Our life....as crazy as it is....is good!

Random Pics from Vacation in Oklahoma

2008-03-01T11:53:00.007+01:00

OK - Here are just some random pictures from our time in Oklahoma this past Christmas. We really enjoyed our time with family and friends. Unfortunately we weren't able to see everyone. We didn't make it down to Texas, but family was able to come up and see us in Oklahoma. We will make the rounds when we are there for 6 months beginning this August. It is hard to believe that we will complete our first term in about 5 months. I didn't take the majority of pictures while there so there aren't any of opening presents and such. Those are on Bryan's camera. Enjoy!

This picture shows Mikaila and Bryan before they head off to Mikaila's first ballet. We took the opportunity of being in OK during Christmas to take Mikaila to The Nutcracker ballet. We thought Ethan was a little too young to enjoy (and also sit still the whole time) so it was a daddy/daughter date. She enjoyed it so much! Hopefully next year I can go too. While Bryan and Mikaila went to the ballet, Ethan and I went to see a movie - Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was pretty good. My brother and my nieces and nephew joined us so that was good to spend some time with them.

Here is Ethan outside of Wal-mart. He loves these things and he just had to crawl in beside Garfield. Watch out! He is a crazy driver.

Here is Ethan with his cousin Wesley. They had a blast together and anytime there was a decent sized area with carpet - they wrestled! Wesley actually knew what he was doing so Ethan got hurt a few times. He is also smaller so that had something to do with it too. Ethan misses having boy friends to do things with.

Before we left for Poland, Bryan's parents bought two trees to plant with the kids in the yard of their rent house which we had stayed in while in between our time in Estonia and Poland. I don't remember which is supposed to be Mikaila's and Ethan's. So anyway... Here are both of the kids in front of both the trees. All have grown very much these past 3 years!

They still had their fascination with water fountains! They didn't have to stop at all we saw this time but most of them.

A New Student

2008-02-21T22:10:00.002+01:00

One day a few weeks ago Jasmine decided to join Mikaila during school. Just like a cat to not only join in but to come and plop wherever! She started pushing buttons so I had to take her and hold her which was really no problem. I love my cat.

Big Announcement

2008-01-29T19:09:00.000+01:00

McDonald's is going to start serving breakfast here! Starting February 1st at 8am. We are excited and already planning to make a trip on Saturday morning. We would go on Friday but Ethan has to be at school by the time they open so we will celebrate on Saturday. They don't have everything on the menu though. It is funny what we get excited about over here. (like Dr. Pepper - but at $2 a can we can't be excited too much)

How Do You Eat Your Chili?

2007-12-15T22:38:00.000+01:00

We had chili for dinner after our worship time last week at our supervisors house. It was interesting to see and talk about how each team member liked to eat their chili. We have one who likes spaghetti noodles in her chili. Some put french fries in it. Others crumbled chips in them. Some put cheese in theirs. Some even liked theirs plain I think. I used to eat mine with just saltine crackers on the side but since moving to Poland where there are no saltine crackers I have switched to crumbling corn chips into mine. So, the question is - How do you eat your chili?

At Church This Morning....

2007-12-02T15:15:00.000+01:00

I saw something interesting. I have noticed it before but since my recent lack of stuff to blog about I went ahead and decided to let you all in on what went on this morning. We arrived and took our seats just like we always do. We usually sit in the same area towards the back because of the kiddos. They used to have children's church for them but recently stopped so the kids are out in "big" church the whole time. Mikaila and Ethan usually sit in front of us with the other kids on our team and are easily entertained for a while with coloring and such stuff but as time goes on they get restless. They did really well this morning in the 2 hour 20 minute service! That's right - the service was 2 hours and 20 minutes long. This is pretty normal but we had been spoiled the past two weeks with shorter services. It was hard for even me to stay put for that long. We all managed except maybe one of our teammates who has been know to be able to sleep with her eyes open. She was sitting by me this morning and I don't think she fell asleep but I know she wanted to after getting up to listen to the OU vs. Mizzou in the wee hours of the morning here. It would have been easier if she had been routing for the right team though.

Anyway, to the interesting part..... There are several young kids in our church and I still have a hard time knowing which ones belong to which parents. Why?? Because most of the adults help out in the role of caretaker while at church (and probably a little even outside of church). It is normal for these kids to be wandering around during the service and going to different people all the time. This morning a little girl wandered up to the front and a lady went and got her and sat down with her and another girl headed to the back at some point to sit with someone else. All while the service is going. It just struck me as interesting this morning for some reason. It reminded me some of while Bryan was on staff at FBC Perkins and how Mikaila was passed around alot at church when she was a baby. It seems different here. I guess maybe because it changes during the service and it is no big deal. If someone needs to go the the bathroom during the service they have to walk past the preacher to get there so it might be just a little more relaxed atmosphere that makes it different too.

So not bad at all, but just interesting to me this morning. Also, we sang one of my favorite songs in Polish this morning which was a blessing I enjoyed.

2 weeks until we leave for Oklahoma. We are getting excited.

Until next time...

Writer's Block!

2007-11-24T20:19:00.000+01:00

I hate it when it happens. I have had a hard time coming up with something to write on here or I haven't had time to sit and post when I did think of something to blog about. I know I haven't even posted pictures from Ethan's birthday back in August! It's crazy. I will try to do better.

Thanksgiving was great and I am getting excited about going to Oklahoma in 3 weeks for Christmas.

One Crazy week!

2007-09-20T23:47:00.000+02:00

This week has been crazy and I can't wait till tomorrow! TGIF!

We have been working to get all kinds of paperwork together for our applications for our new karta pobytus - which allow us to be able to stay here in Poland. We have been to several offices, had pictures taken, had someone come over and help us fill everything out, several emails have gone back and forth between people for items needed and we just returned from a trip to the embassy in Warsaw for some needed paperwork. Tomorrow we will go pick up some things being translated, take our application to the office, make copies (3 each I think) of everything, pay some money, turn everything in and wait. Hopefully all will go well.

On a fun note - We got to eat at Burger King, we bought a new Wii game and tomorrow we don't have language so we can relax a bit. Also, we have a new team member coming on Monday! Our SC is going to sign on an apartment for her tomorrow.

We are ready for this week to be done.

And now it is actually tomorrow! I am going to bed because I have to get up at 5am! Should have gone 2 hours ago but I've been catching up on stuff from while we were gone.

Volunteers at Gietrzwald

2007-08-30T15:10:00.001+02:00

Sorry to those that have been waiting on this. We have been really busy. All is going well and today is the volunteer teams last day in Olsztyn. They will leave tomorrow morning for Warsaw and then down to south Poland for a couple of days.

On the first day we visited Gietrzwald which is a small community about 20 minutes away from Olsztyn. In the town there is a shrine to Mary and is also a validated (I don't know if that is the right word.?) location by the Vatican where a sighting of Mary happened (I think it is the only one in Poland, but don't quote me on it!). If you want to find out more about it you can visit the website- www.gietrzwald.3c.pl

Here is the church/shrine and some of the grounds that it includes.

This picture is the focus of the church. It shows Mary holding Jesus as a baby.

The volunteer team walked along paths and prayed all the way around the grounds.

One more of most of the group.

Looks a little familiar.....

2007-08-24T09:02:00.000+02:00

We live really close to Ameryka! - Which is pronounced just like America.

What about this Ameryka? It is nothing like the America we are used to but you take what you can get here sometimes. The main thing here is a place where people send their kids for a month or so or the summer to get some fresh air and relaxation. I just took a picture of the sign so you guy could see. We pass through Ameryka every time we go to Warsaw. Which we are doing today to get the volunteer team from our home church. We are excited that they are coming to prayer walk in different villages, cities and areas in Olsztyn. Should be good. I'll try to post some pictures while the team is here for you guys in Perkins so you can keep up with what they are doing.

Vacation to Gdańsk 2007

2007-08-21T21:45:00.000+02:00

So here are some pictures from our vacation. It was a much needed time of relaxation and fun. We were not able to do all that we wanted because of the weather (unseasonably cold and rainy) but it was fun and will be remembered by all. Our hotel ended up being really close to a beach which we were thankful for because we could end our day there with a little playing in the water and sand and looking for amber. We went to several beaches and we liked the one by our hotel the best and the one in Hel. Yes, you read that correct. Hel, Poland is on the tip of a peninsula and we drove all the way out there just so we could say that we had been and we planted a geocache there too. It ended up being cool because there were some bunkers still intact and a it had a big gun on one of them. You can see the picture of it down below to know what I am talking about- I don't know exactly what its kind is called. Anyway... I will start off with a picture that should be in brochures!

Isn't this just a beautiful pic. We saw some beautiful sunsets. This was taken at the beach by our hotel on our last night. The waves were really choppy.

This is a picture you wouldn't want to see in a brochure! It is raining really hard in the pic just in case you can't see it really well. The rain did not stop us from getting out though. We went out armed with rain gear.

Here are the kids playing along the beach. They might be looking for jellyfish at this point - I really don't know. I pointed them out at first because there seemed to be quite a few and I wanted them to be aware of them, but after that I didn't have to say anything because Ethan would scream "JELLYFISH" everytime he saw one.

We were walking to dinner our first night after arriving and this huge green and white lion came out of nowhere and went after Ethan and Mikaila. Ethan was a little concerned but Mikaila seemed to know there was nothing to worry about.

Here are the kids while out looking for a geocache. We had to dig for this one so we were glad that we had the beach toys with us. We thought a beach was going to be nearby but we never got to it. The geocache was at the mouth of the Wisła river which runs through all of Poland. It was neat to see.

Here we are at a "good" polish mexican restaurant with our complimentary chips and salsa. Needless to say it wasn't Ted's! We miss the neverending setup that Ted's offers and the food. It was pretty good though. The salsa was the best I have ever had.

Here is the big gun that I don't know the exact name of. It was huge and sat on top of a bunker. It was neat to see. I don't know when it was last used (maybe in WWII).

Bryan, Mikaila, and Ethan wondering through the forest in Hel looking for a cool place to plant a geocache. The mosquitoes were terrible!

Here is the beach at the tip of Hel. It was the busiest beach we had seen but also the nicest day of our vacation too.

So, hope you enjoyed these few pictures of our adventures. We really had fun and we are looking at going back sometime but probably not to the same hotel since there was a robbery just 5 doors down from us on our last night there. We might stay on the peninsula. Fun times!

FYI

2007-08-18T10:11:00.000+02:00

I am going to work this weekend on getting the pictures of Ethan's birthday party off of Bryan's computer so I can post them here - also the ones from our vacation. There are a few of those already on Bryan's website if you don't want to wait to see them here. I would recommend going and visiting his site anyway! You can learn more about Poland and our ministry at his site.

In other news....
We are so excited about some visitors coming in a week! A volunteer team from our home church in the states is coming to prayer walk several cities and villages. We can't wait.

We are going to be alone at Christmas - again. We were excited that we would finally get to spend a Christmas with our "overseas family" - our team and not be "just us" (which is good and fine) but we got word this past week that all the other team members are planning to go back to the states for Christmas. That is great for them but I am a little bummed about it. I will get over it!

School starts in a couple of weeks! For all of us. Bryan and I are looking forward to starting back to language. I am going to be home schooling Mikaila in 2nd grade and we are putting Ethan in Polish school again. He needs the socialization of school buddies since he is the only boy on our team. Please pray for Ethan. He did not like the school here in Olsztyn and really had the hardest adjustment to Olsztyn of all of us because of it. We are going to try some different things this year to see if it helps him. We'll keep you posted on that.

All for now

On the way home....

2007-08-18T10:00:00.000+02:00

Here is a picture of one of the many lakes around our region of Poland. You can see it peeking through the trees and houses. I took the picture on the way home from church one Sunday when we visited the baptist church in Olsztynek (a church about 30 minutes away). What a beautiful sky!

What is wrong with this picture?

2007-08-18T09:55:00.000+02:00

We were out and about and saw this interesting sign. It is totally upside down! We have passed by it several more times this past month and a half and it is still upside down. Don't know why and don't know if it will ever get fixed. Thought it was funny.

Bryan's Party and 4th of July

2007-08-12T16:53:00.001+02:00

YES - this is a catch up post. Bryan's birthday was a while a go and the 4th of July was a while ago too. I know I need to be posting pictures from Ethan's birthday here now. I will get to it in a few days because I have to get the pictures off of Bryan's computer. We had a blast though!

Anyway, we had a volunteer team here from VA when it was Bryan's birthday so we decided to wait and have a birthday party with our team combined with our 4th of July party. We had the party at our supervisors house. We had some cookie cake and fun for the birthday part. Then had a fun time celebrating the 4th as Americans in a foreign land. We blared "God Bless the USA" from someones ipod and had a cookout complete with smores and a flag cake too. It was fun.

Here is Bryan blowing the candles out on his cake. Couldn't put the needed amount of candles on because we had already cooked the cake!

We have really got into cooking since we have moved here (it's a stress reliever) and Bryan was wanting to try his hand at chinese food. Our friends got him a wok for his birthday so he could! It has been great!

These are the 2 journeygirls who are here in Olsztyn with us - Jessica and Amber- They are a blast and were so patriotic on the 4th of July. They were all decked out in red, white, and blue!

Here is Amber "dancing" around to "God Bless the USA".

And the flaming cake! How wonderful.

Vacation, Here we come!

2007-07-28T20:05:00.000+02:00

We are off for our vacation tomorrow morning! We are excited since it has been a long time since we have really had one. We are in need of some rest and relaxation. We will see how it goes. The weather looks to be cool and rainy for at least a couple of the days so we are taking some back up stuff to do (board games and puzzles) just in case. We will try to take plenty of pictures so I can post them for you to see.

See ya!

Visitors from the North and fun with the Wii

2007-07-19T23:31:00.000+02:00

We were excited when we got the call that some of our friends from Estonia were going to be driving through Poland on their way to visit someone and wanted to stop by and say hey. We gladly offered them a roof over their head for the night, fun and a good American breakfast before they had to be on their way. It was good to visit and catch up with the 3 of them. Andri, Brain and Raivo had a fun time playing on the wii and we enjoyed watching them. Did you guys know that Brain is now the mayor of Keila? Very Interesting!

Here are the guys infront of our place before getting back in their car to drive some more! Raivo, Andri, Bryan and Brain.

Here they are playing something on the Wii. It might be tennis.

Raivo and Brain boxing each other. It's a real workout!

Before and After

2007-07-19T23:25:00.001+02:00

Ethan's hair had gotten too long! We were calling him "fluffy noggin". Anyway, Bryan gave him a haircut and here is a before and after picture to show you just how much he needed a haircut and how grown up he looks now.

BEFORE.......

AFTER......

I'm FREE!!!

2007-07-19T18:42:00.000+02:00

Today was my last day of language class for a few weeks! I am taking about 5 weeks off for the summer and I will start back in the beginning of September. I am grateful for this break. Bryan has been on break already for a few weeks and now we get to enjoy being on a break together! We are planning to take a vacation to Gdansk (on the Baltic coast) at the end of July/beginning of August. We are excited. Also we plan to do several day trips and fun activities during August as well. We will all start back to school of some form in September.

Happy Birthday Bryan!

2007-07-05T20:56:00.000+02:00

It was Bryan's birthday on the 24th and we celebrated a bit by having some cupcakes and eating dinner out as a family. We just had a party for him with our team yesterday (4th of July) so I will try to get some of those pictures up in a few days. He had a great birthday and the kids had fun helping make the cupcakes - or as Ethan called them - pupcakes.

Welcome to.....

2007-07-05T20:53:00.000+02:00

Olsztyn!

I think this is really cool the way it is done.

Beautiful Smiles

2007-07-05T20:47:00.000+02:00

Here is Mikaila with her friend Rebecca. They have a great time together and I just love this picture of them. Pure joy out at the day camp in Platyny. She is just a couple of months younger than Mikaila and they get to play together alot now that we live only a few blocks away. She's the youngest daughter of the Stevensons who are our team leaders(SC).

Newest Additions to the Family

2007-07-01T23:39:00.000+02:00

Introducing Curious George the Gerbil! Better known as George.

We think he likes his new home! He was living up in Ethan's room for a couple of weeks until one day last week Jasmine decided to get a little too interested in him and pushed his cage off the dresser he was on! The cage didn't bust open (I was very thankful for that) but the litter stuff went everywhere. We have moved him downstairs until we can figure out a better way to secure him and also something better to contain his mess in.

Jasmine was curious from the beginning but would usually just stare and follow George with her eyes. Here is their first meeting. We will see how it all goes. Do you think we are crazy for having a gerbil in the house with a cat? We must wait and see I guess.

We also added a fish tank as well. We have 5 fish including a one eyed neon. No pictures yet. It was a Christmas present to Bryan from the kids but we waited to set it up unitl our move and once we moved we really didn't have a great place to put it except in one of the kids rooms. So Mikaila got the fish tank in her room (she had the fish theme going already too) and we got the gerbil for Ethan's room. I know we are crazy!

Drugged Cat

2007-07-01T23:27:00.000+02:00

Here is Jasmine during our long drive up to our new home. (yes I am trying to catch up on some older photos) We gave her some pills to help calm her for the drive. We thought they would put her out so she would sleep the whole way but that didn't happen. She would sleep a little and then meow for a little and then get tired again and fall back asleep sometimes like this. She was biting at the cage a little and all of the sudden stopped and slept like this for a while. We were all glad to finally get to our new place except Jasmine because she was still a little out of it and we were not able to move into our house for a couple of days so we stayed with our friends and they have a cat too. So needless to say she was stressed for a little bit but she has/was settled for a while until we added to our zoo.

Ethan and Wesley

2007-07-01T23:22:00.000+02:00

I love this picture. It was taken while in the states for our medical leave and I think these guys have the greatest smiles! We Miss you Wesley!! And your family! Do they still look alike? When they were younger they looked alot alike.

Random Pics

2007-06-13T22:14:00.000+02:00

Here are some random pictures of our time geocaching while in Oklahoma.

Ethan found this one!

Getting a read.

It was a little windy and cold when we first got there and we did not take our coats with us so we were quite chilled the first few days.

Ethan kind of looks like he is on his way to trouble.

That's Incredible!

2007-06-13T22:13:00.000+02:00

While we were on our short medical leave to the States we made a trip over to Tulsa to visit Bryan's brother and his girlfriend. Bryan's parents were with us as well. Jeff wanted to do something special for the kids so he treated us to "Incredible Pizza"! If you don't know what this is, just think of "Chuck E. Cheese" and then multiply that by 10 and that is how huge this place was and how much it had in there. Here are a few pictures from our time there. The kids really had fun. Including Bryan!

Mikaila wacking the moles!

Ethan riding a "roller coaster"

Mikaila is getting help from her PaPa.

Ethan playing a jet ski game and he did really well. He had to stand up to play it but he amazed me how well he did.

Here are the kiddos feeding the machine to count all their tickets.

Google Image Search Fun

2007-06-09T15:28:00.000+02:00

So here is a little bit about me in picture form. I have seen other people do this and thought it was neat and interesting to see what came up. I did this by typing in exactly what I wanted and picked the first picture that came up on the google image search. Try it and see what you come up with for your info!

City and State I was born in:

City and State where I currently live:

First name: I didn't pick the first one because I picked the most decent one!

Last Name:

Favorite Food:

Preferred Drink:

Favorite Smell:

A place I have lived:

A place I have worked:

A place I want to visit:

The Proper Attire for Dinner at AGM (for Ethan)

2007-06-04T17:10:00.001+02:00

Here is Ethan on his way to dinner one night while we were at our Annual Meeting a couple of months ago. We got him these goggles for the pool but he did not want to wear them swimming. Later that night while getting ready for dinner he decided he needed to wear them to dinner.

New Family Picture

2007-05-04T23:49:00.000+02:00

Intemann Family - May 2007
Infront of our new house.

Cowboy Ethan - Where's My Horse?

2007-05-04T23:42:00.000+02:00

We picked up some cowboy boots while in Oklahoma! They are ones that Ethan's cousin had outgrown and Ethan loves them just as much as he did. Thanks Wesley!! Not sure they go with sweatpants but oh well. He sure is happy about them!

Geocaching Around Stillwater

2007-05-04T23:35:00.000+02:00

While we were in Oklahoma we tried to also do a few fun things with the kids so we went searching for a few geocaches. Here is one that we did on a beautiful day that was out at Boomer Lake.

Starting the search.

Mikaila found this one!

There was an OSU golf tee in this one and Mikaila picked it out to keep. How proud we were.

Fun With An Airpump

2007-05-04T23:28:00.000+02:00

The kids found this "toy" at one of our friends house one evening while we were there for dinner and had a blast with it. They enjoyed making it make funny noises and also making it blow air into each others faces. I think the pictures capture it pretty well.

Helping PaPa!

2007-05-04T23:20:00.000+02:00

Bryan's parents got a new computer and while we were in Oklahoma, Bryan took a few hours to help his dad figure a few things out. I think mainly they worked on the web cam/chat stuff so that they will be able to see the grandkids. We look forward to seeing them as well.

I Can Drink It?!?

2007-05-04T23:10:00.000+02:00

We were in the states for a couple of weeks in April for a short medical leave and got to experience some fun and interesting things. Something I was not expecting was the kids fascination with drinking water fountains. You can not drink the water here so they were amazed that they could not only drink the water but that it came out in such a cool way!! Here are some pics of them taking one last drink at the OKC airport before we left to come back home.

Ethan Is A Pinball

2007-03-25T17:50:00.000+02:00

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

2007-03-22T19:35:00.000+01:00

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!

2007-03-21T21:41:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-21T21:26:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-21T21:08:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-21T20:57:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-20T23:06:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-11T23:41:00.000+01:00

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.

Playland Here We Come!

2007-02-23T13:48:00.000+01:00

These pictures are from a recent trip to a local playland here in Katowice. We went with a friend of Mikaila's from school and her dad. No one wanted to leave and the kids were really tired once we got home.

Here are Mikaila and Karolina playing with some dump truck type contraption that pick ups the balls and you move them over and then drop them.

Ethan is playing air hockey with some other kid who wanted to play. He is pretty good at it.

He's a climber!

Check out this face. A little scary.

Look out below. Mikaila and Karolina going down the huge blow up slide thing.

Mikaila's School Party

2007-02-15T13:45:00.000+01:00

This year we had a party for Mikaila at her school. All the kids had a blast and it was great.

Instead of birthday spankings they have the person who's birthday it is sit in a chair and they lift them up in the air once for every year that they have. Mikaila was a little freaked in the beginning but all was OK.

Here is part of her class getting ready for the cake. Mikaila wanted Barbie stuff for this party too, but I didn't do another Barbie cake. We just did cupcakes.

All are eating the cupcakes and everything else. They seemed to like them (they were made with an American cake mix and icing!).

Mikaila with one of her good friends Paulina.

Fun with pretzel sticks. They started playing with them by making walrus teeth, alien things coming out of their head and other things as well.

They did singing and dancing too! It was great to see them do all the stuff and Mikaila actually participated!

Here's another shot of one of the dances they did. It was really funny. They had to move around in the circle while holding on to different things of the kid next to them.

Mikaila's 7th Birthday

2007-01-25T20:10:00.000+01:00

Mikaila wanted a Barbie themed birthday party. It worked out well because I was able to find all the decorations here. It was a fun party with our missionary friends. We had a party at her school for her school friends and I will hopefully get those pictures up soon. I am hoping to have some time later this weekend.

Here are the table decorations and other things.

Mikaila is blowing out her candles! This is the Barbie cake. I can't believe that I made it and it turned out so well. My mom used to make doll cakes all the time but she had special pans and dolls for it. I had to do some checking on the internet on how to do it with what I had. I enjoyed doing this special cake for my daughter just like my mom did for me.

Mikaila is opening up her presents with her friends. She really had a great time. We all had a good time.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-25T19:57:00.000+01:00

We didn't get out on New Years because Mikaila was getting over being sick and Stacey wasn't feeling well. We had fun though. We got some sparklers and decided to go ahead and light them on our balcony.

Here is Mikaila with her one sparkler.

Ethan loved them. He was sad when as shown in the pictures below... that we were done after lighting only 4 sparklers.

Here is Bryan trying to light another sparkler. The wind was blowing and the sparklers would not light very well.

We had to call it quits after about 4 sparklers because our lighter melted! Can you believe that? Crazy! We had fun while it lasted.

Christmas Cookies

2007-01-07T23:29:00.000+01:00

We made Christmas sugar cookies on Christmas Eve. They were really good and the kids enjoyed the whole process.

Here is Bryan with the kids as they begin to roll the dough out.

They are ready to go in the oven!

Now it is time to decorate them.

Ethan taking his first bite of his masterpiece.

Mikaila is taking her first bite which I think was her only one. I think it might have been too sweet for her.

Makin' Stuff

2007-01-07T23:12:00.000+01:00

We got these suncatcher craft projects in a package from Bryan's parents. The kids were really excited to do them. They had a blast.

Mikaila got a kitty one to do.

Ethan got frogs to do.

Mikaila "had" to do most of it on her own. She didn't want alot of help.

Ethan enjoyed the help which allowed him to play around. Which included seeing how far some of the crystals could go by shooting them off the spoon. Just look at the innocence written all over his face!

Jasmine Enjoying Her Gift

2006-12-22T20:54:00.000+01:00

Bryan's mom sent us several packages the other day and she put in a few gifts for our kitty. So thoughtful! Jasmine loves this gift. I don't know what you call it but she loves it. She likes to get in it and then when one of us walks by she jumps out and attacks us.

Here she is waiting to pounce!

She has gotten spooked and is going all crazy. You can tell by the way she has her ears.

She is not so sure about this one and neither are we! The kids love it though. You push some button and it starts singing. Bryan's mom loves to get us noisy things.

Great Gift

2006-12-22T20:49:00.000+01:00

Bryan showing his great gift from some friends of ours. He is enjoying it ALOT!! Thanks Paynes!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

2006-12-22T20:37:00.000+01:00

Here we are decorating the Christmas tree. The kids really enjoyed it this year. Ethan was a big help wanting to put up all of the ornaments. He got really tired waiting on Bryan to put on the lights.

Mikaila putting on her "name" ball ornament. This was given to her on her first Christmas (I think) by her great grandparents.

Ethan and Bryan putting on another ornament.

Mikaila and Bryan putting our angel on the top. She really was waiting for this the whole time.

Thanksgiving 2006

2006-12-04T20:51:00.000+01:00

This Thanksgiving we got to spend with several of our friends and colleagues here in Poland. We traveled up to Northeast Poland and spent several days sharing, laughing, encouraging and just having a great time with 3 other families who are with the IMB. The kids really had a blast playing and getting to speak English with other kids and we enjoyed sharing and learning from each other. We had the most ginormous turkey! It was 37 pounds! We were all amazed at the sight and prayed that it would fit in the oven.

We missed getting to spend the holiday with our families in the states, but we had a good time with our overseas missionary family. We pray you all had a great "Turkey Day".

Here is the turkey. The biggest one I have ever seen! It took two guys to get it out of the oven.

All the food! We had stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and the turkey of course.

The two huge pies! One pumpkin and the other pecan. Where was the chocolate? Nie ma - there wasn't one! So sad. It was fine though - I had my fill of buckeyes. Thanks Lid!

Mikaila and Rebecca are just really picking at their food. At least that is what Mikaila did.

Here are Ethan and Maciek enjoying the meal at the kids table.

Here are 3 of the guys (including Bryan) leading us in a time of worship. We were able to share the things that we are thankful for as well.

Here are some of the kids playing on the gamecube. All of them had turns the whole weekend long.

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without watching football! Some friends brought a tape someone had sent them of a football game from the states. The guys finally got the kids off the gamecube so they could watch a little bit of it. I think they fell asleep, which is also typical!

Geocaching!

2006-12-04T20:40:00.000+01:00

We had a fairly free Saturday a little while ago and decided to go search for a geocache. We thought that we might not have many more days of decent weather that we could do it. We all had a really great time. The kids were tired after the full day of hunting, hiking and exploring.

Ethan is leading the way! He was making sure that we were going the way it told us to go.

Mikaila is on the hunt. She sees it and is going after it.

Mikaila showing off her find! She found this one. It was great.

Stacey with the kids after the big find.

Zamek Lipowiec

2006-12-04T20:22:00.000+01:00

After our hunt for the geocache we decided to go up to the castle and look around. It was really neat. At some point it was a prision for clergymen and later ruined by fire.

I don't know if you can really tell but, here are the tons of steps that we had to climb up to get to the castle. It is way up there! It was a great view and we all had a blast exploring the ruins of the castle.

This is Bryan explaining to the kids what parents used to do to their kids when they misbehaved and that they should be thankful that we only have them sit in time-out or some other "light" punishment.

This is the outside of the castle ruins.

View from the top of the tower.

This is another great view from the very top of the tower. It is a bit hazy. Bryan was the brave one and went up all the way to get the great picture.

First Snow! November 2nd

2006-12-04T20:14:00.000+01:00

We have had our first and only snow so far here. It is cold but so far we have had only a little bit of snow - once. Quite disappointing. Here is a picture I took along the road as we were leaving our friends house up in northeast Poland.

Here are the kids bundled up for the winter weather! We are on our way to school.

Biggest Ant Hill I Have Ever Seen!

2006-11-19T15:15:00.000+01:00

We saw this (and several others) along a road in northeast Poland. It is a huge ant hill! Can you believe that? They had to work a long time to build that I am sure and I would not want to be the one to disturb it either. People have come along and put a fence around them as you can see to make sure people beware.

Marshmallow Fields

2006-11-19T15:07:00.000+01:00

They have them here too! We have a funny thing from Estonia that has carried over to here. While in Estonia we saw alot of fields that had these "marshmallows" in them and Bryan made a comment about them to a bus load of people while out with the mission group. They thought it was funny especially Mel. Anyway we were out with some friends up north and their volunteer team and Bryan pointed out these "marshmallow" fields to them. They enjoyed the comment. Thought you might enjoy especially those who know what we are talking about!

Silly Kids

2006-11-19T15:00:00.000+01:00

Here's a picture of the kids making faces because they really didn't want their picture taken. They just wanted to play in the water fountain. We liked visiting this mall while we were in Warsaw. We found a store that had Dr. Pepper and a box of Rice Krispies in it.

Do You Want An Apple? How About A 100?

2006-11-19T14:48:00.000+01:00

We went to a retreat for the SC's and families in the Baltic Field the last weekend in October. We went to the Baptist Seminary just outside of Warsaw and along the way we passed tons of apple orchards. It was really neat to see so many. We passed alot of trucks carrying the apples as well. This is one we came up on that I could actually get a picture of.

Windy Fall Day!

2006-11-19T14:43:00.000+01:00

Here is a picture of Mikaila and Ethan on a Sunday afternoon. We had just finished eating out after church. It was really windy and it was also pretty chilly. I had the kids take off their jackets so they were a little cold and that's why they look it a bit. It was a nice fall day and reminded us of Oklahoma with all the wind!

Busted Lip Again

2006-10-20T21:57:00.000+02:00

Please be in prayer for our little guy! This morning we got the dreaded call that no one wants to get. The school called and said that Ethan was hurt and they wanted us to come up to the school. They said he bumped his lip. We were not expecting it to be so bad. Anyway, he busted both of his lips pretty bad and got his nose pretty good too. This time he is closing his mouth and swallowing and he even ate some dinner and drank from a cup without a straw. So...this bump isn't as bad as the one that happened at camp back in August but it looks worse. Pray that it will heal up quickly and not leave huge bruises for too long. Here is a picture of Ethan taken tonight. Alot of the swelling has gone down. He has been a trooper!

After School Snack

2006-10-20T21:33:00.000+02:00

Here we are with the kids at one of our favorite places - Coffee Heaven!
We had several errands to do so while we were out this day we decided to stop by and get the kids a muffin and we got our Latte/Mocha fix.

Chocolate Muffins - the best.

Here is a little bird that got in some how and lives in the mall I think. It was out looking for food while we were there and we decided to give it a little piece of muffin.

Our Apartment

2006-10-20T21:17:00.000+02:00

Here are some pictures of our apartment. I thought some of you might want to see our place.

This is our living room. The windows above the couch is where the cat fell out. Just in case you don't know the story behind that statement just know that the cat is OK!

Here is our dining room and office.

This is a view of our balcony and our cat really loves to go out and sit on our grill to see everything.

Here is a view from our living room looking towards our kitchen and Ethan's room. On the left side is the door to our bathroom and on the right is the door to our laundry closet.

Mikaila's Room

2006-10-20T21:11:00.000+02:00

This is Mikaila's room! It isn't finished yet. We are planning on painting it this winter and then we plan to hang stuffed water animals on the walls to go along with her fish theme. She picked this theme over princess stuff! We were kind of surprised but she really likes it.

Ethan's Room

2006-10-20T21:01:00.000+02:00

This is Ethan's room! It is not complete yet. We are planning to paint it this winter and then hang some things (stuffed animals) on the wall. We tried to get a theme going of animals and such for his room but he loves cars so much that we had to get him a road rug. Once it is finished we will post new pictures.

Our Kitchen

2006-10-20T20:50:00.000+02:00

Ojcow National Park - near Kraków

2006-10-17T10:04:00.000+02:00

We went and visited this national park a couple of weeks ago with our old language teachers and their son. We had a good time and got to take some really neat pictures. I haven't gone through all the pictures yet so I might post some more later.

Mikaila and Ethan with Bryan. This is by a little waterfall that went into a special area of ponds where they breed/grow fish.

Miakaila and Ethan with Maciek.

Dzień Pieczonego Ziemniaka

2006-10-16T22:35:00.000+02:00

Day of the Baked Potato!

The kids school had a party at the end of September and the theme was Potatoes. They had different games and things to do - all having to do with the potato. Unfortunately, the battery in my camera died after only a few pictures so I didn't get many. The kids are wearing hats with potatoes on them that they made in art class.

Interesting Story

2006-10-16T22:06:00.000+02:00

OK...Here is one for the books. A few weeks ago we were invited over to a church members house for some coffee and tea. They wanted us to come at 7pm which is about when we start getting the kids ready for bed so I was not excited about that, but we couldn't really do anything to change it. (Don't ask why!) We only planned to stay about an hour and a half at the latest. Anyway, we had to take a taxi because our car was broken AGAIN! People usually get dressed up for these kinds of visits so we did. When we pulled up the man was outside working on his car with his son in dirty jeans and a sweatshirt. We felt overdressed! Especially when we go inside and the woman is in a sweatsuit type outfit as well. So we are having kawa i herbata (coffee and tea) and enjoying the time when all of the sudden the woman feels something on her side and proceeds to the bathroom. At one point all 3 of them (man, wife, and son) are in the tiny bathroom all doing something that we are beginning to wonder about. The man came out and was holding a bottle of what I think was cologne and he asked me to come in where they were! I'm like...Co? (What?) The woman pokes her head out and motions me to come in there so I give Bryan a look and then get up and go into the already crowded bathroom. The woman shows me on the side of her abdomen that there is a tick! They want ME to pull it out! I couldn't believe it. I did get it out though and afterwards the woman gave me a great big hug and kiss on the cheek. Well, to top off the evening we ended up staying way later than we wanted (didn't get home until about 10pm). It was a very interesting evening to say the least but they are really nice people and we greatly enjoyed getting to know them better.

Waiting For The Bus

2006-09-30T22:06:00.000+02:00

Here are the kids waiting for our bus to show up to take us home after a day of school. We are thankful for the bus stops that are close to places that we go and to our home. We have had to ride the bus alot lately since our car has been in and out of the shop almost every week for the past month and a half.

Sunday Walk In The Park

2006-09-30T21:17:00.000+02:00

Last Sunday was a beautiful day so we couldn't stay inside and let it go by since we really don't know how many more we will have. We went for a walk in the big park that is by our flat. It was a great time and look forward to doing it again at least one more time before it gets too chilly.

The kids as we are leaving our place.

We found this cool tree that was split with part of it going over the walking path. Ethan is acting like a monkey.

We stopped along the way as we saw cool things. There were huge mushrooms, little frogs and many other interesting things.

Lazy Saturday Morning

2006-09-30T21:08:00.000+02:00

We took this picture when our friends were here a couple of weeks ago. The girls wanted to watch a movie and the air mattress was still up so they just all piled onto it. At first it was just the girls but Ethan joined in later - even though they were watching Cinderella.

2006-09-26T19:55:00.000+02:00

Here is the Geocaching gang (minus Stacey since she is the one taking the picture) and our first find! It was fun and Bryan has been excited to be able to get a new gadget so that we can continue in the fun.

Kosciuszko Mound

2006-09-24T15:55:00.000+02:00

Our friends from north Poland came down for a visit last weekend and they introduced us to a cool thing called Geocaching. We had never heard of it before but it sounded really interesting. So they took us out on a search while they were here. There are a few around the Krakow area so we decided to go there since they were wanting to visit Krakow anyways. We went and visited this mound which is near where a geocache was hidden. We decided to go ahead and climb it since we were there. While on top we took a few pictures but it was a little foggy (with smog I think) so we didn't get any clear pictures of Krakow in the background from the top.

This is how they mow the grass of this huge mound. They are using a crank at the top. Quite interesting.

"I'm king of the world!"

Mikaila with friends Abby and Kara

My Guys!

2006-09-24T15:50:00.000+02:00

"Like Father, Like Son" How great is this picture?!

Back to School

2006-09-23T22:28:00.000+02:00

Here's the kids getting ready to leave for their first day of school. They were so ready to go back to school. We were too.

Honey, I shrunk the kids!

2006-09-23T22:07:00.000+02:00

I really didn't like that movie but the saying is perfect to go along with this picture! This is a huge table and chair set outside of the furniture store - IKEA (you have to walk under the table to get into the store). Of course they sell normal sized ones inside. We just couldn't pass this picture opportunity up.

Me and My Girl

2006-09-23T22:00:00.000+02:00

I like this picture of us. Mikaila usually does not like her picture to be taken so I am very happy that she was willing to have her picture taken with me and she was smiling!

Ethan Playing Mousetrap

2006-09-23T21:56:00.000+02:00

He loves this game! He gets impatient playing it though. He likes to get to the end and watch the ball go through all the stuff.

Ethan's 4th Birthday Party

2006-09-23T21:42:00.000+02:00

Ethan turned 4 in August! We had a "Cars" (Auta in Polish) themed party as you can see. I was able to find all this stuff at a store here in Poland. I was excited and Ethan was too. Lightning McQueen (Zygzak - here) is his favorite character of course! Here he is with his cake and the table decorations.

Jasmine - Our Cat

2006-09-23T20:44:00.000+02:00

This is a post dedicated to our kitty. Here is a picture of her on her favorite spot on our balcony. Just recently she slipped again but caught herself on the guttering this time and climbed back up. I don't think she will ever learn.

I can't believe that she actually rode around in the stroller while Mikaila pushed her. Usually they jump out when you start to move.

She loves to get under, in or on things to sleep.

She really is a playful cat and likes to get into bags such as this and wait to jump out at us as we walk by.

Camp

2006-09-23T15:49:00.000+02:00

This was our first experience with a camp in Poland. It was a fun time and quite interesting at times. The group that came to lead the camp spoke German so there were 3 languages going on sometimes. We tried to stay in Polish mostly but when speaking to the camp leaders who spoke German we had to speak English together (those who knew English) of course because they didn't know Polish and we don't know German. We got to build some relationships with some of the kids in the area and our church.

The kids on the bridge that we crossed to get from where we slept to the meeting/eating place.

The building where we slept.

Playing around during some free time!

Vacation to Estonia

2006-09-23T15:22:00.000+02:00

We had a great time on our vacation to Estonia. We didn't get to see everyone that we wanted to, but we will return sometime soon. It was neat to be back for a visit.

Some of us just hanging out along a wall in Old Town - waiting for someone doing some shopping.

4th of July cookout "American" style! Since we were a bunch of Americans together on the 4th of July we decided to have a cookout - complete with marshmellows.

The beautiful waterfall outside of Tallinn a little ways. It was really neat! Bryan and the kids got in but the water was really cold so they didn't stay long.

Coming Out Of Her Shell

2006-09-23T15:14:00.000+02:00

Here are a couple pictures of Mikaila performing in a school program at the end of school last year. We were totally surprised that she was going to participate. She only told us the day before the performance. She did a great job and we were so proud of her!

So it's been a while....

2006-09-13T23:58:00.000+02:00

since I have posted anything. That's because we have been without internet for 2 months. We have it now though! We are excited. Hopefully I can get some pictures up soon from our summer and our new place.

The Kid's Great Teachers

2006-07-04T15:19:00.000+02:00

We were really blessed to find such a great school for our kids here in Poland and even more blessed with great teachers for them. They both really enjoyed the school and their teachers. We are praying that they will all return and that the kids will have the same teachers next year. That is the way they usually do it here - the teachers move up with the kids. We would be so happy about that. Most of Ethan's class is planning to return so he will be happy to have his same friends there again and most of Mikaila's class will be the same as well. Her good friend is moving up out of the school but we will keep in touch with her and the family.

This one of Ethan's teachers, Pani Danusha.

2006-07-04T15:17:00.000+02:00

This is Ethan's other teacher, Pani Krisha with Ethan.

2006-07-04T15:13:00.000+02:00

This was Mikaila's teacher. Pani Kasha and her daughter, Paulina, who was a friend of Mikaila's as well. Our shy girl didn't want her picture taken with them as usual.

Vacation

2006-07-02T19:38:00.000+02:00

We are in Estonia and we are loving it! It is so beautiful. AGM was wonderful. When we get back from vacation we will post more about both big events and some pictures too.

A Great Helper

2006-06-19T20:40:00.000+02:00

Ethan is helping daddy make a cake! We had company coming. Great face huh?

2006-06-19T15:23:00.000+02:00

As some of you know Bryan had his appendix taken out a few weeks ago. Here are some pictures from his experience. We didn't get as many pictures as we wanted because I (Stacey) forgot to take the camera everytime I went. These pictures were taken by our friends who went for a visit. They gave him a gift of toilet paper since he had to supply his own. It was quite an experience and one we hope we won't have to go through again.

This is an outside view of the hospital.

Visitors had to buy shoe covers before they went up to the surgical ward. This is the machine that you got them from. They were only 1 złoty which is about 30 cents. Most people reuse theirs but that kind of defeats the purpose.

Here is the hallway of the surgical ward.

This is Bryan in his bed. Big difference from the States huh?

Bryan survived and he is recovering well. We thank God and all the people that were praying for him. Like I said before - We hope we never have to go through this kind of experience again.

Have you ever thought about....

2006-05-28T11:06:00.000+02:00

not having a TV?

We have. We are thinking about it right now. We do not own a TV right now since our apartment had one in it when we moved in. When we move in a month we have to decide if we want to buy a TV. Some friends of ours over here are doing without one right now (I think they are getting one soon though). It made us think about whether we could do without one. How many of us waste alot of time watching TV? I know we do! We could be doing many other things that would be better for us. I had a friend in Junior High once who grew up without a TV and I thought that it was crazy. The more I think about it though it probably wasn't so crazy.

Ethan's "Canned Heat"

2006-05-20T13:35:00.000+02:00

Here is our crazy boy letting loose. He has a blast! We decided to share some of the "cool" moves he has. It is somewhat a mixture of breakdancing and just jumping around and falling with style.

Spring is here!

2006-05-12T10:18:00.000+02:00

We are so thankful that Spring has sprung here! We have enjoyed being outside as much as we can. We got the kids bicycles and here is a picture of them riding them in the park. They have so much fun. We have to pack them up in the car to go and ride them now but when we move they will have a nice area to ride right around our place. We are excited about that.

Easter with the Intemanns

2006-04-17T15:20:00.000+02:00

We had a great Easter here in Poland this year. We tried really hard to make sure that the kids knew the real reason we celebrate Easter and not just the traditions of the new clothes, the bunny and eggs. We did those things but made sure that they knew that those things did not make Easter - Easter. Some friends of our sent Mikaila and Ethan new outfits for Easter. They did a good job of picking them out. The pants didn't fit Ethan (my fault) so we had him in jeans with his spiffy new shirt. We had to get a sweater for Mikaila because it is still cold here. We got to spend some time with our friends who live in Kraków and also got to hear a sermon in English at church. We pray that you all had a wonderful Easter!

Mikaila and Ethan all dressed up in their Easter outfits ready to go to church.

Mikaila and Liz playing while waiting for lunch.

Ethan with Will - Ethan watching him play a cool game on his gameboy.

Easter - Coloring the Eggs

2006-04-17T13:50:00.000+02:00

Thanks to our wonderful pastor and his wonderful family we got to color some eggs for Easter (he brought the stuff for us when he came for a visit). We debated doing it because we had not been able to find any white eggs. They are all brown here! We decided to try it anyways and see how they turned out. They turned out really nice and the kids (and mommy and daddy) had a fun time.

Ethan really enjoyed coloring his eggs. He did a great job!

Mikaila is being patient by holding her egg in half way so she can make a cool one with 2 colors on it.

We got to get together with our friends the Dowdys (Joe, Becca, Will and Liz) for Easter Sunday. We were just going to stay home in Katowice, but they called and said "hey, do you want to come over and hear Joe preach and then we can hang out and color eggs and eat lunch?" So we said "hey, sounds like fun. Sure we'll come on over." It was an extra blessing to get to spend Easter with them.

This is the guys coloring table.

This is where the girls colored their eggs.

Easter - The Egg Hunt

2006-04-17T13:37:00.000+02:00

Mikaila and Ethan with Will and Liz Dowdy. They were waiting for Bryan and Joe to hide the eggs for them to hunt down.

Ethan putting his find in his bag.

I don't know what is so funny about what is in the bag. Bryan might see the one that was squished because Ethan stepped on it!?

The Kids Goofing Around

2006-04-13T23:53:00.000+02:00

We took these pictures about a week ago. Mikaila and Ethan were playing around and had fun making the funny poses and faces. It was a rare moment because as some of you know, Mikaila hates having her picture taken.

Prague - We had a wonderful time

2006-04-12T00:56:00.000+02:00

This is Bryan and Stacey in the Old Town Square.

A famous clock - on every hour, 3 doors above the clock open up and the apostles come out and spin around. It is a main attraction that people gather around to see most every hour.

Here is a picture of Ethan with a friend of ours. Her name is Talitha. She was our next door neighbor during our training time in Virginia. It was great to see how much she had grown.

Our Prague Trip

2006-04-12T00:35:00.000+02:00

Here are some pictures from our Prague trip in Feb/March.

This is Mikaila and Ethan riding on the train to Prague. They really enjoyed it and Bryan enjoyed not having to drive the long way.