The Baby-- Photo Bomb

Beware, you are about to get bombed with chunky baby cuteness...

3 months

4 months

Throwback

Thomas at coffee with friends two years ago.  

He had a big cup of whipped cream.

Here's to lots more coffee and good convos with friends. Cheers!

Getting Settled

We are finally back in Ohrid and it feels wonderful to be home.  We found a great house back in a wonderful little neighborhood.  We even have a semi-yard. Granted there is no grass, but the little plot of cement is our plot of cement, and we are excited about it. It is the closest thing to a yard we have had with kids in Macedonia. They are enjoying riding their bikes around our 4 foot by 5 foot yard, and I am happy because there is a nice fancy gate that separates them from the road.  Kate and Thomas have already made a few friends, and I am so happy to be in a neighborhood with lots of little kids. God is so good to answer our prayers. He knows how to give good gifts to His children, and I am so thankful.

This is our house.

We are still working on getting our place set up. We have two floors of the house, but the bottom floor is still occupied with tourists. So we are basically still living out of suitcases.  In my down-time (aka while I nurse Isaiah cause what other down-time does a mom of three who is moving have), I have been scanning pinterest for some design ideas, not that we can do much to our rented home, but I am so excited to make this place "ours."

While we have been getting set up, the kids have had to occupy themselves a lot...

Isaiah went for a swim in the laundry.

Thomas terrorized his little brother. Notice only one of them is smiling...

Kate read some books to keep Isaiah busy.

Isaiah smiles at me every time I walk by with another box to unpack.  Sweet baby.

And Kate learned to ride her bike without training wheels. Golly, she's getting big!

Thank you to all of you who prayed for a place for us. The One who is faithful provided all that we needed and more.  Pray that we will build good relationships with those around us and that those relationships will bear fruit to the glory of God.  

The Trip

We finally made it to Macedonia after a long but wonderful time in the states. We went to church with my mom and dad, got loved on and prayed for by the precious people at their church, climbed into the church bus, and we were off.

We hit McDonald's one last time (no more McDonald's in Macedonia. Boo.), and the kids got their last Happy Meal toy for a while.

 Then we hit the Charlotte airport with great force. 

Thomas' face and shirt say it all.

We said our final goodbyes to Granna and Poppa, and Kate and I cried all the way through security. We were those people that made a scene at every turn. With insane amounts of luggage (12 suitcases, five carry-ons, five pieces of hand luggage, and a carseat), two preschoolers, an infant, and a stroller, it felt like the whole world was staring. First with checking in that much luggage, and then crying through security, we got lots of "Oh!"'s and "Poor thing." Once we were through security and were trying to gather our stuff back up for the trek across the airport, one lady said "You guys deserve a medal. You are the family of the year." Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have an audience. I do appreciate her encouragement though.

The kids did great on the flights, and they even did good in the airport. Airports tend to be way boring for kids. You can only look around the stores and watch the planes take off for so long. 

That is where the moving sidewalks come in very handy. If you can find one of those, you can run the kids around and around until they are good and worn out--which makes for good sleeping on the planes.

 But the planes are super exciting for the kids. On the giant planes, they have their own TV filled with games and movies. They have their own neat blanket and headphones that they get to take out of the hermetically sealed plastic bags like it's the best present ever. You would think the bathroom was Disneyland. The meals are exciting... at first, and then you pull out the goldfish you packed in one of the 10 carry-ons you have. They love that a very smiley lady keeps bringing by drinks. They fit perfectly in the seat. In fact, they have room to curl up and sleep, right there... in one seat. Amazing! And when all of that excitement wears off, there is always spending time looking out the window. The world becomes miniature and the kids thought it was fascinating. It was fun to show them the beautiful snow-capped mountains of Europe. Kate commented that the mountains looked like an ice-cream sundae. The clouds are puffy and beautiful. Every bounce of turbulence made them giggle like they were on a roller-coaster.   They had a blast on the trip, and stayed pretty happy most of the time. God is good!!!

And now that we are here, they are super happy. Because of some hold-ups in looking for an apartment, we have been hanging out in a town about 2 hours away from our town.  Our team here has loved on all of us, and it has been wonderful to be reunited with them.  

 We LOVE these guys!!!

Thanks so much to all of you who prayed for the trip. Keep praying as we are still far from being settled.