Last Post for A While

We're surprisingly almost ready already for our trip back to the good ol' USofA. I haven't been looking forward to such a short and hurried journey, but now I'm starting to get more excited. I keep asking Clay if he wants to go see Owen and I've been showing him pictures and playing the videos on Mary's website.

We have very little luggage to take with us and many pieces to bring back. We are going to attempt to bring the rest of our things...if there's as little as we think there is. The more I think on these things the more boxes I think there are in North Carolina and Michigan. hmmm We'll have to ponder this one further.

Timothy suggested that I teach at house group last night. I had time to prepare notes, but not to go over them and really develop my thoughts. It was a short meeting so I let Timothy have the rest:)

It's been raining here off and on for the past three weeks. The past day and a half were wonderful, but this morning it's cloudy again. Hopefully it will turn out okay. Clay goes stir crazy when he doesn't get to go outside very much.

We've drawn up the contract on the house. Hopefully today or tomorrow all the details will be agreed to. The lawyer was good enough to put a clause in that if the house should sell (which it won't) that we can finish up the time that's on the contract. Max is also considering making it a three year contract. Lovely!

Graz

I'm still recovering from last weekend's Bible school training. Lots of new things and I'm trying to become the kind of church-goer that doesn't just hear something and assume it's true b/c the man of God at the front of the room said so. I'm really having a hard time with some of this stuff and want to listen to the CD's when they get done several times before really commenting on it.

However, we were very blessed this weekend in several ways. First off, Saturday morning after a time of prayer at the "alters" Timothy and I were standing off to the side at the front of the room embracing and talking about some different things. Franz, the pastor at the church there, came up and started praying over us about a house! hmm He said that our house would be full of love, full of mercy, a house of praise, a house of worship, a house of peace, a house of light, a house where God's Kingdom would be seen and where angels would reside. Isn't that something!

A couple months ago an older lady in our church had told Timothy she always sees two angels by him when he's playing the drums. This sweet saint is always seeing visions and angels and we thanked her and just said, "That's nice." Another lady told Timothy that this weekend, that there were two angels with him. Maybe the old lady at church isn't hallucinating? ha ha! The interesting thing here is that Timothy has had a desire to see and have a better understanding of angelic beings for about a year now.

I think that's all I'm going to share for now. There was a strong emphasis on the supernatural and spiritual realm this weekend and I have a lot I need to work out for myself. I've been in churches on both sides of this, from the conservative, to the hyper-spiritual where I felt the Holy Spirit had been very offended by being so mis-used and probably lied about. This morning I asked the Holy Spirit to speak to me very specifically that I would know exactly how He feels about all this. It's like Ram said yesterday when I was discussing this with him and Sally, "I would rather ere on the side of conservatism and not grieve the Holy Spirit or possibly hurt brothers and sisters."

I do believe in the spiritual realm. I've been used in a deliverance situation, I've been in a church service where a man died and we prayed and he came back to life, etc. But I believe this is all a tight rope for church leaders. I would rather evaluate everything about the equipment, the manufacturer, the height and the length before I start my walk.

The funny thing is, I'm not usually like that. When I first learned about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues I was all for it. I accepted it easily. It feels like I've been thrown about on very choppy waters for the past 10 years ("This is truth." "No, that's emotions. This is truth.") and now that things have "calmed down" I want to be sure that there isn't something lurking underneath the surface.

Surprises That Shouldn't Be Surprises

I told Mary over the phone Saturday evening, "That house is and has everything we prayed for, so why shouldn't we have it?" But, when Max came over last night we were prepared to let it go. I'd even gotten the numbers of a couple other realtors. He sits down and before I could even get food on the plates told us we could have the house for 1000 euros after all, which is our QSI allowance. I didn't understand Timothy's reaction; he just sat there. Later he told me he was in shock.

We had a very nice evening with him and were able to clear up some confusion that had offended him earlier in the process. He did say that he would still like to be able to sell the house if a buyer presented themselves. He's asking for 1.5 million euros. It's not likely he's going to get anyone at that price. We didn't commit while he was here, but did call our pastor and an elder in the church as soon as he left and they both said that that was fair, that any landlord could do that and they both think we should go for it.

So, just when we gave it up God gave it back to us. First thing we're going to do is have a prayer meeting with pastors and elders. It's not likely that the Holy Spirit has dwelt there and we want to make sure that He's moves in before we do. We've told Pastor Steve that this is also for the church, this is not just our home. One of the things we prayed for was a place large enough to host church activities and this house is certainly large enough with the space outside as well. That's not always going to be easy with my personality, but Timothy said I'm changing. I've been praying that would change, that I wouldn't try to compartmentalize everything in life, but I didn't realize it was already happening.

Catching Up On The News

I was up sick again last night and my stomach hasn't recovered yet today. Timothy said he's feeling much better though. My problem might be stress related since the owner of the house we want is now asking for more money. I have a big Mexican dinner planned for him tonight and maybe we can still come to a good agreement.

I've decided that it really doesn't matter though. Since our verbal agreement over the phone two weeks ago I've given that house to the Lord and if He doesn't want that house I'm sure He'll also handle the details of getting us into the house He does want.

The Wednesday before last Matjaz and Magdalena had 15 people get saved at their house group near the coast, including the most reputable drug dealer in their city. This past Sunday they brought 3 more junkies with them to church and all 3 got saved. One of the ex-junkies from a couple weeks ago was praying with one of these guys who wanted to get saved and it just blessed my heart so much.

Magdalena has a friend from school who is now the mayor or vice-mayor of the city (Koper). Their friendship dissipated when Magdalena started taking drugs; he didn't want anything to do with that. She called him up and told him how she met Jesus, she's clean, she and her husband want to start a rehab and how so many people are starting to come to their house group their little apartment can't hold them all. He gave her a choice of two properties where they can start meeting for house group! He also promised them that they're at the top of the list of organizations who receive money from the city since their Teen Challenge will be the only drug rehab in that area.

I have my next doctor appointment on Thursday and I called to see if Timothy could come too. It's not customary for the husband to be there. The majority of fathers are not active in the family. A lot of them have to work two jobs so in some cases it's understandable. Hopefully this little kid will hold still long enough and in the right position to see some gender! I don't remember feeling Clay move this much. I'm constantly feeling pokes and jabs and several times there's been kicks that take my breath away. It's a strong one!

Several women have told me that I probably have my date wrong and am further along than I thought I was. I get so tired of people telling me my business. "She's too young to know anything." I keep records of everything to do with reproduction and all three ultrasounds have the same date. ...so there!

People at church have also been making comments about Clay being jealous. I've been rebuking them to their faces and telling them not to speak such things over my kid. Then I tell them how much he's going to love his younger siblings and be the best big brother ever. The Slovene's haven't been taught the power of confession, so I'm making it my business to teach them! :)

Owies

Last Sunday Clay's friend Blansh bit Clay on the nose. I heard a howling and headed to the room where the younger kids have Sunday school. There were a couple bloody spots; the worst of which was right on top. I should have gotten a picture. We went for a walk outside, but Clay didn't want me to leave him again. This particular room is next door to the main room where we have the service. I stayed so that Clay wouldn't cry the rest of the time and be a distraction.

Blansh wouldn't be described as a violent kid. He's 3 months younger than Clay and I think really loves Clay. I think he was just attempting a show of affection. However, it's annoying when the parents of the kid who physically harmed your kid don't do anything about it. My mom taught us that when children bite they need to be bit back. They don't understand that biting hurts very much and that's the only way someone so young will learn the physics of biting. Blansh's mommy saw me slap Clay on the back of the hand one time when Clay was getting into the trash at church. I had already told him no and stuff like that. She said that I shouldn't do that and should just try to distract him. Whatever. It's so funny to me b/c I feel like I'm so much more liberal with Clay than my parents were with us, but I'm still really strict compared to other parents at church.

Clay left the scab on his nose alone and it fell off on it's own yesterday morning on the way to church. It's healed quite nicely and all has been forgotten.

This morning Clay was playing in the bathroom, with all the lovely marble tile, and I heard a thud behind me. I turned to see him lying on his back and the look of pain and no breath coming out of his mouth. We left that room to try and put our minds on something else, but even the outside world wouldn't console him this time. I'm sure it really hurt. Finally he agreed with the idea of wrestling on our bed. That gave me the opportunity to look at his pupils real close to make sure they hadn't dilated. I had already been rubbing the back of his head and there were no bumps.

Later, he couldn't resist the temptation of the hot iron. Actually, he may not have meant to even touch it, but he did so now he has his first blister located on his right pinky finger. I've been wondering when something like this would happen. He's been fascinated by the iron when it's out and the oven when it's on and I figured we would have our first burn before too long. Fortunately, it's very small and doesn't seem to bother him. I put egg white on it right away and later some Neosporin and I tried a band-aid, but that received major protests.

We've been up late (anything past 10 is late for us) every night since Wednesday. Timothy said he has a headache and I haven't felt good all day. Clay has been extra fussy and we all need naps! We may have company for dinner this evening so chances are we won't get to bed very early this evening either.

Little Eyes are Watching

Last night I overheard Timothy cautioning Clay about leaving marks on the wooden arms of the rocking chair with the baby finger nail clippers. I looked up to see Clay squatting and pretending to clip his own toe nails. After clipping a nail he would stand and tap the clipper on the rocking chair arms. This is what I do when I trim his nails. He sits on my lap in the rocking chair and I clip and then tap the nail out on the arm until I'm done, then gather up the clippings and throw them away. Clay was just repeating the process. It's amazing the things they notice.

Clay has had a runny nose from teething. His number 4 teeth are out on top so we have 10 teeth total in this little mouth. The number 3 teeth on top are putting forth a good effort and I can feel them under the gum. We've been handing him a small bit of tissue at a time and asking him if he can blow his own nose. He concentrates really hard at keeping his mouth closed and expressing air through his nostrils. And he uses that whole bit of tissue! Blow, fold, blow, fold... When he's all done he wads it up real small and throws it away for us. Sometimes when he's handed the tissue he finds a particular spot on the floor and cleans that instead of his nose. We don't know what is on the floor or how he chooses his spots, but he seems to have a system of his own.

He's also trying to change the way he talks to us. It sounds like he's making real effort at unnciating something, but it just sounds like a bunch of gurgling noises to me. Lots of 'g' and 'n' sounds.

Sunny Day Outside

Monday was sunny and beautiful so Clay and I spent as much time as we could out of doors. I put his "outside" clothes on him so he could add to his collection of mud stains on them. We worked in the front yard and I got his tools out, but he insisted on using Mommy's broom and rake instead.

Next door, Ivonka and her husband were getting their potato spuds in the ground and Clay desperately wanted to go over the fence to help. She didn't ask so I didn't offer. I'm sure he wouldn't have been that much help. Later in the afternoon they had a tree man come to prune their fruit trees. Clay was fascinated by this old man up on the ladder and he and our old neighbor entertained Clay between snips by making trumpets out of buttercups and whistles out of broadleaf weeds.

Timothy's home sick from work today and Clay is beside himself with joy. Timothy is sitting there with his eyes closed, but that doesn't really matter to Clay. Just to have his dad present is enough for him.

I realized yesterday that we have about 3 weeks to settle on a house. hmm Guess it's time to really get the ball rolling.

Weekend at the Coast

We had a drug addict over for lunch yesterday... Isn't that neat? He wasn't strung out yesterday and we prayed over the house and our belongings before leaving for church, so everything was fine. We did make sure to put any small, easily picked up valuables out of sight. He spoke pretty good English and flattered me by noticing my homemade coasters.

He was with our friends Matjaz and Magdelena, who are starting the Teen Challenge center here. Their center will be for women to begin with, but there are already men who want to join; this guy, Peta, being one of them. They all needed a place to go for lunch after church and I had been telling them on Saturday about the big pot of chili soup I had made so we hosted the three of them, two other guys and another girl for our American lunch.

We had spent Friday night and all day Saturday at M&M's house on the coast. It was so relaxing to just sit around all day. Magdelena and I walked into the village, Dekani, to go to the grocery store (two very narrow aisles) and let her Zarja (age 2 1/2) and Clay play at the little play ground. Clay didn't care much for the swings, but loved the slide.

In the afternoon David, Lucija, Magdelena and I went into Trieste, Italy to shop. Shopping is much better across the border in the north of Italy, since everything is so pricey here in Slovenia. The further south in Italy you go the more touristy it gets so prices start to go higher. I got a couple shirts for Timothy and a pair of sunglasses for myself, all very good quality stuff. After buying lunch for Magdelena and myself I ended up spending less than $50 the entire day. I was very pleased.

Timothy and I just don't want this work week to start. He had a hard time waking up this morning, partly because of not sleeping well, and partly because we just had a great weekend. The sun is shining, we should be outside enjoying it! I think I'm going to go work outside this morning. Our tiny front yard needs some attention and behind our fence in the commons area I notice weeds yesterday. That's also our responsibility, but I don't mind! I love working in the yard and since I'm feeling good this morning I might as well do it.