We're Policemen!

Here are some of the kids that come to our English Program for children.  We had so much fun this week learning about firemen and policemen, and then we made these police hats together.  I've really enjoyed doing this program for the past several years, but of course it was a sad transition when Sarah Keen moved back to the states and I then did the program alone for a while.  It's been a joy the last year to have help from our new co-workers Kaylee and Madison.  When they lead the event I can then sit back with my own children and enjoy and participate in it fully with the other mothers who have become very good friends of mine.  Yesterday was one of those days.  Unfortunately, Sofia was recovering at home from a stomach flu, so she wasn't with us.  However, that gave me and Jake the opportunity to do the class together just the two of us.  That's something we've never really done as I was the sole leader when he was a baby and toddler, and by the time I had help to lead I already had Sofia.  Today I was able to love on him and experience the program as Kaylee lead it.  We had a lot of fun and my favorite part was making the police hat with him. :)

Joy in times of struggle

It seems we are in another phase of life, or maybe merely a moment in the grand scheme of things, of trials and struggle happening all around us.  It's not always directly related to us, but it's touching us through our family, friends, and loved ones.  It seems there are currently a lot of burden to carry. However, the Lord says we can cast our burdens on Him and He will sustain us (Psalm 55).  I find that to be true.  And through this truth we can continue to find hope and joy in many beautiful situations and in the people around us.  Despite the difficulties we or those we love are facing at this time, God has recently gifted me with such beautiful encounters from which I will cherish memories for a lifetime.  And I hang on to the joy and His promise, and it sustains me.  He sustains me.


Here are some of these moments in picture:

A wonderful evening with one of my closest and dearest friends here in Olomouc.  She and her children spent hours with us one friday night playing, painting, eating pizza, and playing some more. Sona and I had such encouraging and important conversations about our faith, marriages, children, motherhood, and more.  It was such a blessing to me!

This is from a girls night we hosted for our students at our center.  We discussed anchors in life, who and what they are, why we have them, and how Christ is our anchor.  We also relaxed together, enjoyed good conversations, and many moments of laughter.  I know I needed it!

These photos are from an evening spent at a Graduation Ball for some of our students who attend the same High School (the ball is known as a "ples" in Czech).  I felt like such a proud friend/mentor/Mom to these students and was honored they invited us to see this special ceremony alongside their families.  It is a unique experience here as each graduating class puts on a special performance for the audience, there are photo booths for taking pictures together, there's live music, videos made by students, dancing, and tables to sit at and spend the whole evening visiting with everyone.  We had such a lovely time!

And then of course there are these two.  Two of the greatest joys in my life right now.  They are precious and life with them gets better and better.  This was a sweet moment of them working together to do this large ocean puzzle (thanks again Laura and Rosten!).  They are just the best and amazing gifts given by God.  I'm extremely thankful for them.  How could I not look at those smiling faces, witness the love shared between them, and not find some perspective and joy in the midst of trials and worries.

If you read this and you pray, please pray for us, our friends, and our families.  So many of them right now are going through times of loss, heartache, extreme health situations, and struggles.  We hurt with them and for them.  I'm thankful that God says we can lay our burdens on Him and He will sustain us.  He promises to be our Rock, our Refuge, our Strength, our Comforter, our Savior.  The One who sustains.  And it's true.

Karneval 2015

Here's Jakub at his school "karneval" they had recently.  I know I've said it before, but I just LOVE his school, appreciate all the teachers do for them, and am extremely grateful that we were accepted to it.  Jakub has experienced many new and exciting things here, as well as been on many adventures I'm not accustomed to pre-schools doing for such young children, like ski-trips and bus rides to nearby castles.

As they do each year, they recently held a carnival for the kids and invited the kids to dress up however they would like and plan for a day full of games, fun, and adventure at the school.  I usually make Jakub's costume, but this year we decided to let him pick out a more elaborate one.  He chose spiderman, of course, and loved it.  The spider on the chest lights up.  I was just as enamored by it as him. :)

I am so happy his teacher captured this expression on his face.  It actually says a lot about her and the school as well.  This is his "I'm very happy, but a little embarrassed to express it, but still happy enough and feel safe enough with you to show it a little" face.  He wouldn't just let anyone have this expression and it's one more reminder that his teacher is awesome and that he is happy at school.

You can see above some of the fun things they did throughout the day.  Bag races, obstacle courses, balloon fun, and posing for silly pictures.  They also danced, exercised, listened to music and sang, and enjoyed eating special treats.



And here are the amazing teachers we've enjoyed having for 2 years now.

 

And his classmates...

Just a few things about Jakub at age 5:

- He's 4 feet tall and measures around 97th percentile for his age.  He's an entire head-size above most of his classmates and peers.  Not only does he look older, but often prefers to play with kids older than him as well.

- He loves to ride his bike outside, even in the cold.  And recently we've been enjoying sledding a lot with the winter weather.  He's not afraid to go alone and even to slide on his body on the ice down the hill near our home.

- He's physically fast and strong, which sometimes gets him into trouble when playing with others as he can hurt them quickly when playing too rough.  This obviously happens a lot with sister.

- He eats pretty much anything without complaint, except cooked carrots, peppers, and mushrooms.  He prefers them raw.

- He's enjoying praying again on his own and volunteers to often, which makes my heart and soul happy and thankful.  He often prays for everyone in the world to be ok and for God to watch over them, prays for family members, and almost always asks that God help each of us 4 to listen to Him and to each other.  Sometimes Sofia already wants to pray with him or she tells him what to pray for and he obliges, which is sweet and kind.

- His best friends at school are Filipek Vanek, Mikulasek Vejmola, Alex and Terezka.

Love you Jakub!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Sweet Sofia!

Here you are on your 2nd Birthday.  You are just the sweetest thing (though plenty sassy as well) and you were especially happy and energetic on your special day.  You knew it was your birthday and you could clearly say "I am 2" well before the big day.  We practiced a lot. :)



The day started off as beautiful with clear, blue skies and very cold temps.  There's still snow and ice on the ground from the previous weeks weather.  We had a nice, normal Saturday morning full of play time around the house and getting ready for your small birthday party later that afternoon.  Jakub drew you a birthday card at breakfast time and that was so kind of him to do.  No matter how much you two might argue at times, he has a really protective and loving side for you as well.  He couldn't wait to tell you Happy Birthday and to sing to you.

I spent most of the morning working on your cake as well.  I had it in my mind that I wanted to make you a really special, beautiful, girly cake.  What turned out was good enough, and tasted great, but wasn't as pretty as I had hoped.  Still, it was fun and I was looking forward to making it for you and thinking about you the whole time.

And while you and I were cooking and playing during the morning time your brother and Daddy went out to get you birthday flowers, which I also used on your birthday cake.  They were gorgeous!

And after your nap time most of our teammates, who are more like family to us here, came over to celebrate with us.  Mitch was away in the U.S. and Monika was away at her home in Slovakia, but the rest were able to be here.  They love you very much!

Here you are with Kaylee, Madison, Conor, and Alyssa.  You loved opening your gifts from everyone and then eating a bunch of cake as well. :)  You also seemed to like us singing Happy Birthday to you, but you were also shy with all of the attention and hid your eyes at one point. :)
Here are some more pictures from that time.

Of course brother wanted to be right there with you and had a hard time not opening everything for you or showing you how everything works.  I can't wait to see you two play in one more year from now when you can really keep up with him.  I think you two will have a lot of fun.  Right now you love to follow him around and you think whatever game he comes up with is the best.  You really look up to him and it's sweet to see.  I have to add here while I'm thinking of it that one of my favorite things is watching you see him for the first time when you wake up or when he gets home form school.  You immediately look for him, ask for him, or call out to him (Kubo!).  You want to hug him and hold him and talk to him right away.  He doesn't always want this, but even when he pushes you away (as older brothers often do) you keep on loving on him or following him around.

Above is you opening the necklace and earrings he gave you.  He picked it out for you and was so happy to tell you that he thought of you and picked it out all by himself.  It was a great moment to witness him publicly loving on you and giving you a gift.  You loved it and wore the necklace to church on Sunday with your birthday dress Daddy and I gave you. :)

Jakub decided to take some pictures and made me do a silly face - his favorite thing. :)

There are so many more pictures I could add.... You were just so sweetly and innocently happy to be experiencing and enjoying a birthday with the people who love you so much.    After opening all of the gifts you and brother began playing with many of them.  He loved the play-do set Madison gave you and played with that a lot while you blew bubbles and played with a monkey game Kaylee gave you.  Conor and Alyssa gave you an apron, which was perfect, because Daddy and I gave you a small kitchen and you already have a lot of play-kitchen things to cook with.  You love to cook and make me food- especially pizza!

We also made a birthday dinner all together which consisted of soft tacos, avocado dip and chips, a mexican bean dish, a bean and corn salad, salsa, and fresh cucumbers and bell peppers sliced.  It was yummy and you loved it!

We had such a fun time together!  Here are a few more things I want to remember from this special time when you turned 2:

- After the party was over, everyone had gone home, and we had cleaned up the house, your Daddy and I spent 1.5 hours watching videos of your birth, your first day at home, and brothers first time to see you and hold you.  It was wonderful!

- I made another cake with flowers on top and took it to church on Sunday so we could sing to you and celebrate with our church family.  It was very meaningful to me to do that.  And there you received your gift from Nav, which was a painting I asked her to make for you.  It's a beautiful, starry night with 4 owls sitting in a tree- one for each of us in our family.

- You are speaking all of the time now and saying many 3 word sentences.  You repeat most anything we ask and pretty clearly now.  You say many English words (I counted one day but stopped around 100...) and in Czech you say "Doma (home), pa pa (bye bye), ahoy (hello, goodbye), tady a tam (here and there), ne (no), and jo! (yeah, yes).  Our Grandmother here, Babi, keeps you 2 times a week and says you understand her completely now, even if you don't say everything back to her yet.

- You can count to 14, though you miss numbers here and there of course.  But you get close to getting it all right each time.

- Your favorite stories or cartoons are still Barney and Baby Bop, Curious George, and Princess Holly and Ben Elf.  You ask to read these books at bedtime every night.  You love to be read to and you will listen for as long as someone wants to read, which is great.

- Your favorite colors, because of Barney, are still "Barney Purple" and "Baby Bop Green."

- This winter we have had a lot of snow and ice recently and you LOVE to ride on the sled with Kuba and also to sled down the hill behind our home.  You are not afraid to go down it and you love to just be outside in general, even if it's really cold.  You aren't even afraid to run on snow and ice, which always scares me to death.

- I don't know your health stats as we haven't had your 2 year check-up yet.  I plan to do that this week. :)  You seem very tall though, for your age, and you talk more than most kids your age around us.  You wear 2-3year old clothes and your shoe is a 26-27.

- You have a baby doll that you call baby that goes everywhere with you and that you must sleep with.  It's sweet to watch you take care of her.

- You sleep well by yourself in your bed each night, still a crib, and you sleep usually from 8 to 8.  You share a room with Jake, which you both seem to like.  I think he finds it comforting to know you are there.

That's all for now.  More to come soon!  Happy Birthday to our sweet little girl.  We love you so, so much!

The twins are here!

Thank you for your prayers for my family!  I have some very good news to share- the twins are here and praise God! they are both fine!  And their Mom is, too!   My brother, Saul, and his wife Laura, are blessed with a new baby girl, Claire, and a new baby boy, Silas.  This makes 5 beautiful, healthy children for them and I couldn't be more thrilled.  You can see pictures of the babies above, as well as one picture of my sister, Hope, and my Dad (Pop) holding them.  Yeah babies!!!  I can't wait to go home at the end of March, prayerfully, and meet these sweet new little ones.  And hug Saul and Laura.  What a journey they have been on but they've made it and now a new version of it begins.  I know they are going to do great as they continue to lean on God for strength and guidance.



I would appreciate continued prayers for our Aunt Teresa, the one on the very left below.  We are still waiting on some tests and results to better understand if she has a cancerous tumor in her abdomen, or not, and possibly on her spleen.  Things just aren't clear at this time and she is continuing to work with the doctors.  Please pray for the best outcome, for healing, for clarity about what to do, and for patience as we all wait and pray and worry a little.  I've always loved this picture below of my mother-in-law, Jackie (in the black and pink dress) and her sisters and mom.  Such a sweet picture!

As for my Gran and Pa, they are both kind of stable, but still not feeling well, and fighting their respective illnesses.  I would appreciate your prayers for their health to be better and for them to feel better.   Here's a picture of my Pa with Jakub at 11 months old, and my Mom (Nana).  So sweet. :)

And my Uncle Preston had a defibrillator successfully placed on Friday afternoon and is now home recovering, and doing well from what I have heard. Hopefully that will continue.

So much going on in our families right now (I didn't even mention here our 2 pregnant sisters, Hope and Laura, both expecting around the 1st of May).  So much and still I know God is in control of it all, he knows the outcomes, it's in His plans, and He provides the comfort and peace as we ask for it.  Lord please give it and give it abundantly to our families now.  Thank you!!!

"Do not be afraid, stand firm!... the Lord will fight for you, you need only be still."  Exodus 14

Happy New Year - and prayer requests!

Happy New Year to all of you!  I hope yours if off to a good and blessed start, and even if it's come with some hard times already I pray you know God goes before you each day, doing His will in and around you, and He stands beside you holding you and loving you each moment.

We had lovely holidays filled with so many beautiful memories I will treasure forever, which is just what I asked God for this holiday time. And our home was filled with a Christmas spirit, joy, laughter, and many friends and visitors.  If you know me well, you know I love this time of year and these kinds of moments.  And I did a lot of holiday cooking.  And played a lot of Bing Crosby Christmas music.  And I played with my kids and read a lot of books with them.  Many moments filled with peace, love, joy, God, and Jesus.

And now prayer warriors out there- I need your help.  There were also a couple of hard times during this season, and a few more just today.  I may not give many details here (you can always email me for more if you need), but I'm going to list a few thing and people I would really like you to immediately start praying for with me.  Thank you so much in advance!  I know God hears us and knows the desires of our hearts.  I'm so thankful we can turn immediately to Him.

1.  A student of ours died in December and his family is still grieving and hurting so much.  Many of our other students are as well.  We miss him and it's still a bit of a shock.

2.  Dear friends of ours on the mission field in Europe lost their mother/mother in law just before Christmas and though she was suffering from a serious illness, it was a sudden and shocking loss.  I know they are still hurting and working through this.

3.  My Grandmother (Gran) has been in and out of the hospital with various big and little illnesses for a few months.  Each one wears her down more, but she still fights hard and tries to stay positive.  She is currently in the hospital now and not doing too well.  Thankfully my Dad and his brothers and families are able to be there with her often.

4.  My Grandfather (Pa) has suffered with Leukemia for a long time, but manages it very well and with an amazing faith and positive spirit that is inspiring to me.  He also suffers from some heart problems and other things.  He is currently in the hospital for pneumonia, congestive heart failure, and some kidney failure.  My Mom is there with him now.

5. My Aunt is with my Uncle right now at a hospital while he waits to have a heart cath procedure done and possibly have a defibrillator placed today.  He's not feeling well and his heart is having some problems.

6.  My sister-in-law and brother are at the hospital right now waiting on the arrival, by c-section, of their twins (4th and 5th babies to have), but one of the twins was not responding well today and they are watching them now by monitor.  This one appears smaller than the other and to have low tone and low movement.  We're praying everything is actually fine and we'll be meeting 2 sweet, perfectly healthy babies today.

7.  My husband's Aunt (mine too now:), recently had a kidney stone and upon ultrasound of it they discovered a mass in her abdomen and some suspicious spots on her spleen.  She's having many tests this week and we should know results tomorrow (Friday).  I'm praying it's as minor as it can be and will be something God will heal her of with a minor amount of medicines or surgeries needed.

I hope I haven't forgotten anybody or anything.  That's a lot.  Please pray with me for these things and these people I love so much.  Most of these things are happening today and I just got a phone call about them all a couple of hours ago.  It was a lot to take in.  But I'm glad my parents taught me to turn immediately to God with it and just trust that it will be what it will be and God holds us no matter what.

If you were to have any prayer requests for me you could leave them in the comments part.  I would love to pray for you.  God bless you and each of your days to come in this new year.

And here's a picture from New Year's.  Those two make my day.  Love them.

Merry Christmas!

I realize as I get ready to write this "Merry Christmas" post that there's a lot of catching up to do... and I'll save that for another post or I'll never write one in the first place.  Here, and now, I'm simply going to write a little about our Christmas time this year.

 

We've had a wonderful family Christmas in Olomouc this year.  It was, of course, hard not to be with our family in the U.S., but it was as good as it gets here.  The few days leading up to Christmas were filled with some relaxation, some movies, walks in the 50F sunshine, kicking balls outside, making Christmas crafts, having friends over, doing lots of shopping and wrapping, managing a date with Josh while the kids spent the night with Madison (and time with Conor, Alyssa, and Robert), and making a ton of traditional holiday foods and sweets.  It felt very special this year and most importantly, intentional about the time together, time with friends, and time reflecting on Jesus and his birth, life, and sacrifice for us.  We also had some wonderful Christmas programs at work and they went very well.  I am thankful for it all and for my home and family to spend it with.  God has greatly blessed me and graced me.

The kids did great Christmas morning and started it off by sleeping to their usual 8am.  I know, we're super blessed in this way as parents. :)  We then exchanged gifts together and had a lot of fun doing so.  Jakub was much more aware and eager than Sofia, so he helped her with hers as well.  One of his favorite gifts was a new hot-wheels car, of course!  And we've been playing a lot of snakes and ladders!  He also really loved a Lego set a friend gave him and spent most of 2 days working on it until it was complete.  Sofia got a small kitchen supplies set for cooking with that she really liked (Jake picked it out) and then a new Barney doll (her favorite character to watch and sing with) and a new stroller to push her baby in.  The stroller now pushes Barney, though.

And at this moment I must take the time to point out, before I forget, that Sofia loves Barney so much that anything with the color purple must be called "Barney purple" and anything green is "Baby Bop green."  Yellow is occasionally "B.J. yellow." So far it's more sweet than annoying, and mostly I just love that she knows so many colors on her own and wants to point them out.  She also knows pink, orange, brown, black, white, blue, and red.

The kids also got some new books they love to read, and I am so happy and proud that they will read with me any time I offer.  I love books!  Right now we're reading Curious George, Berenstein Bears, and some Classics like Goodnight Moon, Harold and the Purple Crayon, and Leo the Late Bloomer.

Ok, off to bed.  More Christmas, New Years, and catching up to come soon I hope.

Oh, and one last thing- one of my favorite images in my head from Christmas.  I made a traditional dinner and set the table very nicely with our wedding dishes, candles, a Christmas arrangement, etc.  And for dinner Jakub prayed very nicely and longer than normal, which is just always touching... to hear your child pray.  Then, during one moment while eating dinner, we were all kind of quiet and I noticed Sofia was mumbling to my right, so I turn to look at her and she has her head bowed and hands intertwined and she was praying.  When we caught her she looked up and smiled, then laughed, and went about eating.  It was awesome.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you and your families!  God bless you each day!!