Wind's in the west

"I'll stay till the wind changes," she said shortly, and she blew out her candle and got into bed." --Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers

And now I'm home.


Thank you to everyone who visited this blog and said hello, for your prayers and thoughts. It's good to be back.

Go west, young (wo)man

I've immensely enjoyed my last weeks in Europe. Unwinding, reading, cool, crisp weather, coffee, chocolate, slow, steady days and late night movies, sleeping in, a brand new baby and Sunday afternoon drives. I went ice skating with the daughter of a team mate, and got my hair chopped off. Now I'm ready to go home. Think of me Wednesday night--it will be Thursday here, and I'll be climbing onto a plane. See you soon!

Here she is ... Lydia Grace

...and the kids and I survived 72 hours in the apartment.

(Isn't technology wonderful... we couldn't visit the hospital, but the kids got to skype the next morning.)

Tea Party, etc.

The heat wave is over! It went from 95 to 65 in two days. Now I'm wearing socks and drinking hot tea. Perfection!

Baby might come today... Carrie is having contractions. Please pray--if she doesn't go into labor by Monday, the doctor will perform a c-section. Very undesirable scenario, especially since she had laser eye surgery done this summer specifically so that Ukrainian doctors would allow her to give birth naturally. They have strange medical beliefs around here...


On a completely unrelated note, but something that has been rolling around in my head, as I prepare for descent into normal, everyday, non-spectacular life:

[Jesus lived] in a family, and, as Betsy Rucucci points out, that’s all he had done at the time the Father proclaimed, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17). What had Jesus done to receive such praise? Nothing but live in his own home, honoring his parents and serving his father’s carpentry business. Apparently that was enough to please God.”

from Sacred Marriage, by Gary Thomas

No baby yet, although there was a false alarm last night. The past week has been slow and steady, full and simple, very refreshing to my mind and spirit. The kids are great, and I have plenty of time for reading... this morning, we lay on the big bed in front of the air-conditioner, listening to Beatrix Potter audio books. A tiny stuffed animal dog ran all over my head and arms. Then we sat at the kitchen table and I drew homemade Rosie Flo pages for the kids to color.

We mostly stay inside the apartment--the weather is hot! (Did I mention that before?) But we did play on the playground one day, and go to church on Sunday, returning home sticky messes. We also spent an afternoon at an air-conditioned mall, window shopping and sighing contentedly as we stood beside an indoor ice rink.

Pray that the baby comes soon--my return ticket is purchased for 2 September. Less than three weeks and I'll leave Europe for the first time in five months. Surreal.

In Kiev!

I arrived safely in Kiev, Ukraine on Thursday--great flights, except for a baggage misunderstanding which meant last-minute scrambling to stuff the contents of my second suitcase into my carry on. Mostly.

It's WARM here, around 98 degrees, and there's not much air conditioning in the apartment. However, I do have a fan at night, which makes it bearable.

We ate at TGI Fridays yesterday, and I had a real, enormous, juicy burger for the first time in four months. It was delicious!

Then we came home and ate watermelon and cirrok, a yummy chocolate cream-cheesy dessert.

Today is Michaela's birthday. She is ten years old. The cake was delicious (she is helping me write this post).

Venezia

Just a quick note... we arrived home safely from an amazing, wonderful four days in Venice. There are too many photos to sort tonight, but I appreciate your prayers as I fly out for Kiev, Ukraine tomorrow at 6 am.

I just finished reading Crazy Love, by Francis Chan...

a few underlined words:

Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.

What are you doing right now that requires faith?

He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through.

"How we live our days is ... how we live our lives." Annie Dillard

Tomorrow is pretty much my last day in Albania. Four months of my life, so long and so short, full of people and places and (mostly) patient continuance in well doing. It will be strange to leave this city behind but music and tides and long walks and notes from friends will bring it back.

I expect everything at home to have stayed the same but of course four months of your lives have gone by, too. Pray for a smooth transition!

Kruje

Another day trip, this time to Kruje, an extremely tourist-friendly town which boasts castle ruins and a large Skanderbeg museum.

Misc.

One of my favorite flats in Durres

Random photo from the market

The scariest flat in Durres... everywhere, you see dolls, teddy bears, stuffed animals, hanging from houses and balconies, to keep away the evil eye. This doll is particularly disturbing, however. Note the garlic braid in the background.

Jane and Michael, supposed to be finishing school, instead, putting on a puppet show with their feet.

Shops are small and crowded. And hot.

At the beach

Here we are at the beach again, me, Abi, and an American friend of Nate's, Bree, who is serving a church in Lushnje for the summer, about an hour away.

The last few photo collages were taken on a two day trip through the south of Albania, my first real venture outside Durres. What a difference! Durres is shume commercialized compared to the rest of the country.

But Vlore… swimming in the Ionian Sea, with water so clear, you could see down twenty feet; gorgeous white-stone beaches, delicious sea food, ancient castles, mountains, grass and trees!

I went with Alket and Alma, the couple who invited us for dinner a few weeks ago; the time away was so relaxing, I came back completely refreshed. I also heard a lot of stories about Albania during the communist regime, since both Alket and Alma grew up during that time.

Everywhere you go, city and country, there are small domed bunkers, mostly filled in with dirt, remains of the communist government’s scare tactics, but I would never had guessed the actual number of bunkers built—700,000!

They told stories of forbidden “capitalist” influences, like wearing a white wedding dress; how every cookie-cutter apartment complex had five floors; how once a week, tenants were required to clean up their neighborhood, which is why city streets are so littered today…

Only ten more days in Durres… July 31, Abi and I are going to Venice for four days with the kids’ mother. Italy is so close—I can’t wait to explore!

Then my flight to Kiev, Ukraine leaves on August 5. Time really does fly.

Berat--the city

Berat

The ruins of a 13th-century castle where Skanderbeg was married

Vlore

The new teacher is here

Abi, from Texas. She's 18, and she'll be taking over when I leave on 5 August. It's so strange to realize I only have 3 more weeks in Albania. I know I will miss the people and places here, some very much, but at this point in my stay, I'm content to be handing the reins to someone else. God has definately stretched me in many ways, but I feel like this summer was a stepping stone, not a final destination. Maybe I don't have any idea what the next step is, but I've certainly grown in my openness to the unexpected.

Only in Europe... playing football among ancient relics

Jane, her cousin Iris, and Abi

Michael and me

Visiting

Thursday, David and I had lunch in the home of a family from the church. They are the only family, besides Jane and Michael's, where the father, mother, and children all attend worship together. Everyone else is young, or old, or the only Christian in their family. We had a wonderful meal and visit--the atmosphere of their home was so nice and relaxed. None of their children speak English, so it was a challenge, but they liked me--we "read" books for over an hour while the others talked at the table! The girl in sunglasses (6) narrated nonstop, while I nodded and said Po? Po. Po! Her brother, Raoul, is 3, and, according to his mother, won't even sit on his grandmother's lap. He wouldn't leave mine! Then their sister Betesda is 10.

Yes, there is a 4th of July in Albania (it comes after the 3rd)

The three Americans celebrated Independence Day with watermelon, pasta salad, and something advertised as bratwurst but only slightly resembling them, and sang patriotic songs at the top of our voices.

Then we went on a walk with Leddy, down to the sea, lamenting the lack of fireworks in the late night sky, but still enjoying our hazelnut ice cream...

Kosova, final

On the last day of the carnival, the team hosted a party, with delicious food and traditional music

and dancing!

Our last day, we visited two families, one an Albanian family who have been missionaries in Kosova for two years. These are the stairs to their apartment...

We went to lunch with that family; the weather was sweltering, but the restaurant was next to a mountain stream, and we actually asked to sit inside after this photo was taken, because the cold water made the air frigid!

It was one of the best meals I've had in the Balkans... the pita bread and salad were perfect.

Then we visited another family, a Muslim family who came to Durres in 1999, and stayed in the refugee camp that the church ran.

A traditional robe

Beautiful scenery on the way home

Here is the tunnel we drove through for a solid four minutes

Kerce

The children's carnival was called Kerce, which means Jump! They provided games, crafts and music to roughly 1500 local children over the course of three days. Amazingly enough, the team that does this carnival every year is from a church in St. Louis.

In addition to the 50+ Americans from St. Louis, a group of 13 from Liverpool were helping, as well. They played football every afternoon against an All-Star Kosovar team. Notice the American flags... they were everywhere in Kosova. The people love Americans for the help our troops gave during the war with Serbia.

My station was indoor crafts. We used a public school building as the carnival base, and put tarps down on the floor.

Most of the children who attended were from Muslim families. Before the craft, one of the team members would speak about Jesus to the kids, and in our room, it was never a problem. There was one boy who drew a picture headed with the word Allah, who was trying to tell me that Jesus wasn't God (I had written Jezusi eshte Zot on the blackboard). He pointed to his palm, the way the lines form an A for Allah...

One day, walking home from the carnival we got caught in a downpour. Here we are waiting it out...

"Jesus is God"

I am going to miss mountains so much when I get home!