Hello Friends, just a quick update.

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!