My Bubbling Teapot

2007-06-10T11:32:00.000-07:00

I'm officially moving to xanga. Please come visit me there. I might be back someday, but right now xanga is more user friendly and a lot of my friends are over there. Sorry, bloggers.
My address is:
http://www.xanga.com/bubblingteapot

A Mother's Eyes

2007-06-02T03:27:00.000-07:00

I never thought I would stoop to such things. When visiting other homes as a teenager, I disdained the clutter of child’s paintings on the refrigerator. I scoffed at the messiness of obvious child’s experiments in jars in the corner, in egg cartons on the windowsill, on newspaper spread on the table.

I vowed my house would be neat, immaculate, and free of childish clutter. I would have an “art gallery” in some out-of-the-way place. Caterpillars would stay outside where they belonged. Clay projects could dry in the garage. My refrigerator would not become a bulletin board.

But guess what I discovered? I couldn’t destroy the “beautiful” drawing that my son labored over for hours. How could I throw away the ugly plastic cup with one forlorn flower drooping lifelessly over the side? I remembered my daughter’s gleeful smile when she proudly held out a dandelion clutched in her grimy hand. I never thought I would have a garden growing on my windowsill from the seeds that my son carefully collected. It would be cruel to dismantle my son’s terrain alive with caterpillars, twigs, and grass.

Oh, how different things look from a mother’s eyes! How different things feel from a mother’s heart! If my house looks like an art gallery, it’s because I fondly recalled the little hands that painted each picture. If I have to clean around art projects, I smile at my children’s creativity. I have discovered that an immaculate house is not real beauty. Real beauty is expressed by shining eyes, heartwarming smiles, and wrap-around hugs from happy children.

Many Blessings

2007-05-23T06:54:00.001-07:00

Life has precious moments of blessings. I would like to share three with you. (1)Last weekend our church enjoyed a weekend retreat at a a Christian retreat center. Our theme was prayer and I felt God nudging me to spend more time with Him. Thanks, Lavern and Lolita, for planning such a great weekend!

(2) Corleen led a "children's choir" on Sunday morning. It was awesome, Cor!! And the message powerful! Thanks, children!!!

The children singing "Love is a Flag"

(3) Robin's sister, Caia spent some time here and she blessed me in so many little ways. Thanks, Caia! You were a blessing! She sewed Allison and Hadassah, and Annaliese all look-alikes!!! What a thoughtful gift. Our girlies were happy to wear them at the weekend retreat. It was especially appreciated since I don't seem to find much time to sew recently! (or is that ever?)

The three girls wearing their dresses with Caia!!!

More Substitutes

2007-05-17T04:01:00.000-07:00

Today I'm making monster cookies. And I'm realizing how many American ingredients it takes--peanut butter (ok, we CAN buy it here, but it is expensive and not very good), brown sugar, corn syrup, and chocolate chips. That's a long list of things I can't get here. So, I try not to make these kinds of cookies too often. More substitutes (this time some dressings I like that I can't buy here):

Ranch Dressing

1 cup buttermilk
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 tsp. onion salt, garlic salt, celery salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. parsley flakes
Mix together and use on your favorite salads!

French Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp. mustard
1 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. water
1/4 cup oil
Mix and serve!

Italian Dressing

2/3 cup cold water
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. onion powder
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/8 tsp.pepper, allspice, paprika
1 tsp. celery salt, garlic powder
1/4 tsp. oregano
2 soda crackers

Combine in blender. Blend until smooth.

Croutons

Butter both sides of bread. Sprinkle with seasoning salt. Bake on 250 degrees for one hour or until dry and crisp. Stir occasionally. We love these homeade ones.

"Quick and Easy" or "Difficult and Time-consuming"?

2007-05-12T03:51:00.000-07:00

Trying to follow an American recipe in Poland can be a catastrophe. Especially, those recipes that say "Quick and Easy." About 99% of the time, I must first of all make my substitutes for the time-saving bought ingredients that aren't available over here. After all my dishes are dirty preparing all the ingredients, I can then assemble the recipe. Unfortunately, for me, these recipes become quite complicated. Georgene posted about being faithful in little things. I thought I would post some of the substitutes I've learned to use. Maybe some of you can save some money by preparing your own substitutes.

Bisquick Substitute
8 cups flour
4 1/2 Tablespoons baking powder
8 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. cream of tartar
2 tsp. salt
1 3/4 cups shortening
Mix until finely crumbled. Store in air-tight container or in the freezer.

Sweetened Condensed Milk Substitute
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup powdered milk
1/2 cup warm water
Blend in blender until smooth. Chill.

Cream Soup Mix
2 cups instant dry milk powder
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup chicken boullion
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Combine. For one can of cream soup (10 3/4 oz) blend 1/3 cup mix and 1 1/4 cup water.
I have many more, but maybe this is enough for today. I will post more later.

Eleven-hour boat trip

2007-05-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

...and we found out that is a long ride!!! Friday we took the children on a school field trip. We left at 4 a.m. from home to catch our boat at 8 in the town of Elblag and spent all day riding a boat in the lake region of Poland through canals, over lakes, down rivers, over land (!!!), through locks, and finally docked in the town of Ostroda at 9 pm (a little later than we planned)!!! We saw some awesome scenery, consumed two back-packs full of food, identified birds, talked to other people on the boat, and just relaxed in the sunshine and enjoyed being together as a family.

A boat we met coming up the canal from the same company that we were riding with.

Yes, the canal just suddenly ended. There were five slopes like this on our trip and a little cart carried the boat and us up a total of three hundred feet during a 6 mile distance. Amazing! And interesting.

The little cart like the one we rode up the slope on!

The whole crew ready for adventure

The Captain and First Mate (that's me!)

That's the bird-watcher, Austin. If you're interested in the details, they saw many birds, but only identified these--mallard, mute swan, coot, black-headed sea gulls, gray heron, cormorant, marsh harrier, goldeneye, pochard, great crested grebe, crane, and a cuckoo.

Derek, are you tired of the boat trip already? It was fun for the children to buy food and drinks from the snack bar below deck, but it was hard on the pocket book, so we kept it to a minimum. Allison constantly wanted to buy me tea or coffee or asked if she couldn't buy some candy. The lady was patient with her many trips to the snack bar and eventually struck up a conversation with her.

Our Great Venture

2007-04-24T01:17:00.000-07:00

We feel so blessed that God has given us a property of our dreams. There are many questions ahead that could discourage us:

Will we as foreigners actually get permisssion by the end of the year to own this piece of land? (as stated in the preliminary contract we signed this week)
Will we be able to find all the building materials to build a wooden house instead of the normal block here?
Will we find enough volunteers from America to come and spend some time here building our house? If you are interested in maybe a short VS opputunity or would like more details, email us at jolasmucker@terramail.pl .
Will we get permission to cut down trees where we want to build our house if it is zoned as forest land?
How will we be able to give the time we need to this project with our already busy schedules?
Will the money stretch to accomodate all expenses with the extremely weak dollar?

Yes, there are no answers right now for these questions. But we choose to trust God. He has led us so far, giving us peace about this purchase, helping us find an honest inspector who will deal with all the building hassles for us, giving us a small cabin on the property for the VS boys to live in, helping us to agree on a house plan. You can view it here. Of course, I can't tell you about all the modifications. You will just have to imagine.

We worked all day Saturday. We cleared away dead branches and twenty-years' worth of leaves on the ground. Rewarding, but very slow work. There are windows to replace in the vandalized cabin, fence to build to keep the vandals out, insulation to be put in the cabin to make it winterproof, the bathroom redone to include a shower of sorts. We ended the day with a kielbasa roast with the whole team to celebrate!

There are some things I love about the place:

The children were playing and I couldn't even here them from the spot I was working on the two acres.
The pond and the TREES that are big enough for climbing and a swing.
The place to build the house has lots of trees between it and the road.
It is back a small lane, but yet in the village. (I love my privacy)
The whole team was grilling kielbasa and instead of filling up my whole back yard like here, we only were a speck on the property.

Yes, it is a venture of great faith, but as you can tell we are excited. Here are a few pictures for you:

The pond at the back of the property

The Cabin

Two little munchkins picking up sticks and playing on our property.

Conrad hard at work in the doorway of the cabin

Dad and Alli lighting a fire in the fireplace inside the cabin

Les hanging insulation upstairs in the cabin

Our grill of celebration

Look at the sizzling kielbasa!!!

Quote of the Day:

Dad (after he finishes reading the Bible story): Allison, what kind of skin did Jacob cover his arms with?

Allison: Children's skin.

Dad: What?!?

Allison: Dad, you said kid's skin!

Reflection Week

2007-03-30T01:01:00.000-07:00

Last week was Reflection Week in the Roman Catholic Church and schools actually closed for this holiday. It was created for a very good purpose, to give people a chance to reflect over their lives before Easter. A very good idea in my opinion.

But in reality, nothing is different. In fact, the pace of life increases instead of having a spirit of solemn contemplation. Young people hang around town in groups. The streets swarm with a harried crowd racing from store to store to find their Easter baskets and "palm branches." People are wildly beating rugs and feriously washing windows in preparation for their great "Wielkanoc" (Easter). All the town flocks to the market to buy new curtains and rugs for their newly cleaned houses. Actually, the whole country is in a frenzy to make sure that they are following their age-old traditions surrounding Easter.

The church is busier than usual, it is true. Many stop for a few minutes of reflection on their way to town. But are these people reflecting on the true conditions of their heart? As they deprive themselves of something dear to them during their "Great Fast", are they comprehending the true meaning of what they are doing? As they carry their branches to church on Palm Sunday, do they really think about Jesus coming to the earth as King for them personally? As they carry their baskets to church to be blessed by the priest for their Easter breakfast, are they contemplating the true meaning of the bread, the egg, and the meat that they carried within?

Then I look at my own heart? How many times am I just doing what I'm doing because I feel obligated? How many times is my heart far away from my actions? How many times am I doing my duty out of habit and not an initiative of my own. My greatest pray is to really understand the sufferings that Jesus endured for my sins personally. I want to make the cross a daily experience for myself. How I long for the cross and resurrection to have real meaning in my life.

Spring Cleaning is Dangerous!!!

2007-03-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

My house was in sad need of a cleaning from top to bottom today . I was planning to clean the downstairs yesterday, but I've learned the flexibility is essential here. I didn't get one thing cleaned yesterday. So, this morning, I'm thinking that I will do a quick over all cleaning. But as I began looking at the living room I saw so many things that needed to be cleaned I decided to spring clean the whole room. Very dangerous! So instead of cleaning my house, I spent all day cleaning my living room. I was washing and hanging out curtains, polishing the lights and windows, dusting the shelves, cleaning out magazine racks, wiping the baseboards, and oh, my, everything looked so nice. Such a good feeling!!!

The last thing that needed to be done was to roll up the big rug and haul it outside. These sweepers over here are for the birds. Every so often we just have to take our carpets out and beat all that dust out of them, which isn't impossible since we don't have wall-to-wall carpet. So, bless their hearts, Austin and Robin hoisted the rolled up rug and hauled it out and I could hear "Whack! Whack!" What a lovely sound. I quickly swept and mopped so it would be dry and ready when it was ready to be laid down. Soon, Robin comes in and says, "You won't believe this, but the neighbor lady saw us out there beating rugs and she decides hers needs to be beat, too. So, our comes her husband laden with their rug. 'Only a little one!' she told them. Ha! It was big!" So they got a double job. But what a blessing! My rug is nice and bright and I can just feel that everything is cleaner.

And the final stroke was to move out the couch! That is dangerous. How embarrassing! Here is what I found:

1. 4 matchbox cars
2. 3 dice, all different colors
3. a pencil
4. a broken pen, plus two that still worked
5. various game cards and game pieces
6. play money
7. blocks
8. Derek's favorite recorder
9. peanut shells
10. an eraser
11. a crayon
12.a puzzle
13. legos
14. a screw
15. a sticky blob of something
16. 2 children's books
17. a table knife
18. 1,000 dustballs

Ok, everyone! Move out your furniture and you will be appalled at the discovery!!! And sadly, the rest of my house waits to be cleaned. Next week perhaps???

Could Spring Really Be Here?

2007-03-10T12:23:00.000-08:00

John's student says, "No, it's impossible. Spring came too easy. There will be more snow and cold." Maybe so....

...but for now I see little brave crocuses breaking through the hard ground...I see green buds on my rosebushes...I see that the snow drifts have disappeared...and I hear birds...I feel a warmth in the air...I see the world waking up around me...

...And I choose to rejoice and believe that Spring is here and I will enjoy it to the full and believe it is here to stay!!!

I told the children today that we should have a "Welcome Spring" picnic soon just to celebrate that winter is gone!!!

And somehow I choose to rejoice in the feelings of newness in my heart as well. Why does it feel so much easier to rejoice and feel happy in the Spring of the year?

Keeping Sane For the Weekend

2007-03-06T00:34:00.000-08:00

Overnight guests can throw my weekends into an frenzy. In fact, this past weekend we had seven young people from Ukraine visiting us. That doubled the amount of people in our house. There are a few things that make entertaining more stressful for me here than in the states. I have...
...a small oven
...not a huge fridge
...a small table which means always cafeteria style
...no dryer
...not enough towels and washclothes
...limited storage space

So, I will share a few things I have learned in the past few years to adjust to my predicament when I have guests. I started cooking and baking on the Monday (almost a week ahead) so I wouldn't be trying to bake everything all at the same time. What a relief it was on the weekend to pull out fried hamburger for taco soup, mint brownies and pecan pie bars, baked apple doughnut muffins, and cinnamon rolls all ready to just thaw and be served.

On Tuesday I made out all my menus for the weekend (great idea). It was a comfort to just consult my list magneted to my fridge to see what the next meal was going to be and to know I had everything prepared and ready. Not one thought had to be directed to what I was going to have for the next meal. And I tried to keep it all simple. No time to try new recipes!!!

On Wednesday I went shopping for all the ingredients and stashed my cupboards full. I did find some frustration that my family couldn't understand why they couldn't eat all the apples and taco chips right now that mom had bought for the weekend. And a few things disappeared until the Saturday and had to be replaced, but it still was pretty stress-free to have all my ingredients at my fingertips.

On Thursday, I began cleaning my downstairs. I simply can't clean the whole house well all in one day. I spent the day cleaning out the childrens' rooms and the downstairs bathrooms. How nice it was on Friday to have half of my cleaning behind me.

On Friday, the day of arrival, I cleaned the main floor. I took out an hour or more to visit a friend that I had promised to go see this week. But, despite all my organization, I still worked up to the last moment. I did have time to whip up a breakfast burrito casserole to pop in the oven for brunch the next morning and also grate all my cabbage for my crockpot kraut and sausage dish for our meal at church on Sunday. I changed all the sheets, and that is always a circus because the beds over here aren't set up for American covers, sheets, etc.

My weekend was a whirlwind of activity. All day Saturday and all day Sunday was filled with activities and I never had one moment to do anything but survive. But it wasn't all that stressful thanks to my busy week of preparation.

And Monday morning, after they all left, I went downstairs to assess the situation. Embarrassed, I noticed that in both of my bathrooms there was not one towel or washcloth left!!! Oh, my, I do hope that none of them had to drip dry or anything. And I also found a batch of laundry that I had thrown in the washer Saturday morning, but never had time to get it hung up all weekend. And I will still be washing until at least Wednesday. The joys of no dryer!!!

All things considered, I count it a good weekend.

Shattered Shards Everywhere

2007-02-26T13:24:00.000-08:00

A peaceful evening was interrupted with the horrible sound of shattering glass. What shattered downstairs? In a second's time, my mind went through a mental list--the picture on the wall, the glass doors of the cupboards, windows, and I tried to think of all the precious glass objects downstairs. The next instant I was leaping down the stairs two at a time to find all eight persons of our household some running and some huddled around Alli and behind her a huge jagged hole in the glass on her bedroom door. Talk about making a person feel shaky. I felt myself getting faint as I was bandaging up all the little scrapes and cuts, but I felt incredibly thankful that she was alright. Amazing how many bandaids we used. Somehow her shoulder had hit the glass and it shattered cutting her shoulder, foot, and hands. Freak accident. Poor little thing. Her teeth were chattering and she was quite traumatized. I'm still a little worried about her eye. She was rubbing it and rubbing it, but we couldn't see anything at all. We'll see how it is tomorrow. I rocked her big as she is and tried to reassure her, but I'm sure it isn't going to be easy for her to put it out of her mind and go to sleep.

Note: This morning, Alli came chirping up the stairs, "Mamma, look what I found in the corner of my eye? It looks like some plastic or something." Yes, it was a small piece of glass, I'm sure. It must have floated around all night and she picked it out this morning. I'm so thankful. I was envisioning going to the emergency room and trying to communicate in Polish what was going on. Thank you, Lord!

Property Hunting

2007-02-26T10:06:00.000-08:00

Les told us the other day that he thinks "property hunting" has become our hobby. He might be right. It is true that in the last couple of years, we have looked at a number of properties and houses for sale close to the town of Minsk. So far, none of them have materialized.

We sense a great need for something to change. We have been living on this small lot in town now for five years. While the house itself is quite adequate, we feel that we need more space for our growing family. So we continue to look and pray. We want our property to be God's property and we only want to purchase something that we feel that God is blessing. And nothing has fallen into place yet.

About one month ago, John's student told us about a property for sale about two miles from Minsk in a small village. We arranged with the owner to go look at it. There are a lot of positive things about it that would have been negatives of the other places we've looked at in the past. The city water and electric are there ready to hook up to. (A big plus!!!) The two-acre piece is wooded with a small A-frame cabin (another plus!!! A perfect home for the VS boys that are now living with us). The land slopes down to an open area that has a garden plot and a pond (of course the boys think that is a big plus!!! They informed me that they were sure there would be enough space for playing ice hockey), and along the back of the property flows a small creek. It really is a beautiful piece of land. The negative is that there is no house and we would have to build. But it seems like it could be a possibility. There are close neighbors but you would be more nestled back in the trees and you wouldn't think about it like some places we've looked at.

And the best thing is that what we are willing to pay and what the owner wants for it is only five thousand dollars difference. So, we are seriously interested. The owners want us to make up our minds soon because there are other parties interested. But, we are waiting for a couple of problems to be resolved related to the deed before we make a decision. We would like you to pray with us about this so that we can feel clearly either way the direction of our Heavenly Father. Thanks for your prayers and care!

I Hate Mending

2007-02-15T06:50:00.000-08:00

There! That makes me feel better! I...
...detest
...abhor
...despise
mending.

I'm sure those of you who are virtuous mothers are shaking their heads and wondering what is the matter with me. I don't know where I missed it, but the pile of mending in my sewing center makes me cringe with hatred.

Why do I wait until all of Allison's dresses are missing a button before I finally, grudgingly get out my needle and thread? Why does a dress hang for two years in my closet with chopped off sleeves that are only waiting for one seam? Why do John's Sunday pants lay over my bedroom chair for weeks before I finally get around to sewing the loophole back on?

I've always hated repairing clothes. When I learned to sew and sewed my sleeve in upside down, I would have rather started all over than to tear out the one little seam.

Mending is such a tedious chore. But today, when I finally got around to sewing on six buttons on six dresses, sewing up a hole in the back of another, and zigzagging around two pockets that were coming loose, I realized it had only taken me about fourty-five minutes. And the time I spent before dreading the task was worse than actually doing it. I hope next time it won't look so big. And now Alli has five more dresses!!! I'll let you in on a big, deep, dark secret---I hate ironing, too!!!!

January Poland Update

2007-02-12T23:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, folks, time for another update. I decided to post our monthly letter here for those of you who don't get it regularly.

Let's hear from all the departments this month.
Smucker's School Department--
The children are continuing to struggle through their winter's school work. Today when one of them announced that there are only 12 weeks left, everyone's spirits seem tolift a little. It is at this time every year that I think we are not goingto make it to the end of school. Every year about this time I'm ready tosend them all out the door, but I'm hoping in another month or so some ofthe subjects will be finished and dropped off so it will make a lighter loadfor all of us. There are many arguments (Smuckers say they are discussions)about history and science, since my boys love facts and history. Today the"discussion" was centered around whether the St. Lawrence Seaway is made up of only the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes and if it is manmade or not. Maybe you would like to join the discussion.

Smucker's kitchen Department--
This lady spends more time in the kitchen than she really likes. It seemswhen any one of the eight bodies enters this kitchen, food disappears into thin air. When I walk out the store door with more bags than I can handle alone, I can see people thinking I'm stocking up for the month when in reality I'm only getting fresh bread, eggs, milk, and a few things we need for the day. I could tell a difference in the amount I cooked when Les and Robin were inIreland and I was only cooking for our family. Even though I still had to cook, the amounts seemed a little more manageable.

Smucker's laundry and clean up crew--
The children would say this is what they do all the time when they aren'tdoing school. Well, I beg to say that is a little exaggerated, but I do getweary of all the wet clothes hanging all around our heaters and all over the downstairs in the cold winter weather wehn I can't hang the clothes outside. It is a full time job to keep our play room tidy and I think we all agree that it is the worst chore around here.

Smucker's music and art department--
The boys are enjoying their piano lessons this year with a voice teacher from the local music school. I do sometimes weary of the repetition, but I see improvement in their playing, so that's good. We have been singing together as a family some and the children enjoy that. Conrad has really picked up playing Les's guitar and he really enjoys it. Robin has a banjo and Austin has learned a little from Robin on this instrument as well.

And the children have made sand art, snowflakes, leaf wreaths, andalso learning some drawing skills in their weekly art with Corleen. This is a highlight of their week. Our hats are off to her!!!

Smucker's head department--
John spends a lot of time with daily school administration and mission stuff. It would drive me crazy, but he seems to thrive on it. We have been so blessed with the number of students we have had this year. It's amazing how God keeps bringing new people to sign up. The changeover is large which is normal for a small language school, especially with our emphasis on conversation. That makes a lot of paperwork each month which is one thing that keeps John busy. He spends time talking with students, trying to keep them happy, taking monthly payments from them, and trying to encourage the teachers in their work.

Smucker's events, weather, and other headlines--
John enjoyed many cards, emails, and phone calls for his birthday. Thanks to all of you who contributed. It is so fun to get mail during the drearywinter months. He had a great birthday although he had caught on what was going on before he received his first birthday wishes. :( Oh, well, it was still fun. I painted his office, put up a border, hung a tapestry and a clock, put some classy framed pictures of his family on his desk, and the for a finishing touch, a big plant in the corner. He never dreamed that I would go to that much work for his birthday and it was fun to see how pleased he was. He told me he might enjoy being in his office more now than being at home.

The weather this winter has been so mild. We have had almost more rain thansnow. Strange! But the nice part is that with no cold, cold, cold weatherour house is staying reasonably warm and that is something to rejoice about.I still remember last year when we totally blocked off one room in our houseand put all the heaters in that room, so we could enjoy one warm room and wespent a couple of evenings huddled around those heaters during the coldestof the cold weather. I remember one evening last winter we went to a localpizza restaurant, just to be in some warm place and lingered over our pizzaas long as we could. But this winter, PTL, we are warm!!! I don't miss theincredible cold. We've had some wind and rain storms through here but wehaven't had any damage thankfully.

We just finished two weeks of winter break. I didn't give the children vacation totally but I lightened their load so we could still have a bit of a break. John spent several days being sick which wasn't what he had in mind.

Prayer Requests:
--Jacek and Agnieszka, a couple that had made a commitment to the Lord, but after their marriage have not indicated any interest in spiritual things.
--Wanda seems to have hit the bottom and has nowhere to turn. Pray that she would be willing to give up everything including her ungodly boyfriend and return to God.
--Henryk and Irena, our neighbors, seem to think that we are their family, but are very closed spiritually. Pray that God would open their hearts.
--Wojtek and Agnieszka, Laura's friend, just recently told me that she didn't realize you could pray for anything except thanking God for her health and her family's health. She felt like she wasn't worthy of asking God for anything else.
--Once per month we have a Sunday evening service at Andrew's, a single man's house close to Warsaw. He invites his friends and family and it is always a good time together. Pray that God would speak to people through Andrew. Have a good month.

Foreign Language and Sunday School

2007-01-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

I have always found teaching Sunday School to be a stretching experience for me. I can expect to spend a significant amount of time in commentaries, reading related articles, studying the Bible and such. But nothing prepares you for teaching SS in a foreign language.

First of all, to begin study, minimum, I will need:

My English Bible (to read what I'm actually trying to teach)
My Polish Bible (to check to see how to say things in Polish)
My notebook (to jot down all my thoughts and ideas)
My "Experiencing God's Peace" book that we are studying (Thank the Lord it's in English)
My English-Polish dictionary volume (to look up many unfamiliar words)
My Polish-English dictionary volume (to double-check to make sure the meaning is right)

Whew! All that before I can even begin. Did you ever realize that "Church" vocabulary is completely different than everyday vocabulary? Well, it is. There are many times just going to church is discouraging when you see how many words in the sermon are unfamiliar to your ears.

Well, just try preparing for Sunday School in Polish. It is a slow, agonizing struggle. It can take me a whole week to get all the words I need. And of course, once you find all the words, you need to get all your words into cohesive thoughts which might be dramatically different in gramatical structure. And don't try reading any awe-inspiring quotes or deep thoughts. They will go flat every time. Things just don't always translate well.

So, a shiver went through me when I suddenly remember on last night that I am scheduled to teach SS on Sunday (thank the Lord it wasn't Saturday night). I realized last night that I had a full days work today just to prepare (let alone my normal Saturday chores of making food for Sunday and pizza and doing laundry.) I do hope I'm prepared. It looks scary. Maybe we should have prayer time or share time like I did last month. :)

Do I hear volunteers for teaching next month?

The Day of Days

2007-01-10T05:27:00.000-08:00

Today my husband told me I need to take the afternoon off. Knowing there wouldn't be any privacy at home, he shooed me out the door telling me to go spend some time in a quiet place. Is that awesome or what? I thought about going to Piano Pizza and sitting by their fireplace, but somehow I wasn't sure what people would say if I came in toting a laptop computer, a Bible, a journal, and the book The Jesus I Never Knew. I know that would have brought a lot of stares. Not being in the mood for Polish stares, I opted for the teacher's room at GTE (Gateway to English), knowing that there wouldn't be much activity at our English school in the early afternoon.

What bliss!!! Reading a whole chapter without interuptions...being able to think about whatever I want...not seeing the 101 things at home that haven't got done yet today...catching up on emailing and writer's workshops...I feel blessed and pampered today. (I must say, my husband seems to be winning all contests right now of "How to Treat Your Wife of Your Life.")

But, I know at the end of this afternoon, I will be ready to go home. After all, who likes your own company forever!!!

Loving and Hating Vacations

2006-12-30T06:01:00.000-08:00

I hate Christmas vacations because:

Bits of wrapping paper, boxes, and gifts lay around all week.
Crumbs from all-day snacking find their way to chairs, carpets, counters, etc.
Everyone is in everyone else's way, trying to figure out new games, read new books, put together new puzzles.
There is still the usual cooking, cleaning, and laundry all week long and sometimes it doesn't seem like a break at all for mom.
Tempers seem shorter than normal.

But there is more that I love about Christmas vacation:

Cozy evenings reading with candles flickering on top of the piano.
Putting together a puzzle every year (at least a 1000 piece one)
Yummy brunches made every morning by prearranged volunteers.
Lots of cookies and candy to make us all fat.
Going to the zoo and going out for supper (this has become a yearly tradition. Kinda strange, but it's something we do together every year.)
Taking time for playing games together.
Christmas music floating around all of us all week.
Going ice skating on the new rink in town since the ponds aren't frozen yet.
Time to think while the children are occupied elsewhere. (a great gift since we homeschool and there is never a time when the children aren't around here)

Yes I do feel blessed. Remind me of the good times when I feel like complaining, ok???

2006-12-24T13:49:00.000-08:00

We all want to wish you a very Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!John, Laura, Conrad (14), Austin (12),

Derek (9), and Allison (7)

That Husband of Mine...

2006-12-18T09:16:00.000-08:00

...is at it again!!! He whisked me off yesterday for a romantic overnight stay at an American hotel in Warsaw for my birthday. We had been there about three years ago and had enjoyed it so much that he even requested the same room. It was a wonderful, welcome break from the everyday life of being mom, wife, teacher.

Here is my one and only picture to prove it. This is our complimentary room service breakfast that they brought us this morning...

The Works!!!

While I'm sharing pictures, I want to share some pictures from the team's Christmas program that we put on Saturday night. We invited all our English students, plus our friends totally about 70 people. Pretty amazing. The children preformed a very meaningful Christmas play "From the Scribe's view" interspersed with singing. The team helped with some songs and we had time for the audience to help sing Christmas carols (Polish and English) as well. Truely, it was a lovely evening from the candle-lined window sills to the haybale-poinsetta-lantern backdrop to the three sweet angelic angels come to minister to the shepherds to the Christmas tea and the 140 cinnamon twists that disappeared after the program. I thought the message of the evening really was powerful if the people could understand all the words that were said and sung.

The Scribe and the Innkeeper

Joseph's Monologue

The shepherds in their field

The three Angels come to sing and proclaim hope

All the Children singing

Happy Birthday, Derek!!!

2006-12-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

Today we celebrated Derek's 9th birthday. It brought back many memories...the many prayers that ascended before his conception...hours of walking the airport runway in South Boston, VA during labor...the joy of seeing such a beautiful child...seeing the delight in our other boys' faces at having a new baby brother.

Derek is our giving child. He is never happier than when he is making other people happy. Many notes, drawings, and cards are tucked away in my "keepsakes" folder, ultimate treasures. He delights in surprising others by doing their work for them. He spreads sunshine whereever he goes.

Today he worked ahead in all his school work just so he could have the day off. He had made a list for me before I went to America, listing in great detail what he wanted for his birthday.

Does Derek look happy with his gift?

He ordered cheesestuffed pizza, chips, pop, and chocolate eclairs

He worked all afternoon helping to create his erector remote control truck.

Does he looked pleased or what???!!!

Trip to Oregon

2006-12-09T04:26:00.000-08:00

As some of you already know, I made an unexpected flying trip to be at my sister Judy's wedding this past week. My Dad had some free miles that he used to purchase my ticket only a little more than a week before the wedding. We decided to try to surprise everyone. But the trip wasn't without it's problems.

When I got to Warsaw the first morning, my flight to London was cancelled because of the fog. (Warsaw can handle piles of snow, but not fog). The next day I went back to Warsaw and began my delayed trip. When I got to Vancouver that evening and my one hour flight to Portland was cancelled. (Vancouver can handle dense fog, but not snow!!!) Five out of six of my flights were either delayed or cancelled!!! I arrived in Portland a day and a half after I was planning. I had lots of stories to tell. Here are a few excerpts I wrote home while there:

"Well, the story doesn't end yet...I don't have a way to call you so I thought you would probably check email first thing in the morning. I'm at Ramada Inn in Vancouver using their free internet service. My flight to Portland was cancelled!!! Can you imagine??? Dad asked me if this trip is jinxed or what. It is a long story, but they are caked in snow here and a lot of flights were cancelled. So...I wait again."We got in on time, but then there was a mix up with the gates and we waited on the plane for probably one half hour. Then we went in to get our luggage. I was suppose to be able to just transfer instead of going through customs, but because the flight was cancelled, the door to the transfer was locked and I had to go all the way back down and go through Canadian customs...then we waited for our luggage for probably one hour because the door was frozen shut and they couldn't get it open. Imagine!!! How much more can go wrong?I met a really nice older couple from France (I think God sent some very nice angels to minister to me) that had sat close to me on the plane and we got to talking while waiting for the luggage. Had a great conversation. They were former Catholics, but now are Protestant. They gave me some Canadian coins to try to make a phone call since I didn't have any Canadian coins and couldn't get any till we were past customs and offered me ten more so I could get some coffee or something to eat. Well, the phone wanted $10.70 to make my call!!! I knew that wouldn't work, so I went to the Air Canada baggage desk and told them I had to get in touch with my family in Oregon so they would know my flight is cancelled and wouldn't leave for the airport. The kind man behind the desk dialed the number and I talked on their phone. Then through customs...to the Air Canada ticket counter where I promptly disolved into tears when they told me there was no compensation for weather related problems. So...I was so tired, I knew I couldn't sleep well at the airport and it was still only 6pm, so I called for a room and they came and picked me up. I met another angel, the shuttle bus driver. He was a friendly black man that told me that snow hardly ever comes to Vancouver. He told me an internet site that I can check with in the morning to see the status of my flight. It is amazing how God sends people to really minister to you when you are in trouble. So I leave tomorrow at 7.30am from Vancouver."

"I woke up at 2:30am and couldn't sleep. I got up at 3, and had coffee in my very quiet motel room. I went to the lobby to check if my fllight is leaving for sure and the man behind the desk was still snoring!!! I didn't want to wake him up, so I went back to my room and dialed the desk. He sounded quite groggy. He helped me with the password to get onto the internet. Wow! Never had problems being up too early before. :)"

"I'm here and we are leaving in one hour to set up the school. I did manage to startle most of my family, although some of them were a little suspicious. Esther was the funniest. I just knocked and walked straight into the house. She did three little hops and a screech and ran to hug me. Ashley told her later, "Aunt Laura scared me." It is so good to be here. Looks like there won't be a lack of things to do for the wedding. I think everything is going pretty good, but I feel sorry for mom trying to get this wedding done and then leave for Belize on Tuesday."

"We just got back from setting up the reception. Lots of work. They are planning on 600 people!!!!!! They have maroon poinsettas and stacks of old books with lanterns on round tables. Looks really pretty. It is so nice to be here, really!!! But I do miss having my family around me. Every so often I find myself looking for you or the children."

"We had a huge day today. We spent ALLL day making food and doing stuff at the gym. I think we all thought it wouldn't take as long as it did, but now it's finished. I told Mom and Dad it feels like we are feeding the five thousand!!!! Judy is serving Romanian soup, European bread, and cold cuts. For dessert she is having a big chocolate chip cookie topped with an ice cream sundae. Yummy."

The wedding was really special and I was so glad I went. I had a Sunday evening with some of the Smucker family, one afternoon for shopping, and a morning making candy with the Smucker ladies. I crammed a lot in the little bit of time I had. Of course, there were still things I wanted to do like go see Marcus and Rhoda's house, visit Grandma, go to the chiropracter, see Phil and Blaine who couldn't be with the Smucker's because of sickness, and maybe do some more shopping. But, my trip was well worth it and the things I didn't get done will just have to wait until later. Thanks to all of you that helped out with various parts. You know who you were. :)

Sugarless Thanksgiving???

2006-11-27T01:47:00.000-08:00

In Poland, we never celebrate Thanksgiving on the actual day. It isn't a national holiday, so of course, we all have to do our normal jobs on the day. It seems a little weird, but I think we've adjusted.

We invited all our English students for a traditional Thanksgiving meal on Friday night. I made the pumpkin pies. The first two turned out glossy and moist. The next two looked drier, but absolutely beautiful. Hmm! I thought. Must be because I cut down on the cream in the second two. As I was cutting them, by mistake a sliver came off in my hand. I popped it in my mouth. Ugghhh! Something was wrong. No sugar!!!! I had forgotten to add the sugar. Well, since the first two were beautiful, we cut them in small pieces and served them. They got raves.

But the next day, Saturday, we opened our home to the team for our yearly Turkey dinner. Everything was delicious as usual, and we all felt stuffed. But the pumpkin pies???? Have you ever tasted them without sugar??? All the spices, but no flavor. Blahhhh! But we smothered them with whipped cream, and joked about our diabetic pie and ate them anyway. Maybe next year....

Our English students enjoying a traditional American Thankgiving

And our team in our livingroom

Robin carving the turkey

Happy Thankgiving everyone!!!