It's still cold & snowing!

Glenn spent one afternoon re-stacking firewood that was dropped off in our carport.  It couldn't wait because it was smack-dab in the middle where we park our car!  While Glenn was getting great exercise by stacking firewood, I was downstairs be-bopping to a Leslie Sansone's Walking Away the Pounds fitness DVD (wonderful gift from my friend, Pam).  

On Wednesday evening, Glenn packed us a "snack" bag for our  2 1/2 hour train ride to Vienna, Austria on Thursday morning.  I had to laugh!  Let's see, a bag of dried apricots, a bag of almonds, 2 packages of peanut butter crackers, 2 granola bars, a Snickers bar, a bag of cashews, and half a bar of white chocolate with blueberries.  How long would we have to travel to consume all of that?   He's funny like that, but at least I don't ever have to worry about getting hungry.

So, Thursday we headed to Vienna for the day.   It was a cold, snowy day with clouds that looked like they could drop a foot of snow at any time.   At our train station in Budapest, we have covered platforms that keep the snow and ice at bay, but not here at the Tatabanya station!  Where does one sit to wait when the snow is piled up in front of the benches???

How's this for the name of a town?  Mosonmagyarovar!  Six syllables.  A mouth full.

We visited with some friends but got to see some sights as we were passing by.  According to Wiki, this is the Stephansdom, Vienna's cathedrale, the most prominent building in the city, and one of the tallest churches in the world.

And this is one of the 4 UNITED NATIONS buildings.  The other 3 are located in New York City, Nairobi, and Geneva.  This is where the international organization facilitates cooperation in international law, economic security, social progress, international security, human rights, and the achievement of world peace. (Straight out of Wiki ... )  

On our train ride home that evening, we stopped for a sandwich-to-go to eat on the ride.  Vienna Schnitzel on a bun!  The schnitzel pattie was 2-3 times the size of the bun.  It was pretty good, though a little greasy.

Sunday, we had two young ladies, Natalie and Jana, over for lunch after church.  After after a healthy lunch of oven baked chicken, boiled potatoes, squash w/ onions, we had a dessert of fruit smoothies.  I'm getting to be quite the Smoothie Queen!  At least until summer comes, and then I'll become the ice cream queen again!

What is better on a Sunday evening than popcorn and a movie with friends?  Nothing!  Glenn popped us some of his famous on-the-stove popcorn to go with our movie of the weekend, Alex and Emma.   The popcorn was a gift from my dear friend, Kristin, and the popcorn salt came from my sister, Karin.  A good ending to a good week!

Since a couple of days before Christmas, we've had quite a few snow days.  In fact, we've probably had more already than we usually get in a typical winter, but this past week we got a snow fall like I've never seen before!

This photo won't do it justice, but the flakes were the size of a quarter for about an hour, thickly falling straight down.  Before it started snowing, the street was totally clear, so you can see how quickly the snow covered the ground!  We got 3-4 inches and because it has been so cold, it has stuck around.

This is the hill in the local park next to Danube International Church, which is where we go.  It was fun watching (from within our toasty warm car) the children climbing up the hill and sledding down it.   

I'm not a big face booker but I've read a lot of people's comments about the new movie, Les Miserables, so I mentioned to Glenn that I'd like to go.  Sweet, thoughtful man that he is, the next thing I know is he has reserved tickets online for us (yes, that's what you do here).  If I'm not mistaken, this is the first movie we have gone to here in Hungary since we returned from our stateside assignment 2 years ago.   (If I am completely honest, it's because we spent a ton of money on DVD's while in the U.S., and couldn't justify going to the movies until we'd seen what we'd bought.  Haven't seen them all yet, but Glenn likes to spoil me rotten.  That, and we both have cabin fever from it snowing so much lately!

Two weeks ago I posted this picture of Alec "reorganizing" our medicine drawer.    Well, Glenn's case of cabin fever must be worse than I thought.

He spent the afternoon going through the drawer, throwing out old medicines, combining bottles, and reorganizing them so that they fit better.  

This morning after church Glenn spotted something that made our hopes ZING to new heights!  Glenn saw a couple of boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts on one of the chairs!  Sadly, K.K. hasn't moved to Budapest, but instead, one of the families had flown back last night from the U.S. via the London airport where there is a K.K., and they had bought a couple of dozen for special friends of theirs here in town.  (We weren't one of them, but this young man was, and he allowed me to take his picture for my blog.)  :-)

It's not snowing at the moment but the ground is still covered and it's freezing out there.  Fortunately, we've got a couple of things on our calendar for this week so I don't think cabin fever will get us down again.  If it does, maybe Glenn can reorganize my kitchen drawers!

Have a great week!

Saying good-bye AND hello!

This has been an emotional week, one with both sadness and joy.  

Alec, Kari, and Jonathan were with us for 3 wonderful weeks and celebrating Christmas together made it even more special.

We got to experience Alec's first hair cut.  He doesn't have a lot of hair, but what he does have, he sports well in a Mohawk!   (Jonathan occupied him with a fruit Smoothie while Kari cut his hair.  It worked.  He didn't fuss, wiggle or cry.)

Both Glenn and I got some quality time playing with Alec that we will treasure forever.   Alec had lots of fun stacking all the empty ice cream containers that uncle Alvin (former co-worker) gave us when he and aunt Mary were packing to move back to the U.S..

Somewhere along the way, Alec learned that if he wants a snack, he has to sit on the floor to eat it.  (Kari is guessing it was Dorothea, their house helper in Africa.)   It was always so cute to see where he would choose to sit when one of us offered him a snack!  He often went to the little cubby corner between the fridge and microwave.

He enjoyed riding "horsey" on my back, with the help of his dad.  Both Glenn and I had special things that we did with him, and I am curious to see if he will remember them between now and when we see him again in Georgia this summer.

It was sad when we had to pack all his toys, clothes, and baby bottles to send him to his real home.

This picture reflects the way I felt when they all left.  Sad.  Quiet.

And I really, really miss seeing his little boots drying next to Appa's.

So now our life has settled back to our own little routine.   When we hear the rooster crow next door, we look at each other and smile because it brings back such wonderful memories of Alec barking like a dog and crowing like the rooster he so often heard while here.

Most of this past week has been spent putting away baby things and getting caught up on emails, Skype calls and other work-related tasks.  Back to our real world.   We've had snow several times this week so we've spent most of the time working side-by-side in front of our cozy little fireplace!

BUT, in the midst of all this "getting caught up", we were thrilled to welcome Billy and Sheri to Budapest, to our team, and to Arriba's!   Sheri is our new medical coordinator for Europe.  They are not "technically" on our team, but we consider them part of our local team since member care and medical work closely together to take care of our people.  We have been asked to help get them oriented to living in Budapest, show them around, and help them settle in.  It's our pleasure!  We're thrilled they're here!  (This is the joy part of our week!)

Billy and Sheri live in an apartment in downtown Budapest, about 25 minutes away by car (50 minutes by public transportation).  We spent 5 1/2 hours with them one day this week, introducing them to our best Mexican fast-food place and how to get out to Ikea, Decathalon, and other great stores on the outskirts of town, and they will be coming for dinner at our house later this week.

We are looking forward to getting to know and working with them for the next 3 years!  

Okay, this weeks' update is specifically for family members who really want more photos of Alec than they do of our day to day life.  Kari, Jonathan and Alec return to Senegal on Wednesday so next Sundays' blog update will have something else besides Alec, Alec, Alec.  Of course, Alec is more entertaining than our day to day life of travel, travel, travel.

Isn't he a dapper young man in his jaunty neck scarf?

We try to take Alec for a short walk each day and because his blood is so thin from living in Africa, we have to dress him in so many layers to make sure he is warm outside.  Love his fleece jump suit???  At least it is warm!

We have a stroller for Alec but he will only be content in it for a couple of minutes so even though it sort of looks like we're walking a dog, we broke down and bought a harness for Alec.  He likes to walk but not always where we want him to go, and he is FAST at going where he wants to go!  So, rather than fearing for his life on our walks and at the mall, we hook him up and let him walk.  It works!

I have a different philosophy than some people.  Within reason, I feel that we should remove what we don't want a child to play with rather than to always be saying, "No, don't touch that" and "Don't touch that either".      I also like to provide as many places possible for a child to play rather than block him or her into a corner because they get bored easily in small places.  So, I moved the couch forward so that Alec can play behind it.   I thought this was such a cute photo of Alec playing behind the couch while Glenn plays Solitaire on his Kindle.

Alec is very active and it takes all four of us (Glenn, Kari, Jonathan and me) to keep him occupied.  I don't know how Kari does it, but he sure is cute, funny and loving so hopefully that makes it easier!

He loves looking through our bathroom cabinet drawers over and over and over, and playing with the tubes of toothpaste, bars of soap, and medicine bottles.  Fortunately, he can't get into the medicine bottles.  YET.  We'll have them locked up or moved by the next visit because I'm sure he'll be able to figure out how to open childproof bottles soon!

Jonathan wakes up in the mornings and takes care of Alec, giving Kari another hour or two of sleep.  Here, they are playing with bubbles.

Kari mixed up something called Cloud Dough that she found on Pinterest for Alec to "experience".  He was hesitant to play with it, at first, because he doesn't like to get his hands dirty.

Evidently, from the amount of flour on him, he got over the dirty hands and enjoyed the feel of it.

One day he played with shaving cream in his high chair.  He does this quite often in Senegal, both in the tub and on his sliding glass doors that lead out onto their balcony, but I think he prefers using a sponge brush to using his hands.

Daily, Alec likes to unload the shelves where we keep our tea boxes and powdered drinks (hot chocolate, spiced cider, and Kool-aid).  I don't mind it.  We just have to be careful where we step when we're in the kitchen cooking.

We have a morning ritual.  When I come down to start the day, I wash the dishes that accumulated between the dinner dishes the night before and going to bed.  In an effort to keep Alec occupied, I put him on a chair beside me and let him play with the water dripping in the sink next to me.  HE LOVES IT!  Now, anytime he sees me washing dishes, he wants to "help".  :-)

It happens EVERY day, and as long as I'm not in a hurry, I enjoy the time with him, watching him play!  :-)

We've decided Alec is very kinesthetic because he loves to touch EVERYTHING, and Kari is big into providing sensory activities for him.  Pinterest has become her good friend.  :-)   Here, she is letting him play with play dough in water.  It becomes slimy, a new "feeling" for him.

Alec loves to Skype with his cousins, Jazmine, Renae, Sammy and Colton.  Anytime he hears the Skype ring, he runs to the computer with excitement.  We've been able to Skype with Jazmine (his cousin on Kari's side, our grand-daughter) quite a lot recently, which Glenn and I love too!

With all the energy that Alec expends, he needs to refuel quite often.  He will eat whatever anyone else is eating, and with the four of us adults, chances are good that at least one of us is eating something at all times.  Kari says that the only thing he doesn't like is papaya.  I believe her.  He eats everything else.

Glenn gave me a blender for Christmas so that I can make my own frappacinos (ice coffee).  (Glenn calculated that the blender is equal to the cost of 14 Starbucks frappacinos.)   They're also good for making smoothies.  Kari loves fruit smoothies and has been regaling us with them each day and she's a real trooper to make each of us the smoothie of our choice.  Alec likes to sample everyone's!

We were invited to a "day-after-Christmas" party at one of our co-workers' house.  Kari, Jonathan, and Alec went with us.  I think Alec was a little overwhelmed with so many new people because he actually was content to sit in my lap for a few minutes ... until enough people oohed and aahed over him and he felt like he was on center stage and then he came alive.  Such a cutie!

Today it started snowing again.  (The white dots on the picture are snow flakes.)  I wrapped Alec in a blanket and took him out on the balcony to see the snow and watch the snow flakes fall.  The snow was moist, so it was easy for him to grab a handful and it would stick together long enough for him to be able to get the snow in his mouth.   Boys who grow up in Africa don't usually get to play in snow so I was glad it snowed for Alec.

Well, Alec leaves on Wednesday so probably not too many more pictures of him after this week.  Glad we will see him again this summer when we go on our stateside assignment at the same time as theirs.  :-)

Before I close here, I want to give a shout-out to my niece, Corrie, and ask all my friends to pray for her.  She leaves on the 8th for a Semester-at-Sea.  She will be traveling around the world by ship for the next four months with other college students and seeing fantastic sights and experiencing things that most of us only dream of.  (Sorry, dangling preposition, I know.)   She'll ride an elephant and sleep in a palace, among so many other awesome things!   Have a great time, Corrie!  Can't wait to hear all about it when we see you in July!!!