Going home March 24, 2007

It is amazing to me that I can now call Albania home. And yet that is what it is to me now… the place where I hang my hat and in so many ways my heart. We flew to the US on January 18th. That seems a lifetime ago. So MUCH has happened since then. We have a beautiful daughter that has become the delight of my life in just a few short weeks. We have really walked through some fire, getting her citizenship and the scare of not being able to go back to Albania just yet. And we have walked some real hard roads relationally, as a family. Robert and I have had moments of being at each others throats, we have both been short tempered and impatient with Austin and Tyler, and all of us have had sickness of one kind or another. And yet despite all the hardships this season has brought, there has also been so much joy. Like a roller coaster ride described by Grandma in Parenthood (a must see film)! Looking back I wonder if all of this continues to lead me closer to the ONE I love and rely on, our Savior, Jesus. Our first night with Jadyn I began singing to her the same lullaby that I sang to the boys when they were first born.

Jesus, Jesus, You are the holy and anointed one, Jesus. Your name is like honey on my lips, Your spirit’s like water to my soul. Your word is a lamp unto my feet. Jesus I love you, I love you.” He really is the one we love. What an amazing journey to have been on. I can’t wait to see what is next.

“God can do anything you know. Far more than you could ever imagine, guess, or request in your wildest dreams. He does is not by pushing us around, but by working within us. His Spirit, deeply and gently within us.”
Ephesians 3:20 The Message

New family photo March 14, 2007

Well… we are still out here. Since we are not in Albania I have not been posting about my days! But… we are leaving 2 weeks from today and we are so ready to be home. Here is our first snapshot as a whole family. It only took 3 weeks to get one! We have had Jadyn with us 5 weeks as of yesterday and it has gone by so fast. We will start updating our “Meet Jadyn” blog this week as we are finally all feeling healthy. It has been a whirlwind of getting used to each other and travel. WHEW! Thanks for all your prayers and support. Check back with me here in a couple weeks after getting HOME in Albania!

Waiting a little longer January 18, 2007

We got word yesterday that our departure for China has been delayed for another week. We now have a tentative date of February 1 to depart for China. I am filled with both sadness and relief. The prospect of leaving 5 days after arriving in the US was a little daunting. I feel like now we will have a little chance to breathe and get the boys settled at the grandparents house. BUT… we were so looking forward to being with Jadyn as she hit the age of 10 months on Jan 31. SO… just a few more days. Please pray that this set of appointments WILL be approved and that we will leave with our entire group on Feb 1 (one family is still waiting on that I-171 approval from US immigration)!

Power outages and water heaters January 17, 2007

With less than 48 hours left to departing for the US (followed next week by China), we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. Only a few things remained on our “To Do” lists. I even had only one or two remaining load of laundry to do! So when the power went out last night at 8:30pm, I was not feeling too shabby. (If you have not read our post “Electricity Blues at journeytoalbania.com you need to catch up before reading on). This was a little later than our usual evening power outage so we had been hopeful we would not have one. Word on the news (a little unreliable in Albania!) is that the government has bought power from Greece that should last us through February and reduce the power outages across the city. At about 9:30 we heard a loud POP (never good) and noticed that all the surrounding buildings had power again. We assumed that we had tripped a breaker. When I went outside to check, this was true and it was smoking (definitely not good). We could not reset the breaker with out seeing fireworks (okay that is a little exaggerated) so we finally called it a night and went to bed.

This morning our landlord Zeman came over and took a look. He tore into the plaster outside the house to get to the wiring and found most of it burnt up. He set himself to rewiring and repairing the damage. There was another man here also but since I still can not understand much Shqip (Albanian) I could not determine if he was a nosy neighbor or a helpful handy man offering his two cents! They talk very animated and LOUDLY… one never knows the nature of the conversation!

After about an hour, the lights came back on. I went to the hallway to congratulate Zeman and company but could hear running water from upstairs. I thought perhaps we had left a faucet on (the water does not run when the power is off). I went in to the bathroom and found that the pipe from the water heater had exploded off and the water heater (which hangs from the ceiling) was gushing water into the bathroom. AGH! I think the entire tank emptied on the bathroom floor. I have decided that this is why they have drains in the floors in Albania. Handy.

Well, we did get it fixed. Again, great landlord. We are blessed. And no matter what the case may be, I will be on the plane. Even if I have to shower in London.

Language Adventures January 14, 2007

I had a great afternoon yesterday… Robert went to a conference, the boys went to a birthday party~ all was quiet on the home front. We had no electricity so I took a nap! I have been staying up late and getting up early to work on laundry when the electricity is on! (READ about our Electricity Blues at journeytoalbania.com). When I woke up I was a little disoriented and thought it was 5:30… church starts at 5:00 and I was supposed to meet Robert and the boys there (it was really only 4:30)! I called our regular cab driver, Artur, to ask him to pick me up. Artur speaks a little bit of English and with our limited Albanian we are able to communicate with relative ease about where we would like to go. He also knows where our house is located which is very helpful. Most directions are given by “it’s near …. (fill in landmark of your choice)” rather than by street name or address. So with our limited vocabulary directions are a little complicated! Back to the story… Artur was not available! Agh… so I decided to walk fast (it takes about 20-25 minutes). When I got to the square, I saw the cabs lined up along the street and decided to try to communicate where I wanted to go with a new cab driver. MANY people speak English here (this continues to surprise me) so you never know. BUT… I was able to speak all in Shqip (Albanian) and tell the driver exactly where I wanted to go! Near the Radio- Television Station(Afer Radio-Televizor), straight (drejte), left (majtas), right (djathtas), and here (ketu)! I even was able to say I am slowly learning Albanian (Une po mesoj Shqip)! To which he responded “Albanian is difficult” and I understood!! VICTORY!

In the evening after church I had another funny experience with language. Robert was not feeling well after church ( a cold coming on) so I went to get pizza for dinner. On the way home I stopped in to the little shop near our house to pick up some Coke. The shopkeepers only speak Albanian. So I said good evening, how are you? They said well thank you and how are you? Then the woman was saying something about the boys and I thought she was asking how are they. I was trying to buy a 2 liter bottle of Coke but I wanted it cold so I was trying to ask for this. She repeated again something about the boys but I still did not understand. I thought she was trying to tell me that they did not have any 2 liters that were cold, but she repeated the word for “sons” again and put the Coke away. I was not understanding which I was able to tell her (Nuk kupotj- I don’t understand). Finally she said “okay” and put the coke in a bag for me and took my money. I said my new favorite sentence “Une po mesoj Shqip avash avash” (I am slowly learning Albanian). This one sentence make people very happy because it really shows our effort to learn their language. The man asked me something that I did not fully catch so I asked him to speak more slowly and repeat it. He smiled and did… he asked where do we work. (I really only understood one word- work- but that was enough). So I said my husband works at the Center for Christianity (what we call the AEP- Albanian Encouragement Project. This is where we pick up our get our mail). This is more well known than our church so it is a good place to start. And I still can not even say the name of our church. This made them happy (AND ME TOO) that I could say a complete sentence.

BEST PART: When I got home, I discovered that Robert had sent the boys to the store to pick up coke. Even they are learning enough words to communicate what we need. (And the store is less than 100 yards from our front door) So this is what she was trying to tell me! The boys had just been there and bought COKE! We all had a good laugh as I am sure the shopkeeper and his wife did too!

Electricity Blues January 14, 2007

Please read this post at JourneytoAlbania.com
Click on “BLOG”

Updates on Jadyn January 14, 2007

Please read about our journey to pick up Jadyn from China at www.journeytoalbania.com. Click on “Meet Jadyn”

The Hello Kitty Club December 20, 2006

Here is a cute link to the Hello Kitty Club.
http://www.julydragonflies.com/FengCheng/HKClub.htm
It is a group of pictures of babies from the FengCheng Social Welfare Institute (Jadyn’s orphanage) that have been placed with families in the last 2-3 months.
All the girls are dressed in this same adorable outfit and placed in
the Hello Kitty Chair. And this only a few of them! It is hard to
imagine that there are over ONE MILLION of these precious little ones
in China and that more than 80% of the them are girls.

How do you spell Jadyn? December 18, 2006

I got a call this afternoon from the boy’s school. One of the administrative assistants, Linda, is also in my Women’s Bible Study. She called because the Kindergarten class was working on a project and the boys wanted to put Jadyn’s name on it somehow (the “project” is a surprise). They tried to take some guesses among the teachers and came up with 3 different answers so they decided to call. Before she called, Tyler told her, “It’s okay… I don’t think my mom knows how to spell it either!”Publish

Mommy, what is 6 +6? December 7, 2006

The boys continue to love school. They have a great teacher, Robin Nelson who is originally from California. Robin is also in my Women’s Bible Study on Wednesday nights. She always has great stories to tell… I can’t imagine why! So this week, the story was about Austin. Austin was asking “What is 6+6?” She told him 6+6= 12. He said, “NOT in Oklahoma!”

This morning, Austin got in bed with me to cuddle (He wakes me up and says, “Mommy, its your favorite time of the day!”….it is!). After a few minutes he asked, “Mommy, what is 6+6?” I smiled and said 12. He asked, “Even in Oklahoma?” Yes, even in Oklahoma.