187 pictures of snow!

Okay, I won't show you all 187 pictures of the snow that I've taken in the past week, but how do you feel about 15?

Glenn and I went to Germany on Sunday, Jan. 24th for a conference for first-termers who have been on the field about a year. When we arrived in Germany, it was snowing and it snowed off and on the whole week we were there. We loved the beautiful countryside covered with soft snow about 8-10 inches deep! We hated to leave Germany because of not wanting to leave the snow, but when we arrived in Budapest at 1:00 am a week later, there was a little snow (3-4 inches) on the ground. We had a surprise gift from God the next morning when we woke up to huge snowflakes falling and about 8 inches on the ground! It snowed all day, and we now have a little over a foot of snow!

We've gone on long walks through the woods near our house for two days in a row and even though the temperature was below freezing, we worked up a sweat!

We saw families out enjoying the park nearby and even a few kids out with sleds on the hill in the woods.

Glenn was truly in his element! Notice that big smile?

I could enjoy the snow up to my knees, thanks to my niece Sarah who gave me a pair of snow pants (ski pants?) 3 years ago and snow boots she'd outgrown.

Glenn has enjoyed walking with his trekking poles. They allow him to measure the snow in various places and burn some extra calories as he lifts them up out of the snow.

Our house is beautiful with the snow on the trees and bushes!

This is the view from our balcony, overlooking our yard. My poor fruit trees!

The next pictures are from our trip in Germany. (Sorry, I uploaded the pictures in the wrong order. By the way, I got my new computer, thanks to some volunteers who hand carried it out for us. (Glenn ordered it and had it sent to Texas for the volunteers who were working at Emigrate to bring to us.) I went over to the other side this time and bought a Mac. (I know so little about computers that when someone asks me what kind I have, I tell them, "a white one".) I got the same one Kari has so that she could help me learn how to work it. She spent about 1 1/2 hours today via Skype helping me figure out how to download my pictures and store them!

Our last day in Germany before we flew out, we spent with some friends going to a small town that is known for their village houses, the town of Wornitz. The houses are pretty expensive (about $50 each, on average), but they are all hand-made and hand-painted, and therefore, "one of a kind", supposedly. Collectors items, you know.

We left the conference center at 5:30 am and stopped at a McDonald's for breakfast in Frankfurt. They had these machines where you could pre-order your meal and pay for it by credit card, and then step up to the counter to pick it up. It wasn't crowded enough to need to try it, but I thought it was interesting! In McDonald's, of all places! Do they exist there in America?

The trees were so beautiful! It looked like it had snowed and then started to melt and then froze, and snowed again. All the branches were an inch thick with the white crystals!

During the conference, we had two hours one afternoon that was free time so Glenn and I chose to walk in the snow. We saw several other families out, enjoying the fresh air so we asked one of them to snap this picture of us for you.

This was the view from our window.

Like a fairyland!

At the conference, we met one of our ladies who is from Cedartown, Georgia, which is about an hour from Marietta. Glenn's dad comes from Cedartown. Leslie recognized Glenn's great-grandmothers' maiden name, Hightower, as the owner of the Peak-Hightower lumber mill.

Glenn and I got caught in a snow storm during our short walk in the area and it was snowing so hard that we could barely see 50 feet in front of us!

We have really enjoyed the snow for the past week and will hate to see it melt away. Of course, after you've looked at all these pictures, you probably hope it disappears soon and that we will have something else to talk about next week!

On another note, Glenn and I are following the 6 week series, Rooted, that our home church in Marietta is doing. We have our own quiet time each morning, and then right after lunch we are doing the daily devotionals together. On Sundays, we listen to the sermon that goes with the series, and we are memorizing the weekly Bible verse. It has been good for us to do this together.

We're here for the next week. I'll be trying to figure out how to use my new computer and get caught up on the emails that came in last week while we were out of town. Ugh, that has got to be the worst thing about traveling so much. I feel like I am always behind in my correspondence. Oh well, job security. Have a good week!

Good-bye, good-bye, hello!

I feel like I've lost a year of my life with the recent loss of my computer with all my pictures from 2009 stored on it. (More about that later...) I know I've lost a week of my life in my blog updates! Before I was so rudely interrupted (as Glenn put it) by the break-in last Saturday, I was going to tell you about our last few days with Chris and Kate. (Kari and Jonathan left on Jan. 2 but Chris and Kate stayed until Jan. 4.)




Chris and Kate graciously offered to help us put away the Christmas decorations, which we gratefully accepted, so we spent most of one afternoon neatly boxing everything up. It was kind of sad because we realized we wouldn't be using those Christmas decorations for three more years! Next year at Christmas time we will be in the States for our stateside assignment and the following year we are anticipating going to Senegal to celebrate Christmas with Kari and Jonathan, assuming all goes as planned.

We also went into town for one last walk down Vaci Street to the Grand Market Hall so that Kate could buy some souvenirs for loved ones back home and so that they could eat "local fare" one last time. The Grand Market Hall is the best place we've found for eating what the locals eat that is not so expensive. It's much like a food court "Hungarian-style".

And, we finally got to work on a puzzle. Working on puzzles at Christmas has become kind of a tradition for Glenn and me so we were really glad when Chris suggested that we do one. Glenn and I keep our eyes open for puzzles of Budapest whenever we see puzzles for sale. This one, I think, we bought at the garage sale at the International Christian School of Budapest last summer.



Chris shows off his Seaton Hall book bag

Chris passed all his classes at Seaton Hall University! We're not surprised, of course, but it is always nice to get official notice of it. This first semester was their "weed-out" time so things were pretty intense there for a while. We are really proud of Chris and look forward to hearing many more health-related discussions between him and Jonathan in years to come!



Saying good-bye at Ferihegy Airport

I guess it doesn't matter how many times I have to say good-bye to my kids, I will always cry. Glenn is very patient with me. I usually tear up at the "PASSENGERS ONLY BEYOND THIS POINT" as we hug good-bye, but tears usually are streaming down my face by time we get into the car. Kari checks on me a little later in the day because she knows I have a rough time of it! She called me to make sure I was okay after Chris and Kate left. I'm not okay, but what can I do about it?

The Doyles' bags-packed but not ready

We also said good-bye this week to Mary and Alvin as they went to the U.S. for another stateside assignment of 3 months. Something is wrong with this picture! (Not literally-it's a figure of speech!) This is the Doyles' second stateside assignment since we arrived, and we haven't been on one yet! We will be watering their plants and paying their bills during their absence. They will then do the same for us when we go stateside later this year. We will sure miss them!



Happy Birthday, Dan!

The good news though is that we welcomed Dan and Janet back into town! Janet is my much-missed walking partner. She and I hadn't walked since the first week of November (and my pants are "putting the squeeze on me" to get back to walking, if you know what I mean!) By time Glenn and I returned to Hungary, Dan and Janet had left for Canada to spend Christmas with Dan's family. (Yes, Dan is Canadian but we can't really tell it. He eats peanut butter just like any American.)


Janet and I walked on Saturday and it felt good! Oh, Glenn gave me a pedometer for Christmas so I will be calculating how many miles I walk per week!

In other general news, we got 3-4 inches of snow at the beginning of this week but it is all melted by now. The weather report is calling for more snow this week. In fact, the computer says it is snowing right now. It isn't. At least not here in Budafok! I'm like a kid on Christmas eve when snow is expected! I love it and enjoy watching it fall. I also like how it muffles the sound of cars as they fly down the street in front of our house. I especially like it when it snows enough to make the world slow down.

Recently, Glenn and I have noticed a new style of bread being sold in our area. They are huge disks, about the size of a large watermelon, only round! What we can't figure is, Why? We often see them being sold in thirds or quarters, so why make them so big in the first place? Glenn and I bought a quarter once, ate some of it, and still don't know what the big deal is. The taste is okay; nothing to brag about and very similar to all their other white breads. Maybe it is just the novelty of something so HUGE!

I must be dreaming!

Glenn and I had a meeting up at the Eden House earlier this week and we saw two boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts! No, we didn't think KK had finally opened in Budapest, but we sure wish it would! One of our folks who lives in London had come for the meeting and had picked them up from the Krispy Kreme place in the airport there to share with those of us less fortunate! I can't believe I didn't eat a single one! (My pants are still "snug" after 5 weeks in America and all the goodies we enjoyed over the holidays!)

This was my clue that someone was there before me

And lastly, I want to share a little bit more about the break-in. No, we don't have any more word as to "who done it", nor do we ever expect to hear any more about it from the police. We are taking every precaution now: closing shutters, locking up computers, and setting the alarm each time we leave. It is such a hassle. There is a man coming tomorrow that is a security specialist, at the request and expense of our landlord, to see what can be done to make our house more secure.

I really felt like I handled the break-in well. I didn't freak out or anything like that. However, as the week progressed, little by little things were coming up that made me realize the loss was greater than I'd first realized it would be. Not only have I lost all my pictures of the year 2009 and all my work-related emails, but countless files of important information and records. Each time I would start to work on something, I'd realize I needed something that was on my old computer. It could be something small, like our DVD inventory, but with each realization, it brought on a fresh wave of grief. Wednesday, I hit bottom. However, God is faithful and sent me a friend that day who walked with me through the Valley of Grief and I am doing better now. I have been most surprised by the fact that I am not really "afraid" of someone harming us. As we walked to church this morning, I shared with Glenn that one of the things I've grieved for the most is the pleasure of being able to go for a walk without worrying about whether someone is trying to break into my house again! I do believe it will eventually happen again. The difference, we hope, is that the house will be more secure and we will be wiser.

While our experience was somewhat "traumatic", it is not unique to us as Americans. The pastor mentioned this morning several others in the church whose cars and houses had been broken into in recent weeks. We believe the poor economy here in Hungary is contributing to the desperation of many. Glenn and I are determined not to let Satan and this one disturbing event rob, steal and destroy our joy and pleasure of living here in Budapest.

It's been a rough week

Ghost writer Kari here.

Mom asked me to update the blog as she is without computer right now. More on that later... It's been a really rough week for her and my Dad. Earlier this week, they were contacted by their credit card company reporting suspicious activity in Virginia. Apparently their card number was copied during their recent trip to the States and was used in US to buy about $500 worth of goods in Virginia. The good news is that the credit card company will not be charging them for the bills.

Then, on Saturday someone broke into their house in Budapest looking for money. (Mom and Dad are sure the thief was very frustrated and disappointed!) However they stole Mom's computer and her good jewelry. The thief came in through the kitchen window, opened drawers and cabinets in every room of the house, including upstairs, and then left through the downstairs bathroom window. Mom and Dad think they actually interrupted the robbery when they came home.

The good news is that the thief did not make as big a mess as he could have, and he did not break things intentionally or vandalise. He even gently moved her Begonia plant in a ceramic pot off the bathroom window ledge so as to not break it (yea, right! It was so the noise wouldn't call attention to his departure!)

Mom and Dad are doing okay. She says the worst thing is having lost pictures, emails, work documents... and feeling crippled for the time being.

Please pray for them as they share a computer, shop for a new one for Mom and find a way to get it to Hungary, get back into a regular routine and continue with their work.

We walked to Slovakia!

Well, our time is winding down with our kids. We have enjoyed having them for Christmas and really hate to say our good-byes. We have great kids and love their spouses too, and have such a good time when we all get together. We thank God (and I don't say that flippantly at all) for such wonderful times together.




Toward the end of the week, the weather turned cold and yucky so we spent some time just hanging around the house, mostly watching T.V. and eating. (Kate and Kari worked on their computers a good bit, too.)




After a couple of days stuck at home, we decided to brave the cold and ride to the town of Esztergom, just inside Hungary where the Danube River snakes its way down, separating Hungary from Slovakia. There is a bridge over the Danube that folks can walk over from one country to the other. We had to walk over into Slovakia, enjoy a coffee break and walk around the town center so that our kids could add Slovakia to their list of countries visited, so that is what we did first.




The fog was very heavy; so heavy that we could not see the water below the bridge.




Esztergom is well known for the Basilica that is on top of a small mountain. You can just barely see it in the background of this photo because of the dense fog.

Right in the middle of the bridge is a sign indicating the border between the two countries. We saw several folks getting their pictures made in this exact spot.

Of course, while we were walking around town just inside Slovakia, we took a coffee break (to warm up!) Glenn and the kids all got espressos and lattes, but I got a hot chocolate. It was delicious and plenty chocolatey! It was served in a bowl and eaten with a spoon.

One of the vendors selling scarves, hats and gloves was impressed that we were from America and gave us two "horns" to blow for ringing in the new year that evening. Glenn and Kate really enjoyed tooting their horns (in a modest sort of way, of course!)

After walking back to the Hungarian side, back to Esztergom, we enjoyed the most delicious meal we've ever had in Hungary. We had read about this place in our Frommer's Guide to Hungary of great places to eat (thanks, Kristin! We're still using your great gift!) and so asked folks for directions to get there. This meal was a gift of Kate's grandmother, Josephine Guidetti. She wanted Kate and Chris to take the six of us out for a nice meal. Wasn't that really nice of her? We thought so!!

After eating lunch, we hiked up the hillside to the Esztergom Basilica. King Saint Stephen was born in Esztergom in 975 and was crowned here on Christmas day in the year 1000. The basilica is Hungary's largest church. Construction was started in 1832 and completed in 1869.

Kari took a break from snapping photos with her new camera for her and Jonathan to pose for a couple of photos for her mom.

Chris and Kate also posed for me. Both Jonathan and Chris have limited patience with Kari, Kate and me always saying, "Hey, turn this way and smile for the camera!"

Up at the very top is a statue of King Stephen being crowned. On a sunny day, the view would have been tremendous, but today we could only see about 30 feet. That in itself was kind of beautiful too.

Chris and Kate held the pole from which flew the Hungarian flag!

At one of the outlooks, Jonathan and Kari re-enact a scene from the movie Titanic.

The kids were always goofin' off, keeping us laughing at their antics.

Any time we turned around, they were up to mischief!

I loved this photo of Kari. I think it captures her beauty perfectly.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day, even though the weather was pretty cold. We went on New Year's Eve and that evening we collapsed in front of the T.V. and watched How I Met Your Mother DVD's we'd bought in the States. We stayed up long enough to welcome in the new year with peppermint ice cream I'd made earlier in the evening and to watch from our balcony all the fireworks being shot off in our neighborhood. It was incredible!

We did an awful lot of eating this trip. Christmas goodies of every kind, special meals that we love but don't get very often, and desserts that just put on the pounds.

Most mornings, we ate a late but large breakfast. We found out this Yankee boy likes biscuits with sausge gravy.

He can also put away the fruit!

Kate fixed us a delicious lasagna with all the trimmings! She's Italian, you know.

On Saturday, we took Kari and Jonathan to the Ferihegy airport to catch their flight back to France. We miss them, but were glad to have Chris and Kate stay two more days, you know, to kind of wean me off my kids slowly. We take Chris and Kate to Ferihegy tomorrow morning so I will be in tears tomorrow. Bummer kind of days ahead as I re-adjust to life without our kids.

Saying good-bye to our kids is easier when we know when we will see them again. We know that we will be seeing our kids again within the year. Kari and Jonathan will be living with us in Marietta for a couple of months when we are on our stateside assignment next September through January. We will visit with Chris and Kate while we are in the States, probably twice during our 5 months there in the U.S.