More Than Just a Vacation

About fifteen days ago, in my best whiney voice, I told Brian 'I'm gonna go ahead and leave and just meet you and the kids there.  I have got to get out of here.' My poor husband....  I did manage to make it through the last few days leading up to our vacation and annual meeting.  It was the grace of God!!! We left with Ginna and Hannah and cried as we drove out of Ohrid and out of Macedonia for the last the time as a team.  And then we partied.  We had a blast at our annual meeting this year (as we do every year). Our colleagues from all over Europe landed on a little island about an hour outside of Athens for a time of worship, training, teaching and fellowship.  I cannot begin to express to you (as said in years past) how very beneficial and special these meeting times are.  It is more than a conference.  It is a time when we are reminded of the call, of the gospel, that we are not alone out here.  Our children get loved on and get to enjoy American VBS which they always love.  And they get to hang out with other kids just like them.  We get to worship in our heart language and fellowship by the pool. We get to be trained and spurred in our calling.  It was wonderful!!!!! And we are so thankful.  The Lord supplies all of our needs and we needed this!!!

Greece is a beautiful country (not as beautiful as Macedonia though. ;0)).

With 9 hours ahead of us, I had packed some boredom busters. Gummy teeth were just one of them.

After the 5 day meeting, we said our final goodbyes (on this side) to Hannah and Ginna and headed north about 6 hours to start our family vacation just outside of Thessaloniki.  We went to the beach a couple of days.

We went bowling for the first time (not on the Wii).

The kids were thrilled with their special bowling shoes.  I was just praising God that we had socks.

The little stinker was so proud of every single bowl. Even if his ball didn't come close to touching a pin, it made it to the end of the lane. That was all that mattered to him.  There is a spiritual lesson in there somewhere. :)

We went to a waterpark, which was a blast.  

We spent some more time by the sea,

went to see a the kid's first movie in a theater,

and even played in an arcade.  

(Brian and I have a whole new appreciation for the vacations we took as kids.  And all of that change that we saved up all year long and then rolled and took to the bank the week before vacation, I totally get that now. Thanks mom and dad for making our child-hood vacations so memorable and so much fun!!!)

The last 10 days were just what we needed. We are back in Ohrid.  We are excited about what the Lord has in store for the months ahead. We are recharged, revived, renewed.  Let's get to it...