Jan 31, 2008

Oh Goody Goody Gumdrops!


Oh I'm so excited, guess what I just learned a few days ago....Okay I'll tell you. My very best friend Amanda is coming to Croatia!!!! Yes you heard me, Croatia, to see me. Oh my, I'm so excited. For so long we have talked about her life as a preachers wife in Texas and my life in Croatia, I could picture what she told me, having been there but she had no idea what Croatia was like. I'm so excited that I get to show her around my Home Away From Home.

Her and her husband, pastor of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Wylie, TX are coming either this spring or in the fall. I can't wait. Just wanted to share that with ya, I'm sure your so happy for me, right? right.
BTW, I'm on the right.

Jan 28, 2008

Just Stuff

Well the house is coming along, slowly but it's coming. We have all the furniture where it goes and Johnny's side of the office is finished and looking very neat and masculine. The other half of the office is for a futon, when we get the money and my sewing table and stuff. I really want to put up some shelves and put all my fabric where I can actually see it instead of tucked in buckets, we'll see.

We are off to the Police Station this morning, we have permanant residence but we still have to let them know that we're back in the country and sign some papers. Then we'll be legal again, it's a great feeling.

I remember before we were saved that feeling of guilt for sin in our lives, hey a clean conscience is the greatest gift. I'm so glad we get freedom from guilt through Christ! (don't know why I got on that)

I'm not reading anything at the moment, actually I was reading at When Risque is Okay, but it's my second time through so I'm in no hurry. The days seem so short here, not alot of time for anything, well maybe if I budgeted better and didn't blog so much, and read 'em.

Well we are headed to the capitol tomorrow to look at a minivan, I'm sure praying this is the van we have been waiting for. We have decided to wait until God gives us the perfect van. He has always given us what we needed so we're waiting for Him to do it again. With the Euro Dollar being so strong now, we're not getting much for our money. Right now 100 Euros is $150, so we're sure not getting a very good exchange rate, oh we'll we rest in knowing that our Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

Thought I would share this picture of Hannah making biscuits for breakfast, they turned out very good, actually they are really fluffy and take oil instead of shortning, much easier. Here's the recipe:

BIG DADDY BISCUITSINGREDIENTS:

2 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 tbsp. sugar

1/3 c. oil

smidgen less than a c. of milk

Mix all the dry ingrdients together. Add oil and cut in with a pastry blender until it looks like rough meal.
Add the milk and combine with a wooden spoon (a must for a good southern cook), sprinkle a bit more flour if the dough is too sticky.
Flour a working area and roll your dough out to about 3/4 of an inch. Okay, for you who have a special cutter for biscuits, get it out, for the rest of us country folk, find that glass that works best. Flour the glass or cutter, :o) and start cutting.
Make sure to reuse the left over dough, I remix it and finish it off.
Put in a preheated over at 150 C. I think thats 325 F. Let bake until lightly brown on top, the darker they get the dryer they will get.

Anyhoo, that's my stuff for today, have a good one!

Jan 27, 2008

Homemade Bed Skirt

I miss lots of things in Croatia but one thing I miss alot is all the home decorating things. You know all those goodies at Hobby Lobby. :0)

Well I know a bed skirt isn't a decor piece but it sure does dress-up a bed. So after some looking and realizing they don't have bed skirts in Croatia I thought I would try my hand at making one. I had some dark marroon trigger like material and a flat, white bed sheet and so I began. It was a little hard to get the demensions right but once I did I managed. I'm pretty proud of it and it was really easy to do, well kinda.

this is my before picture, I'm sure you can see all the dust under the bed, looks kinda naked
Then after adding the bed skirt, I think it looks pretty good, at least you can't see the dust under the bed. Oh yea and that adorable Teddy was a gift from Johnny, he went to Build a Bear and made me that teddy with a special message inside, very special!

I found several tutorials online for your grazing.
Make A Pleated Dust Ruffle
HGTV - Making a Dust Ruffle
Crib Bed Skirt

Have a great Lord's Day!

Jan 25, 2008

Sve je Uredu

All is well in Croatia. We're getting settled in and I think we're even over the culture shock. Who would have though after 8 years, go figure!

We have started school back, much to the dismay of the children. I think we needed the order so we weren't just floating around. We weren't actually organized enough to start back, but a day of school is a day of school.

Yesterday was Soul-winning and it went well Johnny said the national man Alan is really getting excited about it. He doesn't talk yet but soon. That's what's needed, for the nationals to see the need.
I took this picture of the sun set the othernight, at least the clouds and I thought I would share it with ya, lovely huh? Everynight the sky has looked like that, I love it!

Today Johnny is gone to Rijeka to pick up some furniture with Bro. Rajko, the national Pastor and on the way he's gonna look at a few mini vans for us. Before we took furlough the church was in major need of a van for a route and we were eventually gonna have to sell our van so I said good-bye to my mini van. Well we're back and since we're actually almost carless, we are using a car that the buyer of our old mini van traded us, it's like a 1980 something and is barely going. Only the back windows work and one of the back doors is rusted through and you can't open it or it'll come off the hinges, anyhoo, Johnny is looking at a Kia Carnival today, do thay have those in the US? and hopefully soon we'll have a new vehicle well new to us. Whewww, was that a mouthfull or what???

This is so funny, Josh our 12 year old refuses to use the word define. When he looks words up he uses the word (and I say word loosly) definitionize, yea his own word and he loves it.

Oh yea I saparated my links in the side bar, now the Missionary Wives are in their own section. You gals have your own section, how cool is that!!!

Before I go I thought I would highlight my friend Michelles blog she's really sweet and mom to 5 girls, and Jessica's blog, she's a preachers wife with 6 kids, she's gotta have some insight!



Okay I thought this was so funny. Please if you are not homeschooling, I mean no offense, it is funny though isn't it??


Have a great weekend and Lord's day!

Jan 22, 2008

Slowly Settling In

Well we have been here almost two weeks and we're slowly settling in. It's hard to find a functional place for everything so it takes some time. Plus I'm a little leary to put pictures on the walls until I know for sure where they go. It's hard here, once you put a hold in concrete there's no covering it up, so I must plan ahead.
I did take a few pictures of the outside of the house and the kitchen. So that there is no mistake, we are not rich missionaries we just serve a rich God. We are renting this house for just a little more than the last old raggedy one we lived in .
house from the street
I always wanted a yellow house ever since I was a kid and God just seen fit in His goodness to give me one even if it's just for a few years. I like it and it's first class compared to normal Croatian standards.
from the front door looking toward the garage

front yard looking toward the road


The yard is really nice and landscaped very nicely. We signed the contract today and it has to be exactly the same when we leave for the next city in 3 years. I'm not the best gardener, I wanna be but I usually kill more than I grow. Hum, better fix that. Oh yea the yard is really nice, the gate can only be opened if we BUZZ the visitor in and then there is the garage we can go through and those are the only ways into the yard, good for kids.

I know you all wanted to see KD, she's our Croatian Golden Retreiver. She's Croatian only because she was born here but she has an American heart. She's bilingual too. :0)

the front door







It's prety modern but we like it. The kitchen, dining and living rooms are all together. The outward wall is pretty much all windows. I have lot's of sewing to do to get the curtains ready for that wall.

Oh yea the kitchen. It's samll but very functional. I love the way the cabinets open, from bottom to top. Oh yea that pot of the stove is hot beef stew, we had it with corn muffins. Yum!

One more, this is the stairway going upstairs. I have to figure out what to put on that wall between the windows. Any ideas are greatly welcomed.

So that's a few pix of the new house, I'll post more and I clean up all the clutter everywhere. Thanks for being so interested!

Jan 17, 2008

Howdy from Croatia!

Well we have officially been in Croatia for 1 week. We want to thank you all for all the prayers. We we're once again blown away by God's faithfulness. Many of you were praying about customs for the many extra containers we took home this time and we want you to know that God answered your prayers. We checked in 14 pieces of luggage and KD, our dog. When we checked them in it cost less than we expected and they charged only half of what they should have for KD. With the extra money our home church gave us for shipping we were only out about $150. God is so good

We are in our house and getting settled in. We have all the furniture where it goes now we only have to figure out where to put all my "pretties".

Before we returned I was so ready and we're really enjoying all the family time, but this time we are actually having a bit of culture shock. Who would have thought after 8 years here we would experience culture shock again. I thought about how it could happen and I finally think I got it.

We were very busy in the states, sometimes with 3 engagements on the same day. Then the holidays came and they were a whirlwind of activities with family and friends. When Christmas was over we started packing and getting ready, we were really running from them on. When we arrived here everything all but stopped. I'm sure this is what we're experiencing.

Also you ever remember something you don't have anymore and it's always nicer in memories then it real life. Well my memories of Croatia were just that. I remembered all the good times and nice people in the church but I forgot the people who weren't happy we there or the overwhelming oppression sometimes. I know these are just hurdles we have to make it through. What's really great is that we know being in Croatia is God's will for our lives and we're surrendered to that. It's gonna be rough sometimes but this is where He wants us and as far as we're concerned we don't have a choice about it. He is good and knows best all the time!!!

Wow I almost forgot what a great house God gave us. As soon as I find my camera I'm gonna take some pictures so you all can see how good God has been to us. The house were in is only 100 Euros more a month that the last one and it's 200% better. *Ü*

Oh yea and our dog likes it too!

So now that we're at our "Home Away From Home" things should be relatively normal, for the most part so I should be able to blog more often. Getting back to the wife, mom and home maker things really excites me, hope I remember how. *Ü*

Jan 1, 2008

Happy 2008 and Farewell for Now


Well I can't believe I'm saying it but Happy 2008! Oh my, 2008, what happened to 2007 and for that matter what happened to 1989??? It's amazing how time flys. I can't believe that I'm almost 35 and my kids are all big enough to bathe themselves. :0)



When I was a kid, I frequently complained about how bored I was and how long the days were. My Mom would tell me that the older I would get the faster time would go, and you know what? She was right!! The days are so short now there doesn't seem to be enough time to do anything much less be bored.



Well along with 2008 there are some other changes happening in our lives. On the 9th of January, which is a week from tomorrow, we board a plane and head out to Germany and then onto Zagreb, Croatia. We're so excited!!! We have tickets in hand and 8 out of 10 containers packed to be shipped.

With that said, I think I need to sign off from Blogger for a while, at least until we get the internet hooked up at our home in Croatia then I'll be blogging again from My Home Away From Home.
I pray you all are having a wonderful new year, you do more for Jesus this year and that God will bless you all abundantly in 2008.
Blog at 'cha soon!!