Blessings overflow......

I got blessed this past week. It was a tough week.................I felt like I was stripped down to nothing, and then, my Savior stepped in.

Arin and I went to the market for some fresh fruits and veggies. She asked if we could get some flowers (like normal), and I gladly agreed! We found a beautiful flower stand with an array of beautiful tulips. I asked the price, and the lady said they were priced by the stem. Arin and I discussed (in English) what we wanted and I told Arin that we could get 3 -- this would be just enough to brighten our dinner table! Arin decided that she couldn't resist the pink tulips (surprise, surprise), so I asked the seller if we could buy just 3 of them. She said that they were normally sold by the bundle............so I asked how much the bundle was. She looked at Arin and I, then put the whole bundle in my hand and responded "nic" --- nothing. I tried my best to convince her in Polish that I wanted to pay her for the beautiful flowers, but she was determined to not take a single złoty from me. I was dumbfounded !!! I didn't even know how to receive this generous gift in such a non-generous culture. I felt that this was a huge sacrifice for her because there were about 15 tulips in the bundle !!! As we walked away in sincerest gratitude, Arin and I prayed a blessing over this woman.

All the way home, I was telling God how humbled I was that He would use the very people that I came to minister to.......to minister to me. When we got home, we carefully unbundled our tulips to prep them for display, and I found that I could only fit about 8 of my blessings into my one and only vase......................and then I lost it.

I didn't even have enough room to contain all of my blessings!

I heard the sweet voice of my Savior saying to my heart, " this is just like Me............I give you more blessings in life than you could possibly contain. You gotta search for some extra 'display containers' for my level of blessings."

I've been chewing on the many levels of this reminder about the character of my Lord this week as I've watched those blessings bloom:

my extra display container -- the Coke cup!

He has been my blessing this past week !! How about you?

Football Camp

This past week, we had a coach come from the States to help with a pre-season football camp with the Krakow Tigers. They met each evening for practice, then mid day on Saturday and Sunday. Here are a few shots from the daytime practices:

We were able to invite 2 other football programs to join in on the weekend camp days, which gave our guys a chance to scrimmage as well. This coach from the States, Don, was able to meet with some of the Krakow Tigers one-on-one outside of practices. He was able to share his testimony with one player, and helped lead Al's weekly Bible study with the guys in his hotel room. Although the weather was very uncooperative, Al and Don had a great quantity of hours to spend with these Polish men throughout the week.

During this time, we also had some other things going on. Kirstin and the kids went to Radosc, Poland over the weekend to attend a training seminar on a new tool for leading Poles through the Old Testament. It was a great time to dig into the Word, spend time with colleagues, and play with lots of English-speaking friends.
We also had some celebrations this past week !!! Kaleb had 2 separate Polish tests at school when he returned from winter break. One was on vocabulary, and the other was on grammar. He did really great on both tests..............so we celebrated by taking him out to see a movie.......in Polish, of course !! Ha Ha ! There's no rest for the weary brain from Polish.

Albert and Kirstin also celebrated 10 YEARS of marriage !!! We had alot going on that day, so it was a real surprise when Albert secretly arranged an anniversary date !! He had the other coaches cover football camp for the evening, and arranged for a babysitter! It was such a sweet time to spend together and look back over the blessings of these past 10 years! We look forward to the next 10 ahead of us !! I wonder where we will be...........

Zima Ferie

In Poland, the schools take 2 weeks off in January or February for Zima Ferie...........winter break. This is when the country takes time to enjoy the winter activities! I think it's a great idea!! We spent the first week doing one-on-one dates with each of our kids, enjoying activities around Krakow like ice skating, and continuing in minstry. Then we took off for the second week to the Polish mountains for a family ski trip. We had a great time making memories together! Here's a snapshot of our 5 days:

A great hotel with lots of places to play:

Innertubing:

Skiing (in the best weather imagineable -- sunny and warm):

Enjoying lunch on the top of the mountain:

The view while eating lunch:

Arin, and the hills she conquered:

(this is her hot-doggin' pose... love it!)

Tidbits of life...........

After the holidays, when the kids returned to school, Arin's school had their annual program in honor of Grandma/Granddad's day. Arin was an angel, and she had 2 separate speaking parts during the program. She delivered every word of her lines in Polish beautifully. And this year, she sang almost every word of every song !!! Her Polish is improving so much, and we, along with her teachers, are so very proud of her!
Here are a few shots of our ANGEL = ANIOŁ:


Sharing her handmade gifts with Mommy and Daddy:


A couple of weeks ago, we went to a mall to watch a friend's son perform in a dance competition. At the conclusion of the competition, they invited any kids up on stage who wanted a free dance lesson. Here's Kaleb and Arin trying their hand at hip-hop (in the front row):


Isn't life an adventure ?!?! Never a dull moment here!
I have so many more pics to post and stories to tell.........but there's not enough time in the days. We leave tomorrow for a few family days in the Polish mountains! As a very specific answer to our prayers, Al's x-rays on Wednesday showed complete healing in his finger, so the surgeon was able to remove to the wires yesterday!!!.............just in time for him to be able to ski with us on this vacation! We are so grateful to a God who cares about the details.............of even our lives.
Have you realized that HE cares about the details of your life too? Take notice of that today, because He takes notice of you !!!

Filling in the gaps............

I was looking back through our pics...........and realized that I never blogged about the end of our December 2010. But as a friend was telling me last week, it's OK to keep on celebrating Christmas................we tend to forget about that Christ-child once the holiday passes. So, here's to extending the holiday.........

Before school let out, Kaleb's class performed a program which included the Christmas story.



Here is our token "family pic in front of the tree" - a must for every American family!!

After the enjoyment of opening gifts from family members via skpe,....

We began making a birthday cake, for JESUS......

We invited our friend, Weronika, over on Christmas Day to help us celebrate. When I asked if she wanted to help decorate our cake, she asked who the cake was for .........the thought just never crossed her mind that it was Jesus's birthday! She happily agreed to participate, and it was fun to show her how our family celebrates this extra special 'birthday boy'.

We also had the opportunity to celebrate Christmas with our team. It's always fun to get all the kids together, eat our favorite American treats, and encourage one another.

One of our teammates' home church sent a shoebox of gifts for each child on our team. It was such a surprise to them..........and they loved exploring their treasures from America together!

The week between Christmas and New Year, we took some time as a family to do some special things around our city. We had the opportunity to go ice skating with Weronika and Abbe, went to the movies, and went snow skiing for a day...........

It was a beautiful day............with great ski conditions.........and even better company !!! We had a good time celebrating as a family this holiday season. It is always hard when you miss family during the holidays. We know it is hard on them as well. But we are thankful to be here in Krakow for this season of life............and we celebrate HIM !!