Our latest prayer letter

You can check out a new website I've recently found and download our latest prayer letter.

http://www.4shared.com/dir/14820581/97159d64/sharing.html

Please let me know if you have any issues with this link, it's the first time I'm trying this:)

Hope you enjoy!

Pictures of Prague

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=128099&id=787049656&l=74b94e77e1

Thought you might be interested in scrolling through our pics from our vacation.

More Catch-up

So it's been a while again since I've blogged and wanted to post a couple pictures that have been special for us.

These are of Miriam:

First Day of School

Last Day of School

She's looking forward to second grade already and can't wait for school to start. We are so proud of her. She has a math workbook for 2nd grade that we got from a sale and she wants to work in it so she can be ahead of everyone when school starts.

I still have pics to post from her 'heart' birthday party. I'll probably load them as a link from our shutterfly page.

We had to say good-bye to some good friends of the family. Our kids have been playing together for 4 years. That's more than half their lives. These pics were from the day before they left. Trevor, Maggie, Zachary and Carissa are greatly missed by our family.

We received a wonderful package from my mom which contained lots of goodies for the whole family and beautiful birthday gifts for Miriam. She's really into horses and barbies right now so that cool. She's actually saving money right now for a boy barbie.

We got together with some other couples for a BBQ night at the McLemore's house. We all ate well and had a great time hanging out together. The kids love playing and being silly with Justin and Oliver.

Another highlight of June for us was getting to meet our friends new little boy, William Lee Custer. The Custer's have been in Budapest as long as we have and are good friends. We've been so excited for arrival of this little baby and had a great time getting to meet him.

And just a couple final pictures of the kids playing outside during some of the brief times when it hasn't been raining.

It's been a good summer break so far. The kids are involved in a program at school learning about the Roman Empire and they love it. Miriam dresses in Toga and Zach takes his sword, shield and breastplate everyday. I've been sorting through pictures to continue to scrapbook and try to catch-up on that too. Aaron has been holdling Open Gym at the school 4 days a week and working on some school projects as well. We are excited to celebrate 4th of July with friends and then go on vacation to Prague. There is a Crusade family there traveling and have offered their apartment to other Crusade families to use at no cost. We are still trying to decide whether to drive or take a bus there. It will be good to get away. Many have told us how beautiful Prague is.

Long Time Since I've Blogged

I know it's been a long time since I've blogged, and it's not that there hasn't been stuff to blog about, but I've sort of got hooked on the Facebook world. I did want to take a second and kickstart our blog by sending out a huge thanks to some friends of ours at our Home Church, Patterson Park. We received a box from them yesterday with lots of goodies in it. The box was so great that I actually need to update our list of things we miss because they shopped so well.

As you can tell the kids were really excited, so much so that they labeled the Mac and Cheese with their names. We had a great time opening the boxes and are enjoying all the fun things that were sent. I have some new material too to start some new quilting projects. What a way to bless us over here and let us know that you are thinking and praying for us!

Please check back as I will try and update some of the fun things that have happened in the last couple of weeks, including Miriam finishing up 1st grade and her birthday party.

Interesting New Driving Restrictions

We recently received an e-mail alerting us of this new decision about driving in town. Many have thought it was bizarre, but it's real. Our license plate ends in an even number, so today we were okay because of the warnings, and next week is the 18th, but after that we'll see. Hopefully the restrictions will be lifted! Just thought this was something interesting to share with you, not something they would ever think of trying in the States.
Smog alert issued, road traffic limited in Budapest
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky issued an open-ended smog alert in Budapest effective 11 am on Sunday, imposing restrictions on road traffic. During the smog alert, vehicles whose licence plates end in an even number should be used only on even dates of the month and vehicles with odd numbers may only be used on odd dates, the statement said. Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky issued an open-ended smog alert in Budapest effective 11 am on Sunday, imposing restrictions on road traffic. During the smog alert, vehicles whose licence plates end in an even number should be used only on even dates of the month and vehicles with odd numbers may only be used on odd dates, the statement said. The alert was introduced after the concentration of dust floating in the air has exceeded the limit of 100 microgrammes per cubic metre for two days in a row, on Friday and Saturday. Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany urged ministries and state offices on Sunday to strictly adhere to the regulations of the smog alert, government spokesman David Daroczi said. Public transport vehicles, police, ambulance and fire services and vehicles of the diplomatic corps are exempt from the restrictions. On Sunday and Monday, police will not issue fines for violators of the smog alert restrictions, police spokeswoman Eva Tafferner said. However, there will be roadside checks throughout the city and on main roads entering Budapest and officers will warn drivers of the restrictions, she added. According to weather forecasts the dust concentration will decrease in the coming days.

Great Are You

I was listening to this song tonight and thinking about the words. It just made me silent thinking about how much He loves us even though we are so small. It puts a lot into perspective.

That Sneaky Tooth Fairy

So, as you can tell from the picture Miriam lost another tooth. Today was the first day back to school and she woke up so excited. She has told me she missed her spelling tests, timed math tests and recess. Her top front tooth, plus two lower teeth have been wobbly, and we've teased her about needing to pull the top one, but this morning she came downstairs and showed us that she pulled it out after we put them to bed last night. She was quite excited to come down and show us, especially since it was a surprise to us. She was getting ready to go up and see what the Tooth Fairy left her when Aaron called her over to talk to her for a second, so I could go up and put the coins in her tooth pillow. Thank goodness Aaron's wallet had some 100 forint coins in and I was able to get everything arranged before they made it upstairs. She was quite excited with what was left in her pillow and that the Tooth Fairy made it there. I know one day these things won't be so important, but right now it's a lot of fun watching them use their imagination.

Happy Birthday

I wanted to include these videos, but unfortunately they all have to be done seperately from Youtube, unless someone else knows a better way, open to suggestions....
Just some fun things from the holidays.

Coming to the Tree

Sentimental moment

Away in a Manger

Happy Birthday Jesus

Our Christmas

We have been so busy this month and then just enjoying each other that I have not taken the time to blog about what we have been doing. I wanted to take some time and just share what we've been up to lately.
We put up our tree and the kids got to put all the decorations up this year. Usually in the past I let them put them on and then later I re-arrange a few so they're not on top of each other, but this year they did a great job, and had so much fun doing it.

December 12th was the Middle School/High School Concert. We enjoyed going and seeing the older kids perform traditional and more contemporary Christmas music. I think my favorite was the hand-chimes. It doesn't seem very common to hear those anymore.

December 16th was the Elementary Concert. It was the first time we've actually attended, but since we have a first grader now we wouldn't miss it. Miriam was definitely in her element and loved every moment. Before the concert started she got to hang out with her friends for a bit. Here's a photo of Miriam with Maggie (left) and Lizi (middle)...two of her best friends.

The next day I had the privilege of helping with Miriam's class Christmas Party. Zach also got to be involved which was a lot of fun. We played Christmas Bingo with M&M's, made our own Reindeer, and had an ornament hunt around the room. We finished our party with green tree shaped cookies and red kool-aid. We had a lot of fun.

We went to a friends house for dinner one night and they let us borrow Home Alone 1 and 2. The kids had a lot of fun cuddling on the couch watching a new Christmas favorite.

December 20th - Velence Orphanage Trip - The youth from church and students at school were collecting blankets and toys to deliver to an orphanage about 40 minutes outside of town with about 94 kids. The couple in charge arranged to have a verse stitched into each blanket for the children. Romans 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It was a special thing to be part of. Most of the kids at the orphanage are between 6-20 years of age. This is an orphanage that the high-schoolers have visited several times so many of them had relationships with children already. Miriam found the little girl that received her present and another student translated for her as she tried to talk to her. She had bought her a bead set and she was able to work with the girl on starting a necklace. Miriam is so social it is not difficult for her to try and talk to people she doesn't know. Here are some pictures of the day. We got home from the Orphanage Trip around 1ish, found three packages from grandparents at the school and then got ready for the Christmas Program for the church later that night. It was raining a bit, so that's why there are little white dots, but here is our family photo after the service.

The kids really liked the candlelite part singing Silent Night.

I had to take a picture of this because Miriam said it looked like chocolate:) That's my girl!

On Monday we made a family favorite - Orange Cookies. The kids got to wear their aprons and they were watching the test cookie as the oven worked it's magic and the kids cleaned the beaters.

On the 23rd we celebrated Christmas Adam (day before Christmas Eve) with our Campus Crusade family. It was a nice night of food, singing and hanging out with some friends. I felt like after this night Christmas morning was just around the corner....getting excited.

A special pudding treat we enjoy, for breakfast Christmas Eve.

They got to open one present - which was their new PJ's....

Setting out Christmas cookies and milk for Santa...Miriam made us promise that we wouldn't eat the cookies. We didn't. In the morning she came down and quickly checked the plate and said "He must be real, he's really real"!

We were so blessed by having packages arrive before Christmas. Our tree was beautiful and we had a great time opening presents.

Aaron saved a special treat for Miriam for her Christmas breakfast - Froot Loops. She was so excited, this is one of her favorite cereals. Here are two of the things they received. Most of our fun was recorded on video so I don't have as many pics of opening presents.

We are started a tradition this year of making a birthday cake for Jesus to help us refocus and remember what the holiday is really about. We talked about what we could bring Jesus as our gift to Him this year.

On Christmas Day 'The Tale of Despereaux' was released. We considered going on Christmas Day and thought it was nice to be home and move at our own pace. We went on the 26th and had the mall to ourselves. The only things open at the mall were the McDonald's and the movie theatre. Zach has been seeing previews for this movie for quite a while and really wanted to see it. It was a good movie.

This has become one of Zach's favorite movies, and if you see him ask him to do his wall-e and eva impression. It's something you'll remember!

Another favorite is Kung-Fu Panda. On Sunday the kids had Ramen noodles for dinner and I gave them their 'kid' chopsticks to use. They didn't miss a bite.

We have been looking for an electric griddle for a while now because we like when Aaron makes french toast for us. Here is Zach 'helping' Aaron with his first batch on the new griddle.

On Monday we got our Christmas package from Grandma Martha and we got some cool stuff. Zach got a football guys set in of course 'Ohio State Buckeyes'. It is so much fun!

Miriam got more clothes for her American Girl doll named 'Miriam'. We had fun getting her dressed up and changing her clothes.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Langs

Fun at the Market

Today Zach and I were able to go to the Covered Market in town with Pam and baby Thomas, who was an angel the whole time. Slept except for eating, then went back to sleep:) We had a really good time walking around, shopping and eating. Zach was a perfect gentlemen as the ladies shopped, talked and got to hang out. I can't mention the things I purchased in case family reads this :), but I got some great deals...what a treat. Zach found some cool wooden swords so he had a sword fight with another kiosk worker and then bought one for him and Miriam, they had their names carved on the handles. Here are a couple pics of our fun from the morning!

Silent Night.wmv

Here is the second video, it's more up close, hopefully it's not too grainy so you can actually see this kids. Plus you should get a giggle out of the little guy up front. For once it wasn't Miriam trying to get the mic.

When He Comes.wmv

Here is the first video from the kids singing this morning in church. Zach is sort of in the middle and Miriam is all the way to the left. They had a good time.

We Love Packages

We recently got two packages from good friends Ben and Carmen Thomas. We got some staples and some fun things. The kids have had fun with the Leapfrog cards and I'm so ready to dive into chocolate. The diet is already shot for the weekend with Thanksgiving food and desserts.

Thank you guys for the package. Thank you for the picture of the boys and the picture from Oliver, it's on our fridge!

Happy Thanksgiving

The day is almost over, but I wanted to make sure I took a moment to say how thankful I am for so many things in my life. I'm thankful for the family I have, here and in America. I'm thankful for the way God continues to provide for our family. We had 7 other people over for Thanksgiving today and really just got to relax and enjoy the day together. What's fun is our kids always think that when adults come over they are also here to spend time with them....and most of the time they are. We appreciate and love how our friends love on our kids.


I'm attaching a link to my facebook photos, and according to the fine print at the bottom of the webpage you shouldn't have to have facebook to access them. I hope it works:


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70494&l=e9077&id=787049656


I can happily say the dishes are all done...and I think I'm siging off and going to bed, it's almost 11:45 and I think I'm ready to get some good rest. No baking tomorrow!

Oh What a Boy!

Zach is all boy! He was outside playing the other day and somehow discovered this huge worm which he was happy to bring and show to me and Miriam. He played with the worm like it was a pet for almost 15 minutes. Had him sliding down the pumpkin out front and pretending he had a voice and was talking. It's always an adventure having a little boy. We just re-discovered a plastic sword we brought back from the States and it has a lot of tape on it so it will last a little longer.

All Saint's Day

When we first moved to Lithuania back in 2000 one of the first cultural things we experienced was All Saint's Day. There was one of the largest cemetaries almost right behind our apartment building. We were taken there by some friends and it was one of the prettiest things I had seen. Rows and rows of candles and flowers laid out to remember loved ones or friends that has passed away. It didn't seem scary or strange, just serile. This year I thought the kids were old enough to go with me to the cemetary. We past by it on the way to the store and they saw a few candles and when asked if they wanted to go back with me they seemed pretty excited. After dinner we walked around looking at the dates, flowers, pictures and candles. Poor Miriam even burned her finger on one trying to move it to see a date. I thought Zach might be a bit scared, but he was running around, asking me to come look at things. I hope it was a neat experience for them.

I think this was just a memorial wall with many names and dates. I thought it was pretty.

'Where should I go next?'

Miriam thought these flowers and candles were 'so beautiful'.

Now we Know Why the Printer Won't Work

Someone forwarded this to me today, and it made me laugh, so I wanted to pass it on. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. The video clip is above.

Middle School Service Project Skit

I've been meaning to post the video of the middle schoolers doing the skit that they presented from the service project weekend from October 10-11.

Fall Festival

Last night we had our Campus Crusade Fall Festival. It is an open invitation so everyone in the community is invited to celebrate with us. Miriam and Zach had a good time dressing up, playing games and doing a candy parade collecting candy from Staff members as they sat in their offices. I was happy with the kids costumes this year. Instead of Miriam being a princess, ballerina or some other 'girlie' thing I suggested going as spiderwoman. She loved the idea and it was a huge hit. She looked so cute.

We got a little group pic of her with some of her friends.

Zach was going to go as a basketball player or a football player, but then we thought of something with a cape. With only an hour before we were supposed to leave we put together Underdog. Aaron tried to put black socks on his ears but they wouldn't stay.

Here are just some other fun pics:

Yes, she got an apple

Aaron and Zach waiting for a turn in line

A happy Zach putting candy in his bag

Beth Moore Online Videos

Friends of ours added this onto their blog and I was excited because I've been trying to think of something to do for more study time.

Beth Moore offers a great audio bible study broadcast weekly...go to this link... it's updated every monday... right now she's doing romans & talking about the stronger & weaker brothers... good stuff!

http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Living_Proof_with_Beth_Moore/

Lunch with the Ladies

On Wednesday I got to host a lunch for Melissa. She was only in town for 1 week to visit her sister's new baby and spend time with family, but we were able to steal her away for a few hours. We had probably 8 ladies over for lunch, but we didn't remember to take a picture until almost the end. Oooops! I know it's a big smile, but I was excited that Mel was here for a bit. She left this morning, but it was so good to have some good hang out time with her. Like the good old days:) We miss you Mel, but so glad we had you again for a week.

Destroying Pumpkins

You would think that at this time of year we'd be showing videos and pictures of decorating pumpkins and getting ready for the Fall, but that's not the norm here. Back in September Aaron had his school retreat, and on the way home they were able to stop at a pumpkin farm. He came home with one huge pumpkin and a smaller one. The larger one has been developing some nasty spores and not looking so pretty on the porch with big black spots all over. Aaron asked Zach yesterday if he would like to destroy the pumpkin yesterday. Zach's face lit up and he ran upstairs to grap his tools. The picture shows how much fun they had punching holes through with the mallot and kid hammer. They had to break the whole thing apart to find one of Zach's screwdrivers that was pounded into the pumpkin. You can see from the last picture what the poor pumpkin looked like after its demise. Miriam was amazed at how many seeds were inside.

Funny Moment

Yesterday we were in church and we were getting ready for communion. Zach turned around to watch others and saw one of the moms at church dressed for Scouts. Zach looked at me and said in a very loud whisper "Mom, I think that girl behind us is a cop!" I told her later and the best part to her was that Zach called her a girl:)

Just Hangin' Around

Wanted to share a couple good pics of the kids just doing kid things. Zach just discovered this costume that we found for him this summer.

Miriam loves doing art projects. On Saturday they got the modeling clay out and Miriam created this collage of a little girl eating a strawberry and many other things too many to name. She is very creative!

Miriam's New Bike

Miriam got a new bike a few weeks ago. She's been practicing a little more, but so excited that she finally has a big girl bike. She had really wanted her Little Mermaid bike from the States, but when she saw this one it had a princess on it, so she was happy!

Pulling the tooth

I don't think I ever published this short clip of Miriam actually pulling her own tooth.

Big Kid Blues

How does that sound? I feel like I'm in this world of 'where are my little kids'? Miriam is in 1st grade, and loving it. She had her first spelling test last week. Huge deal, she did great and is off to a great start on this weeks words. But, on the flip side, she's growing up so quickly. She doesn't ever want me to walk her up to her classroom, she wants to me say good-bye outside. I always knew she was independent, but by the first week of school she was asking me if I had to walk her up. Then there is Zach. He's home with me all day, which is great in itself too. It gives him time to rule the roost so to speak, but he's also acting like he can rule me. Now that's it's just him home during the day it's like he thinks he should get 100% of my attention, okay maybe 80%. He does enjoy going and playing with his cars and stuff in his room. He's been quite the mouthy boy lately with me too, so I'm trying to ask God to give me patience and consistency with him so that I'm not letting my guard down, but also not harping at him all the time. He's been really fun to be with some days though. I've found us just sitting around building LEGO's for an hour or so, and he's actually getting to the age where he's playing with his LEGO's and not destroying them in 1/2 hour. Anyone out there remember Zach the lego-maniac?
I know we never savor the times we have with our kids and then we look back and wonder how that time passed by so quickly. Sort of in one of those moments.

Blog Cookbook

One of the fun things of living overseas is trying to make most things you like by scratch because you can't run to Kroger, Meijer or other grocery stores and pick up what you would like. One of the moms here has begun a blog cookbook http://cookbookforhungary.blogspot.com/ which many people are contributing to and it's all with ingredients we can get here. I finally put two crock-pot recipes on there so I feel like I am part of it. Check it out and see what you think of our recipes.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Sunday night the kids got to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was one of my favorite books growing up. The kids really liked all the funny things that happened to the other children. But unfortunately one thing 'stuck' with Miriam. In the movie there is a little girl named Violet who is a champion bubble gum chewer. In the factory she is shown a piece of bubble gum that is a three course meal and so she wants to try it and puts her current piece of gum behind her ear. Well, this morning as I'm watching Miriam get ready for school I notice her pulling something out from behind her ear. Yesterday she had received a piece of gum at school for good behavior and that's where she decided to put it when she was done with it. She even slept with it there, it actually was not too messy, just a little sticky back there, but we talked about how that's not the best place for us to put our chewing gum. There's always something interesting happening around here.
Remember you can leave a comment by clicking on the word comment under this post.

How was our Summer?

So, I've heard several times from a couple friends that I haven't blogged anything from the summer, and I know I didn't, but we were having so much fun. Hopefully you're checking this because you either got our e-mail about final updating this, or you've received our prayer letter and want to see some pics from our time in the States. This is probably going to be the longest entry I've ever posted, but I thought it might be a fun way to re-cap how much fun our summer was.
You know we arrived in the States via Pittsburgh, and had a couple weeks of waiting for a car and having people pick us up so we could spend time with them. We had fun at Grandma Martha's watching the girls play softball, spending Father's Day with family and good food, and playing outside in the sprinklers.

We went out to lunch with the kids "Where a Kid can be a Kid". Yes, that's right, we went to Chuck E. Cheese. Miriam and Zach had already been asking so it was fun to let them run around and play whatever they wanted. There was even one employee who would, at random moments, throw handfuls of single tickets in the air and let the kids scurry around to collect as many as fast as they could.

We were a little nervous around Chuck E., but I did get Miriam to pose with me, but I don't think she was very happy about it...

We always enjoy getting to spend 4th of July in the States, spending it with family and seeing fireworks. The kids had a great time running around and playing waiting for the show to begin.

A couple days later was my birthday. I had a lot of fun watching the kids, especially Miriam, help my mom make me a family speciality called eggcakes. It's something my grandpa used to make for me when I was little, and my mom has continued the tradition with my kids. Miriam really likes them.

After church we went to my favorite restaurant, Olive Garden. The kids loved it because they could get Macaroni and Cheese and free refills. It's always the place I love to go, I even got gift cards for my birthday so we could go back later. After lunch we drove to Bellefontaine and spent the afternoon with family.

We went to dinner with Grandpa and Grandma at an Irish Pub. The kids had a good time walking along the creek and looking at the ducks...

Center of Science and Industry...

Nationwide Children's Hospital puts on a free night for it's employees and we were able to accompany my mom. It was a lot of fun for the kids to run around and try experiments and different gadgets and gizmos.

If you can't see it, there is a car on the other side of this pulley. WOW Zach is strong.

Aaron's sister Rachel wanted to organize a special picture of the cousins...it was something really neat to have.

The kids had a sleep over that night and got to watch some movies. Miriam was the last one to fall asleep because there was a new movie she was watching. I think it was 'The Bee Movie'. Aaron said when the movie was done she sat up and shook her fist in the air like she had won the battle of not falling asleep.

One of the biggest bashes this summer was the big birthday party we had for the kids. Zach picked Ohio State for his theme, and Miriam had a Luau Party. We had a blast getting ready for this and the whole family was able to come. Our sweet neighbor let us use the pool for the party. The kids had fun playing, eating, swimming, doing the limbo and opening presents. It was a jam packed day!

The day after the party we decided it would be fun to go to Young's Dairy Farm and hang out for the afternoon. So, we got to go to Patterson Park Church in the morning and then headed off to Yellow Springs for some sun, ice cream, putt putt, and goats....I think we did almost everything that could be done at Young's, except the driving range.

On of the fun things for Aaron was to get to play disc Golf with his brother. They played on courses in Columbus, Marysville and Bellefontaine. It was a good time for them to get to hang out and the kids had fun playing on the playgrounds in Bellefontaine when they used that course.

The church we normally attend while in the States is Xenos, which is right around the corner from my moms house. The year they had their Summer Institute that Aaron was able to attend where he heard speakers like Mark Driscoll, D.A. Carson and many others. If you are interested in hearing of the talks just follow the below link:

http://www.xenos.org/teachings/db/index.php?BibleBook=conference

We were treated to the Columbus Zoo by my step-brother and his family. The kids love to play together. The kids got to ride the ponies, the train, the boat, play at the playground and have a yummy picnic lunch before watching the bird show. We really packed it in that day. Went home exhausted and happy!

My mom and I enjoy going to Amish Country in Ohio. The kids like going because they get to see the horse and buggies, ride the train and get yummy things to eat. We usually get side-tracked somewhere along the way doing other things too and this time we went through a town with huge garage sales. We of course stopped being the thrifty folks that we are and had a great time finding some deals. Here are some pics of the kids and grandma.

Cooling down after a long ride home!

Aaron and I were able to get away for a Date Day. What a gift! My mom was taking the kids fishing in the morning at Hoover Dam (they had practiced casting in the front yard a lot), then doing some shopping, and then going to a Karoake night at her church in that night. Aaron and I got up, headed to Jeffersonville Outlet Mall until around 2:30. Got to shop and walk around without saying 'get over here', 'stop touching that', 'no, we're not getting that today' and actually got to talk to each other. We drove back to Columbus, checked in the the kiddos and grandma and then went to an early dinner at Olive Garden, thanks to a birthday present from Caleb and Kristen, and to a movie and more shopping at Easton. It was so good to get to spend the whole day with him.

After grandma took them fishing, they had the bug for it. They begged for us to take them again, so we headed off to Sharon Woods park. We were trying to be as patient as we could, but the fish weren't biting. We were determined we weren't leaving until we caught something so this was our prize. Everyone was so proud of our little fish. We played at the playground afterwards and I almost made myself sick swinging with the kids.

The Ohio State Fair is a tradition in my family. We enjoy taking our kids now, especially on the Family Day. Kids got in free, ride bracelets were buy 1 get 1 free and we were 1/2 price. What a deal. Leaves money left over for yummy fair food. I think the kids rode every ride they could possibly ride, and without fear...I was so impressed. One of the highlights was playing in the Ohio State sports Area. As we looked around we spotted Brutus and I had my Buckeyes go get a picture with him. We are going to print this and hang it in Zach's OSU room.

Our final place before we left was Pittsburgh since that's where we were flying out of. We stayed in the hotel that's at the airport, and it was such a treat. The beds were so fluffy we decided to experiment with some Lang acrobatics.

We wanted to try and hit an Olive Garden as the last dinner, but the traffic was horrible. But one of our other favorite restaurants is Bob Evans, so we had a good time having that as our final meal. The hostess was nice enough to take a picture for us. We found a back room in a restaurant at the airport and were able to have a nice breakfast and catch some final snapshots before going through security.

We praise God for our summer and the great opportunities we had to spend time with family and friends. Thank you for your prayers as we continue to transition to life back in Budapest.

Zach's 5th Birthday

What a group of kids! We celebrated Zach's 5th Birthday last night with 12 other kids. We celebrated in a prehistoric way with a dinosaur theme. I attempted to make a cupcake cake in the shape of a dinosaur, became paleontologist's looking for dinosaur eggs filled with dinosaur shaped gummies, drew chalk dinosaurs on the driveway and had fun playing around the house. Zach opened lots of presents...I think we can definitely call him a lego-maniac, and he got some fun cars and a large box of dino-bones that when put together create 2 large dinosaurs.


The Dinosaur Cake

Miriam drawing her dinosaur

Zach opening some presents

On Zach's birthday on Tuesday we went to his favorite park and had some fun play time on the bike ramps.

Coming to America

I can’t believe we’ve been here for more than a week already. If you’ve received our e-mail you know that we had an interesting time in the JFK airport. I’ll give a brief recap…We left Sunday afternoon after packing and moving all of our belongings on Saturday to our new home. Our flight was going well, kids were doing well, and we landed on time, but only had an hour and a half to catch our next flight. We ended up sitting on the runway for 2 ½ hours waiting for Air-traffic issues and then weather so that we could taxi into our gate. Needless to say, we missed our first flight to Pittsburgh, we could have been rerouted to Columbus, but missed that flight, and then missed the later flight to Pittsburgh because it was overbooked already. So, they re-booked us onto an 8 am flight to Pittsburgh, but because it was not a Delta issue they did not give us a hotel, so we slept in Terminal 4 for a few hours with our luggage and then finally flew to our destination in the morning. Our family that had been waiting to drive us to Columbus got a good night’s sleep at a nearby hotel and then helped us finish our trip.

We have had a great time getting together with family, meeting new members of our family, seeing nieces play softball, celebrating Father’s Day, and spending time outside. Aaron’s sister put the word out that she needed bikes for our kids, and has received three bikes now for Zach. He thinks this is incredible, he has quite a selection. Miriam has a beautiful Little Mermaid bike to ride. Becky’s mom has neighbors that have a large above ground swimming that have made sure to have everything ready quickly for us so we can swim during the day. We took advantage of that yesterday. It was a little chilly, but the kids didn’t care much.
We’ve been asking you to pray for a vehicle for us to drive for the summer. Thank you for your prayers. We have a car that has been offered, and we went to pick it up tonight, and they discovered right before we go there that there is a crack/leak in the brake line and fluid is leaking. Their mechanic told them that it wouldn’t have taken much for the brakes to completely have gone. We are thankful that it was discovered before we got it and that it can be fixed quickly and we can probably get it in the next few days.
We are looking forward to a relaxing summer and spending time with family and friends. Check out our Picasa album to the side to see our pictures from our time so far, or click on this website: http://picasaweb.google.com/Langspics/TimeInAmerica

Closing up shop

Here are the kids at what we call the "Pirate ship park". We were having some last minute play-times with some friends who are moving back to the States mid-July. We have been a lot of closure things with friends. We had several things going on this week...dance recital, birthday parties, going-away times and just starting to pack up the house. We have boxes and stuff everywhere, ready to get some boxes packed and taped shut to feel like I'm accomplishing something.
We are really excited to move into the next house and to see family and friends this summer while we're back. We are praying for a relaxing time meeting a new family member and re-uniting with everyone else. We are still in need of a vehicle, so please be in prayer with us about that. God is so faithful and continues to show how He is our Provider through big and small things.
Again, please let us know if you would like us to come speak to your small group, bible study or church about what we are doing in Budapest.
See you soon!

Miriam's Ladybug Birthday Party

WOW! What a day! We celebrated Miriam's 6th Birthday by having a ladybug party. We had 14 little kids, 12 adults and a lot of fun! We played bug, bug ladybug, instead of duck, duck goose, had a ladybug search and ladybug races - which got a bit competitive. You can see the picture of Miriam with her ladybug cupcake cakes above. It's tricky making red icing. She got some great gifts for craft time and some she can use for school. Click on the pics to the right to see her party.


My friend Julie also took a couple pictures which you can view at the link below:


http://s300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/zachandjules/Miriams%20birthday%20party/



Life continues to be very busy right now as we prepare to pack our house, move on the 7th of June and fly back to the States on the 8th. I've had folks tell us we are going to need the flight home to rest:) I agree. Please continue to pray with us about transportation for the summer while we are back, nothing is set in place yet.

Busy Weekend!

Miriam posing by the lake at Beethoven Park!



In case you've been checking our blog and thought maybe I wasn't doing it anymore I just wanted to prove you wrong. I know it's only been a month or so, probably longer, but life has been a bit more busy than normal. I've taken on the administrative assistant job at our local church and it is doing a great job of filling my time. I enjoy the work I'm doing, it's all things I can do so far, but it's a little more in my day than normal. An example of what I do is completing the bulletin on a weekly basis. It's been fun feeling like I'm doing a "job" again, something outside of the home, and it's helping me to be more involved in our church. I was helping with the children's ministry where I could, but this is much more concrete.

There seems to be so much going on right now. I have really gone through a time of learning to have more patience with God's timing. He was so faithful to us last year for our housing, and for such a long time this year it seemed we didn't have any leads, and then within one week our housing had been figured out. We are happy with the place that God has provided for us, and it is not even a block from the school. What a blessing that we all can walk to and from the school when we need (3 minutes), to the local store (5 minutes), and to the park (7-8 minutes). We're hoping to give the van a rest for a while. This also means that we were able to enroll Miriam in school for 1st grade. That seems crazy that she is old enough for this, but she is over the moon about it. So thrilled! A lot of her friends will also be in her class.

So now we are in the process of trying to review things and make a decision about our summer. We obviously don't have much time to figure this out so we can get tickets and secure some things in the States, but we would ask for your prayers as we do this. The kids talk about going to the States and seeing everyone at least once a day.



We are preparing for Aaron's birthday on Wednesday, the 7th and then Miriam's on the 22nd. She continues to tell me what kind of party she would like, and fill in all the details for me. If you would like to send a birthday greeting to Aaron I'm sure he would really appreciate that.



Aaron has been coaching track this year, by himself, and they had their big track meet at the American School of Budapest on Saturday. What a day! I had so much fun watching the kids push and work their hardest. Look for some pictures in the next couple days. I think I will probably just start flooding the site with pics since I haven't posted in such a long time.

If you would like to leave a comment, click on the comments right below this. We look forward to hearing from you!

Immigration

Just wanted to send a quick praise that we had our immigration appointment this morning, and we're able to turn in our paperwork for our new visas. We have one document that our Hungarian helper needs to get and take down there, but all of our other paperwork was accepted and we are praying on April 14th we will be able to go pick up new visas that will last until Sept. 13, 2010. We are so thankful that everything went well this morning. We were there for 1 1/2 hours turning in our papers and the kids did so well coloring and sitting to listen to books. That's even with both of them having the beginnings of colds. We are carrying tissues with us everywhere.
One couple from our small group graduated from Texas A&M, so the kids found his big boots Saturday night and tried walking around the house.

Just a good pic

Losing a First Tooth

What a week! Miriam has been wiggling her first loose tooth for a long time, so we've been preparing for it. I made a little pillow for her to put her tooth in and put under her pillow in bed for the tooth fairy, and we were having fun teasing her about pulling it for her. Well, Sunday we were at a going away party for some friends and Miriam fixed a little plate of snacks (grapes, cookies, and a couple strawberries). When we all got in the van she exclaimed to us that she couldn't feel anything with her tongue. Sure enough, while she was eating she swallowed her tooth. She was a little disappointed that she couldn't show it to everyone, but had fun telling all where her lost tooth now was. Last night the tooth fairy must have known that she lost a tooth, but couldn't put it in her pillow because she still left her 100 forint (=.50). She's excited to use this for a ride at the grocery store or for a special treat the next time we go shopping. Zach asked where his 100 ft was, so I explained it was only when you lost a tooth, and he proceeded to show me where he had lost many teeth from the back of his mouth. Very funny!

ICSB Basketball Tournament

An Amazing Transformation Taking Place

We had been planning for some time to cut Zach's hair in a mohawk for the tournament this year, so it was growing unusually long for him. Thursday morning before school Aaron cut his hair and before we left for the games it was my responsibility to make it stand up as best as I could. The next two days didn't have as much height to them, but he had many people impressed with his hair-do. Needless to say, Sunday morning, he was stripped of his punk-look and back to a nice short haircut. We all had fun last weekend watching as our girls and boys team played hard and took second place.

Aaron's basketball season is also done and they completed with an undefeated record. Here's a pic from their last game.

The washing machine and a bucket

You can probably only guess what the day has been like from the title. Our Miriam has a bug, so she has owned the couch the last couple of days. This morning she woke up early with a stomache ache and we came downstairs to lay on the couch. She wanted some cold water, and after about half the cup she leaned over and let it all go. We got out the bucket, began washing clothes, cushions and the floor. She's had a pretty rough day with nothing in her stomache and continuing to feel yucky. She's been able to catch little catnaps through the day which is good, but Zach is definitely missing his playmate. We're just praying that it will pass soon and she'll be feeling better soon. At least this isn't a busy week for us, and we can just stay home.

Here's a cute picture of Aaron and the kids in their cool Disney shirts from family. I got some comfy PJ's, but I think I'll withhold that picture from the blog:)

Is it really February already?

I just can't believe how time is flying. Today is already the 1st of February...it seems like we were just at the conference and living a busy schedule there, and then we've come home and it's been a busy schedule here too. Most importantly, thank you again for praying for our family and the conference. I know I've said it was a hectic time, just trying to keep up the schedule of late nights and early mornings, but it was such a good time for us also. We both really felt it was a good reminder that there is so much going on in the countries around us and here in Hungary that we need to be praying for. Sometimes the ministries here can be so seperate that we don't really know what's happening on campus, or in the family ministries, but we need to be praying for them.
One of the biggest things that was a blessing for us was the children's conference that the kids were involved in. There was a team of about 17 adults, from Bakersfield, CA, who raised their own support to come, buy crafts, curriculum and activities. They taught our kids while we were in meetings and different sessions, and just loved on them and cared for them. I know I was able to go to all the sessions because they were there.
Here is a picture of the new friends our family made while at the conference.

"North" Teachers

If you click on the link at the right of pictures you can go to picasa web albums and see more pictures and video clips from the conference.

Life is staying in full swing since we've been home, not to mention all the laundry to catch up on. I've been trying to focus more on home-school time with Miriam and Zach. Dance has started back up for Miriam, Aaron is in the middle of the basketball season, in fact they have 5 games in the next 2 weeks. Two in Vienna and one in Bratislava, so there will be some traveling in the near future for the team. One of the nice changes in the European Union countries is there is no border control anymore. You can drive straight through border crossings and not have to wait in long lines to have your passport checked. Just an interesting tidbit.

I know I have so much that I want to tell you about the conference and the sessions and just our time in general, but I hope this gives you an idea of how refreshing it was for us and the kids. Our first night there the kids were bouncing on their beds around 10:00 at night telling us how great of a vacation this was, and how much they loved their fun classes. What an answer to prayer!

Please let us know how your New Year has begun and how we can be praying for you.

Thank You!

Where do I begin? Thank you first for your prayers. We've been blessed and surprised already and we've just completed two days of the conference. We arrived here Friday night during daylight, which was huge because some people did the drive in immense fog. We had one glitch after unloading some things from the van when the interior lights wouldn't go out. We of course were concerned about the battery, but they eventually went out. We were pleasantly surprised to find that they combined the children's class from age 3-5, which meant Miriam and Zach were in the same class. Prayer answered. Another huge prayer that has been answered is that Zach is consistently going to childcare and is enjoying it. Miriam continued to tell us the first night that this was a great vacation, and did she get to go back to her fun class again. They have just been going non-stop, so much so that Zach fell asleep at the dinner table tonight after eating his meal. It was good though because we still had another session after dinner to attend. It's 10:30 right now and I'm still waiting on him to fall asleep:)

We have had excellent sessions during the day and are being stretched and "impassionated" as one Albanian MC said. The title for our conference is Passioniate Pursuit: Renewing our Passion, Pursuing our Mission. Our main speaker so far has been a professor from Biola University names Eric Thoennes. Two of the main things I have remembered from him was: Every day remember the gospel and what it means for us, secondly, Peter and John couldn't stop talking about Jesus even when the religious leaders told them to, Acts 4:13 said the leaders knew that Peter and John were uneducated men, but they began to recognize they had been with Jesus. He spoke of what a compliment that would be, Jesus has changed you and others can tell you have been with Jesus. It made me look at myself and ask if people could tell I had been with Jesus. What a good challenge for all of us as believers.

Zach is finally asleep and I'm feeling close behind him. Aaron is off watching the Chargers-Patriots game on the big screen in the auditorium. Hopefully the feed is good and you can actually see the game.

Again, thank you for your prayers and we will try to update one more time at least. We are on a wireless connection in our room and the speed is not high so it is not allowing me to upload anymore pictures. The one above is from our time in the pool yesterday...more to follow later.

All-Staff Conference

I know it's been a while since I've posted, especially since I have a good friend who has reminded me a couple times:) We've had a busy time since school started back from break. Aaron has been in full swing with basketball practice and games (they are still undefeated, woohoo) and trying to prepare for our week-long All-Staff Conference at Lake Balaton (see below link to hotel). He has had to find subs for 4 classes, prepare the lessons and have everything ready for the subs to come in and easily take over his class. We leave tomorrow afternoon and the conference starts with dinner tomorrow night. Please be in prayer with us about many facets of this conference. We are praying for safe travel for all the staff coming from all of Eastern Europe and Russia, restful and encouraging time, good lessons, children's conference goes well, and that all would stay healthy. When we attended the conference last time both our children were sick after the first day and couldn't attend the childcare, so that meant one of us was missing sessions. We are praying they stay healthy and can attend the children's conference, otherwise it will be a strange rerun of last time. Also, that Zach will not have problems going to his class. We initially thought Miriam and Zach would be in the same classroom and that has changed, so he will be in a different room which usually makes things harder for him. Thank you for your prayers!

http://www.clubtihany.hu/english/index.htm

Finding Nemo

Someone gave us passes to a local aquarium, so we invited some friends to join us and we had lots of fun. One of the highlights for the kids was riding the bus to and from the aquarium. They just think that is great. We saw all kinds of animals during our time there: snakes, alligators, marmosets, sharks, and rays - which both the kids loved to pet.

Here are some shots of our very scary animals outside of the Tropicarium

We were trying hard to find all the fish from Finding Nemo, here is the case where the clownfish were. Both the kids were very happy, and loved to see all the wonderful colors that God put on all the animals.

One of the very cool things this aquarium has is a shark tunnel where you walk through the and can see all the sharks and fish swimming above and around you. This is one of the moms' favorite parts also.

Here is a picture of all the moms that went yesterday.

These gals are some of my closest friends in Budapest.

Check out their website!

http://www.tropicarium.hu/_lang/eng/flash_eng.htm

Winter Fun!

Today is Sunday, and as I type Aaron is outside shoveling ice from our sidewalks and driveway. We didn't go to church because it was cancelled due to ice and we were supposed to have a friend over for lunch, but he is also iced-in. It makes for a relaxing last day of break, but if it keeps up we might have a day off tomorrow. Not a bad thought.

We got a lot of snow for New Year's so we spent the first day of 2008 sledding on some hills across our street. We had such a mild winter last year we never got to enjoy snowsuits, but we all got bundled up and headed out. Miriam was our brave snow-queen. She went down the big hill with Aaron and loved it. After she would go down a hill she was on her way back up pulling her sled behind her. Zach just wanted to run and play in the snow, not so interested in conquering as many hills, but we stayed out for at least 2 hours and had a blast. This break has been a lot of fun for us to spend time together as a family.

What have you been up to? We'd love to hear from you...

Open Gym

Here is Aaron and the kids playing at Open Gym yesterday. We had a lot of the floor to ourselves so we had a sword fight with some props we found in the closet. The kids also enjoyed playing basketball, and rolling hoola-hoops. Aaron was trying to get the kids to jump through the hoops while they were rolling and it was a lot of fun to watch them ducking down and running beside the hoops waiting for just the right moment to jump through.

What a Christmas!

I can't believe it's the morning after Christmas already. We had such a nice day together. This was one of the first years we watched the kids anticipate Santa coming. In years past there was concern expressed because we didn't have a chimney for Santa, but this year we actually set out cookies and milk for him. Miriam was a little upset that he didn't drink all of it until I told her that he probably just needed enough to rinse the cookies down. We had a good morning opening presents and getting ready for our meal. We had another couple and their newborn over for the day and enjoyed eating, playing and hanging out. Aaron had taped the Monday Night football game so the guys got to watch that, and I tried a new roll recipe. If anyone has a good roll recipe I would love to try it. I got a breadmaker for my Christmas gift so I'm excited to discover some new bread recipes too.

We officially have walked into the world of toys with little pieces. Miriam got her first set of Polly Pockets yesterday and I can't believe how small the clothes and things are, and Zach got some new Lego trucks and people and those pieces are all over the place too. Just time for some new organization to go into affect. The nice thing was when we were putting the kids down for bed Zach looked around his room and said he had so much stuff he should give some to some other kids. What a good thought!

Our church had a Christmas program this year at the Gellert Hotel in Budapest on December 22nd. It was a nice night to go into town and see the lights. The kids liked going into town, and it was nice to hear some beautiful Christmas music.

Please take a peek at our album at http://picasaweb.google.com/Langspics/December

Go Bulldogs!

Aaron had his first basketball game last night against the American International School and as you can see they were quite happy with the outcome

Busy Day

Well, this is the table runner that I just finished for my friend, Julie. I recently tried my hand at a Holiday Bazaar trying to sell some tablerunners and baby blankets that I had made, but I sold one piece and just broke even. I just thought I would see what I could do, but I don't think people were buying that day. They were all buying little knick-knack things, but it was a good experience.

I am looking forward to getting my hand back into scrapbooking. It's been a while since I opened the box of pictures, so I feel like I have to sort through things and see what I have to work with and go from there. I can't even remember what month/year I'm up to....that's pretty bad!

Let us know what you are up to this holiday season...we'd love to hear from you!

Where is Budapest?

School Christmas Dinner

Dinner out...woohoo! Last night was the Christmas dinner that the school treats the teachers/staff to. We went to this neat buffet-style Hungarian grill. The food was so good, it was the best steak I've had in a long time. One whole section had marinated meat, including chicken, steak, pork, salmon, calamari and small octopus. We didn't indulge in all those:) There were lots of vegetables, soup, salads and breads to pick from too. I've included a link (in English) if you'd like to see what the inside of the restaurant was like. We had a fun bunch of people to sit with too, so it was a great night out and then to come home to kids already asleep in bed was even better.

http://www.trofeagrill.com/trofea-ujbuda-english/index.php

Zach's head continues to heal, it has now scabbed and he is showing no side effects, so that is good. The kids are very ready for Christmas, as I write the kids are pretending to give each other their own toys that they have wrapped in small blankets. They're working on their surprised faces. They need to, especially since they already found a couple of their stocking stuffers.

If you confess

How Wide

By the skin of his forehead

So, this is my first day "blogging" and how strange it feels to be posting things to whomever would like to read them, but I thought it would be appropriate to share a story of how my son got this huge bump on his head. As some know we live in a small town outside of Budapest in Hungary. Most days we are at home, but some days we walk to the school to get the van and run errands. Since Zach has learned to ride a bike he gets to ride his bike to the school while Miriam and I walk. Yesterday was one of the first days I have ever let him ride without a helmet, but I thought with his winter hat it wasn't a big deal. Needless to say we went down a long hill and he started coasting and got about 10-12 houses in front of me and lost his balance. He stopped the fall with his head. I don't think I have run so fast in my life with such a purpose. He stood up screaming holding his head/face, and I had no idea what to expect until I got up to him. Thank God He was watching over Zach and all that happened was this bump. He was more frustrated with me for continuing to ask him his name and how old he was. The nurse at the school cleaned him up and reminded me to keep an eye on him. What a morning! God was definitely watching over us.

Miriam continues to amaze us with her social tendencies. She participates in a children's worship time at church and they performed 2 songs in front of the church. In one of the videos you can see how she enjoys the spotlight as she places the microphone right in front of her. She loves to sing and dance and must have felt right at home on stage. Click on the links below to see the videos. Miriam is obviously the one in the yellow and green:)

I've got to get back to some sewing. I'm trying to finish up a tablerunner for a friend. So, I think I will end here and leave this as my first post.