Another Tea Party with a Sweet Visitor

Maggie came and stayed with us for a few days which was so fun!  Kate and Maggie had a big time together.  Here are some sweet pictures of their tea party together.

Sweet feet.

Thomas serenaded the girls while they had their tea party. :)

We love sweet Maggie and her precious family. I think they should just move to Ohrid and be our neighbors.  Don't you?!

Musical Nights

Weddings in Macedonia are SUPER fun. You know all of those movies where a song comes on and everyone knows all the words and all the dance moves, and you are like, yeah right, if only we lived in a musical?!  Well, Macedonian weddings are kind of like a night in a musical.  

We had the privilege of getting to go to two weddings in September, and we had a BLAST!  The first was some friends of ours who live in Skopje. They are precious lovers of God and His Gospel which made this particular wedding even more beautiful!  The ceremony was gorgeous as was the bride.

Isn't she lovely?!  The guy beside the bride and groom is Alek, another friend of ours. He was the kume.

(The "kume" is the best man, and in Macedonian weddings, he is WAY important. To be asked to be a kume is a huge honor since there really is no one else in the wedding party. The kume is the wedding party all wrapped up in one dude. He is kind of like "the godfather" of their marriage and will most likely be the godfather of their children.)

The ceremony was very worshipful and so sweet.   Then, the party began.

Here are Amy and I waiting to leave the church. I LOVE this girl!!!

At the reception, the bride and groom wait outside, greet and take pictures with every single person that comes.  It takes a while.  While they are doing that, the guests that have already had their picture taken are seated in the reception hall and wait for the party to begin. Once the bride and groom finish the taxing job of smiling non-stop for over an hour, they enter the reception hall very slowly and normally go straight into their first dance.  Maya and Stefan, however, had the official signing of their marriage license at this point. Then both families and really close friends gathered around for a champagne toast to commemorate the moment.

 Then we dance and Dance and DANCE!  Everyone knows ALL the dances (different types of the oro) and all the words to the songs. It's SO much fun!

And what is a true party without a little table dancin'?

The other wedding we went to was a Macedonian friend of ours and his American bride. :) So fun!

They had a some traditional dancers perform at their wedding. So cool! (They also had a belly-dancer. I didn't take any pics of her.) 

Do you see Brian in the mix?!  

At Macedonian weddings, the bride and groom cut the cake, and then all the guests come up to their table to get their piece of cake.  The bride and groom serve every single piece of cake.  

And after the cake??? More dancing! It is the most fun EVER!  I love Macedonian weddings.  At the end of both weddings, Brian and I both smelled like we had just had a pretty intense workout. I guess that is what happens when you dance 4-5 hours in a non-air-conditioned room.  I will take that workout over P90x ANYday!!! I think I was made to live in a musical!

4 Years Old

I cannot believe my little girl is FOUR years old. Golly-day!  I am so very proud of the sweet little girl she is and of the little lady she is becoming.

 A daddy's girl to the core, and to say she has him wrapped around her little finger would be the understatement of the century.

  

Blowing out the candles.

The little girl beside Kate is Jovana, Kate's BFF.

Poor Thomas. He was partied out, so he crawled under the coffee table and hid for awhile.

The birthday breakfast.

She was showing off her first two presents.

Thomas helped me make the cake. He was part of the clean-up crew.

The cake: she wanted a Little Mermaid cake WITH the crab and fish. 

Sweet Kate Joy, Oh come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our God our Maker. For His word has given you life. Praise the Lord for His merciful kindness is great toward you. He knows your frame. He shall cover you with his feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge. For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. Seek Him early because His lovingkindness is better than life. He is your help therefore in the shadow of His wings you can rejoice. His right hand upholds you. He is your defense. Trust in the Lord and do good. Feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in Him. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him, for He created all things. Abide in His love so that your joy may be full. (From The Bible)

 We LOVE you baby girl!!!

Tea Party and American Goodies

I decided Kate and I needed some good girl time last week. With little Thomas running around, there is lots of ball throwing, jumping off couches, wrestling, running around our couch screaming, playing with cars, etc. Don't get me wrong, he does his fair share of playing with dolls and Kate's kitchen set, but the dolls normally end up getting their heads slammed up against the wall for awhile and plastic food, plates, and tea cups normally end up getting thrown at Kate's head.  Yep. He is a wild man.  So Kate and I were long overdue for a real girlie tea party complete with cloth napkins and all.

We made cupcakes for our tea party.  This is right where she sat the entire time they were in the oven.  

 Then she helped me decorate them.  She did so good!

We sat the table with my tea set from Prague, cloth napkins, and some beautiful silver spoons sent to her from Grandma and Grandpa.

The tea was a delicious cheery koolaid. Yum. It provided a great feminine mustache.

We had so much fun being girlie and chatting about life.  I love my girl!!!

Below is a picture of only some of the American goodies my mom and dad sent! THANKS SO MUCH!  Most of the items pictured have already been devoured.  What a special treat!!!! Ya'll are the best!

Pindjur -- More Roasted Red Peppers

Last week we got together with Ane, again, to make Pindjur, another Macedonian specialty.  Ginna and Hannah were able to come along and help out with the process this time, and we had so much fun.

Pindjur consists of roasted red peppers, tomatoes, carrots, onions, parsley, oil, salt and vinegar.  It is super yummy. 

Watch out, Ginna will cut you! :)

The peppers doing their roasting. We roasted, peeled and seeded 30 kilos of red peppers.

After all the peeling, we put all the peppers in big potato sacks to sit over night so some of the water would drain out of them. Then Ane took them down and ran them through a food mill.

Here are the tomatoes boiling. We used 10 (?) kilos of tomatoes.  Then added two liters of oil!

Here are the milled red peppers waiting to jump on the fire.

While we waited for the tomatoes to boil down to a paste like substance, Ginna and Hannah took the girls to the playground and Ane and I studied the Bible together!

We added 10 kilos of shredded carrots and the chopped onions.

And Hannah stirred and stirred and stirred. It's a workout.

Ginna took over the stirring for a while.  We all took our turn, because you have to stir constantly or risk burning it.

Then after a couple of hours we jarred it.

We left a little in the pot, got a loaf of fresh bread and enjoyed a Macedonian lunch. We earned it!

Aren't they pretty!

In my opinion, pindjur is way better than ajvar.  Here is a recipe, if you would like to try it at home. This recipe is written by lady who is married to a Macedonian. They are living together in the states so the recipe is tailored to ingredients and means you have right down the road. Enjoy, and don't forget to pray!

Great Article on Work in Europe

A colleague just wrote a great article on the darkness in Europe and the work that it is going on here.


Karen Pearce, a writer with our organization says:


          "A disturbing trend is people who refer to themselves as secular Christians. They join churches because they see the positive aspects of being involved in programs with moral teaching, but they are not at all interested in pursuing spiritual conversations.  The church becomes more of a community center than a place of worship."


Check out the whole Article.