Bartletts in Albania

It's all about Perspective

2010-04-18T01:18:00.000-07:00

Why is the type like this? Grrrr. Sorry about that.

So, I'm sweeping our front yard this morning because it's all dirt and covered with leaves and blossoms that have fallen from our big orange trees. Because of the blossoms, it literally sounds like a buzzing bee hive as all the bees collect their nectar to make honey. God just loves putting us out of our comfort zones. :)

While I'm doing this, Kya is playing with our next door neighbor's boy. After a while, his mom comes over. She tells me something that is very normal here in Albania, but would be very hard to experience. Her husband has left for Greece for 6 months. He does this every year. Here half the year, gone the other half. He does this to work ad support his family because here it is so hard to find work, especially work that's enough money to live. She has a 3 year old and a 4 month old. I asked her how she goes grocery shopping. She has no help. She's from a village. Normally here in Albania, your mom helps you, but her mom is in her village. They don't have a car like many Albanians don't. She said when the baby's asleep, she runs to the store really fast (literally). I just can't imagine. Obviously, I told her I'd come over and watch the kids while she goes, but I don't know if she'll accept my help. I told her I wanted to take her out for coffee sometime, but she said "Thank you, but no." The reason? Because men go for coffee, not moms. Moms stay at home. She is at home every moment. I told her I saw lots of moms going out for coffee, but I think because she is from a village, those traditions are more ingrained into her about the status of men and women. And sometimes I think I have very few friends and would like to get out a little more. Compared to the States, of course, but here, life is very different. Just try to imagine what that would be like to be trapped in a house with 2 small kids half the year every year with no car, no husband, and no help. We have so much to be grateful for.

2010-03-26T05:23:00.000-07:00

So, last month (February) was a challenging month for us. We found out about the death of our good friend Kaulana. She died in a car crash while driving with only her dog. (which barely had a scratch when they found him) This was of course very sudden and unexpected as she was only 31 years old. Jamie and I served with Kelly, her husband, and Kaulana for years at Calvary Chapel Boynton Beach. We knew them very well and it was a privilege and honor to serve alongside them. I, Tim, had the opportunity at the last second to fly to the States for 4 days to attend the funeral service and spend some time with Kelly. I was such a God thing that I was even able to go. Anyways, here are some pics and video from the trip.

This is Kelly sharing at the service. He was holding up amazingly well.

A pic of me sharing. The service was 3 hours long and not one person
that was there could care less. It was a special, special service with the
majority of the time opened up for anyone to share whatever was on
their heart. People came in from not only all over the country but all
over the world. I felt so privileged to have been there.

Most of the people on stage we know well and have served with in
one capacity or another. Two of them are missionaries in different
countries and the came here at the last second as well. Being there
was so surreal and it was like a big reunion and maybe a little bit
of what Heaven might be like. (Minus the sadness and pain)

After the service started, some friends of mine where motioning me
to come up onstage. They wanted me to play some percussion with
the band during the worship set. It was totally unplanned and really
cool to be up there with all of our friends we knew so well but that
I have not seen in so long. (Thanks Tracy for thinking of me!)

It was really nice to get some Starbucks iced coffee! (my favorite)

It was also nice to swing by the beach and walk out on the sand.

Kelly and I met at this Cracker Barrel and talked for a while. I took a
picture because this is the first place that Jamie and I went to with
Kelly and Kaulana about 11 years ago. I believe they were just married
for about a year and Jamie and I were newly engaged. We hit it off
with them right away that night because after we ate we went out
and sat on the rocking chairs for about 4 more hours until midnight
just talking about anything and everything. Good memories.

This is Colby, the dog we had in the States. My aunt Shirley took
him now and he is in good hands now. What a good dog!!

2010-02-09T06:13:00.000-08:00

First of all, thank you to everyone who sent advice from my last post. I have pondered much of what all was said! Thank you for praying! It has kind of naturally limited itself in a healthy way. She comes over about twice a week now and asks when to come back. Then, she's been coming back on those days only. I've asked another girl to start having coffee with her sometimes (by your advice, Christina) and had already before asked her for help with cooking (like you said, mom and Rach). She is a good girl and has helped clean up the table after lunch every time without my asking. (I also really appreciated your letters Sherri, Tracy and Dad!)

Well, here I am, talking about the center for gypsy kids again. We just moved into a new place. I'm happy about it. It feels like a new beginning. Maybe a beginning with the smallest speck of hope even. Only God knows.

Here, we're moving the furniture using our car. It was very... interesting. I (Jamie) was there that day and was the driver to take trip after trip with all of the belongings to the new place. The older boys came to help and to my surprise, they were a huge help. They always surprised me by loading the trunk as you see above. I would then tell them that it wouldn't hold the whole way to the new place, then they would continue to prove me wrong by making it secure enough and it held every time. This was kind of a beginning of a change in our relationship. I feel like for the first time, because they were given responsibility for something and could work with their hands, they felt useful and like men, which made them act like men and with respect. Something new! Very different from our past experiences together! Of course, they still had their moments of being teenage boys that day, but there was a small change that started then as I look back. They even wouldn't allow me to help them with the heavy stuff. I was pleasantly surprised.

Here's a little man with a lot of character. He's 9 and just adorable - most of the time. Here, he's helping us move the boxes into the new place.

There's not much to it, but it has a sink, running water and a bathroom which is great! I was even shocked to see screens on the windows! I've very rarely seen that here in Lushnje.

This is what it looked like after everything was unloaded and piled in the center of the room. It's covered with plastic because the painting was about to begin!

Here's Tim painting the ceiling with one of the older boys I had mentioned to you earlier painting the walls. It wasn't as professional as Tim would've had it being a pro in the States, but we know it was important that they were able to be a part of it.

Tracey (standing), a new Aussie on our team and Mona, the Albanian who's been a part of this ministry for 5 or 6 years now were helping out. The kids really liked the color and we could tell there was just something new going on and a good feeling in the air with all the new happenings.

I have done a couple simple murials on the walls and have one more to do. It's hard because I wanted to go and just be in their by myself and work for a good solid chunk of time to get it done, but the new place is right next to where they all live. So, anytime we go there, they see us and come and expect to go inside. Well, one time I went and tried to explain to them that I had to be by myself inside and work otherwise I wouldn't be able to finish it (if I had to watch them as well). They weren't too happy about that. They didn't understand and were getting angrier and angrier. Finally I said I was just going to leave. Then one of them started screaming at me. Thankfully, the older boy (picture above with Tim painting) came and asked me what was going on. I explained the situation to him and he understood and defended me and made them leave me alone. I am so grateful for this turnaround! A month ago, I was calling our pastor to come to my rescue from this same boy, now he's rescuing me from his own brothers and sisters! Only God could do it!

We start back up tomorrow. Right now, we're in a trial season of enforcing rules and consequences for actions. I think it'll be rough and very testing, but it's absolutely necessary if we're going to continue in this.

Some Godly advice needed

2010-01-25T01:57:00.000-08:00

A question:

(Jamie speaking) No pics with this post. I hope that doesn't deter some of you from continuing. : )

There is this girl. She's 16. She's attended the little ministry we have for gypsy kids for years now, but she's always stood out to me. She's quiet, shy and respectful. I have heard her mother and aunt who she lives with are prostitutes. There was always a desire within me to reach out to her more than the two times a week we meet with the kids right now, but if other kids find out, they get really jealous and angry. Well, now that she's 16, she's been coming to church so after church one day, we brought her back to our house for a visit. It was really nice being able to have some one on one time with her and I felt alright knowing she's old enough now to visit our house with a reasonable excuse for the other kids since she's 3 years older than all the other girls. After the first visit, she came back the next day... and the next. One day I had in mind to just spend time with my girls, but guess who came over unexpectedly. She stayed for almost 4 hours. I have to practically kick her out every time. I think you get the picture. Now every time I see her, she asks when she can come over, and even on days when I've said I would be busy, she's showed up anyways. The thing is, we came here to minister to people like her. I've asked her if she has friends, she said yes, but I've never seen her with one and wonder if she did, why'd she spend so much time here? Knowing what I do about her home life, even from things she's expressed to me personally, I could see why she wouldn't want to be there. But where do I draw the line? Others have told me to limit my time with her so she would come once a week, but I don't think I can do that. This is the reason we came here, but it affects my whole family, not just me. My ability to cook, clean, spend time with them, and do other ministries. At the same time, how do turn her away, leaving her only to go back to her home where there is nothing to live for? An honest question. Please, feel free to comment. I will prayerfully consider every piece of advice!

Jamie

2009-11-22T10:24:00.000-08:00

So, Jamie and the kids and I have been doing quite a bit of traveling
lately. As most of you are aware of, Albania is the first or second
poorest country in Europe. But, being here allows us to be right next
to some pretty cool countries. One of those is Italy. In October we
had the opportunity to go there for a family vacation which was
amazing. Then I(Tim) got to go back a week and a half later to
another part of Italy for an OM conference. The conference was
held at an OM base in northwest Italy about 45 minutes outside
of Torino(Turin). The pics and video below tell of my adventures
there which during that 12 day stretch was both beautiful and crazy.

I arrived in Italy at night so I didn't see what our surroundings
looked like until the next day. This is what me and my roomates
saw when we first opened our curtains. The pictures really don't
do it justice for how high and beautiful the mountains really were.

This is right outside the front of the OM base. It was located right
at the end of a valley with the surrounding mountains having peek
fall colors and a fresh covering of snow on the taller ones in back
which happen to be the Alps. During our conference breaks
many of us would come outside here and just stare at God's painting.

I had no idea but this valley we stayed in has a very rich history.
There were a group of people called there called the Valeccians
(probably spelled wrong) who I believe migrated there from
France in the 1100's. They were persecuted for many hundreds
of years by both the Roman Catholic church and army in Italy
for their faith.They were always either in hiding or having to
defend themselves and one statue portrayed them having a
Bible in one hand and a sword in the other. This picture was
taken at a place up the mountain where mainly the men and
boys would go during the Winter for maybe 4 months and they
would just spend time reading, studying, and teaching God's
Word. In some ways it was like one of if not the first seminaries.
This was a small room and whether it was here on in pne of
their churches, they always had a Bible opened. There were a
couple of other small rooms there for eating and also another
for keeping animals nearby to help sustain heat inside.

This was inside a cave where they used to meet for service. It was
also a pretty good walk to get there and you had to crunch way down
under rocks to get down into the cave. They said it could fit around
200 people. We visited it at night when it was late and cold and they
shared a very moving story with us. This cave was also very secretive
but when they met they would place boys outside to guard the area
in case the army would show up. Well, one time the army did come while
they were having service and they silently killed off all the boys who
were keeping watch. Then they threw burning torches from above
through the cracks into the cave. There was only one way out of there
so the people inside either were burned alive or if they came out the
army was waiting for them with swords to take their lives. All of them
died. We have all heard those kind of stories before and they move us
but to be there inside, at night, where it really happened was just an
unforgettable experience for all of us. In the video here we are inside
the cave singing worship songs and praying for the persecuted church.

At the OM base I roomed with two other guys. One was named David,
and he was from Sweden and working in Syria. The two of us got up
around five in the morning one day and hiked up the mountain. It was
dark the whole way up and even at one point we had to hold onto a rope
and lean over and walk across a stream of water flowing down the
mountain that was pretty steep. At this point where the picture above is
I had to stop because the side of the mountain got pretty steep and I
did not want to risk it with my worn shoes. Right above where I am
standing there was a big pointed rock where we were told that they took
the Valleccian women and children one time and through them all off of
the rock. It was called red rock because of all the blood spilled.

After we had been there a week the whole group attending the
conference went to Torino for the weekend for an outreach. Torino
was about 45 minutes away from where we were staying and we
found out is actually one of the most Satanic cities in the world. I
believe it is the fastest growing "religion" in Torino with over 40
thousand registered Satanists. Anyways, we actually didn't have
any run-ins with that and we spent the weekend evangelizing at
a big outdoor market. This place was a big hangout for foreigners,
and especially Arab people. The picture above is my "bed" one
of the nights I spent at a church. I could have slept on the tile
also but it was too cold.

The girl in the blue jacket was German and she worked in
Morocco. She spoke Arabic and was very useful in speaking
with the many Muslims that were there. This little canopy
was where we had our station and gave out books, Bibles,
and literature in many languages.

So theses two pics(above) are from when I took an unexpected
trip. The last day I was in Italy I got a call from our field leader
in Germany asking me to come to Germany and pick up a
vehicle for our team here in Lushnje, Albania. Our van here
has pretty much died and so I rode up to Germany with some people
traveling from Italy and transferred the car documents into my
name and then drove it back to Albania. (See story below)
On the way, I was stoked to stop at a gas station in Germany
and find two food items I miss from the States. I was kind of
a Mountain Dew-a-holic back in the States but in most of
Europe it is nowhere to be found. Subway was also a great
find. I got a turkey and meatball sub and ate them very slowly!

So, my drive back turned out to be quite an adventure. I
started in Southern-Central Germany and drove through
Switzerland and through all of Italy to the Southern most
tip to a city called Bari where I got a ferry to take me over
to Durres Albania. But on the way, I made a very, very wrong
turn. I had been given an atlas in German but I was mainly
using some directions that I printed out. Everything was
going ok until after I passed through Zurich, Switzerland.
By then it was starting to get dark and I was driving by
myself and I knew I had around 2 hours to reach the
Italian-Swiss border. The only problem was when I reached
the border about 2 hours later I passed through and I
noticed the signs did not change into Italian! I got a knot
in my throat as I felt something was really wrong. I pulled
over and asked a guy where I was and he said I was in
Germany!! I did not even know where in Germany as
I had no idea what direction I had headed in. I tried to
go to the next exit and turn around but I couldn't and
that led me going down another road somewhere. Then
I tried again to get off another exit on that road and
the same thing happened again. And to make things
worse, when I was getting more lost on these roads
I entered into France!!! I finally asked someone and
found my way back to (now) the French-Swiss border.
I had a bunch of things inside my car and when I got to
the border they would not let me through. The told me to
pull over and proceeded to search my entire car inside
and out. The took all my bags apart and even had a dog
sniffing the entire vehicle, even the engine! An hour and
a half later they let me go but now it was late and I knew
I needed to drive late into the night to make up for lost
time. This video was me sleeping outside of Milan, Italy
on a rest stop. I got about 3-4 hours sleep and then had to
hit the road again. The humbling thing is that usually I am
very good with directions while driving but not this time!
Thank you God for your provision and protection.

Prayer Makes Such a Difference

2009-11-15T04:46:00.000-08:00

What a difference. This second year has certainly been different than our first - which is to be expected. First of all, I would like to say an enormous THANK YOU to all those who have prayed for us. A specific answer to prayer to mention is Kya and school. She struggled all year long last year with not wanting to go or throwing terrible fits when we left her there. We kept taking her there, though, because if she didn't go, she would have almost zero interaction with other kids her age and be around adults 24/7 and we knew it would be the best way to help her learn the language. When the summer was ending, we weren't sure whether or not to put her back in because of the traumatizing first year. We prayed for sure and asked all of you to pray as well. Well, WHAT A DIFFERENCE! She is like a totally new kid! I don't think she has cried once this whole new year. She has so much joy and the teachers tell me how happy she is and well she's doing. She goes on her own and gives everyone (the other kids and teachers) hugs afterwards and tells them, "Mirupafshim!" which is "goodbye" in Albanian. She's also been speaking more Albanian for sure this year in school and out. Initially we heard how they would pick it up so much faster than we would, but that was not the case with Kya. Even by the end of the last school year, we were surprised at how little Albanian she understood and knew. PRAISE GOD! He is ALIVE and answers prayer! All I can say is she really is like a whole new kid. My heart is full when I see her at school so full of joy. THANK YOU prayer partners. THANK YOU, MY GOD!!

2009-11-05T06:55:00.000-08:00

This is a happy day at the Center for gypsy kids we have here. It's with the Florida team from summer time. However, what you will read about here is another type of day.

Read on to find out what went on in my (Jamie's) head yesterday when coming home from the Emmanuel Center.

THIS IS NOT WORKING!! Why in the world did we give up our lives for these kids? It was for nothing!! They don't care! They don't respond! They don't respect us one bit! They mock us! Why are we here? I'm so ready to close this down! I am going to those boys' fathers and going to have a word with them about how their boys behaved and what little respect they have showed us! What a waste! We are some of the few people that treat them like human beings, we come and give them food, they get clothes sometimes here, when we see them on the street, we shake their hands and treat them with dignity, we visit their homes. Why in the world did we give up our lives for them?

Then, Jesus whispered in my heart, "You didn't do it for them, you did it for Me."

Yes, that's true. And it did help calm me down. Although, the frustration continued. What a terrible day - actually, the worst yet - there at the center for gypsy kids. I was actually getting somewhere with the younger boy who is 6. He was writing his name, but it was totally backwards, so I was showing him how to write it forwards, and he was really improving. Then, I was teaching an 8 year old girl how to write her 6s the right way and she was also improving. Then, the older teenage boys went out of control. They were so incredibly rude and disrespectful, when I went home, I was ready to call it quits. The Albanian woman who helps us wasn't able to make it that day, so it was just me and Jess (the Aussie lady who's on my team). It was a joke. They were stealing keys and trying to break into other rooms. They were climbing out the window (we're on the 2nd floor), making fun of our accents, physically pushing me out of a room where they weren't supposed to be, knocking over chairs, being extremely loud yelling and knocking things over (which we're in an apartment building and other people can hear us easily). I was demanding that they leave, but they wouldn't. I felt powerless. Finally, we had to call our pastor to come over to help us. Then, when they heard he was coming, they left, making an enormous ruckus as they went. That was a bad enough nightmare and it took a while for me to calm down. Then, after the meeting, I asked a couple of the older girls who are 13 and 14 to come with me to show them something. I wanted to show them a painting I did and ask them to paint with me sometime (the 14 year old is always painting and coloring at the center and I know she loves to). The 14 year old's mother and sister are prostitutes and she hasn't come for months. Suddenly, she's coming again and I want to really form a relationship with her. I really don't want her going down that path. Well, after I showed them, we were trying to make plans for when to paint together, then a couple other kids from the center saw us and asked what we were doing. When they found out, they were all jealous and mad and called me stupid and yelling at me and wouldn't listen to a word I said. I was mad, then too. I had already been telling one of them that I would go to her house and do something special with her and she was happy about it. I asked them why I couldn't do something special with them and these 2 girls, but they wouldn't hear it. I was fuming by the time I got home. I was just thinking, Why in the world do we do this? These kids don't care one bit. All they want to do is take and misbehave.

I hate to say that that's the end of this blog post. There is no resolution... yet. The truth is, sometimes I have no idea what to do. I feel completely inadequate, like my language isn't good enough yet, just powerless. I have sought God about what to do with these kids, but when I feel I have a clear direction, it seems to shut down or the doors close. I don't know. I feel confused sometimes. If you remember, please, please, pray with us for this ministry. It is the most difficult by far. I know that God loves these kids by Jesus' example. Looking at His life here on earth, He loved the most rejected, the most looked down upon. It's one of the things I REALLY love about Him! This ministry also defies society's thinking in that way. Anyways, it's not like I expected this to be a piece of cake, but it reminds me of labor. I knew going into it, it would be extremely painful... and it was! But, knowing it would be so painful didn't make it any less painful if you know what I mean. Knowing this would be so difficult, doesn't make it any easier. That's all. I love you all and thank you for reading. It feels good getting my true feelings out there sometimes. -Jamie

2009-11-04T01:03:00.000-08:00

In the beginning of October we went to Montenegro for MTS2 which
stands for missionary training school part 2. It was held for all of the OM
missionaries around our general area. They came from Bosnia, Moldova,
Romania, Albania, and Kosovo. It was a great time of learning and
growing as well as getting to meet and make new friends.
We drove there since it was only around 4 hours from our flat and
we stayed there for 10 days. This is a picture of what the
surrounding area looked like.

This was a boy named Ilir who Kya really bonded with while we
were at MTS. She enjoyed being around him so much that each
morning and after every nap she would wake up asking to go
and play with him right away. Fortunately, he lives in Albania in
a city 2 hours from ours and she will get to see him again during
Christmas as the 3 OM Albanian teams meet for the holidays.

This is right outside the room in our hotel where we would come
together everyday to worship, pray, teach, share, and interact
with one another. The room was a little tight and the food the hotel
served was not so good, but it didn't matter much because the time
we spent there with each other in fellowship and learning and
growing was special.

This water source was right outside the hotel room where
we met (see above) and you could get fresh water from it
whenever you wanted. I think the kids used it much more
than we did.

I put this picture in because it says a lot about who Kya is. After
taking her to go potty at the hotel I ripped off some toilet paper
and it came out uneven. She didn't like that so I tore the rest that
was hanging to make an even cut but I left this one little part on
purpose to see if she would notice. Well, she did. It still was bothering
her. She showed signs of this when she was very little. When she was
around 1 and couldn't talk yet, she woke up one morning in her crib
and was whining about something and pointing over to the corner of
her room. When I took her out and put her on the floor she walked
over to her closet door that was open just a little and pushed it closed
because it was bothering her. At least we shouldn't have to worry a
whole lot about her keeping her room clean but we'll have to see how
extreme she goes with it.

While in Montenegro Jamie and I celebrated our 9th wedding
anniversary. This was a pretty nice restaurant in town that
we went to and the food and service was really good.

These were mozzarella sticks that we ate there. We have not
eaten or even thought of them since we left the States. They
were a pleasant surprise.

When we were driving to Montenegro we ofcourse had to go
across the border of Albania/Montenegro. When you drive
over you need a green card and another document for your
car as well(only in certain countries). Well some of the cars
driving over from Albania didn't know this and they had to
leave their vehicles at the border for 10 days. They took a
taxi to get to the hotel which is about an hour drive but could
not fit all their bags. So I offered to drive back to the border
that first night with an English guy named Neil to retrieve
the bags that were left. We left around 8 or so and the drive
back to the border was a little hairy because the road was
super narrow in many spots and very dark and in the
mountains as well. And there was not much of a shoulder or
none at all sometimes so when someone is coming at you with
their brights on it was quite challenging sometimes to stay on
the road. I should tell you that neither Neil or I had been with
them when they were driving so we only knew where to find the cars
from what they told us. Anyways, after searching for like an hour
we could not find them. We left after some guy started yelling
something at us from inside this van. I walked over to it and around
the back and to my surprise he was holding a semi-automatic gun
and telling me (in Albanian) not to come any closer. I am still not sure
whether he was a guard in that area or if he was just living there by
himself. Anyways, that was our cue to go. We never did find the cars
that night and got back after midnight. Thankfully, they were still
where the guys left them 10 days later after the MTS ended.

2009-11-02T12:37:00.000-08:00

We have not blogged for a while because we were gone almost the whole
month of October. We went to Montenegro for what they call MTS2 which
means missionary training school and then we were off to Italy for a family
vacation. Well, I have waited over a year to get this picture but it was well
worth it. It is a picture of Jamie eating at McDonalds. The reason why I
say this is because in the States she ragged on anyone of our friends who
would eat there (including our pastor) and she said that even if she was
starving she would not never eat there. I told them before I left that when
we are overseas as missionaries there will come a day where my wife will
eat there and when it does I am spreading the news and letting everyone
back home know about it! So, here it is. The proof is in the....cheesburger!
One reason it took so long is because there is no Micky D's in Albania.
Sorry Honey. I love you, but you knew this day would come if you ate there.

Believe it or not, this was actually the first time that either of our girls
have been there. Needless to say, they liked it.

2009-09-30T00:34:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to attend a Retreat at the beginning of
September that was especially for missionaries that live and serve
here in Albania. This was the last night and since we were close
to the beach we made a little bonfire and roasted some
marshmallows. They were a special treat brought from the
States and Kya (in the yellow) was very exited about eating them.

Since we were right by the sea there were turtles hanging
around the property. Kadence was taking a liking to them and she
would have taken him home with us if it was up to her.
Now, a pet turtle, that would be something here in Albania!

This is Kya, well, being.....Kya. If you have kids or you are around
them you know they can get very silly at times. Kya can be
very funny and she was cracking us up here with her facial expressions.
Who does she take after?

We just had two new girls join our O.M. Lushnje team. Tracy is
an Aussie and Lynette is from Canada, eh? One of the first
nights they were here we all got together and did a B-B-Q
and had them initiated. This is a grill that we bought in the
summer with chicken and pork sizzling on top. The coal is much
different and much harder than in the States. In the States,
you can just throw some lighter fluid on the charcoal and poof!
you have a B-B-Q. Here, they come in big chunks that you
need to break up and put pieces of wood or fire starters throughout
the coal and keep working and fanning it until it turns white,
which usually takes a good 20-25 minutes of work. Anyways,
after doing it 3-4 times I thinks I have it down now.

During Tracy and Lynette's "initiation" that night, one of the things
we had them do was that we blindfolded them and gave them a few
of the traditional Albanian drinks. Lynette, the one on the right, had
the worse of the two drinks. It is called raki, and it is a very strong
alcoholic drink they make here. It will definitely clear your sinuses
right up!! Tracy, on the left, had something called thalle. It is a drink
made from yogurt and many Albanians love it but we could do without
it. And yes, both of those drinks taste terrible,
at least to most foreigners.

We will always be posting pics and videos of our kids because
the grandparents and family want to see them.
As we have said before, Kya and Kadence love to look at books
and many times they do it together.
Kya is usually the "teacher" and Kadence the "pupil".

Little girls growing up

2009-08-29T22:38:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-08-21T01:30:00.000-07:00

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)

Winter vs. Summer

2009-08-11T01:59:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-08-08T13:29:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-08-02T04:25:00.000-07:00

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.

A Movie Experience

2009-07-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

Hello...

So, Tim and I went to the movies today for the first time in a year. Exciting stuff! : ) We had actually tried to go on his birthday back in March and went to the place, but they didn't show the movie because there weren't enough people that bought tickets. Remember that we live in Lushnje, and the closest theater is in Tirana, the capitol which is 1 1/2 hours away about. (There are 4 or 5 theaters in all of Albania.) So, I was pretty bummed and we had to drive back for nothing. It's silly, I know. Just a little piece of something familiar. And you can't just say, oh let's see something else. Some of the theaters show only one movie. Which is another reason we had to wait months to try again, because if that one movie is yucky or old (they are currently showing Kung Fu Panda at a theater... we own that movie) then you have to wait until they show a new one. So, everything finally worked out today and we saw Night at the Museum 2. We liked it.

Funny little differences: at the time we bought our tickets, we had to choose our seats, which was even funnier because we were the only people in the theater (thank you, Kristal Kinema for still showing it anyways!). The tickets were about 3 US $ each. Then we went all out and got snacks. Popcorn which would equate to a small size probably in the States (only one size available) and a coke. The only kind were the good ol' glass bottles... tiny. Snacks: $1.70. Walking in it was really nice because it's a brand new theater. Nice seats and everything. The screen was probably about half the size as one in America, but it was big enough. Albanian subtitles, of course, throughout the film. Halfway through the movie, there was a 5 minute interruption. Oh yeah, also their internet site said there was a showing at 10:30, but there wasn't until 12:15, so we sat at a cafe nearby and played travel Scrabble while we waited. It was a really nice time for just the two of us.

We really needed it from being so busy with the team that recently came from Florida. They were here for 2 weeks and it was an awesome experience. God used them and worked in them in many ways and blessed us through them. It is cool hearing things from their perspective. If you want to hear about their trip here, they kept a blog the whole time, with pictures too. The blogsite is in the post right under this one. It was super busy! We were almost never home and pretty much collapsed after they left. Now, we're planning for a team coming from Korea with 32 people! They'll be here on Thursday! You can pray for us and the team!!

So, our official date day ended with a really yummy lunch at the Stephen Center - a restaurant/cafe started by an American missionary in Tirana. So, so good. The only place we've been that has things like Mexican food and BBQ chicken, teriyaki, etc. Chimichanga... that's all I have to say. : )

That's the end of that story. Sorry for lack of details about the Fla team, it's just, how do you even begin to talk about a whole 2 weeks of continuous experience? Perhaps we'll try to muster up some details and stories for you in the next blog. For now, I'm ready for bed. Good night. I'm sure you're all getting ready for dinner in a couple hours and your own fun Sat night plans.

2009-07-06T13:19:00.000-07:00

Hello, everyone. So sorry it's been so long. We've had a team here for the past 2 weeks and have not even been home just about the whole time! It was an amazing time. The best way to express it, though is through the team's blog. They kept one the whole time they were here, so you also get a perspective on their side of coming here for the first time. Here's their link. They were a team of 11 Americans from good ol' south Florida. Thanks for your patience!!

http://albaniateam2009.blogspot.com/

2009-06-03T23:32:00.000-07:00

Well, dear friends and loved ones...
Here's a pic of some precious friends of mine.
It is really a strange transition, living in another culture.
In the beginning, everything's new and different. You're always learning,
always making mistakes (we're still learning and making mistakes!).
Gradually, over time, things become more and more normal.
You feel more and more at home. You even start to forget what was
considered "normal" in your home country vs. your new one.
I was however, recently feeling less like an "American" in a couple
situations. Once was while going to the second hand market.
There is a family of stronger Muslims on our street. I stop to say hi
when the mom is outside. I really want to try to develop a relationship
with her. I know she sells clothes at the second hand market. So, I
needed something for Kya and went there to her spot specifically.
After telling her what I needed and watching them dump out a pile of
used clothes on a tarp on the ground, I then began picking through it
to find something suitable for Kya. I just kinda laughed inside at the
feeling inside of me saying, "What are you doing? You're buying used
clothes from a gypsy Muslim on the dirty ground for your daughter!!"
As I shook the feeling off, I reminded myself of this woman's state.
Knowing the reality of heaven and hell is enough to go through things
much more extreme than just this. All that matters is her soul.
Another time was when I stopped to visit these friends in the picture.
They were eating lunch and invited me in to eat with them.
They don't know God personally yet. While sitting with them in this shop,
they forcibly said again and again, "Eat! Eat!" which of course I did
and enjoyed the moment very much. Their lunch was bread,
peppers cooked in oil, cucumbers and a few chunks of cheese.
Once again, this feeling came over me that I've described.
They were so happy to have more than enough for me.
They even gave me some for Tim.
This is an ordinary poor person's meal here.

Kya's growing up! She got this certificate since it is the end
of her little school year. She still struggles with going sometimes.
I think it's hard because she still doesn't know the language well,
but it actually is the best source for her learning it well.
Also, without it, she would have almost no other "kid" time.
She has made her friends here.

Along with "graduating" her first year of any kind of school,
she just turned 4. We went to a little local zoo for her birthday.
It was really small, but fun. Here's Kya face to face with a monkey.

Here's a little unsettling visit with a lion. It was "unsettling"
because there was just this little wire cage between us and it.
I've never been so close to one before and was actually really
surprised by how powerful it looked. Also, you can hear it growl
at us in the video suddenly.

The girls racing a bear. : )

Lately, Kya's been into sharks. I have no idea why,
but that's what she asked for for her birthday, so that's what she got!

homemade paper wall decor

4 years old!

Ministry Reality

2009-05-20T12:10:00.000-07:00

Well, no pics with this post. Hope it's OK if I just show some humanness if you will and relay a hardship of our ministry here.

Yeah, it's hard sometimes. I will admit the emmanuel center for gypsy children is one of the most difficult ministries I've ever been a part of. How are you supposed to fight against a mindset that has been ingrained in people for centuries? - that you are a beggar and that's all you'll ever be, so may as well be good at it. Don't try, don't go to school (cause then you won't be on the street making money), don't wash up (cause then you don't look pathetic enough to get money when you beg), have lots of babies and start when you're young (because it looks more pathetic and you get more sympathy when you have a dirty little precious baby at your feet or say "I have 8 kids to feed"). I will say how I feel. Just when I think I'm getting somewhere and connecting with them, they do something to remind me what a stronghold they're trapped in and can't get out of. Just when I was really feeling good about the day we had with them last week, they work as a team to distract me to get into my purse. ohhhh. Why? I honestly can't blame them. They are children. Children do as they're taught. The one girl that I really had hope for that stood out as different, has turned "bad" (as our Albanian co-worker put it) and stopped coming. Her mother and older sister are prostitutes. What is her hope? Whew. I know sometimes we like to post happier things, but I hope it's OK to show you the not so fun side. For me, the really difficult side. What makes you go on when you see absolutely no fruit and hardly anyone else wants to join with you in the ministry? When you feel like it's an absolute waste of time because there is no change or visible hope. The thing that keeps me going is this - because Jesus told us to. This is what Jesus taught us to do in word AND action, so we'll do it. We can't give up on these kids like everyone else does every day. Also, we serve the God of impossibility and hope in seemingly hopeless situations. I am so grateful for that. We can go on and perservere because of who God is. Praise Your glorious name, Jesus. Thank You for loving these kids more than anyone ever could.

Good times

2009-05-12T04:56:00.000-07:00

We wanted to apologize to any of our blog readers who might have
read a comment on here about a week or two that was very vulgar.
We don't know this person personally and we are screening the comments
from now on.

And if the person who made that comment ever reads this, we just want
to let you know that we are not mad at you. If that is the way you feel,
then you are entitled to your own opinions. We also want you to know
how much Jesus loves you and that if you have a lot of bitterness
and anger stored up inside that He can take these feelings away
from you and replace them with love, joy, and a peace that only God
can give to you. We hope and pray that God will work in your life and
one day you can give your heart to Him. God Bless you!

Also, we apologize for posting Albanians as a "forgotten people". You're right. Albanians aren't forgotten by God in any sense. I think the reason we posted that was because this country was so closed off for so many years under Enver Hoxha's rule, and no other countries had access to it, it became in a sense, forgotten, because of it's inaccessability. Please, forgive us. We have removed that from this blog.

So at the end of April, we had a 4 day retreat in Macedonia. These
pics and video are from the beautiful ride through Albania while traveling.
(You will hear more about the retreat in our newsletter)

While we were there, we had some free time each afternoon. We decided to see
how good of drivers our girls really are. I think they need some practice :)

The city Ohrid that we stayed in bordered a big, beautiful lake that
separated Albania and Macedonia. We were told that back in the day it
was like the "Jerusalem" of the Balkans because of the amount of churches
and Christian history that came out of here. This was a castle at the top of
the hill that we walked to one day.

This was the view outside our hotel.
Definitely a refreshing change from our dusty city!

Got to get them trained early!!

Ahoy ye pirates! This pic and the ones below are from a pirate themed
birthday party we went to for an American missionary who lives here.
It was a lot of fun and also challenging to find pirate clothes here in Albania.

Even as a pirate she is cute!

Yeah, yeah. Don't laugh. We are on the mission field,
so this is the best that we could do. : )

So, I think we have a natural here. Watch how she goes to
play and puts her hand on the strings to play a chord. We
never showed her this, she just did it. Watching her try to
play and sing at the same time makes us think that she
might be a future worship leader! You never know, but
if God wills, that would be awesome!

2009-04-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Jamie and I love doing and teaching mimes and
dramas. This is the first one we were able to teach and perform in front
of the church during Easter. Actually, it was the week after Easter which

was the Orthodox Easter here. It was an evangelistic service at our church
and these two boys go to our church and love being in dramas. One of
them wants to be an actor when he grows up. This particular mime
is called "The Healer". Some of you have seen it before and even though
we have performed it many times, it's still one of my favorites.

We just put this video on here to show you how the girls like having
fun. Kya is goofing off for Kadence and she loves it. We are so
thankful that they have each other to play with.

This is a march for Jesus that was organized by some of the local
pastors in our city. The march took place in a city nearby, and people
from different churches and cities showed up to support and be
a part of it. It was very encouraging and I believe the town we
were in was mostly Orthodox. This was on Saturday, April 18,
the day before the Orthodox Easter. After we marched down
some of the streets, we stopped in the town center where there
was a stage set up. We had worship, preaching, and some
of the local pastors came up and prayed over that city with
different requests. Even though all the churches were not
represented or present, it was a great step in uniting our
community and churches together. And in this day and
age that is a tiny miracle in itself! Praise the Lord!

My (Tim) parents came to visit us in April for 2 weeks. It was
such a joy to have them here. They were able to experience
quite a bit while they were here. A march in the capitol for Jesus
(see below). A team coming over. All of our ministries. But I
think one of their favorite parts of being here was hanging
out with the grandchildren and playing with them. I know
our kids loved having grandma and grandpa here and we
are so grateful they were able to come and visit.
We miss you guys a lot!!!

This was Easter Sunday in Tirana, the capitol of Albania. This
was another march but was much larger with many believers
from all over the country showing up. It was really a fantastic
time of spreading the Good News and letting all of Albania know
that Jesus is very much alive in the hearts and lives of many
people here. Christianity is not recognized as an "official"
religion here and this march was not at all a march of
protest but to show God's love and make His name known
here in this country. There was also worship, teaching, prayer,
and a general excitement that filled the air this day. It
was a privilege and honor to be a part of.

Village Outreach

2009-04-04T00:30:00.000-07:00

These are all pics from a village outreach.
This is at a missionary's house who is an Englishwoman
married to a gypsy man. Ironic!
Yet, there's just something right about that.
He is the pastor of the church here.

This man had a hard life. I only remember a few details because
there were so many people who were suffering and had a hard life
I can't remember who has been through what.
Some experienced death, some diseases, some disfigurements,
some mental impairments, some were grandmas raising their
grandchildren and had no idea where their daughter was,
some were eating bread and peppers and had nothing else,
some had spouses leave them. These may seem like not that hard,
but here there aren't government programs and support groups
and other things to help them. If you are a woman with children
and your husband leaves you, how do you receive income?
What hope do you have? I don't know how the older women survive.
Most of their husbands have died and their too old to work.
How do they get money to live?

This is one woman's ceiling.

This is a crib.

They always love the girls!

This woman could not stop kissing me long enough to even take this pic.
The outreach was because someone from another country donated
a bunch of money for food packages for the really poor people.
We just delivered them and recorded it all to send back to the donor.
She just kept praising God and kissing us. Here's a couple pics of her house.

This is her ceiling.
We could see the sky through the hole and that's mold all around it.

This is a ditch they dug INSIDE her house to drain the rain that comes
in through the hole in the ceiling. There's something in me that screams,
"This is unacceptable!!" It's hard to see the way these people live.
I didn't want to leave the first house we went to, but we had 50
packages to hand out! We decide next time we do this,
we will do less packages that are bigger so we can spend more time
with the families we deliver to.

2009-03-31T01:39:00.000-07:00

I hope you like nature because I(Jamie) do and will continue to post
pics of God's artistry. It's just too amazing! This pic represents
something for us here. I pray this for our city, that God will break
through the clouds that blind people's eyes and shine His brilliant
light with salvation.

And again, more artistry.

It was Timmy's birthday recently. Whoa, that's a lot of candles!!
We went to his favorite place to eat here in Albania.
It's a cafe type restaurant started by American missionaries
in Tirana, the capitol. It is almost like eating in America -
REAL American food, yes! But since it's in the capitol,
it's a couple hours away.

As you can see, Kadence enjoyed the cake very much. She also
enjoyed something else unexpectedly. The Korean team that came
here in February left a few packages of dried seaweed.
I liked it and thought it was interesting, so they gave us some.
Well, Kadence loves it. Kya eats it sometimes too.

There is actually a place to go bowling in Tirana as well!
It was a fun day for us as a team.

This is funny.
There is not a single McDonalds here in the whole country.
This is a pretend one however, called "Kolonat" with a "K".
(Also in the capitol. We don't have stuff like this in our city.)

Something I've been concerned about lately as a Mom is
boredom for the girls. Sometimes, I just think, what else can I
do with these girls today? Remember, I haven't driven here
yet and am not supposed to be out after dark really. There
are 2 parks in the city, but both cost money, so I can't do
that very often. It's not like we have a beach or pretty place
to walk here either. Well, here's a couple videos of Kadence
entertaining herself with a tiny bug. I guess they just learn
to play with what their options are!

Check back with us soon. Within a few days, we're going to post
some pics from a recent outreach that was impacting for us.

2009-03-07T00:49:00.000-08:00

Well, here's some more pics from my Mom's visit. Here,
we put her to work. : ) Actually, we couldn't stop her from
constantly doing housework! It was a major blessing for us.
If you know my Mom, that doesn't surprise you.
This is how we clean rugs - we beat them over our balcony.

This is also a view from our balcony of the sunset.

While she was here, she got to see us host our first short term team!
That was exciting for us because it is a ministry Tim and I, Jess
(the Aussie from our team) and Suela (the Albanian on our team)
recently became in charge of. The team was from Korea
scouting it out for future trips. Because of that, she got to experience
a lot of Albania. Here is a pic from the day off/fun day when we took
the team to a castle in Kruja. We got to see some really old house-
hold ways of life like mills they used to grind flour and wedding
attire handmade that was super old. I can't remember how old, though.
: ) It was cold! The mud was icy.

Here's our team there.
As you can see, we were all having a good time except for Kadence.

Sorry about the angle. Technical difficulties. Here's part of a castle.

This is just in for the cuteness factor.

Mom with a boy from the Emmanuel Center. She and the Korean
team really enjoyed their time there. For some of them,
it was the thing that impacted them the most.

It's amazing for me to see these older teenage boys
singing the songs about Jesus and doing hand motions.

After songs and talking about God, they get to color a picture.

On the day off, we also took the team to see the sunset in Durres.
It was breathtaking.

Here they joined us for a team meeting beginning with worship.
This is at the OM Center.

They got to go to Dushk, a nearby village. This is the service
during worship. A woman from the team shared her testimony
and the pastor on the team closed with some words and a song.
Afterwards, the women in Dushk, my mom and I got to have an
amazing time of prayer together.

2009-03-01T11:42:00.000-08:00

First of all, we apologize for not keeping up with the blog in the last couple
of months. Our bad! Especially this last month, we were a little distracted
with Jamie's mom here. So, these two pics and the video below it are of a
restaurant we went to to celebrate a birthday for our team leader. It
was all you can eat fish (and meat). This is our server. He kept piling
the fish on our plates even when we told him we were done. Most
everything was good, especially the fish, but we weren't to fond of the eel.

Here is a view of our table. Jamie's mom was also with us as she was
here for 3 weeks in February. The restaurant was kind of rustic looking
and it had a few open fires like this one you could sit next to.

Kya got a kick out of the shrimp. She actually wanted to take it home
with us. As you can see, the shrimp comes with the head as well when
they serve it to you. The shrimp was good and also provided live entertainment!

This was another restaurant we visited with Jamie's mom. It is in a city
called Durres that borders the Adriatic Sea. This particular day was very
windy and we hardly made it to the restaurant because of the water in the
streets. We were carrying the girls and had to weave through chairs,
tables, and cars to get there. They also had to open a side door for us just
to get in. At the end of the video you can see a mom pushing her child
through the flooded streets. Kind of crazy because it was also winter
and cold outside.

Jamies' mom didn't want us to put this on here but it was too funny so we
couldn't resist! Sorry Jan :) Here, she is drinking a traditional Albanian
alcoholic drink. It is called raki and it is very, very, strong. It will make
your throat burn. You can read more about it with pics posted a lot
earlier in our blog. Anyways, they say if you drink a little when you are
sick or have a sore throat or need you nose cleared up it will help.
It helped alright, but not without a price! As you can see by her reaction,
the taste is indescribably bad! It makes for a good blog post though.
Thanks Jan!

2009-02-07T11:20:00.000-08:00

Ok, so you want to take a guess at what is in the bottle?
A guy at our church was cleaning and changing the filters
in the church van and this is what he came up with.
33% water and 67% fuel! That is what was inside the gas
lines and running the van. And you think that your fuel
in America and elsewhere is dirty!

Sometimes you might see a person like this man riding a
donkey through town. Hey, it's a lot cheaper than taking
your car, especially when gas is so expensive.
Gas is equivalent here to about $4 US dollars a gallon
That is down from $7 a gallon when we got here.

This is the view from our balcony. There has been a lot
of rain here the last few months so to see a beautiful
sunrise over the small mountain behind us is another
reminder of the majesty and beauty of our Creator.
It also was a nice break from all the rain.

So when you have spare time or get bored, what do you do?
Well, we decided to make sculptures from plato that was
sent from the States. Jamie made this one. I think it is the
closest I will get to surfing for a while.

These cards and nighties (top pic) are courtesy of The Uprising
from our home church The Journey. The sent us a great package
that had lots of goodies in it. The cards were so encouraging and
we were so grateful for the thought put into it. Thank you Josiah
for putting it together and also everyone who was involved!

It burns

2009-02-01T08:53:00.000-08:00

Well, sorry about the lack of pictures on this one. Our computer is getting fixed in the States right now and hopefully will be back within the week. We'll see.

So, here's the thing. I just got done with a conversation with a few nonbelieving natives here. I never thought this would be an issue, but it seems there are still people who were happy about the Communist times. They liked Hoxha, the dictator who ruled here for over 40 years making Albania an atheistic state and the poorest country in Europe. (pause)

I'm sorry, what? (pause again) Hmmmm......

I was like, "But during those times, you were only allowed x amount of eggs, x amount of bread, x amount of sugar, no more. No freedom. And you had to wait in line for hours to get it."
They argued, "But eggs were 5 lek apiece then. Now, look how expensive they are! I need a job, but there's no work. He opened schools and businesses."

It's hard to imagine what they've been through. One of them was this dear old woman that I see almost every day. Picture her - she always wears all black because when your husband dies, that's what you do here; her hair is covered with a black wrap as well; she is absolutely full of wrinkles; she actually has all her teeth, although they've been stained golden from her smoking. Even though we've talked and she knows I'm a missionary and she's a Muslim, she still happily welcomes me. At times, she gets passionate about it, but always leaves me with a smile, none the less. After all she's experienced here, what grounds do I have to talk to her about it? Her "work" is a little shop which is literally a 8x5 ft. rectangle make of plywood and 2x4s. How do I tell her about HER country? She's lived through it all, not me. How do I identify? Anyways, just thoughts.

On the other hand, what got it all started somehow was that there was this guy sitting at the "shop". He knew a little English and asked me some questions. We got into a discussion of belief and Jesus. Oh, the battle for his soul! I could see he was unsure. I could see he was open. I told him it was God that we met because God wants him and is calling him. He smiled and laughed. He's probably around my age. The minutes passed so fast and I had to leave while it was getting dark. On my way home, my heart burned. Even now I am unrested, distraught. Can you feel it? Can you feel the burn in your heart for his soul? I know you didn't see his skinny frame, short black hair and thin sparatic facial hair along with his crooked teeth behind his cigarette. You didn't get the chance to see his face while you tell him that when you pray in Jesus' name, things happen, miracles happen. I want you to see him. Pray for him. Plead to God for his soul. Yes. This is what I live for. Join me in this fight.

2009-01-13T07:25:00.000-08:00

This is our O.M van. since we don't have a vehicle yet I (Tim)
used it to go pick up some wood. The wood was wet when I
bought it and I'm not sure how old (or new depending on

how you think) it was. The place I bought it was about 5 minutes

outside our city in a lot just sitting outside with no covering.
They have a box there that is 1 square meter and you just throw
the wood in until it fills up. I costs about $40 to buy that much
and it will probably last us around a month.

I chopped the wood right next to where we park the van which is a
3 minute walk from our flat. I didn't have a big piece of flat wood
to put the pieces on when I chopped them so I used whatever
was around, like this cylinder block. (I broke 2 of them in the process.)

This is the chopped wood up on our front balcony. After I bought
the wood and loaded it in the van, I drove it back, brought it out
again to chop, put it all back in the van again, drove it to the outside
of our flat, then had to bring it up 3 flights of stairs. It was tiring
and took about 4-5 hours for everything, but it is definitely worth
the heat inside we now enjoy. Did it make me feel like a man doing
REAL men's work? Oh yeah, you bet! :)

This is our raging fire inside. It doesn't quite heat up the whole
flat but half our flat gets really warm!

These are our friends Mattias and Sue, a couple from Chile
who spent almost a year serving here in Lushnje, Albania.
They just left to go on the O.M ships. We only knew them for 4
months but became good friends with them and we will miss them
a lot. Our kid's really loved them too and they were excellent with
them and really loved on them while they were here. Aside from
ministry, we spent many nights hanging out and talking, playing
games, and sometimes watching movies. They also babysat for
us a couple times so Jamie and I could get out for a few hours.
When they left, we gave them our 2 player Blokus game because
they loved to play Blokus. They will be missed and we hope
and pray the Lord reveals His will perfect will in their lives.

Here's Kya and Jamie singing together their favorite worship song,
Hosanna. Kya's really learning a lot of the words and is starting
to sing to a lot of songs we listen to. Currently, Switchfoot is
her thing - especially "Nothing is Sound" which is also one of our favorite songs.
yeah-ya

Gezuar Krishtlindjen!

2008-12-26T09:24:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! Or should I say Happy New Year?
New Year's is THE holiday here. Because the Communist dictator
Enver Hoxha declared Albania an atheistic state during the time
he ruled here for forty some years, Christmas is only
celebrated by Christians. So, it's just another day around
here pretty much. It's weird because people have Christmas
decorations around everywhere, but it's all for New Year's.
These guys are carrying turkeys. No, we didn't have a turkey for
Christmas because the only turkeys here are like this - alive!
We did have a yummy lasagna and Korean chicken, though.
No complaints here!

Christmas lights decorate the streets for upcoming New Year's.
Sorry about the blurry picture. I was in a car when I took this
and the roads here are not smooth.

Party! On Christmas day, we have an evangelistic service.
It was full which is really good. Then, that night, the church
has a party and the people invite their friends from outside the
church. Each house group from church had something to present,
like a song, a drama, etc. Then, we ate and danced. It was really fun!
Here's some Albanian music and this is traditional Albanian dance.

It's actually harder than it looks.
Not like I (Jamie) know how to dance anyways. : )

We were so blessed by our family and a couple friends with
packages for Christmas! Here's Kya just after opening Pooh
from her grandma and grandpa.

A fun book from her aunt and uncle. Yippee!

It's getting colder inside our flat. Thankfully, we just got a
wood burning stove put in! Can't wait to fire it up!

Drilling a hole to put the pipe through for the smoke. Afterwards,
they filled up the excess area around the pipe with rocks.
Not exactly pretty, but Tim will look for something else
to patch it with.

2008-12-21T07:25:00.001-08:00

Open wide! I think Kadence has her mouth open a quarter
of each day as she is an eating machine. She eats often,
and she eats a lot. She equals her Daddy in consumption of food
many times during meals.

These next series of pictures are at the O.M. center where
our team in Lushnje hosted our annual O.M. team
Christmas party. Two other teams came and we enjoyed a great
night of food, fellowship, games, a white elephant gift game,
and singing Christmas carols. Jamie, myself, and Jess
(a single from Australia on our team) where in charge of putting
the whole thing together. It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun.

Ok, I (Tim) just put these first two pics of Kadence and Kya because
they are so darn cute! I love them so much and Jamie and I
are so blessed to have happy, content daughters that play well
with each other and are just fun to be around.
(The fun part they got from their Dad! haha..)
Although, part of that fun includes bumps and bonks.
Here Kadence has a busted front lip from playing.

Many times throughout the day and night there will be kids setting
off loud firecrackers all over the city and frequently right outside our flat.
They woke Kya up this night so she came out and fell asleep on the
couch. Kids are so flexible. They can fall asleep almost anywhere
and at anytime....and in any position. So for you thirty-plus people
reading this (like myself), don't try this at home.

What was I saying about kid's falling asleep?
This is what happens when you miss your nap.

Kya is getting into music more and more, which of course
we couldn't be more happy as parents about that. Her latest
OBSESSION is with a band called Fireflight. They are a harder
rock band with a female vocalist. (If you haven't heard them
before, then get into them if you enjoy that style of music.
They are about equivalent to what Skillet sounds like only
with a girl singing) Anyways, Kya really likes this song.
The chorus says "You gave me your promise" and you can
hear her singing it with the music. She asks for it morning,
noon, and night. So what Kya wants, Kya gets....just kidding.
But we do play it quite often, sometimes even at 7:30 in the
morning we'll blast it and dance rock out together!

Being thankful

2008-12-05T07:59:00.000-08:00

How was your Thanksgiving? Probably spent with family,
food, friends, football... This was our first one away from family.
We spent it in a village just outside of Lushnje. This was also
our first official ministry. We've posted pictures of the church
there just so we can all as Americans be thankful for the
luxuries and blessings we have. This is their church.
Their building is a house. This picture above is of the bathroom,
but it doesn't work, so they have no bathroom.

This is the first room you walk into.

Back wall of the sanctuary. The whole room fits maybe 20
people or so. We really made the rows tight and praise God,
it was a full house! There were even people standing outside
in the hallway, so there wasn't enough room for us (our team).

kitchen

Tim played worship with our leader for the service and
Jamie led worship for the girl's meeting in Albanian
for the first time! Before and after, we just try to converse
with the people - some believers, some nonbelievers, some who've
been away from the church. Since this outreach, the church has
been doing very well. We have prayed for the fruit
of this to continue on.

Sickness just will not leave our family alone! Our whole family
got a really bad bug, but we're better now. Although, now Kadence
has a bad ear infection and popped ear drum. We
discovered it yesterday. We called the doctor right away
and he came over (that's what we do here, it's different than calling
and going in an office like in the States). Then, he said she needed
to see a specialist, so we went there with him. It was at a
clinic right here in Lushnje... interesting. It's just different.
Smoking is allowed everywhere, so even in a clinic of sick people
you smell smoke. Then right in front of the room where Kadence was
seen was a circle about 6 feet around where the wall and ceiling
was just coming apart and you could see mold. After she was
seen there, the specialist said we had to go to the hospital.
So, we went there. Before this I had decided I wouldn't get sick
enough for the hospital after going to a lab to get a test for
an infection. When I (Jamie) went there, I walked upstairs to a desk.
Normally, in America, there's a receptionist and she takes your
name and you wait for a while and go in the back and so on.
Well, the doctor was behind the desk and he was drawing blood
from a woman. The room was small, maybe 20x20ft and the
"waiting area" was 5 feet in front of the entertaining blood drawing
episode. Then as my doctor walked in, the doctor who was already
there finished drawing the blood and stood up to shake my doctor's
hand with the syringe full of blood in the other hand.
Then, he waved it around while he talked and put it down on the
desk. This bit is for anyone with any medical training.
A little something called "universal precautions" is unknown here.
So, I had my concerns about going to the hospital, but didn't worry
about it. It turned out fine and Kadence is on medicine now.

Christmas time! Tim had bought a tree at a missionary's garage sale. Yay!

We had given away and sold all of our holiday decorations,
in America, so we made some paper snowflakes.
Way cheaper than any decorations we've seen here yet!

Brrrrrrr!

2008-11-23T01:20:00.000-08:00

Is it cold inside or are we shivering?!
We've had our first taste of winter here. This is the temperature
INSIDE of our flat! We wear scarves, gloves, jackets, whatever
we can around the house and to sleep at night. When waking up
this morning and even still now at 10:45 a.m., we can see our breath in here.
Hey, at least it's warmed up to 52 degrees!

This is the view from our window. If you can, look to see
a set of mountains that are dark in the front, then behind it is another
bigger set covered with snow! We see these mountains on clear days,
but not with snow until now.

The reason it is so cold inside is because there is no central A/C
or heating. Tim just bought this space heater. It can produce heat from gas
or electric - it's our make believe fireplace.

Well, now Kadence is sick. Kya at least understood when we
could only give her a spoonful of water at a time (because she
would throw it right up), but she would ask for it constantly.
Kadence constantly is fussing now for more water all of the time,
but she also throws it up a lot. Poor baby can't understand.

Yesterday our windows were all fogging up.
They did because it was still kinda warm inside. They don't anymore!

Tim's parents sent us a goody package. Woohoo!!! Like Christmas
before Christmas. A couple things we got were some
graham crackers and marshmallows (we don't have them here in
Albania) to make s'mores. We just melt the marshmallows
over our gas stove. Mmmmm.

2008-11-21T05:35:00.000-08:00

Faithful blog checkers, sorry it has been a while since our last update.
We've had a really slow connection when we've had internet
and then Kya's been very sick. This is her getting checked
by a doctor on our team at our house. She has been
throwing up everything - even a spoonful of water
- for the past almost 48 hours. : (

To make it up to you, we've put a few videos on.
This is before she got sick. She likes to jump around the house
counting in Albanian "Nje, dy, tre, kater, pese, gjashte, shtate,
tete, nente, dhjete". Kadence is starting to try to count now,
but it actually sounds more like Albanian!
We think it's because Kya is always doing this.

Here's a team picnic. So so nice to get out of the city
and sit in grass under trees. This is maybe a 5 minute
drive from our place.

Some livestock came to join us. Too bad you can't hear
the donkey hee-hawing across the lake.

2008-11-03T10:00:00.000-08:00

The sun is rising over the mountain just east of our flat.

This is a verb chart. This is how many ways we have to learn one single
verb! And guess what... we just found out today that we have to add
another column we haven't learned yet. Please, pray for us!
Sometimes it is difficult and tiring trying to study and fit so much
in our heads when our study times are very limited with the girls.

I miss green grass and playgrounds.

We thought this was interesting. It's a real, dead wolf hanging on a
building! We asked someone why it was there and they said probably
to show off that they killed a wolf. Hmmm....

We had a birthday party for our Australian missionary friend, Jess.
There obviously isn't a Party City here, so we had to get creative
with the decorations.

Uhoh. We ran out of water during the party. We found out
all of Lushnje ran out and didn't receive water that morning.
It sure was fun washing all those dishes without running water. : )
We didn't have water the next night either, then we went a couple
days without water. Man, are we grateful for running water!!
I would definitely say the worst effect from this is
the inability to flush the toilet.

Skype time with Micah and the Tumas fam. It's unbelievable -
this technology these days. We still feel far away
from our family and friends in the States, but it so
amazing to see their faces once in a while.

2008-10-23T01:56:00.000-07:00

Kya is carrying water jugs here - we put her to work around here. : )
Every few days, Tim takes these to a truck right down the street
that visits daily dispersing water for us to drink,
wash produce in, cook with, etc.

October 14th, we celebrated our 8 year anniversary!
A couple from the OM team offered to watch the girls
so we could go out for dinner. Thanks, Matias and Sue. : )
Here, you see flowers from Tim, and a chocolate coffee cheesecake
made by Jamie for Tim. When we went out for dinner that night,
we walked to a restaurant about 1 mile away on a hill
overlooking Lushnje. Jamie wore high heels and by the time we
got there she already had blisters on both feet.
It's one thing to wear high heels in the States where you drive
everywhere. It's something else when you walk a mile away
on the broken uneven streets of Albania. The meal was interesting.
The soup we had was super rich and full of oil/butter.
Our next dish was cold veggies with potatoes and they were
literally swimming in oil there was so much in the plate.
Then we had the main course of fried chicken (which
was a little tough) and french fries. The bill was way
more than we had anticipated, but without menus it was
hard to know. On the way home, Jamie walked barefoot while I
held her shoes. We got a whole lot of stares on the way home
and we just had to laugh about the whole evening.
Maybe it wasn't the anniversary night out we had hoped for,
but it most certainly created a lasting memory for years to come.

Bugs get in the house regularly. Especially flies, bees, moths, and these - stink bugs.

Here's a little worship sample from our church. You can see
Kadence right in the first row from where Tim is filming.
Erna, an missionary here from Paraguay is holding her. There is no
childcare during services. We are so grateful for people like her
and others who have helped watch them and distract them so we
can enjoy the worship and hear the teaching sometimes.

2008-10-13T03:01:00.000-07:00

A night out.
Our landlords took out the whole OM team for a nice dinner (pizza).
This restaurant is considered expensive by Albanians.
It's about $4-6 a pizza which feeds 1-2 people.

Yes, that's a worm in between two walnuts.
While preparing a salad, I (Jamie) was sifting through
the nuts to separate pieces of shell and little twiggy
things from the nuts we would eat. Unfortunately,
I was doing this in my hand when I saw our little friend
here writhing around. The nuts went flying and I had
the willies for about 10 minutes. I am really glad I
caught that before we put any in our salad!
While I'm on the subject of food, I thought it would be
interesting to note some foods that are not here.
They just aren't anywhere. There a couple things
we can only get in the capital like taco dinner
packages and broccoli and canned beans. Here's some
specific things we miss that's not available concerning food:
Lucky Charms, Cinnamon Toast Crunch,
DiGiorno pizza, corn on the cob, berries of any kind,
pancake syrup, half and half or any kind of cream
that's refrigerated, chili powder, cheddar and
colby jack cheese, grainy bread, brownie mixes,
chocolate chips, raisins in a box that aren't hard
little rocks, sour cream, ricotta cheese, canned pumpkin,
cupcake liners, cooking spray, pecans, sliced turkey,
prerefrigerated milk (not in a box on the shelf),
iced coffee from Starbucks, Quiznos, Chilis, Subway,
IHOP, and Super Target. BUT, on the other hand,
we are VERY grateful because while talking to an
Albanian friend a couple days ago, she told us what it
was like during the Communism and how it was when
it fell and so many new things started coming in.
She remembers seeing a banana for the first time,
and they didn't know what it was or even how to eat it!!
Things have improved much since then!
They actually have more than I assumed
they would in coming here.

Here's Jamie with another woman on our team who is from Australia.
Then on the right is our language teacher.
She's also a good friend and great ping pong player.
Not one guy has beat her yet - including Tim. : )

2008-10-06T07:48:00.000-07:00

These women are making a traditional Albanian drink called Raki
(with the ki stressed when you say it) That first container on the far
left is holding grapes that have been fermented for like 10 days or so.
The big container is holding water with a pipe running through it.
The liquid from the grapes drips into the pipe and you see it
come out the other side and drip into that plastic jug on the ground.
I (Tim) tried some and man was it strong! It left a weird sensation
in my throat for a while and they said not to drink too much
or I'd get drunk. I think I'll pass next time.

Kya is improving her drawing skills right now.
We have been working with her to draw faces.
This wonderful masterpiece is of Mommy and Kadence.
She was pretty proud of it. Mommy has grown
a little more facial hair since we moved here. :)

This couple is our landlords. There are three flats here,
we live on the third floor and they live on the second.
Their names are Ladi and Nico. One day I was walking up
the stairs and Ladi told me to come with him to the bottom.
He went around the corner and pulled a live chicken out
and butchered him right there. Lots of blood, which
I don't do so well with. Anyways, after the head stopped
flopping around and the blood stopped, they plucked him
and cooked him up. They brought some up the next afternoon
for us so we had a free lunch that day.

This ride is at a park about a four minute walk from our flat.
Kya loves this ride and this was Kadence's first time on it.
They also have a train ride, trampolines, and a gated play
area with swings, cars and toys. The rides cost about 65
cents apiece. It's a nice treat once in a while for the girls,
but if was up to Kya, she would go on it everyday. At the
end of the video, Kya is a concerned older sister saying,
"Daddy, she's not holding on." : )

2008-09-27T06:16:00.000-07:00

One morning as I (Jamie) was having my time with God,
I just looked out at the city. So many people - 40,000 here,
if you include the surrounding villages, it's 100,000. There are only
5 churches here. That may seem fine, but we go to the second biggest.
It's about 30-35 people. Just the realization of how many people here
that don't know God and their final destination is overwhelming.
I have no doubt we are right where God wants us to be. Please,
continue to pray for the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers
into the field.

This morning we heard loud music and went to see what was going on.
These are gypsies walking down the street playing music for money
right outside our flat. It is normal to see gypsy children beating on
boxes with sticks or a drum completely taped up for money. We so
look forward to when we can hang out with and minister to these
people - maybe join them and play some music together. We will
know the language soon enough to do that!

Our first game night. This is "spoons". It was so fun to have just the
OM team here come over and play and laugh together. The team here
consists of 8 or 9 other people from all walks of life and from all over
the world. They have blessed us very much welcoming us in and showing us
around. We have meetings twice a week for prayer and worship, etc.
We'll get a pic of that soon.

Ups and downs for the kids

2008-09-22T11:48:00.000-07:00

This was about three thirty in the morning. Kya woke up
throwing up and not feeling well. Thankfully, we had saved
one of grandma Bartlett's books she gave us to give to Kya for
a special occasion. It definitely worked because she read it over
and over and still does even now. Thank you grandma!

This was Kya's first day of school. There is a preschool/kindergarden
underneath the O.M. center with just Albanian kids. She has gone
three days now and she loves it! There are a few women who work
there that are believers and it will be a great outlet for Kya to
make new friends and learn Albanian.

This is fruit and vegetable stand just around the corner from the
O.M. center. You see them all over the place and we just happened
to stop by on the way back from church and get a few things.
Those bananas that the kids are holding were free. It is not
uncommon for the women on the street working to give the kids or
any kids some fruit, candy, snacks,etc... We just have to work on
Kadence eating bananas as she bit through the peel a bunch of times
and broke through trying to get inside it.

Oh no!

2008-09-13T04:38:00.000-07:00

Our stove and oven are run by propane gas,
but we didn't know the glass cover on the stove
was supposed to be lifted up before cooking.
While attempting to cook a stew, we heard a mini pop/explosion
and the glass shattered!
Oops!!

Kadence is finally starting to take some steps. It's about time!

2008-09-09T07:06:00.000-07:00

One of the other missionaries here gave us
this chair for the girls to play with. Yay!

Here is our washer. Nobody has dryers, everyone hangs
their clothes outside. It may seem funny, but a simple thing like
washing the clothes can become complicated.
Not knowing the language yet means having to learn by making mistakes.
Many things have to be relearned for us. In order to get groceries,
we have to go to a few different places (one for bread,
one for cleaners, the market for produce, etc.) and things like that.

On top of all of the buildings are these water tanks.
It is a system because in Albania, water is only available
a few hours per day. This ensures water throughout the day
as long as you don't use too much. Power cuts are normal
and a part of every day life. So is the internet connection
cutting on and off regularly.

2008-09-09T05:39:00.000-07:00

This was a day the team got to spend at the beach.
It was a two hour drive South to the Ionian Sea.
The water is beautiful and clear and not real cold.
The beach was made up of rocks and pebbles
but when you went out in the water it turned into sand.
As you can see, mountains surrounded us.
The girls had a lot of fun. We just couldn't keep track
of how many pebbles and rocks Kadence ate!
It was a great break from so much learning with
the missionary training school sessions.

This was the temperature inside our flat around 9pm.
It has gotten up to 95 degrees inside and 101 degrees outside.
The adjustment has been living without a.c.
but thankfully we were able to buy some fans.
The humidity is also lower than in Florida too.

End of conference and off to Albania!

2008-08-31T02:17:00.000-07:00

Kya had a lot of fun with her new friends.
One was the daughter of a field leader in Italy.
Another was a part of an American family going to Tajikistan.
Sorry about the lack of other faces in these pictures.
Because so many workers go to parts of the world that are restricted,
we are not allowed to just post people's photos freely.

This is a wonderful couple. He is Dutch and she is Albanian
- the only Albanian we met here. A couple days before we left,
she told Jamie and another missionary going to her country,
"Thank you for going there, because if it wasn't for people like you,
I wouldn't know Jesus." With tears in her eyes,
she told us how missionaries had led her to Christ.
What a great reminder as to why we're going.
If we ever doubt our calling from hardships, we can remember this moment.

more beautiful Holland

The conference has fed us well, but we still feel the culture differences.
Here's a little example - mystery meat... yes, that's meat

This is a very good friend named Ira from Ukraine.
Jamie had a real connection with her and learned how God
will provide close friends for her even if she doubts sometimes. : )

We're off to Albania.
Emotions couldn't really be put into words to describe
what went on in our heads after so much thought
and preparation and prayer went into this moment.
Here, Tim is resting in the London Airport from being sick.
He got a bad stomach bug that drained him for days. : (
Kadence took her first real steps here!

On the flight, we knew people had prayed
because the girls were exceptionally good. Thank you!

Our new home!!!
We arrived around 11 pm and were greeted warmly by our new landlords.
They are great! Before we even were able to introduce Kya,
the landlady - her name is Nico - scooped her up
and kissed her all over her face. I was afraid Kya would freak out
because she's never seen her before, but she couldn't stop smiling.
Then they insisted we come to their place (they live on the second floor
of the same building) to have something to drink and some sweets.
So, even though we had traveled since 7:30 that morning, we went.
It is the tradition in Albania and we need to conform to it.
We were blessed by their generosity and hospitality.

bathroom
One thing we didn't think about when thinking of the comforts,
luxuries and loved ones we'd be leaving behind while trying
to prepare ourselves for the field is a little thing called storage.
There is none here. May seem like a strange thing to miss,
but you just wouldn't think of it. They don't have any closets here.
We live on the 3rd story, so there's no garage or attic.
So, where do you put things? Even in this bathroom,
there's no medicine cabinet or chest. They have a few open shelves
which we can put our toothpaste and things on,
but it's just interesting thinking where will we put medicines,
holiday things, photo albums, toys, winter clothes, etc. Right now,
the girls don't have a dresser yet. Hopefully,
we can use some of that space when we get one.

All of the light "fixtures" are the same. : )

Our new kitchen - much nicer than we expected.
Mostly furnished with even a toaster, dishes, pots and pans,
even a muffin tin. Yeah!

There was a box of toys left for the girls - how exciting!

Here are some views from our flat.

We made it to the Netherlands!

2008-08-20T12:29:00.000-07:00

What a trip! Here we are with just about all of our possessions at the Miami Airport. The flight was delayed, but only for an hour, because of Tropical Storm Fay. During the big leg of the trip to London, the girls unfortunately didn't sleep well - yeah, we feel free to say it was a rough trip.

After 20 hours of traveling, and 24 hours without sleep, we were exhausted. This is our trip from the Amsterdam airport to the conference - a 2 hour drive.

2008-08-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

Here's the hall where we meet. Everything is so green and beautiful here. This is a conference for all OMers to go to, so there are people here from Germany, Holland, Australia, Canada, Korea, Finland, Sweden, Brazil, Trinidad, England, and many other places we haven't even met yet! It's pretty cool to hear all of their languages and accents around.

Here's a main building of the hotel. Sometimes I forget I'm in another country until I go in the elevator and read the signs or am looking for a bathroom, but all of the rooms are labeled in Dutch. We're only a day into the conference, but it's been really nice. What a blessing to see so many people with God's calling on their lives to go to all nations for His kingdom!

2008-08-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a beautiful view from the back of the conference hotel. The weather is cool and humid here. It rains on and off all of the time.

Last Sunday @ Journey

2008-08-13T08:56:00.000-07:00

What a blessed day! For our last Sunday @ Journey, we were able to lead
worship with the team before our send off. Afterwards,
there was a little video of us telling what we'll be doing in Albania.

Timmy on the drums...

Our families came which blessed us so much. You can see Tim's Dad
on the left sitting down holding Kya, then Jamie's Mom to the right of him,
then Jamie's little sister, Natalie and her friend.

Pastor Scott had our fathers come up and they all anointed us
and prayed over us. We have been so blessed by our church family with
their amazing supportive hearts! Our good friend, Bobby took these
grrreat pics. Don't expect this high quality in the future! After the service,
there was a party that most of our friends were able to attend.
It was so hard to say goodbye to some special people
God has used in our lives over the years here.
We love you, Journey Church family.

It's almost here!

2008-08-03T17:58:00.000-07:00

It's our first blog, but the countdown is almost over. We fly out 2 weeks from tomorrow and 1 week from today is our last day at Journey. : ( I must admit, it started to hit me (Jamie) today during worship. God has done so much in my heart since we started coming here. There's so much history in our 4 1/2 years at this beloved fellowship. Such deep friendships. There will be a chunk of my heart left here, but I will soon have to open my heart to a whole new people and culture. Yes, I praise God even for sacrifices.