Loads of Pics!

I finally got all our recent pics downloaded.....................which is quite a feat for this low tech operator! The first batch of pics captures our Easter Sunday celebration! The kids cooperated with pics in the beautiful sunshine, and Arin even put on a little style show for the camera. Since Easter was so close to our 1 year anniversary of living in Krakow, we did a double celebration with the Brownds...the family we arrived on the field with one year ago !! We celebrated Easter lunch with them in their home!

As close as you get to "Angelic"

Hammin it up!

Posing like a princess! (aren't you convinced?)

Celebration with the Brownds

We also took a couple of days to get away together as a family since the kids had some days off of school............and Daddy had no football practice. We had not yet seen the mountains of Poland which are just 1 1/2 hours south of our city, so we took a quick trip down to Zakopane to take in some of God's creation. We had some great family time! During the 3 days we were there, the weather changed every day! The day we arrived was beautiful! Day 2 was a little dreary, but we set out on adventure none the less:

Ski jump

Daddy drools over the food selection !!!

Arin loves to take pics too!

We had decided that we were going to do some hiking on day 3 if the rains held off, but we were a little shocked when we opened the curtains that third day to find this:

We didn't know we were going to get to see Zakopane "winterized", but it was a beautiful day to explore together! We rode the cable car to the very tops of the mountains, and we played in the snow next to a river -- the simple pleasures of life, huh?!?!

Riding the cable car

The final set of pics I have for you on this post is from our 1 year anniversary celebration of living in Poland! It is truly hard to believe that we have completed our first year on the field already. In many ways, it feels like we have just stepped off the plane! This year has been so full and so blessed, it has really flown by! We have seen some of the most beautiful places God has ever created, we have met some of the most precious people He has ever created, and we have been eternally changed by these past 365 days.

As a side note, I am happy to report that we have made a 100% gain in our knowledge of the Polish language compared to what we knew 1 year ago!!! (You gotta count the small victories, ya know!)

We consider our life here to be a real privilege...............to be the hands and feet of Christ's Church amongst Poles!

We decided that we wanted to celebrate by returning to the place where we were first introduced to Polish food one year ago -- U Babcia Maliny! A colleague took us there the day after we arrived in Krakow. Incidentally, we ran into some of the very friends who met us there at that same restaurant one year ago...............Malaysian medical students who had come with our colleague to welcome us to Krakow ---- isn't God good !!! Such sweet memories..............and our days just keep getting filled with more and more !!!

yummy !!!

Pierogis !!!

(Sorry.......forgot to rotate this one -- but i'm almost done and I'd rather get this posted before another week gets away from me)

We love our Charissa, Kiu-Fen, and Ivy !!!

Walking alongside the Grieved

I'm continuing to blog a little bit out of order, but I wanted to address the recent tragedy our country has been dealing with before I backtrack and address other things that we still want to share about.

We been able to have many spiritual discussions with aquaintances and friends this past week in light of the great loss of life here in Poland. We have watched fellow Polish believers whose grief is doubled because they see their fellow countrymen who grieve in desperation, instead of with the hope of Christ. So much of this past week has been nationally focused on praying for those who lost their lives, because their belief system leaves them with NO security in death! They never know if they have done enough "good" to merit a place in heaven, even if you held a prestigious title here on Earth! It has been a good reminder of how thankful I am for the security and hope I have in Christ! Do you have this certainty? It is just as available to YOU !!! There is no greater title than "HIS"................I don't have to earn His love or His favor.......and even in death, I am secure !!! Thank you, Jesus !!!

Albert and I had a chance to be among the people this weekend during the funeral proceedings, since the former president and his wife were buried here in our city. Below are a few of the pictures we captured. It's hard to describe the emotions and feelings we observed, but we are thankful for the enormous outpouring of prayer over this nation! There is power in those prayers, and we pray that the Truths of His Word that we were able to share this week will sink deep into hearts and flourish into life-saving faith !!! Thank you for your contribution to His work this week as you've prayed !!!!

St. Mary's Church - site of the funeral ceremony

Big screens outside televising the proceedings

Memorial for the President and First Lady

Polish Flag with black ribbon for mourning

Funeral procession in Warsaw, projected on the screens in Krakow

Evidence of mourning.... seen everywhere!

Upward perspective of St. Mary's Church -- we look up in HOPE!!

On our way to our Polish church.......supporting our country!

Lots to Process

I am way overdue on blogging, but I've honestly been putting it off because there's just been so much to process. I'm afraid none of it will make sense coming out of my head. So here goes the hard work of processing out loud.

We are walking through history with our host country right now. The tragic death of a large number of this country's leaders this past weekend has been devastating for this nation. The circumstances surrounding the location of the plane crash, the large concentration of all the country's leaders being lost in one day, and the unprecedented void left behind has been very surreal for the people we see each day coming and going. Although we are in the midst of them, it is still difficult to truly relate as a foreigner. We have seen reactions of heartbreak, absolute shock, fear over who might politically take advantage, and even guilt over a lack of support for the president. I have learned alot watching them grieve and process this tremendous loss. We are currently exercising a 7 day mourning period here in Poland. What does this mean? Well, it is interestingly tied to many cultural rituals...........with rules. So much of life here is overwhelmed with cultural expectations and rules. Even in their deepest times of crisis, they revert back to establishing and then maintaining the cultural norms. This is what they know...........and hence, there is security there.

It paints a very clear picture as to why Poles have a works-based faith.

Oh, how I long for them to get a taste of the freedom in Christ. That they would taste and see that the Lord is good! How light His burden can be for them !!!

Oh, to be able to speak their heart language at a time like this!

Which brings me full circle with my greatest struggle here.......the language barrier. With the known difficulty of the Polish language and the abundance of English speakers here in Krakow, it would be so easy to cut my losses with learning the Polish language and be free from this struggle............but my heart just doesn't comply. My heart longs to be able to communicate effectively on a deeper level. But until God blesses me with a miracle, or I've had 5+ years of language immersion (according to the stats)..............I've got to trust that HIS power IS made perfect in my weakness.

So, we continue to learn, become experts in pantomime, and trust that our actions and non-verbals somehow express the love we have for them growing in our hearts.

Here's to another day of being a common vessel..............filled up with HIM, available to be poured out on Poles. Dobranoc (goodnight)

We Welcome Spring !!!!

We had a great week here in Krakow! It was busy, but it was blessed! The coaches arrived here a little delayed on Monday because of the winter storm that hit the States, so they hit the ground running! And their luggage finally arrived on Thursday and Friday !!! They were troopers with great attitudes despite their travelling struggles...............(I think they were able to finally laugh about it come Thursday.)
They worked with the football team each afternoon at a beautiful field here in Krakow. Then they had dinner, fellowship, and spiritual discussion time with about 10-15 of the guys each evening. They also got to help with the flag football program as well. The week ended with the most amazing football upset in the history of the Krakow Tigers! The Tigers triumphed over the 2009 A League Champions, the Miners, in a 24-20 victory on Saturday !! It was so fun for the coaches to get to celebrate that victory with the guys! Here are a few pics from the football camp as well as the game:

Football Camp:

Tigers Vs. Miners 3/27/10

The kids are excited!

Kaleb told Daddy "Congrats, I'm proud of you!"

Prayers Needed!!!

We have an exciting week ahead of us..............and we need your participation! Will you pray? We have 4 coaches who are enroute from the States who will arrive tomorrow to work with the Krakow Tigers this week. They will be doing a football camp with the guys each afternoon, then they will be doing Chronological Bible Storying with them in the evenings. Please pray for good weather, good health, and receptive hearts ready to receive the news of a Risen Savior! Here's this year's team pic...........so you can picture their faces while you pray:

Krakow Tigers 2010

Remnants of Winter......remnants of HIM!

I was so blessed the other day !!! I was sitting by our window as the sunlight flooded in, soaking it in (it's been a while since we've seen the sun)..............and I noticed an odd process of melting going on outside on our balcony:

You see, a couple of weeks ago, we had several days of consistent snowfall which deposited about 8 inches of snow on our balcony. As I was leaving the house one day, I realized that I had forgotten something (which is more common than I'd like to admit), so I naturally called upstairs to Albert on our doorbell/phone and asked him to just drop it down to me from the balcony. It's worth saving another trip up and down 4 flights of stairs. Unfortuately, in order to comply with my ridiculous request, Albert had to step out onto our balcony and disturb our beautifully deposited 8" of snow. Oh, it had looked so beautiful and undisturbed !!!

In these recent days, the sun has emerged and begun to melt our snow. I noticed that almost all of the snow on our balcony was thin and melting.............except Albert's footprints!!!! How strange it looked to me. The very place where the beauty had been trampled on and pressed down was the last remaining remnant when the heat had been turned up!

Then I felt a gentle reminder from my Lord flood my soul like the warm sunshine washing over me: how often I get upset by the disruption of the Lord's activity in my life, especially when I'm feeling pressed down.............doesn't He sometimes mess up "our scenery"? Yet, when the heat is turned up, we see that His imprint is what lasts the longest.............the rest of my piddly contribution just melts away. His mark is the remaining remnant!

Oh, how I love that He uses the simple things to teach me something profound!

Speaking of those snowy days, here are a few snapshots of our family Valentine celebration in the snow! We went sledding and ice skating under the most beautiful blanket of falling snow I've ever seen.

The Winter Wonderland (Park Jordana)

A skating wonderland

Exciting news to share !!!

We have had the opportunity to witness and celebrate the very reason we are here !!! A brother in Christ, Robert, is a Polish believer who is young in his walk with the Lord. His spiritual journey toward Christ began over a year ago when he overheard some of our teammates speaking English at a bus stop. Wanting to practice his English, he began talking with them, accepted the invitation to come to Coffee House, then Church............and now has his name written in the Book of Life !!! Just recently, he asked if he could testify how the Lord has made him a new creation through baptism. So we borrowed the pool at the local YMCA. He was so excited that he invited all his family...........and even all his Facebook friends! He is passionate about his Lord !!!

Praying before the baptism

All of us joining in Praise
thanking his Lord in English

then thanking his Lord in Polish
Dying to the old self

Raised with Christ in newness of life!
Praise HIM !!!!

There's no better testimony !!! This is what life is all about !!

If you don't have it, don't let the sun set before you ask about this most amazing gift from your Creator!!