Ale's well that ends well.

No, Glenn hasn't been drinking alcohol, but he was curious about this non-alcoholic drink that is made by a Hungarian beer company.  It has grapefruit juice in it and no added sugar.  We're guessing the Zero means that it has no alcohol, not that it is sugar-free.  :-)    He says it was okay, but that I wouldn't like it because it isn't sweet.  Hmmm, wonder why he said that!?!

Before Glenn and I left for Greece, we needed to buy a gift for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering auction that raises money for missions overseas so we went into downtown to look for a souvenir to add to the goods.    As we were coming upon the castle in City Park that was built as part of the World Expo over a hundred years ago, we noticed that they had filled in the moat all around it and row boats were for rent!   It was quite beautiful!  In the winter, this very spot is covered with an ice skating rink!

Almost two weeks ago, Glenn and I flew to an island off the coast of Greece for a large meeting of our personnel who serve in Europe, where we provided member care appointments.  There were 1200 people there so it was a huge event!   Our whole member care team for Eurasia came to help with the appointments, along with a team of volunteer counselors from America.  

Out of that crowd, we found Robert and Sharon, a couple we knew from our days in Cote d'Ivoire!  Robert's parents, Ed and Greta, lived next door to us in Daloa when we served previously with our company from 1984-1994.  Robert had come out to visit his parents but he was already grown up and married to Sharon when we met him.  It was so neat to see him and get caught up on his parents, brothers and sisters!!!

After our meeting on the island, we moved into the mainland, into a hotel in Athens for a two-day meeting of the Eurasia member care team and a day of orientation for our newest member care couple who joined our team 3 weeks ago.  Our hotel was nice enough though not in the best neighborhood, but with the economic crisis in Greece, I'm not sure there are too many "good" neighborhoods right now.

Once we finished our meetings each day, Glenn and I would go into downtown Athens with folks from our team to "sightsee".  I, of course, coffee fiend that I am, hunted for a local Starbucks until I found one!  It was so hot in Athens that I was forced to try a COLD Starbucks drink.  Karin, I love white mocha frappacino's!  No whip cream, but still delicious!  In fact, I had 4 during our 6 days there! 

As we walked through various neighborhoods, we would find these random ancient ruins surrounded by wrought iron fences.  

Our first trip into town, we walked (and walked and walked) from our hotel into town, not the most direct route, but on our later trips we went by subway.  They were very clean, unlike the rest of the city.  

This is the Parliament building which we happened upon when we were walking around town.  We happened to pass just as they were doing the changing of the guards.

I thoroughly enjoyed browsing through the souvenir shops but after the first few, they began to all look the same.  I am always attracted by the many bright colors of the things for sale.

Off the plaza near the Starbucks we frequented almost daily are many side streets, all selling a variety of tourist items.  I bought two pairs of hand-made leather sandals, a black and a white pair, not because I needed them but because they had them in my size!  Imelda Marcos, the wife of the former President of the Philippines who owned over 5000 pairs of shoes, was quoted as saying, "If the shoe fits, buy it".   I wear a size 5, which is very difficult to find, so when I find a 5, I buy it because I cannot ever just walk into a shoe store and ask for a 5 in a particular shoe.  Instead, I walk in and ask, "Do you have ANYTHING in a size 5?"

This is Monastery Square which was always full of people milling around!

From the plaza you can see the Acropolis up on the hill in the distance.  The Acropolis is a citadel located up on a hill overlooking the city of Athens, composed of several ancient ruined buildings, the most famous of which is the Parthenon.

Some of the ruins seen as we climbed to the top.  It was about 6:30 pm and sweltering hot!

I'm standing in front of Glenn because his shirt was soaked.

A great photo op with Jeff, Andy and Kay, our member care co-workers.  

The PARTHENON on the top of the Acropolis is a temple dedicated to the Greek goddess, Athena.  Construction was begun in 447 BC when the Athenian empire was at its' height of power and reconstruction continues to this day as they stabilize the partially ruined temple.

Gorgeous view of the city.

From the top of the Acropolis you can see the ruins of the Temple of Zeus in the MIDDLE of Athens.  It was dedicated to Zeus, the chief of the Olympian gods.

A view off the other side...

We were smiling big here because we were thinking of how much easier it was going to be going down than it was climbing UP!

We returned to BP on Sunday evening and are quickly washing my clothes because I leave on Tuesday for a ladies retreat in downtown BP, put on by a church in Texas.  Although we will be in town for most of the month, we will have lots of company!    

We celebrated our Day of Independence on July 4th like so many expats around the world:  Americans dressed in red, white and blue hats and tee-shirts, gathered around tables laden with all our favorite dishes:  potato salad, pasta salad, fruit salad, baked beans, chips, grilled burgers and hot dogs with all the typical condiments (including French's mustard, no less!), slices of watermelon and homemade ice cream!  Yum!  For the past 3 years we have been invited to a cook-out at the home of another couple who does member care, but with a different organization.  Most of the guests work with various Christian agencies in Budapest and attend the Danube International Church (which is where we now attend).

We could tell Facebook has really made an impact on life around the world when we saw this sign!!!  (Dad, the " Like :) " is a symbol used by Facebookers to indicate they "like" something that someone else posted on their Facebook page.)   I, personally, thought this was quite amusing and very hip!

Have I told you how hot it is here?  For the past 5-6 days temperatures have been in the 98-103 degree range.  Now, I know Atlanta is experiencing a terrible heat wave too, and it's breaking all kinds of records there so I may not get much sympathy from you ... but we don't have the luxury of as many air conditioned houses, businesses, and stores like in America.  This lady had to be 60 years of age, out watering her flowers in the concrete planters in front of her house ... in a tee shirt and bathing suit bottom.

And how about this lady pulling up weeds out in front of MY house?  We hated to see them build a house/business in the empty lot in front of our house but not as much as we've hated seeing all the building trash lying around for a year!  Fortunately, they are starting to haul off dumpsters full of yama yama!  So glad this lady is taking care of the weeds along the street, in her bikini, no less.  :-)  And she is at least my age.  Have I told you how hot it is here?

For the past week or so, Glenn and I have been sleeping (and eating, working and watching "TV" on the computer) in our basement since it is so much cooler down there.  It also helps that we bought this monster fan to stir the air (and dust!).  As of Friday night, the heat wave broke and it is only supposed to get up to 93 degrees today.  A cool 93.  It's amazing how cool 93 degrees feels compared to 102.  I wonder if I will ever get used to the heat???    (I remember after having lived in Cote d'Ivoire a few years, we would pull out our sweaters when it plummeted down to 75 degrees, so maybe I will get used to the hot weather too!)

While we were in the U.S. for those 3 weeks, we had help with cutting our grass and watering our flowers, for which we are extremely grateful (!) but no takers on pulling weeds so I came back to a jungle in my little garden patch.  I waited until after it rained Friday night to attack the weeds.  Sorry, no bathing suit for me.  It's not THAT hot!

We're here for another week or so before heading off to our big Annual General Meeting (AGM) in another country.  Hmmm, what can I write about next week?  Maybe the cold wave that is scheduled to come in on Thursday!  Highs of 75 degrees!   Man, my life is exciting!

Going, going, gone!

The title of this post is so appropriate to several things that have happened this past week or two.  

I was invited to a dear friends' house for an authentic Mexican meal during my last week in Marietta.  We're not talking Tex-Mex.  We're talking Mex-Mex all the way!  Amanda is a chef and her husband is Hispanic so with that combination, anything Mexican she fixes is so good and straight out of Mexico.

She fixed fresh homemade Tostitos and, as my daughter would say, they were de-lish!  I am not exaggerating.  If not the best meal I've ever, it was a very close second!   I finished off the first one and licked my fingers in anticipation of the second one, which was inhaled as quickly as the first one!  Gone in no time!!!!!    Thanks, Amanda!  Great time with you and a great meal.  Kudos!

While in Marietta, we stay with my father in his ranch condo. (His community is for adults 55 years and older so we fit right in.  I'm 56 years old so I can stay there.  My sister isn't quite old enough.)  We try to do a few projects around his house to help out.  My sister Karin and I replaced the two huge pots on his front porch with new silk flowers.   The previous flowers were so GONE!

My brother Jim came down from Chattanooga for Father's Day and he weeded the yard for hours on end with Karin's husband, Eric.  

And this is my Dad (more often referred to as "Pop") relaxing out by the community pool after his son and son-in-law weeded all afternoon in the hot sun.  It was hard work supervising those two workers!  Fortunately, the weeds are gone and the yard is looking beautiful again.

I always get together with my wonderful friend, Kristin, whenever I am in town.  When Glenn and I first came back for a visit in the U.S., Kristin and I started off with getting together for an hour or two over a Starbucks coffee but we've come to realize we really need more like 4 or 5 hours to share all our news because we do "go on" about everything happening in our lives!  (Get it?  "gone" & "go on")  She is such a blessing to me.

We didn't get to visit with our pastor and his wife this trip because our schedules just didn't fit.  Either we were out of town or Ken was!  But Ken, even though we couldn't get together this time, true to his character, made us (particularly me) feel loved and appreciated!  He had ordered and had waiting for me two bottles of Ghiradelli White Chocolate Sauce for me to take back to Hungary!!!  You know, for my serious coffee addiction!  

Speaking of coffee addictions, my sister Karin refilled our previous Starbucks gift card she bought for us last December so that we could have all the Starbucks coffee we wanted while in the U.S..  Can you imagine what it is like to get up every morning and want a cup of white chocolate mocha from Starbucks, and not have to worry about the cost of it?  It was wonderful!  Now, if she can only figure out a way that I won't have to worry about the 310 calories in each cup I drink, that would be equally as wonderful!!!

Glenn flew up to New Jersey to help our son load their belongings into a U-haul and then drove with Chris down to Maryville, Tennessee where he will start work in a few weeks as a P.A.  A few days later, Kate and Jazmine flew down to Atlanta, where I picked them up.   The next morning I drove them up to Maryville to meet up with Chris and Glenn, so that Chris and Kate could look at houses to buy.  They saw 25 houses in 3 days, but didn't find one they felt was "the one".

I got to spend lots of time with Jazmine!  She is a doll! 

Many people thinks she looks just like her grandfather, Glenn, but in this picture, she looks just like her daddy!  Those are most definitely his eyes! 

She was a little reserved, but after about 2 hours, she would come to me without any hesitation.  Well, unless her mom or dad were nearby!  As long as they were not close at hand, she loved for me to hold her, which I did, of course!

She is very expressive with her eyes and nose.  She likes to crinkle them up and snort at us, which, of course, makes us laugh!

She's adorable.

She loves to read (she's smart too!) the stack of Reader's Digest on the end table, but she hasn't mastered putting them back yet  :-)

We enjoyed an outing at the park with her in Maryville while Chris and Kate looked at a couple of houses and talked with the realtor.  She was with us (without her parents) for several hours and did great.  I'm ready for her to come spend a month with us over the summer next year.

And these are her parents, Kate and Chris, from whom she gets that adorable smile and great personality.

Chris, Kate and Jazmine are now gone, back in New Jersey to celebrate Jaz's first birthday and to say good-bye to their friends and family.  They will head back to Maryville in the next week or so.

Glenn and I left the U.S. on Monday of last week and returned to BP on Tuesday.  It has been a crazy week since then!  Unpacking suitcases, laundry, paying overdue bills, cutting the grass and pulling up the weeds that were a foot tall, running to Auchan for bread, milk, and fresh fruit and vegetables, and all the other things that must be done when coming home from a long trip.

On Thursday we hosted a cook-out for everyone in town to say good-bye to Mary and Alvin who are going on their last STAS (stateside assignment) and then retiring from overseas service.  

Our group was small because four of our families are in the U.S. currently on their own STAS.  There were 16 of us in all.   Glenn is in the process of designing and building a counter to attach to the side of our gazebo that will give us space for putting the food items for our next big cook-out, instead of using one of our tables for serving.  Our yard is small so there's not a lot of space for sitting and serving.

Some of the last things I bought in America were Honeymaid graham crackers, Hershey chocolate bars and JUMBO marshmallows for S'mores at our cook-out.  (If you read last weeks' post, I saw them in the grocery store with my sister Karin;  and yes, I went back and bought a bag after all!)

The S'mores were a big hit with the kids AND adults!

We said good-bye to the Doyles on Saturday as they left BP for the last time.  They are on their way to Greece to visit with their son's family and then they will attend our big AGM (Annual General Meeting) in Greece before returning to the U.S. for their final STAS and retirement.   We'll say our final good-byes at the AGM in a couple of weeks but I'm already grieving the loss of their friendship and fellowship, just knowing they are gone.

The Eden House closed officially while we were in the U.S..  All the furniture and belongings were sold in the local community and what remained unsold was given to a homeless shelter ministry.  

Glenn and I bought a few pieces of furniture and some baby items for us personally, but there were also some things that our company needed us to store for the next medical coordinator (that will take Mary's place), short-term volunteers and for use in the two apartments that have been rented for folks who still need to come to BP for medical care.  Additionally, we bought Mary and Alvin's washer and dryer and two other pieces of furniture from them.  I'm also the Keeper of the Used Homeschool Curriculum, so, as you can figure out, our basement is packed to the gill.  

We've spent the last two days going through stuff and deciding what we need to keep and what needs to go.  We put this old, broken dryer out on our curb at 6 pm Friday night, and by 7 am the next morning, it was gone!  Yea!

Anyway, a busy week.  Next week ...  nothing big on our schedule so we should be able to get back to our normal routines.  Whatever that is!