Happy Father's Day!

I'm sorry I am a week behind. In addition to all the weekly things we do, we had to add on several days of doctors appointments for our physicals that are required before we go on our stateside assignment in September. We had to have our full medical check-up, including a trip to a G.I. for me (because I'm at that certain age!), dental work started because all our fillings are 35-40 years old, and eye exams.

Cile gets her eyes checked out

Fortunately, my vision has not changed in the past 3 1/2 years so I did not need a new prescription. Unfortunately, I do not have a good excuse for getting new frames!

Then on Wednesday we flew to Ukraine for a few days of visiting with our families that live in Kiev before going to the 5 day meeting of the BSO cluster. Another name for this is AGM (Annual General Meeting).

Eating at a Georgia restaurant (as in the Republic of Georgia!)

We went out for dinner one night with two of our co-workers to a popular Georgian restaurant in the neighborhood, and when we got there, it was full of a bunch of our personnel who were on a "last night out on the town" with volunteers from America who were headed home the next day. It was neat running into them. Do you know how big Kiev is, and how many restaurants there are there, and what the chances are of running into someone we know???

Kiev is full of high rise apartments

And at the base of the stairwells are rows of strollers!

One of the many Orthodox churches

We didn't really do any sightseeing to speak of (we've been to Kiev before and saw most of the main touristy places) but as we were driving through town to get from one family to the next, I could take some pictures of the sights.

Way more cars than parking spaces!

I was amazed at how bad the traffic was! When these European cities were built with their high rise apartments everywhere, phenomenal public transportation systems were built because cars were a luxury item and the average family couldn't afford one. Today, the income level is rising and more and more people are purchasing cars, but the problem now is where to park!?!

Beautiful grill-work on the major bridge across the Dniper River

TGI Fridays in Ukrainian!

I'd recognize that red and white striped awning in any language!

Papa John's Pizza???

Somehow, I don't think this is the Papa John's pizza chain that we know and love in Georgia (as in, the state of...)

Tree on fire!

We stopped for coffee and pastry one afternoon and when we came outside, we saw a couple of police cars and fire trucks parked next to Joe's vehicle (which was, by the way, parked very illegally! Imagine the fear in our hearts when we saw all this commotion next to his car!) As it turned out, a tree about 25 feet from his car was on fire! Another gawking pedestrian said it had been struck by lightening. It wasn't raining at the time, but we'd had a doozy of a storm the night before, so I wonder if it was hit the night before and was just smoldering all day until it finally spewed forth enough smoke to attract attention? The firemen had hacked away up and down the tree trunk and by time we got there, the whole trunk was smoking.

Member Care appointments

I led an afternoon session on the new TCK guidelines (TCK=Third Culture Kids; the new term for children born into one culture but living in another, and not really a part of either) and Glenn and I did Member Care visits with the adults during meals and breaks. We met in the dining room at our own table over to the side.

Ten? Ten? Who'll give me ten?

We had daily worship times, training times, fellowship and our annual opportunity to give to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering through a fun and competitive auction. The volunteers that come from America provide a wonderful children's VBS and always bring suitcases of coveted American foods, books and DVD's for us to bid on. Our personnel bring souvenir items from their respective countries to add to the auction, and our volunteers love to bid on these items too! I came away with pepperoni, French's mustard, Strawberry Twizzlers and brown sugar.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

The first 3 days we were there at the AGM, it was HOT! 90-95 degrees! (And to top it off, the place we were staying at night did NOT have any water, and of course, no air conditioning.) One evening a few of us decided to go get some ice cream so we headed to the neighborhood "convenience store" for something to help cool us down!

It is a small world!

Because we could not handle all the member care appointments in the short time we were there, we had to enlist help. We had a volunteer come out from Marietta!! Brian currently is on staff at Burnt Hickory Baptist Church, but he grew up in Glenn's home church at Marietta First Baptist Church! Small world, isn't it? It was fun getting caught up on folks we both knew. Brian did a great job and expressed a desire to come back again to help us! We look forward to seeing how God will use Brian to minister to our families in the future.

I told you it's a small world!

We returned to Budapest on Thursday, late afternoon. On Saturday, one of our member care couples who live in Paris came to stay with us for two nights. Jerry (and his wife Kathy) used to be the Youth Pastor at Michelle's church when she was in high school! (MIchelle and her husband Brian manage the Eden House.) We invited Brian and Michelle down for grilled burgers to be able to reconnect with Jerry and Kathy after all these years! Truly, the world is getting smaller!

Glenn, Jerry, Kathy and I drive to Poland tomorrow for another cluster meeting and a week of member care visits with our families serving in the Central Catholic cluster. Jerry and Kathy are going to help us with the member care appointments. Kathy and I are hoping we will find some stores along the way that sell the Polish pottery! She even brought an extra suitcase in hopes of finding some. I'm hoping we find some too, and I'm glad we're driving so we aren't limited by weight!!!

Happy Father's Day, Pop! Hope you are having a great time on the cruise!

It's my Birthday Week!

This was the WEEK of CILE, otherwise called Cile's Birthday Week. It all started years ago when we "happened" to go to the beach the week of my birthday, two years in a row! Our kids usually each brought a friend with them, and we would assign each person one night in which they were responsible for cooking dinner for everyone. (Since it was my vacation too, it was only fair that I didn't spend the whole vacation in the kitchen, right?) Well, if you add in there one night to go out for a seafood dinner, someone didn't end up getting to fix dinner-and since it was my birthday during that week, I was the lucky one to opt out of dinner preparations.

Thus began the tradition of The Week of Cile! Through the years, Glenn has continued to call it that even though we haven't been to the beach in years. This year I thought I would share with you how I spent MY BIRTHDAY WEEK.

Monday, Glenn bought me some beautiful yellow roses. Off to a great start!

Tuesday, I spent at the computer working on emails so the best thing that day was harvesting about 4 cups of strawberries!!! They have produced in abundance this year. Don't know if it was the fertilizer we used or the fact that the plants are two years old. Whatever, it's been wonderful having so many strawberries from our 18 plants!

Wednesday, we started our physicals for our upcoming stateside assignment. Ugh, I hate getting older! Blood work, poking, questions, and...I hit that magical year to have a colonoscopy. Actually, the colonoscopy wasn't so bad because I opted to be knocked totally out; it was the concoction I had to drink twice during the day to clean me out that was so bad! The anesthesiologist told me, in addition to the drug that would put me to sleep, he was adding a "feel good" drug that would lift my mood when I came out of it. (He was right!) My kids laughed at me several years ago when I said, "I don't like to take drugs. I just like the way they make me feel." Well, I liked NOT feeling a thing during the "procedure" and I liked the "lift" I got afterward. Glenn probably did too!

Thursday, we went to visit Zsofia, a young lady I met on a plane several months ago. She is a university student who speaks English pretty well. She had told me she liked to read books in English to improve her skills. I asked her if she would read a Bible if I got her one in English and she said she would. So naturally, I had to have her email address, phone number and address so I could contact her and then bring it to her when I was able to get one for her! (I had friends Joe and Debbie bring me one out from America when they came to Budapest at the end of February. It just took me a while to get it to her!) We hope to have her and her roommate out to our house for grilled hamburgers sometime this summer!

Friday, we had to go back to the doctor's office to have them read our PPD's. The doctor read my shot history a little more closely and realized I needed a Tetanus shot. How long can I milk the "oh, my aching arm!"?

I start my dental work on Monday morning and we have our eye appointments on Tuesday.

The Week of Cile starting improving on Saturday when the Doyles arrived with my birthday cake! Red Velvet! One of my favorites!

Saturday evening we went to dinner downtown at an African restaurant that had recently opened. We went with the Doyles. They used to live in Nigeria and love spicy foods like Glenn and me so they could appreciate the adventure! It was little more than a hole in the wall, but the food was very African, for sure! Had the perfect blend of spiciness and the typical gristle with a little meat thrown in. Most of the meals were from East Africa but they were similar to what we used to eat in Ivory Coast, such as goat soup and foutou.

Of course, we ate African-style...with our hands!

I have to say that I was overwhelmed (in a good way) with the number of birthday wishes I received via Facebook and Skype. Thanks, everyone! It really meant a lot to me and I mean it when I say, "They made my day!" My pastor and his wife in America even called me!!

And now, the Week of Cile is over. It was nice while it lasted!

We head to Ukraine mid-week for a meeting. We will do member care appointments at the meeting and visit with families living in and around Kiev, the capital city. Don't know if we will have internet access while there, so if there is no update on Sunday, that's why. Be back soon!