Pictures

Thought I would add a few more pics while we are just hanging out at home tonight and I have all the time to wait on dial up! The top two pictures are ones I took of where the Gypsy's live. The other one is me and Mrs. Sarah in Darshen and I just liked the one directly above of the guy looking at his cow!

There's No Place Like Home

I made it! And believe it or not I have hardly turned the computer on, just to show my family all of the pictures! Things have been busy with Christmas activities. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it home for Christmas, praise God I did. When I flew from Italy to Chicago our plane couldn't land so we circled for about 40 min. and then once I landed it was chaos, I only had an hour to get to my next gate and I still had to go through re-checking my luggage, customs, getting my ticket, security, all of this in O'hare! If Mr. David hadn't have met me and helped me out then I would still be trying to figure out how to get from transit 5 to 1!! I rushed to my gate to find my flight was almost 2 hours late, and they were being optimistic about the flight being able to leave for Nashville. Over 300 flights were canceled out of O'hare. Finally we boarded in 17 degree weather with winds up to 50 mph, I didn't care, my man was waiting for me in Nashville! It was so great seeing my family, they are so awesome!

Christmas was great! I had a totally different outlook on things. This Christmas Jason and I got the least that we ever have, but to tell you the truth, I could have gone without anything, I'm blessed with too much as it is. Listening to kids wine and tell what they wanted still after getting what seemed like everything, if only they knew. I went shopping yesterday and didn't buy hardly anything, I would pick things up and say how cute it was and then say do I really need this? The answer was no!

Jason just hopes my sleeping schedule stays like it is now! I am asleep by 9:00 at night, I can't even hold my eyes open. I told him don't worry, I'll adjust back!!

I am going to post more pictures on the blog, but I will have to do that next week when I can go somewhere where they have high speed!

Bitter Sweet

These pictures are some that I took yesterday at the Bethany orphanage. The little boy in blue with those big blue eyes, he was so obedient and adorable. The picture I took of him I was saying Chesh, chesh, which means smile! The little boy laying his head on my face was named either Genti or Gergy, I cannot remember which one, but he has cp. The other little boy wanted me to hold him, I'm just calling him Spock, check out those ears! He was so adorable and had the sweetest smile.

Shprese (which means hope in Albania) is pictured with me above. She is the wife of, Genti, who is a pastor here. They live in Vlashi Village and she was amazing. She translated for us and took us on the visits. She is a light in the darkness and God is doing great things with her, what a blessing!

Today we went back to Vlashi Village and watched a Christmas program and then had a little Christmas party. It was fun. Saying goodbye was bitter sweet. I will miss all of the people and have had such a wonderful time here, they have opened my eyes and taught me so much, I am very thankful. But I am also ready to see the farm again!! I cannot wait to see Jason, I miss him so much! Pray that I can make it home in time for Christmas. They are calling for a winter storm in Chicago tomorrow. When I get home I will post a few more pictures on the blog!

For all of treasure 2 farmers reading this, thank you for being on your best behavior this week with Mrs. Emily. She has had only good things to say about you all. You make me very proud and I'm thankful for each of you as my students. Have a wonderful Christmas!

Bethany

The internet just now came on, it's 9:45 here. Sorry I haven't had time to post. I've had an interesting day! I went to Bethany this morning with plans to meet Agim, Alma, and the Wantanabe's. I didn't get to meet Agim. He called while I was there and said he wasn't coming in to Bethany today. Bummer, I thought, that was one of the main reasons I wanted to be there so that I could talk to him. But here's the way I look at it, there were so many of us praying for this, if God wanted Agim to be there then Agim would have been there. I had a wonderful meeting with Bob and Cathie Wantanabe, they are the missionary family from Washington State. They are the host family for Bethany and they do work in the Bethany orphanage. I shared with them what I had planned on sharing with Agim, they were wonderful listeners. They are suposed to talk next week with Agim about us and it will be all good!! After meeting with them I met with Alma. She and Agim are the main ones for Bethany adoptions in Albania. So I was happy I got to meet with her. I shared the same things as I did with the Wantanabe's. She was also very encouraging. When we were finished talking she said I was very mature and even though we didn't meet for a long time she felt like I am going to be a great mother! She is going to try and talk with the AAC director about us if she has the chance to. She also wants me to type up what I talked with her about and send it to her so she can also take that to the adoption committee. Overall I am very happy with today and feel much better. I praise God for the peace He provides me, that transcends all understanding! Our God is and awesome God!

I didn't get to take too many pictures, but I will post them tomorrow. There were a few children I got to hold. It was great! They laughed and giggled, I just cannot explain to you how I cannot wait to be a mom. One little boy I played with has cp, he literally fell in my lap wanting me to play with him, he would lay his head on my chest and then raise up and want me to dance his hands around, then I would tickle him and he would laugh so hard, it was great! Another little boy wanted me to hold and play with him. He had the most precious smile. I will post pics of him tomorrow. It's almost 10:00 over here and we have to get up earlier in the morning to go back out into the village plus I only got 4 or so hours of sleep last night.

Jason and I cannot thank all of you enough for the prayers you have prayed on our behalf. We appreciate each and every one of you so much, falamenderit (hope I spelled it correct), which means Thank You in Albanian!

More pictures of Kasalle

Here are more pictures of Kasalle. The one is of me helping a little girl put the cookies in her pocket, she must have wanted to take them home to eat later! How do you like the one of the cow with the bow in her hair!!

Kasalle

Today we went to Kasalle Village. There were over 60 children. They were lighter skin and some had light eyes and hair because they came from the North of Albania. The children were not quite as well behaved as the ones from Darshen yesterday! But after the service, which consisted of songs, puppet show, a little play from a Max Lucado book, and a snack, we handed out the Christmas bags on their way out. You could hear laughter from every direction. I looked out and they were having the best time with their gifts. I wish you all could have heard it, it was some of the best music to my ears, EVER!

You will see the children in some of the pictures, they were adorable! The other pictures are of a home we visited. It was very sad, you can see the oven where they make their food. Their kitchen and living room were the same room. This whole village was very very poor. The small wooden building is the out house. The other building that looks like a shed is a home. This is what all of the homes looked like about 10 years ago when they first started moving here from the North. Some of them still live in homes like this one and others have made improvements. This village, however, is not Muslim, it is Catholic, so that is good.

Calling All Prayer Warriors

I have a prayer request for all of you to be praying about with me today. Tomorrow (Friday at 9:00 here, so it will be 2:00 am for you) I get to meet Agim. Please pray that my ears are open, I want to hear the Holy Spirit when He gives me the words to say. This meeting, I believe, is very big for our adoption. I pray that Agim will see in me that Jason and I are not your typical young couple, we are going to be great parents for our son, and we do not need to wait to become parents. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING WITH ME AND PRAYING FOR THIS. There are so many ways my heart has changed in the time I've been here and one of them is this has made me want our son so much more, which I didn't think was possible to want that more, but it is.

Also when you think of me, pray for these Albanians and that the Word will spread and souls will be saved. Pray for Planters Org., they are doing great things here!

I love you all!!

Breathtaking

The views today were breathtaking!! The pics are some I took going up the mountain and the others are pictures I took in Darshen. The home that we visited was very very poor. They had an outhouse, their bedroom had 4 beds in it. There is a picture of where they take a bath, somehow. Their kitchen had 2 beds in it and a stove and a very few pots and pans. The one picture is how they do their hay, they pile it up and it looks like a hut or something. Another is of a butcher who was working at a market that was on our way to the village.

Children of Darshen

Here are some pictures of the children that received some of our gifts at Darshen village, I took over 100 pictures today so you can see lots more when I get home. There were smiles all over that small room!! Did you know that we brought enough gifts over here for all 3 of the villages, isn't that awesome, way to go t2f!! Mrs. Sarah described it best after we were finished making the Christmas bags last night for the villages (it took us over 4 hours to make all of the bags, we had our stuff and things that she had brought over), she said it was like when Jesus fed the 5,000 with 5 loaves!!

The children came down for the service after school. They only go to school in Albania until noon because the school's cannot feed them lunch. I watched in awe as they sang songs, played instruments, participated in a Bible story, memorized Luke 2:11, had a snack, and did a craft. Then we passed out the Christmas bags. Everyday I am here, the Lord humbles me. We have so much to be thankful for and not an ounce of me is worthy. Oh my Lord, Your grace and mercy, I cannot find the words to thank You enough!

Passing out gifts

Some of you have asked about passing out the gifts. I will not do that until tomorrow (Wed.) and Thursday. I will take lots of pictures!

Here is another picture of Vlashi Village with the mountains in the back ground.

I want to tell you about the two beautiful little girls below, the ones with the new jackets. The oldest girl's name is Ana. She comes to the planters building that is in the village to learn english. She has heard a little about Jesus, but her parents will not let her stay for the Bible service they make her come home. Her parents are muslim. Her family is very poor, her mother works in a factory that makes socks. The day we went to their house, her mother told us that Ana had just asked her that morning if they could please buy her a jacket for the winter, her mom told her no they didn't have the money to. And then Mrs. Sarah showed up with 2 jackets, perfect fit. There's nothing like God's timing is there? Pray the Holy Spirit will work and she can here much more of the Word and accept Christ

These are the girls I talked about below, they came and did the craft projects.

It's also some pics of the home visits that we did.