Getting Settled!

We have almost hit the 2 week mark in our flat and thought we might reward the curious with some photos! These are just some "before" photos that were on the ad from the real estate agent. I'm waiting to post "after" photos until I feel a little more settled in. We have most of our large pieces of furniture in place except for a dining room table and chairs. We may wait to buy them and see if we can find a deal at the annual garage sale hosted by the International Christian School of Budapest out in Diosd. There is nothing yet hung on the walls, but there is a rug in the living room! I am taking full advantage of Pinterest to come up with frugal ways to creatively decorate the walls.

Toilet paper may be involved ;)

Anyway, you will have to wait until there is a little more color and it feels more homey to see pictures. I have to say, I am really loving the way things are turning out. Our landlord has been wonderfully helpful and understanding.

The floorplan. If you want to know what things are, I recommend Google Translate ;)

Our private front porch.

Standing in the Dining Room looking through the front hall and out to the private front porch.
The bathroom door is on the left.

Standing in the living room looking at the dining room and through to the front hall
Bedroom doors are on the left side.

Standing in the dining room looking into the living room.

Our bedroom

Our kitchen

Thank you so much to everyone that sent me birthday wishes! It was so encouraging to read all your thoughts and prayers for us. My birthday was so wonderful and all of you played such a huge part in that. Ben served me blueberry pancakes in bed (we didn't have any syrup, but they were so good they didn't need it!) and then we took the tram to one of the Christmas markets.

The tram we took to the market.
We love the trams!!!

Ben bought me a necklace and earrings for my birthday. We also bought 4 earthenware mugs. They are so beautiful and colorful it makes me happy just to drink out of them! My last gift was a beautiful copper-colored journal for me to chronicle my thoughts and feelings about this 2-year adventure.

One of the stalls at the Christmas market.

It was fun to run into not one, but two sets of friends while out and about! I find my head quickly snapping around when I hear someone speaking English here. I'm always eager to see if we know them and that day we knew them both! The first were fellow team-members who teach at ICSB and the other was our team-leader and his family. I received warm birthday wishes from all of them!

The afternoon was spent on Skype or on the phone with various family members. The evening was spent at a wonderful dinner with my sweet husband.

A week and a half ago we got the pleasure of attending the last meeting of one of the Alpha Courses in Budapest. Ben was able to play cajon and egg-shakers while our team-mate John Wilson played guitar and led worship. While there we met a number of Hungarians including one photographer! In our making conversation we mentioned that we did not have much with which to decorate our tree. I had brought some antique snowflakes that were made by my great-grandmother and some Christmas lights. One couple there that night heard that and God laid it on their hearts to give us some new ornaments they had bought for their tree this year. Ben and I were incredibly moved by the gesture and are pleased to have them adorning our tree. It's times like that when we cannot help but feel the love of God personified in the Body. This young couple simultaneously welcomed us and cheered our hearts!

One of our beautiful new ornaments from our friends.

A snowflake made by my great-grandmother.

 Christmas Day itself was spent at our team-leader's (Steve) house. We partook of a 35- pound turkey that LITERALLY took up the ENTIRE oven! I don't know how poor Martha (Steve's wife) got the turkey into the oven, but she did say she was terrified she was going to drop it on the oven door and break the oven. Ovens in Europe are smaller than the US and the turkey sat on the bottom of the oven with a piece of tinfoil on the top to protect it from the heating element. It turned out tasty though!

The 35-pound Tom

I made the Naylor family Christmas tea-ring the day before and we enjoyed that as an afternoon snack before the big dinner. Ben was incredibly patient and didn't even sneak a piece (even though I know he really wanted to ;).

Tea Ring is basically a ring of cinnamon rolls.

Thank you all for following our blog and keeping us in your prayers. I love to share our adventures with you and hope you enjoy them!

Merry Belated Christmas and Happy New Year!