Life in Ljubljana

Why Don't I Blog?

2007-02-11T05:04:00.000-08:00

So, being pregnant I don't sleep so well. Add to it a sore throat and a coughing kid and sleep is a non-existant part of my routine for this 24 hour time period. As I was laying in bed...early this morning...wanting desperately to go back to sleep I asked myself, "Self, what should I do?" The answer is obvious.

I tried to get into Kodak to edit some pictures, but that turned out to be a useless waste of my time. I'll try something else.

We've been busy, as I'm sure most of you have, and when we're not busy, I'm laying on the couch resting. Yesterday we looked at a house that we're considering renting. I'm starting to have some strong second thoughts. Then we went south into the hills, almost into Croatia and met with some ladies who want to go through SaveOne. She had goats, rabbits, dogs and other animals and the boys were in their element! They were muddy and smelled so bad when we got home. Clay renamed one of the she-goats Clay..."of course!" We informed the owner of the name change.

We haven't really been up to anything exciting, just the non-stop pace of life. I thought I should write down some things about Clay ("My name is Timody Clay Hall, za sird.") though.
A few weeks ago when we got in from the grocery store, Thadeus was asleep so I left him in the car and Clay was the first one in the door. When you walk in the front door of our house you're in the stairwell and there's another door to enter the main living area (a hallway -> kitchen, living room, etc.). Clay stopped there right inside the front door and started taking off coat, shoes, hat and whatever and my hands were full so I asked him if he could open the other door so I could put the groceries in the kitchen. "Just a midit, Mommy."

He didn't say it rudely or like a brat, it was just a simple request for me to be patient while he did his thing. It was so cute though that I couldn't resist making him say it over and over! "But, you can open the door first and let me in and then take your things off." "Just a midit, Mommy."

At a birthday party for Joshua Gilson we received these "guns" that are for bubbles. They look like miniature versions of my hairdryer. Clay realized this and told me he needs to cut my hair. "Oh, it's dirty, I got to clean it... Lay down, Mommy... It's black and blue and red and brown... Now houd still... Almost done!"

One afternoon I made him a tent with a table and chairs covered by a blanket. He calls it a house. After lunch our routine is that Thadeus lays down for a nap while Clay watches a video and I sleep also. Normally I lay down on the couch b/c Clay's love language is quality time so it makes him feel like we're spending good time together if I'm next to him while he watches his video.

Since we had the "house" up, and b/c I was exhausted this particular day and wanted a long nap, I thought he'd like to watch a video in his house. I can sleep okay during movie time, but a lot of times he'll lean over and whisper in my ear what's going on in the movie. I guess he's afraid I might miss something. He liked my idea and chose the Heffelump Movie.

I came in after my nap and he was totally engrossed. He saw me coming and told me to go back to sleep! Maybe he thought I was going to turn the movie off.

One more Clay story and then I'm done. The other day he didn't want what I had made for lunch and asked for pancakes instead. I said pancakes were a good idea, but we should have them for dinner since I already had lunch made. That evening, Timothy was working late or something, the boys and I sat down to a pancake dinner in front of a movie. Clay had a straw with his juice and I cut up the pancakes so he could pick them up and dip them in his syrup (Aunt Spanky style) hoping there would be less mess.

He'd finished his pancake and I went to get a rag to clean the boys, but when I came back Clay had the straw in the cup of syrup drinking the syrup! GAG!

Oh wait, one more thing, his new favorite phrase, when he doesn't like the song I'm singing or if I'm watching one of my movies, "It's pretty loud." He told me that in the car one day and I said, “Okay, I’ll sing quietly.” I was singing very quietly to myself and I hear him whispering “It’s pretty loud,” from the backseat!

On my next sleepless night I'll write about the absolutely, adorable Mr. Thadeus.

What's Your Favorite Kind of "Moogits"?

2006-12-01T08:57:00.000-08:00

Clay has a new favorite movie; Moogits. Any guesses as to what it might be? It's the Sound of Music! Its still not as high on his list of favorites as Mary Poppins, after all, it's easier to remember Jane and Michael than Lisle, Fredrik, Louisa, Kurt, Brigita, Marta and Gretel. I guess that shows how often we've been watching it lately. I'm glad he likes these movies with lots of singing in them. Thadeus is starting to enjoy them too.

Thadeus is figuring this walking thing out. It seems like Wednesday morning he had the thought, "Oh, there's a reason to do this. I can actually get from here to there without crawling! Hu, I wonder who thought of this."

Thadeus is a very observant, and very independent, little boy. He watches everything, and you don't really even realize he's watching, but...he is. I caught him trying to draw something the other night. He had an etch-n-sketch type toy and was doing his best to hold the pencil the way he's seen everyone else holding pencils or pens. He get so frustrated b/c his hand is always in the way and then nothing comes of it. So he squeals and bounces to show his frustration, then he goes right back to work, trying over and over to get something out on the screen. Bless his little heart.

The Cuteness I Live With

2006-11-27T15:16:00.000-08:00

Every week that the Tennessee Titans play my brother-in-law Kris some how records the game and emails a link to where we can go and get the game and watch it ourselves. This is how we normally spend our Tuesday evenings, watching Sunday's game.

We also own the DVD of Narnia. On the cover is Aslon, the lion and two polar bears. Clay does not call this 'Narnia'. When he wants to watch it he refers to Lions and Bears.

Are you wondering where I'm going yet?

Clay looks forward to the Tuesday night games and a couple weeks ago even seemed to know it was the right day.
"Are we gonna watch football?"
"Yes, tonight we'll watch football.
"Are we gonna watch the Lions and Bears?"
"Uh, no. Tonight we'll watch the Titans and Ravens."
"Oh! The Titans and raisins?"
"...yeah."

Thadeus is taking real steps now on a consistant basis. He seems to think this new found ability is some type of game though. I guess he'll catch on.

Timothy gave him an amish boy haircut.

2006-10-31T06:27:00.000-08:00

This is a test. I just signed up for the Picasa web albums for my blog and it showed video too so I'm seeing how well it works. This is an old video of Thadeus laughing...I think.

Okay, so obviously videos don't work.

Where in the world is Russell Kelly

2006-10-26T12:40:00.000-07:00

This is Timothy writing. Hee Hee I've snuck into Kristy's blog. The reason I'm writing is that I would like your help. I'm trying to reach Russell Kelly. The number I have I never get an answer (do you think he's trying to tell me something?). Also, I must have an old email. So, if you know his current number and email OR know someone who does, please help me. Jenni K. if you're reading this I tried emailing you but I got an un-deliverable message.

If you talk to Russell, remind him that he promised me he would come for a visit. I'm still hoping he can come. Tell him I am trying for some time to get a hold of him.

Thanks for all your help.
Timothy

Ladies Conference

2006-10-19T06:51:00.000-07:00

Here we go, it's the beginning of my super busy weekend. Today I'll start decorating at the church and see how far we get and hopefully there will be little to do tomorrow. I'm going to take the camera along this time to document the changes. Tonight our worship team has been invited to play at a local Charismatic church. I feel the need to go along and hopefully make some contacts for SaveOne.

Tomorrow Ivana's beau is in town and would like to spend the day with her. I'm very tempted to say, "Yes, go and get tired of each other." Us, our pastors and elders are starting to see something better for Ivana, but we haven't told her that. We have encouraged him (the guy we like better), in a round about way to push on doors even if they appear to be shut at the moment. I hope he's gotten the hints. So, I would like for Ivana and the beau to spend as much time together as possible, with a few guidelines of course, let them get to know each other and that the other is not what they're looking for (I think his pastors agree with us on that point) and then she can move on to the real thing. I can ask my friend from Kranjska Gora to come help me finish the decorating.

Saturday is the conference. Because of where it's being held this year Barbara warned me that some ladies probably won't come. The church it's at is kind of in the ghetto and some Christians are too Godly for the ghetto! PU-LEESE! I think the pastor's wife is aware of this to some degree so I want to make things look absolutely great for her sake. I should send pictures and a report to the churches that decide not to come because of their clean righteousness.

The theme this year is "Lift Your Vision Higher". That's a song; maybe you know it. Because Slovenia is such a small country the people tend to have an inward focus and a negative focus. It hasn't occurred to Slovene's yet to start any type of mission program or to look beyond their borders. A couple young ladies from the host church just went to Poland on a missions trip and will share a dance they learned. The daughter and son-in-law of the Baptist pastors are moving to an area of Slovenia where there is no Evangelical church to start a church plant. We're going to have these girls give testimony, Ivana is going to give her testimony and people who have different talents are going to have some of their handiwork on display all as examples of how our gifts and talents can be used.

The guest speaker is Ruth Schmierer. She said she's been teaching a lot on Deborah lately. I hope this year's conference is more of an impact conference than it has been in the past. In the past it's always been one of these low key, but refreshing, but don't step on anyone's toes, type of events.

After church on Sunday we'll head to the coast again for the SaveOne class there. We're gonna be exhausted! I've made up my mind that next week is all about my boys. Clay asks everyday to go to the airport to see airplanes. We'll go have cakes on the observation deck I think. Tuesday we'll hopefully visit school...then I don't know what we'll do the rest of the week. Isn't that nice!

It's Been A While, Hu?

2006-10-11T05:45:00.000-07:00

Like the rest of you, we're so busy our heads are spinning. We have two SaveOne classes going; one here in Ljubljana and another down on the Coast. We were going to give the class on the Coast to one of our trained assistants, but because of one of the participants it doesn't seem like a good idea. So, Wednesdays we're out pretty much all day and then Sundays, right after church we leave for the other class.

Timothy and I are singing a duet in a wedding this coming Saturday. We'll sing Steven Curtis Chapman's I Will Be Here. My body is trying to get sick, but I'm going to attack back today. The couple getting married, Sasa and Dajana, are just precious. There is really no other word to describe them and it's not because they're sugary-sweet or anything like that. They're just precious. Dajana was the maid of honor in Tatjana's wedding last February and since then something must have clicked for them. They've been coming to church, were baptized this summer and have totally committed themselves to Jesus.

Next Saturday is the annual National Ladies Conference and I've been asked to decorate. This is no small order this time. One large room, 100 ladies plus lunch... Where do we put the lunch so that it isn't smelling up the place while the speaker is up there? Where do we sit all these women for the lectures and then to eat also? And Slovene's must sit at tables to eat. How do I make a large open room look lovely and attractive with pretty much no budget? I'm starting to stress.

We're still house hunting also. The landlord came yesterday and again refused to fix the garage door. Then she wanted to know how soon we were moving out! We're not telling her anything. It would be better for us if she asks us to leave in writing. Timothy tells me this isn't my issue to get stressed over, but...yeah right. I had a dream last night that we moved into a nice new house. It was so lovely, but the stairs were open and I was very concerned about Thadeus falling down them.

Thadeus is getting up and down stairs on his own. Of course, we don't leave him while he's climbing. He insists on doing things on his own. He wants to feed himself and if he doesn't get to (he doesn't like to use the spoon, just hands) then he throws his head back and complains.

He says, "hi" when we walk in his room first thing in the morning. If he's getting something good (favorite toy, blanket, food, etc.) he bounces and says, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." If he's not getting what he wants he sticks his lips out and says, "Dy, dy, dy, dy!" or "Nee, nee, nee, nee!" He repeats and mimicks a lot of what he hears and sees. This might be dangerous. He'll study Clay and then try to do exactly what it is he sees Clay doing.

Clay has been calling me by my first name. We were buying him new shoes last week and he started playing a game he'd made up where he runs around looking for someone. It used to be Michael from Mary Poppins. This time I couldn't tell who he was looking for at first, but then realized he was saying my name. He's running up and down the aisles of the shoe store calling, "Kristy, Kristy where are you?" He'd see me and run in the other direction calling again.

We bought him his first belt. I had to add two holes and it's still too big. He calls it his seat belt.

He's asking questions like, "What's happening?" or "What's going on?" He ends the last word of his sentences with a Southern twang. I'm not sure where that is coming from since neither Timothy or I really have a Southern accent.

While working in the garden one day Clay found the little daisies that grow in the yard. He wanted to give them to me, but my hands were in the dirt so I showed him how they could go in my hair, "...like hair pockets!" He liked this so ran to get more. While I was down in the dirt he was putting little flowers in my hair saying, "Wait a second. (Clicks the tongue to the roof of the mouth.) Mommy, wait a second."

And Now, Thadeus

2006-09-07T07:46:00.000-07:00

Also known at Thad or Tadej (taDEY) or Tadejchek. Tadej is the Slovene equivalent of his name and it seems to suit him so that's what he gets called most often. The children at church call him Teddy. When I'm exasperated with him it's "Thadeus Kane!"

Thadeus is like a ray of sunshine on a rainy day. Maybe I see him that way because so much went on while I was pregnant with him. Just a few days after discovering I was pregnant there was the tsunami. That spring Timothy and I went through a...a time of growing in our marriage. There was the Ivana factor and other things that made the first 8 months of 2005 pretty rough and difficult times for me. Tadej was my reward for those 8 months and maybe that's why he's so precious to me. I'll admit, I spoil that kid more than I do Clay.

He has the most humongous grin when he wakes up in the mornings. His little nose wrinkles in the middle and it's absolutely precious. I think he's really trying to talk. He's trying more and more to repeat the sounds we make. Like Clay, he's in no hurry to walk on his own. I got him to stand up by himself yesterday, but as soon as he realized he wasn't being supported it was down to his knees he went.

Last week he developed a slight temperature, probably from teething. He slept most of Wednesday through Friday and didn't eat very much. By Saturday we could tell he'd lost quite a bit of weight. We went to the coast for the weekend and drove down to Pula, Croatia on Saturday. We visited the arena and I totally forgot about Tadej and sunshine. He's allergic! He broke out in a reddish rash all over which also seemed to aggravate the fever all the more. After Pula we drove to Porec and visited Plava Laguna. I took the boys in the (cold) water one at a time. Clay loved it and splashed and we had a good ol' time. Tadej clung to me and grunted. Once I got him in and his body temperature started adjusting his fever, which got pretty high in the evening, started going way down. We got him out after a few minutes and got him dressed and wrapped in a towel. We ate dinner there and then headed back to Slovenia. His fever never came back after our swim.
Kane means warrior (Celtic or Gaelic, I can't remember) and the little guy lives up to that title. He has got such a strong will! The next book on my stack of things to read is Dobson's Strong Willed Child.

Since he didn't eat much last week his stomach has shrunk and he didn't want to eat the first part of this week. I was force feeding him by sitting him on my lap, putting my left forearm around his front to hold his arms still and bracing his head between my left shoulder and my own head. Then with my right I was shoving spoonfuls of food into his mouth. Finally, last night he ate a full meal and I noticed he's looking a little chubby again. He was never in any danger, but he's always been such a chunk.

He's also been too spoiled. He's had to sit and cry out his fits the past few days and nothing has made him happy. Tuesday it was non-stop screaming for one reason or another. Yesterday was much better and hopefully today he'll be back to his content little self.
Ivana is in Rijeka, Croatia for the day. Timothy will be gone all day since he has worship practice tonight at Steve's. I think I'll call my friend in Kranjska Gora and see if the boys and I can go up and visit with her. Both of her sons are at boarding school now and her husband has been working a new job where he has to travel so she's kind of lonely.

Clay

2006-09-04T19:50:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take time to write a little something about each of the "kids". I don't feel like I have the time to do Clay justice, but...let me just take a deep breath...no pressure. The football game Timothy's watching is a long one. I'm sure I'll get to see some of it.

Clay is becoming a comedian, helper and all around super-star. We've started a name calling game. He'll tell me I'm "funny crazy" and I call him the same. Suddenly, the "No" Phase is done! He woke up one morning and said, "Ummmm, okay." He also says, "sure" (tur) which I really like.

Often times I'll ask him what he wants to drink with a meal. The standard answer is, "Ummmm, coca-cola."
"How about milk?"
"Ummmm, okay."

At random moments I’ll hear him say, “Ummmm, (click of the tongue to the roof of the mouth sound) let’s see.”

Clay helps pick up around the house, including trash, toys, dirty clothes and his plate from the table. He tries to help dust, but has no concept of what dust is so that one is a work in progress.

Last week we were working out in the yard one day and he got the idea to carry the watering jugs over to the garden. One of them was completely full and impossible for him, but the other had only a little water in and he carried it, but with difficulty. When he got it to where he wanted it I could hear him say, "I'm kinda strong" like an old farmer would say it.

He makes a great attempt to show his muscles, but we've observed he's just one long muscle. Timothy has given him the new name, Unimuscle.

I call him Son of Encouragement. He's always ready with a nice comment for whomever. "Good job, Daddy" or simply, "Yay!" One day we were playing ball and I kicked it into a corner I couldn't get into. I explained he'd have to go get it because Mamma is too big and that corner was too small. He got confused and kept saying, "Mamma's too small." Yes, that's right.

His f's come out as p's and the 'sh' comes out as over enunciated s's. He says the word fish a lot lately... It could be worse. My friend's little boy makes his t's f's and says the word truck a lot, but without the r.

He counts to twelve on good days and enjoys "songs like at church." He sincerely wishes we'd sing the Larry Boy theme song at church, but I don't think that's going to happen. He's totally possessive with his toys and is sure Thadeus is just out to take them from him.

He loves his brother though. When their nap times happen to fall at the same time Clay is more than happy to sleep. When Thadeus isn't in the room he could care less. They have their affectionate moments, but we have to encourage that more and more. Clay is very affectionate though. The other day he puckered up and got close to me. When I leaned in to kiss him back he said, "No, no, no, no." Then he lowered my face and kissed me on the nose. He laughed at himself and declared, "Ats funny crazy!"

Ivana

2006-08-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, Ivana just turned 26. We're coming up on the two year anniversary of her moving in with us. There are so many things I want to tell her, but I just don't think it's the right time yet.

I was thinking this morning how, when we were marking the first year since her move in with us, I still couldn't see much change. People around us noticed, and yeah, there were some differences, but not a lot of change. Now I see change, but not just in her.

Having her here has highlighted weaknesses in myself. I've had to face things and come to terms with small issues that I never liked to look at before. I'm really beginning to wonder what I'll do when she leaves.

There are no immediate plans, but she has told us she feels more and more often like she's ready to be on her own. We still disagree. She'd be broke in a month. I've handed over to her the responsibility of our home budget. I want her to see how much it costs to have a family.

This morning at the breakfast table I disagreed with Timothy in front of her. I wanted her to see how you can state your opinion respectfully and honestly without arguing or tearing your husband down. This was the first time we let her in on one of our more private conversations, but she saw right away what we were doing and how it worked. Then we let her witness us throwing our napkins back and forth at each other.

I keep thinking of a conversation I'd had with Barbara Telzerow on one of the days I wanted to put Ivana out of the house (there were many). Barbara told me that if we hadn't taken her in when we did Ivana would probably be back where she started, or at least in a very dark and miserable state. That's not to brag on us, but what an honor to be a part of a life that will change so many others.

Ivana is extremely teachable which has made so much of her time here so easy. I bought her the Spanish edition of Captivating this summer and she's eaten it up. I'll see her in her room making notes; not just reading, but learning and digesting.

Ivana will begin university in October and finish her high school exams this winter. This last year of high school she's learned to plan ahead and to find goals and see them accomplished. She's grown up. I no longer feel like I'm raising some else's 15 year old. I have a peer and I'm beginning to have a new friend.

Kudos to my husband and pastors who made me stick with this girl...excuse me, young woman, when I rather would have thrown her out on her ear!

Regarding Katja

2006-08-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

The day my girlfriends and I went to pray for Katja I had an overwhelming sense of peace come over me the moment I stepped into the room. It was almost as if we didn't even need to be there. I didn't understand what that meant, but it makes a little more sense now.

I was talking with Barbara Telzerow about this on Sunday. She told me that they had a similar circumstance a few years ago at the church we're affiliated with in San Antonio. A young mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and they prayed and prayed and prayed and felt as if her healing was just around the corner. When she died the church was devastated. The pastor, Alan Vincent, asked God what they could have done differently or what they did wrong. God told him that this was His plan, but that He couldn't explain it to Alan just then b/c he wouldn't understand. "His ways are not our ways."

On a happier note... We celebrated Ivana's 26th birthday and Thadeus' first on Sunday. We had friends over for lunch and cake. Thadeus is teething so wasn't really up for celebrating, but enjoyed it as long as he could. We got great video of him and his first cake. I made Ivana an ice cream pie for her cake. The Slovene's were amazed and delighted at this new concept.

We've all been pestered by some kind of virus that's going around. I've done my best not to get it, but yesterday it started; sore throat and lots of sinus stuff. Thadeus was up coughing during the night. I got up with him and offered him a bottle, but he wasn't interested. When I first picked him up he was excited, but once he realized we were the only ones up it wasn't that much fun. We rocked and sang and then he gladly laid back down.

In about a week the apples and pears will be ready to start picking. We've been getting lots of rain this month. I think that's typical of August here. September should be beautiful and October gorgeous with the changing colors. "God is in Heaven; all is right with the world."

Bad News

2006-08-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

Katja died. (See post/email from 4 August: On Holiday) We've encouraged our friends on the coast to reach out to her husband.

So, don't ya know...

2006-08-23T06:02:00.000-07:00

Did I become an international driver when I got my Slovene license or was it last Thursday when I actually drove out of this country on my own for the first time? The turn-around pattern I had started last Monday and Tuesday continued even on this trip. Thankfully, I hadn't gotten to Ljubljana when I realized what I'd forgotten.

I went to our village post office, which is actually two villages and about two miles away. I dropped off my letters and the lady helped me put more time on our mobile phone. Timothy has shown me how to do it, but unless I do it on a weekly basis I'm not going to remember. With that accomplished I just needed to get a few items at the grocery store in Kranj and get on the highway which is right near the grocery store! One problem: that highway heads northwest and I need to be going northeast. I realized this when I'm almost to Kranj. I stop in a parking lot and consult a map real quick. No easy way to the correct highway; need to head towards Ljubljana, which is actually southeast.

I get to a town between us and Ljubljana and think; I'll stop at this grocery store. It's smaller than the one in Ljubljana and will be quicker. Get the needed items, a coke for me and mentos for Clay, pack back into the car and it suddenly dawns on me that I didn't have the boys passports. Oops. Back to Jama, then on to Ljubljana and Graz!

Besides that the two hour drive up was very uneventful. Thadeus slept or was just quiet and Clay, who is never quiet lately, kept me entertained with, "Hey Mom, look at this!" He doesn't understand yet that if the driver isn't looking at the road big ouchies can happen.

We stayed at a very nice youth hostel near the center of Graz. The family rooms were new. They had indoor and outdoor play areas. A 100 foot climbing wall, flat panel televisions and pretty good breakfast. All they lacked were swimming pools!

The School of the Word conference was held in the local brewery this year. (I've been waiting to tell everyone in America this!) Yes, a brewery. We were there for Thursday night's worship/intercession time. The boys and I were in an upstairs room that had a balcony looking out over the hall where everyone was. Thadeus had to see what was going on and kept crawling out there to watch everyone.

Friday was pretty uneventful. Timothy was in the session all morning and into the afternoon then we went to lunch and relaxed the rest of the day.

Saturday morning we got up and packed and headed to Ikea. I've been familiar with Ikea for years, but this is the first time I've been to a store. It was amazing! I don't know if all stores are set up the same, but we went in and noticed immediately the place to drop our children off while we shop. Clay said he wanted to go, but then we thought, this is a family time, he needs to stay with us.

We went upstairs and walked a couple miles through show space; like miniature apartments all set up and furnished. The displays were a little more detailed than your regular furniture store. The tags on the items told you what section the item could be picked up in downstairs. If there was a red tag you had to go to a certain bin and if there was a yellow tag you would need assistance when you got downstairs. There were arrows on the floor to keep everyone moving and there were a lot of people!

Specifically, we were shopping for Thadeus' birthday present. There is a small table and chairs set (Mammut) that I'd seen in an Ikea catalog eight years ago and have always loved it. Our pediatrician just got the set in her office and Timothy liked it. Since I'm going to start "home schooling" Clay this year I wanted something just for the boys. We got the blue round table and two green chairs. Next time we go up we'll get two more red chairs since they didn't have any this time. They're not too excited about the gift, but whether they realize it or not we know they'll appreciate it. I wonder if it will be possible to keep it nice enough to give to Thadeus' kids someday.

When we found the kids' furniture upstairs and decided which pieces we wanted we got the bin number and went back downstairs. Everything just fit in our car.

When we got home Saturday afternoon our internet was down. Booooo! We just got it straightened out last night. I have felt so disconnected from the rest of the world!

I had worked outside all day yesterday. I wanted to do it again today, but it's supposed to be rainy I found out this morning.

The rain is good news for Clay. He got the idea in his head yesterday to "play music like at church". He has his little wooden drum, a pot and a couple plastic mixing bowls, I have the guitar and Ivana has a couple shakers. Thadeus is supposed to play the piano, but he doesn't get it. He'd rather chew on puzzle pieces. We put on the kids' worship cd and rock out...two year old style! We'll all get excited and I'll yell, "Drum solo!" The muscles in Clay’s neck tighten and he starts drumming as fast as he can. It's hilarious.

Day Four of our Five Days without Timothy

2006-08-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

We can't stand it anymore. Timothy called this morning. I'm packing the boys in the car and we're heading for Austria. We'll be back Friday night or Saturday.

Day Three

2006-08-16T18:33:00.000-07:00

Are you sick of my whiney pity party yet? Even though I'm not exactly social I hate being alone. It was ten times worse before we had kids.

One thing I forgot about yesterday. Sally gave Thadeus a grape to try. We were both on edge watching him with it and a couple times she tried to stick her finger in his mouth and retrieve it. He stopped her both times, but she kept her hand right there ready to grab if he should gag. After what he thought was sufficient chewing he took her finger and put it into his mouth and gave her the skin, empty of grape meat, with his tongue. Clever boy.

Today was uneventful. It was a beautiful day with a little rain to keep things interesting. I tried to get the guys outside as much as possible. Clay has grown enough to reach the pedals on his tricycle. The first time he tried it coordination was a bit of a problem, but today he's been zooming right along.

Timothy didn't call today so I'll take the phones to bed with me...just in case.

Day Two as a TSP

2006-08-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

This morning was a little bit of a repeat of yesterday morning. I was driving to Ljubljana this time and couldn't accomplish two of my three errands since banks, post offices and stores were closed. I was just getting into city center when I realized I'd left Timothy's office keys at home. There was no getting around it. I have no plans to come into Ljubljana again so I had to go back. Ah well.

When we were just about to the office I told Clay where we were going but that Daddy wouldn't be there. He didn't say too much, but as soon as we arrived he immediately tried Timothy's office door. Clay just stayed quiet and then when we got to Sally's for lunch he announced that Daddy was playing basketball. Oh. Poor guy thought he had it figured out.

Sally made cauliflower and potatoes with garlic, ginger and other herbs; rice and a lentil soup to go over the rice for us. Oh my goodness! It was wonderful! Clay had the soup and rice, but not the ginger dish; too spicy. Thadeus ate rice out of Sally's fingers and loved it! So far there doesn't seem to be anything that he doesn't like. After I had about five servings (no joke) she tells me she also made cheese cake!

The boys had such a great time playing there. They have one of those low sofas that you find in the Muslim world. Theirs is a little higher since they're not Muslim. The boys climb and play on that with Sally's many throw pillows. When I went to the grocery store on the ground floor of the apartment building (it's the only place I know of to get the good peanut butter) Clay didn't want to come with me! He wanted to stay with Sally.

We got home just in time to get Timothy's phone call. The boys were both asleep in the car. They woke up to talk to Grandpa though. We also had to go get Ivana's father and step-mother from the airport and play with the neighbor kids and then it was time for bed.

I'm tired. I didn't sleep all that well last night. I kept waking up for no reason other than Timothy just wasn't there. I'll be so glad when he's home.

Day One as a Temporarily Single Parent

2006-08-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

Today went pretty smoothly. Timothy and Ivana left around 8:00 to pick up two guys from church and head to Graz. I realized last night before going to bed, while making my rounds and picking up things that needed to be put away, that with Timothy out of the house I'll have a lot less to do! He creates more work for me then Ivana, Clay and Thadeus combined! He laughed at me when I told him that.

The boys and I went to Kranj to get groceries. We only needed about six items, but the trip took an hour and a half. When I got to the road to turn on for the store I realized I didn't have any money or any way to pay. Poor Thadeus fell asleep on the drive back to the house to get the money. I should have also gotten an umbrella, but I was in too big a hurry by then. I don't know why. We got rained on a little, but nothing bad and I think the boys enjoyed it.

I can't wait until school starts again; the stores are always busy during the summer.

The boys took naps after lunch and I cleaned up the office. It's such an amazing feeling for a picky housekeeper such as myself. I can clean a room and know it's going to stay that way the whole week! WOW! Timothy and Ivana both are very bad about not putting things away.

The rain cleared by the late afternoon so the little men and I headed outside to soak up some vitamin D while it's free. We cleaned up the garden, harvested all the onions and picked up the apples and pears off the ground.

I think someone's been praying for our "nasty" neighbors; the ones that gave us the apple pie. Not only was the apple pie NOT poisoned, but she came over and made small talk this evening! I was very surprised and was on my friendliest behavior.

The boys are in bed, it's early and I'm ready for bed. Maybe I'll take the laptop upstairs and watch a movie in bed!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

2006-08-12T22:55:00.000-07:00

In random order...

Dahlias from my garden and ripe, juicy plumbs.

Clay, the great fly hunter, catching flies and killing them with his bare hands. Before you thinking that we're disgusting, let me inform you that we have a lot of soap at our house. Also, he's a boy. The Creator made him with this drive inside to conquer something. I was proud and told him so.

I also love the way Clay takes care of his little brother. He's always encouraging him to follow after us, or not to play with something that might hurt him. They're starting to play together and I get caught up watching them.

Thadeus chubby little body. He has a t-shirt from his Aunt Spanky that reads, "I'm definitely up to something". It's too small around the belly and always rides up exposing him mid section! It's adorable. I don't have a picture of it, but trust me, it's cute.

Thadeus' bump is gone! He's pulling up on anything and everything. He's gotten the concept of hats and seems to enjoy them. He's gotten the hand-me-down train engineer hat that Clay used to wear all the time.

I could go on and on about these guys' daddy, but I doubt any of you have that kind of time and it'd probably make you a little queasy after a while! Timothy leaves Monday morning and won't be back until Friday night for the conference up in Austria. Ivana will be going as well so it will just be the little men and I. Pray for us!

On Holiday

2006-08-04T22:28:00.000-07:00

Timothy, the boys and I are at our friends' house on the coast enjoying the beautiful Mediterranean. Actually, it's been raining, but we have been enjoying ourselves. Matjaz and Magdalena live in a small, one bedroom apartment with their two daughters, Zarja and Naza. They're not selfish with the space. We have thoroughly invaded their space and have been loved all the more for it. At least, I hope so.

Thadeus' bump is much smaller as of this morning. We did take him to get x-rays on Monday and they found nothing, but did agree with the EMT that had seen him initially that it was probably a broken blood vessel.

When we arrived here Wednesday afternoon Magdalena told me about a lady named Katja who just found out a few weeks ago she has cancer. She is only 29 and has a husband and three young children. Magdalena, Tatjana and I went to see her in the hospital. Tatjana is her co-worker and said she would go in first and ask the husband if we could come in and pray. He's also been approached with bio-energy and stuff like that and he said he doesn't believe in anything but medicine. It's good he's at least rejected the bio-energy stuff.

Tatjana went into her room and found Katja alone and sleeping. The cancer is all through her body and basically she's been medicated to make the dying process easier. The three of us went in and shut the door. The husband never did show up so we had a great time of prayer there in that room.

Katja came to a couple times, the first to just mumble something and touch Tatjana on the face in acknowledgement. That's when we realized how heavily medicated she was. We started praying that the drugs would wear off just enough that we could talk to her. A minute later she opened her eyes again and Tatjana tried to talk to her about Jesus. Katja told her it was no use because she couldn't hear anymore. So we prayed for her ears to be open.

The third time she roused Magdalena wrote in large letters a note asking if she wanted to accept Jesus in her heart. She didn't understand and Magdalena wrote out a five word sinners' prayer. Katja read it once to herself and then understanding came. Her eyes opened wide and she said the prayer as loud as she could.

The rest of the short time we had with her she was all smiles, but still very groggy. She hadn't smiled in days. We were also able to talk right into her ear and her be able to hear us. She told us she was tired and asked if we could go.

Now, I've decided that God has to heal her or no one but us will know of her salvation. While it's encouraging for us, her husband and children need to know. At this point it doesn't sound like her husband would believe us if we told him.

Timothy and I wanted to go shopping in Italy and also drive down to Pula, Croatia to see the big amphitheater, but with the rain it's been impossible. Tomorrow is our last day here so I guess we have excuses to come back. Well, the shopping we did get done here because the local stores were having some good deals. I'm sure I can find something I need though... :)

Scare

2006-07-30T23:20:00.000-07:00

Timothy was in Austria this weekend to practice (praise band) for the upcoming School of the Word in a few weeks. It's a week long conference where all the churches we're associated with will get together for teaching, fellowship, worship, etc. He called from the office just before I put the boys in the bath saying that he was on his way home. The plan was that he would walk in the door and Clay would hand him the hand made birthday card and I would present him with my pitiful looking red velvet cake.

Ivana is cruising up and down the Croatian coast this week on her dad's boat. We don't know when exactly she's coming back.

The boys were having such a good time in the tub, splashing and playing and just enjoying themselves. Thadeus started to get tired of it all so I began to wash his hair and get him out. I laid him back on the bath pillow to start shampooing and thought the right side of his head was unusually soft. Upon further investigation I realized there was swelling.

"Oh! Dear Heavenly Father...!" The rest was in tongues. It's kind of hard to pray in English when you discover something like that.

Last Sunday night he had fallen off of the couch. I'm not sure if that's where this bruise and swelling came from or not. I got the boys and myself cleaned up and dressed in record time and Timothy called again from the office. There was trouble with the security alarm and he didn't feel right just leaving.

"Um, okay. Well, hurry home because I think we should take Thadeus to the ER." I explained what I'd found and he promised to get home as quick as he could. While I waited I'm thinking over the symptoms of brain injury or concussion and the ones I know about Thadeus was not showing. He hadn't vomited at all and he was trying new things all week; acting normal. One day we were even playing and I was spinning him around in circles. He enjoyed that a lot. I resisted the temptation to start looking things up on the internet. I was already scared; I didn't need any extra information at the moment.

I did talk to my dad and our pastor on Skype and told them what I had just found. Steve prayed for him right away, and I'm sure Dad did too.

I got all our cards, passports and stuff together and had the boys in the car when Timothy pulled in the drive. He felt Thad's head and agreed we'd better go get it looked at.

We didn't have to wait but a minute when we got to the ER. A doctor, or EMT, felt it and said it was just a bruise and would probably go away in a week. She said to just keep an eye on it and if we wanted to we could go see our pediatrician and ask for the papers to go get x-rays made. I asked her what precautions we should take and she said not to worry too much and then laughed at her advice. She's a mommy too. She confirmed that the swelling was between the skin and scull and another doctor also felt it and said the same thing.

The hospital personnel were friendly and ended up not even charging us anything b/c all they did was feel his head. Both the boys were well behaved through the evening. They just seem to know don't they?

This morning just as we were leaving for church the boys were playing by themselves. I heard a thud and Clay say, "Uh-oh! He bumped his head!" I came in and found Thadeus with his second bloody lip of the week. It swelled a little, but it's gone down already. It's a good thing the kid has a high pain tolerance. I think he's going to need it.

2006-07-19T22:45:00.000-07:00

We're back in the tiny hamlet of Jama (pr: Yama). My cousin-in-law, Lacca, did a pretty good job of describing the jist of the North Dakota section of our trip on her blog. My sister, Mary, did more than good at telling what happened in Michigan on her blog. So, now I feel like I don't have to blog!

I was relieved to find that we still had things growing in our garden when we got home last night. Ivana confessed that she didn't pay as much attention to our plants as we would have liked, but she is completely done with her school work, which is a higher priority.

Ivana got a phone call this afternoon from Alexandra, the girl we had helped get to the center. Alexandra has left the center and is back in Slovenia. You win some, you lose some.

I'm unpacked, but about half of our things are sorted into piles around the living room. "Tomorrow is another day."

So far on our trip...

2006-07-06T06:15:00.000-07:00

Our twenty-four hour trip to the U.S. was..."right on time". We got to the first three of our four gates just as our planes were boarding. The layover in Minneapolis was something like six hours so while we were there we took the train to the Mall of America. That was neat, but we only saw a fraction of it. We were sooooo tired! Karen did get a manicure and pedicure there and I sat with Thadeus in one of the massage chairs beside her.

Clay loved being on airplanes! We made sure he had a window seat on each flight so he could have the best view. The guy is sold.

We're at the Best Western in Minot, North Dakota. There's a pool and hot tub and I saw a chiropractic office down the road and went there the other day. The weather is mild and wonderful, but the farmers are starting to complain about the lack of rain. We think it's beautiful; rolling green hills going on for miles and miles. I used to love this country, but now that I live so close to the mountains I would get tired of the prairie.

One cute story, whenever we say grace Karen will sigh and say, "Halleluja." Monday Timothy, the boys and I went to lunch just the four of us. When Timothy started praying Clay mimicked his Grandma exactly! "Mmm...halleluja."

Christina, or Aunt Spanky, flies in this morning and her husband Barry will arrive tonight. Then our little family will be all together.

2006-06-29T22:45:00.000-07:00

Once again, I've fallen behind and have forgotten so many of the cute moments that make up my days. So, I'll just tell ya'll about the present, or as much of the present as I can talk about at 10:43 p.m.

Tim and Karen, Timothy's parents, are here visiting. We picked them up from the airport last Saturday. I told Clay it was time to go, but he was playing with his friends down the street and didn't want to leave. I told him we were going to go to the airport and see airplanes. That worked. He was all excited! Timothy asked him where we were going, "A aiw poe." Then Timothy asked why and the response was, "A see aiw pane."

Clay knew who these people were as soon as he saw them and is now beside himself with these grown playmates. Grandma is making cookies (and cookies and more cookies and brownies!) and Grandpa is able to do strange things with his ears... You'd have to see it to believe it. He can even take one of his fingers off!

I was upstairs taking care of Thadeus this evening and heard Clay coming down the hallway, "Mommy! Daddy! Mommy! Daddy! Mommy! Daddy!" He came in carrying a plate of cookies for us! He'd made it up the stairs with the plate all on his own. Evidently Grandma had suggested he share with us and he was determined to do what he was told to.

The potty training is going really well. Even in a diaper he doesn't want to go unless he's on the potty. Timothy, Clay and Grandpa went camping yesterday and stayed over night; it was my first night away from Clay. When they got in today Clay didn't want to use the potty, he wanted to go to the bathroom outside.

Thad is pulling himself up and has four teeth. He wants to walk non-stop. He continues to be such an affectionate little thing, but is starting to come into his own and will push away if he's had too much. He's finally started getting that 'm' sound out and has been saying "Mama". Of course, it's hard to tell if he knows what he's saying or not, but I sure do enjoy hearing it.

Our Temporary Child, Continued

2006-06-23T15:11:00.000-07:00

First of all, let me just say, five years ago today I married the greatest guy ever! Happy anniversary, Honey. I love you.

The final chapter of the story goes like this... When the girls left our place Monday evening I called Ivana right away and told her that if they needed anything to call us no matter what time; I would keep the phone by our bed.

She took me at my word and I got a wake up call at 5 a.m. Tuesday morning from Ivana who was very close to tears. Alexandra was sitting in the car in the parking lot, in the Milan airport, refusing to get out and giving the story that she just wanted to see if they would really drive her there. She was demanding to be brought back here and calling Ivana every name in the book.

I asked Ivana to calm down, reminded her not to respond to anything Alexandra had to say and asked if Alexandra was listening, or at least civil, to anyone in their party. Yes, she was being nice to Marko. The poor girl was obviously frightened out of her wits, proving to us she'd never been on a plane before so that was another lie, but this was actually good. Marko was able to pray with her and get her calmed down. Ivana, Judita and Marko stayed with her until the security point which is what I wanted. Figuring she'd never flown before I knew she'd be too scared to realize she could still leave at any time. She'd be focused on the security personnel!

The three amigos went back to the desk after her plane was supposed to have taken off and made sure she got on. Yes, they confirmed she did so they were able to drive away from the airport feeling like they'd accomplished their mission.

Ivana called the center in Spain later on Tuesday and they said she'd gotten there and was even feeling pretty happy with things. Since Alexandra's family doesn't know where she is (she wanted it that way) Ivana has special calling rights. It also helps that the girls in charge there know Ivana and that she had left their center on good terms.

After we got the phone call from Ivana saying everything had gone smoothly after Marko's prayer I was able to finally take that big sigh of relief that had been waiting to get out for so long. Burden lifted.

Our Temporary Child

2006-06-19T22:25:00.000-07:00

No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth... A week ago tonight we found out about Alexandra. She had gotten in touch with the pastor in Nova Gorica to get help for a drug addiction by going to the center in Spain. This pastor is from Ivana's home church and the same center in Spain where she lived for three years. As soon as Ivana told us of Alexandra, how she was living on the street and that she had taken the initiative on her own to get help, Timothy and I looked at each other and knew.

Ivana picked her up late last Thursday night and they just left tonight for the airport in Milan, Italy. I now have much more education on the drug addicted person than I ever wanted and I know it was only the tip of the ice burg. She isn't what is considered to be a bad case. I want to feel relieved that we got her out the door and that life inside our house is back to normal, but I know I won't rest easy until Ivana comes back tomorrow telling me that Alexandra got on that plane.

I've lived such a protected life and thank you Dad, from the bottom of my heart! I haven't heard so many lies thrown together in such a short amount of time since Clinton was in office! And the manipulation! Ugh! Drug addicts are not my calling.

One minute she would be asking questions about the Bible and amazed that God would speak to her and the next saying how Jesus abandoned her and He doesn't love her. I enjoy roller coasters, but this has been too much.

I'm afraid to say too much. We're praying and hoping that Alexandra comes back completely restored. I know half of the things that were coming out of her mouth were not the real Alexandra. And it was amazing to me how God gave us discernment and wisdom. I've never thought of myself as a quick thinking person, but during each argument I was able to see through the crap and give a good response...until tonight at least. I saw through the crap, but I spoke a bit hastily.

Anyway, some very hard lessons have been learned in the past week. I've started doing some real self examination, going deeper in then I've ever wanted to go. It's been especially hard on Ivana. She's been the recipient of all of Alexandra's anger. She'll be driving through the night tonight and I don't expect to see her back before noon tomorrow. She's so exhausted emotionally I'm sure she could sleep solidly for three days. We ended up paying for the ticket out of our own pockets. If for some reason Alexandra doesn't get on the plane we told Ivana to change the name to hers and go for a vacation to see her friends in the center. She liked that idea.

There’s a lot more I would like to write, but I’m not sure I should. I also wanted to send some update on the boys, but it will have to wait again.

I Missed It!

2006-06-05T11:42:00.000-07:00

As I said in my email yesterday, I stayed home sick from church. Last week there was a drama group from England who did a sketch on the life of Peter. Much like Images used to do; creatively using a small amount of props and humorous dialogue to get the point across. They went with the older kids in Sunday school to work on something for yesterday's service and I almost suggested to Timothy to take the video camera so that I could see what they did, but then I thought, "It's just a sketch and it's not as if my child will be performing..." Little did I know, Clay would be in his first drama yesterday...AND I MISSED IT!!! He was one of the Philistine soldiers and he also helped make the sound of the sea...AND I MISSED IT!!! He redid the sea sound for me later at home though.

Timothy has introduced the Muppet Movie to Clay. He's been asking us, "Watch Muckets?"

I've almost gotten my garden back into shape. Chena Underhill gave me a few pointers on growing tomatoes and Saturday I put the dahlias back out. The horseradish is way overgrown and needs to be thinned out. Also on Saturday, I discovered what we thought was some kind of nut tree is a cherry tree! I'm gettin' a craving for some cherry crisp!

1 June 2006

2006-06-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

I finally got to go meet with the homeopathic doctor that I'd met last winter. Timothy warned me that if I see anything in her office to indicate she's into the New Age or Bio-energy to turn around and walk right out. I'm so happy to say that I didn't see anything. She's your typical Roman Catholic with pictures of Mary (better known as the goddess Diana) and a saint or two on her walls. While this still isn't good it's what we'd expect from any doctor here and "manageable". She thinks my stomach issues are stress related and gave me three different homeopathic medicines to take three times a day. I'm going to google them today to find out exactly what they are, but all in all I'm very happy. (Do you think Noah Webster ever imagined a verb like ‘google’?) She and I will meet again next week to see if there's been any changes. She also gave me something for Thadeus' teething. It's basically what I gave Clay when he was a baby (chamomile), but that bottle is so old I hate giving to Thad now.

We may have found a house to buy. The couple who started building ran out of money so it's only bare brick walls, cement floors and the roof. We love the floor plan and with a couple more walls it will have enough bedrooms. The issue is price. They want quite a bit for it and we're really going to have to low ball them. Please pray for favor for us. I'm trying not to think about it too much and therefore not get my hopes up. If this is the house God has for us then we'll get in and finish the house for a good price. If not, He'll direct us somewhere else. For any of you who really know me, you know how hard this is for me. I like to think on something and chew it up, spit it out, put it back in my mouth and chew on it some more. I'm really doing much better this time and I hope it stays this way.

Have I told you about Clay's shoes? Clay loves his soccer shoes. He was wearing a pair of Caleb Gilson's old shoes, but they were starting to get tight so we went to the store a couple weeks ago to get new shoes. I'd warned him before hand because he loved that old pair of shoes too. Clay sat in his stroller while I looked for a good pair of shoes. Unfortunately, at his level were the girls' shoes. He chose a pair he liked right away...of girls' shoes. At first I had a little difficulty getting him to look at the boys' shoes I'd chosen. He liked the pair with the pretty pink laces and sparkles on them. That wasn't about to happen. "Clay, these shoes Mommy has are special soccer shoes!" There goes the pretty pair; hello soccer shoes!

I made the mistake of buying two sizes too big. I think it's because of this that Clay insists on wearing his new special soccer shoes on the wrong feet. But, he wears his Bob the Builder house shoes on the wrong feet too, so maybe it's a phase.

All day long Clay is changing shoes, putting one pair on, taking the other somewhere safe. I haven't figured out his system yet, but the guy really loves his shoes. The other evening we got home from somewhere and Timothy took his shoes off in the entryway. Clay did likewise and put his shoes right up next to Daddy's. It was sweet, and you know Timothy loved it.

My Babies are Growing

2006-05-26T14:23:00.000-07:00

We're potty training. It wasn't something I intended to do this summer, but from what I've been reading it is time. The biggest clue I read about was when the word "No!" was used frequently, or all the time, by the child. Yep, that is Clay's favorite word it seems. I'm not totally sure he understands the concept, but he does hate it when he has an accident so we're building on that.

I've caught him a couple times with wet pants on today trying to push a bench up to the toilet. Maybe he is getting it.

Last night at bedtime he was protesting, but mixing his Slovene and English. He usually says, "No bed." Last night he was saying, "konets (end, stop, finish) bed".

Thadeus is working on more teeth so the bibs are back out. He drools so much when he's teething! He also seems to have a great disinterest in nursing this week. I'm steaming some carrots and apples for him while I type. I did that once before and he seemed to really enjoy them. I think he wants to be involved more and more in whatever Clay is doing. So unless he's so tired he's about to fall asleep or we're alone in a dark and quiet room he just isn't interested.

He's more interested in other people in general. He's figuring out that Daddy is a lot of fun because when Daddy is holding him he gets thrown up in the air. He's got it figured out that Ivana will cater to his every need and therefore enjoys her company too. Mommy is no longer his one and only resource for joy. ...I'm taking it in stride:(

"What's up, Doc?"

2006-05-16T23:40:00.000-07:00

I had a checkup with my doctor. She wants me to go get my blood sugar tested b/c Thadeus was such a big baby. I don't want to go, but I might anyway. I've never had my sugar tested and maybe it wouldn't hurt? I'm sure they won't find anything out of the ordinary.

I hate going so long with no post. I think of things daily to write about, but it's a matter of finding the time to actually sit down and type. Ivana's school schedule has let up quite a bit. She won't be able to take the week-long 'matura' this month as planned, but she will still finish her GED in time to start university this fall. The matura is a week of exams that are needed before "graduating". I guess it would be like our SAT or ACT.

Clay has learned to shrug his shoulders and say, "I don't know." when asked a question. Thadeus is trying to wave. The farmer's horse has had a colt. My spinach, lettuce, carrots and onions are coming up nicely. I tried to plant grass where I cut the trees up, but I'm starting to have my doubts about that.

We finally had the dreaded meeting with our landlord last night. It went remarkably well. I feel like we can walk away from the table without having that pretend niceness with her. She said that she realizes that the contracts have been signed, this is the way it is and she's not going to push us out the door. We are still trying to look for something to purchase and Timothy went to the bank this week to see what will be required of us. The hardest part will be that we'll need 30% of whatever the cost is for a down payment. With housing prices what they are in Ljubljana that's no small potatoes. Anyway, it feels like the pressure is off for us to get out in a hurry and we can take our time to find the right house for us in the right location.

Sunday we went to look at the space our church plans on buying. It's only a couple miles from where our QSI school is going to move to, which is only a few miles more from where Timothy's office is. Everyone is so excited about this church move. Our friend Romana, who is disabled due to severe arthritis, was so funny. Timothy said something about having an elevator since the property we're going to buy is not on the ground floor. She said to him, "No, we'll have a healing service outside and people can walk up on their own."

The place we're meeting in now is a dance school during the week and there's a disco ball hanging from the middle of the room. I told Romana that we're going to buy a disco ball and hang it from the middle of the new sanctuary for the first service in the new place. She told me to leave Egypt behind! What a quick wit! She's a great person.

A House of Righteousness

2006-05-08T06:16:00.000-07:00

Timothy went to Zagreb, Croatia with Steve Telzerow after church yesterday. Steve was going down to visit one of the churches and Timothy offered to go along for the ride. I think I woke up around 11:30 last night when he got in. I hope he has some good stories to share. We haven't talked yet this morning so I feel like I haven't seen him in days.

Last week Timothy got convicted about all of our pirated movies and music. He asked me for a couple bags and into the trash they all went! Woo Hoo! This is something I've prayed for. I didn't like it, and said so. After I had my say I prayed and then left it up to God to do the rest. I was so proud of him for acting on it completely as soon as he was convicted. He told Ivana if she had anything in this house that was pirated she was to do the same. She made a list first of everything she'll want to buy! I also have a list of movies I would like to purchase.

I hadn't written anything about Ivana lately... At the wedding three weeks ago, the pastors from Nova Gorica and much of that church family came. Ivana's boyfriend, Peter, is living with the pastor since his return from the center in Spain. The pastor and his wife stopped Timothy during the reception to discuss what they've been seeing. I won't go in to all of that, but Ivana and Peter have been told they need to cool their engines. After many discussions Ivana has agreed that she needs to give him a lot of space right now. She's not talking to him on the phone or anything. She says she doesn't understand (which confuses me b/c if you see the whole situation I don't know what there is to not understand) but she also said she's willing to make a step of faith.

We haven't said, "You may not call him, talk to him, see him, etc." We have said that it would be best for him to completely leave him alone, but then we left the door open for her to make her own decisions. We didn't discuss this once and then leave it at that, but we've brought it up several times and talked until we were all on the same page. She's also been talking to Barbara Telzerow which helps her a lot.

Sometimes we worry because if we give the slightest hint of a suggestion Ivana takes it and runs with it. I worry that the center in Spain taught her the wrong kind of submission and that someday it will get her into trouble. So, I'm also trying to teach her to get confirmation for things from two or three "witnesses". Timothy and I are both starting to feel like her level of maturity is growing to where she's becoming a peer and not a daughter. When she came to us she was about 15 and in the past year and a half she's grown about 10 years. Then, so have we!

Brotherly Love

2006-05-05T10:02:00.000-07:00

The boys got their first bath together. They enjoyed it. They always seem to enjoy their together time. One morning Timothy put Clay in Thad's bed. Ooh! The giggles of delight! The bath time fun came to an end when Clay slipped and bumped his elbow. Thad is such a sensitive little thing he cried more than Clay.

Thadeus is not actually crawling, but has developed quite an "army crawl". He's pretty speedy. This new found independence is very much enjoyed and is preferred to being held! "No problem, Kid." The boys played together tonight, Clay trying to explain to Thadeus that they were puppies. I don't think he got it, but he relished the positive attention he received from Clay while he tried to keep up with him around the kitchen.

The boys and I walked to the little grocery store this evening. Well, I walked. Clay rode in the backpack and Thadeus in the small stroller. I think it's about a mile up there and Timothy picked us up on his way home from work. We played on the playground for a couple hours until he came. Clay mastered climbing up the slide the wrong way. Thadeus and I sat in the grass and clapped our hands.

Clay has discovered the wonderful world of sock lint. One morning recently while he was getting dressed he sat down and pulled his toes apart one-by-one and said, "Nope. Nope. Nope." That's if there was no lint. If there was lint he said, "Yep!" and set to getting it out from between those long toes.

This morning I opened their bedroom door to see if Clay was awake yet. Thadeus normally gets up around 6 and then Clay makes an appearance about an hour later. He was lying there with his eyes open, but wouldn't speak to me. Okay, I walked away. A few minutes later he came to his door and was whispering something about it being open. He closed it in my face and we heard him run and get back in bed. Not exactly a morning person I guess.

2006-04-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

Hey look at that! A picture on my post! This is from the wedding Saturday. This is a picture of the groom giving his testimony. This was a very different wedding. The whole point was to put Jesus Christ in people's faces. We enjoyed it.

I first walked into this church over a year and a half ago. From that time I've had ideas of what a beautiful wedding setting it makes. I got to make my ideas a reality! Nana and Matjaz (the bride and groom) didn't see the church until they walked in for the wedding. That was the really cool part for me. I'd told them my ideas, but when they saw it they were wowed. Okay, Nana was more than wowed. It made her break down and cry so it took her a minute to get down the aisle. They told me they were only able to spend $50! I added what I could and the church bought some of the decorations for future use. The most beautiful piece in my opinion was the rug. It belongs to Sally and I have always admired it. It was perfect for this.

Timothy was an awesome help, running errands, climbing ladders, hanging red "stuff" and watching Clay. Ivana was able to see how the fabric should look and helped in that area. I just knew I wanted it up there, I didn't know how to get it there.

Of course, I'll send a few more pictures of the wedding with the next album I send. One funny thing I have to tell though, several of our friends from Austria were there and one of the girls had on a tight, low-cut dress. She stopped to talk to Timothy, but Timothy got away as quick as he could. He told me later he's just going to start telling women, "Look, I'd love to stay here and chat to you, but with a dress like that it gives people the wrong idea."

Thadeus now has two teeth and tried to pull up on something today! Unfortunately, it was the clothes basket so he fell right back down and bumped his head, but it wasn't anything major. He also got his first disciplinary smack today. He was playing with something I didn't want him to have so I pulled him away, took his little hand and gave it a "firm" pat while saying, "No, no." His eyes turned red and watery and his bottom lip came out. The overall expression said, "How could you do this to me?" I turned my back because I had to laugh.

New Accomplishments

2006-04-19T07:52:00.000-07:00

Thadeus has his first tooth! It's been bothering him for some time. Yesterday I could see it right under the skin and about midnight last night he woke up yelling. Uh, hu. I fed him and got him back to sleep and then felt around. Sure enough, there was the edge of it jutting through the gum. He slept the rest of the night...but Clay didn't. I'm not sure why...

Thadeus has also been scooting on his belly. Yesterday I locked the keypad on the telephone and set it a little ways in front of him. He would push with his feet until his bottom was in the air and then maneuver his top half forward until he got it. I need to capture that on video.

On the Clay front... His newest phrases are: "Daddy (or whom ever he's looking for) where are w-you?" He sings this question. Then when he finds who or what he's looking for he says, "Oh! Dare you-war!" We told him Frank and Chena Underhill's daughter Ruth was coming for a visit. I said, can you say "Ruth"? He says, "Jermy an Oof." I told Ruth about that. She said he's about ten years too late. Yesterday Clay was trying to tell me something and calling me 'Honey' instead of 'Mommy'.

Now What?

2006-04-17T06:34:00.000-07:00

My busy spring is drawing to a close this week, but other things are already in the works. I'm almost ready for Nana's wedding Saturday. I made 8 little rose/daisy flower arrangements for the church pews that will also double as throwing bouquets. We have all but one item we need for the decorating...now we just need to get into the church and put it all up!

Shortly after moving into this house the landlords came to us with some sob story about how they were lied to by the realtor and didn't know they had to pay so much in taxes; blah, blah, blah. So, they've been talking about kicking us out almost as soon as we got in. This is highly inconvenient! A couple weeks ago they called and said we can stay if we'll pay 100 more euros/month. No. The price is listed in the four year contract, which they signed. Also, according to the contract, they have no legal grounds to ask us to leave. I wonder if they read the contract.

We'll start looking. These people have done other things that make them appear very dishonest. We don't feel we can trust them, but we are going to refuse to bend over backwards for them. We'll leave when we find the right house for us, not when it's convenient for them. If they want us out sooner they can hire a realtor to help us look!

Last night we had a meeting of the core leaders of the church. Steve has been made an offer to buy a large space for our church. I didn't catch everything, but it sounds like the owner almost cut the price in half when he found out we were evangelicals. He's had other contact with Christians like us and was excited to meet more since he'd lost touch with those people. It's still a lot of money, more than our church makes, which makes the lady who does our finances nervous. But, new salvations are starting to be seen almost every day. Last summer, in June I think, there was a word of knowledge given to Steve at another leaders meeting, that we need to be ready in 18 months.

Slovene's are so funny. We spent hours last night, every one saying the same thing, over and over. Basically there were two simple decisions that needed to be made. 1: Are we interested? 2: What is the next step? It took three hours to answer these two simple questions b/c everyone had a story to tell or an opinion to add to the pot, but mostly stories to tell! Crazy Slovenes! Once these two questions were answered Ram and Timothy kept saying, "Okay, let's pray and go home."

We feel like we're in Vision to Victory all over again. One of the things discussed was sacrificial giving. Timothy mentioned moving into an apartment in town and selling one of our cars. We'll just wait and see where the Lord leads.

Last summer my sister Mary wrote in her blog about having faith for everything. I can't remember off the top of my head the details of what she wrote, but it has certainly stuck with me. Since Thadeus' birth life has seemed out of control. I'm used to being in control. So many things have come up this spring (baby showers, wedding, SaveOne conference, driving, etc.) and I really felt "allowed" to do them. It means I've had to commit each moment to God, step back and watch the magic! There is no way all of this could have been accomplished by me. Things have just fallen into place when and how they should.
Seeing all of this happen through me, but seemingly without me, gives me the confidence to face the next challenge with the landlords and, my next big venture, Slovene lessons!

I Passed!!!

2006-04-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

I had my driving exam today and passed!!! This is a huge amount of stress off of me. In the next couple weeks I should get my Slovene license.

Getting To Know You

2006-04-12T06:07:00.000-07:00

Last night Thadeus wouldn't settle down at bedtime. This is highly unusual for the little guy. He may fuss or complain for a few minutes, but last night it was going on and on. Then Clay was getting annoyed so he started crying too. Finally I went up there, picked Thad up and sat on Clay's bed. Thadeus started sucking on my robe and was out in minutes. This is when I realized that I hadn't given him his blanket. I didn't think he needed it b/c he had a sleeping bag on, but I realized that is how he puts himself to sleep, by sucking on his blanket. Clay had a pacifier, Thadeus has a blanket. Okay.

After Thadeus was sleeping it was easier for Clay to settle down. He's been chanting at bedtime, "No sleep. No sleep." I told him he is not to go to sleep! I also told him he had to stay on his bed and not make any noise, which he agreed to, but on no uncertain terms was he to even close his eyes. The reverse psychology is beginning to work with him.

I have Driving School again this morning. My instructor lives close to us so she'll pick me up and we'll drive back here. I have my exam on Friday morning. Pray for me!

Playmates

2006-04-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

I was getting ready this morning and could hear Clay and Thadeus across the hall in the family room. Clay was saying, "Good job, Baby! Good job, Baby!" I was able to peak in without being noticed. They were sitting facing each other, but a little ways apart, beside each other. Thadeus had a toy and Clay had the piano. Thadeus would reach over and hit Clay on the leg with his toy and Clay would say, "Ouch!" and then hit Thadeus back on his leg. I think Thad thought this was a game. After the second or third time Clay took Thad's toy away from him and turned back to Thadeus with that infamous index finger sticking out, "No, no, Baby!"

They played a little longer and then I heard Clay apologize and peaked back in, in time to see him give Thadeus his toy back. I'm so glad they're starting to interact more.

Several days ago Thad was lying on his stomach and very annoyed that he wasn't being held. Clay got down on his stomach so their noses were almost touching. He tried to rub Thad's head and comfort him, "It's okay, Baby; it's okay."

Speech Therapy

2006-04-04T08:22:00.000-07:00

This morning Clay was getting his morning vitamin. I asked him what color he thought it would be today and he gave his standard reply of "bue". It was red and he repeated "reb" after me. I told him to look at Mommy's mouth and enunciated "red" and especially the 'd'. He said, in Clay-ese, "Mommy, look at Clay's mouth; 'reb'."

Second driving lesson this morning. The instructor talks so much I get very flustered and confused. Here I go!

Mommy-hood

2006-04-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

Thad and I stayed home from church this morning. He's feverish, runny nose, wheezy...you know; typical teething baby stuff. He's a little more playful this morning which is nice. He's here on my lap and trying to help type.

I've been trimming the evergreen trees at the front of our property. It was a small jungle out there when we first moved in, but slowly it's getting under control. I'll finish trimming today and get some grass seed this week to finish off that area. I'd like to get a nice bench to put there. It would be a lovely outside reading area. Maybe I'll take a picture so ya'll can see what I'm talking about.

We went to Jim and Margery Gilson's for dinner yesterday evening. Clay got to wear his new jacket but didn't want to put it on at first b/c he thought it really was Daddy's jacket. I showed him how it wouldn't fit a grown up and so he tried it. He ended up really liking it. He's so particular about clothing and shoes. I put his dress shoes on him to go to church and he had a fit b/c it wasn't his sneakers. He complained that they were uncomfortable, but I'm not sure I believed him. I told Ivana she could change them if he was still complaining later.

Clay went with Ivana to church and then they'll go to a birthday party for one of the little boys. Clay is going to his first birthday party without me! Ivana made sure to tell everyone, even the non-interested parties, she would probably be late getting to the party b/c Peter would be coming to our church this morning so she was going to stay behind to be with him. "Ah, Scarlet! Will you be forever seventeen?" I have days when I'm a complete Troyer and want to shake her and tell her to quit acting like a child (she's 25).

Bad Movies

2006-04-01T07:38:00.000-08:00

We watched Syriana last night. It has been here in the theater for a while now, but last night was the first "date night" we've had in a long time. I guess if you're more knowledgeable about politics and into the history of the 1980's and what all happened (the movie isn't set in the eighties, but there are definite references) it might be a bit more interesting. For us it was a bit depressing.

We stayed up and watched Proof Thursday night. In the words of my favorite comedian, "If you get a chance to do that, pass on that." Why do the stupid movies always win the awards? There was absolutely no point and no closure in that melodramatic, Gwyneth Paltrow-trying-to-pass-for-a-27-year-old movie.

Anyway... We taught Thadeus to lift his hands in the air when we say Praise the Lord. He's been sitting at the table with us for meals and he'll lift his arms and beat the table so I lifted my arms way up high and said, "Praise the Lord!" Timothy and Ivana did it too (it was breakfast and Clay wasn't up yet) and Thad just looked around enjoying the game we were playing.

At lunch he looked at me with an obvious "the wheels are turning in my little brain" look. Then he smiles and lifts his arms up high! Ah! Then we all had to do it and say "Praise the Lord!"

Yesterday we went to visit Lucija and Baby Vita. Thadeus waited until he had Lucija's attention and lifted his hands, BUT he kept his head kind of down and to the side in a very bashful showing off move. It was adorable! Lucija didn't know what he was doing, but my heart was melted.

We went shopping to get Clay a jacket. He has a rain coat, but those stiff coats aren't really good for playing in. We went to H&M (that's for Christina) and looked around and about the time I spotted a rack of emerald green jackets Clay sees them too and says, "Daddy's jacket!" Timothy's jacket is green. I love how he relates everything to his dad, so we got the jacket.

The other day we were working in the flower beds at the front of the house and a red car goes by that is the sedan version of Timothy's red car. Clay went nuts! "Daddy! Daddy's home!" He took off running after the car and when it stopped and an old man got out he wasn't quite sure what to do. He found some rocks to throw so it ended okay.

We've hit a new level of testing with Clay though. It seems like no matter what I say he's determined to do the opposite! I know this is natural and I've really worked at being firm but gracious, but it's driving me nuts.

It's beautiful this morning, but there's a chance it won't stay this way. I want to get into the garden while I can...

I Love Slovenia

2006-03-30T06:44:00.000-08:00

After all my complaining yesterday the weather was beautiful. It was still too cloudy to have a view of the eclipse and we even had a little thunder shower. It was very little though and rained softly for just an hour.

The boys and I went outside for about an hour so that I could work in the garden. Clay played and picked flowers and Thad sat on a blanket in the sun and watched us and played. This was the first time he enjoyed being out of doors. Today is supposed to be nice again and I'm hoping we can repeat the process.

The neighbors are all getting their gardens ready for planting, but I think it seems a little early. There's still frost on the garden this morning and it was supposed to get down to freezing again last night. But, these Slovene's can be more competitive about their gardens than the Amish. They're all trying to outdo each other with flowers and all that. Crazy. The boys didn't want to go to sleep last night. Once I did get them to bed Clay fell out of his bed and woke Thadeus up too. I was here by myself and decided not to fight them. I got them both up and put on Mary Poppins. Thad was sleepy in ten minutes, but Clay and I stayed up for a while and it was almost 10 o'clock when Timothy came in and we all went to bed. I want to get Clay up early this morning, poor guy.

Clay is into spanking right now. We don’t spank him that often; only when he’s outright rebellious which doesn’t happen too often. I’m always so proud to take him out in public b/c people are amazed that I can give him instructions and he follows them. I make sure to tell him later how glad that makes us and what a blessing he is to Mommy and Daddy. The other day he was annoyed about something. I think Ivana had told him he couldn’t have something or wasn’t allowed to do whatever. He pushed me into a corner and I played along b/c I thought it was a new game. Then he sticks his index finger out at me (I have a very bad habit of scolding with my finger) and said I was going to “get pankin’, Mommy.” Uh…no. I explained spankings again and this made him even more upset so he did his drama routine. He threw himself on the floor (melodrama, a lot of melodrama) and then complained of a hurt knee in need of prayer. The only time we don’t pray for the ouchies, even the made up ones, is when the ouchy is a result of a spanking. Those are supposed to hurt.

Thad woke up wheezing and coughing this morning. I'm not sure what to do for him other than let it run its course. You can't really explain to a seven month old how to spit that junk out.

I have an appointment with a driving school instructor this morning and may even have to take a practice drive. I need to get my Slovene license before the end of April. If I don't then I have to go through the whole school. As it is I just need to practice and then take a driving test, get a physical, eye exam and...I think that's it.

Eclipse? What Eclipse?

2006-03-29T08:11:00.000-08:00

The weather in Slovenia stays true to the old sayings. March comes "in like a lion and out like a lamb." The first weekend in March we had a horrific snow storm that started with rain and became slushy, yucky snow in a very short time and left us stranded at Ram and Sally's over night. This week, and most of last week, has been mild and cool with just enough sun to melt all the snow.

The landlords came and trimmed the fruit trees and the neighbor kids helped me pile the cuttings on the garden for a fire. I rewarded them with hot cocoa.

"April showers bring May flowers." That's the way it's been our first two April's here and that's the way I'm expecting this April to go too. I've made up my mind that it will be cloudy and rainy for the next three or four weeks, but then what a glorious time we'll have this summer.

I have put my requests in to the Weather Keeper that it is beautiful, sunny and warm for Nana's wedding on 22 April, that the weather clear up some for all of the visitors that will be coming this spring, and that all the wood we've gathered will be dry enough for a 1 May bon fire. This is one of the biggest holidays in Slovenia. I'm still not sure what it's all about, but it has something to do with lighting bon fires to warn of Turkish invaders. I'm excited and I have my marshmallows ready!

However, due to this cloudy weather we have in the spring it is unlikely that I'll get to glimpse the partial eclipse that should be overhead. I got all excited when I checked the news this morning. Then I looked out the window and came back to reality.

Speaking of being a little in the clouds...Ivana has a boyfriend. She's a bit flighty at times anyway and to add romance to the mix is a bit...amusing... I need to have a talk with her this morning and remind her that her chores still have to be done and that she could probably multi-task by talking and working at the same time. We've given some guidelines and Barbara Telzerow gave her the same ones of not being anywhere alone. That's basically it. They're not to see each other privately, which shouldn't be too difficult b/c he lives 60 or so miles away.

His name is Peter and he's from the same area Ivana is from. He also had a drug problem and went to the same organization in Spain that Ivana went to. He was here in Ljubljana for a visit last summer where he and Ivana met officially for the first time and really hit it off. He's written to her, but we've told her she doesn't really have time to write letters. Now he's back in Slovenia and waiting patiently to begin a relationship. Besides phone calls they really can't do much. Ivana is so busy with her final year of secondary school and then she has a major exam in order to go to university coming up in May or June. Once that is over with then they can have a little more freedom to pursue something.

Peter is living with the Pastor in Nova Gorica and his family. We were very pleased with his decision since the center in Spain is a bit unrealistic. Peter was told upon leaving that he's out of the will of God and actually committing a sin by going. Please! At what point did Jesus live in a center! He's started the search for a job already, which was one of the big things we were going to look at. Timothy and I are praying for wisdom. We have a daughter of marrying age and we only want the best for her. Wow. I never knew how much I put my parents through just by coming of age. Thanks for your patience, Dad.

I should also say we had our first SaveOne class Monday night. It went very well and I could say that one of the ladies is even excited! I can’t give too much detail about the class for the sake of privacy. We have a predicament concerning the boys though. We need a babysitter that they feel comfortable with. Ram and Sally have tried twice now, but it hasn’t gone well. Please pray with us for a solution that the right person and situation will present itself.

Clay...Again

2006-03-23T08:41:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's bath time again...and I did have something to write on Clay, but now I can't remember what it is. Oh well, he's at that age when he learns something funny and new every day so I'm sure there will be more. Clay did take another bath last week, but Ivana had to do the work b/c Timothy and I were taking care of visa problems.

Thad's little personality stays sweet. He's sitting up on his own now and will probably be crawling soon. He gets around to where he wants to go while he's on his belly, but needs to learn that hand, knee coordination. He's smart though. We've been working with using the bottle more and he takes it, as long as I'm not around.

Thadeus has also been teething so we've constantly been wiping his nose, which is now chapped, and trying to consol his grumpiness. This morning there have been a lot less drips and much more smiling.

Nana is coming at some point today to try on my wedding dress and take it with her. She's really been having a rough time lately. Not just the wedding stress, but everyone preaching to her about everything. The other evening an Eastern couple were telling her she doesn't need all the frills to have a wedding. Bless her, that's a cultural thing and I think she should have what she wants, as long as they can afford it. My wedding was my version of other people's ideas and I still have unhappy moments about it. Hopefully we can create a beautiful wedding for Nana with only pennies.

The past two mornings have been beautiful and most of the snow is off of our yard. In the next couple weeks I’ll need to start getting the garden ready to plant. I think fruit trees are supposed to be trimmed in the spring too, but I’m not too knowledgeable about these things yet.

Happy Days Are Here Again

2006-03-13T09:37:00.000-08:00

The first ResitiEno conference went very well this weekend. We had between 25 and 30 people Saturday evening and a full house on Sunday morning. The response has been awesome! Tomorrow we'll have at least three come for a training session at our house and in the next month we hope to start the first class. Timothy has been asked to come speak at another church and it feels like this has been taken out of our hands and...let loose!

Sheila and Natalie (Glafka) went to Venice today and then will stop and do a quick training with Magdalena tonight. Magdalena will be running into this issue quite a bit with Teen Challenge.

I haven't been blogging b/c Clay hasn't been bathing. He's grown a dislike for it again so we've started over again. Tonight I ran the water and he threw his toys in. Then when I asked him if he’s ready to get in he said, "Baby's turn!" He's afraid of the water being too hot, but after much convincing he got in this evening and is even enjoying himself. Now we need to bathe him again in the next couple days.

Okay, I have to go; he's done...

Drustvo ResitiEno Mednarodno

2006-02-24T06:54:00.000-08:00

The conference we're hosting for the time that Sheila will be here is coming together nicely along with the finishing touches on the book. Last night we met with our "middle man/graphics guy" at Studio Oko and once we get a couple items to him and he registers the book for us it will go off to the printer, probably on Monday. We're only ordering 100 books to begin with. Five of those have to go to the national library, we'll give one to Sheila for the SaveOne headquarters and hopefully we'll be selling the rest at the conference with just enough to spare to have our first class.

We've sent word out all over Slovenia about the conference and given Ivana the task of calling pastors and making sure they're announcing this in their church and making use of the flyers we've mailed. I'm going to talk about the ministry at a lady's bible study next Monday. Since the women are Christians I haven't had any "nudging" to share for the whole time, just present the ministry and ask for help.

Sheila sent out her regular newsletter from SaveOne and it gave a little more information about what she'll be doing in The Netherlands and Germany. The Netherlands is actually considering changing some of their abortion laws! Once she gets here she mentioned that she may be asking us to oversee new chapters in Germany at least. "European Directors." I have to laugh.

I used to feel guilty after Timothy and I went through the class. We were seldom in a position to support the ministry financially and whenever there were things to do I didn't have the time. I think I went to Sheila's to stuff envelopes one Saturday morning. And now, we're making up for our inactivity.

Sentence Building

2006-02-22T15:56:00.000-08:00

It's a cold, rainy day here. Fortunately for me I've gotten my work done and have had extra time to read, which is my favorite thing to do on a cold, rainy day.

Clay and I were upstairs in the family room, he was playing with his puzzles and I was reading my book. All of a sudden he yells, "Uh oh!" I looked up and he was looking out the sky light. I mentioned that it was rain that he was hearing. "Yeah, it's raining outside and the puppies are eating." His words weren't that clear, but that's what he wanted to say. I assumed he was going to say the puppies were cold or wet, but no, they are eating.

More on Clay

2006-02-18T11:21:00.000-08:00

Clay has developed into a farmer. Every time he looks out the window or a door gets opened he comments, "It’s cold art dur," or "there's no (snow) art dur." Timothy just came up behind me and read this out loud. Clay is in the bathtub and could hear him so he's saying it now. I need to record it b/c the accent is funny.

Poor Thad had such a stuffy nose this morning that he couldn't eat! I tried to suction stuff out which really made him scream. I got a lot of stuff out, but it didn't seem to help him. Finally he got so tired he laid down for a nap and slept for about an hour...with Vicks in his nose and eucalyptus oil on the radiator. This seemed to help and he was able to eat a full meal.

Their glands are still swollen, but the pediatrician didn't seem to be worried about it. I've made an appointment Wednesday morning with a homeopathic doctor that I'd met several months ago. She is a medical doctor, but was trained in Switzerland to look at things from a better point of view. I'm very excited about going to her. She thinks I'm a good mother for not vaccinating my children unlike the pediatrician we were seeing. She thinks I'm a bad mother.

Train up a Child...

2006-02-17T22:01:00.000-08:00

The other day I almost missed a step as I was going up the stairs. Clay came to see what the commotion was and I told him I almost slipped and hurt my foot. He rattled something off about Mommy, huit and puet. Then he said, "Cay pway." So he laid his hands on my puet and prayed a pretty lengthy prayer that it wouldn't huit anymore. It worked!

11 February 2006

2006-02-11T06:32:00.000-08:00

6:30 a.m. Thad and I are sitting here and he's telling me, "da-da-da-da!" He's a very informed individual. I tried to take some video on the webcam so we could email it, but the camera isn't working. I hope it's something Timothy can figure out or just the lens needing to be cleaned and not a need for a new camera.

Thadeus is like Timothy and Clay is like me. As a baby Clay lived for routine. We did the same thing every day and his little body liked it. Thadeus seems to live to ruin my routine. I think I have a schedule figured out for him, but it calls for times of intense crying and making sure he's good and tired. Thad is sleeping for nine hours at night and at least three in the afternoon so it's worth the fuss.

There are things we need to get on video that Thad does. One is his "da-da-da-da" talk. Another is his laugh. When he laughs really hard he starts screaming. It's not a high-pitched annoying scream. It's a deep throat growling scream.

We've purchased our tickets for this summer. Tim and Karen are coming here on 24 June and we'll all leave together on 2 July. We'll be in Minot the first week and then in Michigan for a week. Another short trip. Hopefully it won't be as busy as the last one was.

I need to go make a couple more things for the baby shower tomorrow and get ready to go to Steve's. We're meeting with Steve and Barbara today about hosting a conference while Sheila Harper is here.

Oh! Some more good news. The Baptist church published a little book called Meetings with God. It has testimonies of people from all over Slovenia. I had to go ask my neighbor friend about parking cars by their barns for the baby shower so I took her a copy of this book. This is the lady who’s 10 month old died suddenly in her sleep last October. She said she's very happy, but she still has hard days. She really appreciated it and thanked me. Then she said they're expecting another baby in July!

O Happy Day!

2006-02-05T19:38:00.000-08:00

I found out Wednesday evening that I have a new niece. Adia "Faith" Bowen, the smartest little girl ever, was born to my sister Becky. She can't wait to meet me. From what I understand her older brother and sisters are gaga for her and Landis was good enough to offer tips to help Becky while she was in labor. He's pretty educated for five years.

We were down at the coast yesterday; almost all night too. Some friends of ours, Damjan and Tatjana, got married and it was a traditional wedding, for the most part. We had a beautiful day for it, but very windy. Driving home last night...this morning, there were advisories b/c the wind was over 100 kilometers/hour. First, there was the legal/civil wedding, which took about 10 minutes, and then the Christian wedding. After that everyone went to a hotel for a six course dinner and salsa dancing. I got some great video of Clay trying to salsa. It’s normal for weddings to last all night here, but down in Serbia they last three days! The hotel was nice enough to let us use a room for the evening where I could go and feed Thad and change diapers in privacy. We didn’t have church this morning so we got to sleep in a little. Everyone got naps today except me. Pity me, please. I'll send pictures of the wedding in one of my photo albums very soon.

Another couple was there from our church that we hadn't seen in months. They've been trying to get pregnant for the past year. Recently we heard that she's had extreme morning sickness and she hasn't gone anywhere and even wanted to talk to people she's been feeling so horrible. She's three months pregnant and showed me the first ultra sound picture from Friday. Congratulations, Delores and Bostjan!

What's Been Going On

2006-01-31T10:45:00.000-08:00

Our dear friend Nana is getting married this April. I'm happy for her and concerned at the same time. She and I have a lot of similarities. We were at the Baptist church this past Sunday and I asked if she'd thought about that church as a place to have her wedding since we don't have our own building yet. She said no and I told her some of the ideas I'd had for decorating it and she liked it. The pastor was right there and he said they would be welcome to have their wedding at the church for no cost! Nana and her fiance, Matjaz, are coming over Thursday evening for supper so that Timothy and I can voice our concerns, offer our support and I can show them the design scheme I've drawn up. I hope we say everything in a way that shows them we care and they won't feel threatened by anything we share.

This coming Saturday our friend Tatiana is also getting married down on the coast. They've informed everyone that they're not waiting to have kids. Tatiana is only a year or two older than I am, but I guess she's figured she's waited long enough already. Dameon, the groom is in his mid-thirties.

Our friends David and Lucia are about to have their first baby in the next month or two and we'll be having a baby shower for them here next Sunday. I think we've invited the whole church! I'm going to ask the farmer if we can park cars down by their barns and then give them an apple pie as a thank you.

Clay is in the bathtub singing a new song. He's always making up songs. I can't wait until we can understand what he's saying! A lot of times I'll just catch the last word so I sometimes have an idea what he's singing about. I'm finding that the best time for me to blog is while he's in the tub. The office is right by the bathroom so I can do this without feeling like he's unsafe or something. I can hear every move he makes.

Thadeus is sitting here in his car seat making it rock as hard as he can. He really likes the letter D and is starting to use it a lot more. I'm trying to get it on video, but he's not a performer yet. He's getting hungry and is starting to ask me to hurry up and finish so he can eat.

The boys are in the same room again. Clay really seems to like it and will wake up acting as if it's a comfort to have another person there. He's very careful to be quiet if he goes in and Thad is already asleep. We keep telling Clay how proud we are of him and that makes his little chest puff out.

Clay is also doing really well on the potty. Unfortunately, he's learned that all he has to do is say the word and we jump. Last night I figured out he's using this to get out of meals he doesn't want to eat. Didn't work, supper got longer last night.

He's also started stalling at bedtime. When we tell him it's time to pray he asks for juice or the potty or anything else he can think of.

Timothy is pretty well caught up with his work, but now it's audit time and that keeps everyone busy and even a little stressed. He's been handling it well though and every spare moment has been down in the basement lifting weights to help himself physically.

I have so much work to do outside. I want to get as much snow and ice off the drive way before the baby shower and my bird feeders are empty. I think the birds have been cleaning them out the same day I put the seed out. We have had a lot of snow this year and there's still several inches out there. I guess they're hungry.

Sheila Harper, president of SaveOne, emailed us yesterday and said she's been invited to Germany and The Netherlands in March and would we like company as well. Sure!

Brownie Request

2006-01-26T09:04:00.000-08:00

Does anyone have a good, simple fudgy brownie recipe? I like the gooey kind of brownies. Thad is 5 months old today! Woo Hoo!

Clay's Funnies

2006-01-23T06:05:00.000-08:00

Clay's speech improves all the time and now things are getting said by him that are worthy of writing down and saving.

After eating lunch the other day he jumped off his chair and started heading out the door, but turned around with a wily smile and announced, "Uh oh. Poopy!"

I was bringing Clay his bedtime bowl of yogurt to the family room where all the guys were playing Friday night. As I'm coming up the stairs I can hear Timothy count off a number and then Clay repeat the number. They were down on the floor doing sit-ups.
Timothy: "Eight."
Clay: "Eight."
Timothy: "Nine."
Mommy walks in with bowl of yogurt.
Clay: "Eat."
Timothy: "Ten."
Clay: "Eat."
He kept doing the sit-ups though.

Every morning we read a chapter in Proverbs. Saturday morning, just as I've read one of those about quarrlsome wives Clay follows it by giving me a serious look and saying "Yeah."

Feeling Good Again

2006-01-19T08:33:00.000-08:00

It's taken two nights in a row of being in bed before 9:00, but I finally woke up rested this morning for the first time in weeks. It's a wonderful feeling to actually want to get up and start a new day. It's almost 9:00 and Clay is still in bed. hmmm He must be needing the extra sleep too.

My head is still fighting off cold germs. My brain and hands are helping in the fight by giving my head lots of vitamin C and water. "By His stripes I'm healed. By His stripes I'm healed." Mom used to say that's the best medicine. Timothy is doing a lot better as well. He came home early yesterday to rest because he ran out of work at the office. This morning he also woke up feeling great.

My doll baby, Thadeus, has been in my lap all morning while I've been on the computer. He's such a sweetie! I don't know how much he sleeps at night, but he doesn't usually complain when he wakes up in the mornings. Last night he went to bed a little after 8 and I didn't go upstairs to get him until 6:30 this morning. He was just laying there, wide eyed and smiley. He's learned how to fake his coughing already. We'll sit there and cough back and forth until he gets too excited and then can't remember how to do it, so he just lets out this strange half growl, half laugh sound.

Ivana spends all her time in her room studying. She's getting social support from the government so now she feels like she can afford extra things. "No, sorry. We're still in control of your budget." She has university to save for so all that money has to go in the bank. I remember having moments like that. She'll thank us when she graduates from university debt free.

Life in Jama

2006-01-18T13:49:00.000-08:00

There were a couple nights last week that Clay kept us up by crying all night. We believe it has something to do with us all sleeping in the same room at my sister Becky's. For all his shyness, he's a very relational person. After two sleepless nights he got his fair warning that if he kept us up crying he would be spanked. An hour or two later when I went to bed I could hear a very faint voice, "Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy?" We hadn't said anything about just asking, did we?

We did go to the pool yesterday after running errands. They have a children's pool that is enormous; almost the size of my house! Both the boys had a blast. There was a little girl there who could swim under water. Clay was fascinated. Thadeus jumped and squirmed and threw his head under water. We need to find a better time to go though. I would rather be there in the afternoon, after nap time, so that they sleep good at night, but I don't have a car most afternoons.

Now my body is trying to get sick. It's not allowed.

In A Nutshell

2006-01-17T07:45:00.000-08:00

I don't really have time to write, but I thought maybe the general population should know that we haven't fallen off the face of the earth.

Timothy's had tonsillitis and is just going back to work today. Clay and I have had an awful time getting over jet-lag. Timothy blames it on our lack of exercise. Found an indoor pool not too far away for pretty decent prices. Will check it out today. This morning we're going to the office where I need to start the process of getting my drivers license. Still working on the church website, but need a better graphics program. Planning a baby shower for my friend Lucija.

There, consider yourselves caught up.

Now There's Blog-Tag

2006-01-13T20:57:00.000-08:00

In a pathetic attempt to get me to blog again my sister has tagged me. This is similar to those questionnaire emails that people send out, except it's amongst bloggers. Well, I'm just pathetic enough to play along, the only problem is, I know very few bloggers to tag when I'm done.

Four Places of Occupation:
1. Cleaning house for Ramona King.
2. Walmart (Store #1771 Sturgis, Michigan)
3. The Vantage Group. Not a particularly exciting seat as office manager of a small company. I hardly remember what they did anymore.
4. Cleeton Davis Court Reporters. This was the best job ever. No vending machines. Just free sodas and candy.

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over:
1. The five hour version of Pride and Prejudice and any of the other Jane Austin movies for that matter.
2. Ever After
3. Pirates of the Caribbean
4. Tommy Boy

Four Places I Have Lived:
1. Burr Oak, Michigan
2. Duns, Scotland
3. Nashville, Tennessee
4. Ljubljana, Slovenia

Four TV Shows I Love to Watch:
1. Any home and garden type show.
2. We liked CSI before it got nasty.
3. Cops (redneck!)
4. What Not To Wear - I know! The guy on the show is a little wierd, but I still enjoy the show.

Four of My Favorite Foods:
1. Horse Burgers - ya gotta try 'em!
2. Pasta with tortuffi (it's a mushroom)
3. Ice cream
4. Almost anything chocolate

Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:
1. Asleep
2. Napping
3. Snoozing
4. All of the above

Four Bloggers I Am Tagging:
1. Jackie Chapman
2. Tisra Fadely
Those are the only bloggers who I know read my blog...

Getting Ready to Leave

2005-12-20T08:47:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun having my cousins here. Things that were said or facial expressions would bring random memories to the surface. For (literally) a fraction of a second I thought I should call my mom and tell her what we were doing. That's happened before when I was pregnant with Clay.

Danny, Keith, Emily and Monica (Keith and Monica are not cousins, but were along for the ride) got here Wednesday evening driving in from Vienna without directions! Through a process of asking all the right questions to the right people they got directions to our landlord's house and they brought them here.

They left yesterday morning and I was so sad to see them pull out of the driveway. The Schwartz cousins have always been close so whenever we get to see each other it's a big deal.

Now I need to catch laundry up, make some notes for Ivana for the time we're gone, finish wrapping presents and pack. We'll be gone two and a half weeks and I don't know if I'll blog again before we get back. I should try I guess, so that we have a "journal" of our trip.

Potty Training?

2005-12-13T07:56:00.000-08:00

We were in Graz, Austria for another Bible school weekend. This time the subject was healing and deliverance; very good teaching. I was with Clay most of the time so will have to catch the parts I missed when we get the MP3's.

On Friday evening Clay assumed the position and started to grunt. I didn't know if I'd have enough diapers and I had just changed him so I told him to wait and rushed him to the bathroom. I got him undressed, stood behind him and straddled the toilet so he wouldn't feel insecure about the large hole beneath him. He went in the potty (saving me a diaper!) and was very happy to wash his hands with soap and make bubbles. When we got home Sunday night I reminded him that he had gone poopy in the potty and told him that he could have some stickers to put on his chart. I had gotten a free toilet training kit from Charmin a long time ago. He liked putting the stickers on.

Yesterday morning he once again assumed the position and grunted. I asked him this time if he wanted to go in the potty and he said, with a very red face, "Hu-uh." I told him I'd like him to try and I stood behind him again. He did it and got more stickers for his chart. This time it dawned on him why he was getting the stickers.

Last night, once again... This time I asked him if he had to go poopy. "Poopy." "Do you want to go in the potty?" "I go potty." This time I didn't have his special seat so he watched things fall in amazement and laughed at it all. Afterwards he got a cookie and marched upstairs as if was hot stuff. He held his cookie proudly with one hand and pretended to be nonchalant while he put the stickers on with the other hand. Stickers are his thing!

I decided not to push him yet. I think he's still a little young to be potty training, but if he's willing we're going to do what we can.

My cousins, Danny and Emily, come tomorrow with a couple other young people from their church. They've been in Moldova on a missions trip and decided it made sense to visit here for a few days. I'm excited.

Peace & Quiet

2005-12-07T12:41:00.000-08:00

All of a sudden our house is quiet. Matjaz, Magdalena and their two girls were here since Sunday afternoon. It's now Wednesday morning. They left about two hours ago. The girls and Clay have had a blast and an injury or two. Zarja is so in love with Thadeus.

Yesterday morning Naza was decided to throw some blocks and unfortunately Clay's head stopped it's flight plan. The corner of the blocks got him right behind the ear and left a good mark. After Clay was calmed down we saw him pick the blocks up and start walking towards Naza. I yelled at him to stop just before he raised him arm. He looked at me and looked at her and said something and pointed to his head and told her "ouchy!" He left the girls and walked across the room to his stuffed lion. He lectured the lion for a moment then applied the blocks to the lions head and threw them both. Then he repeated, "Ouchy!"

This is when it dawned on me what he was trying to communicate. It wasn't his intention to take revenge on Naza. He just wanted her to understand that what she did hurt him. When Clay bites or hits us in the face we'll do it back and explain that it doesn't feel good. This is what he wanted to do.

This morning Matjaz came into the kitchen and said that they would be heading home after breakfast. He was joking at how relieved I would be and then commented from the guest's point of view life just goes on and it's no big deal. I was thinking about this later and that for the host life sort of comes to a stand still when there's company in the house. These stand stills have always annoyed me, but maybe they're a good thing. Perhaps we need these interruptions to make us stop and look at priorities and what's really important to us. That's my one serious, deep thought for the day. I can go to bed now.

Imagination

2005-12-04T07:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning Clay decided to dust. He got out his bath slippers, put them on his hands, and was wiping down doors and furniture. What a great helper!

It was a little after that I could hear him saying, "I'm Daddy. I'm Daddy." He came around the corner with one of Timothy's neck ties that had been left out. He had it draped around his neck and kept repeating, "I'm Daddy."

"Oh, hi Daddy. Are you going to work now?"
"Bye!" and he waved and left the kitchen.

Thanksgiving Weekend

2005-11-27T07:28:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner at Ram and Sally's apartment Thursday evening. There were about 35 people altogether and Sally says she now knows she has room for 50. Frank Underhill spoke briefly about the history of Thanksgiving day and how it became a national holiday during a very dark time in American history. He also drew from a verse in Philippians and presented the Gospel in one simple sentence. There were a handful on people who are not saved yet. It was very good.

Friday night it started to snow and it didn't stop all day Saturday, but did turn to rain during the night. We've had over a foot of snow and this weather isn't supposed to stop for another day or two. There isn't church this morning due to the weather, power outages, etc. Our power was out for about an hour last night. The convenient thing is I was able to set my groceries in boxes on the patio and didn't have to worry about anything getting too warm. The inconvenient thing is that if the power is off for too long we don't have heat in the house and are without a fire place.

Timothy and Ivana shoveled and cleaned cars and fruit trees yesterday. Clay found a little short handled scoop and helped clear the snow on the drive way. I made a snowman and tried to solicit his help, but b/c he couldn't get a sure footing he was having a miserable time. When Timothy started a snowball fight his mood picked up quite a bit. That was fun to throw snow at each other!

He also discovered that the dog across the street from us can catch snowballs with her mouth and will eat them. He stood there for the longest time throwing chunks of snow to her and laughing hysterically.

My neighbor Mateja was out shoveling. Her husband is still sick and the milk truck was expected early this morning. She also wanted to go to Baby Eva's grave because yesterday would have been her first birthday. I wanted to offer to go with her, but I chickened out. I did invite her and her husband to our couple's dinner next Friday night. I hope he's better and that they decide to come.

We had broccoli soup for supper last night. Thad was sitting on Timothy's lap and Timothy told Clay that Thadeus can't have any soup. "Oh no." That reply surprised us a little. There was no emotion with it, just a polite comment.

We slept really well last night and are just getting up and around. I woke Thad up this morning at 6 to feed him and change his diaper. He didn't want to go back to sleep right away. We just sat there in the dim morning light talking and smiling at each other. He is so sweet! He's like syrup.

Thankfulness

2005-11-23T07:36:00.000-08:00

I chipped one of my new plates last night putting it into the dishwasher. Normally, something like that would really upset me. I'm anal. I know it. But this Thanksgiving I'm finding so much to be thankful for.

My teeth weren't as bad as I thought they'd be. The tooth on the left that I thought had died was just an old amalgam filling. She drilled it out and put new fillings in that one and another. I have to get X-rays of the other one that looks and acts dead and then go back on 1 December.

Clay didn't appreciate having the door shut on him when I went in. He didn't complain, he just kept asking where I was. Since there were no other patients they left the door open and gave him a mask to wear. He was fascinated by it all and kept studying the book about kids going to the dentist. He didn't want to leave when we were finished! That's a good start. I really liked the dentist and thought she did a very good job.

Our friends, Matjaz and Magdalena, from the coast who have started a Teen Challenge Coffee House, were in Italy to attend some TC meetings. They had borrowed our friend Tatjana's car to go there. Driving in Italy is crazy. It's like the bad drivers in Nashville and the fast drivers in Atlanta have teamed up. They were in a pretty bad accident and both had to go to the hospital. Matjaz was released, but Magdalena has three broken ribs and had to stay a few days. They didn't have their daughters with them, they were with his mother and I believe are still there. It could have been so much worse and we're so grateful that it's nothing more than three ribs and a totaled car.

I was talking with our neighbor, Mateja, yesterday morning. The last few times I've seen her she's seemed so sad. Yesterday, before going over there I had determined I was going to tell her about Hope in Jesus. Mateja and her husband farm and have three children, Natalja, Anze and Eva. She said something about the two older not being the same since someone dying. "I'm sorry, who died?" "Eva." I had no idea! She was only 10 months old and it had happened back on October 12. She asked if I hadn't missed her. I said that I just assumed she was napping or being kept inside from the cold air. Mateja had put her down for a nap and she never woke up. It happened on a Wednesday afternoon so we would have been in town when the ambulance arrived and everything was going on.

An autopsy showed that she had some kind of virus in her heart and it just stopped beating. Mateja told me people have tried to comfort her with words like, "'God needed a little angel', but why mine?" I agreed with her. God isn't selfish and thoughts like that aren't really comforting. I'm assuming they're Catholic; she said she believes in God and Heaven. After a shock like that it wasn't very easy for me to say much of anything else to her.

Now she has to go back to work. Mothers get the first year off work for maternity leave. She hasn't worked since April of '03. I offered help with the kids or anything else they need. People say things like that a lot, but I told her I want her to inconvenience me. She laughed at that and looked a little surprised when I said we would pray for them. Her husband has pneumonia now too so he can't work for a week or so.

Yeah, a chipped plate isn't too much to worry about. I know God loves me and my family is healthy. I'm learning that that's all I need.

Conference Recap

2005-11-22T05:53:00.000-08:00

The women’s' conference went really well on Saturday. The main speaker was good and only spoke in the morning which made it all feel a little less exhausting. This is the fourth year they've done this and everyone was saying how it was the best year ever.

The main speaker is a doctor from Murska Sobota. The subject she spoke on was love. It was encouraging. After her hour segment we had a break and I amazed my friends by drinking coffee instead of tea. Timothy and I are known for disliking coffee. Once I got enough milk and sugar in the cup it was okay! I was having a difficult time staying awake and needed a boost.

After the break my friend Barbara gave her testimony of how her marriage was dissolved and their home was a living hell right before becoming Christians. She ran the house, the daughter was manipulative and no one was happy. She said it was confirmed to her that her house had become a peaceful place when not too long ago an Indian couple (Ram and Sally) came over for lunch and fell asleep on their couch.

There were more testimonies and lots of praise and worship throughout the rest of the day. There is a fairly new missionary couple from California here near to us that I had heard about, but hadn't met yet. She, Michelle, was there and I sat beside her. She also gave her testimony of being healed of cancer in the afternoon. I met a couple other Americans during the day and got to sit with them at lunch, which was nice to know exactly what was being said for a change.

People are always asking me, while they carry on their conversation in Slovene, if I understand. I know some words and by being observant to what is going on around me I can usually figure out what they're talking about. It would be nice though to be able to study Slovene and actually understand.

While Michelle had been speaking a girl walked in dressed all in black and dyed black hair. She had blue streaks in her hair and a spike through her chin. Believe it or not, this didn't catch my eye right away. I just thought the Baptists were broadening their congregation. Later she went up for healing for something and our pastor's wife, Barbara Telzerow, went to her and started to tell her she can be free from her addictions. She said she used to take drugs, but not any more. Uh hu.

My bit came in the afternoon towards the end. The addict was really distracting. This is when I started to notice her. Her eyes were rolling back in her head and she started leaning forward like she was falling asleep. This is actually common here, but I hadn't seen it from this angle before. She was obviously demon possessed and it was very sad. My friend Lucija went to speak with her afterwards, but I haven't heard from Lucija how that went. Lucija is kind of like Pastor Sandy; she'll get ya.

I really felt the Lord impress on me not to take notes with me to the podium. I had known basically what I wanted to say, and I didn't hear the Holy Spirit change any of it, so I'm not sure why that was. I wasn't at all nervous, but all morning I had been wondering how I was going to end my presentation. Conclusions are always the hardest for me. Barbara Telzerow stopped me at the first break and suggested I pray when I'm finished. "Hey, that's a good idea. Thanks!"

Only one Slovene approached me afterward, and she knows me from church, but this doesn't really surprise me. If I had only one word to describe the Slovene's with it would be contrast. They are a warm and loving people, but they love their privacy and don't let you in easily.

However, the Americans and I were having some very exciting conversations after everything was over. One lady and her husband have started a publishing house to get more Christian material translated and printed into Slovene. Another lady is friends with Randy Alcorn. I became familiar with him when I wanted to get off the birth control pill, but had to prove that there was something wrong with it. Lori, the lady who is friends with him, said she would make him aware of what we're doing and see if his ministry will help print our book! AHHHHHHH! Please pray!

Lori and another American at the Baptist church work with university girls and weekly hear sad stories from girls who have had to have abortions. In case you're wondering at my choice of words, that is how society makes unwed mothers feel and there are no adoption agencies in Slovenia. Also, adoption is still a bit of a new concept here.

There were some older saints of God who would come up to me and hug me and say a bunch of stuff. I would just smile and nod: "Resumim malo. Hvala." (I understand little. Thank you.) They just kept on talking.
In other news... We had a snowfall last night, which triggered something within me and I immediately began singing Christmas songs whether I wanted to or not. Also, I have a dentist appointment today. YAY!!!

Prayer Request

2005-11-17T07:41:00.000-08:00

This coming Saturday is a one-day women's conference and I am to present SaveOne publicly for the first time. I have fifteen to twenty minutes to introduce the ministry and our goals for the future. There will probably be 100 ladies at the Baptist church from all over Slovenia. Barbara Telzerow really had to fight to get me that much time. The Baptist minister's wife doesn't see this as being very relevant for ladies in the church and the Baptist church usually hosts these conferences.

Anyway, I'm nervous. I've never done a lot of public speaking. Also, this is it. Once we make this announcement there's no going back. I'm expecting a copy of the SaveOne brochure in Slovene arriving in my inbox any moment. The big prayer request is that we'll be ready. For the time being Ivana's cell phone number will be our contact reference. Slovene's are such a closed people we think it's important to keep everything as private as possible. So many times in the beginning of a ministry there are cracks for people to fall through. We really can't afford to lose a single person who comes to us for help.

Shout Out for Timothy

2005-11-14T06:06:00.000-08:00

Before I sing the praises of my husband, let me just clarify for yesterday's blog, I do not spank Clay every time he says no. I've only spanked on two occasions when it's been out right rebellion. The other times I've talked to him about the use of the word no and then somehow, either physically or with words, gotten him to do the appropriate action or whatever the case was.

Anyway, a couple weeks ago Timothy found that one of the schools he handles accounts for had obtained R rated movies for their library. This particular school does not have a high school by the way. When Timothy called this into question he was told by one of the executives that it was not his job to question school directors buying decisions. Because this was a moral issue Timothy wouldn't let it go and today others on the executive staff have come to his side and the videos in question are being dealt with. Hooray for Timothy! ...troublemaker:)

Oh, And I Forgot to Mention...

2005-11-13T05:45:00.000-08:00

Timothy is writing songs again. He co-wrote one with our friend Nana and has written two more. I wish there was a way you all could hear the last one he wrote, but I don't know how to do that sort of stuff on this contraption.

When our friends were here last Sunday evening we turned on the Cornerstone service to show them the church we went to in Nashville. They were amazed. Matjaz said, "I'm going to preach at that church someday."

Clay has hit the "no" phase. I really can't stand it. I've spanked him several times for it. There's been sometimes that it has been cute, like when he puts his index finger out and shakes it and says, "Hu-uh, no." Of course, I don't allow him to see that I think it's cute. Ivana has tried playing with it. When he tells her no she says yes and then they go back and forth. I asked her to stop. I don't think we should be treating this as a game.

I've asked a couple mothers here what they've done and it's been, "Oh nothing. It's just their first signs of rebellion." Oh, it's just rebellion.

I do want Clay to be independent and confident in everything, but I hate it when he acts like a brat. I don't think it should be tolerated, but on the other hand I'm not getting any good advice so far. Can anyone out there help me? What would Dr. Dobson say?

The Calm After The Storm

2005-11-10T09:57:00.000-08:00

Our company stayed Monday night as well and then, since he's off work all week, they were at Ram and Sally's for our house group. I drove them out to an abandoned castle not too far from here to do a little vision casting. "Would this be big enough for a Teen Challenge center?"

The house is back to normal and quiet again and so I’ve started planning a worship night at our place for church members from this area. One lady was begging that we start a house group as well. I guess we’ll talk to Steve and Barbara about it. In some ways it would be much easier on us as a family b/c we wouldn’t have to go out.

I’m really growing in the area of hospitality. I’ve always been the type of person who likes company here, but has a problem with the mess it puts the house in. That’s wrong. I need to get over it.

After the worship night I’m going to have QSI ladies out for a movie night before Christmas.

Last night we went to the new Subway restaurant for dinner and enjoyed the same sandwiches we would have in the States. They had the cookies too. The best part is that they're open on Sunday's so if we have a busy weekend and want to grab something fast we have a better alternative than McDonalds. I do enjoy the new broccoli cheese nuggets at McD's though.

Thad is laughing and his smiles are coming even more frequent. I knew prayer was powerful, but this exceeds my expectations. I did so much praying over him while he was in the womb. My hormones were more than a little out of control while I was pregnant and I didn't want him to inherit a negative, complaining, insecure spirit. I'd say, so far, he's anything but those things.

Lots and Lots of Company

2005-11-07T07:50:00.000-08:00

I was going to plan a birthday party for Clay and invite his friends from church and Caleb Gilson . This was going to take place yesterday. When I started talking about it Timothy took up the baton and ran, which is a habit I'm starting to get used to, and told everyone from the office that I was going to invite them as well.

Saturday evening we had a chili supper for QSI; 14 adults, 5 children including Caleb and Ivana's mother. It all went over very well. Sunday only one family with four sons could come for lunch. Their oldest son is 15 and Clay thinks the world of him. They took Clay upstairs and played in the family room all afternoon. We would go up there and peek every once in a while to see what was happening. At the end of the afternoon the room was completely picked up. It was amazing.

Our friends from the coast came up later with their two girls and spent the night. Thadeus is being touched and loved very much.

So far, the Saturday party was the only real party. He loved everyone was singing to him and was able to blow out one candle on his own. We've been practicing. Every present needed to be played with immediately and has been thoroughly enjoyed this weekend. Timothy and I forgot about some of the small things we bought for him so he can open them today on his real birthday.

A Post is a Post

2005-11-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

There was something I really wanted to post on my blog, but now I can't remember what it was! Oh well.

The SaveOne book has been translated into Slovene and now we're waiting on money for printing, brochures, a conference in the spring and advertising.

The neighbor lady is walking through our yard. Maybe she's getting mushrooms. She can have them. Now she's talking to another neighbor... This is life in Ljubljana.

I've been furniture shopping. I need a filing cabinet. One small two drawer I looked at was $200, but then I found a nice wood, half bookshelf with one drawer lateral on the bottom for a little over $100. Decent mattresses start at $340 for a king sized bed. Oh wait, that was the cheap one that we wouldn't buy if our lives depended on it. Kids table and chairs were about $100... Are you seeing where we live? There's a big Ikea store in Graz, Austria. I think we'll go look there.

We had the young American missionaries over Monday night for chili soup and fellowship. The girls were teaching Clay "Whas uuup!" Saturday QSI people are coming over and Sunday church people are coming over. My first thought when I know I'm leaving a place (this house possibly) is to start cutting ties, not start making them. Having company and starting anything at this house is the last thing I want to do when we might not be living here very long. I think I need to have as much company as I can though. It's sort of like a stewardship thing for me.

I've written enough for now. Maybe I'll remember what I wanted to write about later.

What Might Have Been

2005-10-28T23:20:00.000-07:00

Side points: 1. I found the Frosty recipe! Haven't tried it yet. 2. We got Thadeus' picture taken for his passport today. He is too adorable!

Getting to the point... I've often wondered what things might have been like if I hadn't been saved at a young age. What if I had some miraculous testimony of how God took me up out of some horrible circumstances? Since moving here and making new friends I've had moments when I've wondered if I love God at all. Pretty much all of them did drugs. Some of them were prostitutes or homosexuals, and to see them now and how much they love the Lord it brings home Luke 7:46. Sometimes I'm down right jealous.

Since Ivana has come into our home I've had to face things about myself that I didn't appreciate having to look at. Does that make sense? That girl can drive me absolutely crazy, but the truth is she's just like me. It really is like having a teenage daughter.

Tonight Timothy and I were sitting in the theater waiting for the movie to start and it dawned on me what my life could have been. Her life up until four years ago was not pretty. I won't go into details since most of my friends who read this don't know her personally, but I'm glad...thankful...ever so grateful that I was born into a Christian home and that I did ask Jesus into my heart when I was six.

Ivana said something today that made the past 13 months worth while. I had responded a little strong (Timothy's words) to a bit of news she had given us about the center where she had gotten help for her drug addiction and met the Lord. I was trying to let her know that I did understand the emotional pull she has for Spain and that center by comparing it to my experience in Scotland and the Bible College. She said something to the effect of that place still being very special to her, but "...I've grown more here in one year than I did in three years there." Ahhh, we're not failing!

Frosty's!

2005-10-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

This morning I got a craving for Wendy's frosty's. I'm going to google a recipe.

Yesterday afternoon I was trying to feed Thad and once again he just looks at me and gives me the biggest, cheesiest grin. I'm sure the size of his mouth could go in the Guiness Book! I can't get mad or discipline him when he does this b/c he's too young. Not too little, too young. So I laughed instead. In a fraction of a second his enormous grin went to an enormous frown. The bottom lip came out and he started to cry. Mommy hurt his feelings. Of course, that made me laugh even more, which made him cry harder...

Zerbits!

2005-10-25T19:36:00.000-07:00

Sitting in church on a Sunday morning my almost-two-year-old climbs into my lap, wraps his little arms around my neck, pulls me close and zerbits my cheek. During the sermon this is quite a funny noise, but it was still hard for me to tell him "Not right now!".

Today was on-again, off-again sunshine. Aiko and her two kids, me and my two kids and Ivana went to a near by park, but the weather decided to get cloudy and windy so we couldn't stay the whole afternoon like we had planned. Shortly before we left I noticed a family walking by that looked so familiar. I wondered if they were some that had visited church recently, but I knew that wasn't right. Then it hit me, she had been one of the two women in my hospital room when Thad was born. She recognized me too and we were able to chat for a short bit. Neat!

I'm a Driver; I Drive!

2005-10-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

I've been practicing driving stick shift. To say the term "stick shift" sounds so redneck, but it's easier than saying "manual transmission". I could give it a cool name and change it to "double S", but that sounds like a code and no one would understand so there's no point in doing that.

I'm starting to get the hang of it, but am seriously wishing that I'd learned when I was younger. I drove to church today without any stalls or nervousness; even with other cars following me. I have plans to drive to the plant nursery tomorrow morning. I'm trying to plan some place to go every day.

The deadline for foreigners to get their Slovene licenses is February. After that I'd have to go to the driving school and all that. As it is now I can practice with an instructor and then take a test and get the license, which is good until I turn 80 or something like that.

This morning our landlords brought a couch over for the family room upstairs. Now we can use it for more than kicking a ball back and forth. We need some more furniture, but I'm reluctant to ask the landlords for it. Long story. It's all small stuff and there are pretty good discount places to shop (or we could go to Austria) so I'll probably get it myself and then we'll have some of our own.

Timothy and I worked out yesterday morning. I'm sore!

It's Been So Long...

2005-10-21T06:34:00.000-07:00

It's 6:30 a.m. and I really don't have time to blog, but I will...

Yesterday I laid a teething Clay down for a nap. He had a temperature all day and wasn't quite himself. When I was walking out of the room we shared the following dialogue.
"In Jesus' name you're going to be 100% better when you wake up! Say 'yes'."
"Yes!"
"Amen!"
"Ahmen!"
Laughing: "I love you."
"Ahmen!"

Thadeus has a big mouth...and uses it; usually to smile:) I'll put more pictures on an album in another week or so. I got some good ones of him smiling and a short video of him talking to the valve on the washing machine. The valve is to him what Owen's shelf used to be to Owen. A first friend. Someone, or something, to talk to when you're getting your diaper changed.

I have clothes lines in my basement and do a load of laundry every night. Just before going to bed I hang the clothes up so they're dry by morning. The dryers here are convection and work pretty slowly and use a lot of energy. I like this system better.

Timothy is very behind, and quite stressed, at work. I think it's going better for him than last year, as far as having done it before and being faster, but it's frustrating to know your work won't be caught up for months. His job is turning into a year round occupation, but in order for that to happen the schools would have to have year round accountants. He does a great job and has become a major asset to the headquarters here.

Gotta go wake Timothy up and get the clothes.

Us and Our Yuckiness

2005-09-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

After my nap yesterday the upset tummy I'd been experiencing all week decided to become unbearable. Three cheers for the stomach flu! I was sick a couple times during the night and have been very weak today, but I think I can handle food again this evening. Ivana got home from cleaning houses and had it too. Timothy had it some on Monday and I already wrote about Clay's episode Monday night. Hopefully it's done now with our house.

Clay has learned how to zerbit. It's probably not a polite habit to teach your child, but I enjoy it very much. He is very neat about it though. He only zerbits his forearm and after each noisy display he wipes off all the spit, usually with Thadeus' burp rag. It's so nice of little brother to share.

Thadeus rolled over from his tummy to his back yesterday. He really doesn't like to be on his belly very much. He worked and worked until he was on his side and then threw his upper body so he would land on his back. He's a little mighty man of valor!

Fat Little Baby

2005-09-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

Thadeus and I took a nap together today. He was lying on his back with his head to the side. There's so much chub in his cheeks it was all falling toward the mattress. He's so cute! He's trying to talk with us making those adorable little sounds babies make. I can't stop kissing him:)

Here We Are Again

2005-09-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

I was determined to blog this morning. Of course, as soon as I get the tedious computer things done, like catching our budget up, the electronic baby-sitter runs out of Sesame Street video and Thadeus wakes up to eat. Someone gave us a Hillsong and Delirious worship video and Clay is watching in rapt attention. I'm typing with one hand. Ivana had to run into town for Steve so she's not here to distract and play with Clay.

We had a time of it last night. A family came to church on Sunday knowing they had stomach flu and last night Clay manifested the same thing. He manifested a lot of it too. There's several loads of laundry to be done this morning. The fun part was him snuggling into a big blanket and letting me rock him. It didn't last long though. He quietly and politely pointed back to his bed. "Are you sure you don't want Mommy to hold you a little longer?" "Hu-uh."

After one hour of sleep we were at it again, but with Thadeus demanding food at the same time. He normally only wakes up once to eat, but it takes so much time b/c he can't keep himself awake and he doesn't eat in his sleep. I think I got three hours of sleep last night! Woo Hoo!

The first question we continue to hear regarding Clay is about jealousy. He has the past couple days wanted whoever is holding Thadeus to hold him also, but he is still very affectionate towards "BAY-bee". (First syllable in a high pitched voice and second lower and more drawn out.) Yesterday he was determined to be the one holding Thad.

Since Thad is such a good baby it's easy to put him down and give Clay the attention he requires, which isn't a lot since we've moved to a bigger house. He's not been as naughty and we don't have to worry about where he goes or what he's getting into. He plays by himself quite a bit upstairs in the family room. We're slowly getting moved into that room and that's where the boys and I have been spending most of our time.

Chena Underhill has been coming over quite a bit. She came Saturday morning because I was by myself and it's pretty difficult for me to wake up in the mornings. When I did wake up I could hear her and Clay playing together and having a swell time. She was Mama for the day. I think she feels the need to take care of me. She lost her mother at the age of 27 and her 6 children are all in the U.S. I've certainly appreciated her help.

What Did I Deliver?

2005-09-07T06:44:00.000-07:00

A little giant, that's what I delivered. I only have a few minutes, so I'm not going to write about how the delivery went and all that at right now. I just wanted to give some update and tell you a little about Thadeus.

We thought Clay was a good baby and for some reason in the back of my mind if the first one is a good one, the second will be a terror. I don't know why I thought that, but nothing could be further from the truth. Thad is one of those who never cries unless he has reason; eats pretty good, but has trouble staying awake. When he is awake though, he's awake. Very alert. He's got an enormous smile that melts me. It looks like his eyes will stay blue and who knows about the hair.

Clay has been very good with him, giving him space, but unable to leave the house or go to bed without kissing "thadee". He's been good all around, not just with Thadeus. He's been out of sorts this week because Timothy went back to work and he's just not quite sure what to do with himself.

I did have to spank once on Monday. He was using the top of Thadeus' head as a leaning post so that he could give me a kiss. I tried to explain to him that he couldn't do that b/c Thad's head has an "ouchie". He got frustrated and punched me in the shoulder. There's a lot he doesn't understand and hitting is his way of venting. Understandable, but not acceptable.

It's time to feed the giant.

Still No Deliveries, III

2005-08-24T03:35:00.000-07:00

Thad has still not made his appearance nor has he made any real attempt to do so. *sigh* Latest news: after a two mile walk last night I experienced two contractions I didn't want to talk through and now, at 3:30 in the morning, I can't keep my right hand awake when I go to bed. I did get the apple pie made though!

Still No Deliveries, II

2005-08-19T23:01:00.000-07:00

Two days away from the due date and counting. Contractions have started pretty early today; I'm not getting my hopes up yet, but I did think about walking up and down our stairs. Three flights of stairs, 30 steps in all...we'll see.

We went on a walking tour of the city last night, but ended up doing more standing and listening than walking. The ice cream at the end of the evening made up for it. Yes, I'm eating ice cream again, but in moderation. I think I've gotten over my addiction for the stuff.

We have apple and pear trees in our yard. We've had apple pudding, apple cake and if I get one more burst of energy before going into labor maybe Ava and I will make an apple pie. I'm not sure what kind of apples they are. They're green, but not Granny Smith or Golden Delicious. I'll have to examine the apples in the grocery store again to see what they are. The pears are just getting ripe so I'm anxious to see how they'll turn out. The neighbor behind us has purple plums behind his house. I never see him out there so I wonder if he'd mind if I took some. Aiko has yellow plums at her house that are delicious. I can't wait till her trees are ready! I've found garlic and field onions in the garden beside a big plant that looks like rhubarb, but it's not rhubarb. There are also Dahlias and Gladiola in there as well. We may plant some "winter vegetables" if someone around here feels up to it.

Full moon tonight!

Still No Deliveries

2005-08-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

Thad still seems to be content where he is. I went with Ava and April for a two mile walk yesterday, but he still wasn't convinced. I am anything but content at the moment. I'm having a lot of trouble with carpal tunnel and have to spend the first half hour of every morning waking up my right hand.

He is dropped and I believe engaged, now we just have to get the real process started. Every evening I'm having harder and harder contractions so every evening we're setting out clothes in case Timothy and I have to hurry to the hospital in the middle of the night. Every morning I get out of bed almost in tears b/c of aches, pains and frustrations.

Clay spent last evening with the Gilson kids. He had gone there with Ivana and April to pick up Timothy, but then he didn't want to leave! That's progress. He's moving out of that "Mommy/Daddy" dependency just in time! He's been doing the same thing at other people's houses also. Timothy let him stay since Ivana had gone there to do yard work for Aiko (who is 4 months pregnant) and Kevin brought the two of them home when she was done. Clay smelled of fish having had a proper Japanese dinner!

Last night I slept on the twin bed that was in Clay's room that's been moved to the family room. The bed in our room is so low to the floor I have to reach out and grab on to the radiator to pull myself out. Today I'm going to have Ivana and April move it, along with the bassinet, to the living room on the main floor. It makes the most sense for me to be in the most central location when I get home from the hospital. The bathtub and other necessities are on this floor as well.

My friend Erin in Walsall, England and I have been in a race to see who would have their baby first. She was due 20 of August and I'm due on the 21. She won. Her new son Judah was born the evening of the 12. I was hoping that I would deliver on the 13 to keep the pattern going. I can't wait for her to tell me what her twin sons have to say about it all! Their logic provides much entertainment.

Ava and I looked around the house yesterday and she commented that no one would guess we just moved in last Thursday! Yesterday I got the office organized so I feel comfortable working in here now. Now I'll enter our bills and receipts and other things that are my responsibility! Yes, I might even blog again! I can't work in a cluttered environment. It drives me crazy. Hopefully I'll have a washing machine by the end of the day. I personally don't have any energy or desire to lift a finger around the house, but I might just try being a little bossy for once and ask everyone else here to do things! Since they're here they might as well do something!

I do feel bad for April. With the baby situation and car situation she's not able to go out and see as many things as we'd hoped. That's another reason I want Thadeus to come now. I don't want her to go home feeling like she'd wasted her time in coming.

First Night in the New House

2005-08-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

We've woke up to our first morning at the new house. We are definitely out in the country! I like it. We converted Clay's bed to the toddler phase before turning in last night. He woke up around 2:30 very upset. After an hour of trying to help him figure this new world out I sat him on the bed, closed his door and turned out the lights. He didn't cry long and he's sleeping in this morning. We have a night light, but it was left at the other house.

Ava and April arrived from North Carolina yesterday afternoon. They were very tired and were so thankful to go to bed last night. They got to sleep on brand new mattresses. The mattresses on our bed, we discovered at bed time, were anything but new. OUCH!

My kitchen is pretty much put together and functioning and by the end of the day I hope to have our bedrooms and bathrooms in the same situation.

Clay has become fascinated with the Veggie Tales theme song. Actually, I'm wondering if it's the constant staccato sounds that the song begins with. He still will not enunciate his words, but sometimes the noises he makes really do sound correct and he is able to follow the rhythm almost perfectly.

Thadeus is still showing no signs of hurry. It would be nice to have things settled here a bit more before he arrives. Timothy has pretty much decided on a second vehicle, but I'll wait to announce that until we're 100%. We've got furniture to buy, curtains and pillows to make, and things to figure out what to do with! It was really nice to unpack pictures and other items I haven't been able to display in years and not be sure which room to put them in. I have options!

8 August 2005

2005-08-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

We're on baby watch! Last night Thad dropped about as low as he can go without starting labor. Now it's just a matter of getting him to come out and see us! I was really hoping it would happen while Karen was here, but he's only got a few hours left. She leaves Tuesday morning.

We went and visited the hospital and met the head midwife, Anita, this morning. It was wonderful! It's all very hands off and Anita was great. She's got a very athletic build, but was friendly and tender; kinda touchy. I liked her immediately and all my questions have been answered. She gave me her phone number so that if we should have any more questions she can answer them. She made it sound like I would be in charge of the process, not the other way around like in the U.S. Oh! She said there are no laws in Slovenia to keep me in the hospital any length of time. I could even leave 3 hours after giving birth! If I should stay the full 3 days, and if we have to pay cash, it would only cost around $1200! That's incredible!

We had a good baby shower yesterday. The husbands ended up sticking around after all. We got another highchair which is a good thing since these chairs grow with the child. We'll end up needing two anyway. We also received diapers, a new outfit and some toys. Aiko said she and Margery would have another shower with the QSI ladies. I don't need a lot of things since we're having another boy, but as Jen Torres says, "Any excuse for a party!"

We've been having a good time with Grandma here. She and Clay have made up new games that just the two of them know about. We were in Piran at the Teen Challenge coffee house meeting Friday night and Karen was praying for one of the guys that was saved recently. While she was praying a jolt of pain hit her that was almost unbearable. I don't think she wanted us to know just how much pain she was in that night. There's still some lingering pain that's been moving around her head, but it's better than it was.

We've moved about half of our things over to the new house, but noticed the painter hadn't finished yet. "Um...what happened to Wednesday?" We're waiting for the landlords to get back from holiday so we can call them and ask when we can finish moving. Everything is sitting there in the garage. Two or three times a day we're having the conversation about whether a certain item is packed and at which house it is. Ah well. Claudia, the daughter, put her old desk and office chair in the new office and Timothy and I are fighting over it. I would have liked it in the family room where I'll be more often. I haven't confessed this to Timothy yet, but I am going to like the desks the way they are better. We seldom have these disagreements and when we do I like to keep them going. It's kind of fun.

He found a car over the internet that I'm disagreeing with him on. It's a 2000 BMW roadster in Germany for about $7000. We don't really fight, we just find any little thing we can to pick on the other about. It's our way of having fun.

Those Little Instances We Call Life

2005-08-03T18:31:00.000-07:00

Another praise report, we asked our landlord the other day where the best place was to find a highchair like the one that's here. He then informed us that this highchair is a gift for us and that it will go with us when we move! Mega thank-yous! The chairs like this that I have seen are expensive.

The girls in church are planning a baby shower for me. Karen and I keep cracking up b/c they're totally winging it and have no idea how it's normally done. They were originally inviting the husbands (Timothy put a stop to that), asking me to help pay for food, etc. It was funny.

Timothy has started looking for a second car. He would really like a convertible, and almost talked himself out of that because he thought he was being selfish. I told him that was ridiculous. We looked at one last night, but he's not totally happy with it. He has two more to look at this weekend. We'll see what happens.

We've moved a few boxes to the new house and will probably start taking more over tomorrow evening. Karen has been a huge help this week, making sure there's food on the table, boxes get packed and taking care of Clay. I'm more than happy to have her here. As of last night everything had been primed and he'd put at least one coat of paint on in the living room. Timothy chose the color of the living room and we're all loving it. We called and made another change today, but said if there were any extra costs we'd pay for it.

I keep wondering if this delivery will happen like Clay's. The day I went into labor with him I was very emotional and moody. Today, I'm feeling much the same.

New Story

2005-07-26T06:10:00.000-07:00

First of all, the pickles are not going to happen. Not enough cucumbers, not enough dill, not enough time and not enough energy. Next year I'll grow my own cukes and dill and do it...maybe.

Anyway, Karen arrived yesterday evening toting sweets to make Clay smile. He didn't want her to get to close, but after she pulled out the cookies he at least gave her lots of smiles. She made Timothy and I sit down on the couch while she told us the story of getting my crib (identical to Mary Jo's) over here.

When she got to North Carolina she and Ava had taken the crib to a packing place and had it packed up nicely. The box was huge! It measured 60x40x20. Tim (Sr.) got there a day or two later and helped them repack it to 60x40x10. Now it was within oversized luggage limits. They called the airlines three times with size and approximate weight. The first time they were told it would cost them $250. The next two calls they were quoted $375.

Sunday morning at church in NC the message was on really taking our place as sons and daughters of God and having dominion on this earth. Karen really took that message to heart and spoke over the crib that there wouldn't be any troubles getting it here.

When they got to Charlotte Sunday evening a skycap came to help them and instead of waiting to tip him they tipped him right away which gave them a lot of favor with the guy. The Afro-Americana lady working the ticket booth right away wanted to give them a hassle. She adamantly told them that the box was too big and started calling around to get a "no". After she couldn't get anyone on the phone Karen got very close and said something to the affect of this baby bed is for a sweet young missionary couple and they need it. This helped some, but the NorthWest employee was still sure that it couldn't be shipped, saying it wouldn't even fit in the door of the cargo hold. Since she couldn't do anything else she was reluctantly obliging and had it taken around the airport and straight to cargo, but warned that they would probably send it back. Karen said, "We walk by faith and we'll just take this one step at a time." Oh, now the lady had to be a Christian too! I think she had gotten herself so flustered from being ornery and then wanting to show her Christianity too she didn't check the box as two pieces of luggage or even check Karen's passport! Karen got out her wallet to pay the $375 and the lady said that there would be no charge! Karen got teary and just looked at the lady... You can imagine the scene.

Tim was given a gate pass to go with Karen and wait with her. After a few minutes they got up and looked out the window just in time to see that "huge" box being loaded, quite easily, into the cargo hold!

Karen said she really felt the Lord telling her not to discuss the box with anyone. There was another minor hiccough, but nothing major the rest of the way. The crib didn't arrive here in Ljubljana with her, but Karen went to the desk to ask about it and the man said, "Oh, Hall. That's a large item. It's still in Amsterdam, but will be here in the morning." No questions asked!

This morning we'll go and pick it up at the airport, with the sales receipt from two years ago so customs can't charge us anything! A small miracle, but a miracle!

Peaches and Pickles

2005-07-19T14:45:00.000-07:00

Let's start with something cute though... The other day I was talking to Timothy about Clay in regards to naptime or a meal or something everyday like that. Clay was sitting on Timothy's lap and after I said whatever I said Clay looks at me and says, "Hu?" I looked at him and repeated my dialogue to which he replied, "Oh," and then he returned to his book or whatever was in his hands. The voice inflections were perfect though.

Mary Jo's blog said she's going to can peaches. My neighbor gave me small cucumbers and dill and I want to make dill pickles, but I haven't been able to find any instructions. Can anyone out there help me? Email, or call me, at home! It's not as if I go anywhere these days!

35 Weeks Pregnant and Counting

2005-07-18T08:23:00.000-07:00

I have no appetite and no energy. I shouldn't say I don't have any appetite, because when there's food in front of me I gladly eat. I just don't feel like preparing anything and then I end up eating something that's not good for me and that's a bad thing.

Ivana has been gone all weekend and she prepared a meal before she left, but it feels like too much work to get it out and reheat it.

She'll be gone all day today too and last night I was feeling so discouraged b/c of Clay and him wanting to play all the time. Timothy is staying at the office as little as possible, but he's usually there during Clay's most active times of the day. With this beautiful weather the little guy wants to go outside and find adventures and his mamma doesn't feel up to it.

I was reminded last night that I wouldn't be handed anything that I couldn't handle, that other mammas have been here too, and that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength...no matter how tired and achy I feel.

Last week Clay was very moody due to the last of his molars starting to come in. I had thought we were done, but I checked the chart and we have 4 more coming! Since Friday though, he's been back to his jovial self, eating again and acting very silly. He discovered the joy of bubble baths on Saturday after helping me plant some flowers. That was fun (the bath and the planting).

Need to go clean the egg and toast off his face and change a yucky diaper!

Good News

2005-07-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

We got our papers in the mail today saying ReshitiEnega (SaveOne) is officially registered with the Slovene government and we can move along to the next step. We also received some small things saying there were some important documents waiting at the post office to be picked up. Timothy is walking there now to see what it is.

With what we received today we can get a tax number, open a bank account, and officially start receiving monies! One of those good, exciting days.

Ivonka, the lady next door gave me some small cucumbers and dill weed so Ivana and I are going to try and make dill pickles this afternoon. Should be fun!

Clay is trying to say Thadeus. It sounds something like "Th-dtis"; if that makes any sense. He doesn't try very hard to enunciate his words, but I'm catching on more and more to what he's saying. Last night, just before going to bed, I glanced at the small suitcase I've already started packing for my three day hospital stay. I've never been away from Clay for so long before and it made me cry. He'll be able to come in and visit, but it just won't be the same. I'm gonna miss the little booger.

Timothy is busy helping our friend, David May, do a recording project. Watch for it in stores:)

House Saga Chapter 5...or is it Chapter 17?

2005-07-08T18:30:00.000-07:00

The house we looked at yesterday was great! Five good sized bedrooms, large living room, big eat in kitchen, huge bonus room and lots of space in the basement. The yard was enormous and they sounded like we could do pretty much anything we wanted with the place. One problem: the distance. We drove out there early this morning to see what Timothy's drive to work would be like and it took 45 minutes driving back into town. Not a big deal in Nashville. Here it's a big deal, not to mention we're paying about twice in gas.

Timothy just spoke with the realtor and he's going to look for something closer to town for us and in the direction of the coast. We've been spending so much time down that way and Timothy's office is on that side of town it just makes more sense.

If I weren't pregnant I'd probably be a bit more patient about all this, but its hard being this emotional and not knowing where we're going to be living in the next few months.

Pray for the realtor; his name is Goroft or Gorozd. I’m not sure. We told him our church is also looking to relocate and I suggested he come Sunday morning to “get to know who we are” and “see what our needs are”. ha ha ha!

The Saga of the House Continues

2005-07-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

We're going to go look at another house this morning. I saw pictures of it on the internet and from what we could tell from there it has potential. It doesn't look as private as I'd like. I've been spoiled with my big privacy fence. Aiko said I could walk out in my back yard naked if I wanted to!

Timothy said he wanted to call that guy from the other house one last time yesterday, but couldn't get ahold of him on his home phone or his mobile. Either he's changed his numbers or he isn't able to pay his bills so the phones got cut off. Tuesday during a rain storm Timothy called his mobile and it turns out he had just been in a fender-bender on the highway. Timothy warned him that if you give your word to a Child of God and then go back on it God is going to withhold blessings from him.

The big house was great and all, but it's like Timothy and I have discussed many times; it's God's will that we have a roof over our heads, food on the table, heat in the winter, etc. We want God's perfect will though and I think that includes a bit more than just the basics.

July Fourth

2005-07-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

We went back to Kranjska Gora yesterday to spend The Fourth with our friends up there. Kristin had hip surgery back in April and was experiencing a very speedy recovery until two weeks ago. While doing her exercises she dislocated the hip. She's in a brace/cast for a while and we had already wanted to get together for the holiday so I told her I would make the food, with Ivana's help, and we'd come up there to celebrate. Ivana couldn't join us b/c of a German exam, but that didn't turn out so well. Ivana has decided to forego the German and take Spanish next year since she's already fluent in the language!

Anyway, we had a great day. Kristin is full of conversation and loves to talk about the Lord. Timothy asked if she's the preacher at their church and Zoran, her husband, smiles and nods his head yes. We did get the Adventist issue out on the table and Timothy and I told her the perceptions we had from little or no knowledge of and from never really having met any Adventists before them. They were anything but offended. Living in a predominately Catholic nation they're used to it.

Zoran and the boys, Aaron and Ashley, took us to the farm again. Clay loved it even more. There were three new baby llamas to admire. One of the Arabian horses had been loaned out for breeding so the other horse was a bit lonely and acted restless. We found the kittens that had alluded us last time and Timothy got to wrestle with the goat. There were a couple men there while we were who were looking at purchasing a couple llamas.

We also got to meet Zoran's mother this time and she gave Clay a handmade folk guitar. Clay had been serenading us out on the patio. He folds his left hand in and uses his right hand to strum it; his own version of air guitar. Then he sings as loud as he can so all of Kranjska Gora could hear him.

The girls at church are having a baby shower for me on the 31st when Karen is here and we invited Zoran and Kristin down too. I think Kristin would like to visit our church. I think she'd like it. She likes the livelier praise and worship.

Ups & Downs

2005-06-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

We've had some short, but fun, thunderstorms this evening. I told Ivana if we were in Nashville we'd be turning the weather channel on to see if we need to be heading toward the cellar. She said the only idea she has of tornados is from television and movies. They just don't happen here. That's a good thing. There's not really a place in this house to hide from them!

I got to talk to my best friend Erin last night over Skype. It's been ages since we talked on the phone and we had the same problem we always do: we can't hang up. She's in Walsall, England and due to have a baby the day before me! Isn't that neat? She caught me up on the antics of her two year old twin boys, Sam and Ethan.

I feel myself getting emotional and easily depressed these days. I've been keeping the Bible handy to pick up when I know the hormones are charging in. I just read until I can't read anymore and then my attitude is usually better. Only eight or so more weeks to go; six if I'm a good girl! I have my next appointment tomorrow and she should be giving me information for the head midwives at the hospitals so I can decide where to deliver.

Wherever I go I'm almost certain that they'll be glad to see me leave! They dress newborn babies in about four layers of clothes here; similar to swaddling. They are not putting my kid in that much clothing in the middle of August when there's no AC! This is going to be a real test for me.

Movin' Right Along

2005-06-28T21:30:00.000-07:00

With lots of down time I've gotten my feet down to their normal size. I've also had some help with my emotional well being. Yesterday I had a pedicure and today a hair cut. They don't just wash your hair here. They deeply cleanse and then massage and it takes at least twice the time it usually takes in the States. I love it. Margareta is a good stylist, but I always walk away looking like a mushroom. She wants to give my hair body, but the style is a bit odd. With enough gel I can fix anything.

The pedicure wasn't at all what I was expecting. It was more like going to the podiatrist. She did everything I wanted though without me asking. The skin on my feet has gotten so dry and yucky. She gave me new feet and then didn't even offer to paint my toe nails. I didn't want that b/c I can't reach them if I want to change the color.

I found out at this salon where they do pedicures they also have massage (and acupuncture) for pretty low prices. Timothy and I both need some work done on our backs so we'll be making more appointments. Plus, my 8th visit is 50% off so I could get a one hour massage for $20! Not too bad!

It's been in the lower to mid 80's here. Of course, it's felt about 10 degrees warmer to me. I've had fans on me constantly. I walked by myself to get my haircut this morning and passed an older man on a bike who smiled at me and said, "Bravo." Thanks. I'm thankful for the heat though. I wasn't having a lot of braxton hicks contractions, but I've had some great ones yesterday and today.

Nana and I started on the website tonight. The first thing we need to do is find an affordable program and learn how to use it. Since I'm on the couch quite a bit of the time this will give me stuff to do. Tomorrow I'm handing the house hold stuff over to Ivana; she doesn't know it yet. I know she's stressed and feels pressured because she's in the middle of exams, but I think it will be a good time management lesson for her (which has been the biggest thing we've had to deal with since she's been here). Before you assume I'm being mean, she doesn't have any classes going on right now. She has a psych exam Thursday and a German exam Monday...and she's Slovene. Slovene's just love to worry and work themselves up in my opinion. I could give examples, but I won't right now.

We've received enough monies now to pay for translating the SaveOne material. God is right on time! We've had to rewrite our "constitution" and now it just needs a good looking over and taken back to the government office.

Just Another Lazy Sunday

2005-06-26T12:32:00.000-07:00

The weather has warmed up nicely in Ljubljana. If I wasn't 7 months pregnant I would probably really enjoy it. Last summer I would love to walk to the grocery store around 2:00 in the afternoon b/c the Slovene's were all hiding from the heat. I thought it felt great. It does get pretty warm, but the humidity isn't nearly as bad as what we've lived with in the States.

I've woke up the past two mornings with swollen feet. I really don't enjoy it. It feels funny and it's a little annoying to walk on. I've sat on the couch most of this afternoon with my feet elevated on pillows and drinking water, with the exception of a glass of pink lemonade this evening.

Church was miserable this morning since there isn't air conditioning; not in stores, not in houses, no where. Towards the end I was starting to feel sick and thought I might pass out. Clay threw a temper tantrum right on time (he was too warm too) so I had another reason to leave and find a cooler place.

This evening Timothy took me out for a driving lesson. It didn't last long since the car was low on gas and neither of us had cash on us. Plus, Timothy was bored out of his mind. I was just driving around in circles getting the feel of shifting again. The last time I tried to drive stick was last October.

Now I'm back on the couch with the laptop (thank goodness for wireless internet!), drinking my pink lemonade and researching church websites. Our friend Nana got the idea in her head this morning that our church needs a website so I've been doing some research today. Any suggestions or help are welcome.

Anniversary and New Houses

2005-06-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

Four years ago this week we said "I do." I'd say it's been anything but boring. Timothy out did himself this year with flowers (twice), a new watch, Chinese food and a movie. This is the most "celebrating", or gift giving at least, I think we've ever done for our anniversary. He wanted a new bike, but those are a bit harder to afford here, so we might combine it as an anniversary/birthday present for him. I told him he should at least go golfing so I don't feel like he's going without.

Things are winding down at the QSI headquarters. Ram and Sally will be the last people to leave on the 12th of July, but I think they're supposed to bring Ram's sister back with them from India. She's the only other Christian at this time in Ram's family and she needs to get away for awhile and be with other Christians. They are from a more elite family and it's been rough on them to follow Christ. Naughty Hindus.

There are a couple locals in the office, the receptionist and another accountant, so Timothy won't be completely alone there. Jim gave Timothy the authority to set different office hours during the summer; those will probably take effect the day after Timothy's boss leaves:) She's a bit of a stickler to the rules.

Timothy talked to Max, the landlord of the house we want, this week. He said his lawyer told him there's a law in Slovenia that a family with a new born baby cannot be put out of a rental property. Good law, but I don't see why that should stop him. He really believes he can sell that house for 1.5 million Euros and that is just not going to happen. We're not telling him that. We're telling him, "Yeah, you stick to your beliefs on that house costing that much." Ocean front property on the coast doesn't cost that much here; I don't know why an older home in the middle of no where would. Timothy said we can put something in the contract about, if we want to leave we give him a notice of so much time in writing or if he should sell he gives us a notice of so much time in writing. I don't know what would be wrong with that and I think we'll ask our lawyer about that law just to make sure.

We did look at another house this past Wednesday. It was very nice, although a bit messy. The last tenants didn't take very good care of the place. The landlord said to look at it in this condition, see what we think and then go from there. It definitely had possibilities. He said he would repaint to our specifications and make the necessary improvements for us to move in. It had a very big lawn out back, but overlooking the lawn was a row of apartment buildings! Someone could come out on their balcony and look right in to my kitchen. I thought about asking about a privacy fence, but instead I asked about landscaping. A row of tall ever greens would solve that problem. He did say we had free reign with landscaping, but it would be with our money. That's fair.

After praying about it and discussing it with our pastor we feel like the second house, although still very nice, maybe even nicer in some aspects, would be taking second best. I think there's a difference between God's will and God's perfect will. It's His will that we have a roof over our heads, food on the table, heat in the winter, etc. Just about any house can provide that. We still believe His perfect will is the house in Vodice. Maybe it's not so much for us, but certainly His perfect will for SaveOne.

Today is a national holiday so most of the shops and restaurants are closed. I guess we'll just have a quiet day around the house.

Little Man

2005-06-21T22:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening I was getting things out of the fridge and informed Clay that as soon as Daddy walked in the door with the tortillas we would be ready to eat supper. I turned around to find him climbing in to his high chair by himself. We don't have the standard American high chair. It's more like the kind you would find in a restaurant. My heart stopped for a second, but I was able to keep myself from yelling and scaring him.

He did that again today for lunch, but this time I was prepared and standing right behind him. When he got in I congratulated him on being such a big boy. He put his hands on each side of my tummy and gave my belly a big open mouthed kiss!

Clay is getting closer and closer to actual words. He's been repeating what I say a lot the past couple days. This afternoon I laid him down for his nap and instead of putting his head on the burp rag like normal he sat up and gave me a big grin. I said, "See ya later, Charlie Brown." He repeated with a couple syllables and 'ch' and 'b/n' sounds.

He has a new...thing. We first noticed it Sunday morning. He walked into the living room, looked at Timothy and I with a serious expression and took the stance of a sumo wrestler then growled and flexed his muscles. We taught him to flex the muscles, but I'm not sure where the drama comes from. Probably Timothy's side.

That's Gross!

2005-06-19T07:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning I go to Clay's room to get him out of bed. We had all slept in and I could hear him talking to who knows who or what through the door. He was happy to see another human and excitedly collected his things (pacifier, burp rag and blanket) ready for any adventures. Before he allowed me to pick him up though he had to retrieve one more object from the crib mattress.

I couldn't see what this something was, but could tell by the way he was acting it must be something important. He carefully picked up the tiny object with his thumb and index finger and held it out to me with a huge grin on his face. I opened my hand for it and he places a big, green, dry buger in my hand! "Ooh! Neat! Did this come out of your nose?"

He jabbered something and took it back. I asked him if he wanted to go show Daddy. We put the other things back in his bed and he ran to our room, right hand out stretched with the green novelty that he was so sure Daddy would be impressed with. Daddy commented a little and then the buger was forgotten and I was able to get it from him and throw it away.

...just thought I'd share.

Reasons For Not Posting

2005-06-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

a. Have felt too sick to sit at the computer.
b. Have not had time...really!
c. Have felt too fat to sit at the computer.
d. Have been too discouraged to post a blog.

I did write one up the other day, but lost it when I went to copy it. Oh well. It was depressing anyway.

I have been pretty discouraged lately. One reason being that I have no self-discipline. I'm trying to avoid sugar and excess dairy, but having a very hard time. The sugar isn't so hard, except for chocolate, but I crave milk so much! I want it all the time, usually accompanied with some sort of cereal. I just finished two bowls of cornflakes with brown sugar!

The other discouraging thing is our house situation. Our landlords informed us that our contract on this house states that we have to give them a three month warning in writing; or vise versa if they decide to sell. Why didn't someone at QSI or our lawyer tell us that? So, now we're here until September, which might turn out to be a good thing since the landlord of the new house is now trying to get out of the agreement of 1000 euros a month.

We found out this week this weird landlord had some people come and look at the house while we were in the States, that's his motive for avoiding us and not signing the contract. Instead of just telling us that he's been giving us this story of, "...if you move in and your wife has a baby and then you have to move right back out b/c we sell the house that will be too much stress on your wife." Timothy's answer: "Think about how much stress you're putting on her by keeping her out of the house she wants."

I am discouraged, but not really worried about it. For one, I know God is going to take care of us. Two, we believe that He's spoken to us and He wants that house so it's not even in the landlord's hands.

There's more to the story, but I'm too tired to go into it right now. Good night!

Last Week

2005-05-31T13:35:00.000-07:00

I thought I should write about what we did last week... For the most part, Dad and I sat around the house and let time catch up with us. We did take one day and go to the open market in the city center. We have pictures that I'll have to put on the Kodak Gallery (formerly Ofoto) later.

Since we were downtown we were going to go to the office to have lunch with Timothy, but our morning outing didn't take as long as I thought it would so we had time on our hands and I was wondering what to do. I remembered the little workshop, Demsar, where the man makes stringed instruments by hand. I warned Dad that I hadn't brought my map so we may not find it, but I knew enough not to get us lost completely.

I led us right to the front door! I was slightly proud of myself. Mr. Demsar wasn't in, but a man let us look at some items, including a child's violin (so tiny!). He gave me a pamphlet and I told him my mother-in-law would probably want to come by when she's there in July. As we were walking out the door he asked where we were from and I told him that I grew up in Michigan, where my father still lived, but before moving to Ljubljana my husband and I lived in Nashville. "Wait here!" He went to the back and came out a minute later telling us we needed to go back there. The guitar maker was there and a man had just come to pick up a guitar.

In a back room some guy was slapping a beautiful handmade guitar to death! It was pretty incredible what sounds he was getting out of that thing. Dad asked him if he'd ever been to Nashville and he said, "Not yet." (Watch out for the Slovene named Sasha! He's comin' to town!) They told us when we come back to call. I guess I'm somebody b/c I lived in Nashville.

Other than that, we ate out one night at the Mexican restaurant and had ice cream and listened to Macedonian folk music in Preseren Square. Dad joined me in my walk to Mercator a couple times and I was glad to have him since it's harder and harder to push the stroller up hill. He's even started saying "Dan," (short for good day) to the locals we meet!

I'm praying Timothy gets caught up at work and can take more than one day off next week so we can see the lakes and drive to the Croatian coast next week when Dad comes back from Germany.