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 !!!

Just Fun Stuff !!!

I have so much to update, I couldn't fit into one post..................so this one just contains some things about family life lately !!! (Please note that there is another new post right below this one!)

The weather is changing............just last week, we went for one last hurrah to our favorite city park because we figured the 70 degree weather was not staying long!

And we were right................these are pictures from this week!

Not sure we were ready for winter...............but here it is !!!!

This past month, Kaleb had his first field trip at his school !! His class went to Dinozatorland!!! Mommy went on the field trip with him and we had a day full of langugae learning and fun with Kaleb's classmates! They do not have school buses in Poland, so we took chartered buses to a great place right outside our city!

lining up to get on the buses!

Wow !!! It looks awesome! Got the buddy system going on!

Those dinosaurs WERE lifesize !!! And they moved with sound effects!!!

Kaleb came equipped with his camera !!!

Class pic -- Kaleb is in the red on the far right!!!

Sliding out the dinosaur's mouth !!!

Can't tell he was having a good time, can you?!?!

Fun was had by all !!!!

Also in September, we had our annual team retreat! This was a weekend away from the city for our entire Krakow Team to just fellowship, relax with family and friends, and plan for the next year of ministry. We had a great time.............we are blessed with a great group of people to work with !!!

Update on prayer request!

We are excited to share with you some amazing things God has done on behalf of the family we mentioned in our last post !! Kasia's son, Jasiu, had some deep wounds on his leg from his injury which required a surgical procedure to clean up dead tissue. He was scheduled 5 days after this procedure for a series of operations which would include a skin graft to replaced the deadened skin. At his 3 day checkup, the 70 year old veteran doctor called in all the younger doctors to see the amazing amount of healing on Jasiu's leg.............he had never seen that much healing in such a short amount of time in all of his years of practice! The only explanation was simply the power of prayer !!! God is performing a miracle of healing before us............both physically and spiritually !!! What a blessing it is to witness the strong arm of our Lord!

He does this every day that we take in breath................have you looked around you lately to see it?
We need to ask for your prayers specifically in regard to the athletes who are participating in the weekly Bible study. In the past couple of weeks, they have clearly been presented with the reality that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins..............and that His invitation to be His follower is on the table before them. Would you intercede on the behalf of these guys that they would make time to listen as the Holy Spirit works in their lives..................even today !!!! These are not just Polish athletes............these are precious lives that Christ deemed important enough to sacrifice all of Himself for. At our game this past weekend, we had a medical situation on the field toward the end of the 2nd quarter. One of the other team's players fell face down in a grand mal seizure. It took an eternity of minutes for the medical team to stabilize him and get him into an ambulance. In the meantime, Al had the opportunity to pull our team together on their knees to pray for this young man. This made an impact on the head coach as he watched and participated in the prayer. This was a prime opportunity to demonstrate the priority that Christ plays in our life and gave Albert a chance to voice how his very life depends on the grace and power of his Savior, Jesus Christ. Thankfully, the young man was stabilized and our guys were able to pull themselves back together and win that semifinal game !!! We got the victory that day, but our prayer is that God's glory took home the big trophy! Please pray for Michal, the head coach, and the rest of the players who got on their knees to pray. May they bend the knees of their heart to a Savior who loves them so deeply.

Here are a couple of pics from the game:

Searching for Normalcy !!!!

We are busy trying to find a new normal for life here in Krakow !!! Since our family has departed back to the States, we are now trying to settle into this new schedule for our family .............Kaleb attending Kindergarten 5 days a week, Arin attending preschool 2 mornings a week, Daddy out for Baseball and Football 4 nights a week, 2 language lessons a week, 2 Bible studies a week, teaching kids at our International Fellowship...............and a Fall full of Team Krakow ministries starting back up !!! We are certainly not bored these days !!! And somehow God still carves out time for us to be investing in personal relationships here.............and I am so thankful. I have a friend named Kasia (probably the most popular name here in Poland), who lives in our neighborhood. She is a strong believer who really needs some prayer support right now................so I thought I would tap into the strongest network I know............you !!! She has a newborn baby, a 3 year old son who just recently injured his leg really bad and had surgery yesterday, a mother who is having complications from heart bypass surgery, and her husband just lost his job of 20+ years. She is so determined to hold tightly to her Savior and see Him move on behalf of her family. Can you join us as we pray?

Since I can't post to our blog without including some pics, here are some of the precious moments Kaleb and Arin shared with their Nana and PawPaw: