Ethan Is A Pinball

Ethan is bouncing off the walls! Confinement is not good for anybody but especially for a 4 year old named Ethan. We (Stacey and the kids) have been stuck in our flat since Wednesday with a short break for me to get groceries on Friday afternoon and a short trip in the car for the kids to get me once I was done with the shopping. Ethan has been going crazy with cabin fever since Friday and we are so ready to get out! His spots are clearing up well and so far so good for Mikaila. We are packing up today for our travels coming up. Tomorrow we will go to Warsaw and then on to Olsztyn to see our house and sign the contract then we will go to our Annual General Meeting near there. We can't wait!

Our Dalmation

Here is our newly spotted son. He has Chickenpox. There are up to about 50 spots as of tonight when Bryan was putting the stuff on to help them not itch. We hope there is an end in sight as far as new spots. We have a conference coming up that we would hate to miss. It's a week away so we should make it OK.

Chickenpox!

Ethan has the Chickenpox! He had the vaccine so hopefully they won't be too bad. As of tonight before bed he had about 13 spots. He hasn't complained of anything hurting and he doesn't have a fever. He is still eating well. Most of his school is empty because most of the kids have them as well. I don't think they have the vaccine here and we have heard that some of the kids are in the hospital. Please pray for them and that Ethan will have a very mild case and if Mikaila gets them that she will have a mild case as well. We'll let you know how it goes. Bryan and I have been remembering when we had them and sharing our stories with the kids. I had them over a 4th of July because I remember going to watch fireworks with that lotion all over me! Wish I knew where a picture was.

Home Away From Home

Here is a picture of the outside of our "home" for 3 weeks while in Prague for our training. It was a pretty decent place to stay with access to public transportation really close and a mall a few blocks or one tram stop away. We ate at that mall probably a third of the time unfortunately. We ate all our meals out (except one) while we were there and we were glad to get home and eat a home cooked meal. Thanks to the Barnwells for a great home cooked meal of Mexican one night while we were there! We enjoyed it - the food and fellowship!

The Moist Towelettes Rocked

During our training time in Prague we competed with other tables to get as many points as we could throughout the day. We played Outburst for these points. It was a really fun game. We would do one round (sometimes two) after coming back from breaks and lunch each day. At the end of the day - the team with the most points got to pick an item from "the suitcase". This wasn't just any suitcase. It was a suitcase that was filled with goodies from the states! We were on the best team "The Moist Toulettes" and we kicked some tail! Below is a picture of our teammates and friends from Budapest, Hungary. We had a blast with it. Competition got a little heated sometimes but all was good. We have enjoyed the goodies. Thanks to the volunteers who brought them over.



It's not the greatest picture, but it is all I have. Go Moist Towelettes!!

Kids On A Tram

Here are a couple of pictures of the kids during a tram ride while we were in Prague.


Making silly faces.


Mikaila hanging out.

Back In The Saddle Again

Hello all! We have been back in language classes for the past week and a half after our long break for our 3 weeks in Prague. We thought we wouldn't start back to language until after our move but when our move date got pushed later (end of April now) we decided to get back into it and thankfully our teachers had not filled up our spots with other eager students. Also a new change this week has been that Mikaila is staying home and doing home school now. Friday was her last day at polish school and we did the typical Polish stuff of taking her teacher a bouquet of flowers and chocolate and getting Mikaila to take a picture with her (I will try to get that off the camera later this week). She will still go once a week for her art class until we move and then we are going to try to find something for her like that up in Olsztyn. It has been a busy beginning of the week for us but is going well. It is really great to hear Mikaila reading. We even heard her with Ethan in his room this morning reading to him. Another interesting thing this week is that the kid's school is about 3/4 empty. There were only 4 kids in Ethan's class today including him. Most of the kids have Chicken pox! Mikaila and Ethan both got the vaccine so hopefully they won't get it. We will see. Ethan had a pimple like thing on his chin late last week but that is all so far and hopefully that will be all! Don't know if it was a chicken pock or not. I can't really think of much else to say since my brain is dead from studying and learning so much. Ha! It's really hard getting back into it after such a long break.
Z Bogiem

Train Ride to and from Prague

We took a train from Katowice to Prague and back for our 3 weeks of training recently. We were not looking forward to the long trips but all turned out well and both were without any complications. We were glad about that. I could not believe it but the kids made it all the way to Prague without having to go to the bathroom! Which I was very thankful for since they are usually pretty disgusting. We all stayed pretty entertained but were glad when we got off of each train after the long trips. We got to spend time with a colleague who is in Warsaw and is from Oklahoma as well. Thanks Joe! For making the trip a little better. Joe played his Nintendo DS while the kids played with their gameboys and they passed them around along with the games.


Here is Mikaila on the way to Prague watching a movie.



Ethan is watching as well. Thanks goodness for headphones!



Uncle Joe is showing Ethan how to do somethiing on his gameboy.



And now Ethan is showing Joe how to do something. They enjoyed sharing their knowledge with each other. It was great to watch and listen to them. If only I had a video camera with me.