tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-298711852024-03-06T22:20:28.198-09:00In White FieldsJames & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.comBlogger161125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-4067623480250950812024-02-22T14:37:00.000-09:002024-02-22T14:37:02.896-09:00Official Albanian Residents! <p><span style="font-family: arial;">Hi Friends,</span></p><span style="font-family: arial;">I have a really exciting update to share. We are all 5 officially legal residents of Albania! Woohoo!</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjybtLGkLSoWi1dnO0-5_0K454y3UouqJEB206LyME_ynO69z5ioB6gIJvVzsOINiIMwrDr9h8sW6C27CBZ81R6-3LsXtUXSDveJe3ohgNftsuLz36deas7hc0jZVH45Wsbg59p-lkL-s0h5jOBVrHMRI1wo1S4BDXrooDDSOMAL5EqKHcDghT8/s1347/PXL_20240219_115823875.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1347" data-original-width="758" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjybtLGkLSoWi1dnO0-5_0K454y3UouqJEB206LyME_ynO69z5ioB6gIJvVzsOINiIMwrDr9h8sW6C27CBZ81R6-3LsXtUXSDveJe3ohgNftsuLz36deas7hc0jZVH45Wsbg59p-lkL-s0h5jOBVrHMRI1wo1S4BDXrooDDSOMAL5EqKHcDghT8/w225-h400/PXL_20240219_115823875.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;">We got a tip last Friday from our local immigration officer in Berat that they MIGHT have coupons at the Vlore Post Office on Monday. James sent her a message at 8:00 Monday morning, and the reply was YES! But they had a limited amount and might run out. We got everyone in the car as quickly as possible and drove the hour and a half to Vlore. Amazingly, although the post office was packed, we were able to buy the coupons for Lydia and Gideon. Then, the second miracle was that the immigration office that was typically only open for 4 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays was open on Monday and we were able to go directly there and get their cards made! When we walked into the packed office with people from all over the world, they looked up at us and said, "Are you the family from Berat?" Haha. I think we've taken a lesson from the persistent widow story and been REALLY tenacious over the months. Then, I think they retook Gid's photo 9 times because they didn't like his hair on his forehead and thought he looked like he was scowling. Poor kid. At the same time we picked up Clara's card that had been made in November but has been sitting in their vault since then. I was really curious to see when it expired (more on that in a moment). Afterwards, we celebrated our Albanian residency by going out to eat some American fast food that we can't buy in Berat (Clara actually requested Albanian food, but was voted down). Then we walked back by a playground and the lovely warm weather encouraged our kids to swing, and slide, and climb, and everything was beautiful.</span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg60BboBcZanKZlTgPTOodNjsrBfqStknXQhYtvAtUtVl2o-6ioqs5-S9mT8zVz3Ab6Wqy_0jqKEzOjZynbSPUhYyVPd16tqZrz0kX62BEtjkgOwQgc5r7daE4uH4y_g4W4nMF8vockUoHpIU8-swRcW6ePsTe00byXU4nUHEPD1MZntay5E-KH/s2394/PXL_20240219_130823127%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1347" data-original-width="2394" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg60BboBcZanKZlTgPTOodNjsrBfqStknXQhYtvAtUtVl2o-6ioqs5-S9mT8zVz3Ab6Wqy_0jqKEzOjZynbSPUhYyVPd16tqZrz0kX62BEtjkgOwQgc5r7daE4uH4y_g4W4nMF8vockUoHpIU8-swRcW6ePsTe00byXU4nUHEPD1MZntay5E-KH/w508-h286/PXL_20240219_130823127%20(1).jpg" width="508" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>The VERY next day we had an appointment to meet with someone to talk us through RENEWING our residency because James' and my residency permits expire on March 17! Clara's (and possibly the kids') expire on April 26! It's a little bit of a bummer to have so little of a reprieve from the process. We are going to have to pick up the kids' cards and immediately turn around and submit paperwork for new residency permits for the family. Hopefully, this one will be for two or three years. Please pray with us that there are no hiccups, and we can get things done in time. I'm not sure what the consequences are for being late, but I really like to stay on the good side of the law.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglZiAmQyoLuP1K1InL40MrEFK-Z4xjBn4aUES9SBYsEcYOW3Lxxn_N1y0nr0eGTCPJAtDZCIdJjwiznn3EUW0dzpU3p-4op5CYxEXzsZfCcgvTeTx1Wa3KEk6qTvtF9deA8UMpTUBxVOTSJEyscCbAvr57cfXLa-dgsSdVh-tYfI6IjhN_ttlv/s2394/PXL_20240216_213235435.MP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1347" data-original-width="2394" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglZiAmQyoLuP1K1InL40MrEFK-Z4xjBn4aUES9SBYsEcYOW3Lxxn_N1y0nr0eGTCPJAtDZCIdJjwiznn3EUW0dzpU3p-4op5CYxEXzsZfCcgvTeTx1Wa3KEk6qTvtF9deA8UMpTUBxVOTSJEyscCbAvr57cfXLa-dgsSdVh-tYfI6IjhN_ttlv/w417-h234/PXL_20240216_213235435.MP.jpg" width="417" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">In the midst of all of this, our family has been dealing with a nasty cold/flu that has been knocking us out one by one for several weeks and has a lot of uncomfortable symptoms like fevers and irritated eyes and ear pain and incredibly sore throats. I know it did us ALL good to sit in the sunshine in Vlore as we've mostly been inside with the chilly weather. James has been able to preach a few times and helped set up a kids' movie outreach at the church building while I was sick in bed. We also celebrated Clara turning 15 and had a little family Valentine exchange.</span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxoAIWZCZJDjkS8OYRpIFCigXrc79GNGiABVWv8Sbjm4z36oNG-19Folzzj0JitVc40NY3L2AGEtHg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />I hope you will join us in praising God for taking care of things in His own timing.</span></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-52575685198973755112023-06-24T23:53:00.004-08:002023-06-26T23:56:04.074-08:00Alaska<p><span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We have arrived safely in Alaska without too much incident. </span></span></p><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">James will be sharing photos and stories of our work in Albania on Wednesday night at the Valley Church of Christ in Wasilla. We are also looking into traveling the state a bit to talk to people, but we are still trying to iron out details. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">It is CRAZY to me how much we have on our to-do list from medical care, homeschool needs, financial logistics, storage issues, and items replenished for our day to day life in <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a style="cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span>Albania. This doesn't include catching up with people, putting together camp lessons and presentations, and doing (and eating) fun things that we have missed. July 22 and flying back to Albania will be here before we know it. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Please keep our family in prayer. I hope we get to see lots of you in the coming weeks! </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLEdL9Cnmf3bG_NZwWsOaF3LV3N5pm8tYAL8_m7bqASdcM9WmJWvgugbqR_UHcUELplJsHvle8ODzvNWC6Xmojtxs9uzlle3QookbXtQ6JATv0aCLlEoGnQm3EDSZYI2CVLB9tq4NgnXzr0sigLQH1vmwIIAFvyd7hGx7szDjXIH6SbTpHe3ut/s1000/1000_F_478034477_d9hssSU2siYgQJyodIqC0tty752HJqoH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="471" data-original-width="1000" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLEdL9Cnmf3bG_NZwWsOaF3LV3N5pm8tYAL8_m7bqASdcM9WmJWvgugbqR_UHcUELplJsHvle8ODzvNWC6Xmojtxs9uzlle3QookbXtQ6JATv0aCLlEoGnQm3EDSZYI2CVLB9tq4NgnXzr0sigLQH1vmwIIAFvyd7hGx7szDjXIH6SbTpHe3ut/w549-h259/1000_F_478034477_d9hssSU2siYgQJyodIqC0tty752HJqoH.jpg" width="549" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span><span class="x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xhhsvwb xat24cr xgzva0m xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; display: inline-flex; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; vertical-align: middle; width: 16px;"><br /></span></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-1267093329494540802023-06-16T08:25:00.003-08:002023-06-16T08:25:35.336-08:00First Furlough<p><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">by Andrea</span></p><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">This is a quick update to let you all know we will be traveling back to Alaska next week for my brother's wedding. We will be staying a month so that the kids can reconnect with friends at camp, and we can get some important details squared away. </span></div><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">We have been in Albania for 8 months next week. It seems like a very brief time. I was thinking about it though, 8 months is nearly 1/10th of Gideon's life. Lydia asked me yesterday if one of the drinks we enjoy regularly here (Fanta <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a style="cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span>Exotic) is in Alaska, and I was surprised as we didn't even know it existed until we came here. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">We are looking forward to some things very much: seeing family and friends, worshipping with the church in English, being able to shop for and eat foods we've missed, driving a car, etc. But we know that things might feel strange too, especially to our children. I'm not sure what will be difficult and what will feel like stepping into our old life. We've had anxiety and tears from our children at the idea of driving past our old house, for example. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">We would appreciate prayers as we navigate travel logistics, as we reunite with family and friends, for our month in Alaska, and for coming back to our home in Albania. God is so good to give us this opportunity to be with my brother on his special day, I trust He will take care of the details, but prayers are appreciated. Also, if you see us, please be patient with us. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">(The photos are of our well loved "Egg Chair." Lydia on her 12th Birthday; Clara, enjoying a book, and Gideon, who can nap anywhere asleep while waiting for his sisters to get ready to go out</span><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c; font-family: inherit;">.)</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiet_51-COQf5BM7A138-R9CJNrlHp6bMRH7xuvTKwDxAl3kLqudPv21bPY1Y8MGfKFL5RNeHjvZ-43YNQ27ahfMvpgTRY0DSvJY-BdcWl7nmm132g5zgTZ1SDZ8twgs1Mgo27-l0uqR1v2Zn1-AARM6DsiS-6EOji08-hA8RTxK82Q8ULytA/s4608/IMG_20230611_222107.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4608" data-original-width="3456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiet_51-COQf5BM7A138-R9CJNrlHp6bMRH7xuvTKwDxAl3kLqudPv21bPY1Y8MGfKFL5RNeHjvZ-43YNQ27ahfMvpgTRY0DSvJY-BdcWl7nmm132g5zgTZ1SDZ8twgs1Mgo27-l0uqR1v2Zn1-AARM6DsiS-6EOji08-hA8RTxK82Q8ULytA/s320/IMG_20230611_222107.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><br /><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3nN6Pud3ZqjmLGEJW4OsEHS2KYgBDXOrNaKu93zN1kT5eTUFob_zS04wrozsnAzn18ISvCkXxmCPjUgYfaqprUhLTRikVClNbJv0dcZOYuotXTvbCQvZeqp9BMFq2pyA0JZHJMFhVwqvOAQGcjN276i81Z0gECOn1L9HfiiDNmBp2i_5cHw/s4608/IMG_20230609_104237.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4608" data-original-width="3456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3nN6Pud3ZqjmLGEJW4OsEHS2KYgBDXOrNaKu93zN1kT5eTUFob_zS04wrozsnAzn18ISvCkXxmCPjUgYfaqprUhLTRikVClNbJv0dcZOYuotXTvbCQvZeqp9BMFq2pyA0JZHJMFhVwqvOAQGcjN276i81Z0gECOn1L9HfiiDNmBp2i_5cHw/s320/IMG_20230609_104237.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfPHPi4L-7tdf7KBmHNjrtuvxBmsoFT4-hhMhlgaPXkrXQ0OWStfvjACnfJp0cogfK71dmA0nvXU2OkxZBmcAsajMcWl1Q4ofoBLSn9dq-eUjFhHg7KEYtmUrE6iOgAR087N42f2AuuoWhZEkmyLu90hUYpqi8cXAzE5ZvjIvSV7qzuWwJVQ/s4608/IMG_20230527_183019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4608" data-original-width="3456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfPHPi4L-7tdf7KBmHNjrtuvxBmsoFT4-hhMhlgaPXkrXQ0OWStfvjACnfJp0cogfK71dmA0nvXU2OkxZBmcAsajMcWl1Q4ofoBLSn9dq-eUjFhHg7KEYtmUrE6iOgAR087N42f2AuuoWhZEkmyLu90hUYpqi8cXAzE5ZvjIvSV7qzuWwJVQ/s320/IMG_20230527_183019.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-62610940794938464782023-05-23T05:24:00.003-08:002023-05-25T05:26:56.731-08:00Preacher James<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Last week James taught five different lessons to five different gatherings of Christians. </span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Each lesson is a challenge. First he has to write the lesson in English, translate it to Albanian, then translate it back to English to make sure it didn't get garbled in translation. Then he creates his PowerPoint slides, then writes notes in English so that he doesn't forget what his PowerPoint says. It's a long process. We appreciate online translation apps, and James is learning <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a style="cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span>Albanian faster than all of us. But it's a ton of work and dedication to detail. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">After all this, his lesson has to be translated verbally as he speaks. He is working with some teenage translators who are gaining experience from translating and so he will give them some terms and phrases in advance and encourage them to read the key scriptures in English. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">The church in Berat is unique in that most members are very elderly and also new Christians. Arthritis and eyesight make turning pages in a Bible difficult, so every verse is shared on the large screen.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"> </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">This last weekend, he also taught the youth and Sunday service in Durrës. The Durrës church of Christ is a lot more established with many young people. It's always a breath of fresh air to worship with them. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">He also teaches youth classes. Many of the youth know English, which is a blessing to us and our kids, but we also have those lessons translated for everyone. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">It's a big shift for someone who is used to speaking off the cuff and from his heart to put so much time into preparing for just one lesson, I'm so proud of him for dedicating so much time and attention to it. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">His current series are on the people of Faith from Hebrews 11 (Thursdays) and Spiritual Gifts (Sundays) and The Story of the Bible (teens). I always love to hear him teach. He inspires me so much.</span></div></div></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJm8KTXl6vnQMFt18eOunnydoJSXuNjAq9A6XDaCrWa-aZYy64SgvEQqyIm1QnixyTSVTh2rl4Vw_1MyAei5kljp_3fMV4OpfkvOwoWz0ns_KMAuoJyjrRLT3tnXn0SyFZsQRNtW3TNpje0lS09M_pP4Gh3LMOtIw-n8bPD1grj5SLBBOVEA/s2048/348969668_251346674151245_3029709966012382911_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJm8KTXl6vnQMFt18eOunnydoJSXuNjAq9A6XDaCrWa-aZYy64SgvEQqyIm1QnixyTSVTh2rl4Vw_1MyAei5kljp_3fMV4OpfkvOwoWz0ns_KMAuoJyjrRLT3tnXn0SyFZsQRNtW3TNpje0lS09M_pP4Gh3LMOtIw-n8bPD1grj5SLBBOVEA/w416-h312/348969668_251346674151245_3029709966012382911_n.jpg" width="416" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoi28v5kfRsrCtBtRdYwURI-AdR2BmrK_ORqVN1egzPs2M1RUKGiJy8brNIoUMPTw5lL7ROfm8aWYusfYs6TwQkzMKohMuCaj38Cjb9-SkE0TRi8e4D7drAnCRWu7Qw6ttw_uV_bJWaSjHoo9RWsY1Iqqm6ChzJB3l6jNzQ3zqsvOcn45ERA/s2048/349089236_130307090019698_6321160421922836029_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoi28v5kfRsrCtBtRdYwURI-AdR2BmrK_ORqVN1egzPs2M1RUKGiJy8brNIoUMPTw5lL7ROfm8aWYusfYs6TwQkzMKohMuCaj38Cjb9-SkE0TRi8e4D7drAnCRWu7Qw6ttw_uV_bJWaSjHoo9RWsY1Iqqm6ChzJB3l6jNzQ3zqsvOcn45ERA/w411-h309/349089236_130307090019698_6321160421922836029_n.jpg" width="411" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /> </span><p></p>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-66624224101227840812023-05-15T05:46:00.019-08:002023-05-25T05:50:20.413-08:00Spring in Berat<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJkzKjmccGjEgV8XTasNx2xcECmYTKBkI8mW6zuhs99bHZJ1GtTjtky9hSCCuiAexCvB_VjIMfP52TNzPLhjYkAplwLegZEoV28hVwl1Y8MWCLD6n85fPqVN-K9WN8FJcbUGcTESjLdy5AR1OpfEY-ZjWvT8YMkYfk-gKn9LHQocjNIL3vlg/s900/346846013_773690960827214_1512124083147079847_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJkzKjmccGjEgV8XTasNx2xcECmYTKBkI8mW6zuhs99bHZJ1GtTjtky9hSCCuiAexCvB_VjIMfP52TNzPLhjYkAplwLegZEoV28hVwl1Y8MWCLD6n85fPqVN-K9WN8FJcbUGcTESjLdy5AR1OpfEY-ZjWvT8YMkYfk-gKn9LHQocjNIL3vlg/w408-h271/346846013_773690960827214_1512124083147079847_n.jpg" width="408" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz0QFyvwKSxoc1ciV11BQGZ5CZDGdaiz7s76u2gWq92VxC5fR1jbNAiv5BE7_aWFD87NDKQ4vkqZ9hSRot7t1IriUhOMJ523ToTgTdOuByWUTYHTYlHdxD27_tKu5bzn_qzZdIWVjCWQ09-FDWdVIwUi5Tt0q9JVGmPRCgBjefyAElA4HJGA/s2048/346958858_798211811869017_4443814938251150882_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="2048" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz0QFyvwKSxoc1ciV11BQGZ5CZDGdaiz7s76u2gWq92VxC5fR1jbNAiv5BE7_aWFD87NDKQ4vkqZ9hSRot7t1IriUhOMJ523ToTgTdOuByWUTYHTYlHdxD27_tKu5bzn_qzZdIWVjCWQ09-FDWdVIwUi5Tt0q9JVGmPRCgBjefyAElA4HJGA/w408-h255/346958858_798211811869017_4443814938251150882_n.jpg" width="408" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi590RY-PIBQsUgDBcAwW3pmVgakxTXimxh3CiGdIUtovF4-w0LeF1BGSVeVshR7amzRBplPd24amRVmCYy4akDMMdF3-PjdIV8fb9UuxwnTWCZDgz8OfCRxzpD86r9nd_HEp9HyYG2ZCcV9c8rWWUQCXCE2g5NxxsFZc4qeJGRh9bS3DTmGQ/s2048/346465697_183347391348998_6350086798779227416_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="2048" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi590RY-PIBQsUgDBcAwW3pmVgakxTXimxh3CiGdIUtovF4-w0LeF1BGSVeVshR7amzRBplPd24amRVmCYy4akDMMdF3-PjdIV8fb9UuxwnTWCZDgz8OfCRxzpD86r9nd_HEp9HyYG2ZCcV9c8rWWUQCXCE2g5NxxsFZc4qeJGRh9bS3DTmGQ/w410-h257/346465697_183347391348998_6350086798779227416_n.jpg" width="410" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGpvkAHjCFInutsW-Psye0GuOJqSv5zK8hC89t41Ec0iVgAUK0BpbkRaxmvz8G988W0Ek4H_7yavpNA8oX84ba7hdjXma0TXnaLxCeMqtT1QyaVPlegck6byjG_8A8rGbbjHZjrc00z3o2sVzAJKxh2cJhtV_Ir9jC0vuAbBEVkJOeebPJ-A/s2048/346853592_1577571682731334_2082501438641044923_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="2048" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGpvkAHjCFInutsW-Psye0GuOJqSv5zK8hC89t41Ec0iVgAUK0BpbkRaxmvz8G988W0Ek4H_7yavpNA8oX84ba7hdjXma0TXnaLxCeMqtT1QyaVPlegck6byjG_8A8rGbbjHZjrc00z3o2sVzAJKxh2cJhtV_Ir9jC0vuAbBEVkJOeebPJ-A/w411-h257/346853592_1577571682731334_2082501438641044923_n.jpg" width="411" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-41459457914706617782023-05-14T05:30:00.000-08:002023-05-25T05:30:34.071-08:00Mother's Day 2023<p><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"> <span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Happy Mother's Day! </span></span></p><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Today is not an Albanian holiday, but these sweet girls from the youth group showed up on my doorstep today with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and a sweet card for me. I know this speaks to their hearts more than my influence, but I'm so deeply touched. <span class="x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xhhsvwb xat24cr xgzva0m xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od" style="display: inline-flex; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; vertical-align: middle; width: 16px;"><br /></span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Today is Albania's election day. Please be in prayer for that.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn2-VC8TMXGCPhwNweRxFlKH03eIXO5oBwYEeT1eK7mnAhek8VUfB9Ao19MyuXX8wmngdBcXJAbhaTAEotVBbW0Ic_l9u3EGYozOzc8V1L1v6KPNWUcwRO1TWlblPJiDixVAuBW3cj_kXu_4vFDXktjYc1veoqO78Qwv3q_w5F-DsM4FsOAw/s916/344580058_1270298577217895_3126890449533282760_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="916" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn2-VC8TMXGCPhwNweRxFlKH03eIXO5oBwYEeT1eK7mnAhek8VUfB9Ao19MyuXX8wmngdBcXJAbhaTAEotVBbW0Ic_l9u3EGYozOzc8V1L1v6KPNWUcwRO1TWlblPJiDixVAuBW3cj_kXu_4vFDXktjYc1veoqO78Qwv3q_w5F-DsM4FsOAw/s320/344580058_1270298577217895_3126890449533282760_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimCvNRbrFTFN75SOuwFjabi2PqujVTx8_hUxLakNXNtSPjsKK3LtJPF6m7rkP7BIQD2eoXwMb-Cc2zih9jkppIY6mz0JVr8KI_F9lXSTNb1b18AYqhwfK78AZK7NTtFICBikZXp64pafLS2I644E12va2xgyTCt42rBfPRcD4HpNN1CL6wlQ/s2048/346482834_200441479543934_8522512803389356207_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimCvNRbrFTFN75SOuwFjabi2PqujVTx8_hUxLakNXNtSPjsKK3LtJPF6m7rkP7BIQD2eoXwMb-Cc2zih9jkppIY6mz0JVr8KI_F9lXSTNb1b18AYqhwfK78AZK7NTtFICBikZXp64pafLS2I644E12va2xgyTCt42rBfPRcD4HpNN1CL6wlQ/s320/346482834_200441479543934_8522512803389356207_n.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7pk8wcLCDwbaTzIPgYrEIEKvrg7QFWEGpkJzNCzyGTJly1SW9hewqNOpS-w75qlAokDQdlIz5mqDM0Nt7vRV9fxEzQilTDwkfwkGFtE7F5zeOmidzdGT0C-f2JIPNs8ikdJHM08iRyuP0oCVEPQTM2eGqUjNe1ti9M6NmmkAjyB2wgAHT_A/s2048/346481317_619432669849189_2867697025493611798_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7pk8wcLCDwbaTzIPgYrEIEKvrg7QFWEGpkJzNCzyGTJly1SW9hewqNOpS-w75qlAokDQdlIz5mqDM0Nt7vRV9fxEzQilTDwkfwkGFtE7F5zeOmidzdGT0C-f2JIPNs8ikdJHM08iRyuP0oCVEPQTM2eGqUjNe1ti9M6NmmkAjyB2wgAHT_A/s320/346481317_619432669849189_2867697025493611798_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-44422362856488665752023-05-10T05:50:00.001-08:002023-05-25T05:54:56.301-08:00Laundry<p><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"> <span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thoughts on life without a dryer...</span></span></p><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="" dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="x1iorvi4 x1pi30zi x1l90r2v x1swvt13" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id=":r6nk:" style="font-family: inherit; padding: 4px 16px 16px;"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u x1yc453h" dir="auto" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">No matter how industriously I keep filling the washing machine and immediately hang it to dry, actually having clean, wearable clothing completely depends on atmospheric conditions out of my control. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Drying clothes in the summer is miraculous. I have hung and dried 3 washer loads of clothing one after another and had them dry in a day. Drying clothes in the winter can take FOREVER. The combo of heavier, thicker clothes and cool weather is <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a style="cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span>impossible. A drying rack by a running heater feels like cheating, but is often our only option.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">The heat of a dryer is somewhat sanitizing and so is the sun, but what about when you have neither, for MONTHS?</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">What do you do with lint on clothing if the dryer never tumbles them off? Also discovered this issue after cutting hair. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Cardboard towels. At least they are exfoliating! </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Outside factors. Today there was bird poop on Lydia's clean pants. I'm so scared of losing something important to a breezy day. I'm constantly watching for rain and trying to guess how MUCH rain we are likely to get on our weather app! I didn't realize how much my life was conveniently climate controlled for convenience until moving here. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Sheets! My clotheslines hang 3 feet off the ground. How do I hang sheets? Currently one at a time over several lines at once, but that feels unsustainable. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Our washer has been broken for a while and was fixed yesterday. Thank you, God! This morning I got up quickly to start washing clothes to catch up with the laundry piles, but the electricity was out all morning. When the electricity came back on, I started washing small loads of laundry in case I had caused the problem by overfilling the machine, but now the sky is dark with rain clouds. With a family of 5, I just may never be caught up on laundry again. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Laundry detergent is very heavily scented. There is no such thing as unscented laundry detergent here. I finally found a baby detergent at the German beauty store that is very subtle.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">I now have favorite clothespins. I've never had favorite clothespins before. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Sometimes I wish I had an Albanian mama to teach me all the subtleties of doing life here.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOPE1v-Ipsm93PsMzdNhqt--1PKZo1vwKbZqBCc3v1YH8HIdZrkRCtX63boLookHb6NttMwPTACUPyfr0w5fiTdHVpLj_VNpJCaTq8o7uKGW9eRvccWkWtV8HzSoAnVgm-87bdpqZWaDp8FAbKXKjEJyRIberDCQCzxyqSS70by7aXUDMxOA/s710/344011278_822168622633180_3757840398026324549_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="710" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOPE1v-Ipsm93PsMzdNhqt--1PKZo1vwKbZqBCc3v1YH8HIdZrkRCtX63boLookHb6NttMwPTACUPyfr0w5fiTdHVpLj_VNpJCaTq8o7uKGW9eRvccWkWtV8HzSoAnVgm-87bdpqZWaDp8FAbKXKjEJyRIberDCQCzxyqSS70by7aXUDMxOA/w392-h298/344011278_822168622633180_3757840398026324549_n.jpg" width="392" /></span></a></div></span></div></div></div></div></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="x168nmei x13lgxp2 x30kzoy x9jhf4c x6ikm8r x10wlt62" data-visualcompletion="ignore-dynamic" style="border-radius: 0px 0px 8px 8px; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="x1n2onr6" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="x6s0dn4 xi81zsa x78zum5 x6prxxf x13a6bvl xvq8zen xdj266r xktsk01 xat24cr x1d52u69 x889kno x4uap5 x1a8lsjc xkhd6sd xdppsyt" style="align-items: center; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--divider); color: var(--secondary-text); display: flex; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; justify-content: flex-end; line-height: 1.3333; margin: 0px 16px; padding: 10px 0px;"><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 x2lah0s x1qughib x1qjc9v5 xozqiw3 x1q0g3np xykv574 xbmpl8g x4cne27 xifccgj" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #65676b; display: flex; flex-flow: row nowrap; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; justify-content: space-between; margin: -6px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-85821994984432998752023-05-10T02:59:00.001-08:002023-05-25T05:24:18.678-08:00Benches<p> </p><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">There is a nice courtyard outside where the church meets in Berat. There are maybe five benches in a little paved circle where old ladies sit and watch birds and children cut through kicking a ball from time to time. But the whole space is in a bit of disrepair and several of the benches are unfortunately unusable. This became more of a concern as the weather has become warm. Christians do not want to hang out inside our hot meeting room after we are finished, and there is <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a style="cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span>nowhere for them to sit once they get outside, so they disappear rather quickly.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">So, one of the church members volunteered to find materials and serve the church and the community by fixing up the benches. I came to help out, but aside from getting my hands covered in yellow paint, and squawking in a weird language, I don't know if I did anything of use. So, I also finger painted my phone yellow and took some pictures to document this simple, but enormous, act of service.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">I'm excited to see this courtyard in use soon. I already have some other ideas of ways that we can fix it up to make it more comfortable. I realized while helping with the bench that people were watching and many approached and asked questions. Who are you? Why are you doing this? And the answer was always, "We are Christians and we are doing this for you." People were very appreciative. Several stayed and talked for a long time and were invited to visit us on Sunday. Some children came and practiced speaking English with me, and I called my girls to come to meet them.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Community service is tricky in a former communist country that had so many years of forced public labor. There are still stigmas and fears. But sacrifice is always noticed, and a city on a hill can not be hidden.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSy7z9VYn0psWrlriFUdUM95xHp_2-KMtFbZK-bMSzZ-_PWBAJe2Js1RsgiKsD5F0uifUuYtQvXJ-qGg0mYpWKBt1mjG30EOOWkTY4IKAyL-W-MPsdgnkneE07cAHuiRTxwxElTc6JKX6cNc4GoPR4SjeQX5a232rZxLz51XX2GWYspJj5ig/s2048/346474558_1019422209419660_3035063596997665978_n%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSy7z9VYn0psWrlriFUdUM95xHp_2-KMtFbZK-bMSzZ-_PWBAJe2Js1RsgiKsD5F0uifUuYtQvXJ-qGg0mYpWKBt1mjG30EOOWkTY4IKAyL-W-MPsdgnkneE07cAHuiRTxwxElTc6JKX6cNc4GoPR4SjeQX5a232rZxLz51XX2GWYspJj5ig/w266-h199/346474558_1019422209419660_3035063596997665978_n%20(1).jpg" width="266" /></a></span><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkl_4exYBg7ed0MmlAe2Kf0EJzvc8eM0khZczQuYXNgH1bQeUO_O9cHrqUHybxsihO1-uthtoiP5VChNn3_1YzOFoiq1n3fYzuXD1D4KEVy063T4Hbuq7elCD7oF45mPB0Bg1aIyMGAQfs1vbQ3sloRVuP4IEb1XNsqs0bBM2ytSwuJL3nVw/s2048/345872738_1396805857820271_6325695920311014803_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjFc5bhd94XngvdnI8nguI2HJy3qs9Jnc46xIpvsArdYnT421J4CyrfDsbq_75alRVoB2w9Og1zxGXET6e_oIfae-UGSvzI16Z1YXZx2l07e7WURjf1S1NDLtLWlUoifUp2Nx0k7ADOaqr0Mb5kdiOYEa43vJvh08V-rIrT6hj66ZM74DjXg/w290-h216/345837515_198601419718239_5650898767281773321_n%20(1).jpg" width="290" /></span><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkl_4exYBg7ed0MmlAe2Kf0EJzvc8eM0khZczQuYXNgH1bQeUO_O9cHrqUHybxsihO1-uthtoiP5VChNn3_1YzOFoiq1n3fYzuXD1D4KEVy063T4Hbuq7elCD7oF45mPB0Bg1aIyMGAQfs1vbQ3sloRVuP4IEb1XNsqs0bBM2ytSwuJL3nVw/w272-h204/345872738_1396805857820271_6325695920311014803_n.jpg" width="272" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"></a></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-V7DOO-vKSvc_Cfr95WGlOxT5CCW7bm0qIj4daW-0xvV0d7xmCiWT2uFO-TeCRAQQ9ub4rq6zK6nwmgqlMBLb-6rNRLBFBKKquEAId0_DZhHxQbaJHH877FLs5hZG_jH3BvIlOg-MI3nuTqNXvikEbc0oWtp4svvAI8TIqJ010L7j0bqdFw/s2048/346294931_1348893205659020_3342334357080029300_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-V7DOO-vKSvc_Cfr95WGlOxT5CCW7bm0qIj4daW-0xvV0d7xmCiWT2uFO-TeCRAQQ9ub4rq6zK6nwmgqlMBLb-6rNRLBFBKKquEAId0_DZhHxQbaJHH877FLs5hZG_jH3BvIlOg-MI3nuTqNXvikEbc0oWtp4svvAI8TIqJ010L7j0bqdFw/w284-h214/346294931_1348893205659020_3342334357080029300_n.jpg" width="284" /></span></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaCyopFwtmU1sRyAHnTsOsjGpX_EV27xv8CVO3Kn82Z9ZrBTskvJW8Wdl8S9zjM4iPmVjKRaciw3PdB-tSIIO4mfEREVzzUcI426hQ4f2zeBeNF3R2BlAOJrORIK0omZbNFpLY-_imxcqUkyfsMOfo32dC1kDy4s13G_UgGIkayWQDiWQnjQ/s960/345857565_1641299143009257_4963092043935046858_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaCyopFwtmU1sRyAHnTsOsjGpX_EV27xv8CVO3Kn82Z9ZrBTskvJW8Wdl8S9zjM4iPmVjKRaciw3PdB-tSIIO4mfEREVzzUcI426hQ4f2zeBeNF3R2BlAOJrORIK0omZbNFpLY-_imxcqUkyfsMOfo32dC1kDy4s13G_UgGIkayWQDiWQnjQ/w299-h225/345857565_1641299143009257_4963092043935046858_n.jpg" width="299" /></a></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsxtITRLKkVi7KMUfqCk8qDkRT0nxUfm-I1-PBZ7CQibL89yY4KDwVVsgx3xRejQ74lLZe6lUE-Iw96EfqDsUIxwvsqyoGFClSFb2MaXM7SEyf6tQE0yFTO79ImsXSAsgCumQPXXleizzg-oqRlVE562nLwQI_0wnNk3DKVeqyh186-IKMIQ/s2048/346451216_775204437599887_7422836831480446008_n%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsxtITRLKkVi7KMUfqCk8qDkRT0nxUfm-I1-PBZ7CQibL89yY4KDwVVsgx3xRejQ74lLZe6lUE-Iw96EfqDsUIxwvsqyoGFClSFb2MaXM7SEyf6tQE0yFTO79ImsXSAsgCumQPXXleizzg-oqRlVE562nLwQI_0wnNk3DKVeqyh186-IKMIQ/s2048/346451216_775204437599887_7422836831480446008_n%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsxtITRLKkVi7KMUfqCk8qDkRT0nxUfm-I1-PBZ7CQibL89yY4KDwVVsgx3xRejQ74lLZe6lUE-Iw96EfqDsUIxwvsqyoGFClSFb2MaXM7SEyf6tQE0yFTO79ImsXSAsgCumQPXXleizzg-oqRlVE562nLwQI_0wnNk3DKVeqyh186-IKMIQ/w434-h326/346451216_775204437599887_7422836831480446008_n%20(1).jpg" width="434" /></span></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /><br /></span><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-26134503907533442712023-05-03T02:29:00.001-08:002023-05-09T02:31:26.516-08:00Albania Christian Retreat<p><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"> <span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The future is stronger than the present because of the strength of the past.</span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTglUeQx7G7gHRBTH6CLPOSi076BZWw-yQsN7l0G5a9GVSQzw1aJ6nu663ZlUP37wMaVKzOxFkcPvD-5DcMxAxAkZp2zugLgstR6Awz52WpNbqWIyi-YrT_6ViUMg2qdmDyIWFmPfcue6RrThSsEL7k9hXaeeRJOb5TL8sHd6cfyhOmEuBcg/s1536/343664453_2235520076648320_4872762424868795483_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1536" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTglUeQx7G7gHRBTH6CLPOSi076BZWw-yQsN7l0G5a9GVSQzw1aJ6nu663ZlUP37wMaVKzOxFkcPvD-5DcMxAxAkZp2zugLgstR6Awz52WpNbqWIyi-YrT_6ViUMg2qdmDyIWFmPfcue6RrThSsEL7k9hXaeeRJOb5TL8sHd6cfyhOmEuBcg/s320/343664453_2235520076648320_4872762424868795483_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p></p>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-42295659033697654722023-04-22T08:45:00.002-08:002023-05-25T04:56:13.504-08:00April <p> <span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Wins: Gideon walked down the street and bought a banana on his own. </span></span></p><div><div dir="auto"><div class="x1iorvi4 x1pi30zi x1l90r2v x1swvt13" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id=":rhb:" style="padding: 4px 16px 16px;"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u x1yc453h" dir="auto" style="display: block; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #134f5c;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xhhsvwb xat24cr xgzva0m xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od" style="display: inline-flex; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; vertical-align: middle; width: 16px;"></span></span><span><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;">Losses: Heating the baptistry popped the circuit so badly that the </span></span><span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">extension</span></span><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"> cord plug melted. </span></span></span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Can't lose: Today a new Sister in Christ will be joining God's family! </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI1PQn-URhm7kGFAcEfHETCgCTnbs43gMdJIaVq0pMGmzuSquihTexYwn65yReqGFLlsSjaQ0aC51U52uN6puDjYjbf3uHkml4yeD0WC3aEoSuSbGmHM_2yIL2j51LPMadwRBQr6gfzl4_obaFuhpzeFphi3f2Wd-MJ_qHToUjRDCDZDJ8ug/s2048/342686319_1268306810749338_7640375332057163236_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="365" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI1PQn-URhm7kGFAcEfHETCgCTnbs43gMdJIaVq0pMGmzuSquihTexYwn65yReqGFLlsSjaQ0aC51U52uN6puDjYjbf3uHkml4yeD0WC3aEoSuSbGmHM_2yIL2j51LPMadwRBQr6gfzl4_obaFuhpzeFphi3f2Wd-MJ_qHToUjRDCDZDJ8ug/w274-h365/342686319_1268306810749338_7640375332057163236_n.jpg" width="274" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKLNHnSEieg5UDUyKlTrvw61tlwcKyA9c-_xUGuUVMRnpUYY2L7Ub-86keToMm8i2pao4qVTvDx6JXxUu5AEMeauvmQOZCMOQLG4vibexH_tuYClMI_Vv5h-SYD8Dxb6dBYnN6pT6ktmeM0rV2xliJBIXr1IJHbgWr7XRPWvIRJpZQYKZcuA/s960/342786883_116827371364203_2669084889236870273_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="363" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKLNHnSEieg5UDUyKlTrvw61tlwcKyA9c-_xUGuUVMRnpUYY2L7Ub-86keToMm8i2pao4qVTvDx6JXxUu5AEMeauvmQOZCMOQLG4vibexH_tuYClMI_Vv5h-SYD8Dxb6dBYnN6pT6ktmeM0rV2xliJBIXr1IJHbgWr7XRPWvIRJpZQYKZcuA/w272-h363/342786883_116827371364203_2669084889236870273_n.jpg" width="272" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-63003582022477093762023-04-08T08:34:00.032-08:002023-05-08T08:45:35.430-08:00Easter 2023<div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p style="color: #050505;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: arial;">Today we had the Berat Teens over to our apartment to share some fun American Easter traditions. We busted out some American treats we'd been saving or picked up in Germany: Paas egg dye, Jello, Tapioca, and Easter candy. While frantically trying to unpack the kitchen AND straighten the house, Clara and I boiled 60 eggs, made sweet tea and lemonade, prepared jello and pudding, and then friends arrived. We dyed eggs, made resurrection rolls, and for an impromptu egg hunt at </span><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: arial;"><a style="cursor: pointer;" tabindex="-1"></a></span><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: arial;">the insistance of Gideon, hid and re-hid wrapped peanut butter chocolate eggs all around the house and balcony. We read Matthew 28 together and wrote Bible verses in English and Albanian on our eggs. It was a blast, and I'm utterly wiped out. It was a real family effort, and I'm proud of all 4 of my teammates. </span></span></p><p style="color: #050505;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: arial;">J</span><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: arial;">ames is preaching on the resurrection tomorrow, and we're celebrating a little extra with the church with a little sweet table. When living in a primarily Muslim country, it's fun for Christians to come together and be a family for each other.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c; font-family: arial;">God bless you. Celebrating Jesus' Resurrection with Thankfulness! He is Risen!</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2zObiQGbBLJoAjCNTj2z8e3BeAw7r2ft7WUohioIf21_bOKGcU3kru7g2_d4VXjOxVkMmZj8aaQNFYFb8bk72f_hkc_gqySb93j175-1wzrn5UItCwWz9JLu2lYOOdk6PkgEx7H15Y3m3reAiZDr_j125cJ20aDXEQ3XwgyA6CgiU-3kzEA/s960/340250627_931961414713945_6154139852068410562_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2zObiQGbBLJoAjCNTj2z8e3BeAw7r2ft7WUohioIf21_bOKGcU3kru7g2_d4VXjOxVkMmZj8aaQNFYFb8bk72f_hkc_gqySb93j175-1wzrn5UItCwWz9JLu2lYOOdk6PkgEx7H15Y3m3reAiZDr_j125cJ20aDXEQ3XwgyA6CgiU-3kzEA/s320/340250627_931961414713945_6154139852068410562_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOQsWBHBJjQ7762O7b-ULA4XuB0jHDFd87qiHakMNPFLGW8TxRPnDouE6CmlnCYghfQ2h_UVEUiV0MhQsTtRNuObppaOtU6YOB3VN-hh1O723HbCvUw_9g5bBQCbi1NsM-ipyteuK3ft85unwbCRUa23g7AAgfHjRq_i_qXDt-1h-G4PrTCQ/s2048/340405792_168871649417599_6312297181042910086_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOQsWBHBJjQ7762O7b-ULA4XuB0jHDFd87qiHakMNPFLGW8TxRPnDouE6CmlnCYghfQ2h_UVEUiV0MhQsTtRNuObppaOtU6YOB3VN-hh1O723HbCvUw_9g5bBQCbi1NsM-ipyteuK3ft85unwbCRUa23g7AAgfHjRq_i_qXDt-1h-G4PrTCQ/s320/340405792_168871649417599_6312297181042910086_n.jpg" width="240" /></span></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOQsWBHBJjQ7762O7b-ULA4XuB0jHDFd87qiHakMNPFLGW8TxRPnDouE6CmlnCYghfQ2h_UVEUiV0MhQsTtRNuObppaOtU6YOB3VN-hh1O723HbCvUw_9g5bBQCbi1NsM-ipyteuK3ft85unwbCRUa23g7AAgfHjRq_i_qXDt-1h-G4PrTCQ/s2048/340405792_168871649417599_6312297181042910086_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6OrYAhfbn--Aa_-CvwI9ezeIuqDf5yTT7erGvJB-reterrTJNMiFA8_EqJomvbHZ05HFM-kRvzgftO1ijIPqXemALYiM3IpA413kUpcEBglmiBOmD2UXlePtyQP4Vx9KM4AkBvszjz9OfnkTmqg1Ma0VGHbqPJhHZuZ3zb6DM5-Gq8H-BKA/s2048/339778265_121184697600749_699890115227770652_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6OrYAhfbn--Aa_-CvwI9ezeIuqDf5yTT7erGvJB-reterrTJNMiFA8_EqJomvbHZ05HFM-kRvzgftO1ijIPqXemALYiM3IpA413kUpcEBglmiBOmD2UXlePtyQP4Vx9KM4AkBvszjz9OfnkTmqg1Ma0VGHbqPJhHZuZ3zb6DM5-Gq8H-BKA/s320/339778265_121184697600749_699890115227770652_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><u><br /></u></span></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p style="background-color: white; color: #050505;"></p></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-41772257739739414782023-03-28T05:34:00.018-08:002023-05-25T05:37:21.662-08:00Moving Day!<p> </p><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">I can't believe it! Today we move into our "permanent" home in Berat! I'm so, so grateful for the path that God has prepared to get us to this point, for the "homes" we've had along the way, and for my patient children for calling another bed theirs, even for just one night. I've learned a little trick. I change my "home" in Google maps for any place we stay for more than one night. It helps us navigate there. I hope to share more soon. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">These photos are the view from my <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a style="cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span>current bedroom. I'm falling in love with my new mountain, Tomorr. You can see the balcony of our next house from here. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYY5TAszEvg_iiOqufGgXUIS6LDP4P9QdLX2ObKq4GRKVkIUlQu1GcmfHZx825YCJDPMMlezC5caFfUCqv2cIGsW6XuiAesHFA1x_0iYuF000NhRkSIsqaf8EsJgbiOt1Ikit1HJZs_yc5mGjd9XGHnRvH0sbraDs4F2CjlXNIEqwgZvq_8Q/s960/337393807_620594923307927_8676896711714621483_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYY5TAszEvg_iiOqufGgXUIS6LDP4P9QdLX2ObKq4GRKVkIUlQu1GcmfHZx825YCJDPMMlezC5caFfUCqv2cIGsW6XuiAesHFA1x_0iYuF000NhRkSIsqaf8EsJgbiOt1Ikit1HJZs_yc5mGjd9XGHnRvH0sbraDs4F2CjlXNIEqwgZvq_8Q/w389-h292/337393807_620594923307927_8676896711714621483_n.jpg" width="389" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho8pyzc-i3_lRYIeBuDzI7JiHgNBA-ZQldSzLiECbedG5i_UnGnk9QE_HG05qNuW1Ft-_5ZpK9Gr3jz-1ZVkCsS9yAluo3H2p2jOJdHPgeZGd7R04r7KPp5maq-k3dicbw99RjKXunom_6XysC5cArL6jnVsLmIQBJgWdku_qIbHpotKQK_Q/s2048/337513324_238189525356983_3211946923746544700_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho8pyzc-i3_lRYIeBuDzI7JiHgNBA-ZQldSzLiECbedG5i_UnGnk9QE_HG05qNuW1Ft-_5ZpK9Gr3jz-1ZVkCsS9yAluo3H2p2jOJdHPgeZGd7R04r7KPp5maq-k3dicbw99RjKXunom_6XysC5cArL6jnVsLmIQBJgWdku_qIbHpotKQK_Q/w386-h289/337513324_238189525356983_3211946923746544700_n.jpg" width="386" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdbvhqlQOZ2UEulZhipIm8IKxYmsfvpk__FUTCzS8ICaZ7HvZQ59337cwcsw3STif2BuQUCDix7yKWJhivQ5Fcd_ZYUvS_KnBvzH_Dr7RvynZfVuym6_b-TBjSsAcbPpatlMlki5YqAStb3wzHruDiD2GNwm6-52CVezAMvDa2tS6PnBAsgQ/s2048/338016701_767262281328216_961291730029617772_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdbvhqlQOZ2UEulZhipIm8IKxYmsfvpk__FUTCzS8ICaZ7HvZQ59337cwcsw3STif2BuQUCDix7yKWJhivQ5Fcd_ZYUvS_KnBvzH_Dr7RvynZfVuym6_b-TBjSsAcbPpatlMlki5YqAStb3wzHruDiD2GNwm6-52CVezAMvDa2tS6PnBAsgQ/w383-h287/338016701_767262281328216_961291730029617772_n.jpg" width="383" /></span></a></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-57492499432006974082023-03-05T08:51:00.012-09:002023-05-08T08:57:08.801-08:00How NOT to visit Italy<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;">Woke up listening to the church bells in this little Italian town we drove into after dark last night. Praise God we found a way to book a room on Expedia as the sun set and we realized people on Airbnb weren't accepting our requested reservation. The gated courtyard is securely closed. James and I crossed the street to buy pizza for our tired kiddos after driving 8 hours from Germany and though the gorgeous country of Switzerland which looked more like Rivendale than Heidi. </span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">Today we have 8 more hours of driving. Praying for a smooth customs experience and room on the ferry. Clara and Gideon are feverish with sore throats. My eyes ache to slow down and see the scenery we are frantically driving past, but German license plates are only good until Monday and it would be very nice to avoid having our car impounded. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">Also, Happy Birthday, Gideon!</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoluw_cXGNsIz8TLz4Q60xDeSANE5wH9dQ6bZ1Zcb1L-k_RMsT0xTNRgpb1sK0j8I6VJKYYs2904ubzJ6mmAW3_nLmuYSrCXQ22_AYjqUZUjIyzamNTFSnYaf94zWlk7oJ3UL9HxTeXXcEwFzNMVubCvaN7OPQlxlXTeD2F8NxWLdScrx0zQ/s960/330588217_169435528786669_2303669448063866788_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoluw_cXGNsIz8TLz4Q60xDeSANE5wH9dQ6bZ1Zcb1L-k_RMsT0xTNRgpb1sK0j8I6VJKYYs2904ubzJ6mmAW3_nLmuYSrCXQ22_AYjqUZUjIyzamNTFSnYaf94zWlk7oJ3UL9HxTeXXcEwFzNMVubCvaN7OPQlxlXTeD2F8NxWLdScrx0zQ/s320/330588217_169435528786669_2303669448063866788_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuDy35oQl6NBQ_AS_7uANu0g6TsENj2UzBwv3Ain6VjICiQ8aoAVi-6jll56Nk6s4YCMlelY_R1bBScSNEVQtOFNfSC2-izAUevOxVbmx30DQFIGQsxas1OxOLfrkPg3ecFQcZ22n7VBZrAEFtof9mWYHqQywIpnfCaVtcaQWVep6cq6ZzYw/s2048/328094823_776732970026793_1643080321373300959_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuDy35oQl6NBQ_AS_7uANu0g6TsENj2UzBwv3Ain6VjICiQ8aoAVi-6jll56Nk6s4YCMlelY_R1bBScSNEVQtOFNfSC2-izAUevOxVbmx30DQFIGQsxas1OxOLfrkPg3ecFQcZ22n7VBZrAEFtof9mWYHqQywIpnfCaVtcaQWVep6cq6ZzYw/s320/328094823_776732970026793_1643080321373300959_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwLu3lQpIob9MToAng0JE3BvqpY6cmiKBeDUV3lP7KRDJ0Mr8fZ9TDaGAIPmRHAJ22ngC8OrkU0AuGI924MhaCEO22-rRm953-xULgC1P91kOQzBPJkwODBq2uGVxNYYV6s4a3ZgD1okHIfWclLG7uCWdOd6Wpv8qm65YgzFkyTOvepEmdcQ/s1970/333096444_6305801042802533_3028178724434867517_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1970" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwLu3lQpIob9MToAng0JE3BvqpY6cmiKBeDUV3lP7KRDJ0Mr8fZ9TDaGAIPmRHAJ22ngC8OrkU0AuGI924MhaCEO22-rRm953-xULgC1P91kOQzBPJkwODBq2uGVxNYYV6s4a3ZgD1okHIfWclLG7uCWdOd6Wpv8qm65YgzFkyTOvepEmdcQ/s320/333096444_6305801042802533_3028178724434867517_n.jpg" width="175" /></a><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMTuwumQ7eNwhfAallBACTFv9N8hy4icMVvgXzvBl4PqT3_2znQ4_uRlgp0ayBrxOBFcosue4Ni1PEgpN0Q8QzapLa0RF-bEanc5QeJ12oUy4egei1Tv-fEQxPiKLHOC6heIdGqdaq44qrTv52PEkFGhQ5GPC6ewBvKNqKX4TVnJFSA_8UvQ/s1970/330591293_700500178523916_311821138819015849_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1970" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMTuwumQ7eNwhfAallBACTFv9N8hy4icMVvgXzvBl4PqT3_2znQ4_uRlgp0ayBrxOBFcosue4Ni1PEgpN0Q8QzapLa0RF-bEanc5QeJ12oUy4egei1Tv-fEQxPiKLHOC6heIdGqdaq44qrTv52PEkFGhQ5GPC6ewBvKNqKX4TVnJFSA_8UvQ/s320/330591293_700500178523916_311821138819015849_n.jpg" width="175" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibK33g4ebfE5QbTo3y0A_HCqtPK8GO8jfx1VBJ4_DpjWx6-_mG8_AWs_ZhDi7o-ZUbci1Pgaa0VEjKju-a_cXE7Tn_Tko1XxSiTCK7GBr1u70MEDARQ7_UyzDq9J1EdvZXdi6N82ky5iO9CszsULjihFWh0tW9DMQOpN-sYIzG4OS_qsGLdw/s2048/330622285_228116633201634_5504230444064285128_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibK33g4ebfE5QbTo3y0A_HCqtPK8GO8jfx1VBJ4_DpjWx6-_mG8_AWs_ZhDi7o-ZUbci1Pgaa0VEjKju-a_cXE7Tn_Tko1XxSiTCK7GBr1u70MEDARQ7_UyzDq9J1EdvZXdi6N82ky5iO9CszsULjihFWh0tW9DMQOpN-sYIzG4OS_qsGLdw/s320/330622285_228116633201634_5504230444064285128_n.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit;"><br /></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-82167448818041513882023-02-27T06:04:00.038-09:002023-05-25T06:12:46.859-08:00Car Shopping<p><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></p><div style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><div class="x1cy8zhl x78zum5 x1q0g3np xod5an3 x1pi30zi x1swvt13 xz9dl7a" style="align-items: flex-start; display: flex; flex-direction: row; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 12px; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; padding-top: 12px;"><div class="xqcrz7y x78zum5 x1qx5ct2 x1y1aw1k x1sxyh0 xwib8y2 xurb0ha xw4jnvo" style="align-self: flex-start; display: flex; font-family: inherit; height: 20px; padding: 8px; width: 20px;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="menu" aria-label="Actions for this post" class="x1i10hfl x1qjc9v5 xjqpnuy xa49m3k xqeqjp1 x2hbi6w x9f619 x1ypdohk xdl72j9 x2lah0s xe8uvvx x2lwn1j xeuugli x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1ja2u2z x1t137rt x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x1q0g3np x87ps6o x1lku1pv x1a2a7pz xjyslct xjbqb8w x13fuv20 xu3j5b3 x1q0q8m5 x26u7qi x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x3nfvp2 xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x1n2onr6 x3ajldb x194ut8o x1vzenxt xd7ygy7 xt298gk x1xhcax0 x1s928wv x10pfhc2 x1j6awrg x1v53gu8 x1tfg27r xitxdhh" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; appearance: none; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: none; vertical-align: bottom; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="x1ey2m1c xds687c xg01cxk x47corl x10l6tqk x17qophe x13vifvy x1ebt8du x19991ni x1dhq9h x14yjl9h xudhj91 x18nykt9 xww2gxu" data-visualcompletion="ignore" style="border-radius: 50%; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: opacity; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I’m sorry, but did you say a weasel did this?” I stood with my hands in my pockets staring down into the open hood of the car. Beside me a thin-faced German man with small spectacles stuttered a bit as he looked for the words in English. “Perhaps, y-y-yes, it maybe vas veasel, but… I do not know… it was…” he gave up on words and instead brought his hands up to his face like little paws and pretended to nibble on something with his little teeth.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Okay. Yes. Thank you,” I said, </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a style="cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;">wishing the poor man would give up trying to tell me exactly what creature had taken up residence in the front end of his car during COVID lockdowns. It was clearly a little guy that liked to party. The insulation was torn to shreds and was hanging from all the components like tattered yellow and black curtains. The top of the engine was littered with little bits of it like ash-covered snow. It looked like the engine had been thrown in a cardboard box full of moldy packing peanuts.</span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><div class="" dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="x1iorvi4 x1pi30zi x1swvt13 xjkvuk6" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id=":r9r7:" style="font-family: inherit; padding: 4px 16px;"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u x1yc453h" dir="auto" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">“I’m sorry, but did you say a weasel did this?” I stood with my hands in my pockets staring down into the open hood of the car. Beside me a thin-faced German man with small spectacles stuttered a bit as he looked for the words in English. “Perhaps, y-y-yes, it maybe vas veasel, but… I do not know… it was…” he gave up on words and instead brought his hands up to his face like little paws and pretended to nibble on something with his little teeth.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem;">“Okay. Yes. Thank you,” I said, </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem;"><a style="cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem;">wishing the poor man would give up trying to tell me exactly what creature had taken up residence in the front end of his car during COVID lockdowns. It was clearly a little guy that liked to party. The insulation was torn to shreds and was hanging from all the components like tattered yellow and black curtains. The top of the engine was littered with little bits of it like ash-covered snow. It looked like the engine had been thrown in a cardboard box full of moldy packing peanuts.</span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem;">.</span><span style="background-color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem;"><span style="color: #fce5cd;">“It still runs goot,” the man said. “And the creature. He will not be back.” He leaned down to point dramatically at one of several cloth pouches that were hung around the engine area. “It is hair of the dog.”He gestured to the window of his house, where a small terrier was sitting watching us.</span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">“Smart,” I said nodding my head as if I understood anything about cars and weasels. But I know nothing.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">Of course, the car HAD run “goot”, for the most part. Maybe. Although the clutch peddle had rollicked like a discotheque and was probably on its way out. And the windshield was so deeply angled that I could have driven with all three of my children asleep on the dashboard. The car was strange. My kids loved it. I was disappointed.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I shook the man’s hand and walked back to our car.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">This was our eighth day of car shopping and this was the first car we had actually sat in.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">We had arrived expecting to talk to dealerships. We were promised acres of used cars, a land flowing with milk and honey, but all of the dealerships only wanted to work with military personnel. And when we finally found one that would work with us, we could only look at cars with European designs instead of American designs (since we would need to find local mechanics and parts in Albania) and we learned that 80% of the cars on the lots here are American spec. Which didn’t much matter because we also had only one criterion for our car search: 7 seats. And in the land of lilliput- I mean Europe, cars only come in two sizes: Matchbox and Hot Wheels. A 7-passenger car was a dodo bird that hadn’t walked these hills since before World War II.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">So, we expanded our search to include all private car sales in the entire bottom left side of the nation of Germany. And that’s how we came to drive an hour and a half to the French border to look at a car that had been eaten by what may or may not have been a weasel.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">Five hours later we were on a completely different side of the country standing in a man’s driveway in total darkness looking at a car that was nothing more than a nondescript shadow.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">“So… can we drive it?”</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">The man shook his head and struggled to find vocabulary words he probably had only ever heard in Fast and the Furious. “No no no. See. It is not registered. There are no license plates.”</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">“So, how can we drive it to know if it is an okay car?”</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">He blinked in the darkness. “Because it is goot car. You pay for car. We go to de office and have it… registered. Then you come back and drive it. It will be yours and you will see.” He smiled.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I believed him. But I was frustrated and defeated to have come so far in a day only to have seen a car that was eaten by a weasel and another that we hardly could see in the dark and couldn’t ever drive until after we had handed over almost $20k in cash.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I shook his hand and drove my very exhausted family home. My mind was a smear of grey paint. We had spent endless days stuck in a loop of no progress towards owning a car. No leads. No hope. No direction. No revelations. We were staying with wonderful friends that we had only just met when we arrived in the country over a week ago, and they no doubt were ready for us to find a clean solution and move on. And yet, here I was, no closer than when I arrived. I could not provide for my family. I could not protect them and buy them a car to support our life and our work in Albania. The car just didn’t exist. Here.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I thought about the car that we had left behind in Alaska, and I wept quietly in the darkness as I drove the long unlit autobahn back to our apartment for the night. The car we had left behind. The car we all loved. The car that was impossible to replace. The car my children were expecting to see every time we pulled up to the next used car. We would not be replacing that car. We would be paying double the price for less.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I lay awake in the night staring into the black room. Outside on the street, strange cars drove by. What was I doing? I wasn’t being selfish, was I? I asked God. I wanted 7 seats because we want to carry more than just our family of five. Five seats would be selfish, right? And, I wanted something reliable because I want to be able to drive members of the church in Berat to appointments in Tirana and take the youth to visit nearby congregations. I would probably be happier with something smaller and easier to navigate the streets of Albania. I wasn’t being selfish right? So, God, where is the car? Why did you bring me here to buy a car and then not let me find the car? Why am I trapped in this limbo space, waiting, looking, finding nothing?</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I fell asleep asking these questions over and over and over in my mind. Wrestling with God on the bank of the river of dreams.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I woke up the next morning with a new optimism. I woke up with a thought that I had never thought to have before.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">“I think maybe I’ve been doing it wrong,” I told my wife.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">“You what?” she asked.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">“The car search. I think I have been doing it wrong. I realized I haven’t been honest with God,” I said. “I think I haven’t told him what I want. I’m being too vague. I want something too simple. Maybe we should be very specific and let him surprise us.”</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">She smiled and touched my hand. Maybe I was losing my mind.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I opened the search engine again like I had done so many times before. Only this time I actually started checking the boxes I had previously ignored. Type of car? I have seen enough of these videos to know they are basically the same, but how about this one. It’s actually the one I think is my favorite. I like the layout. It feels familiar. I like the shape of it. Do I want a backup camera? Of course, I want a backup camera. Don’t even show me it if it doesn’t have a backup camera. I even picked the color I would prefer. I did all of it. I custom-built my dream car.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">My dream car. I read over the list of criteria one last time. Wow. I didn’t realize I actually had so many preferences. I had made myself so flexible, I had never once thought to actually see. To Ask. Of course, this car doesn’t exist. But it was worth the exercise to actually dream about what I wanted and pray to God to show it to me.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I opened my eyes.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">“1 result found.”</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I was dumbstruck. There it was. It was right there in the picture. Not the car I left back home, but something possibly better. And it was real, and it had been listed last night. Last night, when I had been lying in bed wrestling with God on the banks of the River of Dreams. Someone had posted this beautiful answer. Before I had even asked. We could be free of this trap by tomorrow. We would be on our way back home to Albania, by this weekend.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">We had two more cars arranged to look at. My dream car was about five minutes away from the location we were going to be that very afternoon. The impossibility of it all made my chest quiver.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I messaged the owner to see if it was available to look at. And they responded that it was.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">The clouds around my heart lifted away. And for the first time in over a week, I felt peace.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">We drove to the area and my children started wandering through a local bookstore to pass the time while I messaged the owner on Wi-Fi. “Where can we meet to look at the car?” I asked.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">After a long silence, the owner responded. “I’m sorry to have to ask this, but where are you from?”</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I found this question peculiar. “We are American missionaries. We are visiting Germany to buy a car to use for our work with the church in Albania.”</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">Another long silence. “What church?”</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I sighed and closed my eyes and typed my answer, briefly describing who we were and who the church was, and what we would be doing with the car. I wanted to be honest. I wanted to put them at ease and let them know I was not a threat in some way. I was just a nice Christian guy that was wanting to buy a car for nice Christian guy reasons. He should be proud to sell his car to me.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">The response came back. “No. I’m not sure about that.”</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">“Not sure about what?” I was distraught. “We are paying cash. We are not wanting to negotiate the price. We are a good family wanting to buy your car.”</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">“That’s too much cash.”</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">This was the final message. I felt a weasel in my chest as it started eating the insulation surrounding my heart.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">We were in the car now. My family knew what had happened. Everyone was silent while we drove the streets of this weird city on our way to our meeting. I parked angrily on a side street and we walked together to the location where we were looking at a different car, a car I was not actually excited about seeing. I went through the motions. We found the building. We found the door. But, my brain was occupied. I couldn’t make sense of it.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">“Why? I don’t understand. They are selling a car. Why do they care that I’m an American? Why is it any of their business that I work for a church? What does it matter? What do they mean by, ‘That’s too much cash,’? I mean, come on. Meet me at a bank and I’ll put the money directly into your account!”</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I had never faced racism or religious disrespect before. Is that what this was? It felt hopeless and wrong and stupid. It felt arrogant. It felt like a slap in the face. And it wasn’t from the person selling the car. It was a slap that came from much higher up.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">“Settle down,” Andrea told me, as I furiously rang the buzzer on the door. “We should rejoice when God slams a door. It’s a pretty clear message.”</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I waved my arms in the air. “Message of what?! WHAT message? We have been looking for a car for a week and a half and we have ZERO options. ZE-RO! Sure, slam a door if I have two options. Slam five of them if I have six, but give me SOMETHING! Why produce my dream car if I’m not even going to get to look at it? Andrea, we were so close. SO CLOSE to everything making sense for once! Why was the door open in the first place? Just to taunt me? Just to make me look like an idiot when I started walking towards it? Did God open it so he could slam it in my face just as I was saying, ‘Wow! Thank you!’. BAM! I just don’t understand.”</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">This is what I was saying. And my face was in my hands. So, I didn’t even see when the door opened, and Diego arrived.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">“Hello!” said a friendly voice. It sounded instantly familiar. The short round-faced man with glasses that greeted us at the apartment building entrance looked somehow familiar as well.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I hung back as we walked. I let my wife talk to him and I brooded over my children and shook my head at the tile floor.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">“So, why are you guys buying a car in Germany?” he asked.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">“…Here it comes,” I thought.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">My wife explained where we were from and what we were doing. At the mention of being missionaries, his face lit up. “Wait, you are missionaries? This is amazing! I can’t believe this!” he said. “I need to tell my wife. She is going to pass out! We are both from missionary families. I’m here for work at the factory, but we love missionaries. We would LOVE for our car to go to a church in Albania.”</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I woke up and stepped ahead of my children. “Where are you from?” I asked.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">“I am Brazilian.”</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">My children exploded in cheers of laughter. “Our uncle just came home from doing mission work in Brazil!” they said. It was a small cup of water in a desert, but I accepted it gladly. Maybe less a cup of water and more a wet fleece, but one that was wet with familiar water.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">He led us through a parking garage to a car. It was small. Seven seats. In good condition. It was sensible. I sat in the driver’s seat and nodded. This was a car that seemed to belong to a missionary in Berat, Albania. And it was considerably cheaper than the car I had been hoping to look at that same afternoon.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">We drove it down the street, and then we quickly got lost while talking about life with our new Brazilian friend.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">When we finally arrived back at the apartment, Diego’s wife was waiting for us in the parking garage. She was crying. We were an answer to their prayers as much as they were an answer to ours. We went to their apartment and shared a sleeve of “American-Style” cookies. We talked more about life in Germany. We talked about Brazil. We talked about God and the strange things he has done in both of our lives.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">When we had to leave, Diego and his family prayed over us and our work. It was understood that we may not be back to buy the car. We had other cars to consider. In fact, there was one more that we were going to be seeing that same day about an hour away in a different town. But we parted ways with the hopes of one-day meeting again.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">We shook hands and drove away. My car was buzzing with dizzy conversations. Clara especially was awe-struck and couldn’t seem to believe what had just happened. “There are no coincidences with God,” Diego had said. This was a family that was financially burdened, dealing with loss and injustice and working at a company that was suffering because of moral decisions that Germany is making to cut ties with Russia because of the war in Ukraine. And when we arrived and they heard that we were missionaries their first response was to ask, “Is this God coming to take our car?”</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">We stopped quickly in a McDonald’s parking lot near the edge of town, so the kids could eat something and I could message the next person we were meeting to say that we were possibly going to be late. When I checked my phone, I found a message from the owner of the next car.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">“Call me,” it said simply.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">So, I called. And the poor German man very respectfully explained as best he could that something had happened that morning. His car had mysteriously sprung a leak from the transmission. It had never done this before, and he didn’t know what it meant. He didn’t feel like it was fair for me to come look at it before he found the answers.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I pretended to be surprised. “I’m so sorry that happened. I appreciate and respect that you would call me to tell me this.” And I hung up the phone.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I sat on a low concrete wall and looked out as the sun was setting behind the industrial park.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">God was at work in the world. I didn’t understand him. I still didn’t know what he was wanting me to do. But he was at work. And it felt amazing to realize that. It was enough.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I thought about the car I had left behind in America. I thought about my dream car. And I laughed and held my head in my hands again until my laughter turned to tears. I don’t want to dream about cars anymore. I'm sick and tired of dreaming about cars. Why would I ever pray for a car, when I could instead pray to know God and see him at work in the world.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">I brushed myself off, walked inside, and told Andrea it was time to go home.</span></div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-81103612767361832692023-02-24T08:57:00.004-09:002023-05-08T08:59:20.420-08:00Ukraine<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; white-space: normal;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">February 24. Once upon a time it was a due date for one of my babies, the birthday of a few friends, one of my favorite numbers. Now it is a day like September 11th: a day that sticks in my throat like bile. A day I've wept over, railed over, prayed over, battled with God over, read the Psalms thirstily looking for the mix of hopeless anger that roiled in my gut, doubted God's status of "good" and "love", slept fitfully and guiltily in a warm bed with a full tummy knowing </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a style="cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">dear friends of ours were starving and freezing in bomb shelters, stepped back and seen war and evil throughout the ages in a completely new light, doubted God's wisdom in putting up with humanity. I've cried until there were no more tears to cry, and then cried again. I've struggled to stand upright in my faith as we have been tumbled head over heels in grief and anguish and heartbreak. </span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">My heart is still broken. My long held love and support of the beautiful and historical Russia I once lived in and taught and learned God's love in is tattered and tarnished and will never be the same. My impatience for my big God to do his thing and stop the bad guys has turned to a massive bruise on my heart. I still wince each time I see what the bombs are doing and witness destruction, and a little voice inside me cries, "God? Please?" But I've settled into the acceptance that I do not see what God sees. I don't know what these dark threads are weaving in His tapestry. The glimpses of love and sacrifice and goodness and light that are brought about only in response to this evil are staggeringly beautiful. So I hope. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">In our own life, I know we would not be on this path today except for February 24th, 2022. So I'm trusting in God's promises and watching history play out in front of us while His people from Ukraine love and sacrifice and their light shines in the darkness like a beacon wherever they live. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;">Pray for Ukraine, encourage the Ukrainians God puts in your path, consider giving to a charity that you trust to make life a little easier for children and families and the aged and care workers and laypeople doing the work of soldiers to save their homeland. Thanks.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibOnwhNm3JzpiV65V_nYpHWSdlV3djmkdrYg_lfqqGY4g85ioE9EmDwI4ryuwTHkhm6t9pi69y8wdFb-WUuvHDVHyQeuOpggrK4yA_Q0Qt8uf_BTzJxoNC-B0cn-sW8WxDKCTBZDvyMae55w2ehE9R4Ip9cYspnP-s94mpnHNTIfU0dd6sDA/s615/329551936_494207566261417_6512784727974783321_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><img border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="615" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibOnwhNm3JzpiV65V_nYpHWSdlV3djmkdrYg_lfqqGY4g85ioE9EmDwI4ryuwTHkhm6t9pi69y8wdFb-WUuvHDVHyQeuOpggrK4yA_Q0Qt8uf_BTzJxoNC-B0cn-sW8WxDKCTBZDvyMae55w2ehE9R4Ip9cYspnP-s94mpnHNTIfU0dd6sDA/w421-h362/329551936_494207566261417_6512784727974783321_n.jpg" width="421" /></span></a></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit;"><br /></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-10912830667512400882023-02-22T05:38:00.002-09:002023-05-25T08:53:40.603-08:00Germany<p><span style="background-color: #134f5c; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">I have so much to share with you all, but briefly, we had a plan for our first months in Albania:</span></span></p><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">1. Get our family acclimated to the culture and meet many Christians in Albania</span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">2. Find a language teacher and start lessons</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">3. Find a home in Berat</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">4. Begin residency paperwork</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">5. <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a style="cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span>Teach/help where possible</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">6. Start medically needed and time sensitive orthodontia for Clara</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">7. Find a car before starting our work in Berat</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">I am so grateful to God that I can say that we have done the rest and are working on the last item. We flew to Germany last week to find a car to help us in our work in the much more remote area of Berat. We had several reasons to go to Germany: cheaper cars which are usually well maintained with a paper trail, friends to visit who could receive some items we left in America through APO mail, leaving the country to re-enter it for our residency permit, inexpensive one way tickets, and a little family adventure rolled into one.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">What we didn't know about car buying in Germany could fill a book. This whole experience has felt like a crash course in European car makes and models, German bureaucracy and tax system, banking, and export, and we are still in the very middle of the process, just trying to find the car to fit our lose but specific needs. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">We have been incredibly blessed to have people opening their home to us, feeding us, loaning us their cars, receiving our boxes, keeping our kids, and offering support and advice. This whole endeavor would've been prohibitively expensive without the kindness of brothers and sisters. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Lord willing in the next few days we will transfer money from our bank in the states, withdraw cash, pay for the car of our choosing, take the bill of sale to a registry office to buy temporary plates and insurance, pack up our suitcase, boxes, and needed items purchased in Germany, and drive south through Switzerland and Italy to a port where a ferry will take us to Durrës, Albania, and we can begin the process of navigating THEIR bureaucracy. There are often moments when the whole thing seems totally crazy and we wish some grown-up more experienced than us could come finish this thing we started, but the only way out is through, and each day we see more clearly the path ahead.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"> </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Thank you so much for your encouragement, love, and prayers. Each little message of love from one of you becomes like a cool drink of water on a hot day. Keep us in your prayers. Pray for this car that it can serve God and be a sturdy and reliable car. Pray for us that God will give us discernment and protect us from unscrupulous people or from making difficult and expensive mistakes. Thank you!</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSuF572a2ypo05p-ejll-YtiOhosL2etZyvwfF6BEIWRRiPj-o_M4Wfhh_Wumr3LUemm8-SY9HLz4WQUxk_FOzx4w9_4hyoXOiu4cCEvy5v_BDzooJGG_WNYI2Yg_HZVKUP0zOxyMQq7pjm3UmRkeLPypDK4qu9GqAU_TNIQl_8CGEOtF9IA/s960/330345864_1253366932229086_5998789134713352680_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSuF572a2ypo05p-ejll-YtiOhosL2etZyvwfF6BEIWRRiPj-o_M4Wfhh_Wumr3LUemm8-SY9HLz4WQUxk_FOzx4w9_4hyoXOiu4cCEvy5v_BDzooJGG_WNYI2Yg_HZVKUP0zOxyMQq7pjm3UmRkeLPypDK4qu9GqAU_TNIQl_8CGEOtF9IA/w434-h326/330345864_1253366932229086_5998789134713352680_n.jpg" width="434" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiuVIPZy1qqX488j7rACbhWfpn2unzzooUjcljjiLQZckZGE1depx9SOfvk8pXWRCnepzpNXddrN615x8IuTqtxOSVWBl9Jczu-POq3mUljl83aGjElUqujVQ7QWY99KELic5r6nwHZETNSDzX2n9vMn-axV2kfgKNm5BuEIGqohFDAlKmSg/s2048/332792050_885450556058183_6727875000264136425_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiuVIPZy1qqX488j7rACbhWfpn2unzzooUjcljjiLQZckZGE1depx9SOfvk8pXWRCnepzpNXddrN615x8IuTqtxOSVWBl9Jczu-POq3mUljl83aGjElUqujVQ7QWY99KELic5r6nwHZETNSDzX2n9vMn-axV2kfgKNm5BuEIGqohFDAlKmSg/s320/332792050_885450556058183_6727875000264136425_n.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Uw0Um1XMWMeMdjE5J12vx0THcB1c6Ddj7UANH7TcD1FA-7Fv2597hSOV52wvuD44nIb9rsbQ8AtvfhLMIYXa3Sw_ZG1IELQxdMf-92NvcuJ5n_UNbI6Pt6FV98oBMtLYrVox6lmooq8DcOwGvzwu9HL8apUaWFblfZ57S_2CaxK-Ijbnjw/s2048/332886965_961416458571921_44909856178089116_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Uw0Um1XMWMeMdjE5J12vx0THcB1c6Ddj7UANH7TcD1FA-7Fv2597hSOV52wvuD44nIb9rsbQ8AtvfhLMIYXa3Sw_ZG1IELQxdMf-92NvcuJ5n_UNbI6Pt6FV98oBMtLYrVox6lmooq8DcOwGvzwu9HL8apUaWFblfZ57S_2CaxK-Ijbnjw/s320/332886965_961416458571921_44909856178089116_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqxdmrwSBX2fe8fCrWfksy8R0l4YMpj3ba8E_-PsXD8pToYcU6urf7Gr25br53JAcNJVBGl_YJ1dbBkft7bbxh3uvGxHDCDkP48lqMfgV7cxWjK4lFkkF4dJ4QuorJpfbqJtw_QgDpwLlIJzJO8Q341fUU74D5lrUq2KHGqWhPh0SQVvTFDA/s2048/332875606_588067796516214_4393196441146287715_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqxdmrwSBX2fe8fCrWfksy8R0l4YMpj3ba8E_-PsXD8pToYcU6urf7Gr25br53JAcNJVBGl_YJ1dbBkft7bbxh3uvGxHDCDkP48lqMfgV7cxWjK4lFkkF4dJ4QuorJpfbqJtw_QgDpwLlIJzJO8Q341fUU74D5lrUq2KHGqWhPh0SQVvTFDA/s320/332875606_588067796516214_4393196441146287715_n.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-41614689167108050682023-02-19T06:00:00.002-09:002023-05-25T06:01:32.642-08:00Worship in Germany<p> <span style="color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;">We enjoyed worshiping with the Ramstein Church of Christ this morning. I loved the communion table/baptistry combo. I'm taking notes! The men leading did a beautiful job, and we met so many nice people! Clara and Moseleys are around the corner.</span></p><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="x1n2onr6" id=":r7i8:" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="x1n2onr6" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="x1n2onr6" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="x1n2onr6" style="font-family: inherit; padding-top: 295.056px; position: relative;"><div class="x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x10l6tqk" style="font-family: inherit; inset: calc(0% + 0px) calc(50% + 1.01px) calc(0% + 0px) calc(0% + 0px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute;"><a aria-label="No photo description available." class="x1i10hfl x1qjc9v5 xjbqb8w xjqpnuy xa49m3k xqeqjp1 x2hbi6w x13fuv20 xu3j5b3 x1q0q8m5 x26u7qi x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xdl72j9 x2lah0s xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x2lwn1j xeuugli xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1ja2u2z x1t137rt x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x1q0g3np x87ps6o x1lku1pv x1rg5ohu x1a2a7pz x1ey2m1c xds687c x10l6tqk x17qophe x13vifvy x1pdlv7q" href="https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10159180376941892&set=pcb.10159180376986892&__cft__[0]=AZWAieKi3e51pdP6_9Z3LDc37x9hmqeGYV13Ba00iB8UUQrpQgdqQrCP_e9dS3zv89y8bwszeSAWBei9gEN5JqC_QM4eFZGoJuWuDPpXl9oxBmQO5A-c-psQy6eXLa40p54WpkNU62556Vh6tls6OtNv5m1X-BME6jGe5ip5ZBN4AA&__tn__=*bH-R" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; 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background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-radius: inherit; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-height: 1.3333em; outline: none; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: none; z-index: 1;" tabindex="0"><div class="x9f619 x1ja2u2z xzpqnlu x1hyvwdk xjm9jq1 x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x10l6tqk x1i1rx1s" style="box-sizing: border-box; clip-path: inset(50%); clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); font-family: inherit; height: 1px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; width: 1px; z-index: 0;"><br /></div></div></span></div></div><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 x2lah0s x1qughib x1qjc9v5 xozqiw3 x1q0g3np xykv574 xbmpl8g x4cne27 xifccgj" style="align-items: stretch; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #65676b; display: flex; flex-flow: row nowrap; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; justify-content: space-between; margin: -6px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-41682347171613792912023-02-10T03:04:00.000-09:002023-06-06T06:51:59.972-08:00$1.25<p><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">by James</span></p><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gideon was sad. I was thick in the midst of packing my things, surrounded by half-filled suitcases and piles of mismatched items. I didn't know where they were going to go. What suitcase should they be packed in? What closet would that suitcases be locked in? Where was the final closet in the final home that I was still searching for at the last point of our long dot-to-dot journey to Berat, Albania? Every item I owned could now lie at my feet in a pile and I was anxiously </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a style="cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">placing them next to each other in little rafts in an uncertain stream. And now my son was walking up to me crying.</span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">We waved something in the air. "It isn't here."</span></div><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">"Gideon, use words, my man. I have a lot going on right now. What is missing?"</span></span></p></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">"Everything!" he groaned. "All of it." He held up a wallet with a red and blue fire truck on it. "I have been saving up my whole LIFE and now it is gone."</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">I waited as he opened the Velcro and held the wallet open towards me. It was empty. Somehow, through carelessness or miscalculation or some kind of innocent or malicious robbery, it was all gone.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">"I'm so sorry," I said, and I pulled him into my arms as he sobbed. "It will be okay."</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">"But it took so long to save it all. My whole LIFE!"</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">"I know," I said. "How much was in there?"</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">He whimpered, "A dollar and a quarter."</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">There was a long silence. "A dollar twenty-five? That's what this is about?"</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">"Yes," he said softly. "Maybe fifty cents. I can't remember."</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">I held him out at arm's length and considered him for a moment. "I understand. It is okay to be sad. But, Gideon, it's going to be okay." I said. "I have a dollar fifty you can borrow until you find it."</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">He wiped his eyes and smiled just a tiny bit, but it was a smile of thanks even though the pain and disappointment were still heavy. Then he walked away and I was left looking at my piles of things. Where would I put them? Where was I going? What if I made a big mistake and lost my entire life savings of a dollar and a quarter out of my Velcro firetruck wallet? What if? What then? How could I?</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Somewhere not far away I heard God laugh quietly as he held me to his chest and said quietly, "I understand. It's going to be okay."</span></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-76640103824355388822023-02-10T02:57:00.008-09:002023-05-25T05:32:19.152-08:00Leaving Tirana<p><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"> <span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15px;">I really, really, really hate moving. Everything has to go in a box or bag. Routines are tossed; people are stressed. Everything becomes chaotic and messy. My brain becomes a cage of frantic squirrels while my body goes into slow motion in FREEZE mode. A giant timer ticks over our head for when we have to be gone, and it is all too much.</span></span></p><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><br style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15px;">Add to this we decided to buy one way tickets to Germany in hopes of buying a car which we will either drive through Montenegro or ferry from Italy. We are searching online for possible cars, researching international taxes and laws. Just the logistics of car shopping... but in another country and language... I don't feel grown up enough to tackle this. Surely it's easier to fly to Alaska and drive our car to New York and ship it. </span></span><div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><span class="x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xhhsvwb xat24cr xgzva0m xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od" face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="display: inline-flex; font-size: 15px; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; vertical-align: middle; width: 16px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><span class="x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xhhsvwb xat24cr xgzva0m xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od" face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="display: inline-flex; font-size: 15px; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; vertical-align: middle; width: 16px;"><br /></span><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15px;">Plus, we don't have an agreement on our final home. We have another MONTH of temporary housing when we get to Berat. I will be so happy to settle in our home and hang pictures and buy a plant or two.</span><br style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15px;">Prayers are appreciated: for our sanity and stress levels, for smooth transitions, for wisdom, for the right car to be really obvious, for smooth negotiations with our future landlord, for the work God has prepared for us in Berat, for communication skills and language study, for a smooth residency permit process. God has got us. We see it. We remind ourselves of it. We know He's got plans for us. But it helps to know others are talking to God about us. </span><br style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15px;">(Not our photo, but somewhat similar! )</span></span><div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #fce5cd;"><span face="Segoe UI Historic, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPtYCGL1Yq3venecyK377daHYC5jN194vJFBgC_5LCjRg3G9T1s2H8fXsah1Twke01U4_ww6CMfTDWkw6wbGfAikl7ySpR55ENib6AExtN0N8Q5ImQF_GnSS2pgTZFdnyXmseauObTCxw4DPotvR__S0a05OoLtiM5URHNthF_i5nIiylI0w/s960/330342213_922244812239008_7768153420911957896_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPtYCGL1Yq3venecyK377daHYC5jN194vJFBgC_5LCjRg3G9T1s2H8fXsah1Twke01U4_ww6CMfTDWkw6wbGfAikl7ySpR55ENib6AExtN0N8Q5ImQF_GnSS2pgTZFdnyXmseauObTCxw4DPotvR__S0a05OoLtiM5URHNthF_i5nIiylI0w/s320/330342213_922244812239008_7768153420911957896_n.jpg" width="213" /></a></div></span></span></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-49003838353316666582023-01-21T10:24:00.001-09:002023-06-06T10:27:05.632-08:00Strangeness<p><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"> by James</span></p><div class="" dir="auto"><div class="x1iorvi4 x1pi30zi x1l90r2v x1swvt13" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id=":r3b4:" style="padding: 4px 16px 16px;"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u x1yc453h" dir="auto" style="display: block; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Clara had a palate expander installed this week. It was an uncomfortable experience for her, but she was very brave and very kind to the strange Albanians that chattered away in a strange language as they reached their hands into her mouth and did strange things that she didn't understand and didn't want to have happen.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">I went with her today in the rain so they could spend 30 seconds showing me how to use the key to adjust her mouth every night. I was overcharged for a taxi by a driver that laughed at me as he took my money. Clara was uncomfortable and unhappy, so as a treat to both of us we went for lunch at a Chinese food restaurant.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">The lights and heat were off inside and the owner was frantically trying to get them to come back on but he assured us that the kitchen was still open. So, we sat together in the dark, wearing coats, watching the rain fall outside the window.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">An Asian family came in behind us and the owner apologized and shooed them away. "Our cook has the day off today, because of Chinese New Year," he said. And they sadly left. I can only assume they were regular customers and he knew they wanted an authentic experience. We on the other hand are most relaxed when things are as strange as possible. Confusion has become a state of "home" for us. If we know what is happening, we tend to feel a bit lost and uneasy. "Something must be wrong, why do I understand what is happening?" and we start watching for the nonsense to ambush us. It is much more peaceful to face the nonsense head-on, grapple it by the shoulder, look it in the eyes, swim in it like an ocean.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">So, we shared a large bowl of lo-mein noodle soup (which they call "macaroni") and an order of wontons (which they call "Tortellini") and we talked about life and how weird it is and wonderful it is to experience weird, to rest your head on Weird like a pillow and to sleep on Weird like a couch and to watch Weird like your favorite TV show.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">While we were discussing these things, this song came on the stereo, which thankfully was the one thing in the room that still had power.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">And it felt right. It felt real. It felt normal. It felt weird.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-family: Segoe UI Historic, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V6vvm0WIHI</span></span></div></div></span></div></div></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-68202845581054972332022-12-31T14:30:00.002-09:002023-06-01T03:25:02.747-08:00It's 2023!<p><span style="background-color: #45818e; color: #f9cb9c;">by Andrea</span></p><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #45818e; color: #f9cb9c;">Well, it's 2023 here, and it's beautiful. It's full of life and light and love. I've heard a lot of people say that 2022 was hard for them and</span><span style="background-color: #45818e; color: #f9cb9c; font-family: inherit;">. Yep. Me too. So much pain, grief, loss of loved ones, loss of loved places, loss of dreams, and drastic, rug yanking changes. The wounds are still healing.</span><span style="background-color: #45818e; color: #f9cb9c;"><span class="x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xhhsvwb xat24cr xgzva0m xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od" style="display: inline-flex; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; vertical-align: middle; width: 16px;"><br /></span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #45818e; color: #f9cb9c;">As I watched the sky lit up in all directions with fireworks over Tirana after the clock tower ticked down to midnight, my heart just had one prayer, "God, you hold 2023." <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a style="cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span>It's reassuring to know, He's already been there, and He's holding our hands as we step into it.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #45818e; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdKRCMudFcq1sCQl7Ru7FlubTViMUkbGeDvkziHa231Qbt20b8n7taaaaePV_GC8pZl-loBju1runn5iB9sUevgqPwXySB2_QV7XjlBhx5LjGw-cXT8niYRZIxR4VypM3F19JXNq_aGjNnCEKMGqMnwx6TJ-JRNohbERiIlM33P89zRdPDrQ/s960/322552923_881263939581937_7596822602381020200_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #45818e; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdKRCMudFcq1sCQl7Ru7FlubTViMUkbGeDvkziHa231Qbt20b8n7taaaaePV_GC8pZl-loBju1runn5iB9sUevgqPwXySB2_QV7XjlBhx5LjGw-cXT8niYRZIxR4VypM3F19JXNq_aGjNnCEKMGqMnwx6TJ-JRNohbERiIlM33P89zRdPDrQ/s320/322552923_881263939581937_7596822602381020200_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: #45818e; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-79051516576729358972022-12-01T09:39:00.007-09:002023-01-22T12:55:07.358-09:00<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hello Friends, just a quick update. </span></span></p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c; font-family: inherit;">
We are well. It's exciting to see our bodies getting stronger and acclimating to our new life here. The weather took a dramatic turn for the colder (Between 30-50 degrees F), even I can't fool myself into wearing sandals and short sleeves anymore. 😄 Laundry is becoming a bit of an issue. Our clothes are not drying quickly on our balcony anymore and we have had to bring a lot of things in and drape them on our chairs by the heaters. With our tiny washer and the length of time it takes for things to dry, we are getting a bit behind. Oh well, all part of the learning curve.
With Thanksgiving and then then Albanian Independence Day, the holidays are beginning. We made a family game of pointing out holiday decorations to each other. Santa Claus is a lot thinner here and his coat goes to the ground, but he's wearing red and white. I'll learn his name soon.
We have found a language teacher who will be working with us and then Lydia and Gideon in a separate child focused class. I'm excited to take a deep dive into understanding this unique language. It'll be good to get beyond Good Morning and Good Bye and avoid that deer in the headlights feeling when well meaning people turn and address me in ordinary Albanian ("Do you need a bag?" "Can I help you?" "What color do you want?"). I laugh at myself staring at receipts and I couldn't even tell you what KIND of shop they are from, let alone what is on them. It's coming, little by little. There are just much fewer signposts of familiar words than I thought there would be knowing Russian and English. Lord willing, I WILL be able to communicate with these lovely people in their own language!
But now for the big adventure: tomorrow we are renting a car to drive to Berat to spend a few days with the Christians there. We are so excited. The drive itself will be quite a step of courage for poor James. And then we get to introduce our children to where we are going to be moving and the people there. Prayers are appreciated for the whole endeavor!
God bless you! Zoti ju bekoftë!</span></span><div><span style="background-color: #f0f2f5; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #f0f2f5; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvcjXHanKyevLDYs7e1eQw4uQnCkA6NN8oSZRM4pc0yXShNAjlGZLUbquZeFOeKNEV-RrUk24tC70NFYhdo2X7dTRt0AX3dZKCNDTKL0cOfQcror1xXCBfv5fEgzc8HBDajSyZrtqyKAARXqpMEEUqXh86F1UpG37LYuMdQARhBeQANer5-Q/s1080/317093753_10159028850056892_8294377364752869947_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="778" data-original-width="1080" height="351" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvcjXHanKyevLDYs7e1eQw4uQnCkA6NN8oSZRM4pc0yXShNAjlGZLUbquZeFOeKNEV-RrUk24tC70NFYhdo2X7dTRt0AX3dZKCNDTKL0cOfQcror1xXCBfv5fEgzc8HBDajSyZrtqyKAARXqpMEEUqXh86F1UpG37LYuMdQARhBeQANer5-Q/w486-h351/317093753_10159028850056892_8294377364752869947_n.jpg" width="486" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-33338729517923529732022-11-03T10:43:00.012-08:002023-01-22T13:01:17.630-09:00<p><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c; font-family: inherit;"> <span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Friends, I'm happy to announce that our family has found an apartment in Tirana. We signed a 3 month lease today and moved in an hour later. We discovered that places don't rent for less than 12 months at a time, so we had to get creative, but praise God, we have a place to unpack our bags. Thank you for your prayers. </span></span></p><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c; font-family: inherit;">(Saw this pizza pace when walking in a new part of the city today. It cracked us up!)</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUM3dslAlRkmEPmc6sNC8MpTasvZ1p9EwBfBKRCJk3JJO3qF4YbwBnyw00xsQhA2dMABYQDFe0wS5bzU6IzTI-PRHmfQr9ur9eqK1RnOIfjMCZllrqM2YSh9swr23UWUG1K0tnxmCROB_TBMtP869VlrvoLsN2NphzULNoxCnLjCldRn4ixw/s960/313291516_10158934988481892_4585139795003389406_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="775" height="628" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUM3dslAlRkmEPmc6sNC8MpTasvZ1p9EwBfBKRCJk3JJO3qF4YbwBnyw00xsQhA2dMABYQDFe0wS5bzU6IzTI-PRHmfQr9ur9eqK1RnOIfjMCZllrqM2YSh9swr23UWUG1K0tnxmCROB_TBMtP869VlrvoLsN2NphzULNoxCnLjCldRn4ixw/w506-h628/313291516_10158934988481892_4585139795003389406_n.jpg" width="506" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-30531665783357419062022-10-28T09:24:00.020-08:002023-01-22T13:00:30.094-09:00<p><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c; font-family: inherit;"> <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span>We are in Albania! I've been dying to make this post and bring you all up to speed. We've been jetlagged, euphoric, exhausted, curious, in survival mode, all at the same time. We forgot to explain jetlag to the kids and that first night was a bit of a jumble. Just when James and I had convinced ourselves to go back to sleep, another confused child would wander in wondering why they couldn't sleep (Gideon thought there was something wrong with the house).</span></span></span></p><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c; font-family: inherit;"> We've all had to <a style="cursor: pointer;" tabindex="-1"></a>relearn how to unlock a door, turn on a light, clean dishes, wash and dry clothes, shop for food, and pay for things. The city of Tirana is vibrant and busy, but where do you go to buy a plug adapter, a pair of scissors, or hydrogen peroxide? Sometimes it is the most exciting of adventures. Sometimes your feet hurt and you want to just go back "home." Sometimes you find some kiwi flavored gelato for 60 Leke (About 50 cents) on the way and your adventurers gain some sweet rewards.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c; font-family: inherit;">Speaking of "Home", it was absolutely wonderful to be scooped up by some familiar Christians faces when we arrived sweaty with relaying 11 suitcases back and forth across the huge baggage claim on the Albania side of customs. There was Wayne Speer desperately trying to meet us with some coins for the baggage carts and Brenda Speer with welcome gifts for each child (Lydia was ecstatic to learn that Albania comes built in with American grandparents). </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c; font-family: inherit;">We have a delightful little BnB in the same building that the Speers live in. It has (drumroll please) TWO bathrooms. The kids each have a bed in their shared bedroom. Tonight James cooked our first dinner at home. Restaurants are delicious and inexpensive, but nothing beats homemade. This morning the kids went downstairs and bought fresh bread for breakfast, and this evening, they went out again when I realized we were low on potable water. We all have Albanian cell phone numbers now and Clara called me twice on the water fetching expedition. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c; font-family: inherit;">We have this BnB until next Thursday, when we will need to go someplace else. There are some complications with the temporary housing we thought we had available, I am trying not to worry about only having 5 days to solve this problem. I’m doing a lot of praying that the right solution will come together. I would ideally LOVE to settle into an apartment where we can unpack, regroup, purchase items we need for our homeschool and kitchen, celebrate Christmas, learn Albanian, work with WEI and the church here, etc. before we head off for our next more permanent adventure in Berat, but maybe God doesn’t want us to get too comfortable in this nice big city loaded with conveniences. Maybe he wants us apartment hopping until we find our home in Berat. Who knows, but we are praying.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c; font-family: inherit;">I’m looking forward to tomorrow. The youth are throwing an event to welcome our kids, and I’m excited to worship God with our kids in our new language on Sunday and become better acquainted with our brothers and sisters here.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size: 15px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFmH9lvGlXIGmjSqOhHp9VFxqN-Rgqnj0fRaXqfZOcgEreU1SiD8jAdF6jZPtjKhlRQFRj_pV8pOGN7kSH6-TAMQha8Xv7Fyemo-Tmgn2IDBK_9g3t0QbIHp-J8f0xyRfJ2upmAa2rwtbK_PZPSch77AzLo1mzGCuOHJo7SAYFCxTGDXD2wg/s1498/IMG_0741.jpg" style="background-color: #134f5c; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="843" data-original-width="1498" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFmH9lvGlXIGmjSqOhHp9VFxqN-Rgqnj0fRaXqfZOcgEreU1SiD8jAdF6jZPtjKhlRQFRj_pV8pOGN7kSH6-TAMQha8Xv7Fyemo-Tmgn2IDBK_9g3t0QbIHp-J8f0xyRfJ2upmAa2rwtbK_PZPSch77AzLo1mzGCuOHJo7SAYFCxTGDXD2wg/w496-h279/IMG_0741.jpg" width="496" /></span></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29871185.post-85178431464214424652022-10-20T03:43:00.001-08:002023-06-01T03:52:19.885-08:00Leaving<p><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"> by Andrea</span></p><div class="xyamay9 x1pi30zi xsag5q8 x1swvt13" style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding: 16px 16px 12px;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="xyinxu5 x4uap5 x1g2khh7 xkhd6sd" style="font-family: inherit; padding: 14px 0px;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" dir="auto" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">"Two things I ask of you, Lord;<br />do not refuse me before I die:<br />Keep falsehood and lies far from me;<br />give me neither poverty nor riches,<br />but give me only my daily bread.<br />Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you<br />and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’<br />Or I may become poor and steal,<br />and so dishonor the name of my God."<br />Proverbs 30:7-9</span></span><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" dir="auto" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /><br />I woke with this verse in my head. Eleven suitcases sounds like a lot: a gluttonous amount of stuff to begin a life with. Even though I saw the pile of “stuff I want to take to Albania” growing in my dining room, there was just no way for me to comprehend how small 50lbs is. When it came time to put the carefully curated piled of items into the suitcases, there was too much stuff and not enough suitcase. We even decided to pay for an extra suitcase, but so many things were left behind. In the exhausted final chaos of weighing bags and taking things out and putting them in, I barely know what made it into our bags and what was left behind. My compassionate family offered to send many items in boxes to follow us later. I was desperately trying to make sure no one lost their most beloved items and that the items we truly needed for life made it inside. I had planned in this interim in Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma to find needed shoes and replacement clothes for our growing children, but with all 11 suitcases hovering between 45-50lbs, I’m not sure we can do much.</span></span><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" dir="auto" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /><br />The whole process was ugly and made my already raw heart feel like it was being wrung out. I never imagined a giant timer ticking over my head while my exhausted body and dazed mind tried to stuff favorite things into already full suitcases. Wait... I have lived this scenario out before … in my nightmares. Going to bed at two AM the night before we flew out, my mind screamed at me to get up and get back at it, while my physical body begged for rest. I jerked awake every 15 minutes praying to God for the release of sleep. At one point I realized joyfully that I could finally apply Philippians 4:13 in context:<br /><br /></span></span><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" dir="auto" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></span><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" dir="auto" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:11-13<br /><br /></span></span><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" dir="auto" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></span><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" dir="auto" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">While still far, far from actual “want” or “hunger,” I can learn to be content in ALL circumstances. My children can learn to be content in all circumstances. It’s going to be okay. God has us.<br /><br /><br /></span></span><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" dir="auto" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">Since flying out, I’ve tried to process the wrenching away of nearly everything I own at once. Sometimes it comes with a jolt waking me up: Oh no, I left a load of clothes in the dryer! Sometimes it’s a quiet sigh: I don’t think we brought enough cold weather clothing for James. Sometimes it’s a revelation. Standing and looking into my friend’s pristine microwave I think, Wow, I should really clean my microwave, and then I think, Wait, I don’t own a microwave anymore.<br /><br /><br /></span></span><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" dir="auto" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">I’m looking forward to the aha moment. I’m looking forward to the feeling of relief that the albatross of our home, the quirky kitchen facet that never got hot on the first turn, the bathroom door that stuck, the myriad stains or scuffs or marks are not my responsibility anymore. The piles and piles of stuff that accumulated constantly no matter how diligently I tackled them: yarn and stamps and fabric, kinder egg toys and Lego and tiny useless shoes to unknown dolls, diet food and food that James bought randomly and food without dates at the bottom of our freezer for too long, art supplies and 5th grade science books and thousands of children’s paperbacks, my favorite far too worn out skirts and fuzzy slippers and lounging clothes, tinctures for stuffy noses and supplements for bladder issues and oils for stress, tools for fixing flat tires and paint brushes for touching up the walls and garden hoses for watering the yard. It’s all gone. Sometimes we were able to match an item up to the perfect person and see their eyes light up with gratitude and we felt warm and fuzzy inside to be able to give a gift of love to someone. Sometimes the gift was not received with the heart it was intended, and we felt the hollowness of it. Sometimes people looked at the stuff scattered around for how it might benefit them, and we had to avert our eyes and mumble, “…(They) joyfully accepted the plundering of their property (Heb 10:34)” it was necessary and important to let it go, but sometimes it felt like volunteering to be pillaged.<br /><br /><br /></span></span><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" dir="auto" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;">We frequently reminded each other of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who did not have the luxury of choosing what happened to their most precious items. I reminded myself of the countless dark nights I had begged God to give us a different path than the one where I sat depressed in my home waiting for my overworked and abused husband to come home very late and defeated from a thankless job. And now here we were on the precipice of a new life where we got to live and work as a family for God’s kingdom in a beautiful country full of new friends and fresh food and sunshine, but the only way there was through the fire of surrender. So we got up each day and surrendered, over and over and over again. Now here we are in limbo, between homes, and it is a time of reflection, of healing. I still feel raw. I still feel like I have let my children and husband down by not doing my job “perfectly.” I still wonder what it is that I will wish so much that I had not surrendered. I KNOW there are things I will laugh at myself for keeping (yes, we have boxes we kept in Alaska). We went from carefully counting and labeling and documenting boxes to throwing random things into containers, and I have very little idea what was actually left behind. I hope at some point I can look back at this Andrea and say, “Aw, she did her best, and she made her sacrifice to the Lord and He honored it.” I have asked the amazing friends and family who stayed behind to deal with what was left to take pictures of the rooms once they are completely empty just so my brain can begin to let go of any feeling like it was all still there waiting on me. And I pray that I never accumulate so much again! </span></span><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" dir="auto" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></span><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" dir="auto" style="display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZhPtLrgYhP9HSgfjNJaA6mUvf253scDCCFCpCCGNYgaPrPnwaoRR0_GM8_i5baLZlQ1dPH-JKEmTeNXu_mbMspdng_2Ce9mFGGwCoO0hW5U4zEg74Mg85I7IKz_B75P4Ku0NfMxc9DONCvOLZnFE3_9a8QdftfWlzfHr1-hC8PyuynSPSw/s750/312417153_10158889357061892_1684999736513544732_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="600" height="463" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZhPtLrgYhP9HSgfjNJaA6mUvf253scDCCFCpCCGNYgaPrPnwaoRR0_GM8_i5baLZlQ1dPH-JKEmTeNXu_mbMspdng_2Ce9mFGGwCoO0hW5U4zEg74Mg85I7IKz_B75P4Ku0NfMxc9DONCvOLZnFE3_9a8QdftfWlzfHr1-hC8PyuynSPSw/w371-h463/312417153_10158889357061892_1684999736513544732_n.jpg" width="371" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: #134f5c; color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" dir="auto" style="color: var(--primary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><br /></span></div></div></div>James & Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749456330682609832noreply@blogger.com0