bday

Despite blogger saying that I am posting this on Thursday, it is still Wednesday, July 15, 2009. Today is my birthday!

I had such a nice day, sleeping in, going out to eat for lunch and shopping. We are having the "birthday dinner" on Friday with the fam to celebrate my birthday and my mother in-law's birthday, which is Saturday. My own mother's birthday is then on Sunday. Everyone tells Kevin it must be a killer week to have his wife, mother, and mother in-law all having a birthday within 5 days. He said it's actually easier this way so that he can't forget any of them. If he forgets one, he forgets them all. Plus, I think he has it easy because none of us really expect anything for our birthdays nor make a big deal out of them. We're easy. :) And nothing like a ton of Facebook messages to make you feel loved on your birthday.

Kevin's favorite thing to do is to rub in the fact that I am older. Yes, I am. Almost a year but not quite. And it doesn't bother me in the least. Yes I hit all the age milestones first, but those don't freak me out either. Maybe they will in the future, but at the moment they don't bother me in the least. Turning another year older doesn't mean anything other than the fact that I will still get 6 million people a year telling me just how YOUNG I am. If you're over the age of 32, it must be required because I'm not that much younger. And by the way, I have NEVER once told someone that they're old. That would be rude, but it's okay to continually bug me about the fact that I am younger than them. I know you think I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. Even people who see me day in and day out and know that I'm young because we've had this conversation ten times still make a huge deal when the age thing is brought up. I count it a blessing that I'm young and not falling apart yet!

And thanks to many of you who have written in one form or another to let us know you are praying for us as we raise support to go back. I am honestly not worried about it at the moment like I was three weeks ago and literally losing sleep because I was so stressed about it. I don't know where the money will come from, and we need to do our part in it. But then we have to trust God with it all. So I'm in a place now where I am resting in that, and I pray that continues. I'm sure the waves of stress will come and go over the next month before we leave. We do appreciate all the thoughts and prayers!

very busy

I can't believe it's been 10 days since I last blogged! Part of it was due to crazy schedules and part of it was due to an uncooperative blogger that wouldn't allow me to blog while in Columbus. Anyway, back at it...

We spent Friday in Harrisburg at Kevin's cousin Kelly's house and got to hang out with them for the day. Their daughter Madi was kind to play with Seth and share her toys. Unfortunately I didn't take a single picture while we were there! I am super bummed because they were so cute playing together. Then while they both went down for naps, we enjoyed watching the Wimbledon together! We went Friday evening to Aunt Marta's house for dinner and then headed home to go to bed and pack for the next trip. I do have some pictures of Seth seeing the horses that Aunt Marta has, but I'll once again have to wait to go to Kevin's brother's house to blog from our laptop there with the pictures.

We then left last Saturday morning (July 4th) to head to Columbus, OH. Not a bad trip, but Seth definitely wanted out of the car the last two hours. He eventually settled down. He continues to be a trooper with all of this traveling. Once again, praise the Lord!

Our time in Columbus was wonderful and busy with some down time here and there. We stayed with our best friends Matt and Leah. Couldn't be more grateful for them and to them. They are better friends than we could ask for, and we miss them lots in Hungary. It was WONDERFUL getting to stay with them and spend lots of time with them. Leah is due on Wednesday (which by the way is my birthday!) with their first baby, and we were hoping we just might get to meet him or her before we left. But that little one is staying put at the moment. I do expect a call or a text though when this baby is born. :)

We had a cookout last Sunday with many people from our old small group at church. The group has grown and split, which is great to hear. It was fun to see everyone, and most of them have had babies since we left. It was great to see all the little kids running around!

On Monday I got some time to have Leah all to myself to shop and have a long lunch to just chat. So great! We made a surprise visit to see our good friends Dustin and Kelly as well. I remember our last night in Columbus and crying as we said goodbye to them. I was so sad to think that their son probably wouldn't remember us, so we made a little video for him. When I walked into their house on Monday, Ethan ran to jump into my arms to give me the biggest hug. It was the best feeling in the world! He was proud to tell me that he knows we live in Hungary and all of that. Hard to believe that little guy will be in kindergarten this fall.

And Monday evening was a real treat getting to spend more time with Mike and Emily, who were also part of our small group and had their first baby boy in May. They are raising support to go longterm to Mexico City, and I loved getting to hear about that from them as well. We truly have been blessed with great friends!

The week continued with lots of visits with old friends and faithful supporters. Several people we visited took a picture of us with their kids and whatnot, so I will post those once we get those in emails. I know that everyone grows up and changes, but it was so funny to see all these old students of mine who are now in middle school and so tall and mature, as compared to little second graders! We got to spend time with the Busby's, Laipply's, Romanelli's, Rider's, and others. I loved seeing many families who I just so dearly love from our 3 years in Columbus, and they were all so kind and encouraging to us. It was great to catch up! There were many more families and individuals who I would have loved to see, but there wasn't enough time to see everyone. And some I just have lost contact information with, which is normal but would have been fun to see them. I did get to have breakfast with my second grade team I taught with there. I really had a great job teaching at Worthington Christian, and we have thought countless times about how God placed us there and how grateful we are to him for that.

We drove back to Western NY this afternoon to spend more time visiting Kevin's family. We will be speaking at one of our supporting churches on Sunday and look forward to that. We still have quite a bit of support to raise in order to go back to Hungary, but there is no doubt in our mind that this is where God wants us, so one way or another we will get there. The Lord has always provided for our needs and we are trusting him to do that again. We have felt encouraged by our supporters and are grateful that so many of them are sticking with us!

visit to see great grandpa gumps

We spent the afternoon at Great Grandpa Gumps' new place. He moved to a retirement home down here in Harrisburg, and he got to meet his first great grandson for the first time. Precious. :)

They were trying to feed the birds this afternoon. He has been saving dinner rolls from meals in the dining room to feed the birds. He gave Seth some bread to break apart for the birds.

Seth apparently thought that some of the bread shouldn't go in the basket...

But rather in his mouth. He ate half the bread that was supposed to go to the birds. :)

4 generations: Great Grandpa Gumps, Grandma Y, Daddy, and Seth

I love that Seth is so thrilled to be sitting for the picture. Ha ha.

par-tay

It was a fun day with Kevin's mom's side of the family. We had one massive birthday party this evening for all the summer birthdays, plus Seth since no one will see him on his actual birthday, which by the way is on Thanksgiving day this year. He got some fun toys and a book and of course a few balls. It was lots of fun.

Seth is really enjoying himself here. He has been attached to us the first few weeks this summer, and that really is no surprise since he has had a new house with new people and new surroundings every week. But here, he has been running off without us and not even caring. He even went to visit the horses next door with Grandma Y this afternoon and didn't want to leave, even though neither Kevin nor I were there! He has been going off with Kevin's cousins all the time. It is so great! He has been acting like himself. We are grateful for the Clarke kids who are watching him and desiring to play with him. It has been so sweet.

New toy...

More balls to play with...
Sarah and Ben helping him learn how to use the new book...
Checking out the book with Madi (Kevin's cousin Kelly's adorable little girl!)...

Playing together...

another new place

Just a note to let you all (the five of you who read this!) know that we made it safely to Harrisburg, PA. Seth has LOVED his time here already, even though it was only a few hours. Running around with the big kids and poking at the guinea pigs (did I spell that right?!) and trying to get the cat... He is in heaven. He went to sleep with no problems in yet another new place with new surroundings. Our kid is amazing. Praise the Lord. :)

We're here until Saturday, and then we drive to Columbus, OH. Don't know if I'll be able to blog anymore while here with the crazy, busy things planned, but I will if I get the chance!

what you've all been waiting for

That's right... Pictures from the tractor and a few others. :) The weather was absolutely gorgeous today, so we thoroughly enjoyed spending it outside!

Playing with Daddy's old tractors...

And really enjoying them!

Walking down the road... Don't worry. We were right there. No cars were around.

Jumping on Uncle Dan's trampoline...

Riding the lawn mower with Dad... Despite the unenthusiastic look on his face, he thoroughly enjoyed it and screamed out of excitement!

Riding the tractor with Daddy...

And then with Mommy...
Having a blast splashing the water while Grandma watered the plants...
And then enjoying playing in the hose and getting soaking wet...
Finally, sitting down with Grandpa to show him some leaf...

to make my family happy

I am here at Kevin's brother's house blogging since he has wireless. That way I can upload pictures from our laptop to the blog to make my family happy. :) My sister has all the good pool pictures on her camera, as I was taking pictures with her camera for awhile. I'll have to steal those from her later.

My little cousins playing in the pool...

Seth playing with an oar before deciding he wanted to get wet too...

At the zoo and telling us about whatever animal he is so excited to jump in with...

First carousel ride...

Playing on Daddy's old truck...

There you go. Hope that satisfies for a bit. Off to listen to Dan rock it out on the drums with "Guitar Hero World Tour." I have to bring Seth over to try this since he loves the drums so much.

farm girl at heart

We are now in Western New York visiting Kevin's parents. We drove up early Sunday morning so that we could get here for late service and have Father's Day lunch with them. It worked out perfectly!

Monday morning I was out driving tractor! Kevin's mom said that she thinks I am a "farm girl at heart." It's funny because I thoroughly enjoy being more of a "city girl" while visiting my parents and then also love being out in the farming country while visiting Kevin's parents. I like them both! I learned how to chop down a tree my first visit here ever, before we were even dating. I love to visit the cow farm and see them all getting milked in these super high tech days. The summer we left for Hungary I drove a little bobcat around, moving clumps of dirt. Kevin has it on video and has showed it to enough people because he likes to make fun of me, or I should say my inability to move much dirt. But those little things are quite rickety, and I was thinking I might tip it! Anyway, I drove the tractor on Monday and loved it. Later Seth took a ride on it with Kevin and absolutely loved it as well.

Seth is in love with animals, as many people know, so he is absolutely loving it here. I look forward to hopefully taking him up to see the cows sometime soon and later seeing Aunt Marta's horses when we visit them next week. He is chasing the cats all around, and I think the gray cat is quite tired of Seth already. Ha ha.

We went to the zoo yesterday, and he loved those animals as well. He really enjoyed the monkeys. We also took him on his first carousel ride there. His face did not show his enjoyment, but he was saying "ooohhh" and making all sorts of exciting noises. It was a hit, so much so that he dropped to the ground in a fit when he realized we had to get off. I so enjoy those moments.

I have been taking some pictures and even have some ones on Saturday when we were swimming at my aunt's house (the rain held off!). But those are on the laptop, so I am going to have to go over to Kevin's brother's house where he has wireless if I plan on posting any. Hopefully I can do that soon!

Did I use some form of "love" enough in this post?!