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.