BEYOND THE BORDERS

Anyone that read my blog in the past few weeks knows that we were excited about Kari, Jonathan and Alec visiting us this week.  I'm sad to say their plane out of Dakar had a 5 hour delay in departing so they missed their connecting flight out of Lisbon, Portugal.  :-(   Unfortunately, the airlines didn't have another flight out that they could catch, but fortunately, the airlines put them up in a hotel for the night, with food vouchers and everything, and they are coming later today.  Actually, right now they should be on the plane and taxiing down the runway!  So, once they arrive this evening, I will come back and post a picture of them.

But in the meantime, you will have to read "filler" since I'd counted on this blog update being about them!

So, I'll tell you about what Glenn and I have been up to this week, getting ready for them to come.  I've been harvesting the cilantro that I planted and freezing it for use in salsa during the cold winter months.  Cilantro is hard to come by here in Budapest so I planted two small bunches and have enjoyed watching it grow!  No joke.  I go out and check on it at least once a day!  I babied it during our windstorm earlier this week, and I cut off the older leaves almost daily so that it will keep producing until the ground gets hot.  Once the ground gets too warm, it bolts (produces flowers ... and when the flowers come, the taste goes).  

While I've been cleaning, disinfecting, shopping and organizing, Glenn has been working out in the yard. Our Peonies are doing beautifully this year!

Glenn has tried to stay ahead of the Dandelions (I'm not sure I should capitalize that word, Dandelion!  It is a weed, and I don't want to give any respect to weeds that grows as viciously as they do in our yard!)

This morning after worshipping at Danube International Church this morning, Glenn and I decided to walk on the newly installed jogging track that goes around the perimeter of a neighborhood park to see how far it goes.  What we didn't realize is that there is a whole huge park on the other side of the hill!  (Our church is on the other side of the hill in the background.)  As we climbed the small hill on the jogging track, we saw these tents and decided to check out the festivities.  Evidently, it was a karate exhibition.  This picture only shows you about 1/3 of it.  As we walked on, we came to an outdoor gym with new equipment, tennis courts, more picnic tables, two really nice children's playgrounds, one of which was equipped with a huge children's sandbox and running water in the middle of it--designed for children to make mud pies!  Children were there in their bathing suits to play in the mud!  I can't wait to take Alec and Jazmine in a couple of years!!

This afternoon, in an effort to keep Glenn out of the house so he didn't dirty it before the kids get here, we ate outside under our gazebo and then sat under a tree in the yard in our lounge chairs.  This is what the Sabbath is all about!  It was perfect weather.  Slight breeze, sunshine dappling through the leaves of the Almond tree, birds singing. Perfect.  And the company was great too!  Glenn was in a talkative mood ... Except he wanted to talk about our budget and that is never good news!  :-(

Well, I'll add another picture tonight or tomorrow of K, J & A!  

Have a great week!