Prague is cold and windy!

After a hectic beginning to our week, we are able to end it in Prague (Czech Republic) at a much slower pace!



Starbucks opened their first coffee shop in Prague just a week ago so Denise (who lives in Prague) and I took a coffee break after a long afternoon of shopping for a pair of boots for her. The best we could find in boots was one pair on sale for $80. No joke. The norm for a pair of leather boots ON SALE is over $100. Needless to say, she didn't get boots. We did, however, get a cup of Starbucks coffee for $5. I am not a coffee drinker, but I did buy a white coffee mocha just for the experience of it. The pleasure of Denise's company was well worth the $5, but the coffee was only worth about $1.50 to me.



Glenn and I came to Prague for our Ebenezer, which is for folks who are just completing their first year on the field. It is a time to help us process all we have gone through and to be able to see what God has done "thus far"... (See 1 Samuel 7, I believe). Anyway, we needed to come up early to meet with some folks, so we had some free time before Ebenezer started. We discovered this wonderful place called The Bohemian Bagel. The bagel sandwiches are really good, but the real treat is the ice (serve yourself from the Red Bull ice bucket) and the fountain drinks, and on top of that, it has free refills!



It is fun to walk through town and see all the products that there are in Prague that we don't have in Hungary. I don't think we can find Coke Blak in Hungary, but even if we can, it is so much more prevalent here in Prague. I found Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup at the local Tesco store here, but we don't get that in our Tesco in Budapest, so I bought 2 cans. Each can was $2.75 so that is why I only got 2 cans!!!



I love the cobblestone sidewalks!


I love the cobblestone streets!


I love the ornate buildings!


The whole city is so picturesque! No trick photography!


Saw a wedding in the town square when it was below 30 degrees!


And had lots of sun the first few days we were here



But today is Sunday and the clouds have come in and "they" are predicting snow. Don't know if we will get snow, but it sure is cold and windy!


Sunday afternoon nap time begins with a big piece of chocolate!

Wish you were here!

Even though we are having a great time in Prague meeting up with old friends and enjoying our time of worship in English, our hearts are heavy with some news we received. The volunteer couple that was to arrive this next week (Feb. 2) to manage the Eden House for two months will not be coming. This past Wednesday Don slipped on ice in Missouri, fell, hit his head and died. We grieve with Barbara for her loss in this tragedy and pray for God to be very, very close to her. Would you please pray for God to comfort her with that peace that passes all understanding? We know that God is in control whether we understand why He allows certain things to happen.

Bill and Bob the Builders!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Kristie, happy birthday to you!


l to r-Kristie, Karen, Elaine, and Annette

The ladies of Budapest (no, not that kind!) kidnapped Kristie and celebrated her 36th birthday with a dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant and then came back to our house for cake/ice cream. You might notice some new faces below. On the bottom right is Annette who is the business facilitator for the Central Europe field. The other lady on the right with the short hair is Elaine. Her husband is the business treasurer for the Central Europe field. Both these ladies arrived in the fall and are becoming part of our enlarged family.



Glenn and I have spent most of this week up at the Eden House taking care of our personnel and doing some last minute decorating, repairs and remodeling before our volunteers, the Rhoads, and our ISC couple, the Stevens, arrive.



Thursday evening we fixed two huge pots of Hungarian soup (Gulyasleves) for the guests at the Eden House because there was a full house and a good excuse for a PARTY! It was a great time of fellowship.



And while the soup was simmering all afternoon, Glenn and Paul knocked out a wall in the basement apartment to enlarge the bedroom. What a mess!

Bob the Builder

Bill, the Builders' Buddy

When our son, Chris, was younger, I used to judge how much fun he'd had during the day based on how dirty he got. The dirtier he was, the more fun! Well, if I use that same standard with Bob and Bill, they had a blast!

The wall is out, the door moved to a different location, sound insulation put in the ceiling and the room painted. Whew! What a busy few days! We're almost ready for the Rhoads and Stevens!

Glenn and I head to Prague (Czech Republic) on Thursday for a week. This is another Ebenezer, which is for new missionaries that have been on the field for about a week. It is a time of fellowship, revival, and introspection into how the first year has gone. This is "our" Ebenezer, but unfortunately, we will have to work this one too as counselors. Who is going to counsel us???

Short blog this time...

Well, Christmas is over, the Doyles are here, and things are back to normal, whatever that means. Due to the Christmas holidays in the U.S. and all the eating we did, I need to get back into the habit of exercising. Unfortunately, it is too cold, icy or rainy for Kristie and me to walk in the mornings so I've had to switch my exercise program.


Two mile walk in the dining room!

I received a DVD on walkaerobics from a good friend (Thanks Pam! It's been well used!) and have been walking up a storm in my dining room. I am trying to talk a friend into joining me 3 mornings a week to do this walking DVD, but unfortunately, she needs to do it at 6 am. I'm just not sure I can commit to that!



While we were in the States, we had some wonderful folks that covered the Eden House for us. Tena and Paul spent two weeks helping around the place, doing repairs of all kinds. Now Tena is recovering a red chair with brownish gray cordoroy and making pillows to cordinate. When she finishes this, she said she'd make my living room curtains for me! I've lived here a year and I still don't have curtains that go with my couch! Everyone that has been to visit us knows that we have hideous curtains that clash horribly with our fouton (the curtains aren't ugly by themselves, they just look awful with the fouton) so I am really excited about getting new curtains.



Paul has been wonderful too! He has done all kinds of projects... like adding an awning to the front steps of the Eden House, and now he is helping Glenn tear out a wall in the downstairs apartment to enlarge the bedroom for our ISC couple that is arriving in April to manage the guest house. We appreciate their help so much!!

It's still cold and the sun came out today and melted the rest of the snow. Things look gritty, dirty and gray. All the cars are in need of a good wash! But there's good news! The days are now getting longer and before we know it, it will be spring!

Have a good week.

Back in Budapest!

Okay, it's been so long since I wrote (I thank my ghost writer during my absence) that I can't remember where I left off....so to recap, we started our vacation with a trip up to Maryville, Tennessee to visit with Chris and Kate for a few days.


Aren't they cute?



While in Tennessee, we took a ride over to Townsend to take in the scenery and to eat at this wonderful, quaint restaurant. It was beautiful! Glenn has always said that if God ever moves us to the mountains of Tennessee, it will be our last move on this side of eternity because once he gets there, he won't ever leave.

After a few days in Maryville, Glenn and Chris went backpacking for a few days, and Kate and I drove on down to Marietta, welcoming Glenn and Chris a few days later.



Soon after, Kari and Jonathan flew in from France.


"The best Christmas gift of all is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up with one another."

It was GREAT to all be together again!

Now, let me stop you here and tell you that this blog entry is probably going to bore you to death if you're not related to any of us or if you've already seen Kari and Kate's blogs (I'm trying not to duplicate pictures). I'm warning you, it's a long blog, but I didn't know what to leave out. Just be thankful that I accidently forgot to take pictures of some of the folks we visited with or of the things we did or all the pizza's we ate, or the blog would be EVEN LONGER!


We loved worshipping with West Cobb Baptist Church on Christmas Eve



Playing Catch Phrase

Our "Christmas dinner" was actually eaten at Emogene's house on December 23rd so that my sister and her family from South Carolina could join us. We made a day of it!


There was plenty of food!



I got to see my nephew, Christian, who is 7.

And Dannelly and Corrie, two of my nieces

All six of us stayed at my Dad's house but because none of us wanted to take the time to put up a Christmas tree (and then have to take it down), we settled for decorating the piano!

Christmas day was a relaxing but full day. We ate our traditional Christmas casserole (made by Kate), opened stockings and then our gifts from one another. It was a great day. I don't know about the other 5 there with me, but I was thanking God for allowing us to all be together for Christmas all day long! What a treat! Who knows when the next time will be?

Jonathan shows off his "techniques" on Kari

Now he's showing off his new red slippers!

Even Tundra (Left-Pop's dog) and Shadow (Chris & Kate's) are tired of the excitement

(Pop and Emogene, I hope you aren't reading this aloud with Tundra in the room. I know how she doesn't like to be told that she's a d-o-g.)

The King and Queen rest after a long day

Okay, for those of you who were there, this picture is out of order, I know. I just wanted to put in a picture of one of the 12 times we ate pizza. My sister Karin and brother Jim love it as much as we do!

And my other brother Jay and other sister Elizabeth

I enjoyed spending time with my Dad, even though he was often running errands and shopping in East Egypt. While I was home, he and Emogene bought two ranch condos, side by side, in Marietta. Now my Dad and Emogene begin the somewhat painful process of downsizing, but it will be worth it in the end for both of them! (Don't you just love his sporty hat? I do!)

But I love this one more!

Kari's roommate from Senegal, Jana, who lives in Texas right now, is moving to Auburn, Alabama, so Kari, Jonathan, Chris and Kate drove over to see them one day while they were in Auburn house-hunting. Kari and Kate had this picture taken in front of the famous (infamous?) Toomer's Drug Store, home of the world's best fresh squeezed lemonade since at least 1974 when I was a student at Auburn University! Thanks Kari and Kate!

And who are these handsome blokes? Well, not only is my Dad downsizing, but so are Glenn's parents! All their "chillen" (as Marguerite likes to say) gathered one day to go through the old

family homestead indicate the things in the house that were special to them and to take the things that Bill and Marguerite would not need in their new place, which is with their son Darden and Becky.

The house is fabulous, built in the 1860's after the Civil War ended. Grandson Stephen and wife Beth are moving into it eventually and remodeling it. Maybe I should rephrase that... they are remodeling it and then moving into it??? Or maybe they will live in it while it is being remodeled. As Kari says, "Anywho..." (instead of anyhow...)

Anywho... the distribution of "assets" went very smoothly, and I think everyone was civil and pleased with what they got. Things went so well that afterward, all the cousins and their spouses went out for coffee together. I think this is the first time in about 20 years that they have all been together at one time!

A little down time to refresh ourselves with a snack

Chit chatting on another day (sorry-out of order)

See, no fighting as everyone looks through the china and crystal

While the cousins drank coffee, the siblings ate pizza!

Chris loved his hat so much that he wouldn't take it off!

Moving on to another aspect of our visit...

Sushi at Kroger???

We spent a good bit of time in the stores, either shopping for Christmas gifts or for things to bring back with us to Budapest.

We also spent a lot of time eating!

For over a year Jonathan has been looking for a pair of casual leather shoes that are brown and very comfortable for walking because he has worn out two pairs already! He walks during his lunch break to get some exercise and to clear his head of body parts, and he often has to walk home from school whenever there is a bus/metro strike, which is fairly often! Plus, he and Kari walk for fun. He even looked for them when he was here in Budapest over the summer! Fortunately, he found a pair here!

While Kari and Kate wrapped dishes....

Another thing we did while home was to "move" Emogene from her house out in East Egypt to the new condo she bought next door to Pop's new condo.

...the guys loaded furniture!

And at the end of the day, I got a fountain drink!

As you can see, we had a great time with family in the States, but it wouldn't be complete without visiting some of our dearest friends. Truly, we ran out of time, and didn't get to visit everyone we would have liked to see. (Yes, you!) And some of them we got to see, but I forgot to take pictures!

Ed and Jo Chupp, the best neighbors ever

(Ed, next time (November) we'll come in the evening when you are home!)

Lunch with friends at Olive Garden. I miss you all!

And "Grandma" Whitfield, because our kids didn't have a "grandma"

Friends-they don't get any better than this one!

Most of the time we got together with our friends over a meal in a restaurant, which is a treat for us since we can't get our favorites like La Parilla Mexican Restaurant, Longhorn's, etc. but it was also nice to get a home-cooked meal occasionally...

Oops! Pizza again!

Glenn and I were in Marietta for two full weeks, and I only cooked once! We fixed Hungarian goulash soup and Chicken Paprika, which is also a poplular Hungarian dish. We did eat home-cooked meals, but they were always in someone else's home!

We said "good-bye" to Chris and Kate on January 2nd as they returned to Maryville and to Kari and Jonathan on the 3rd as they flew back to France. Then, on January 5th, Glenn and I boarded our plane to Budapest.

Oreos-handcarried so they wouldn't break!

Four inches of snow greeted us!

We had a wonderful time with family and friends, but it was good to be home again.

And tomorrow, we go to the airport to pick up our beloved co-workers, Mary and Alvin Doyle after being in the States for 6 months. WELCOME BACK! You were missed!