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