My 2012 in review

We arrived back in Croatia from furlough last December so we've been here a full year already. 2012 has flown by and so much has happened.

Here's my short year in review for you guys but mostly for me. I come back periodically and reread some of the posts on my blog and I'm sure this will be one of those posts I read again and again.

Last December we returned to Croatia without our oldest son Cody while he stayed in the States to start Bible college. This last year had been strange without him. It's been difficult learning to buy 2 items instead of three. I still find myself buying sets of 3 even though there are only two kids home. There's been a different dynamic in the house without the oldest. Josh and Hannah have grown closer when Cody being gone and things are just now starting to seem normal without him. I miss him so much, a year is was too long to go without seeing or hugging your firstborn.

Oh yea and we got a new puppy to replace our son. Okay, not really but we do have a new puppy. She's actually not a puppy anymore.

You see whose dog she is now. 

We also did some remodeling in our house. Okay nothing major but a little bit to make us feel more at home.

It's amazing what a coat of pain will do. 

It's not a new kitchen but it's new to us. It was fun doing the work with Johnny, we're a pretty good team. 

We stayed busy with church and had some ministry fun also. 

Took several trips with the church to pass out tracts. On this particular trip thousands of tracts and almost 800 John and Romans were passed out. not to mention the 6 that trusted Christ as Savior. 

We completed our Olympic campaign in the church in Varazdin, it was a success with our Baka Marija winning the gold medal.

 Hannah and Dad have sung several specials together. 

We also had a meeting in the Gypsy village in Trnovec. These kids are awesome!

 Bro. Bill Smith was here teaching on missions and giving. Praise the Lord, the church in Varazdin took on a national preacher / missionary for the first time. They've been faithful and have made there goals so far.

Got to participate in the sign ministry here in Croatia also. 

Had some summer fun too. 

Went to see the area of Croatia where The Fiddler on the Roof was filmed, super cool!

                                           

We took a trip to see and hike around Trakoscan Castle again, beautiful.

                                    

We got to attend several local festivals, had so much fun. 

 We hiked the mountain Kalnik in the northern part of Croatia and that began our love of hiking. 

We have hiked 3 mountains in our area and some of them many times. 

Had a lot of fun with friends too.

Can't wait for good weather so we can go do some more hiking. Plus hiking the largest mountain around here burns 4000 calories!

 We were able to take a week long vacation on the Dalmatian coast, it was unbelievable. 

We had a wonderful time and can't wait till next time. 

Got to do some grape picking at a local vinyard this year and made some awesome jelly. I also had a great harvest just from my yard. Hannah and I canned like crazy. 

We had some physical happenings too. Josh broke his ankle in the summer, he is the first of our kids to wear a cast, monumental!

                                              

Hannah got braces. It's amazing how excited she was even though she knew it was going to be a little painful. Teenagers!!!

We've had a lot of change with the missionaries here on the field. First the Holcomb family left for furlough in October. The next day Melissa Houston arrived as a missionary here. Two weeks later the Kevin Brown family left for furlough.  Then we hosted the Terry Ingram family on a survey trip to Croatia in November. It's been a busy 4 months for sure. 

We hosted Thanksgiving here for the missionaries and some visitors from the States. Then with all the Christmas rushing around the last two months have flown by.

Here we are looking at a new year, and there are so awesome happenings in our future. We will travel to the States in April and prepare for our second son Josh to graduate from high school in May and then he will also be staying in the States for Bible college. The best thing about going Stateside in April is getting to see Cody for the first time in over a year. I miss him so much and can't wait to hug him and tell him how much I love him.

The Lord sure has been good to us and we're looking forward to whatever He has in store for us in 2013. We're trusting and resting in His goodness. We're so blessed.

Happy New Year Y'all and may 2013 hold a ton of blessings for you all.