Paris was talked about and planned for years and what a fun thing to have the chance to travel together!

My sister Deb and her daughter Esther arrived on a Sunday MORNING! UGH. After a nap in the afternoon, they helped us host a team from Czech that is traveling on a missions trip to the US. They stayed up almost until 10 at night making that the day that had no end for them. In the late morning, we dropped Amy off to travel to Hungary for a preplanned testing time. They left Monday morning by train to visit my brother, sister-in-law and nieces and nephew in Bratislava.

Anita and Joy arrived on Monday afternoon to find me waiting at the wrong place for them! That was such a bummer for all of us. Once we found each other we had a nice time together.

Tuesday was the day that Amy returned home, Esther and Deb came back and we were all together! Even Deb and Anita don't live near each other in the US, so it was fun for them to see each other, too!

Wednesday we flew out of Prague at 6 a.m and arrived in Paris around 7:45. We bought our transportation passes and our museum passes, got out Euro's and used the bathroom before making our way by RER to our hotel. We ended up arriving at the hotel around 11:30.
After a nap, we made our way to Notre Dame and went on a walking tour recommended by Rick Steve's. (Thanks for the book loan, Mindy!) We saw the Deportation museum where 200,000 French Jews were sent to Concentration Camps, walked by the river Seine, saw the Eiffel Tower and the Arch de Triomphe. Amy, Esther, Joy and I went up to the top and looked around.

After supper at a restaurant near the Eiffel Tower, we made our way to the hotel again.

The next day we went to the Louvre, Orsay and walked/shopped on the Champs Elysees and went to a mall that was WAY overpriced for us, so we left and found a place to eat by the hotel instead.

guests and more Klub pictures

First of all...we actually have sun! We have had two sunny days in a row. AHHH, what a relief it is!

Now on to our guests. We were privileged to host our friends the D's for a week. They are from NC and the church where he pastors supports us. They were such good company, coming at a busy and emotionally challenging time for us with our leaving Vlasim church. Thank you for coming the D's!

Nathanael still talks about their visit and the books he read.


She also taught Rachel how to crochet. You can see that Rachel took off and is still crocheting...

The time at Klub was different than we thought it would be as the kids weren't talking with each other and wouldn't come to Klub together...we only had two moms and two little toddlers. Thanks for flexing with us! Your singing and puppet show was great. Especially cute was T's interaction with Paja (the puppet).

We do treasure visits from friends. Our home is open! Speaking of which....two of my sisters and their daughters who are Amy's age are coming (one is flying as I write) for our long planned and much looked-forward to trip to Paris! More to come...

Klub Rachel

I thought I'd include a bit about ministry today.

As you know, we go once a week to Vlasim to help with Klub Rachel, the non-government agency we work with in order to reach Roma.

Thanks to Kenosha Bible Church, we obtain crafts to make and parties in a box. This years Valentine's Day party was a big hit. There were less kids than usual due to the cold and sickness of many.

Enjoy the pictures!

fun times

We are enjoying the visit of friends/supporters from North Carolina. We haven't seen them in a long time and are enjoying the extended times of visiting with them. They are being kept busy. Tomorrow they are going to Klub with us in the evening.

Nathanael thinks they are at his beck and call. Whenever they have a moment and happen to be sitting relaxing, he appears with a book or some other request for their attention. I don't know what we will do without them playing and entertaining!

We are busy, tired and sensing that God is working in our lives. Pray that we would continue to seek Him first and His righteousness.

Goodbye's

Yes, I know it is normal to have to say "goodbye" in life. Especially MY life. Doesn't make me enjoy them more, just makes me realize the importance of saying them well.

Last Sunday was our last official Sunday in Vlasim at the church we helped plant and worked in for 5 and a half years. Seems short and long at the same time. There have been many really hard times as well as times when it has been really good. Like life.

There was a chance for us to speak (Tom and I). I prayed for a quite a bit about what God would have me say to the people that make up the church. I ended up being led to share Zephaniah 3:17
" The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."

Then, in addition to this picture of how God feels about us, His Church, I was lead to share that they need to be in the Word for themselves. They, as children of God, have the Holy Spirit to guide them and they don't need to follow one person or seek truth elsewhere. I pray that for the church as a whole.

There was food, which was good, I assume as the kids said so. Tom and I had meaningful conversations with people in the church and felt affirmed many times throughout those conversations.

So, even as we said, goodbye, we said hello. To what? Well, to more travel for Tom, a different ministry in the sense that we won't be church planting now. We are working with Roma at Klub Rachel, as well as encouraging work in Hungary, Slovakia and other parts of Czech among the Roma.

Tom is also the RG connector with Refugee Highway Partnership see:
http://www.refugeehighway.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16&Itemid=33

This involves connecting those with RG currently working with or interested in working with refugees anywhere along the lines of their journey be it at the beginning as they escape their country or at the end where they need help settling in to their new country.

We are in the process of visiting churches in Prague where we may attend. This promises to take a while as we intend to visit many times before deciding. Pray that we would hear God's voice as we visit.

We are looking forward to many visits this spring, which also means many goodbyes. Pray that we would do this well and enjoy the hello's also! By they way, you are welcome here too!

"These are a few of my favorite things..."

lying here on the couch listening to my three kids who are home at the moment, laughing, and playing together
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hugs from my family
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good books like "Johnny Tremain" which Tom is now reading aloud until my throat feels better
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watching Rachel do her school work without being reminded
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hearing Nathanael laugh while he and his sisters play "telephone"
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"Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" sung with Nate's words, loudly and on and on and on
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seeing the creativity in Rachel as she makes up new worlds and their money and figures the exchange rate to Czech Koruna and US Dollars
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Amy taking a minute to sit with me and talk about her day
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Matt playing violin
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hearing the laughing as Rachel gives Nate a bath
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quiet of all kids working on something by themselves
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Tom's voice in the study ( I like that he is near)
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watching snow fall out the window
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smelling my new orange and watermelon candles in their pretty glass flowered holders
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chances for looonnnggg readings in the Bible
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thinking up ideas for what to sew next
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quilting Amy's quilt
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homemade gifts
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check out ladies who don't rush checking you through so that you can actually get things in the bags before they get mashed
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hearing 5 different languages on the way to my dr today
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packages (they don't have to be tied with strings)

sick...with time to reflect

I am working on changing the background...again, but for some reason it doesn't want to change! So, for now it will be like this.

Hannah and I are quite ill with strep throat now. That, however gives time to think and reflect, even if only in that dreamy, weird way that I get when I am sick. I have several ideas for blogs, but will start with this.

Tom and I pray every year for a word/phrase/character trait that God wants to work in and through our lives in the new year. This year I was struck in my reading through the Bible with these verses from Hebrews 12: 12,13 "12 So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.13 Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong." New Living Translation

That lead to a cross referencing those words which lead me to Isaiah 35: 3,4 " ³ Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees that give way;

⁴ say to those with fearful hearts,
"Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
he will come to save you." New International Version

The words that seem to be the theme for 2010 are along these lines: strengthen, renew, revive, revitalize, restart...

Pray with me that I would indeed be ready to be strengthened, renewed, revived, etc. and that I would seek that from Him. What a loving God who has continued to carry me through all of life situations and lovingly seeks to refresh me along the way. I am a truly blessed woman!