Jaylin is 6!

Yes, the last of our family birthdays for the year. Jaylin was so happy that the Porritt family was here to celebrate her 6th birthday...and then the day they left, Pavel and Jelka came with her special "Jelka cake", so Jaylin was able to celebrate twice this year! The Porritt's wanted to be in on the Slovak tradition of tossing the birthday girl into the air 6 times, but neither Debbi nor I caught her on camera in the air...any of those 6 times! :-() Oh well...maybe next year!

Visitors from the West

Well, at least they came from west of us...but that's not hard to do; we seem to be farther east than most everyone we know. Anyway, last weekend we had some friends come here from the Czech Republic. They are other JV missionary kids: Hannah, Hayley, and Noah Ellenwood, and Caleb and Claire Patty, all in high school, plus Seth Miller and Kari Grissom, our two interns that have now spent 5 months with us here in Slovakia. Jayce and Tate were at JV kids camp with the five missionary kids, and we have been wanting to have them come visit, as our kids love every minute of being with these older kids. It is great spending time with this group, as we are always encouraged to see how these JV kids have all grown up as missionary kids, here in Eastern Europe, and are so mature and fun! They are all just great to show our kids so much attention.

Our kids just love having people over, and are always asking "Who's coming over today?" Our kids have definitely grown quite close to our interns, Seth and Kari, as these two have treated our five incredibly special from the beginning. It is fun to see how much Shaylee especially loves to walk over to Seth to have him pick her up, and how often she asks for "Kari???" These pictures are a great illustration of just how much our kids love these people!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

GUILTY!!!

The Porritt's are here!

We have been enjoying quite an exciting week this week, as our great friends from our home church in Tremont have been here visiting with us! Luke and Debbi Porritt and their four kids came last Sunday, and will be going home again on Tuesday. Those of you who know the Porritt's will not be surprised to hear that the week was full of fun and laughter! What a refreshing time to have great friends with us, to have sweet times of talking, great fellowship, adventures with the 9 kids, and games played almost every night! Our kids loved every minute of it...except for when they had to go off to school! :-( And a huge thank you to all of you who sent goodies along with them to bless us! We are now fully stocked with peanut butter, Parmesan cheese, cooking spray, taco seasonings, onion soups and beef jerky! Thank you!!!

The Porritt family was truly a blessing to us as they spent the time and the money to be with us. Having them see our world over here was so fun, and they saw just about everything in Bardejov. They are quite adventurous as a family, and don't sit around doing nothing very often. Therefore, they were able to see the boy's school, the kid's preschool, our church, meet our pastor and youth group, go grocery shopping and souvenir shopping, tour an old castle ruins, visit a couple of our restaurants, and even visit the grand hotel up the hill to try out their pool! They definitely made the most out of their vacation, and we are so thrilled that they did!

We are currently spending the weekend in Budapest, Hungary where they will fly out on Tuesday. This is also an adventure, and we are loving it! So thank you, Luke and Debbi, for choosing Slovakia for your 10th Anniversary trip, and for blessing us as you did! We have all made some wonderful memories that will never be forgotten!

"Good Morning, Every Morning!"

I learned a lesson from a passerby on the way to Jaylin and Gage's preschool yesterday morning. We were walking the short distance, Shaylee in the stroller, Jaylin and Gage trying to stay warm and to keep up with me, the infamous fast walker of the family. They had earlier been complaining about having to walk, while Jayce and Tate got to ride in the car. Ed is gone this week with the van, so we've been walking a lot; but our neighbor gives the boys a ride in the mornings since he drives his own son to school on that side of town.

While we were walking, a man passed by us who had an obvious limp, as if from birth he had had a deformity of his legs. I greeted him with a "Good morning!" and he replied with a huge smile and a "Good morning...every morning!" I was choked up as I told the kids of his apparent incredible attitude toward life, even with a definite obstacle he faces every morning. I was wanting them to learn from him, so they would change their complaining heart to a grateful, appreciative heart...and then I looked in the mirror and realized that I was the one who most needed to learn that lesson that day! I had been complaining about Ed being gone, and looking at the week "alone" with a negative heart, instead of being thankful for the many many things that were good that morning. So...good morning...every morning...because God is good...all the time!