Merry Christmas - A Giving Time

Giving out gift bags to each child at the orphanage - calling each child's name.
Singing to the nursing home residents.
Walking through Diosd to sing carols to each of the shops and businesses.



This is our first Christmas in Hungary, and we have had fun experiencing new traditions, some of which I will post later. Christmas always seems to bring new opportunities to serve other people, which always brightens our hearts and makes us feel less homesick for our families back in America. The first picture is our trip to the Velence orphanage. A group from our school went to this orphanage where 94 children live, ages 4-18. Each child received a bag of clothes and toys! The orphans did a small play for us, and our group also had a program for them - a clown who shared the Gospel, and a showing of the "Punchinello" movie in Hungarian. As a gift to us, they presented each person with homemade beigli, a special Hungarian Christmas bread!

Joshua's school also took a walk through Diosd singing Christmas carols to the local shops, police station, post office and city hall. The pictures above are of the children's group stopping in front of each place, while it was snowing!! When the children would begin singing outside, the shop owners would quickly come to the door and windows to listen, quite surprised. At each place the children presented the Hungarians with a plate of homemade cookies and a message about Jesus. In return, the Hungarians produced candy to give to all the children! They always give back when they are given to. After singing in front of the police station, the police would not let the children go until they had something to give them. We saw a policeman take off in his car to go to the store. In a few minutes he returned with bags of Christmas candy to give to the children!! One of the caroling stops was at a small nursing home. The people who live there are very precious, and we hope to be able to return again to visit them.

It's so amazing to be given back to when you are the one who is supposed to be doing the giving. We have been blessed.

We Are So Thankful

We had the traditional Thanksgiving dinner here - pumpkin pie, turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, and all the other vegetables. Our missionaries met together to share in this abundant meal on Thanksgiving Day. At home, we enjoyed reading the stories of Squanto, Samoset, and the Pilgrims journey to America each night with our children. We even found marshmellows in a store to make our favorite Pilgrim hat coookies. I am grateful for this holiday so that we can take time to remember where we came from - our ancestors, our history, the reason our country was founded, and price that so many have made so that we could have freedom today. We have also told the stories of Jim Elliot and William Tyndale to our children - great men who were martyred because of their faith. Here is our top 10 list of thanksgivings:

A Bible in our own language,
Salvation in Jesus Christ,
Having 4 children, a wonderful spouse, and family in America,
Boxes that come in the mail,
A nice backyard,
M&Ms and Mentos,
Skype,
New Hungarian friends,
Financial support that allows us to be here,
People who will pray for us.

I Cannot Be Quiet!

We have a group of believers from our church who meet in our living room every Thursday night. It has been wonderful to get to know some Hungarians better as they are very open about sharing their life experiences during this time. Almost 2 weeks ago, one lady in our group asked us to pray for her co-worker who was scheduled to have a late-term abortion on Friday, the next day. This pregnant woman had found out that her baby had Down Syndrome and she did not want to keep the baby. She was six months pregnant. Over the next week, our friend did not have contact with her and we did not know what happened until this week's Thursday night meeting.

The pregnant woman did proceed with the abortion on Friday. She was induced and went into labor, and the baby should have been delivered shortly after. However, the labor process went on until Sunday night. The nurses in attendance said that if the baby did not come this day, she would just have to carry the baby to full term. There was nothing more they could do to make the baby come so early. However, the baby did come Sunday night.

The baby was born alive, and the mother was not allowed to see the baby. The baby was then left unattended......and left to die alone.

And so, this is a typical late-term abortion. Is this more humane than the "partial-birth" abortion method that is in such high demand in America? Friends, let us not think that God does not see and that God does mourn for the callous hearts that would so willingly dispose of another human simply because that one is less than perfect. The word abortion has become far too common a word - even among Christians. Let's not get comfortable with knowing that so many children are being killed every day. Let's not put economics and health care ahead of the right to life when it comes to voting. Let's not assume there is nothing more we can do to stop such evil practices.

Remember our own beautiful daughter.....our five year old who loves to sing and dance, is learning to speak Hungarian and to play piano, completes an entire math chapter in one day, and plays princess dress-up every day......who has Turner Syndrome? She was a choice. "It's OK if you want to terminate your pregnancy, you can always try again. It's not your fault that something is wrong with your baby. We just don't know how bad the affects of her condition will be....." I will never forget hearing these words and how it stung my heart. It's unbelievable that we would even have to talk a genetic counselor who assured us that "pregnancy termination" was a perfectly normal choice! WHAT? What's normal about killing your baby? Special needs children are precious! They are a special GIFT from God......so that we would learn how to really love.


"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well." Psalm 139

I cannot be quiet! Psalm 94:16, Proverbs 31:8-9

The Scent of Routine

Since we moved to Budapest, we have seen our home life evolve into some pretty nice routines. If it's Friday, you can always guess what we'll be doing........it's pizza day at our house. Friday morning, after breakfast, I make 2 recipes of dough. I don't have a bread machine, so I've mastered the art of kneading it by hand and letting it rise. Then, about 4 PM I start chopping the veggies and shredding cheese (by hand of course!). I buy a huge block of cheese and shred all of it - enough for 5 pizzas. At 4:30 PM we turn the kitchen table into a pizza factory with our rolling pins, flour, pizza pans, sauce, & toppings. The children take turns rolling dough, spreading the sauce and decorating their pizza, and mostly sampling the toppings. They like to eat more than they put on their pizzas. Stephen discovered he liked mushrooms last week! We can only bake 2 pizzas in the oven at one time, so by 5:30 most of them are done.......and they are sooooo delicious! Our favorite topping (the adults) are the spicy Hungarian peppers. The kids' favorite - cheese. (No surprise there.) The whole house seems to be exhaling the scent of Italy. We haven't yet made our homemade pizzas like the Hungarians do - baked with corn on top, and smothered in ketchup and mayo. This surprisingly simple routine has given us that something to look forward to at the end of the week, and has meshed us together with some fun together time. After dinner, we pile pillows and blankets on the floor, and chose a kids movie to watch - a movie that is in ENGLISH.

Here's our recipe, enough for 2-3 pizzas, depending on the thickness.
mix together:
3 1/3 cup flour (half whole wheat, half white flour)
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp yeast
Then add some olive oil and 1 1/4 cup water.
Knead together until smooth and ball shaped. Let rise!


"Mom, is it Friday yet?"

What About Missions?

"Why Hungary? Of all the places in the world, why would you chose Hungary?" We have heard this question many times, and the answer isn't always easily understood. Separately we read through job requests for places all over the world - Spain, Venezuela, Mexico, South Africa.....and Hungary. During my time of reading through the requests, I was moved to tears when I read the last one on the bottom of the pile. I had a very small glimpse of light into the dark post-communistic society of Eastern Europe, and saw many Hungarians coming to know Jesus. When we came back together, we had both chosen the same job request. So why this place? You could say that God put the Hungarian people in our hearts. The other requests sounded interesting, exciting, and wonderful, but something was missing......the calling, the passion, the presence of God in leading us to a different people group.


Many people love to talk about missions or say that they're praying for missions. Churches love to support missions, but often missions is just a concept that is too far removed from the everyday American life. It's easy to feel guilty for not having more time or money to do something more for the nations. Let's get real and specific! God is concerned about people - individuals and families all over the world. God calls His followers to respond to Him. If we as Christians are listening to Him, there will be people or peoples that he is leading us to. Not just "missions" in general.....but people.

Missions becomes REAL when we become involved with REAL individuals. Not programs, not offerings, not promotional videos, and not in idolizing missionaries. Who are we concerned about?

Which people are on your heart?

Language Learning

Can you read that? If you can, you must be Hungarian. As we study and advance deeper into the Hungarian language, we realize how much more there is to know! (Same feeling I had while in seminary.) We are amazed at how intricately detailed this language is. Just to look at the words fools you into thinking this is an ordinary language. We were warned before we came here.....but you just have to try it to believe how difficult it is!!! We are definitely feeling the effects from the Tower of Babel.

Here are some basic facts:
1. All letters always make the same sounds, unlike the English language. We love this part! We are able to read anything regardless of our level of comprehension or grammar.

2. You add endings to the words. For example, the noun "bed" can have 91 different endings!! A verb can have 84 different endings.

3. Words can be very long.....and you can even make up a new word! How cool is that? Examples:
osszeszedelodzkodik
energiagazdalkodas

4. There are specialized verbs that are not in the English language. For example:
English - "I am having ice cream." Hungarian- "I am ice creaming."
Engish - "We are having coffee." Hungarian - "I am coffeeing."

Regardless of difficulty or simplicity, our purpose for being here demands that we speak their language. And so, we are back in school, feeling humbled, talking like toddlers, but enjoying the job.
Acts 2:4-11 - "......we hear them in our own language speaking the mighty acts of God."

7 Great Years

With 6 people in our household, we get to celebrate someone's birthday about every other month! This month was filled with much anticipation of a dinosaur party, chocolate cake, and lots of friends, as Joshua turned 7. He wanted to invite the entire first grade class (just 14 children), and so we partied with 14 children from Ukraine, Bulgaria, Korea, Romania, and of course Hungary & America. The children played with Josh's collection of dinosaurs, made dino masks (they're wearing them in the photo), and ate. The only thing "dinosaurish" that I could find for the party were dinosaur shaped (turkey) nuggets and dino gummy bears at the grocery store! So, we had fun designing our own dino cake, complete with a spiked tail. My mind was filled with memories of being pregnant for the first time, preparing a place in our tiny apartment for our new baby, eating lunch in La Madeline's restaurant while having contractions, and finally......the emergency c-section. What more can I say? God really IS good.

The Crown

Her flower crown reminded me of another kind of crown - the kind that the Lord daily places on us.

"Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget none of His benefits.......who redeems your life from the pit; who crowns you with lovingkindess and compassion; who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle." Psalm 103:2-5

A list begins forming in my mind of all the ways the Lord has crowned us with his love and compassion. The good things He gives are satisfying, and can cause me to forget my true age! My youth is daily restored and I am energized by the bounty of His goodness. I have often thought of this verse and am amazed at the truth - if I realize the truth of all He has done for me, my soul cannot help but cry out in praising His name. If I forget His benefits I can only be filled with despair, instead of holding a beautiful crown of his love on my head.

The short list of His benefits to me:
Peace in moving our family to live in another country,
Seeing God put our lives together here as a family,
Hearing words from God when I open the Bible to read,
Being able to live in a spiritually dark place and share the Good News,
Being greeted with 2 kisses from our Hungarian friends,
Our stolen trash can showing up (unharmed) in our yard 4 days later,
Having to buy 6 pairs of shoes in a period of 4 weeks,
Having a washing machine for our dirty clothes,
Having access to medicine for our children,
The ONE morning that all 4 children slept in until 7AM,
The endless hugs and kisses (especially the slobbery kind) from the children and husband!

Are you wearing your crown today?

A Few Of Our Favorite Things

A can of Dr. Pepper that only cost $1.25, losing a front tooth, blowing bubbles in the backyard, finding a praying mantis, and playing princess dress-up......that's a wonderful week!
Having a Savior, knowing my sins are forgiven, living in peace with no regrets......that's eternal joy.

Believers and Baptism

We attend an established Hungarian baptist church each Sunday morning at 10:00. They own their own building, and only have one service on Sunday. The first picture is from the back of the church during the music. The words to the songs are projected on the wall. We have a pianist, 2 guitars, drums, and several singers to lead the songs. There is no "special" music during the service. Sometimes there is an instrumental "concert" after the service. They take time to pray together and share testimonies. The children sit with parents during the first part of the service. We bring books for ours to read, and we take the baby outside for a walk when he can no longer sit quietly. It is common for parents to go in and out with their little ones. At the sermon time, the children go upstairs for a Bible lesson. All the children are in one class, ages 2 - 10. Our children are still learning to understand Hungarian and try to participate. We ate lunch together after one service (also pictured)- the church provided hot dogs (no buns), potato salad, and bread. Everyone also brought fruit, desserts, and bottled water.

Last Sunday we witnessed our first baptism. A portable pool was brought inside with a ladder. Three people were baptized wearing white clothes. Before the baptism, they each gave their testimony in front of the church. The room was so quiet as each one climbed up the tall ladder and down into the pool. All eyes were wet with tears when they came up out of the water. What a beautiful picture of the old life being buried, and being raised to a new life in Christ. This was an amazing event. Afterwards, the three kneeled in front of the church to be prayed for.

"So then, those who had received his word were baptized.....and they were continually devoting themselves to the apostle's teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And those who had believed were TOGETHER..."
Acts 2:41-46

It is GOOD to be with God's people!

Five Years!

Our daughter, Elizabeth, celebrated her fifth birthday with a small party at our house. The day before the party she ran around the house squealing, hardly able to contain her excitement. We were thrilled that our new Hungarian friends came. It was a great opportunity to get to know them better, and many of them are not believers. At the party we had three special children - one with Turner's Syndrome, one with Noonan's Syndrome, and one with Down's Syndrome. A couple of weeks ago she decided who to invite to her party after our bedtime prayers. When we moved here, God told us that he was going to use our children in a great way. They are to be a special part of God's work here in Hungary.

Our daughter is a real miracle. We are so glad that we have her. When she was still in the womb, we were told that it was OK if we wanted to have an abortion. We didn't know exactly what was wrong with her, but that it would be very wrong to abort. Only one percent of babies with Turner's Syndrome survive the pregnancy. We asked God if he would allow her to live, and he did. I look into her beautiful brown eyes and am thoroughly amazed that we have such a blessing. When I honestly didn't know if we should plan a baby shower or a funeral, God promised that we would see His goodness:

"I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:13 - 14


Jesus said, "Unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in my name receives Me..." Matthew 18:1-6

Be an Example

On the way home from language class the other day, we passed by the Diosd cemetary. There was a funeral in progress. My heart was stricken at the brevity of life and how few people know Christ. Our teacher was just telling us that here in Hungary, there is no cultural Christian background which people grow up with. You would be surprised at how much the cultural Christianity influences our society in America. Here, people have grown up with atheism and cultural Catholicism and have never attended church. Many have never seen a real Christian and have not grown up knowing what the ten commandments are, have never attended a VBS, or don't know the basic Bible stories. Morality standards don't exist. Christianity is an entirely new culture, and this is radical change. Janos is a great teacher. One of his techniques is to teach us samples in Hungarian - "This is a ________." Then, we can apply the sample to any situation or sentence. I related this thought to being a Christian "sample" here in Hungary. If there is true sample of what Christ is, then there is something by which people can compare their lives to. A Christian will be the same in any culture, in any place in the world. By the way, Janos is also a pastor. He has helped start several churches, and even helped smuggle Bibles into Romania during communism. His entire life has been an offering and a living sacrifice to the Lord. We are to be His examples, a true sample, a salted life, a fragrant aroma, a light....

Light of the World Video

Does the Lord love all people? View now

Dinosaurs & Princesses

We had a near perfect day Saturday. It was Joshua's turn for a date with Dad and they were off to the Dino Exhibit here in Budapest. It was a special show that has been traveling worldwide - all robotic dinosaurs that growled and moved. He hugged Dad so hard and said, "Thanks SO MUCH for taking me here!"

We girls and baby (poor boy had to stay with the girls!) had a splendid morning. We made a heart-shaped cake with lavender icing & pink sprinkles, watched a princess movie, made paper hearts to decorate the table, and finally made strawberry lemon tea. We also read the "Princess and the Kiss" (Jennie Bishop). They had so much fun mixing the cake, decorating, and squeezing the lemons. As we sat down to have our tea party, we lit the candles on the table. Elizabeth exclaimed, "Jesus lights me up! He candles me! He is a light inside me and it comes out when I smile." Wow! She's right! Her face glowed in this new understanding of God's truth. Jesus did say "I am the light of the world," John 8:12 and "You are the light of the world......let your light shine before men...." Matthew 5:14-16.

Elizabeth said "This is the best day EVER, and I will never forget it!"
I won't forget it either.

Self-Sufficient or God-Sufficient?

I have been using the 31 days of prayer guide for our region and the August 23 prayer request of praying against self-suffiency really got me thinking. Living here has made me think of how self-sufficient I really was when I lived in America. I can list a line of accomplishments like Paul did in Philippians 3:4-7. It makes me feel good about myself to think of what I have done. It makes me feel special to know that I have achieved something tangible. Of course, that is just a deception. Just as the rich are deluded in thinking that their wealth is a safe wall around them (Proverbs 18:11). Here, my past has no relevance. Do things or achievements really set us apart in the eyes of Jesus? When I'm having a hard day, it becomes easy to say, "If only I had ____________ (a maid, more time, different job), then everything would be better today." As if things or achievements could smooth out any unpleasantness. And then that thought leads me to comparing myself to others. "I wish I could____________," or "I wish I was ______________."

There are moments when I have mourned for some possessions we had to leave behind. Why? It's just stuff! But why does stuff mean anything to me anyway? Somehow, in our human mind, we attach our heart to tangible things and sense a need to hold these with a clenched fist. Isn't this the same idea when our children ask for new toys every time we go shopping?

What if you strip away everything - family, friends, possessions, your church, your ability to make your own choices, your vehicle, your money, your language, your skills, Chic-Fil-A, or Wal-Mart? What if no one really cared how many degrees you have or how much your job pays? We can unknowingly hold onto these things instead of holding onto God. It can get so comfortable we don't even see our need for God in the daily, common life.

Sometimes we think it's greener on the other side of the fence.....but there really isn't another side of the fence. How we live and the choices we make show where our heart is. I am honestly asking, "what is my goal?" If I really wanted to know God would I do anything different? Would I change something in my life? What would I have to give up? What am I really holding onto? My answer should be nothing!

"My goal is to know Him....forgetting what lies behind (let go of it all) and reaching forward to what lies ahead.....I press on to the goal of God in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 3:10-14

Family Fun

We took a tram ride into town to Gellert Hill which wasn't too difficult to maneuver. All the kids were able to get a seat and Monte carried the double stroller, diaper bag, and the drink/snack bag up the steps into the tram. Gellert Hill has slides for kids half way up the hill. Giant slides!! They had to climb a lot of steps to get to the top of the longest slides, and one is a tunnel slide. We had a great time and no one got hurt. The baby even tried to go up the steps and slide too. He got to go down the tiny slide with dad. I love family time! Outings take a lot of work to get everybody ready - socks, shoes, bathroom, water bottles, snacks, restock the diaper bag, change the diaper, don't forget the money/passports/cell phone, leave the dinosaurs in your room, shut all the windows in the house (remember no AC), go back one more time for the pacifier and special blanket, and then someone starts crying, and one more "are we there yet?" I'm tired before we leave the house, but it's so much fun to do something special together that creates memories.

Shopping

We went on an adventure the other day, and took all 4 kids into the central market in Budapest. This is a 3 story shopper's paradise - the best produce, meats, cafes, and souvenirs!! We bought an assortment of treats for lunch - bananas, hot dogs that did not come with buns (we purchased slices of bread instead), and langos, a Hungarian fried bread that is topped with whatever you choose. I got a langos topped with sour cream and shredded cheese. MMMM, what a combo! Hungarian sour cream is simply the best I've ever tasted. It beats Breakstone anyday! We let the children buy a gift - cute little puppets on a stick that only cost 400 forint each (about $2.00). Paprika (peppers) abounds here and many booths sell only the finest quality of powdered paprika (shown in the above photo). Goose liver is also a popular delicacy. Salamis are sold in numerous varieties (also in photo). We did not stay too long in the market because the children were SO curious about everything and liked to play with all the beautiful wooden toys. This building was designed by Eiffel, the same man who designed the Eiffel Tower.

Spend Time with People You Love

Yes, it was someone else's turn for a date with Dad. A giant swing, a pony ride, and chocolate ice cream was the perfect combination for a three year old.