Pony rides, castles and beautiful countryside

- Such a nice morning in Papa...we finished our school year last Friday so today, Tuesday, after cleaning up the house we went to a park downtown, close to the palace (no one lives in there now and it's under renovation. I will talk more about it when we tour it later this month). After playing at the park for awhile, a man came along with two horses pulling a wagon. The horses had their pony next to them. He took all of us for a ride around the park...for free. So neat!!! And riding with us was a Hungarian dad who spoke some English and ends up knowing some friends of ours...another pilot family...what a small town. Then, after the park, we walked a few blocks down to get some ice cream. What a wonderful morning. I think we will have to do this every week this summer!

- We've done a lot since I last blogged! In mid-April we had our first visitors to our home, Jennifer and Gerald Jacobs. Had a great time with them!!! One of the days we visited Castle Hill in Budapest. Beautiful views of the Danube River and the church up there, Matthias Church, was beautiful! Here's one of us with the Danube and Parliament building in the background. You can see all the photos on my Facebook page.

- We were very thankful that the Lord protected Jeff's family in North Carolina as tornados in April came within a mile of their home. We continue to pray for all the people in the US who have been impacted by this horrible weather!

- April was a month of visiting European cities as we took a drive up to Vienna, about two hours northwest of us. We visited the zoo there and had a wonderful time!  A couple of differences I noticed between Budapest and Vienna...graffiti in Vienna and more ethnically diverse in Vienna with many Muslims and Asians. Once again, we were so thankful for our GPS...I can't imagine navigating these big European cities without them. The streets are narrow, street signs are hard to find or nonexistent and it's crowded. After the zoo we enjoyed some incredibly good Chinese food...some of the best we've ever had. Nathan said it was even better than Wii...now that's some good food! I posted pics from the zoo on my Facebook page as well, with explanations where appropriate. Here is a pic of Nathan and Sarah enjoying themselves.

- We also have been spending some time at the local park...very pretty setting and lots of fun things to play on. Here are the girls playing with one of the other families we are close to.

- The day before Easter we visited Szarvasko Castle, an abandoned castle about 20 minutes away in Dobronte. It was built by the Hungarians in 1360 and destroyed by the Turks sometime later. We climbed up to it and had a great time walking all around the ruins. Sarah kept exclaiming, "Oh Mommy, the castle is broken." Then she would pile up little rocks to help rebuild it.This time Jake was allowed to go and he had a great time exploring. Jeff even let him off his leash at one time and he sticked close by. We're so glad we brought him with us to Hungary! I posted many pics on Facebook but here is a picture of the kids with the castle in the background. Some of the Christians held an Easter Sunrise service here the next morning but 5:30 am was a bit early to get the whole Daniels crew up, dressed, out of the house and up a hill. We celebrated Easter with some friends who have a house church here in Papa.

- Jeff made a couple of C-17 trips in the past month...one being to Entebee, Uganda. He also went back to Altus, OK for his quarterly simulator training. He is looking forward to doing his next quarterly training in Charleston...he's looking forward to seeing family and friends on that trip.

- I've mentioned the storks before. Here is a picture of a Daddy stork in the nest that is on top of a restaurant we like to go to. I don't know the name of the restaurant in Hungarian but the English-speakers all call it, appropriately enough, the Storks Nest Restaurant. Had some of the best onion soup ever!

- We began the month of the May with the most amazing week in Germany and Austria. We first went to Garmisch, Germany to the Edelweiss Lodge. It's one of five or six hotels that the US armed services run throughout the world. We stayed at the hotel in Korea, The Dragon Hill Lodge, when we first moved to Korea five years ago.  The kids especially enjoyed the breakfast and dinner all-you-can-eat buffets and the pool. We also got to visit a commissary and I was able to get some flavored coffee creamer - I haven't been able to find that in Papa yet.

- This area of the world has got to be one of the most beautiful on earth. We visited one of King Ludwig's palaces - Linderhof Palace and his castle Neuschwanstein Castle, and they were beautiful but they paled in comparison to God's creation all around us. It was awesome!!! We also visited the Salzburg Cathedral which was very pretty inside, but taking hikes in the countryside brought me much closer to the Lord. We are definitely going back to Garmisch again! Here is a picture of the family in the German countryside. Once again, I posted many more pictures on my Facebook page. Jeff is an awesome photographer!

- The second place we visited was Austria, near Salzburg. We visited Salzburg and saw some of the places that the Sound of Music was based on. It was an absolutely wonderful trip!!! As we were driving back into Hungary from Austria, though, we knew we were headed home. We are so happy to call Papa, Hungary our home.

- We celebrated Sarah Catherine's 3rd birthday on May 9th. She had a party with some friends and got to open some wonderful presents from all her family back in the US. She is such a sweet, beautiful, funny, lovable little girl. Our family is absolutely blessed by her every day!

- We planted a garden and a bunch of flowers in the backyard. Our yard will not compare, though, to many of the beautiful gardens that our neighbors have. They do love their flowers in Papa...and so do I!

Tulips, storks and Google translator

- The time in Hungary is flying by...I thought I would blog more often but when our homeschool days don't end until 4:30 and, the info I spent the last hour typing up for this blog entry just dumped (some not so nice words are going through my head right now, directed at my computer), I don't get to write as much as I had hoped to

- Here's a picture of us on a hike we took about a month ago. The area was pretty and will be beautiful in the springtime. It's about 45 minutes away.
- Went to church for the first time yesterday and it was great. There's a home church here, with Sunday School for the kids, and all of us enjoyed it a bunch
- Yesterday afternoon, we spent five hours visiting with our Hungarian neighbors, who we just met. The sister was miraculously healed from Osteoporosis and as a result, the whole family became Christians. Thanks to one of the brothers whose English is pretty good and Google translator. We look forward to many more enjoyable times with them and hope to visit their church in the future.
- Last weekend we had a great time with some new friends from Bulgaria. It was interesting to hear about life in their country. Once again, I think the best thing about living here is meeting people from other countries, plus the wonderful American friends we have made.
- Speaking of friends, we just found out some of our very close friends are moving to Germany, only 6 hours away...yeah!
- The weather is getting warmer so no more fires in the fireplace. I do miss the coziness of it at night but not the smoky smell that often lingered in my hair
- Driving around the area has provided us with some neat sights: numerous wagons pulled by horses, chickens walking around the street where we live, giant crucifixes everywhere, two storks in their nest built on top of some power line poles, about five very different looking deer in a clearing, beautiful tulips, daffodils and flowering trees, life in Hungary is unique!
- We are taking weekly Hungarian language lessons so that hopefully we can speak to people and not walk around in a bubble of silence everywhere we go. The people are friendly but I would really like to be able to talk to the lady at the Tesco checkout counter or the parents of the kids in Nathan's class.
- Speaking of kids - ours are doing great! Here are some of their likes: Grace - reading, drawing, riding her bike around the house, piano, helping with Sarah; Rachel - making trees houses, computer, reading, organizing her room, earning money; Rebecca - animals, drawing, Barbies, swing set, Wii; Nathan - Wii, swing set, sword fighting, action figures and school; Sarah - anything pink, dresses, drawing, Starfall on the computer, dolls
- Jeff has been flying a lot and will be headed back to the US for the third time later this month. He's enjoying the job - I think the people are probably the best part for him as well
- We are enjoying a great couple's Bible study on Wednesday night, studying the book of Revelation
- My sister and her family are moving to Houston from Atlanta...happy for her but sad that this will postpone their visit to see us for a year.
- Just finished getting the guest room set up for friends coming here this weekend...the bed we bought is a bit smaller than a normal full-sized American bed. I'm seeing, once again, that America is the land of big things...big cars, houses, drinks, refrigerators, dryers, etc.
- Rebecca, Rachel and I spent a Saturday, a few weeks back, planting a bunch of vegetable seeds into pots. Hopefully, we can transplant them in May and have a great garden this year
- Grace and Rachel were quite the interest item at the park on Thursday. By the time we left, they were being followed by a group of about 15-20 girls. The girls were practicing their English with them and were especially interested in Grace's looks since there aren't too many Asians here in Papa. Reminded me of some of our outings in Korea.
- Jeff's parents have taken good care of us via care packages...about 6 already. The last two were filled with Girl Scout cookies which we shared with our neighbors and landlord...thanks! We are trying to send out a few gift packages ourselves, every month, to family and friends.
- Two flat tires prevented us from going to Vienna today to visit the zoo and the Easter Market. Hopefully we can get up there later this week and I will post pictures on Facebook. And this weekend i Budapest with our friends who are visiting. So many neat things to see in such close proximity.

Ice skating, new friends and Hungarian Revolution Day

- Can it be that we've been here for more than 2 months? Hungary feels likes home. I am so glad we live here!
- I have so enjoyed meeting new friends from different countries! I had a lovely visit with a new friend from Sweden and made two new friends in Spain - one from Poland and the other from Norway. So awesome and such interesting conversation.

- The girls and I had a great time ice skating. After an hour, all three who had never put on skates before could make it around either by themselves or else with just a bit of help. Afterwards we went to  McDonalds. What a fun day!





- I uploaded a bunch of pictures of the inside of our house on my Facebook page if you want to check them out. Such a cozy house. I really like it!

- had a wonderful time with the family two weeks ago at a little village 30 minutes from here...hiking in the forest and eating out at a quaint little restaurant that surprisingly had English words on the menu. The hike was 1 1/2 hours and the kids did great!!!

- our five days in Rota Spain were wonderful!!! We had a great time. I posted all the pictures with comments on my Facebook page if you want to check them out.

-Yesterday was the Hungarian Revolution Day. Everyone had a holiday for two days and celebrated throughout the country. I made Hungarian goulash for dinner last night in remembrance. Here is the background of this important Hungarian day according to Budapest Tourist Guide "The revolutionary wave that had swept over Europe in spring 1848 resulted in a bloodless revolution in Hungary on 15th March. A bunch of Hungarian poets and writers formed the core of the radicals. Following the events on 15th March a Hungarian delegation went to Vienna to tell their demands to Ferdinand V. After several discussions the Habsburgs accepted an independent Hungarian ministry lead by Count Lajos Batthyány. In summer 1848 Vienna decided to take action against the Hungarian revolution. The ethnic minorities living in Hungary weren't happy with the Hungarians' victory. The Croats allied with Austria and their troops attacked and invaded Hungary.

Despite the Habsburgs' more power and larger army they weren't strong enough to defeat Hungarians so Austria convinced Russia to provide support for breaking down the Hungarian War of Independence. Despite being a small country, Hungary humiliated Austria by fighting tooth and nail and she emphasized this by surrendering not to the Emperor but to the Russian Czar in August 1849. Following the defeat retribution began. Fourteen generals were executed at Arad on 6th October 1849: Count Batthyány Lajos, Hungary's first prime-minister was shot at Pest, and thousands were sentenced to death or prison. The Habsburgs built the Citadel fortress on Gellert Hill at that time with cannons directed at the town below. The age of terror stifled Hungary in the coming years."

Fireworks, Transylvania and massage

Where to begin...life is good and we are so blessed here in Hungary! As I write this I am listening to a hymn by Selah entitled "O Lord, be Thou Near to Me." One of the verses resonates with my spirit:


And the holy voices sing “Hallelu!”
Ever will Thy reign be.
As I wander through this life,
Oh Lord, be Thou near to me.

In Hungary, in Korea, in Charleston, Okinawa...the list goes on, the Lord is always near. May He use our family, here in Hungary, to His glory.

- Right now the older three girls are at a sleepover (only the second one they have ever been to). Later today I will join them and the rest of the girls for ice skating in the nearby city of Gyor (jur). The girls have never been and Grace isn't so sure about the ice skating since she might fall down. I told her she will have fun. I have yet to decide if I will strap on ice skates...it's been years!


- We are on our way to becoming official residents (not citizens) of Hungary. On Thursday the children and I travelled to Veszprem...about an hour's drive. The trip was beautiful...rolling hills, trees, little villages with smoke curling out of the roofs, surrounding the central church with its beautiful steeples. I need to take my camera on every trip I go on, though it's not very wise to be shooting pics while driving down a two-lane road. I plan to take a bunch of photos of the countryside. Once we got to Veszprem, I mentioned to our translator and friend what a beautiful drive. He didn't seem too impressed. But, we're new here and everything is fresh and beautiful to our eyes. I am so looking forward to the spring when everything will be in bloom and green.

- Jeff returned home last night from a week at Altus AFB, OK. He has to return to the US every quarter for computer simulator C-17 training. He came back quite tired after his plane was delayed 2 1/2 hours in London, but baring a smile and lots of food/medicine from Wal-Mart. We now are supplied with mac-n-cheese and kid's meds for many weeks to come. But, he doesn't plan to do that again...the bags were incredibly heavy and really, we can find all we need here in Papa.

- I hosted a homeschooling meeting at our house on Thursday. There are six homeschooling families here in Papa...a few more maybe, but I haven't met them. Such a nice group of ladies. I think our biggest goal is to get our kids together to play and to plan some neat field trips.

- Yesterday I got my first massage in a few years from a great Hungarian lady. Her English was very good...the children learn English in school here. The massage was wonderful and it cost me only $12 with tip...wow! I signed up Jeff for one in March. She had a little shop on the bottom of one of the apartment complexes. It smelt of incense and was filled with the sounds of soothing music...and customers who knocked and came in the door (just a few feet from where I was laying) 3 or 4 times during the massage. But, when you have a little shop and it's only you...I guess you need to deal with interruptions. Thanks to my friend for watching the kids for me!

- I also had a new friend over to my house yesterday. So much to tell from spending a few hours with her! She is from Romania...Transylvania. We didn't talk about Dracula, though. She amazed me in that she arrived in Papa 1 1/2 years ago speaking no English. She has learned to be very fluent in our language in such a short time. Wow! She and her son came bringing flowers and Romanian candy. I had made brownies. So, over coffee and brownies we talked about many things. One was the educational systems of Romania, Hungary and America. Her son likes going to school in Hungary because he has time for extracurricular activities. In Romania, he goes to school for 7 hours and then has piles of homework until bed. Sounds like the way America is going in our school system.

- She told me about gypsies. I had assumed, since they are also referred to as "Romas," that they mainly came from Romania. That's not the case. They originally came from India and Egypt, are spread all over the world and the word actually comes from the word Rome...not Romania. She told me the same as I have heard from many...that there are some who are hard-working, home owning, responsible members of society. But many do not want to work, do not send their children to school and tend towards theft and other crimes. The whole situation makes me sad. The Lord has burdened my heart for them. I don't know what, if anything, we are to do about it...other than pray.

- She also talked about the post-Communist Europe. The younger people like the freedom of democracy and all the technology and other things that capitalism brings. Unfortunately, many of the older people, who are out of work and struggling to get by on the meager resources they have, look back with longing to the Communist system where, although they had little personal freedom, they had food and a home. There is still a long way to go in Eastern Europe, it seems, before democracy really takes hold and ushers in a better life for all.

- Jake, our dog, turned 4 on Feb. 16. The kids made him a treat cake. They took five different types of treats, spread them out on a cookie sheet and put the sheet down in front of Jake as they sang "Happy Birthday." He enjoyed it! We laugh at his favorite dog food. We tried a generic Tesco brand of food but he would have nothing to do with it. Then a friend gave us some "Darling" dog food with little hearts and other colorful pieces. It's his favorite! He will pick out the "Darling" food and leave the Tesco brand on the floor (for me to step on incidentally).

- Speaking of birthdays, last Friday night we had a birthday party for Nathan at the Villa Classica hotel in their jungle-themed room. We invited some friends and everyone had fun. The cake had a "firework" on it...huge, sparkler. A friend shielded my hair as the kids were blowing it out and I was taking pictures, lest my hair catch on fire from the flames. The Villa Classica, as always, were perfect hosts and so accommodating.

- Our friends who have four children, and ours have begun a weekly Bible club...a little like Awana. We do miss Awana and maybe we can start one here in the future, but for now, this will be a blessing.

- This next week, in homeschooling, we will be learning about Spain in preparation for our trip to Rota, Spain the following week.

Szia! (Goodbye)

Nathan accepts Jesus and first glimpses of Budapest

Nathan driving his sisters at the science museum

- The biggest news is that tonight...Nathan accepted the Lord Jesus as his Savior!!! We had just watched the movie Letters to God and so I guess he was thinking about Heaven. Then he and Grace were talking about Heaven and he said he wanted to become a Christian so he came in and talked to Jeff about what that means, Jeff prayed a prayer with him and we all celebrated!!! What a wonderful blessing!

- We had a great time at the Palace of Miracles in Budapest on Thursday. We went with four other homeschooling families. The museum is a science museum for children. It was three floors worth of very cool exhibits. The kids had a blast! Definitely a place we can take visitors when they come to see us.

- Driving to Budapest took about 2 hours. The first part of the drive was on a 2-lane road, narrow...with lots of trucks and people passing me...not my idea of fun driving. I am not an aggressive driver so the thought of trying to pass trucks and cars on narrow, curvy roads made me a bit tense the first part. Thankfully, once we passed the city of Gyor (pronounced Jer), we went to a four-lane road...much better...all the way into Budapest.

- My first impression of Budapest was a big, old city. Some neat buildings lined the streets...lots of carvings on the outside of some. Traffic was heavy, though, and the streets a bit confusing. Thankfully I was following Pam. After the museum, though, we drove across the Danube River to get to the other side of the city and I sure did wish I wasn't driving. It was BEAUTIFUL! It looked like castles, cathedrals and other neat building lined the river. I sure can't wait to go back and see more and tour some of the places.

- After the museum we went to the local mall and I bought some scarves. Here in Hungary, and I guess in much of Europe, most women have two things in common...boots and scarves. I had the boots and now I have the scarves.

- The kids have been having a great time playing with the grandchildren of our neighbor. They brought over some little gifts the second time they played together and then, on Friday, the grandchildren gave our kids some gifts...so sweet.

- On Wednesday, I had my first day of being a bit frustrated with differences between the US and Hungary. And not that one country is in any way better than the other...just different. It started with the furniture we had delivered...wardrobes for the rooms since they don't have closets, American-sized refrigerator, transformers....well, the furniture is just so big and the rooms small that it all looked crowded. Then, when I plugged in the refrigerator it caused all the power to go out in the house. Once I fixed that I discovered that the power outage caused the stove to stop working and then the light bulb in the kitchen burnt out right before dinner. Oh well...the little challenges in life. And...but this has nothing to do with Hungary, Sarah chose that same afternoon to wipe her poop all over our vacuum cleaner that I had just unpacked. It was just one of those days. :)

- I have a greater appreciation for people who must maintain a daily fire...my fingers are chapped and swollen from handling wood so much and at night, when I clean my face, it is a bit dirty from the soot. But, I do have a sense of accomplishment from maintaining the fire, plus, watching a fire is such a pleasant thing.

- Off to bed. I hope you are enjoying our journey with us!

We've been here a month

- We've been here a month already and are settled in...over half the bags unpacked...sleeping well through the night...making friends...homeschooling and Jeff flying

- A sweet little Dachshund, named Toocheck (sp?) visited our yard two days ago. He lives, or so we thought, next door with our neighbor. The dog got through a hole in the fence to come over to our yard for much of the day and had a great time playing with Jake and the kids. When the girls went to put him back through our front gates, he jumped out of their arms and ran off. We were horrified. We live right near the main road. Jeff and I searched for well over an hour with no sign of him. So, through our wonderful interpreter we told our neighbor. He said, "No problem, he will come back." But, he didn't come back and all yesterday we felt bad. Finally, Jeff and I, armed with some Hungarian phrases that Jeff had worked out on the computer, went over to our neighbors' house last evening. We were greeted warmly by our neighbors. Turns out, the dog doesn't belong to them but lives two doors down and wanders the neighborhood. He's back home. Whew! We were so relieved. Then they invited us in and for the next 30 minutes, between our iPhone Hungarian translator and Misi and Jeff's German, we learned about them and their family. We are happy to be living next to them and so glad the dog incident turned out okay!

- Right now, the kids, minus Sarah who is taking a nap, are next door playing with our neighbor's grandchildren. I hear lots of yelling and laughing and see running and ball kicking. It's so neat how kids can have fun together, even if they don't share a common language. And our neighbor Misi (Mishi) is so nice...right now he is kicking a ball with Nathan and one of his grandsons.

- Jeff is on his second trip...this time to Oslo, Norway and some other spots. He was asking me if I could check the weather in Oslo to see if he needed his long underwear...well, it was snowy rain and below 0 degrees so he packed them.

- Jeff got to root for the Green Bay Packers as he watched the Super Bowl at the Villa Classica Hotel at midnight! He actually is a late night person so it was no problem. And, it's a bit better than watching the Superbowl over breakfast like he did while we were in Korea.

- Tomorrow our washing machine and dryer, refrigerators, transformers and a few other things get delivered from Aviano Air Base, Italy (our closest American Air Force support base). We are hoping that the washing machine and dryer fit through our laundry room door...the pile of dirty clothes we have could fill five laundry baskets!

- Living in Okinawa, Korea and now Hungary continues to grow our family's love for the people that God has made. We may have differences, but there is more that draws us together. Who would have thought, growing up during the Cold War, that we Americans would be living in a former Communist nation with our oldest daughter, adopted from a current Communist country...God works in such mysterious, amazing ways!

Our new home in Papa

- As I write this, I'm sitting in our living room which is mostly unpacked, looking at the fire in our ceramic fireplace, which does a good job of heating much of the house, noticing that it just snowed, very lightly, outside...such a feeling of contentment comes over me...thank you Lord for Your many blessings

- After 3 1/2 weeks of walking Jake every, cold morning...I can now let him out in the backyard to pee...yeah!

- Speaking of Jake, he has become Nathan's roommate at night. We have the kids separated into Rebecca and Rachel's pink room, Grace and Sarah's (for now...until Sarah and Nathan can sleep together in a bunk bed which we have to purchase) yellow room and Nathan's blue room. He didn't want to sleep by himself but seems quite content to go to sleep with Jake sleeping on the end of his bed...what could be sweeter than walking into your son's room and seeing him happily laying in bed with his faithful dog at his feet. We are SO glad we decided to bring Jake.

- We met our neighbor, Mikhail...he seems very nice. We need to learn more Hungarian so we can speak to him.

- I made our big shopping store trip, yesterday, to equip the kitchen. Despite the language barrier, I was able to purchase everything. It's interesting to observe the differences in a US grocery store compared to Hungarian.
   -- both are very nice inside
   -- both have a great fruit and vegie section...I even found avocados marked way down (about .30 a piece)
   -- bread is good and inexpensive here and they are big loaves (less than a dollar)
   -- Hungarian stores don't have a lot of packaged foods (like Mac-n-cheese) but they do have a lot of sausages and items that looked like sausage (I bought one yesterday...had no real idea what I was buying. Turns out it was some sort of spreadable pate. Jeff tried cutting it up and frying it to add to some vegie soup he made. Nope...doesn't work. We agreed it had the taste and texture of meat tooth paste and Jake will be getting bits of that over the next few days)
   -- Lots of American products (sodas, Uncle Bens rice, chips) but they tend to be more expensive. I try to buy Hungarian for the price and for the experience.
   -- Lots of soup mix packages here and a whole section of different types of Paprika seasoning. Paprika is very popular in Hungary and is one of the things Hungary is known for
   -- At the local Interspar...guess what is right by the checkout aisle? Yes, the usual candy, gum...but also...Playboy videos. Nice. We haven't seen much risque stuff around here but a little more than the US
   -- When you check out here, they don't bag your groceries. You need to bring your own bags, or you can purchase one pretty inexpensively, and bag them yourself. I was working hard yesterday after buying so much stuff. I really felt like the eyes of all the customers were on me, wondering why any family needs so much food. I wanted to explain, but couldn't, so I just smiled.

- Doors...closing doors successfully has been a problem for us in Hungary. In the Villa Classica the kids, esp. Rebecca, were always complaining that they couldn't get the bathroom door closed; our friend Kellie's gate doesn't close well which led to Jake's escape a week or so ago, and now in our house, the front door had to be fixed because you couldn't close it from the outside, the back door has to be fixed because you can't open it from the outside and a few of our doors have handles falling out. Oh well...maybe God is telling us, symbolically, not to close any doors that He wants to leave open for us in Hungary.

- Nathan's school teachers held a special meeting for all foreign parents. They had an interpreter (to make the conversation flow a little easier) and told us about how our kids were doing, any upcoming events and wanted our input. So nice. Nathan did have a little disagreement with his teacher. Here in Hungary, and we noticed the same about China, they really bundle the kids up when they go out. At his school, when they would go out to play, they wanted Nathan to wear two pairs of pants and two shirts, with his scarf, hat, mittens and jacket over top. He didn't want to wear the double layers which led to his staying inside at recess. I explained to Nathan that he needs to obey his teacher but then gave his teacher permission to let him go out in one pair of pants, one shirt and his double-layered, Gortex jacket, with hat, scarf and mittens. He says he is plenty warm.

- The kids were quite happy yesterday, once Jeff set up the Wii. They played some new games, thanks Kelly, Ray and Melanie, and enjoyed themselves very much! In fact, Nathan is lying right next to me and just asked me, "Mommy, after breakfast can I do the Wii?"

- Keeping a fire going 24 hours a day is a bit of a chore. I think it is pretty neat right now, though. It gives me such an appreciation for our ancestors who had to do this and the many people who still rely on a daily fire to meet their needs. The girls have been great about bringing in the wood. We probably burn about 20 logs a day. But, it will cut our heating bill in half and it's so cheerful!

- We are now living in what some have referred to as a "Gypsy Neighborhood." I think a gypsy might live caddy-corner from us and we often see them out walking in their colorful, flowing skirts. I want to learn what I can about this people group as I pray for God's blessing to flow down upon them.

- I think the house will look beautiful once we get everything unpacked and moved in. We are so excited about welcoming any of our friends to stay with us and explore Hungary and Europe!