this week

It's been almost a whole week since I posted last! This really hasn't been a super busy week or anything. It's actually spring break for the school, so Seth and I have enjoyed having Kevin around all week. It has felt like Saturday for many days now. But because I haven't blogged for a long time (well, a long time for me!), this will probably be long...


We really wanted to take a day trip to Bratislava, Slovakia, this week. It's only an hour and a half away or so, and we thought it would be just a little fun thing to do. We still don't have a car, so we looked into taking a train. It'a almost 3 hours by train due to stops, so by the time we got there and took the last train home, we'd only have 7 hours there, and that wouldn't even count the extra time needed to stop and feed Seth and all of that. We also looked into renting a car, but it's ridiculously expensive to rent a car for just a day as compared to a week. So after all of that, we decided it'd be smarter to stay here and travel this summer when we will at least have access to a family's van when they go back to the States for two months. Plus, traveling this week is like four times more expensive than any other week because it's spring break for everyone here.


The little booger got his first cold. I'm pretty impressed that he didn't get sick until being almost 4 months old. He hasn't been that fussy or anything. He definitely doesn't like getting his nose wiped or me trying to clean out his nose, but he's fine the moment I stop. He has always been a good sleeper and has recently been sleeping around 9 hours at night. Last night it was almost 11 hours!!! He definitely takes after me. I like my sleep! Several people have asked me how I got him to sleep through the night when he was a month old and how he continued to build up the amount of time, and I have to be honest and say that I did nothing. He just started sleeping through the night all on his own and then steadily increased the time. I am not complaining! I wish there was a trick I knew so that I could do that with our next child, but I didn't do a thing.


Kevin and I watched part of a movie the other night that mentioned Budapest, Hungary. We were both pleased to hear its correct pronunciation with the /sh/ sound. Yeah for getting it right!


I saw this artcle and short video segment on the internet this morning from "Good Morning America" about how to save money each month. I'm always interested in that. They went through one family's finances and saw how they could easily save $800 a month. Every idea/way they suggested was something that we already don't do, so I was a bit disappointed. The biggest thing they suggested was for this family not to eat out 2-3 times a week, most of which was at McDonald's!

Along that topic, Kevin has made this awesome spreadsheet for our budget that takes into account the exchange rate each time we take out money or purchase something. It also includes the fees we have to pay every month to spend money overseas (banks and credit cards add a 3% fee on EVERYTHING!) plus bills we pay in dollars vs. forints. We have to watch every single penny/forint we spend, literally. We did a little math and realized that because the dollar's value continues to sink, we earn $442 less a month than we did in August when we first arrived. Well, we actually get paid the same amount in dollars, but if we put all of the dollars we get paid into forints, we would get the value of $442 less in forint. I am not complaining, just merely showing how a sinking dollar affects those living overseas on a different currency. God has continued to provide for our needs. It is scary though to see that number because we do have to live on such a tight budget. For instance, our rent cost $120 more this past month just because of the dollar sinking. Again, a reality check but also a reminder that our needs have still been met one way or another! I'm also amazed at how we have stretched the funds with adding a new member to the family and living on even less. I think it definitely helps that I hardly ever go to the store because of not having a car. If you aren't shopping, you aren't spending! My goal is to go to the store 3-4 times a month. Sometimes it's only been twice. (That thing about how to save money also send to limit trips to the grocery store to twice a week! HA!)

We have spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with the Lang's, so where do you think we might be headed for Easter?! There will be a bunch of people celebrating Christ's resurrection together this Sunday at the Lang's. I am looking forward to that time together. I am going to be bringing dessert. Wish me luck because I am going to try and bake my VERY FIRST PIE! I would really like a raspberry pie all warmed up with ice cream, but since fruit is sold seasonally for the most part, I won't be getting any raspberries here. So of course this pie will have something to do with chocolate...

And the last thing on my mind right now is about daylight savings time. People in the US shifted already, but we don't move our clocks ahead until next weekend. So for 3 whole weeks our loved ones there are an hour closer to us! And in the meantime, I learned that maybe only half of the world, or even less, participates at all. So interesting!

So that's it... for now...