Happy Birthday to my Hannah!

Took this photo of Hannah this morning. she chose to get her hair cut for her birthday and I love it.

Today is my baby's 12th birthday. Hannah Nicole is 12 today. She officially turned 12 at noon. It amazes me that she is already 12, where does the time go?

12 Things I Love about Hannah

1. She's so loving to everyone she meets.
2. She is forgiving to fault.
3. She's so creative.
4. She remains innocent in her imaginations.
5. She loves her Daddy.
6. She makes me laugh!
7. She is very open with her feelings.
8. She is physically very loving.
9. She loves Jesus.
10. She is a friend that always shows herself friendly.
11. She has a great sense of humor.
12. She loves even the unlovable.

Happy 12th birthday Hannah, we all love you very much!

Fun finds at the market.

Hungarian postcard

So a friend and I headed to the market for our normal weekly scout and I was so excited to see that the postcard man was there. I've seen him there only a few times and I was delighted that he and I were there at the same time.

He had boxes and boxes of old postcards from all over Eastern Europe. I bought about 9 of them and love 'em. Actually I'm trying a bit of an experiment. I have seen lots of postcards on sale on ebay and I figured why not give it a try.

My family life as a young person was very difficult and we lived day to day. There were no summer vacations or leisure trips anywhere. For as long as I can remember my Mother has talked about wanting to see one thing before she dies. She has always wanted to see the Sequoia trees in Washington State.

So I figured I would start to look for things that can be cheaply mailed from Croatia and start trying to make some money on the side. I figured that I can sell small things through the internet and all proceeds will go to taking my mother to see the Redwoods when we return for furlough.

So anyhow, these are the postcards I found so far. I absolutely love the woman with the geese and the old man. They are all dated from 1914 to '24.

I love the writing on the back of these cards, some in Croatian, some in German.

French tinted Ceko card.
Super-love this card!
Nice and well...nice.

One of my favorites. I totally dislike naked little cherubs in art but this is cupid so it's different! The color is lovely.
still another.

Ministry Blessings!

I guess being busy in ministry is what it's all about, right? Well we're busy. Between the first church plant in Čakovec and the second in Varaždin we are hopping.

Sister Ljubica, the national pastor's wife taught a 10 week Bible course to the children that Johnny brings in on his van route on Sundays and Wednesdays. It was great and they did so well. Those kids memorized at least 10 verses and many were saved.

At the end of 10 weeks they recited memory verses and sang songs, it was so sweet and they very well. Most of these children come from one of the local Gypsy villages. Although they are all from good homes they still live in the village and see things that we can only imagine.
We have grown to love each of these children. They are rowdy and wild at times but Jesus loves them and died for them. Yes, in case you're one of those, children can be saved and many of these have been.

All the children received diplomas, they were so excited.Natalija


Elvira, daughter of our faithful Gypsy family.
Milek, son of the same Gypsy man.
Antonija
Rebeka, Bro Rajko's daughter. Oh yea that's Bro. Rajko above.
Viktorija
Ermica
Antonio
Matej, Bro. Rajko's 3rd child.
Kevin, oh wow a name you can prounounce! YEA!

Our Hannah girl!
Siniša, the first boy at church to have an outward crush on Hannah. Nipped that situation in the bud at lightning speed.

Okay now, Megi is Rajko's youngest and the most fun. She was so funny during the diploma ceremony, as Bro. Rajko would call the childrens name, you could hear Megi (Maggie) in the congregation saying her own name wanting her dad to call here. He finally did and you can see how excited she is as he tries to shake her hand and she's reaching for the diploma. We love her!

And finally Ruben, Bro. Rajko's oldest. This young man loves the Lord and tries to live by the Bible. We are short songbooks in the church and Ruben has more than once reached across the pew to offer me his. Too bad he's not a little older, or Hannah younger!

We had a wonderful day yesterday with 3 souls being saved. Here are pictures of the couple and then we had one more man but he asked not to be shown. God is so good and we're seeing that daily!
Nikolina, just saved a few weeks ago
and her boy friend Emil who decided at the last minute, actually when Johnny was getting ready to baptize his wife he decided he was going to do it too. He said his heart was pounding so hard and he knew he needed to do it too, that's the Holy Spirit for ya!

Altogether, life is good and God is wonderful!

Wheww, let me catch my breath.

Wow, I like being busy but I like having breaks too. Lately it seems like we're running from one special even to another, all to do with church of course.

Today I have to go to the church and finish the summer decorations. We have two windows in the new church plant that face the road and are perfect for information. In one of the windows is a huge plan of salvation. Since we are right around the corner from the market, on Thursdays and Saturdays hundreds walk past our church and many stop to read that plan. Hey ya never know!

Oh wait let me tell you what happened yesterday or actually it was Thursday. Isn't' that the way it works, days either run together because life is too slow of way too fast. Anyhow, a lady from the church and I went to buy some items for the window displays and parked in the parking lot of the little store. The lot was a little slanted on both sides and so I parked on the hill. After about 10 minutes, with sand pail, and shells in hand we headed out. Once I walked out I realized that things looked rather strange. the lot was full and there were two neat rows of parked cars running down both sides of the lot, except for one, mine! My van had the emergency break set and I put it in 1 gear before I got out and somehow faulty breaks (that will get their turn as soon as the bank says it's their turn) had allowed the van to roll backwards into the middle of this very busy parking lot and it was about a meter from hitting the little white car parked behind my big van. Talk about praising God, 5 more minutes inside and those breaks surely would have allowed my big white van and that little cracker box of a car to meet and in a bad way. Praise the Lord it didn't happen and guess who's not parking on any hills anytime soon!!

I'm heading to the market today, can't wait. Luckily the market is right by our church is it would be bad stewardship not to go and see if I can save some money over there. A couple weeks ago when a visiting missionary family was with us, I did something I have been wanting to for a long time. I actually haggled with the sales people. I saved us $2!! I know that's not a lot but $2 is still enough for an ice cold Dr. Pepper (manna). Anyhow, I am on the lookout for postcards today. I have done some research and I'm ready for the hunt!

Going to the market, the market, the market, I'm going to the market to buys myself some junk!

Oh yea, we have two new converts lined up for baptism tomorrow, can't wait. Our baptismal has been dry for several months. It's a real battle to get folks to be baptized here in Croatia. They are essentially taking a large step away from their families and it's usually a very hard decision.

Anyhow, looking forward to a wonderful day tomorrow! Hope you all have a great Lord's Day too!

B&BW Update

Okay so you know how bummed I was for having to pay full price for the Bath and Body stuff a week before they went on sale for half off. Well I called my sweet sister-in-law today and she said that the order was never delivered. After calling customer service I was informed that my order was canceled because my IP address showed that I was ordering from Europe and my credit card showed otherwise. So I just reordered the items and half off and the sweet lady on the phone, who sounded all of 12 informed me that within 2 weeks of a sale you can get a refund on the difference you paid and the sale price. How cool is that?

Oh yea and I ordered the Coco Cabana classics and I can't wait for them. It is impossible to find anything with the same quality of smell here in Croatia so getting BBW stuff is a real thrill for me, can you tell?

Anyhow, I knew you were all really stressed with my sad news of presale blues, but it's okay, really it is. I'm all better!

Are you kidding me???

Look who's having a great sale!! Bath and Body Works is having a wonderful sale on almost everything. They are selling their great classics for $5, that's half off from $10.

the irony of this sale is that last week I ordered some of this stuff and paid full price! I'm not bitter, I'm not bitter!!!

Anyhow, here's your chance to get a good deal and it is.

I Love Croatia #3

Well it's been a long time since I posted an I Love Croatia post but I'm back!

About 8 years ago I first tasted this old Croatian recipe called Zlevanka and simply loved it. It reminds me so much of home (the good ol' Lone Star State) and yummy corn bread and I think that's why I like it so much.

Anyhow, the other day at the national pastor's house his sweet wife Ljubica made Zlevanka. Okay let me confess a bit, I had 3 pieces!

So today I made some Zlevanka at home and served it with some mixed berries with lemon juice and powdered sugar. It was to die for and oh so easy. Croatians add dollops of fresh cheese and raisins but I think it's great without so that's how I fix it.

Here's the recipe and you'll be surprised at how easy and delish it is.

Croatian Zlevanka

1 cup flour
1 cup corn meal
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
2 large eggs
1 cup oil
1 cup milk

Mix everything thoroughly and pour into 9x8 baking pan or dish. Bake at °325 just until a tooth pick comes out somewhat clean, do not over bake.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar while still warm. Enjoy!

Let me know if you make this and what you think.

Old Navy + IKEA = Cool

Okay so I got the ol' Singer Ingenuity out today and tried something I have been wanting to for a while. I buy long jean skirts for Hannah from Old Navy, they're great but where the split is in the back they seem to wear out really fast. They pull when she runs (she doesn't know she's not suppose to run in those skirts) and the back wears out way faster then the rest of the skirt.

Anyhow, I had one of those such skirts and

this really cute birdy fabric from IKEA and a little initutive today so I jumped in. I bought a meter of fabric and used almost all of it with the belt too.
So here it is, oh yea and the model too. :0) I made the skirt two tiers and I like the fullness. The one problem I found was stitching the seam up or down on the inside. I couldn't stitch it to the jean because then you would be able to see the stitches on the jean and I could figure out how to stitch it to the skirt piece either. Oh well, it still turned out great.

Oh yea if you upsize this photo of Hannah you'll see she just lost a tooth. She goes tomorrow to the orthodontist and will soon be sporting shiny, new braces. She has really strait teeth but she is missing a tooth. It never formed and will never come in. She's missing the one to the right of her two big front teeth, no I don't know the name of that tooth, I'm a mom not a dentist! :0)


I included this one just because I like it. Hannah's always goofing off, I love that she's always smiling.

Look around, maybe that skirt you were planning on throwing out can be repurposed, ya never know.

Sew here we go!

Well we got out the machine today and Hannah made her very first pair of culottes. She did so well and made way less mistakes than I did the first time I sewed on the machine. She followed instructions very well and was crazy excited when she finished.

We used a box pleat pattern and it turned out really nice. They are a little large but that just means she'll be able to wear them even longer.

I really want her to learn all these homemaking skills before she becomes a wife. I married knowing very little about how to be a good wife and I know my poor husband suffered a little because of that. He finally told me, "No more Hamburger Helper!".

Anyhoo, here's Hannah's first real sewing project and I'm proud of her, not to mention it lightens my load! :0)

I'm back and with photos!

Wow, where do I even start? I have been gone from Blogville for a while now and yes I'm ashamed but I'm repentant and I'm back! Oh yea and with pics too!

We just said goodbye to Bro. Jim Pranger and his wife Laura this morning. They came down on Wednesday and he preached and then we took them to the coast on Thursday and then to the capital on Friday. It was fun and I managed to snap a few along the way.


Bro. Jim and Laura Pranger we missionaries in Russia for 10 years and are now in Budapest, Hungary. A Roman judgement hall in Pula, Croatia.


I saw this guy biking with his wife and little doggie. Look how he made a little tent for it, how sweet is that?


Some of my amature photography at the arena in Pula.



My kiddos, yea I'm proud!

Then on Friday we went to Zagreb and happened to catch a festival they were having, way too cool. Here are some random shots.








Okay now isn't this the most gnome-like fella you ever saw???



Like that table!



Yummy cheeses.


Oh yea and the students in Croatia are protesting the costs of college and this was one of the protests there. Apparently selling these students.
This guys was good, he was the salesman and he was so charismatic and likeable. He almost made me pick one out myself. :0)


Oh yea, check out that barcode on their foreheads, how prophetic!

Oh and these guys were there too, kinda knew that didn't ya?

**So sorry that I haven't been around to visit y'all but I'm back and I have lots of reading to do!