Furlough... part 2

More great memories from furlough...

My beautiful nieces Ashlyn and Harper





My niece Logan and my Mom or "Nana." Logan really was happy to take the picture, I just didn't catch the smile in time. :)








Building a really tall tower with Aunt Hopey and Uncle Saul... something we do on a regular basis now!






Sweet Lillian and Jakub... so much changes in 15 months... they still like to watch the dog, though:)






The following picture(s) describes exactly how I felt at our first Jump Zone experience with Jakub and the family...

SO. MUCH. FUN.

My sister-in-law, Laura , has even better pictures if you want to see them on her site. I think I had too much fun and forgot to take many photos. Thankfully, she took several as well!





Josh loved it, too! :) That's a fairly large jump he's about to take and the kids loved seeing him play like this. So did I!





We even rode some slides together!






The little ones loved it, too! They were running around like crazy from one jumping place to another. It was nice to know they could safely run around and play on their own. Jakub even took himself down some slides. It was a great afternoon together (though we were really sorry Ashlyn was sick and didn't get to go!).







CHRISTMAS TIME - Dunseath side!









Santa's elf was not so thrilled with his mandatory hat this year. :) The kids certainly loved the oh-so-annoying, I mean cheerful, little song it played. Over. And over. And over...






Helping Nana open her gifts.





Immediately wanting to try on some new pants. Thanks Kinsey! :)









As a nice surprise on Christmas morning we woke up to an extra visitor- my Uncle Dave! It was great to have some unexpected time with him and Jakub really enjoyed playing with him.






Riding his new bike! Thanks, Pop and Nana!












Me and my sister Hope. I'm so glad she and her husband Neil could spend Christmas with us. She was also a huge help and comfort to me as Jakub was really sick on Christmas Eve and Christmas with a high fever, congestion, and cough. He did so well through the illness, though, that we didn't realize how sick he was until the day after Christmas, when we ended in the ER just after arriving to Josh's home to spend Christmas with his family. Thankfully, after just a few hours there, good blood-work results, a breathing treatment, and a shot of antibiotics, we were back on our way home to be with Josh's family. He made a quick recovery afterward, but it was certainly scary for us before that. I later found out that a rapidly-spreading prayer chain began amongst our family and friends. Thank you for your prayers! God heard you and gave us great comfort, care, and healing in our time of need. We love you all so much!!

Next post... Christmas with the Bealls! :)

Random news...

No, that's not anyone I know, but it gives you a good idea of what our life is like these days and I wanted to remember how it's been around here this week. I've been fighting jet-lag more than I usually do, which is not much at all usually, and have been falling asleep the moment I get still. Josh has been making fun of me for it so I wanted to remember that last night, on our first Friday night home since furlough, we were excited to have some time together after getting Jakub to bed. First, I have to say that we had a program for our teens and college-aged friends last night at our center and we didn't get home until 915pm (It was an excellent program- praise God!). We gave Jakub a snack and then put him to bed and by 945 we were getting our dinner ready and happy to watch a show together. We watch some American shows on our computer so we had that between us on the bed and watched while eating. I remember finishing eating and putting my plate down and then laying back to finish watching the show and the next thing I know it's 2am and the computer's still on, lights are on, and Josh is laying slumped over. ;) Maybe it's not that funny to anyone else, but it was funny to me. Especially since Josh has found me asleep a lot this week in the evenings working at my computer or reading in bed... Now it's happened to him, too. I wish I had a picture of us.... I'm certain we did not look as cute as the couple above!

Other great and random news from this week:

Jakub asked to pray himself before dinner one time this week. That day we had learned that his closest friend here, Mikulas, was very sick with pneumonia and a high fever. We had visited with his Mom, my friend Stana, earlier in the day and Jakub was excited to see her and kept asking for Mikulas. Then, when he finally understood he was sick right now, he said "Miki get better!" His concern was sweet to hear. So, later, before dinner we were sitting at the table together and Jakub said "Mommy no pray, Daddy no pray, Jakub pray." Then he actually started a prayer on his own and said "Dear God, pray for Daddy, Mommy, Jakub, Stana, Miki." I was filled with joy at the sound of him asking to pray and remembering his dear friends here in the prayer. I'm certain, even though he didn't say it, that he was thinking of Mikulas being sick. He's so aware of people around him, their emotions, the way they interact with him, etc. It's awesome! It's a great gift from God to have Jakub in our lives and to be a part of his growing and developing. I hope he always wants to talk to God and to pray for others around him out of concern and love.

Jakub has also started asking who the clothes are from that we put him in each day. He especially wants to know if it's from his Grandma or Nana. It's so sweet to see him thinking of them and he seems to find it special that he's wearing their clothes they bought him.

We've had a little snow and ice here recently so Josh took Jakub sledding yesterday and he loved it! He kept demanding that Josh keep running so he could go fast, which wore Josh out. :) Our temps here are very cold and getting even colder over the next week. I just read that our HIGHS coming up are anywhere from 7F to 19F over the next week, with lows around -9 to 0F. No more snow, though. :(



One more picture before I go. I stole this one from my sister-in-law Laura- thank you! :) Jakub with his cousin Lillian on Christmas morning before church. They look like siblings to me! Love you and miss you Lillian (and all the cousins!). More furlough posts and pictures to come soon. :)

Furlough... part 1

Where to begin?... At the beginning I guess... There's so much to try to remember and to write about our time in the U.S. that it's a bit overwhelming. :) I guess I'll start at the very beginning and go from there. We went to the U.S. for Christmas and the New Year holidays and we had a wonderful time seeing our family and a lot of dear friends. I have so many pictures to share that I'll let those do most of the talking and I'll add some things I never want to forget along the way..




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Aunt Hopey, Logan, and Ashlyn teaching Jakub how to jump on a trampoline. He loved it!!





He might have been timid at first, but it didn't take long for him to start jumping and flying all over the place.




Then we made Christmas cookies with the cousins, Aunt Hopey, Nana, and Aunt Cindy. What a fun afternoon!





Of course, while Logan decorated the cookies Jakub decided to eat them instead. Go figure. :) Thanks, Logan, for being patient and helping Jakub decorate some of them!




Ashlyn's beautiful Christmas tree!



I'll finish with some "Cousin Time!" photos from my side of the family in the week leading up to Christmas:

Jakub and his four cousins on my side- Ashlyn, Lillian, Logan, and Harper. They are all such beautiful, sweet girls and I loved getting to spend so much time with them while we were home. Jakub did, too! He still says their names all the time and asks about them.





How adorable are they?! They were snuggled up watching the movie Tangled. That was just one of many "girly" things Jakub experienced while home. He also learned to put bows in his hair, put on make-up, wear bracelets, and get his toenails painted... what can you do when all your cousins are girls? :) At least he was taught to call his brown and blue toenails "football toes..."








Playing ball outside with Harper and Logan...



Isn't she lovely? I didn't even tell her to pose like that... :)




Ashlyn reading to Jakub. That look on his face sums up perfectly how he felt about all his cousins and getting to play with them every day. What a joy it was for me to see them all together and to see how much they love Jakub, and how he loves them in return. What a blessing! Thank you, God, for our family!

Ok, jet-lag setting in now... Zzzzzzzz.....

Feels like Christmas!

Well, I wasn't sure if I would manage to write one more blog post before we leave for the U.S., but I think I will. :)

I have a few, early, Christmas pictures to share from our Christmas time in Olomouc. We started celebrating early here so that we could have some special moments in our home with Jakub before we leave. We also hosted last week our Moms and Kids Christmas party and final program before leaving. We had a wonderful time together and had one of our best-attended programs yet. What a special time it was of singing together, reading about the birth of Jesus, celebrating the best gift of all, and making traditional Czech Christmas cookies together.
Here are a few pictures from that time, as well as some other "Christmas" pictures we've taken recently.






This is Jakub's new doggie, which we gave him as an early Christmas gift, and even-more-so as a "thank you" for working through some difficult sleep issues with us and getting back into a routine of sleeping on his own. :) After a one-week trip to Germany a couple of weeks ago Jakub decided he liked sleeping in the same room as us (even though he was in his own travel-bed) and upon our return home had many anxious moments (and a lot of crying) about us being out of sight at bedtime. We had one really tough, emotional, and sleepless, week and now he is sleeping much better, and through the night, on his own again.










Other special "Christmas" moments we've had together recently:

- Ice-skating with friends outside on the square (Jakub immediately learned the word "skate" and kept begging to do it himself. I can't wait until next year when he can!)
- Shopping at the outdoor Christmas markets and seeing all of the beautiful, handmade, items.
- Watching Jakub ride on his first carousel. He rode in a "blue auto," which he couldn't stop talking about. :)
- Putting up our Christmas tree together and listening to Christmas music
- Hearing Jakub call Christmas trees "ho-ho-ho tree."
- Watching the fireworks in the square on Svaty Mikulas and seeing Jakub watch in awe.


We're looking forward also to making many special Christmas memories with our friends and families in the U.S. We look forward to seeing some of you soon and we would also appreciate your prayers for safe travels and good health. :)

Happy Birthday, Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you, Grandma and Papa, for this castle set! Jakub has loved playing with it so much! Above I caught him saying "thank you" to you in the picture. :)

Happy Birthday to our sweet boy! We already celebrated a couple of weeks ago with friends, which I wrote about in another post, but we also celebrated recently just as a family. We took Jakub on a long walk outside, fed the ducks at the river, the weather was beautiful, and then we ate out just as a family for one of the first times with him. Then, we were in Germany for an annual retreat the day Jakub turned 2 and to honor and celebrate him our church family there, about 80 or so in attendance, sang him Happy Birthday. Of course it made me cry to have so many people I know and love be a part of Jakub's special day and to want to do that for him. He just watched them all in awe and couldn't believe they were singing to him when he heard his name. After that every day of the retreat when he woke up he asked if it was "birthday today." :) It was also a Sunday on his birthday so we had a special day of worship and praising God with our "family" around us. The singing and scripture reading at this retreat always moves me to tears. It's a special moment to worship and sing in English with so many believers gathered together. We miss this type of community a lot and it continues to make us long for that even more in Olomouc. We hope there will be a strong church body here one day.











Here are a couple of pictures from the place we stayed in Germany. It's so beautiful and every year I'm still amazed by it. When you see it decorated for Christmas it's like a place you would imagine Santa to live. :) The weather this year was cold, but beautiful and sunny, and we enjoyed some nice walks through this village.












Jakub and I really like to do art and craft projects together! Josh's Mom sent us this really cute turkey to make together for Thanksgiving. Jakub loved making it and still walks up to the fridge to see it and to say turkey.











On our way home from Germany we stopped in Ceske Budejovice to visit Jamie, Ashley, and Luke Sides. They are missionaries living and working there and have been friends of ours for several years now. They offered for us to visit them, their city, and to stay for a couple of days over Thanksgiving so we could celebrate together. It was nice to cook our traditional foods with Jamie and Christie, and for Jakub to have Luke to play and celebrate with.















We put our Christmas tree up with Jakub the Saturday we returned from our week-long trip because it's the only day we would have for just our family before we return to the US in 2 weeks. Jakub was a good helper and loved saying "ho, ho, ho!" to us. :) Christie helped Jakub, Evan, and Thompson make those sweet angels in Bible class a few weeks ago with their hands and feet, so I decided to make Jakub's an ornament for the tree. He's our sweet angel. :) Sappy, I know... I can't help it. After the tree we cooked all day because Sunday we hosted our annual Thanksgiving worship with our closest friends and it was a wonderful event! We had about 40 of us gather together this year and many of them were brave enough to help us make the food by following our American recipes. The food and the fellowship was great. Praise God for that and for them!























Happy Thanksgiving to you all (really late I know!) and I hope you had a great holiday time with your family and/or friends. My next post will likely be from the states. Please pray for our safe travel there and back, and for sanity while traveling with a lovely and lively toddler. :) We look forward to seeing many of you soon!