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.

This is Ada (that I talked about below) and the other is her mom. Her mom was so sweet she cut me a rose!

Much to tell

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted. We got back from Vlashi Village last night and when I was trying to post the internet went out. I stayed up until after 1 am but it never came back on.

Staying in the village really gave me an insight to the Albanian people. They are very kind hearted, humble, and thankful. Every home I entered brought us drinks, snacks, and they would move so that you could get by the heater. They wanted to hear all about us, our southern hospitality is nothing compared to the hospitality they showed. I think you can tell the pictures above which ones I am doing the home visits. All of them were so happy for Jason and I adopting. I wasn’t sure how they would react to that but when the translator told them they all had questions about it of course but each one said what a blessing it will be for our son to be with us. One lady told me that if she was still young she would have a child for me that Jason and I could adopt, she showed me the picture of her grandchild so I could see what he/she would look like. It was very sweet. I could go on and on about the home visits we made but then you might get tired of reading!! But they were so awesome, I am going to have much to tell our son about the country/people that he came from. I am getting to experience things that I wouldn’t be able to do when we come to adopt, this trip is such a blessing, there’s not too much I would trade it for.

While in Vlashi we also worked with the girls. They did 2 crafts, they really enjoyed it. Our kids at home would have probably complained about doing it, but for these girls it gave them a chance to laugh and escape the oppression they had to return to so quickly. Life for a girl in the village is very heartbreaking. Most of the time their marriage is pre arranged by their parents, they can be married when they are around 16 to a man they don’t even know. Could you image not being able to fall in love? Once they are married they usually move in with their mother and father in law and become their slave. They get beaten by them and do all of the labor. Here the women are the laborers plus they take care of the kids and home, so sad. I was asking the girls about their future plans, I wanted to know their dreams. One said she knows her fate is to get married and keep the house, I wish she knew the love of my Jesus. If these girls could realize that life doesn’t have to be this way, that they can dream and achieve it. It may not start with them, but it could with their children, they could raise them differently. This is the first generation to not be under communist rule, they could really change some things. But women are just property here, they are to labor, cook and clean, and have babies. One of the girls told me she loves to run and she would like to be able to go out and run but she’s not allowed. They are not even allowed to go out and really play. The translator told them how Casey and I were raised to believe in our dreams and that we could do anything we put our minds and hearts to. Before I came here I really couldn’t imagine this and probably wouldn’t have believed it. They need so much prayer and a Savior. Planters Org. is doing great things, some of the children have accepted Christ I’m sure there are many more to come. They have to be careful in this culture about how they go about things, if they came in here aggressively preaching the gospel the people would want them having nothing to do with them or their children. So slowly they make their way into their homes and hearts.

There was one little girls named Ada who sat and talked with me for quite a while, please pray for her. She has taken 5 years of English so we were able to talk without needing the translator too much. She is a Christian, praise God, she has big dreams. Her parents are different, they do love each other, so her home has been better than a lot of the other girls. She wants to be a judge to help the women and children of her country. She plans on leaving the village when she gets out of school to come into the city and go to the university. Big dreams in her world of oppression. She told me she knows with God’s help that she could do it!! I told her she can do it, one person can make a difference. She gave me the biggest hug I think I have ever gotten!
I know I have had a lot to say, but there’s one more thing. You women reading at home…I know that sometimes we think we have it rough. We cook, clean, you run the kids here and there and you don’t feel appreciated. These women here would probably give their right arms for a day of that, we have it easy really. When you lay down at night next to your man, just love him with all your heart and be thankful that you have a wonderful husband. We may have bumps in the road but it’s nothing compared to the ditch that these women liv

Around Tirana

Here are a few pics from around Tirana. The first one is of what a lot of the homes look like on the outside, I thought Meemaw would appreciate all of the little clothes lines- they have solar dryers!! The next one I took for Jason, it was at a place where they are doing construction. The third and fourth are of the university, there is only one university in Albania and it is free although you have to pass certain tests to get in. The last one is the Albania version of McDonald's!

Tonight I went to a church service and it was awesome! They had headphones for the American's and someone translated the sermon. They had the music on a screen and it was all in Albanian but I knew quite a few of the songs like, Here I am to Worship and Now is the Time to Worship. My eyes teared up when I looked around and saw these Albanians praising our amazing Lord, eyes closed, hands up, it was great! I met Bob and Cathie Wantanabe at church, who are the house parents for Bethany, they will be a big help to us when we are over here adopting. Bob told me the people at chuch tonight are first generation Christians. Communism fell here in the early 90's.

Please pray about me meeting Agim, it will happen either Thursday or Friday, I will let you all know when I find out. But it will be a very important meeting where I will have to choose my words very carefully. Pray that God will guide me and my words will be what He wants me to say. I will get to go to the Bethany orphanage, which I didn't expect to, but since most of Bethany's referrals do not come from there I will be able to see it. While there is when I will meet with Agim, the Wantanabe's, and Alma (Alma does a lot of the translating and paperwork for the adoptions).

My brain is full and my heart is full. I'm still trying to absorb all of this. But I can tell you one thing, when you lay your head on your pillow tonight know that you are very blessed!

I love you all!

Pictures!

Here are some pictures of Vlashi Village, which is where I went yesterday afternoon. It is the nicest of the 3 villages that the planters organization works in. The pictures are of some of the children in the village that are learning english, I talked about that in the blog from yesterday. We are going back to Vlashi Village tomorrow (Sunday) and will spend the night there are then work all day Monday with the girls whose parents don't allow them to go to school. Tonight I am going to go to a contemporary Church service in Tirana, it should be fun!

I'm here

I arrived in Albania today, while all of you at home were still sleeping. It was 11:30 here (there is a 7 hour time difference). All of the luggage made it, the only flight that I had problems with was the one from Milan to Tirana, there was some really rough turbulance. I'm running on about 1 hour of sleep over the past 31 hours! I don't think I've ever done that before although I'm sure I came close in my college days when we would go to Waffle House really late!

Albania is so different! I have seen shepherds out tending their herd. People have their cow tied up in their yard, there are no fences! And you guys think I drive bad, these people about give me a heart attack so you know it's bad!! But everyone has been so sweet and friendly. This afternoon we went to Vlashi Village, which is the nicest of the 3 that planters organization works in. I sat in on a class with middle/high school age children learning english. It was really neat, they were all working so hard. The Albanian teacher who taught the english class was talking with me on the way back to Tirana and she asked me, "Have you ever seen the movie Sweet Home Alabama?" I told her it was one of my favorite movies. She said, "You talk like the characters in that movie." I thought it was funny, she picked up on my southern accent quickly.

They just got power here at 7:00 pm and it is very cold! I have taken a few pics but I will take some more tomorrow and post them sometime tomorrow night.

Albanians are beautiful people! The girls are gorgeous and the little boys are so cute! I'm very glad I'm here. What stories I'll have to tell our son!

Treasure 2 Farmers ROCK!!

Wow, I just want to take a moment to brag on all of you from Treasure 2 Farm. You guys have went above and beyond the challenge of bringing gifts for the villages in Albania. You have brought so much that I am having to take extra luggage, and thanks to Donna Wilson that was taken care of (thanks so much, Donna)! Just to give a summary I will be taking 142 pairs of socks, 69 pairs of gloves, 51 stocking caps, over 200 small toys, 54 toothbrushes, 38 tubes of toothpaste, well over 150 hair ties (that are very cute), hairbrushes, washrags, 70 handmade wooden cross necklaces, and I could go on and on. You have brought enough to provide one of the poorest villages in Albania, Christmas. I will take lots of pictures for all of you.

While I'm in Albania I will get to meet Agim, who works for our agency, he plays a huge part in placing the children with Bethany families. He has also said that because of mine and Jason's age we may have to wait a little longer. So I'm very excited to get to meet him but very nervous at the same time. I want for him to see us for us, not a stereotype of a young couple. So Jason and I spent a while studying Thursday night 1 Timothy 4:12. Paul is telling Timothy, "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity." God's word is awesome and it was great for us to look deep into this passage.

I'm flying out this coming Thursday morning, woohoo!

Getting Ready

Not this Thursday, but next I'll be flying out for Albania. I'm really getting excited! I've already started packing and have 100 lists for the horses, Jason, well, anybody!! I am overwhelmed with the gifts the Treasure 2 Farmers have been bringing for me to take to the villages in Albania. At the end of the week I will have a final count and post it all along with some pics!

No News

There were no referrals given after the meeting the last week in October. So we wait some more, until the last Thursday in November, maybe we'll hear something then! We do know that Agim, who works for Bethany(our agency) in Albania will be here next week. He is going to be in Michigan and will be available for families to meet. However, with me going on the mission trip in December it was not in our finances for us to fly to Michigan on a short notice. But hopefully we will hear after he meets in Michigan if they aren't giving anymore referrals for the rest of 07.