Feels a bit like Fall!

Waking up this morning to cold air made it feel like Fall is just around the corner.  I think it's time to pull the winter clothes bag out of storage!  I thought I would have more time last week to keep the blog updated, however, there was just so little time to do so because I was much busier.  In addition, I was fighting a cold virus that I'm still recovering from.  It was not easy to teach and it was a struggle for me every day.  And yes, I am still struggling with sciatica.  It's slowly healing.

  I should've posted a note for all "prayer warriors" to pray, but sometimes we falter to just struggling through it all on our own.  That was me.  By Sunday, the flood of tears fell after it all came to a head for me.  Thankfully, God provided a good Polish friend at church who lent me her shoulder to cry on, her listening ear, and supportive hugs.  She also spoke words of reason and rationality, for I've been having difficulty with the girls and their obedience.  She's right.  They are trying to make sense of all they are experiencing... and trying to be "campers" was alot for them to take in.  Kaylor started off strong and ended up struggling by the end.  Lauren ended up strong by the end.  The key is a friend they can connect with, so I ask that you would be praying for them to find another friend this week that they would connect with.  They aren't campers this week, and we've given more leniency in how much they participate in.  Additionally, we are all living/sleeping together in a small room.  Quiet/break times are not necessarily providing what we need to refuel.  There is a lot of togetherness and pray that we would find a good balance in making it all work!

My friend, Magda, then took the girls and I to Spala (said Spawa) after church where there's a flea market every Sunday. We walked around and tasted some foods.  We then bought waffles that was covered in whip cream and fresh fruit or other toppings of choice.  It was a lot of fun.  Josh had taken our friend, Ryan who had joined us for the first two weeks, to the airport in Warsaw.  He managed to get there and back... and get gas... all on his own!

This week it's Fishart, which instead of offering English classes, they offer different clubs two times a day.  I'm doing a newspaper club and Josh is doing different American sports.  Other clubs are dance, photography, art, guitar, singing, etc.  It's a more "creative arts" focus for the week.  There are more kids this week compared to last week... 160!

By the way, it simply wouldn't be right to only touch on my cultural adjustments and not mention that out of the 154 campers last week, 110 had stayed to talk about decisions they wanted to make in their lives.  Remember the girls in the girls' cabin last week that I asked you to pray for?  Well, they all made decisions for Christ! I couldn't wait to share that!

 My English class.... yes, they gave me a run for my money.  I was in a loud location, which made it even harder for me to teach because I had no voice!!!

 Instead of English classes, the girls had Polish class.  This was their tutor, Marysia, who also lives in the same city we'll be living!  They had a great time and are practicing the Polish they are learning!

 This was the the girls' assistant counselor, Ala, who slept in the same room as Lauren.

 A group of girls Lauren hung around with.  She grew particular close to the girl on her left.

We discovered that Kaylor has a natural gift for rock climbing!  She loves it!

 This picture captures the one time rain actually hindered our activity!  We were just about to begin the "Olympics" and we were all getting to our stations on the court when the clouds let loose.  This shows how we all tried to find any form of shelter!

 Kaylor at the top of the rock wall.

 Lauren on stage for one of the worship songs.... in Polish!

 This is the sanctuary of Tomy Church.  Sometime we'll have to show a picture of their Internet Cafe that is open throughout the day as an outreach to the community.

 Kaylor's date to the banquet... our friend Tomek Penchek.

Lauren chose to go with a group of girls to the banquet.  We love banquet night... pizza!

Language Camp- Day 1

I will NOT let this post be about my ailments... but it's so CLASSiC that I would be starting language camp with a cold virus that is now causing me to lose my voice. yep- so classic!  I don't feel well, but still have to be on my "A" game.  I do thank God that I have HIS unlimited source to tap into, because there's no way I can manage without it!  Pray the cold will lift soon... my sciatica is letting up and I'm feeling so much better with that, so thank you to all who have been praying!  I'm just curious as to how I've been giving the "lot" of all these physical ailments?!!!!

We ended the international basketball camp week with around 31 campers who made decisions about Christ!  Some incredible life-changing things happened, which is great to be a part of.  Over 154 campers (ages 7-13) are here for language camp now.... all arriving today!  We had yesterday to do laundry and get into Tomaszow to get some items.  BUT,  guess who are going to be campers?!! Yep- the girls!  They are in cabin 8 with 4 other Polish girls.  Their English level is from little to alot (more in the medium to little range), which made for some funny moments.  Pray for Lauren... she had a hard time this late afternoon and evening with her decision to be "camper".  She was sad because she didn't have any "friends" (Kaylor is in the same cabin, but she didn't count!) and she was going through the whole language barrier thing.  I wasn't surprised she was having some doubts.  BUT, after our evening meeting and worship time (and my sitting with her with her group), I went with her and Kaylor to the cabin because Lauren was ready to meet the girls.  So, I "broke the ice" and got all the girls laughing at my trying to learn Polish from the girls and just trying to make Lauren comfortable.  It must've worked because when I said I should probably go and get to bed, she said she was fine and gave me a hug goodbye!  This is a big step for me as well, if I'm willing to admit so!  Pray for the girls... K & L and the others.... Ola, Olga, Ania, Suza... may God bless their week together and bless one another!

Heading to bed now! Night!

Wednesday

Drills and skills training... a guy named Patrick from a church in California is leading this portion.  He knows his stuff since he trains athletes for his profession!

I don't know what to even call this... but it looked killer!

 Ok, this is a little bird the girls and their friend Natalia tried to "save" and take care of.  It was the cutest thing and they were WAY serious about it.  They named the bird Kendle.  Sad thing... she somehow was "lost" yesterday.  The roof of their fortress (see below) was left off and they don't know what happened to it. :(  Needless to say, they were heartbroken and we prayed for her safety and return.  We shall see.....

Yes, they camoflouged rocks with moss and leaves and grass.  This was a huge undertaking by the kids and they dug up worms and everything!

International Basketball Camp

Today started their 2nd week of International Basketball Camp.  There are teams from the Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, Poland and America.  Here are some pictures I took today.  We all slept very soundly, but jetlag did catch up to us mid-morning... naps were a must (well, at least for Josh and I!).

The Lodge... we are staying on the last room on the right.  The first level is the dining hall.  It has a beautiful deck to eat and hang out on.

Josh and Ryan (a friend of ours who finishing up his last year of college in sports management and who is joining us for two weeks here!) scouting out the talent for the younger group of guys.  Ryan looks like he wants to jump in the game!!  Then in a few hours, the "draft" will be announced.  It looks like I might be scorekeeper for some games this week!  

We're HERE!

Well- we made it!  All four of us and all 10 of our bags (which, by the way, we didn't have to pay for the two extra ones!!!) made it to Warsaw this afternoon.  We were greeted by our dear friends (and the overseers of the ministry) Maui and Ewa Dwualt.  We piled all our luggage (another miracle!) into the two cars and they sent us straight on down to camp about an hour away with one of the cars. They led us out of Warsaw and we stopped at a McDonalds (they are coming later with other groups coming in from the states).  I attempted to order two chocolate icecream cones (ended up going with a chocolate McFlurry to save me the embarrassment of botching up the order with my severely limited Polish!) and one Big Mac.  I typically "hold the cheese", but I, again, didn't bother to try.  So, once back in the car, I decided I needed to look up cheese (no is "nie") and ice cream in attempts of some day trying to order the way I want/need to!  So- driving by ourselves in Poland... check.  attempting to order food in Polish... check (I "attempted" at least!).  I think that's a pretty good start!

Camp is as beautiful as it's always been.  I will try and post a picture of it tomorrow.  Saturdays are "lull" days between their camps.  There is a group of about 20 Lithuanian high school students that came for last week's camp and are staying through next week.  I got to meet some of them this afternoon and I just love hearing my girls say, "There are so many languages spoken here right now!".

Girls did great on the planes and slept the 6 hour lay over in Copenhagen's airport.  I wish I could say I did as well, but Josh and I took turns staying awake to make sure no one attempting to run off with our carryon items!  I think we are all going to be happy to sleep in beds tonight!  Speaking of beds, we have been given the same room we had 4 years ago and it's been remodeled!  We somehow got the best room in the inn because there are three beds and AC!  The AC alone makes it the best.... because it's HOT during the day!  As soon as the sun went down, the mosquitos came out... and guess what I didn't end up packing in one of those 10 pieces of luggage?  Yep, repellant. I'm sure we'll find someone who has brought some along!

Well, I'm going to close up because Josh is outside learning how to help teach and

Onward!

In 15 minutes, we will be leaving for Boston and heading out to POLAND!  It's unbelievable that this day has finally arrived.  Excited and nervous all at the same time.... it's nerves with hoping how all our luggage will get checked in smoothly.  We ended up with 2 extra pieces of luggage, so maybe we'll be fortunate enough to have an attendant take pity on us and not charge us for the 2 extra pieces?!!! Ah, wishful thinking!  Will post once I get a chance again... but we fly to Iceland then to Denmark and finally to Warsaw arriving in the afternoon their time.  Eastern Standard timers.... think about us at 8:30am Saturday... because that's when we'd be arriving in Warsaw!!! Love to all!!!!

And now...Off to NH!

I know I say this every time, but where does time go?!  Tomorrow morning we take off to head back home to NH and this will be a return home that will be a memory maker I'm sure!  5 kids and 6 adults will be loading up in my brother and sister-in-law's RV to make the trek back.   We'll have a few days of showing them our favorite sights and places in NH and Maine before we leave for Poland next Friday!

So for today, we will get our "summer family vacation" bags all packed up and put our van in storage at the farm for the year.  Emotionally?  I have mostly excitement, but I've had some anxiety and worry creep up. Come on, let's be honest here.... we've had an intense last 5 months of preparations!  We had to carry some of those preparations over to our "vacation" time with family, which is fine, but it's hard to get a "break" from thinking about all we've had to get done prior to our leaving! It's a flood of emotions really,... and based on the "unknown" of schedules and things of what's to come for the year. Have we accomplished everything that truly needs to be done before we leave?  Do we have everything we need?  Are we forgetting something important?!  Ah- at one point you just have to let it go and trust that everything is ready. :)

So that's why my quiet time this morning was so important and I'm allll good for now!!

I am looking forward to this blog steering away from just "updates" on getting "prepared" to the day-to- day stories of starting our year-long journey in Poland!  Hopefully the posts will become more enjoyable, flavorful and God-inspiring!!!  Thanks for walking this road with us!  Blessings!