Goulash, Lake Balaton and windmills

- Szia (Hungarian for hello) family and friends! I'm trying to get back into Hungarian. We were taking lessons every week for the first few months, then we stopped over the summer, but now we are back with our teacher, Csilla, twice a month. We are also working on other languages...Jeff is brushing up on his German (he has spoken quite a bit around here as well as in Austria, Switzerland and Germany) and Grace is learning German (thanks Rosetta Stone) while I am getting refreshed on my Spanish and Rachel and Rebecca are also learning it.

- So happy that we have found a home for the little bird we rescued. "Alex" was doing great but couldn't fly due to an injury to its wing and foot. We couldn't keep Alex because of our dog Jake who is a hunting dog. Called the local vet and they found a home for Alex with a family who raises birds...yeah!!! It was such a neat experience to watch this birdie develop! We'll miss Alex.

- Rebecca lost her first tooth. She was so excited. Now she has a second that is a bit loose...keep in wiggling it!

- Sarah has decided to use the potty, almost every time. Yeah! That is a big excitement for Mommy who has been changing at least 5 diapers a day, or more, for 9 years. Way to go Sarah!

- Here is a short video on Papa, Hungary. It gives you a good idea of what the town looks like. I still drive around town and get a smile on my face when I think that we are living in Hungary and in such a quaint town

- We discovered, thanks to some friends, a really fun jump castle facility...just
like the ones in the U.S.

We went there for some friends' birthday party and then turned around and went there two weeks later for Rachel's 9th birthday. With pizza and cake back at the house, Rachel had a great birthday!







- The weather this summer has been absolutely beautiful! A much cooler summer here in Hungary than most of our friends in the US were experiencing. Overall, since we've gotten here, the weather has been great! I sure do like sun!!!

- Went back to the Dobronte castle ruins. Had a wonderful time with the family and Jake! Anyone who comes visit us will get to see it!

- We had a wonderful time over dinner with our Polish friends a few weeks back. We even tried blood sausage (actually, not too bad). My great-grandparents from Poland would have been proud! What a great group of people!!!

- We went to a great outdoor museum complex in Budapest in August with some friends. It's kind of like a Williamsburg for Hungary. Not expensive either. I posted a bunch of photos on my Facebook page but here is one of the windmill.

- Later, in August, we spent a lovely afternoon hiking in the Bakony hill area, about 20 minutes from our home. So beautiful!!! The kids did great on the 2 1/2 hour hike and Jake really liked it to. Why don't we do this more often? Only drawback...while we were starting out, a big pit bull jumped on Jake three different times. The owner finally reeled it in. As we were on our way back and later on in the car, Sarah kept talking about the "pickle." We had no idea what she was talking about until we realized that to her "pit bull" is "pickle." So now, any time we see a pit bull, it is a "pickle."

- We got invited to both of our neighbor's homes, on either side, at different times for a traditional goulash meal. What a wonderful time! And so yummy! We are truly blessed with wonderful neighbors. We hope to repay their hospitality soon!

- More and more. we can play older games with the kids. Recently we played Rummikub, Pictionary and Catch Phrase...I so enjoy that they are older and I can play games like these rather than Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders!

- In early September, we had a great time at Lake Balaton (our first time there). It's the largest lake in Central Europe and is only an hour away. Think -  beach town mixed with mountain town. Lunch, a boat ride, walking around and ice cream. What a neat place! We definitely plan to return!
I posted a bunch more pictures on my Facebook page.

- Sarah started attending morning Kindergarten/Pre-School at the local Hungarian/International school...the same one Nathan has been attending since January. She is having a great time! She and Nathan are in the same class...Lavendar. Her little symbol is a sunshine. Here Sarah is at the table, drawing with all the other little girls. There are about 6 girls in her class and 12-14 boys. About half of them are from international parents.

- With the two little ones at school in the morning, it is so much quieter at home. We are going on our 10th week of school and homeschooling is going great! Grace and Rachel are in 4th grade and Rebecca is in 2nd. Nathan does Kindergarten work with me when he gets home. Daily I thank God for the freedom to homeschool and a supportive husband. Very few people in Hungary, in fact, in all of Europe, homeschool. So, I often get to answer questions about it when I talk to the ladies here.

- Grace, Rachel, Rebecca and Nathan have started karate class. They go twice a week. They are the only English speakers amongst the students but a couple of the teachers speak English and they seem to be doing fine. They really enjoy it, it's a great workout and should be good for them. Jeff did karate for years so it should be fun for him to watch them progress in martial arts.

- Last Saturday night Jeff and I had such a nice time going to the Papa Wine Fest at the palace grounds,  complete with Hungarian folk dancing and music and some comedy show which would have been funny if I could understand it. We even ran into our friends which made it even nicer! I so enjoy living in Hungary!!!!

Time sure flies

Has it really been more than two months since I blogged? Time is flying by. Life in Papa, Hungary is settling into a normal, predictable routine, interspersed with interruptions here and there. I will speak of the interruptions.

It's easy to stay in the house, doing homeschool (we had 7 weeks off for summer break but have now started our new school year) and forget that we live in a foreign country. But I don't want to do that. I want us to embrace this new culture and its people...this wonderful country that is Hungary.

I'm going to go back all the way to May, which is when I last blogged. I'm thankful for Facebook to help me remember all that has gone on.

- We had a nice dinner with some friends from Norway. It was interesting talking to them about their country and its politics and comparing that to America. They deal with some of the same issues with immigration, socialism, etc., that we are seeing in America. They brought us a beautiful dish from Norway. The tradition of gift giving when one visits someone else is so nice. I also like the tradition that some European countries have of a kiss on both cheeks in greeting...my friend from Romania greeted me that way when she saw me yesterday. I am very sorry to hear about the shootings that just took place in Oslo, Norway...at the youth camp and in their government buildings. The people of Norway are in our prayers.

- Jeff and I attended a military ball with members of his flying squadron. It was so neat to share a table and dance floor with people from 12 different nations, all committed to peace and freedom in Europe and the world. One thing I have to say for our European friends...they sure can dance! I am looking forward to next year's ball! BTW...one of the neat things about being married to a military guy is that you get to dress up in ball gowns yearly and go to big dances. I don't know how many professions out there still do this. Here's a picture of us and our friends.

- Celebrated 15 wonderful years of marriage to Jeff...so thankful for his love, friendship and partnership!

- We have two wonderful babysitters for the kids...one American and one Hungarian. Nathan got called something that none of us has ever been called before..."cheeky." It came from our Hungarian babysitter who speaks British English. I tried not to smile when she said this because he had definitely been "cheeky"...he lost Wii for two weeks for his behavior. But, I just enjoy the differences between British and American English. :) We have another good friend who is British who points these differences out sometimes as well.

- We all attended a local Hungarian church in May, Faith Church. It's one of the 25+ satellite churches that are related to the large Faith Church in Budapest. The main pastor of Faith Church in Budapest was imprisoned and gave his life to the Lord and then started an underground church in Hungary during Communist times. It is quite a story...you can read about it by clicking the link above. At the Faith Church in Papa there was an awesome worship time (we recognized some of the songs and for those we didn't, we did our best to sing along in Hungarian). The sermon was translated for us by two of the church members. This is the church that our neighbors go to. The kids had a great time in their meeting and surprised me by wanting to stay longer even though the service was 4 1/2 hours long. It grew me as I got to worship with Hungarians. What joy filled their hearts! Quite an experience!

- In the beginning of June we went to the local park by the palace, our favorite park, and Rachel gained quite a few fans there. She fixed the zip line rope that had been broken for a few weeks. After tying on the new rope that we brought with us, she was surrounded by about 20-30 kids who then spent the next half hour happily using it. When they left the park, one boy ran up to her and said "I love you, I love you." So fun to watch! Unfortunately, when we returned a week later, that rope had been stolen and so no more zip line. Why do people do that?

- We are wanting to learn all that we can about the city of Papa. I recently finished reading a book (online) about the Jewish population here in Papa (largest outside of Budapest) and what happened to them during WWII. Out of the 2,565 Jews deported from Papa, only 300 returned home. The number of murdered children was 671. Absolutely tragic! Here is a link to the book Papa's Jews  There is a synagogue in Papa which is now abandoned...since WWII. We have looked inside and it must have been beautiful at one time. Here is a picture from the outside.

- Nathan's Preschool had an end-of-year picnic. The kids had lots of fun. He has done really well there and we have been very pleased with his teachers and all that they do. Sarah will be joining him just as soon as she decides that she wants to be potty-trained. I have tried everything I know to get this little girl out of diapers but so far...no success. Here's a picture of our happy boy at the picnic.

- We all had the opportunity to attend a horse demonstration in a town not far from here. The program included archery and swordsmanship on horseback. They wore traditional Hungarian costumes. It was really neat to watch. Afterwards, all the kids got to ride around the ring. This was the first time for Nathan (I think) and Sarah. Both of them did a great job. Fun afternoon for everyone followed up by a traditional Goulash lunch...yum!

- At the beginning of June our good friends from Charleston, SC, the Compton family, came out to visit us for a couple of days. We had a great time with them touring Papa, going to a local fair in Papa, visiting Sumeg Castle and Tapolc (where we went boating on an underground river) and out to eat for some yummy food. The kids had such a fun time together. I posted a bunch of pictures of all of these things on my Facebook page. I finally got some good pics of Papa and the surrounding countryside thanks to LaKrisha Compton and her camera. The town of Papa looks very pretty now as there are flowers everywhere...in people's gardens, from their window boxes and hanging from pots on every light pole downtown. The only place there are hardly any flowers is in our yard. I like the inside of our house but the outside is lacking in flowers and other pretty plants.

- While the Comptons were here, their daughter Kiersten was about to celebrate her birthday and so was Rebecca, so they got to have their birthdays together. Rebecca turned 7. What a sweet, lovely girl she is. She definitely brings much joy to her family...just as her middle name of Joy suggests.

- Our neighbors brought us two big bags of cherries off their trees and some honey she collected...so sweet! We made a chocolate cake and brought it over to them as thanks.  Later the same week, I took the kids to a local strawberry patch to pick strawberries. They were very good and I was so glad to continue our yearly tradition of picking strawberries. Now I just need to find a blueberry patch. Many of the houses here have fruit trees everywhere.

- Jeff continues to fly a few missions per month...some of them go to Afghanistan and Iraq with supplies, some are for airdrop training in various locations and some go back to the US. He instructs the pilots from other countries. He's such a good pilot and provider for his family.

- We started our new homeschool year on June 13. Grace and Rachel are in 4th grade (I've moved them online for some of their courses and they seem to be enjoying them), Rebecca is in 2nd grade and Nathan does Kindergarten with me in the afternoon when he gets home from the Hungarian kindergarten. The first couple of weeks have gone well...very busy!

- On June 16th, Jeff's grandma Beulah went home to be with Jesus. We were able to fly out to Fayetteville, NC and spend time with his family. She was such a wonderful lady and blessed so many people with her life. After leaving Jeff's parents' home, we spent a week, unsuccessfully, trying to catch a military flight back home. We finally ended up buying airline tickets, thankfully at reduced rates because of Jeff's American Airline ties. The bright spot in that week was seeing friends in Charleston and getting to stay with some friends in Dover. Here is a picture of Jeff's family at the luncheon after Beulah's funeral.
- While back in the US, the best parts were seeing family and friends, the restaurants (since Papa is a small town, it really pretty much has Hungarian food restaurants) and being able to break out of my "bubble of silence" and speak to people when I am going to the stores. I was reminded of what a small world it is when I took my broken Macbook to the Charleston Apple Store...the guy helping at the counter spoke Hungarian, of all things...his daughter is adopted from Hungary.

- Two days after we got back from the US, we rescued a baby bird (only about 2 days old) from the jaws of the dogs next door. As of today, "Alex" the bird is 2+ weeks old and doing well. We think it's a Song Thrush. Here's a picture.

- The day before that, Grace, Rachel and Rebecca chose to have their hair cut to give to Locks of Love. We were very proud of them...Rebecca's idea. This is the second time for Rachel. Here they are with their new haircuts...so sweet!

- Whew...that about sums up the last two months in Hungary and the US. God is good, family is a blessing and we are enjoying our adventure in Hungary!  

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!