Thirteen years and counting...

How's this for good planning?  Since we were married in the year 2000, we will always be easily able to remember what anniversary we are celebrating.  So, in March (2013) we will (obviously) be celebrating number 13.  Nothing particularly special about this number if you're not superstitious, which we aren't...thankfully.

So, as it is not yet March, you might be wondering what all this marriage talk is about.  Well, we were just recently blessed in a mighty way to turn this 13-year old marriage into an extraordinary marriage that will grow continually deeper and better as the years tick on.  We just attended our Josiah Venture Marriage Retreat.  Where do we even begin to tell you how those 5 days have put us on a course toward marriage extraordinare???

We went into the conference in Krakow, Poland, knowing that we love each other, and truly love our marriage.  But throughout those 5 days, we experienced just how much better it could be when we dig deeper into marriage oneness as God intends...unselfishly, openly, humbly, and in one spirit.  Our JV President, Dave Patty, brought the teaching...humbly and honestly sharing with us what he and his wife, Connie, have learned through the years in their marriage, and especially as it relates to ministry.

We were truly blessed to attend this conference in a beautiful hotel with date-night-every-night...FREE OF CHARGE to all of us, thanks to some very generous donor-friends of JV.  We were given very specific conversation assignments every day, which alone took our marriage to much deeper levels, as we found ourselves talking about so much more than kids and schedules and the urgent.

We feel extremely refreshed as we are now back to life as normal...again talking about kids, schedules and anything urgent, yet basking in the growth that we've experienced and the depth of love for each other, and for our Savior who alone brings oneness like this.  




Have we ever mentioned how much we love being a part of Josiah Venture?  We know that we are cared for by JV in our families, our marriages and our lives.  We so appreciate being in this group of people, knowing that as we are all serving in different countries throughout Central and Eastern Europe, we are being both prayed for and ministered to by our team of leaders.  This team is called the Bteam...stands for Barnabas team...and their role in JV is to provide for the JV family care, support and resources.  Thank you, Bteam, for an excellent job of care by providing this conference for us!   We know that a lot of hard work and diligent planning go into these conferences, and we are grateful.

And the biggest plus of this whole Conference, in a Mom's opinion, was the fact that Grandpa and Grandma came to take amazing care of the kids while we were away.  Babysitting five kids for five days was not an easy job to fill, so when Ed's parents willingly agreed to come and fill that role, we were elated!  And they filled that role with flying colors...see previous post.  To know that the kids were with Grandparents was such a relief to us, that we were able to completely focus on the conference and our marriage, because we believe that the best gift you can give to your children after leading them to know Jesus Christ as their Savior is to give them parents who are in love with each other.  What a blessing we've just experienced!

January Guests

What a great start to 2013!  Wendi's cousin, Mike Heiniger, and his son Drew "dropped in" for a few days at the beginning of the month.  No one really just "drops in" way out here, as not many people we know are on their way to the Ukraine.  So, when someone actually makes it to us, we know that they intentionally made the trip to spend time with us, and we are honored...especially with Mike and Drew.  They came to Europe to visit some missionary friends in Budapest, Hungary, and then wanted to tour some of France.  If you look on a map, you will see that we are not at all in between Budapest and anywhere in France, so we were thrilled that they came way out of their way to travel north and east to see us.  Now...if we could just get Mike's parents, Uncle Lar and Aunt Bon to come for a visit too...

We had a wonderful time with them.  Our kids loved Drew from the start, especially Shaylee who immediately got into a great conversation with him on the way home from the train station, and from then on was always holding his hand anywhere we went.  Mike and Drew were a huge encouragement to us all with the times to talk, with the things they gave us, and with their interest in our lives here.  And for a super bonus, Mike is a very gifted photographer and blessed us by taking some fun family and individual pictures.  Thanks for coming, Mike and Drew!  It was a blast!

Mike even made scones for us!!!

These were the most delicious scones ever...raspberry!!!

Dinner with Mike and Drew...good food and good conversation.

Playing Ubongo!!

The kids enjoyed watching Mike edit his photos of them.

Shaylee with her new best friend, Drew...and her old one, Mom!!

And then at the end of the month we were blessed by Ed's parents coming to us again!  This was their second visit to us and this time they were here for two weeks.  We had such a great time with them.  They actually came to babysit...yes, that's right.  You know you have amazing parents when they willingly travel a good 24 hours door-to-door one direction to take care of your kids! :-)  They were with the kids for the first of the two weeks, Tuesday through Saturday night while Ed and I were enjoying some really nice alone time.  Actually, we were alone together with about 100+ others at a Josiah Venture Marriage Retreat, which definitely needs its own blog post.  :-)

The second week of his parents' visit, we enjoyed great times of one-on-one coffee dates with them, and then some great two-on-two times too!  And, of course, the kids reveled in their time with Grandpa and Grandma...cherishing the times with them and making some great memories.  Grandpa still wins their hearts with good old fun...laughing with them, playing games, being involved in their lives, and even getting down on the floor and playing "dog"!  And Grandma always takes such good care of us all.  I will always be amazed, Mom, how you braved the unknown and the language barrier and went grocery shopping here with just Dad, and that you were even quite successful in it...even to the point of making the best cinnamon rolls ever.  Of course, they tasted as good as yours always do, but the fact that you did it all in a foreign country with only a small dictionary to help you at the store, made them taste even more delicious!  :-)

We love you, Mom!

You've just GOT to see how this GRANDPA still plays "dog"!

And he's even over 60!!!

The excitement on the kids' faces is PRICELESS!!!

I don't know what they were talking about, but it was deep.

Celebrating Shaylee's birthday together with Pavel and Jelka too.

Enjoying our favorite pancakes at our favorite breakfast place in town.

Dad and Mom, we are so grateful to you for coming here to help us, to take care of our kids, and to just spend time with us.  We love you both so much, and love the memories we have of our time with you.

Quarantined at Christmas

It was a most unusual Christmas holiday for our family...all two weeks of it!  It's a good thing we 7 enjoy each other, since we've been "alone" together for this time...except for a few brave visitors who came to hang out with us.

Shaylee broke out with the chicken pox on Wednesday, December 19th, the day of her preschool Christmas program.  Fortunately we noticed that she had a fever on Tuesday evening and through the night, so didn't send her to school that day.  Throughout the day on Wednesday the spots appeared, so we were thankful she was home and not singing in her program.

We had already planned a quiet Christmas together with just our family, how we normally celebrate over here, but had planned some outings and visits to friends during the week after.  However, on Christmas Day, while playing a fun new game (thanks, Juchems!!!), we discovered that our second round of quarantine had started with some unwanted critters on some unsuspecting heads...yes, head lice. :-(  We had been warned by the kids' teachers right before break to check the kids' heads as lice was going around their school.  Never having dealt with this before, we were a bit creeped out, and immediately everyone started feeling itchy.  We performed thorough searches on all seven of our heads, and were happy that we found the culprits on only two heads...and were so thankful that those heads belonged to two boys, who must be much easier to treat than girls!

I looked in our bathroom box that we still had never completely unpacked since our move from the states, and "happened" to have a bottle of lice killing shampoo!!  Who just has that??  So, we treated both boys and then buzzed all the boys in the family, just in case.  Plus, I read and read and read about those things online, and now feel very educated about the life cycle of the louse and how to get rid of them.

So, throughout the rest of our break, we've been "alone" together:  reading books, playing games, watching movies, doing school projects, baking/decorating cookies, and playing LEGOS.  We had to cancel the rest of our social plans and stay at home.  I believe that we are now lice-free...having done a second treatment of the two boys and still continuing to give thorough head checks more often than anyone wishes!   I did have a dream just last night that I pulled about 40 of the creatures from my own head...UGH!!!  Go ahead and scratch your head now...I KNOW it's itching!

It has been a blessed Christmas, and we have been truly thankful for our family as we've enjoyed such times together.  I guess I shouldn't classify our time as quiet, since quite often the house is noisy and chaotic, and we're solving sibling troubles, and the hockey sticks are constantly swinging in the foyer, and it seems that someone is always calling out for help with something...but we KNOW we are blessed.  We are blessed with our health, our family bond, our love for each other.  We are blessed by our people back home (YOU) who encourage us, and continue to support us.  And most of all we are blessed by our Saviour, blessed with the opportunity to celebrate His birth, blessed by the chance to know Him personally!  All glory to Him no matter the circumstances!!

Today...

Today I am thankful for 

sweet boys and nice neighbors!  

Gage asked our neighbor if he could pick some of her roses for me!  :-)   D'akujeme,  Emilia!!!

He brought me a dozen red ones and a few yellows.  Now I'm wishing I had learned more about flower arranging from my Grandma Heiniger!   :-)

EXIT Tour comes to BARDEJOV!!!

WOW!  What an amazing, too-hard-to-adequately-express-via-BLOG-post week it has been!  EXIT Tour was here, and for the first time we experienced what goes on during these JV outreach events that have been happening in Eastern Europe for a few years already...I think since 2008 in the Czech Republic.  Our hearts are full after this week.  We've seen God at work...speaking through these lecturers, moving in the hearts of the people here, building relationships between our youth group kids and the "unchurched" kids from these schools, and seeing the band members and lecturers getting to know the school kids and being a testimony to them...and it has been so exciting!

Ed and I went every morning into the schools with the EXIT Team, into a different public school each day.  The entire EXIT Team included our JV Slovakia EXIT team (members of our SK team who have committed to the role of making this tour happen), part of the JV Czech EXIT team (3 guys who came to mentor and walk alongside our Slovakia team as they are learning the ropes), the United Kingdom band called Faith Child (an amazing group of four guys who brought the message of Jesus via music, lecturers/presenters from 4 different countries who held seminars each day about their specific topic of prevention, and our local church youth group helpers who committed to the details of set up/tear down and after-school outreach events.

Can I just tell you how exciting this part alone was...that we were working together with people from 5 different countries, all different backgrounds and denominations, and different areas of expertise and/or experiences to bring the incredible Gospel of Jesus Christ to the youth of our town who desperately need Him???

So many kids heard the clear message of the Gospel this week, and so many have already responded with a decision to follow Jesus, or with an answer on a survey that they have a 5-out-of-5 interest to hear more about Jesus!  Now our youth group will be following up with those kids: inviting them to our youth meetings, getting them involved in small groups, and welcoming them to other outreach events.  Things are happening here, and we are thrilled and blessed to be a part of it all!

This is Tom and Caroline Graumann.  Tom was rescued as a Jewish child from the Holocaust on a Winton train...an incredible story!!  His talk was entitled "Twice Saved Child" as he became a Christian, too, as a child, after his escape from Czechoslovakia at the age of 8.  He never again saw his mom, dad or younger brother who all died in concentration camps.    This week he boldly shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ in these schools during his talk.

Zac Shepperson (our fellow American team member on the left) gave a seminar on "The Road to a Healthy Family".  This was an amazing talk full of foundational Christian values including purity, character, marriage, integrity, and raising children.  He was able to share the Gospel with the students who choose to stay afterwards to hear...and they stayed...and heard...and many accepted Jesus into their own lives!!!

The girl on the left is Sindy, a former prostitute who came to share with the students her story, and to tell the truth about the lies and dangers of pornography.  God is using her in mighty ways to tell the students that the world is feeding them a bucketful of lies!!!  And praise the Lord, she is proclaiming and spreading the truth!

This is Noro.  Noro is Roma (Gypsy) who was saved out of a life of drugs and prison when he accepted Jesus Christ into his life.  He shared this powerful testimony to these kids.  They listened and many followed his lead by accepting Christ into their lives too.

And this is Faith Child, the band from the UK.  They were incredible musicians...and tons of fun!  They gave a concert every morning in the schools before the students broke off to the seminars.  They definitely set the mood for the day with endless energy!

Every afternoon the lecturers, band members, and team came to our house for a coffee break.  They rested here and had some time to relax and snack and check their email and Facebook!  Plus we got a chance to know them that way!

Michael, the leader of the band, was great with our kids!

Sindy speaks for an organization called Pink Cross, dedicated to exposing the lies about pornography.

Gage had fun teaching Noro how to play a card game...in Slovak!

The perks of having Slovaks in the house includes having "professional" help with homework!  :-)

Every afternoon was an outreach event for all students from the schools to come to...this day was soccer day.

And the final night was the Grand Finale...the BIG concert.  We think that about 500 people attended, an amazing night for Bardejov!

And because the concert happened to be on Jaylin's 8th birthday, Michael picked her up and put her on the stage to dance with them all during one of their songs...it was the perfect birthday "gift" for her!  :-)

Thank you, Faith Child, for coming to Bardejov, and for being a huge asset to our EXIT Tour!  Thank you for bringing the message of Jesus to our town!