lydia broke her nose!  she and luke were running around some store racks and ran into one another last week.  her glasses pushed into her face, breaking her nose and bruising her up.  after seeing the x-ray, the doctor said there wasn't anything to do--but that it would take 6-8 weeks for it to heal up.

luke has been able to join a church soccer team--a gracious answer to prayer.  luke is able to attend most practices & games, and the league is flexible enough to not mind when he can't come. (in our small town on the mission field, he fell in love with soccer, but there were no organized teams/leagues until high school level.) 

he was so pumped about his first "real" game today that he charged out and scored the first 2 goals for his team.  he is absolutely thrilled.  

luke at a soccer practice, wearing his official "milano" club soccer costume. he bought the costume with his own money in milan a few weeks before the club won the european championships.

here is lydia doing her first week's science experiment.  she's studying potential energy, but doesn't know it (yet).  i like having her do the experiments before reading the text to raise questions in her mind.

luke and lydia working on their first day of school at aunt sarah and uncle tony's house in louisiana. 

tonight we're off to a church service where mark will be sharing about our ministry. 

just returned from alban#a and another wedding.  what a privilege to see God raising up Christian families here.  it's just a trickle, but it's so awesome. 

we're packing for a year of deputation in the US.  we'll be based in AL, but with lots of road time, including both coasts and a bit in the midwest, besides extensively visiting our main support base in La & Ms.  (we're supposed to shoot for 11 services/month).  we've lived here for 4 years, in this small musl#m town, and now we're packing it all up, not to return longterm.  we'll be in the air june 1, and then traveling to visit family (while we start itinerating).  we've got our first service scheduled a week after we hit the ground. 

i always find myself anxious and penniless during major transitions such as this one.  (this is our 4th itineration cycle, so i can kinda recognize a bit of a pattern).  having finished the beth moore bible study in the sidebar: A Woman's Heart, God's Dwelling Place, with a mish girlfriend, i felt like God impressed on me the levitical promise from numbers 18:20,

"...You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I [the Lord] am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites." (NIV)

i really like the NAS, "...I am your portion and your inheritance..." so i have taken to saying that regularly, as a prayer, whenever anxious thoughts start cluttering my mind:  "LORD, You are my portion and my inheritance!!!" what kind of shares/security/investments could be better than that???

i did super on that for about 2 weeks, then i became anxious again.  so, i made a list of all the things we would need when we get to the US and even guessed at prices. prayed over it and it came to several 1,000 dollars.  (that's without the big ticket items like a car and computer.) well, i already have had to buy a couple things from the list, and guess what?  the money has been returned to me.  for example, i needed glasses and decided to shop for some here to try to save money.  the same day, i sold some used things in my house for the same amount of money.  i didn't realize until afterwards it was the same amount. same thing happened again for stuff i had to buy for our wedding trip. so, i've decided to keep my list of things i need as a "faith" list to see how God is going to provide.  He is so good, isn't He? 

You are a very sweet joy in our home, Lydia!  I love you and hope you have a wonderful 11th birthday and year. 

Lydia's a super reader, a great crepe maker, a friend to many, a trooper of a mish, a curious scientist, an animal lover, and my sweet CUTIE!  Love, Mom

congrats, again, to Mark for another photo that was selected for flickr's most interesting. it's titled "resurrection day". he's really jammin' with his new camera!  in the sidebar is a link to his photo site on flickr. 

Mom sent me this and it sounds cool.  I think I'll try it.  NOTE: Needs to be prepared and put in the oven Saturday pm. 

RESURRECTION COOKIES

 1 Cup Pecans

 1 Tsp. Vinegar

 3 egg whites

 1 pinch salt

 1 Cup Sugar

 Ziploc baggies

 Wooden spoon

 tape

 Bible

 Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Place pecans in Ziploc baggie and let children beat them with the   wooden spoon to break into small pieces.

 Explain that after Jesus was arrested he was beaten by the Roman Soldiers.

 Read John 19:1-3

 Let each child smell the vinegar.  Put 1 tsp. vinegar into mixing bowl.

 Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross he was given vinegar to drink.  Read John 19:28-30

 Add egg whites to vinegar.  Eggs represent life.

 Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life.  Read John 10:10-11

 Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand.  Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl.

 Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers and the bitterness of our own sin.  Read Luke 23:27

 So far the ingredients are not very appetizing.

 Add 1 Cup Sugar

 Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us.  He wants us to know and belong to Him.  Read Ps 34:8 and John 3:16

 Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.

 Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.  Read Isa. 1:18 & John 3:1-3.

 Fold in broken nuts.  Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheet.

 Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.  Read Matt. 27:57-60.

 Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF.

 Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door.  Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed.  Read Matt. 27:65-66

 GO TO BED!!  Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in  the oven  overnight.  Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.  Read John 16:20 & 22

 On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie.  Notice the cracked surface and take a bite.  The cookies are Hollow!  On the first Easter Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.  Read Matt. 28:1-9.  HE HAS RISEN

this is the family at a thai restaurant in the capital last tue.  mark had just gotten his new camera for his birthday and i played with it here.  as you can see, i didn't do too well trying to compensate for the backlighting in this photo.  the shots below, of the kids, turned out much better because i put the camera on auto!  ha, ha!  i love intelligent cameras! 

it's so rare to get a serious photo of luke--usually it's one of those huge, fake smiles that children often do for a camera.  below is my sweetie, lydia.

earlier this month, my husband left to teach a Bible school class in albania for 2 weeks.  when protests were scheduled in response to the final status agreements for our area (see entry below "final status explained"), the kids and i were advised to stay out of sight and hole up for the weekend.  we decided to go ahead and leave the country, mostly because we were not looking forward to a boring weekend at home!  10 yo dd, lydia, had 2 sleepovers cancelled as well as a co-op valentine's party.    

without mark at home, it was all a little much.  we had a nice weekend in the nearby country, going to a huge indoor playland and 2 friends' houses. altogether, it was a good, but very long 2 weeks for me.  fortunately, the protests that happened were of limited scope because the major political parties here told their people to stay off the street.  one relatively small, radical group went out and attacked the parliament building.  our small town was completely quiet.

i read you on a diet, which i borrowed from a friend in skopje.  it motivated me to try to eat better because it describes in detail all the horrible things that happen in your body from fat and poor eating.  i've been starting school later in the morning for a week to allow time for exercising 30-45 min, and then showering, most mornings.  i had to give myself permission for that. since i'm naturally a morning person, i was already getting up early to do devotions, but i previously couldn't manage to do lengthy devotional studies, exercise, and start school early, too.  exercise was always put aside as the lowest of the 3 priorities.  i don't want to go to bed any earlier, either. 

well, the school day has felt much more interrupted and crazy with pushing it back by an hour or so, but we did get it done.  somehow, i've got to find the balance.  the good news is (1) the exercise has felt really great and i'm motivated to make it work and (2) hubby, who has a VERY high CVD risk, has been cutting back and eating salads every day for lunch besides doing some exercise several times this week! this is the man who loves to say salads are "rabbit food".  

whenever we're out of the country, like next week in hungary, it's so easy to go into "treat" mode because there is so much more yummy food choices available.  i'm already trying to prep myself for no ice cream and such when the kids get it.  both my kids are on the extreme side of slim, so I have to try to help them make fairly different food choices than i do.

girlfriend, lisa, this if for you.  these photos are all from last fri, before hubby took off with the (only) camera. this coming fri, judy's planning a v day party.  i'll get the kids to do v's cards tomorrow. 

above:  even johnny got in on the "evapu-art" project.  here he decided that lydia was way overdue in passing the watercolors.  below:  david intently studies where the water on the outside of the icy cup came from.

above: Raema figures out that without much air around the cup, there's no condensation.

below: i read about 'The Marketplace Dog' in The James Herriot Treasury for Children. here the kids pretended to be the begging dog.  we also watched 'Sound of Music' together, which your kids took home to enjoy again.

my flickr photos (taken by hubby)

i keep hearing news of these horrific storms in the US.  unbelievably, we are still having mild weather with a good deal of sunshine.  snow hasn't hardly stuck since an early 1/2" of it in october.  it's completely unprecedented for my 10 yrs in the balkans for it to be this warm for this long in winter.  i love it.  (just a warning:  if some sneaky person is praying that i'll have nice weather-- well, the ski resorts in europe want your head. )  i just posted last year's photo above to PROVE that we have had our share of snow in the past.  we can't blame the super mild winter on global warming, since last winter was unusually cold.  hope everybody out there has power and is staying warm!   

my advice when you are very down on winter, from long experience, is to go get another cup of homemade hot chocolate!  my kids regularly expect my specialty:  milk warmed in a mug in the microwave*,  grated chocolate (not cocoa) generously heaped in, a little sugar, whipped cream slathered on in a big circle and chocolate syrup drizzled on top. i'll poke in a cinnamon stick on the side if i have it.  the only thing better to me is the nestle abuela tablets for hot chocolate that are so fragrant with cinnamon. i've only seen them for sale in the southwest u.s. and mexico.  ((sigh)) i'll enjoy those next winter when we're back there. 

*or a pot on the wood stove when there's no power; i prefer to do it seperately in mugs because i use skim milk for me and whole milk for the kids.