Long time, no blog.......

I know our blog is seriously deficient in updates. I apologize. We have made it to the United States for our 6 month stateside time!!! We hit the ground running !!

We arrived on December 20th and simply had hopes that we might kick jet lag enough to be awake for the celebration of our Lord's birth. We did that and had a great celebration both in Oklahoma and Texas with our family.

We got to celebrate Jesus's birthday by singing praises to Him in ENGLISH !! Although He is more than worthy to be celebrated in any language, it was such a treat for us to worship Him in our heart language.

Worshipping Jesus !!!!

Birthday Celebrations for Jesus

eatin' good!!!!

manicures with Nana and Ning

trying out Arin's new Easy Bake Oven !!!!

Then we headed to Texas to see the Hesskew side of the fam!!! It was such a sweet reunion since we hadn't seen any of them for almost 3 years.

Spending time with our dog, Meg.......

Once we returned to Oklahoma, we had a few days to move and settle into the mission house before we headed to Virginia for a Stateside conference for a week.

Then we finally have found a little bit of a routine. We are adjusting back to the American culture, trying to get used to stop signs, big parking spaces, customer service, and southern hospitality !!! The kids and I are busy working through their Polish school books.

The beginnings of homeschool in the mission house......

We've also enjoyed diving into American sports, like Upward Basketball !!!

Thanksgiving x 2!

We had a blessed Thanksgiving celebration. We first had the opportunity to celebrate with our team of Americans. We then continued the tradition of giving thanks to our Lord in front of some of the Krakow Tigers. This year, we had some new teammates to celebrate these meals with.........Stephen and Traci Edworthy...and they graciously hosted both meals in their home. This was especially strategic in regards to the Krakow Tigers because Stephen has joined our team to do sports ministry. Al is transitioning all of the sports ministry to him as we prepare to leave for the States soon. We believe God is going to do some amazing things through the Edworthys in these next 6 months!
As usual, here is the photographic documentation for you:

Team Thanksgiving -- MKs filling up their plates

Littler ones chowing down

one half of the crew......

other half.......

desserts waiting to be devoured

Thanksgiving with the Tigers: 4 of our 8 guests had never experienced a Thanksgiving celebration before this day. Fun, Fun !!!

Traci and Kirstin, acting like we've got everything under control in the kitchen

Arin has the important dish covered...........Mac n Cheese (from America!)

a friendly flag football competition outside with the guys

let the feasting begin......

Al shares about this American tradition and what he is thankful for....

I'm sure this is Stephen's first and only fill-up, right?

full and happy...........ready to watch a little NFL on our mock "big screen" (projector on the white wall)

Although is it hard to be far from family during this time, we are thankful to be here for this season. We pray that you found countless reasons to give thanks this season, even though your circumstances may be difficult. Every good gift comes from above..........so we give Him thanks!

Great News for us !!!!

We have been praying since this past June about where God would have us serve when we return to the field in June 2012. There is a new team of missionaries starting in a city 3 hours west of Krakow, in Wroclaw. Although we've loved this city when we visited, and we enjoyed meeting the team leader who will be in Wroclaw, we never felt God calling us away from Krakow. Our heart is here among the people we've invested in for 2.5 years. We've shared our hearts with our leadership, and have waited on their decisions.

We found out last week that we have been approved to return to Krakow for this next term !!!!

We are SO excited and thankful for this answer to our prayers !! My heart rests a little better each night knowing that we don't have to say permanent goodbyes to our Polish friends here in Krakow. And we are excited to see how we can continue to join Him in his work here in Krakow, Poland !!!

Here are some shots of our happenings over the past couple of weeks:

Once a month, our church has one service geared toward the children. Here are our kids leading in worship one Sunday morning:

The kids' school has a "Bible Day" holiday program. Here's our kids singing in the program. I'm afraid our kids sing more in Polish than in English.
(church may be an adjustment for them while we are in the States.)

Our team went on a retreat over a weekend in October. It was a great time to get out of the city, enjoy God's creation, and fellowship time with each other.

Our view of the drive

We got to do a ropes course together.


They are ready.........bring it on !!!

We got to do alot of other things together, like carve pumpkins, play pool, sing, and go fishing!

As a family, we went to the cemetery on All Saints' Day so that we could show our kids part of the Polish culture and pray for the eyes of the Polish people to be lifted in hope to Jesus Christ instead of religious rituals which leave them without hope.

This past Friday was Independence Day for Poland (well, one of several). This holiday was in celebration of the new Poland freed after WWI!

Playing in the park..........mommy had to capture some of the beautiful fall colors:

Our Daddy also had a birthday !! We celebrated from morning till night !!!

Happy Birthday, Al !!!