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!