NEWS:

Jim and Linda Feree and their daughter Carly and one of their sons Paul arrived Sunday night around 9 pm from Germany to spend a few days with us.  They have been supporters since we went to French Guiana in 1988.  Jim was transferred by Siemens from Atlanta to Germany last September.  Their son Jay is in the USA and just got accepted with honors into Peabody.

 Sunday night our church put on a Gospel Choir concert.  We invited several Hungarian friends.  They all seemed to enjoy it a lot.  We got home just a little before the Ferees arrived.

 Saturday’s Quilting outreach went very well.  The weather was gorgeous and definitely spring like.  We had a smaller group than normal but they were very responsive during the tea and sharing time.  Several of them filled out prayer requests for us on 3 x 5 cards so that Szilvi and I can pray for them.

 After I got home from that Jay and I went to an outreach done by the Paulus Foundation here in Diosd.  It was a tea where they featured an evangelical poet/photographer.  It was fairly well attended and it was good to see Timea and Tibor there as well as Eva from our English class.

 Last Friday Dr. Gyori put me on antibiotics as my blood work came back that my bowel is not only very inflamed but possible infection as well.  Since I’m allergic to so many antibiotics it’s hard for him to figure out which one to put me on.  I’ve been on it about three days now and am starting to feel a bit better.

 We are all waiting to see if Derek gets called up to Iraq.  Rachel is signed up for summer school and hoping to work on campus this summer which will defray most of the cost of the credits she will take.  Marjie will join her there on June 7^th and stay there until she flies to Brazil with the MK2MK group out of Miami.  She will return to Florida then when she and Rachel will fly to PA for a week before Marjie returns to Budapest.  We are hoping Marjie can take her test and get her Learner’s permit while she is in PA.  We downloaded the manual and instructions from the web site.  She is studying it and will take the practice tests.  Jay will get the parent’s form notarized when he is in Pa for Alliance board meetings in May.  It costs $55 per page to notarize things here at the US Embassy. Yikes!

NEWS:

 Lost my palm pilot last Friday and have been missing it severely.  I reach for it many times a day to look for a phone number or help someone with a piece of medical data.  It was beginning to give me a lot of trouble in the past two months.  Have had it for almost three years which in PDA lifetime is pretty long I guess.  Fortunately I had just backed it up recently I so I don’t think I lost too much data.  Maybe I’ll get another one for my birthday which is coming up before too long.  It hasn’t been working well for about three months and I’d been thinking of changing it anyway.

 When I was at my blind friend’s house last Friday she was so excited she had cooked something without flour and could serve me some lunch.  I have been following a celiac gluten free diet for 4 years now.  Later I suspected she must have used an Uncle Ben’s  jar of sauce  to make the sweet and sour stir fry. It has flour in it…labeled “modified food starch” because for the past three days I have had miserable GI pains etc.  So I was out of commission for most of the weekend.  Unable to go to church on Sunday am but that night was able to eat a little and have been feeling a bit better ever since.

 Jay had counted on me leading the 20 World Teamers on a tour Saturday at noon when the bus got in to Budapest from Keszthely and unfortunately he had to take them himself.  I met them all at the airport and got his luggage and mapped out a plan for him on how to do the tour on public transportation.  It worked out well and they had a great time.  He came home very tired later that night.

 Marjie and her friend Katie were at a Birthday party on Friday night but they helped me finish off Marjie’s support raising letter for her trip to Brazil on  Friday night.  We all got to bed around midnight.  However the letters were all carried to the USA and mailed on Saturday.  Her first support deadline for $500 is on April 2^nd.  God will provide I’m sure.

 Sunday night Marjie went with her youth group to see Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.  Jay and I haven’t had time to go yet. I’m half way through John Piper’s book called The Passion of Jesus Christ. It includes 50 reasons why Christ suffered and died.  I hope to finish it before I go see the movie.  Today I was stuck waiting in line at the bank for 70 minutes.  I had taken along the book and made good use of the wait.

 Spring has sprung in Hungary.  After about 5 straight days of drizzle it’s great to see the sun.  I finally felt well enough today and it was finally dry enough to work in the garden.  Trimmed the rose bushes and racked up the leaves and pine needles.  Fortunately we have a very small garden area to maintain.

 Folks are beginning to call to reserve their tables for the ICSB yard sale and I haven’t even sent out the adds yet.  May 8^th will be here before I know it.  Susan Nikitin came over today to learn how to sew up our next Patch of the Month called Goose Tracks.  I plan to share some info about geese and tie in the Gospel during the sharing time this coming Saturday at the Quilt Club.  Timi said she can’t come  on Saturday so I’m going to her house tomorrow to help her do hers.  She wrote me recently and this is what she had to say:  “My faith had been stronger and I'm feeling that God works in my life, and Jesus lives in my soul. I'm glad because Tibor likes the teaching from the Bible too. I've prayed for it many times. I know the Bible better than before and I tell lot of stories about Jesus and other people from the Bible for my Beni. Thank you that you've shown the right way for me! You helped me that I could found God. “

 Timi is in our English class and Jay and I only have two more times with this group before the course ends.

 Monday night our small  accountability group, made up of 6 couples from various mission agencies, went out for dinner together.  The guys always meet on the odd Mondays and the girls meet on the even Mondays.  That way there’s always someone home with the kids.  When we have a month with a 5^th Monday, which occurs about 4 times a year,  we do something all together.  Last time we had a game night.

NEWS:

The conference finished on Wednesday but Pam and Kevin Cain and I left after the Ephesians message by Dan D. on Tuesday morning. What a fabulous wrap up of the whole book! We made it to ICSB for a 2 pm interview with the Director David Welsh.  We are always trying to recruit new teachers and staff for ICSB and Kevin is our World Team Recruiter.

 After a tour of the school we headed down to the Alliance office where we dropped Kevin shortly after 4 pm and Pam and I headed to the market to buy some hospitality gifts for her friends and family for taking care of their kids while they were gone.  Picked Kevin back up and headed to the Admiral restaurant to have dinner with David and Marian Toth and the Behars. 

 It was a lovely evening together.  Because of questions that were asked the Cains, I learned a lot about Kevin and what God has done using him in mentoring small group leaders in his church the last few years. I also learned more about what they used to do in Irian Jaya before they had to leave.  

 After that we headed over to Tesco so they could see the type of large superstores we have here.  Home late and straight to bed.  Too tired to do e-mail or blogging.

 Wednesday morning we were up packing and having breakfast. We stopped in to see the Puhr and Nichols before heading to the airport.  These families both have handicap children and are managing to work here in Hungary.  The Cains daughter has CP and is in a wheel chair most of the time.

 While checking out the times at the bus stop, at the airport, for taking the tour group in to Budapest, Balazs Tornai got off the stop.  I had arranged for him to come out to meet Tim Smith, before his flight, in hopes that perhaps they could strike up a friendship that would be mutually helpful.  The Smith’s son has autism and Balazs has vast experience working with severely mentally handicapped children including some non-verbal autistic kids.  The Smith’s son just spoke for the first time while Tim was here in Hungary. PTL!  Balazs has been accepted into the PhD program for Special Ed at Penn State and plans to go there this fall.  I met him through Julia Szuc who comes to my quilting outreach. She worked with his Mom Katalin at the Channel Two TV  Station here.  Julia told her friend Katalin about my interest in special Ed and how God provided the NILD program at ICSB because of Marjie’s need. I had shared this in  a testimony at the quilting outreach and mentioned that my dream is that this program becomes available for Hungarian schools as well.  This summer NILD is teaching the Level One here at our School July 12-23.  

 Ardeth Frisbee who  worked  for ACSI Hungary office for 8 years and lives in State College began to correspond with Balazs after I introduced them.  She used to work for Penn State helping to process the foreign students that came.  She has been tremendously helpful to him and has even offered for him to stay at her house along with other foreign students she keeps.  So I thought that perhaps Tim might be able to help Balazs get to State College when he arrives.  Or it might be another home away from home in case he ever needs it.  My brother Steve Jackson and his wife Lynn and 8 kids live close to the college and could provide Balazs with some comic relief if he ever gets too serious.  They are corresponding with him as well.

 Anyway back to Wednesday at the airport…the bus finally arrived with all the World Teamers just after 11 am.  It was raining and cold and many that only had a few hours chose to stay dry and comfy at the airport instead of taking the tour as planned.  However 10 brave souls headed out with me on public transportation for a tour of Budapest.  We bought our first ticket on the airport bus for 170 HUF which takes you to the end of the Blue Metro or underground.  There we were able to buy an all day pass for everyone for 1100 HUF or about $5 each.  Our first stop was Calvin Ter where we hopped on a tram to the indoor market.  After purchasing a few souvenirs we took the 2 Tram along the Danube looking at the Castle Hill through the mist and the rain.  A quick look at the Parliament and the Ethnographic Museum and we were off to Vorosmarty ter to catch the Yellow Metro to Heroes Square.  After checking out the  Castle and Baths and all we headed got off at Kalman square to see the very old painted surfaces on the buildings there and the Opera.  At Deak ter we had a snack at McD in order to use their clean bathrooms.  Tour Inform supplied us with free colorful brochures for those who would like to scrapbook their tour.  Then off to see the Jewish Synagogue .  We walked to the Astoria stop to hop the tram to Calvin ter to catch the Blue metro back to the airport.  Four of our group took the Red Metro there to the Deli Train station to catch the 139 bus back to the Classic Hotel.  So after warm goodbyes we headed in our separate directions.

 Needless to say I was glad to get home. After cooking supper  and waiting for Marjie to come home from her Bible study…I fell asleep in the easy chair sleeping through the CNN.  Marjie had pity on me and got me off to bed.

 Thursday was still rainy and cold.  I had high aspirations to do lots of things around the house but though the spirit was willing the flesh was weak!  So I basically caught up on all my e-mails and helped Marjie write her prayer and support letter for her missions trip to Brazil this summer.

 Friday 26^th…it’s still cold and rainy. After cleaning the house I need to run 5000 huf that Martha must have dropped in the massage room at the hotel.  She and her husband Tibor, our blind Hungarian friends, came out on Monday and gave about 16 of our missionaries the treat of a great half hour therapeutic massage. She lives just a few km over in the next town.  They are currently unemployed church planters.  So this will help them pay some of their bills this month.

NEWS:

Friday after the small group discussion and morning session I wanted to drive the 2 hours home to see Marjie.  I invited  Pam Cain to come along with me.  Her husband Kevin is our mission recruiter and 8 years ago they left Irian Jaya to care for Kelsey's needs with Cerebral palsy.  Last summer I mentioned to them that Hungary has one of the best therapy schools in the world for CP and that we have one missionary family with a daughter in our school with CP that gets her therapy there.  Ever since  then they have been praying about the possibility of coming to Hungary.  They are just starting to explore that a bit more.  I was able to connect Pam with my friend Karen to talk about how they have handled life here with a child with CP needs.  

Before we left Balaton, we offered to do laundry for some folks. We also wanted take Marjie to the Middle School play Friday night.  Marjie was at track practice when we arrived at our house so we were able to collect some cold medications to take back to the conference and to start about 3 loads of wash.  Pam wanted to see ICSB so she walked over to school with me to the health room to get my stethoscope and BP equipment. On the way home she asked me if I knew Debbie Bochman.  Imagine her amazement when she found out that Debbie was my neighbor.  She babysat for their son Tim when he was just a couple years old and that was 21 years ago.  So we had fun making Debbie guess who in the world Pam was.  We fixed supper for Marjie and  her boyfriend David and his sister Kristen Coleman who all came in  tired and hot from track practice.  Defrosted some chicken divan and Hungarian Gulash from the freezer to feed them all and then we all took off for the play.  The play was well done and a big hit and we enjoyed it thoroughly.  We made some calls to line up some handicap friendly houses for Pam to see as well before they leave next week.  Folded the last load of laundry and checked the e-mail before hitting the sack.

Drove back to Balaton early this morning and arrived in time for the small group time.  Curt shared Ephesians this morning and it was very practical but then chapter 4 starts some of the applied part of the book that addresses how we do things.  It was very applicable to anyone's ministry.  I have finished quilting the border and am now working on the strips that run between the patches. 

I was sorry to miss Jay's talk on multiplication last night but then if I had to miss something at least it's something I've heard before.  After 15 minutes he had them split out to country and focus groups to work on their Keystone project which is basically coming up with goals and a plan for how to implement what we have learned so far at this conference. Jay met with the Moldova team so I joined with them this morning.

I neglected to mention a that on Tuesday night we had a delightful treat of a concert by a local children's orchestra playing on reproductions of instruments from the Baroque and Renaissance period and playing well known classical pieces from that time done by European and Hungarian composers.  It was so sweet and enjoyable that the 30 minutes went by entirely too fast.  The setting was in the Festetics Castle's Ballroom of gilded gold leave panels and mirrors and chandeliers.  The director and orchestra were all dressed in traditional costumes of that period.  This castle is located within a 23 minute walk from our hotel.

VIEWS:

On Friday Myles spoke on Ephesians and God really spoke to my heart.  He talked about us, the ordinary, plus God the Extra = Extraordinary.  He challenged us to ask God to show up  and show off in our lives.  Dare God to do the extraordinary.  Don't just be content with  what we can do within our giftedness or energy or strength but look for God to do something well beyond what we could do or dream of.

NEWS:

Spring has sprung here in Hungary.  Actually it looks like it may be a bit like last year  where we go directly from winter to summer.  Most of us only brought winter clothing so we are all a bit warm.  Eat your heart out you Pennsylvanians who are getting snow!

Ephesians was taught Chris Faith this morning and he did a great job.  Church Multiplication was handled by Karry Kelley and there was great interaction.  It was definately a hot botton and it was thrilling to hear the comments and questions.  You can tell it is like fire in the belly of many who interacted.

Marjie called and was wondering did Mom leave anything else in the freezer besides pot pie.  Yes there is spaghetti and chicken divan. I'll drive the 3 hours home tomorrow to attend the Middle School musical at 7 pm and return early Saturday morning.  The Crystal Factory tour is something that I've already done.

Louise Getz was helping me quilt the last few stitches in Rachel's quilt when Graham spilled coffee on it.  Fortunately with some cold water we got it all out. I told Pam who bumped into Graham that "it's just a thing and don't worry about it!"  Louise is going to get some fabric for me when she gets home to send back with Jay in May from WT headquarters.  Louise and I both pay attention better when our hands are busy.

On Monday we are going to try to do some stress relief by having Tibi and Martha our blind Hungarian friends come out and do massages on about 16 people.  Tonight there is a classical concert up at the castle.  There are more and more little impromptu disscussion groups going on during the afternoon. 

VIEWS:

At lunch time there were several of us with kids in college being asked some excellent questions by a  Dad who wants to prepare for sending his first son off to college in the next year.  We warned him about several pitfalls that our TCKs have fallen into.  Most of our kids grow up with lots of attention being showered on them when we go back to their passport country.  So they tend to develope a star complex.  However if Mom & Dad are no where around and they are in a totally new arena where they aren't a bit special...it can be quite a shock!   Many are used to being involved on the field with Mom and Dad who are very needed and to be thrust into a new context where they aren't ever needed causes them to look for the underdog or needy ones.  This often leads to a saviour syndrome and they get sucked into a relationship with a very needy person that could potentially be disastrous for them, especially if it is a guy and girl relationship.  We all ended up sharing resources and books and decided to invite others to join us.  Tomorrow when I go home I'll bring back some of those resources to show as  well as a list I made for my Senior Class Transition Seminar.  On it are the most essential things to do to accomplish before leaving for college in your passport country. Many I learned from my TCK Mom, my own experience and sending off Sarah Joy and Rachel.

TRIVIA:

I had 67 hits to my web site the first week with an average of 10 a day.  Neat! Wonder who they are.  I joined a Tentmakers Blog circle and also another obvious ministry one. There were a ton of quilting ones but I don't have that kind of time. I'm really allergic to the computer and try to avoid it as much as possible.