Christmas Sights !!!

We are racking up so many pictures, I thought I would download a few to share. These are a couple of the sights we have captured during this preparation for the season of our Savior's birth:

Decorating our home

New Christmas dress from Nana!

Can't you just feel the love?

Visiting the Christmas Market in the square -- blowing glass !!!

Re-enacting the Christmas Story for our International Fellowship

Angels proclaiming His birth (Arin on the right)

Shepherds join the party! (Kaleb on the left)

Singing carols in Polish and English !!!

Christmas Box from our home Church in the States !!! Thank you !!!!

Arin's talking to the pictures of her friends back home - telling them she misses them!

First Sledding Day in Poland !!!!

Retelling the Christmas Story at our Polish Church

They told the story from the perspective of the barn animals........the donkey was the eye-witness to the birth! Kaleb and Arin were sheep....."baaa" only, no Polish necessary for this performance!

Thanksgiving Fun!!!

We had a great Thanksgiving celebration this year..............in multiple ways!! Kirstin got a chance to share about this American holiday with Kaleb's class! We talked about why we give thanks and how our tradition of giving thanks got started. The kids came up with a long list of things they are thankful for...........it was a special time together. After our story time and a game, we made the ever famous turkey out of their hand tracings!

Then we prepped our new home for a Thankgiving feast with 7 of the football guys! We got to share in a little more depth about why we give thanks, and to Who we give all our thanks! The guys got to taste some classic American dishes (thanks to some packages from home), and join in on our family tradition of reflecting on the Lord's blessings !! Then we watched a little American football, of course !!! We had a great time having them in our home !!! Here's a "before" and "during" the feast !!

Then we had a Team Thanksgiving gathering at one of our colleague's home !!! Again we had an amazing spread of food and great fellowship !! It was also the debut of our newest team member, Sophia Grace !! She was only 9 days old! It was a good time of sharing all the blessings we have as a team and a chance to reflect on the gracious character of our God!

We are thankful for our American heritage that sets aside time to be thankful !! And we are thankful for the opportunities we've had to share about our God who is worthy of more thanks than we could imagine...........every day of the year !!! We are thankful for YOU..........and your willingness to join us on this journey!

Settling In again !!!

In addition to getting settled into this new home, we have been managing a string of sickness these past couple of weeks. Kaleb started the sickness party, but we have all joined in over time! But somehow, life goes on.............so, of course, we have updates !!!

The Krakow Tigers pulled off a big win in their final game which solidifies them a spot in the esteemed "A" division in Poland's professional American football league!!! Yippee !!! They have worked so hard this season to improve, and coach Al is certain that they are ready to compete with the big guys !!! Our whole family got to attend the end of the year award ceremony, where Coach Al was not the only member of our family recognized............the mini-Tigers and mini cheerleaders got a little praise and recognition too !!

The whole program graciously honored and appreciated their American coaches and our semester missionary, Jeremy, who has played with the guys! Albert got another great compliment this past week! The Krakow Tigers president and head coach, Michal, asked Albert if he would consider taking on the position of head coach! Michal has birthed this whole Krakow team from the ground up over the past 4 years, so his willingness to pass this honored position over to Albert was really amazing !!! Albert is praying that God can use his experience and passion for these men to continue investing in them both athletically and spiritually!

Although we had some sickly ones, Daddy's birthday celebration went on !!! Kaleb's sweet prayers on this day thanked Jesus that his sickness allowed him to spend all of Daddy's birthday with him instead of being at school !! What perspective when you are running a high fever!! It wasn't the celebration we had expected, but it was blessed none the less !!!

We also got to go to our first Polish birthday party --- Jasiu's !!! They kids had a great time celebrating life with our Polish friends !!!

As we approach these upcoming holidays, we pray that our celebrations will be an intentional testimony of the God we serve! Since Poland does not celebrate Thanksgiving, we are going to include some of them in our celebrations this week! We are having a traditional Thanksgiving supper with the athletes in the FCA Bible study, and Kirstin is going to speak in Kaleb's class at school about the history and reasons why Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. Please pray these opportunities will give us lots of chances to share about the One who is worthy of all our THANKS!!! We are thankful for you............and thankful for your support!!!

His Favor !!!

It always seems like we have so many updates every time I sit down to blog...........there's just never enough time in the day !!! But the blessings are countless !!!

Recently, Kaleb had his first school program. Through broken Polish and multiple notes written back and forth, we felt like we finally got enough information about the time, place, and what Kaleb needed to wear for this first Polish school program. So, we arrived promptly on time at 4:45 on a Tuesday afternoon with Kaleb in his new white shirt and tie !!! (I can't believe how dressy these are !!!) But nothing could have prepared us for what we would hear and see! With all the fervor you could imagine, our little American boy sang with gusto every Polish word he could remember to those songs his class performed !!! Oh, how I wish I could get our camcorder to download video to our computer................it was priceless !!! They sang a song about going to school and a song about different colors -- Kaleb didn't know the meanings of all those Polish words he learned, but he was amazingly accurate in nailing those lyrics !!! Then his class stood again, so I turned on the video camera to capture more amazement. But I could not find Kaleb through the viewfinder.................because he was at the MICROPHONE!!! He proceeded to lead his kindergarten class and 2 first grade classes in singing two short songs in English! It was so great to hear that little voice magnified singing "head, shoulders, knees, and toes".............in his native language !!! His teachers had chosen to let him lead the assembly on these two songs "since he is such a good English speaker", Kaleb reported. The whole experience felt like a flood of God's favor poured out on our family!! And just like our God, He chose to show our family this favor on the very day when I had experienced the most frustration so far regarding our language barrier here in this foreign land. Although I haven't been able to download the video yet, here are a few still shots:

getting ready

Yeah, we arrived on the right day and time !!!

Kaleb and his Polish buddy, Oscar!

The whole class (Kaleb posing on the end.)

There's our star at the mic!!!

Shortly after this stunning performance in Polish and English, both of our kids got to learn a new Polish song to sing at our Polish church one Sunday morning. They still walk around the house singing this song about our Lord !! Here are some shots of Arin joining in on the singing fun too............the little boy with them in the pics is Jasiu, the boy we mentioned prayer and praise for just a couple of posts back. He is doing great and healing well !!!

Also since our last post, the Krakow Tigers played in the Championship Title game.............and they did not end up with the most points! 27-20. Their only loss this season. It was a hard loss............one that coach Al still can't believe. But it has given him two more weeks of practice with these guys as they get to play one more game to see if they can move up into the A division for next year. That final game is this weekend (the 7th).

In the meantime, we have moved to a new apartment.................(which mostly explains our lack of communication on here lately.) It's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in 6 months...........especially when you've had 3 birthdays and multiple team members passing down goodies as they head back to the States. We switched flats with a teammate who was left in a 3 bedroom place once her two roomies headed back to the States at the end of their terms of service. So, in an effort to be wise stewards of funds, our company asked us to switch homes instead of breaking her lease on the bigger place. So, we moved 2 households down 5 flights of stairs and back up the other 4 flights -- it has been a tiring week !!! Although we are still swimming in boxes, we have the opportunity to spread out a little more...........and we are thankful, especially for our kids !!!

So, here is our new address:

The Hesskews

ul. Konecznego 2/29

31-216 Krakow

Poland

May His favor be upon you today !!! Please share too !!!