Photo Dump

Today's post is a a photo dump. Basically, lots of photos that didn't have their own posts, but I still think you might enjoy them. I'll put short captions under them so you have some idea what they are!

Our living room! There are new pillows now, but it was so beautiful with the sun I had to take a photo.

The view from our little guest room/ office. There is a fold-out bed. You should come visit!

New Year's Eve from our bedroom balcony.

Snow! And a shot of the tram that runs out front.

Sunrise from our living room window.

Freedom Bridge

I love this man VERY much!

Ben playing percussion at the New Year's Eve service at a church

Me and Krystal when she came to visit last week.

An amazing surprise when I opened the bag of frozen creamed spinach! All the chunks were heart-shaped!

Teaching a chocolate chip cookie making class to two ladies from our language class.

We made 3 batches and they were delicious!

Tabea is a student from Germany and had to go back as soon as class ended :(

Oana is Romanian and married to a Hungarian. I'm looking forward to getting to know her more!

I hope that satisfies any photo cravings you might be having!

Green Chiles and Corn Tortillas

Anyone who has known Ben for 5 seconds, knows what is his favorite food.

Take a second.

Think about it.

You know you know.

Where was the boy born?

Yes, his favorite food is Tex-Mex.

I enjoy Tex-Mex, but I don't LOVE it the way Ben does. However, I must confess I do miss it here. There are a couple of Freebirds-type Mexican restaurants in the area, but it's not quite the same.

We are hosting a Tex-Mex party for our fellow team-members in a week and I am determined to be as authentic as possible. To make food so good that Ben does not miss Avila's in Dallas.

I am white. VERY white. I have no natural rhythm to speak of and my forays into ethnic cooking have, at times, gone awry. I refuse to try making curry ever again (a fact which I have not told Ben for fear of crushing him because he loves Indian food too), because my last 2 attempts have resulted in inedible yellowish mush.

However, I'm hoping that 10 years in Texas will have rubbed off at least a little bit. My hope stems purely from the fact that I once had a student tell me, "Miss, you're not white, you're Mexican!" I'm really not sure where that comment came from, but strengthens me to attempt:

Enchiladas!

In Texas, you go to the store, buy corn tortillas and enchilada sauce, and it is a relatively easy recipe to throw together. In Budapest, there is no enchilada sauce, cheddar cheese is outrageously expensive, you can find corn tortillas at only one store, and there are NO green chiles. After writing this post, I have a faint hope that one of our teammates will read this and say, "Oh! They have green chiles EVERYWHERE! You just have to ask for, 'such and such.'"

My enchilada making journey begins here: corn tortillas.

Corn tortillas essentially consist of masa harina, salt, and water. Easy, right? The recipe, yes. The equipment, no. It was cheaper to buy a tortilla maker from Amazon Germany than to buy a cast iron skillet. So we did.

It arrived in the mail today and I excitedly got to work. First thing I realized, the instructions are in German! So, Ben sat down and used Google to help translate while I mixed up the dough. In the end, trial-and-error worked better than trying to translate the German directions. The first few tortillas looked like they exploded, the next was only half exploded, and the last 2 turned out perfectly! However, I forgot to cover them with a towel, so we ended up with some very tasty tortilla CHIPS!

I am encouraged and intend to make many more of my own tortillas! The next thing to try will be the enchilada sauce.

After almost 2 months here, I am feeling a lot braver than I ever have in my entire life. It is necessary. We finished a 3-week intensive language course yesterday and had our class over for a party. I wanted to make some Texan food and one of my favorites is country style ribs.

Getting unique cuts of meat is different here than in the States. Some things like chicken breasts and ground meat are in a reach in cooler that you can get for yourself. Ribs are not. You have to ask for those. So I armed myself with some basic animal anatomy and went to the old covered market on the Pest side of the city. I proceeded to wander until I found a booth that looked to have what I wanted and a butcher with a good disposition. It went like this (in Hungarian):

Me: Good day! I speak very little Hungarian.
Butcher: You don't speak Hungarian. What do you speak?
Me: English.
Butcher: Oh, no I don't speak English.
Me: (In my head) Crap.

What followed involved my limited Hungarian, a lot of pantomiming, and showing the guy pictures on my cell phone of the part of the animal I wanted (the ribs were not difficult to describe, but the chuck roast was challenging). There was also a lot of laughing and him incredulously asking why on earth I wanted 6 kilos (13 lbs) of ribs!

A few minutes later, I had what I wanted and began the trek home carrying 8 kilos of meat. It felt really good to have been able to do that.

The party last night was amazing! We had a wonderful group of people and the diversity of language was phenomenal. German, English, Korean, and Hungarian were all spoken last night. Everyone had a great time, ate a lot, and laughed even more. By the end of the evening, my heart was full of joy and singing the praises of the the One that sent us here.

I'm hoping to post pictures a little later, but I had to write something because I feel I have shortchanged you all in failing to write for a month.

My best friend arrives today! This is our first trip out to the airport on our own!

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!

Our First Day

We have arrived!

Our plane landed a little early last night, just after 5PM GMT+1 (that means 10AM CST), we breezed through customs and got ALL 9 bags we checked just fine.  One of them had been opened and inspected but we're pretty sure nothing was taken.  Megan had typed up an inventory of everything that went into each bag and we have a hard copy of that.  It's really nice since they're currently sitting in a big pile here at our team leader's house and if we want something, we just have to consult the list and we know exactly which suitcase or footlocker to crack in to!  Last night we were troopers and stayed up until 10:30 even though we really hadn't slept since Thursday night.  This morning we forced ourselves out of bed at 8 to go to church with our team leader and his family.

This morning was the second week of advent which is a traditional ceremony that a lot of churches perform to celebrate the Christmas holiday season.  My favorite part of advent is getting to sing the Christmas hymns!  I love hymns in general for two reasons: the words are incredibly rich and I like to sing the bass harmony.  One thing about the hymns we usually wait 11 months to sing is that in my opinion, they are by far the most worshipful.  Thinking about the miracle that is every child inspires us, but that a little over 2,000 years ago God Himself was one of those babies is just incomprehensible.  Faith is what bridges the gap.  29 nations are represented at International Baptist Church of Budapest and I saw many of them with eyes closed, singing those hymns and worshiping the same God.

The sun went down at 3:53 this afternoon.  Yeah, I know.  Budapest makes up for it, though, because at night the entire city is a work of art.  After a team welcome/farewell party out in Érd (suburb of Budapest) we rode along to drop off some team members back in the city.  The bridges, the buildings, the statues on the hills, the castle, ALL of them are lit and combine to make Budapest absolutely gorgeous.  Back to explain that party (if my sentence left you confused) Megan and I and another girl who arrived back in August were officially welcomed by the UWM team here in Hungary.  Our good friends from A&M who have been here the last two years are heading back to Texas on Saturday, so it was a farewell party for them too.

We just wanted to say thank you.  Being here after preparing this last year is a dream come true.  I'm doing my best here to tell you how WONDERFUL it is to have finally arrived.  Our heads are still spinning, we're still a little jet-lagged and it hasn't really sunk in yet that we're here for 24 months.  If you're supporting us in any way, thank you for sending us here.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Here's a couple prayer requests if you're interested.  If not, thanks for reading and have a great day :D

-  Megan's sick and dealing with back pain, this morning an eye infection was added to the list.
-  We're staying with our team leader and his family and will transition to a place called Eden House soon for a couple weeks.  During that time, we'll be searching for a flat once we've figured out what part of town we want to live in.  We're ready to have a home that we can truly make our own.
-  Keeping our mouths shut.  Kind of a weird thing to ask for, but it's really important.  There's so much going on and so much that we just don't understand it would be really easy to speak in ignorance.  I've already caught myself a couple times and have been able to silence my opinions, but there have also been a couple times that I've made a comment I regretted.  I do that a lot.  At least, more times than I'd like to.

Okay, I'll stop rambling.  Go Broncos, Go Packers

Saying Goodbye

This has to be my least favorite part of leaving. I actually enjoy packing and organizing. I can look ahead to the exciting adventure and new experiences, but it is so hard to get past the good byes. My mom never says  "goodbye." After being a missionary kid and then following my dad all over the country, she refuses to say it anymore. She instead says "see you later."

There is a sorrow in goodbye that cannot be expressed in words. Knowing that, while you may come back to this place, you are leaving this part of your life permanently. I will never again get to hold my nieces as I currently know them. Thinking, as they put their sweet, little hands on mine, that the next time they do the difference in size will not be so great. I suppose this is a lesson that every person must learn. Children do not stay the same and every moment must be cherished, because in the next their foreheads will no longer be their "two-heads" and they will no longer ask God to bless the food to the "nursery" of our bodies.

As hard as this is for us, we know that it is equally hard for our families. To ease the transition for our nieces, we bought 2 identical sets of a Mickey & Minnie. The first set we sprayed with our colognes and gave to the girls. The second set we are taking to Hungary. We told them, if they ever wanted to give us a hug, to hug Mickey or Minnie and they would send the other Mickey & Minnie the hug for us. We can also hold them while we are Skyping. I think this helps us as much as them. I've definitely stolen some hugs from Minnie.

Megan, her grandma, and her dad

Megan, Ben, the girls, and the Mickeys & Minnies

L reading to Minnie

Friday is coming very quickly and I continue to thank God that He delayed us a little bit longer and we are not leaving Wednesday as we originally hoped to do.

Do you want to know why else I am thanking God that he is not having us fly into Heathrow on Wednesday?

On November 30th more than 2 million British workers are planning a strike to advocate pension reforms. Public officials say that this could jam up airports and cause as much as 12 hour flight delays in Heathrow. They are even looking at bringing in the army to help move passengers through customs and fill in for some of the unionized workers!

This was the exact day Ben and I had hoped to leave DFW and fly to Heathrow! At the time we were booking our tickets, it was actually more expensive to fly on Wednesday than on Friday. How often does that happen? I actually toyed with the idea of paying more to get there earlier, but we finally decided that it would be best just to wait. What an amazing God! Events we could have never dreamed of take place and he STILL has us taken care of! I am so grateful that HE is in control and not ME!

Cold Water

Man, oh MAN a lot's happened in the last week!

To sum it up, we had a going-away party, we were commissioned by our church and we SOLD OUR CAR :D

That last thing is an answer to prayer, it was one of the big things that we felt was anchoring us to this place.  We originally hadn't planned on selling it but decided that it was best in the long run.  Cars don't exactly appreciate in value so we thought it was wise to go ahead and cash in that asset, saving the money to help get us a car when we return in a couple years.

Side note, Megan is refilling her travel bottles right now and apparently it's not going very smoothly.  Her little squeals are pretty cute as the various creams and liquids make messes :D

Mesquite Bible Church has been home to us for almost 3 years now.  We have been tremendously blessed by the people there and are so grateful for our time with them.  Yesterday morning, our Pastor and the Elders laid hands on us and prayed for us, sending us out from our church family to Hungary.  It may sound kinda weird to some of you reading this, but I gotta tell you, having so many loving people standing with you and supporting you is both humbling and incredibly encouraging!  As we walked back to our seats, one of our friends shouted out, "GO GET 'EM!"

Our going-away party was SO fun.  It was difficult in a way because so many people who came, that was our last time to see them before we leave.  The transitions as a missionary can be very difficult and to be honest, as soon as you finish one you start another.  C'est la vie.  Despite that, we really enjoyed our time with family who traveled from Austin, Amarillo, Hurst, Arlington and Oklahoma City to see us as well as friends from the metroplex and one goofy guy from College Station.

Several people who came by gave us some very encouraging cards, but one thing really stood out to me from all of them.  In one of the cards was written this verse which I'll leave you with.  I won't comment on it because I don't think I could say anything that wouldn't distract, just let it hydrate you.

"Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." - Proverbs 25:25 (ESV)  thanks to KD

Is 'Untitled' really a title in disguise?

Hey there!

So Megan and I have committed to blogging more frequently, so I'm in charge of posting each week by Monday :D  We just want to increase our communication to y'all and be more like our friend Shannon who blogs a LOT (though we don't have a cute 2-year old to source our stories and pictures).  Yet.  NO, we're not preggers.

So today we are finally diving in to the massive to-do list we created for everything that needs to get done before we leave on Friday the 2nd.  It's big, but it really helps both of us to get all these thoughts buzzing around in our heads written down on paper.  The activity helps clear our minds, kind of like Dumbledore's Pensieve.  Part of our work today is sorting through all the stuff we want to bring with us to Hungary.  Basically we have two piles: things we have to take and things we would love to take if there's room/weight allowance.  All our stuff is going into 4 suitcases and probably 2 Rubbermaid totes/containers/things.  Maybe 3 and 3, have to figure that one out still.  The wonderful thing about flying British Airways is that as missionaries, we each get to check 3 bags free of charge.  That's in addition to the carry-on bag and personal item (laptop bags) we each get to bring.  That's also in addition to my Enbrel which I get to bring separately (it doesn't count towards my carry-on or personal item).  Pretty sweet!

On another topic, I have three words that should explain why we both feel a little sick today.  Church.  Thanksgiving. Potluck.  Combine them and you come up with sanctioned gluttony.  It was amazing, but we both overdid it.  And THEN I tackled my dessert plate (which included a couple things from Megan's)  On our drive home afterwards Megan said, "We're not eating tomorrow, are we?"  :D  First world problems...

Well as my Grandma would say, "That's about all I know!"  Hope you have a wonderful week before Thanksgiving and here's hoping that we see you at our going-away party this Saturday!  (Hopefully you've already received the evite.  If not, let us know!)

Thanks and Gig 'Em

P.S.  I don't really do pictures, so maybe I'll just include things that make me laugh whenever I post...  Here's yesterday's Dilbert (sorry it's small)

The Past Six Months

Many of you know that Ben and I had hoped to leave sometime at the beginning of June of this year. We were fully convinced that was God's plan and our support would pour in. Support did come in, but not when we thought and so one month slowly melted into the next until we arrived in November. We were at 87% and stalled out. We were discouraged and did not know who else to contact. We knew this was God's plan for us and that the support was there, so our prayer was just for him to reveal it. He did, but not in the way we were expecting. Ben and I sat down with our support schedule one night and crunched some numbers. We realized that if we chose not to raise support specifically for retirement than that 87% became 98%!!! (this doesn't mean that we won't be adding to our retirement during our 2 years in Hungary)

This was a heavy topic for discussion. We both were so anxious to go, but did not want to work outside of God's Will. We took some time to pray about it, talked to our support coach and our team leader and got the green light from the home office! On November the 3rd we got the green light to go to Hungary and yesterday, the 9th, we bought our tickets!

We will be flying out with British Air on Friday, December 2nd at 4:45pm.

Looking back on this summer, I can only praise God for the time we have spent here. We were able to go to our nieces' 7th and 5th birthday parties, the funerals of Ben's great-grandmother and my paternal grandfather, the 60th wedding anniversary of my maternal grandparents, and experience miscellaneous moments I will never forget! All of this would have been mourned and celebrated from a distance had we had our way and I am grateful that God knows infinitely better than I do.

Thank you all so much for your continued support and we will be continuing to share our experiences with you via this blog!

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this precious picture of Ben and our youngest niece:

More Crafts and a Day at the Fair

Our middle niece came to visit for a long weekend. I decided now was a great time for me to try some of the repurposing projects I saw on Pinterest. First, T and I did "science" by using a bleach pen to decorate some T-shirts that my mom picked up from Hobby Lobby. Mine turned out really cool, but we didn't leave the bleach on T's long enough so the pattern is really faint. It still looks cool, though, but I forgot to take pictures.

My next project was to take some of my old clothes and turn them into clothes for T. Two old camisoles turned into two strappy dresses (no pictures). Another old camisole and a yard of teal knit fabric became a top with super-cute ruffle skirt!

Then I turned one of my old sweaters that I used to love into a sweater-dress:

Then my dad and mom took T, Ben, and me to the State Fair so she could model for me.

Ok, maybe they didn't go so she could model for me, but that might have been my prime motivation.

We had a great day despite the rain! We got to see the dog show and ride the ferris wheel. We also got to try a variety of fried things. Ben commented later that we didn't have a thing to eat at the fair that was not fried. I think that's the point of the state fair, though, don't you?

Fried food we ate:
Corn dog
Buffalo chicken on a flapjack
The Ultimate Fried Cheeseburger (with fried onions, fried cheese, fried pickles, & fried green tomatoes)
Fried salsa
Funnel cake
Fried bubblegum

Funnel cake is my favorite and I only ever get it when we go to a carnival, so that one my must-have. Ben wanted to try a whole bunch of things, but the only thing I would have again is the fried salsa. It was incredible!

We had an amazing day and pray that someday our arteries will recover :)

I wanted to end this post with what may be my new favorite picture. I just call it "Joy!"

I have a problem...

I have an addictive personality when it comes to arts and crafts. I blame it on my mother who always kept me occupied with crafts as a child. She claimed if she didn't, I would be "building bombs in the basement." The fact that we didn't have a basement at the time when she first said this makes me wonder what it was I did that caused her to question the construction of our home...

Granted, I later majored in chemistry and was able to constantly deal with hazardous chemicals without blowing up a single thing!

Although, there was that poorly placed dessicator one time.

How you break one inch glass is beyond me.

And beyond my TA

However, I managed it.



Ok, back on track.

I love crafts and have recently discovered Pinterest. It is an amazing way to catalog and store ideas.

And it's pretty too...

Now, you have the potential to waste a lot of time, but if you discipline yourself, it is an excellent service.

I'm not very disciplined.

Check me out at: http://pinterest.com/naylormade/



Ah, the other reason I'm posting.

EVERYBODY IS HAVING A BABY!

Except us.

But that gives me time to indulge in my other addiction.

Knitting :D

These are some of my latest projects.

And my friend Catherine.

She's not a project.

But she's doing some knitting of her own.

Knitting a BABY! :)

Ok, enough silliness for now. Ben and I are doing well, we love you all out on the interwebs, and we are currently at 84% of our support raised. Things have slowed down a little bit, but we are hoping that it is just the last push before Hungary!

Rain

I love the rain. I always have. It conjures up romantic images of English gardens and reading "Jane Eyre" or "Pride and Prejudice" while tucked away in some quiet window-seat. I think I love it so much because I have never lived anywhere that got rain overwhelmingly frequently. The closest I got was in Hawaii where we had our "feather rain" that fell faithfully between 2 and 3 pm daily. I just got used to it and it was far too light and brief to need an umbrella. This was also when we got our best rainbows because, of course, the sun never stopped shining during these times. One time while living in Hawaii, we were driving home at night and I saw lightning off in the distance. I was very excited, because while rain was daily, lightning was unheard of. In fact, lightning was so rare in Hawaii that my mother panicked and thought I was having a seizure. She would not calm down until it flashed again and she could see it.

The fact that I love the rain has made this summer one of the most difficult of my life. It has however, made it a great opportunity for my prayer life. I hope I am not the only one able to admit that when it comes to my spiritual life, I feel I do more things wrong than right everyday. I make up a list of rules to follow and if I cannot check each of these off daily, I have failed.

Prayer is a huge part of this for me. Too many days I have found myself falling asleep at night realizing I had not spoken to my Father a single time that day. In the past, I have beaten myself up over this fact and kept myself awake vowing to do better the next day. Recently, though, I have realized the futility of this. Now when I begin to berate myself for failing, I talk to the Father. I tell Him that I have missed Him and apologize for not coming to Him sooner. Here's the thing: He forgives me! Completely and utterly. So I move past the regret, relax in His grace, and begin to glorify Him for Who He Is.

What does this have to do with the rain? It's no secret that I wilt in the Texas summer and Depression's old claws begin to tear at me again (especially in August). Each fall is like a re-birth. That first brisk breeze of the season feels like God Himself is breathing His life back into me, reminding me of how He has sustained me for another year. But this year feels harder, hotter, and more relentless. A few weeks ago, I reached the end of another 110 degree day without talking to God. I was tired and I broke down. I didn't know what to ask for. For Him to sustain me? I already knew He would be faithful. What I needed was hope. I wasn't asking for November in the middle of July, but I prayed for rain. Glorious, soft, gentle, cooling rain. Softening the ground and renewing my spirit.

The next day, I was at my sister's.  My brother-in-law was grilling out for dinner and he told us all to come outside. When I walked out the door, I could smell it. The earthy smell that I would bottle if I could. The smell of rain. It began with a soft patter and ended up pouring. All of us, grown men and women and three little girls, stayed in it. My sister and I pushed the girls on their swingset. There was no one telling anyone to go inside. We all stayed in it, played in it, danced in it.

The littlest girl and I were the last to go in. It finally got too hard and cold for her, but I could have stayed  until it stopped. We were both soaked through, but overjoyed.

This all happened visiting my sister in Oklahoma. Then we went to to visit Ben's grandmother in Amarillo. Ben and I were out doing yard work and it began to rain. Not heavy, just soft and beautiful. It was the most I have ever enjoyed gardening in my entire life.

When we got back to Dallas, I was preparing for the heat and the dry. After all, it had not rained in months. The day after we got back, it rained. I just sat out on the back patio and savored it like a chocolate milkshake. I cried, overwhelmed by the greatness of our God. I know I was one of millions of people praying for rain, but in those three days it felt like God was speaking directly to me and I praised him for it. Just when my puddle of strength runs dry, I find the ocean of His.

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my work that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." 

Isaiah 55: 10-11

ADHD

So part of my (Ben's) pre-field checklist was getting tested for ADHD.  Surprised?  Well, it came up last fall.  Megan and I were required to each fill out 8 different psychological exams.  When UWM invited us to our Candidate Assessment & Orientation week in October, part of that Assessment was with the psychologist who had graded and reviewed our results.  Some of my responses made her wonder if perhaps I had ADHD, so UWM wanted me to find out one way or another before we move to Hungary (date still TBD)

I finally went in for that evaluation this morning.  At first I thought I would need to go see another psychologist or counselor.  Looking into those options, however, we learned about the price tag (several hundred $$$).  Doing MORE research led me to learn that my regular doctor (he's a D.O.) and he charges WAY LESS!  Anywhoo, on the results.

Wait, maybe I'll make you hold on a little longer.  No reading ahead :D  I just wanted to relate my expectations going in.  I didn't really doubt that I have ADHD; specifically, I know that I have personality traits that closely resemble it.  It's kinda hard to understand the differences especially when you also begin to ponder what could also be character flaws.  What I mean to say is, I have a personality that naturally makes me easily distracted and when I was younger, I wasn't as responsible and had difficulty in school.  At least, I attribute those difficulties to immaturity.

Okay, so my doctor decided that there's enough evidence to support that yes I do indeed have ADHD.  HOWEVER, I have developed such effective coping techniques and strategies that it really doesn't affect my functionality or diligence.  ALSO, he doesn't believe that medication is or will ever be necessary.  (insert big smiley face)

Just wanted to say HI!

that's pretty much it :D

Truffles!!!

Wow.

So some good friends of ours from Mesquite make truffles.  They are delicious.  And hand-painted.  And DELICIOUS!!!  Right now they are sponsoring us through the 23rd of July as their way of supporting our ministry.  Here's the deal: For every 12ct box of EPIC Truffles sold, they will donate $10 to us!  Flavors are Vanilla, Caramel, Espresso (Megan's Favorite), Pomegranate, Raspberry & Key Lime (Ben's Favorite).  Orders will be delivered to customers in DFW and shipping is available for those outside the metroplex but it does increase the cost.  

To place your order, e-mail Dona Glick at corporatetouch@mac.com

They take cash or checks made out to either Jeff or Dona Glick for $27.50

Have a sweet treat to get us on our feet!

How was training?

This is one of the most common questions that we are asked. Unfortunately, it is one of the most difficult questions to answer concisely. No one really wants to hear the five hour version, but the five second version goes something like: "umm... amazing!"

Leaves something to be desired doesn't it?

Enter: the blog!

The whole point of this wonderland of information it is provide those of you that want to know more, more!

Back to our initial question: "How was training?"

In order to tell you about it, I have to give you the cast information as well as the acts and scenes ;) (i.e. the people and the class schedule).

We started "Equipping" on Feb 7th and it went until March 10th. This class was the essentials of preparing us for cross cultural ministry.

Up next were 2 weeks of "Second Language Acquisition" (We worked on phonetics and different methods of learning language), followed by 2 weeks of "Building Dynamic Teams."

Last but not least was a week apiece for both "Sharpening Your Interpersonal Skills" and "Facilitating Church Planting Movements."


Now for the peoples (Get excited you photophiles! We are going to show you pictures!):

From bottom right to top left:
Karen, Shannon, Laurie, Ellen, Trish, Andy, Jarrett, Matt, Kari Jo, Frances, Me, Ginnie, Jon, Nathan, Steven, Kyle, Ben, Don, Tim.

This picture is not well- set up to show you who everyone is so here is a little more detail on the families we got to be closest with during our time.

Nathan, Shannon, and Josiah Clifton serving with SALT
They left for Hong Kong shortly after Equipping and are now expecting their second little one!
They are similar to us in their personalities and Josiah adopted us one night at a group movie. He sat right between us on the couch for a good portion of "Megamind." We didn't mind at all!
Follow them at: http://www.nsclifton.blogspot.com/ (I took the pic above and the one on their blog header :D)

Jarrett Furnish
Heading to Zambia to work with youth. The definition of a youth leader (aka. crazy ;)

Jon, Trish, Aaron, Anikka, & Isaiah Olvera serving with CAM International
Beautiful people. Beautiful kids. Beautiful hearts. They are going to Honduras to do camp ministry. We miss you guys!
Follow them on their journey: http://jonandtrish.net/

Steven, Kari Jo, Noah, Clay, & Cyrus Shephard serving with SIM
Left for Joss, Nigeria the 12th of May.
Steven and I matched almost exactly the same on every personality profile and so did Ben and Kari Jo. It got to be a running joke when it was time to break up into groups that Ben and Kari Jo would inevitably end up working together.
Follow them: http://shephardsinafrica.blogspot.com/

Matt, Laurie, Harley, & Blake Tandy
Currently in Guatemala to do language learning before leaving for Peru to do business as missions.  Harley is the sweetest little girl you'll ever meet and Blake is going to be a stuntman someday.  Boy couldn't stay clean if his life depended on it!

Tim & Ginnie with CAM International
The only other married couple that didn't have kids :D  Their journey to Spain began many years ago but God is finally taking them there at the end of this summer!  Ginnie is co-founder of Wonderfully Made Jewelry, a non-profit that exists to create hope for the victims of sex trafficking by providing sustainable jobs producing high quality handicrafts and jewelry.
http://www.wonderfullymadejewelry.com/


(forgot to get a pic, see the group picture above)
Frances & Kyle Holmes
They were kind enough to lend some balance to all the young people who attended CIT.  Kyle is a retired cop and Frances is almost a retired homeschooler/domestic goddess.  Their two youngest sons will accompany them to Spain and finish high school there.

There were also three single women there going to an undisclosed country in the Middle East. They were some of the ones I grew closest to, but you will not see their pictures or real names here to protect them for the future. I will call them, "Betty," "Virginia," & "Loretta." Ladies, if you read this, I hope you appreciate the names ;) (they can be changed)!

These were the students we went through "Equipping" with and with whom we built the strongest ties. There were many other singles, couples, and families that came in and out, but these are the ones we hope to stay in touch with for a very long time.

Two other families that were not in Equipping but became fast friends:

Eric, Lisa, Hannah, & Matthew Weaver with CAM International

Serving in Mesquite, TX

Little did we know this sweet family was living just down the road from us the whole time we lived in Mesquite! Eric works at the CAM office and Lisa is a nurse, they hope to launch a ministry to the Spanish-speaking community located in East Dallas.

Scott, Jennifer, John Spencer, & Sophia Stadalsky & Megan Kibbey with UWM
These folks were at our candidate orientation last fall and are headed to Dundee, Scotland to do ministry with medical students.  John Spencer looks exactly like Anakin Skywalker from Episode I and Sophia has the BEST belly-laugh you'll ever hear!

We learned so much in our time at CIT, but the most important to me were the people that we met. They were the ones that we laughed and played with, but they were also the people praying, helping out, and supporting us through the difficult times in North Carolina. Before we shared about anything else, I wanted to share about them. If you feel so moved, please pray for these precious people and the work God is leading them to do!

That's all for today!
Yay for pictures!