Saturday, August 29, 2009

Little girls growing up



Hello all...
Here's a little snidbit into the girls growing up.
Kadence is "reading" her latest favorite book here "Goodnight Moon".
I thought I'd translate what she's saying. : )

"Goodnight jumping over...
Goodnight light and red balloon
Goodnight bears, goodnight chairs
Goodnight mittens...
Goodnight clocks, goodnight socks
Goodnight house, goodnight mouse"

We love it when she reads like this!!

Kya just had her first swimming lesson! We have a friend who is another missionary in a city called Durres that's about 45 minutes away. She is trained to give lessons and was so kind to volunteer her services. There is an open pool there, but it does cost money, so we don't know how often we'll do it. It was the first time we went to a pool here in Albania. So so nice. Here's a few short videos of our time there.











And at last, her reward for her cooperation - ice cream (as she yells)! : )

We had fast food afterwards and I ordered a "hamburger". I'm sure you're asking the same thing I did. Where's the meat? It's in there. It's just about a 2 1/2 inch skinny circle. It's hiding under the fries, cucumber and tomato.

Until next time, wonderful friends and family...

Friday, August 21, 2009


This is a picture of the Korean team with some of us OMers as
well. They came here for a week, all 32 of them, and we had
a jam packed schedule that was tiring but very exiting.




Here they are performing some taekwondo on the streets of
of our city Lushnje. We are at Luna park, a park that is in
the center of Lushnje and a very popular hangout spot,
especially during the Summer months.



They also brought over an interpretive dance. As you can see,
they were a very talented group of youth. South Koreans seem
to put a lot into whatever they do and it shows.




This is at the Emmanuel Center with the kids. Both the Florida
and Korean team brought over fun things like face painting and
animal balloons. The kids loved it and the people on the teams
really enjoyed the time together with them.




This is in a village called Grabian. A new Bible study had just
been started here a week before we did this street evangelism.
Steve Shapiro, the fearless leader of the Florida team is laying
out the Gospel message. You go boy!!


Steve, the multitalented Florida team leader, also took part
in doing a drama with the rest of the guys and gals from
the team. It was a powerful one and I believe God really
used it to help plant spiritual seeds in the hearts of many.
(a clip of the drama below)






Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Winter vs. Summer

So, I thought it would be fun to examine
the
differences
between
winter
and
summer
here.
From silly things you don't think about to other things you wouldn't think you could "live" without. : )

S = Summer W = Winter

*Remember, in winter, it has gotten as low as 42 degrees and in summer,
as high as 100 degrees inside our flat.

Concerning food:
BUTTER in S if left out of the fridge, will melt. To soften it, after being in the fridge, just put it out in the sun for 5 minutes. In W, even when left out on the countertop every day, it will never get to spreading consistency.

CHOCOLATE in S will also melt, so you have to keep it in the fridge always. In W, it's good, but just kinda hard.

PRODUCE in S goes bad very fast! Like, within a day or two if not kept in the fridge. In W, fruits and veggies stay good for a week or two at least when left out. It's great!

WATER in S = never enough! At times, I find it necessary to keep a big bottle of water in the freezer, (no ice makers, just trays) because at the rate we drink it, it hardly gets cold if we keep it in the fridge. It's just not in there long enough. In W, we could probably go a whole day without drinking and not even notice.

COOKING in S means making the kitchen even hotter than it already is! Food takes a good while to cool down to eat it sometimes. In W, the food cools down almost immediately. It's impossible to keep even warm for more than a few minutes.

ICE CREAM in S is a must (and very cultural). In W, nobody eats it... except us foreigners on a special occasion!

Concerning household duties:
LAUNDRY in S is easy. Many items dry within a couple hours (we hang it outside to dry). The only thing is because the sun is intense, it can fade the clothes pretty fast. In W, I have literally felt my hands go numb when taking it down and folding it when it's gotten really cold. Plus, it's usually hard to tell when it's dry (because the coldness can make it still feel wet). It can take days to dry many times.

CLEANING the ceilings are for different reasons. In S, it's dust cobwebs that form where the walls meet the ceiling from the dust that comes in the windows and doors (which are always open of course). In W, it's mold that grows on our bedroom and bathroom ceiling from the humidity.

Concerning comforts:
BATHING is refreshing in S and necessary very often due to the amount you sweat. In W, it's almost traumatizing : ). It means putting a space heater in the bathroom for 10-20 minutes to warm it up. You are cold the entire time, but with the heater, it's bearable, just something you definitely do not look forward to!

SLEEPING in S is difficult! We have fans (portable ones, I've seen maybe only 2 ceiling fans my whole time here) going on all of us throughout the night, but still very uncomfortable. In W, it means 3 blankets and your regular winter clothes (which can consist of 3 layers) - sometimes with even your winter coat and gloves. It usually takes 15 minutes under all that to stop being cold. And some mornings you wake up to see your breath. Also, I remain in a very tight fetal position all night long.

POWER OUTAGES in S means, "Oh no! No fans!" In W, it means, "Oh no! No space heaters!"

BUGS in S are plentiful! I don't think there's a day goes by without a bee coming inside along with many flies and mosquitoes (no screens here). Sometimes bees can almost cover some produce as well when you go to buy it at the market - especially grapes. We have also seen some really weird looking and BIG bugs here! In W, this is one very good thing! No bugs at all!

WEATHER in S means blue skies and more blue skies. It's very dry and sunny and won't rain for many weeks in a row, sometimes all summer. In W, it's gray skies every day for months seemingly. Much raining and humidity, which means a lot of mud! We've also experienced hail many times here already (not necessarily in just one season, though).

So, those are some interesting extreme differences in our last year we've experienced concerning W and S. For me (Jamie) it was my first winter ever having grown up in S. Florida and lived there my whole life. Very interesting...

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Again, we apologize for not updating the blog regularly lately. Our Summer was extremely busy with teams visiting but we promise it will get better now. I just put a couple things up right now
to get something up but there will be lots more to come in the coming weeks. We will also try and share some personal stories with what God was doing in and through the teams. Thanks so much for your patience.

Sunday, August 2, 2009


This is a village called Grabian, where we did street evangilism
with the team from Florida. Many people were interested in
was going on. Some of you have either seen or done this drama
in the past. It is called The Chair and is one of my favorite dramas
to see and perform. Here, Annette and J.D. are performing it in
front of a very large crowd. The Lord used this along with music,
testimonies, and preaching to lead individuals to Christ that day!

The Florida team also brought face painting for the kids. That was
always a big hit and sometimes pure chaos!!!


This video was taken just before the teams got here around the
middle of June. This was outside our flat and the many people are
gathered because voting was just about to take place in a couple
days for a new leader in Albania. In the weeks before the elections
took place it was common to see people driving by with VERY loud
music playing promoting whatever party or candidate they were
for. This would happen multiple times during each day or night.
This was sort of a rally just gathered in the middle of the street.
People left there cars in the middle of the street everywhere just
blocking the road. But no one seemed to mind that much. It is just
a part of what goes on here and is what normal.