Stuck

"Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me." Psalm 139:10

About a week ago, Jennifer and I defied all odds and made our way to Thessalonikki Greece to buy vaccines for our baby boys. We had tried to go several days before and the Lord made it clear, through a series of phone calls and then a weird breakout of what we now think were hives all over Kate's little body, that He just didn't want us to go.

So last week we decided, two days before our big move mind you, that we would make the trip to Greece. Now, keep in mind, I barely drive a stick shift, I have never driven to Greece, and I have never driven in a city with more than a million people before (Thess has about 4 million). Note the anxiety that prefaced the trip. Nonetheless, we decided that we needed to get the vaccines and of course a little shopping wouldn't hurt (Thess has an Ikea--perfect for the girl getting ready to move).
We started our trip pretty smoothly with only one turn around in the first 2 hours of the trip. We got to the Macedonian border and the guy warned us that the Greek border patrol was striking. We decided to give it a go anyway. We were stopped in "no man's land" right before the Greek border. The Greek officer said they were striking. I said something to the effect of "Blah. blah blah blah. BABY needs vaccines...BABY...blah blah blah BABY." Greeks and Macedonians alike LOVE babies and seeing as how this trip was purposed for our babies' health, I figured it couldn't hurt to drop the "B" bomb as much as possible without sounding like Rain Man. He allowed me to park my car and walk past his police jeep to talk to the border patrol myself. I left Jennifer and Noah, her 3 month old, in the car and trotted down the hill to the border. Once again, I said something to the effect of, "BABY bah blah blah blah blah blah, BABY IN CAR needs vaccines..." I got sent to 5, that's right, FIVE different people everyone of whom was just scared to turn away the lady with the BABY so they thought they would let the next person do it.

Finally I talked to the lady who was in charge. She informed me, as all the previous officers had that they were striking. "We strike." But, "BABY NEEDS VACCINES." She couldn't tell me no either so she sent me back to my car to wait for the guy over her to come in. I got back to the car where Jennifer and BABY Noah were waiting. We were STUCK. Do we turn around and trek back to beautiful Ohrid or do we rush the border screaming 'BABY' all the way through it?! I mean what are they going to do, blow their whistle at us??? We certainly had a good laugh thinking how maybe, just maybe, God never intended for the two of us to go to Greece after all.

After about 30 minutes of waiting, I trotted myself back down the hill to converse with the head honcho. I never saw him, but I did see the same woman I had talked to before. She said, "I can let you across, but I cannot know if you can come back tonight." (This was the first day of a three day strike.) I negotiated dropping the "B" bomb a few more times, and the precious woman conceded to let us go through. WHOOO!!! We just had to bring proof of what we bought (the vaccines, not the cheddar cheese) back across. Stamp. Stamp. Stamp. And we were unstuck. Ginormous miracle #1.

We made it to Thess and I managed to get us on and off the belt-line without seriously injuring us or the clutch. We even made it to destination number one without too much problem. We had a map, and we only turned around...um, I don't know. I lost count. We did have to stop and ask some Greek guys for directions. One said he spoke English, but I am pretty sure he just knew how to say, "Hello. I speak English." because the rest of the conversation was made up of Greek words, grunts and hand motions. I finally figured out they were trying to send us to the American college a couple of blocks around the corner so that someone there could tell us where to go. HA. Thank you Jesus for cell phones and maps even though we hadn't much idea how to read them.

Anyway, we got to our friend's house and FOLLOWED her to lunch. Ginormous miracle #2...

After shopping at Carrefour (kind of like Super Walmart...WHEE!!!) we were left with a precious girl named Summer. She lives in Thess and was going to drive us around. (She has also driven a stick shift for more than 5 minutes.) She, however, always uses public transportation and doesn't really know her way around by car. So we went one way for a while and turned around, etc, etc... After a few more hours of shopping, it was time to head out of dodge which meant placing my hiney back in the drivers seat.

I think we missed our exit three times, but we eventually made it back to the Greek border. Ginormous miracle #3....

The border crossing was a piece of cake. The same officer was there from the morning. I showed her our receipts for the vaccines and we were off. Ginormous miracle #4.

We crossed back into Macedonia and we were home free. Or so we thought...

The first part of our journey was rainy, but warm. No worries. A dear sweet wise friend, Jackie, urged us to stop in her place and spend the night. We would be driving right passed her town, but we both wanted to get home to our kiddos. So, we declined her offer. The roads were fine...

The roads WERE fine until we got about 45 minutes outside of Ohrid. We were talking. Chatty. Chatty. We rounded a corner and SNOW. Now, Jennifer is from Tennessee. I am from NC. I know you southern people have seen a lot of snow this year, but normally we country girls shut down and hibernate when there is snow-- after we clean out the milk and bread section of every grocery store in a ten mile radius, of course.

SNOW! It was coming in so hard and so fast that it was literally making us both dizzy. Now there was a dizzy, no-stick-shift-drivin', has bad night vision, 'cuntry' American girl behind the wheel of a Czech car on a mountain road in nowhere Macedonia at 1:00 AM. The snow on the road got thick FAST, and I made the BIG mistake of slowing down because I was so dizzy. And yep, you guessed it, we got STUCK. STUCK. STUCK.

I had a momentary mental freak-out, but my travel companion stayed so calm. I called Brian and he said to find something to use to scrape the snow out from behind the front tires so that I could back up enough to get a running start. I used a tupperware top to start with and then I lost that. So Jennifer and I had the bright idea to use cds to act a shovels. No go. Still stuck.

A couple of cars passed by. I waved begging them to stop. I think I may have even yelled "BAAAABBBBBYYYYY!!!!" Not really, but I sure did think about it. No one stopped. Dark. Stranded. But we had a full tank of gas. I was about ready to hunker down and spend the night up on that mountain, but then a nice fancy car from Albania stopped. Bless this fella's heart. He didn't speak a word of Macedonian nor English, but his face gleamed with peace. I am convinced He knows Jesus. He tried to help us, but when he found out there was really nothing to be done, he attempted to drive off. He was STUCK with us. He didn't get a bit bitter or angry at us. He just shrugged his shoulders and grinned. Precious. God sent another face. Unfamiliar and linguistically challenged though it may have been. We weren't alone. Ginormous miracle #5.

In the meantime, Brian had gotten someone to stay with the kids and was dressed to catch a taxi to the top of the mountain to rescue us. I tell him to stay put and call the police to see what they can do for us. He does just that, and they give him a number to call of someone who MIGHT be able to help us. HA. I few minutes later, a OLD car came scootin' by. The man inside rolled down his window and yelled, "A van/truck is coming. Five minutes. Wait." Um, ok. I suppose we will wait its not like we have too much else to do. We were stuck.

We remembered there were snow chains in the trunk. I fought my way through the shopping bags and found the snow chains. Jennifer started trying to read the instructions. Who knew snow chains could be so complex? We started putting them on, but the Albanian guy picked them up of the ground and handed them to us. He motioned for us to get into the car. We were a little confused, but it was probably ginormous miracle number #6....

The OLD car with bicycle tires drove back by. He drove a ways up in front of us and parked. We both thought, "Oh no. Now he is going to be stuck too." Little did we know, he was a professional.

He tried to get our car unstuck. It was a no go. So then, we told him we had chains. "OH!" So he got one chain on one of our front tires, gave me specific directions as to where to go (the house a kilometer on the right), and sent us on our way. He used the other chain to get the precious Albania guy out. We were unstuck! Whew! Ginormous miracle #7

We both called our husbands and told them they could return to bed. We waited for the guy in the OLD car at the house where he told us to wait for a while. I had somehow pulled sideways out of his driveway onto the road. There was almost no snow on the road there. I was looking down and Jennifer all of a sudden yells, "Mandy, snow plow!!!" Normally it takes me about 30 seconds just to find reverse. In 30 seconds, the snow plow would have pushed us back to the place where we were originally stuck. I put it in reverse and backed that baby up faster than a speeding bullet. We didn't get squashed by the snow plow. Ginormous mircale #8.

The great Macedonian man in the old car came tootling into his driveway and ended up laying on his stomach under the hood of our car trying to get the chains off. We were able to talk to him a little, give him a Bible and a little money for his middle of the night troubles. We found out he lives in a village right outside of Ohrid. Ginormous miracle #9... All the drama on the side of the snow covered mountain road in the middle of the night was worth it. He had a Bible in his hands.

We made it home safely and woke up the next morning with our husbands and babies. Ginormous miracle #10.

We got lost. GOD gave us the wisdom to turn around. We got stuck, more than once, and God brought people into our path who were able to help us. We don't regret one minute of the trip because we saw God's hand at work. Jennifer and I had talked about Psalm 139 on our trip. "You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it. Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me." 'Even there....'

Are you stuck??? Even there, He will lead you. He will hold you. Ginormous miracle #...

Back in the Saddle

Our family was able to reconnect with a 'contact' family soon after we returned to Macedonia. They brought up the idea about continuing the Bible Study we were doing when we left. Last Wednesday I went over to their home (the believer from Skopje who is helping us until June). We studied the fifth lesson of the Chronological Bible Study, blood sacrifice. We read Leviticus 1:1-5 and Leviticus 4:27-35 and started discussing the sacrificial system in the Old Testament. It is tough to understand why Christ had to die on the cross if you do not understand the sacrificial system. I believe that by the end of lesson they started to see the connection.

Please be in prayer for this couple for two reasons:
1. Pray that they will truly understand what the Bible says about salvation.
2. Pray that they will invite their friends and family to participate and the Bible Studies will be more than just learning.

Boys Night

We have had a lot on our plate since we have gotten back. With the volunteer team coming, trying to get ready to move to a new apartment, and gearing up to start Bible Studies again, it has been hard to see everyone of our friends. I decided to invite the Bible Study regulars from last year over to our house to talk about starting back up again and then to just relax and play the Wii (a Christmas gift from my cousin! Thanks, Craig). It turns out that only 2 of the 4 men could come and all of the women were not in Ohrid. So in the end it was just four guys so there was not much discussion about the Bible Study, so we will put that off until the next time we ALL can get together. After the normal coffee and discussion, we broke out the Wii. It was fun to watch how seriously they took the game, but by the end of the night we were all laughing and having a good time. I can only imagine why people will be insistent on doing Bible Studies at our house from now on!
Vlatko (in the background) watches Mitko try to figure out how to get a Spare.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't completely a boys night.

Suki by far was the most serious. He practically meditated before every bowl.

Snow Day

We had a fairly random downpour of snow. Within 18 hours we had a foot of snow!! I had already set up meetings with people around town to organize a volunteer trip in April, so after my hike through town, Kate and I built a snowman in the back yard. At first she was afraid of the snow, but after a while she helped me build the snowman and then lick him because she wanted to eat snow!

New Apartment

This last week we were able to find a new apartment more in the strategic center of town. For everyone who has visited or heard about our old apartment, we are no longer going to be on the lake. If it comes to mind, please pray for the month of February as we move to the new place and try and restore the old apartment to the way it was before we left (furniture, dishes, appliances). We will post pictures when we finally get moved in!

Balkan Burger

Have a taste of our life.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/dining/20balk.html
Head to NYC and hit up one of the restaurants mentioned at the end of the article. Good stuff. Brian's favorite.

Packing for Macedonia

We are finally back in Macedonia! As we get settled I will be writing a post, but until then I want to share a video with you from before we left. This video was made a week ago and it is Kate commenting on her "packenizing." I hope you enjoy!

Thanksgiving at the Holder's

As you probably figured, we had Thanksgiving with the Holder's on Saturday following the Thursday with the Davises. Although there were not any guests, the feast was just as big!


Elley and Gabe!

Thomas sleeping on Jeff

This is me telling Kate that she will not get her milk until she takes this bite.

Tabby and Kate.


The Holder Family!

The Turkey! Oh wait, I mean my father-in-law :)


Everyone eating Thanksgiving Dinner.

Of course we all had a blast and Kate enjoyed having other kids with whom to play.

Thanksgiving at the Davises

I realize now that our last post was Thomas' birth and I haven't made a post since then. Needless to say we have been busy and had the privileged of speaking in many new churches and meeting many new people. I am looking forward to building on the relationships that we have made and hopefully seeing some of the faces we met in Macedonia! In the last month we got to spend Thanksgiving with both of our families. On Thursday we spent Thanksgiving with the Davis Family. Here are some pictures:

Here is Kate showing Grandpa how to really make eggs.

Thomas and Grandma (above and below)

Amanda Poe, Kate, and Mandy. The Poes came to our house for Thanksgiving.

Mrs. Poe and Thomas ... he was held a lot and therefore slept a lot :)

Thanksgiving Dinner!

... and all of us eating it! :)

Afterward we played Cranium.

This is me with both the kids, of course Thomas is sleeping.

Of course it was great to be in America for Thanksgiving again and to be with family. It has been good for both sides (ours and theirs) but we also understand and gladly accept why we have not been able to do it the last three years.

Thomas Andrew is here!

He was born October 21, 2009 at 2:40pm weighing 7 pounds 15 ounces! Both mom and he are doing well!

Beach Pics and Schedule

We just got back from a week at the beach with Brian's mom, dad and brother. We had a blast. Brian especially had fun riding the giant waves that a storm brought in off the coast. It is amazing to watch two guys as big as Brian and his brother play in the ocean. On land next to Kate, and even me, they are huge, but throw them in the ocean with crashing 9 foot waves and you begin to see how very small we actually are in this world. And then, it becomes even more amazing our great our God is that He not only created this beautiful world, but that He knows us by name and loves us.

While we were there, we had Brian's dad take some family photos of us and he did a fabulous job!!! There are a few here, some on Kate's blog and even more on facebook.
Brian and I comparing bellies. I've got him beat, but not for long!!! :)



Next week we are off for a massive speaking tour. If we are in your area and you want to get together for a meal, let us know.
Richlands, NC --September 19-20th speaking at First Baptist Richlands, NC
Chatanooga,TN area September 23-28 (leaving 22) at a GIC with Red Bank Baptist Church
Gatlinburg, TN area the 29th-October 9 --Mandy's family vacation WHEE!
Mandy and Kate in Hickory, NC area from the 10th-14th while Brian is in Forney, Texas for the Forney Summit (advertised below)
Hickory area 15-17th for South Mountain Mission Conference
Stanly County -- 18th speaking at Cornerstone Church
Stanly County --20-22 for Stanly County Mission Conference
Back to Raleigh on the 23rd

As you can see, we have a LOT of traveling to do. The doctors are obviously a little apprehensive about me traveling this much in the last four weeks of my pregnancy and so am I. That is why my mom and dad are going to be hanging with me and Kate while Brian is speaking and I will speak and travel as I am able. Pray for us to have endurance and stamina to get through this month of travel. Pray that Baby Thomas will hold off on his arrival until after the 23rd and that little Kate will adapt well to all her new "homes."

We will keep you updated on all that we can as much as we can.

My time in New York

This blog should have been posted a week ago, but it has taken me time to sit down and write it all out. Thanks for your patience!

I was in western part of New York (west of the Appalachian mountains down by Pennsylvania) for 10 days during the middle of August to speak to an association of churches as a part of their On Missions Celebration (OMC). I ended up going by myself because the trip required a lot of travel time and it would have been hard for my pregnant wife and 22 month old daughter to handle. The Association was the Central New York Baptist Association (link here) which comprises 44 church over 16 counties! Obviously you can tell by the numbers that this association is spread out! This is unfortunate because the distance between churches makes fellowship and encouraging very difficult. One thing that did impress me was that most of the pastors are bi-vocational or tri-vocational so their passion for the gospel was obvious. If there was any doubt to the gospel witness in New York, it was laid to rest. Although the churches are rather spread out, if anyone comes in contact with them they will definitely here men and women of God who really understand how to rightly divide the Word of Truth.

As for us, there were 10 missionaries in all (5 from NAMB and 5 from IMB) to speak at 20 churches. Because of the way the OMC was laid out every missionary would speak at 10 churches in 8 days. This means that we spoke at 2 churches on each of the two Sundays (morning and night) and then a church every night of the week. We would travel to the church where we were to speak for dinner and dinner was hosted by a member of the church. After dinner we traveled to the church and we were given 45 minutes to an hour to share about our lives and ministry in our respective fields of service. After the presentation it was an open floor for a question and answer time at which point people were free to leave. I spent as much time dialoguing and answering questions after my presentation as I did giving my presentation. I never grew tired of talking to people and encouraged them to "try to annoy me with questions"... which obviously never happened. One evening I started speaking at 7:00 and left at 9:00 and no one left early or complained.

I always enjoyed the dinner where I would ask questions about the area and the history of the church. One of the places that we ate dinner was a partner in a farm and I was fascinated to learn about their farm. It was a milk farm, but they grew all their own crops to feed the cows. It appeared to me that almost 70% of their work went to just make food for their cows. They even made a video for YouTube which gave me a greater appreciation for their work. Here is the video for anyone who is interested.


This is a picture of me speaking at Southport Baptist Church.

I was graciously hosted the first half of my trip by Southport Baptist Church in Elmira, New York. I had a great time with them and would consider the pastor and his son new friends. I was greatly encourage in my time with them and enjoyed our sometimes 2 hour car rides one way to speak at the different churches. One of these churches

The second half of the week I was hosted by Beacon Light Baptist Church in Vernon, New York. I spent my stay with a retired couple, Milt and Helen, who liked watching the Yankees as much as I do and taught me a new card game, pitch. The second half of the trip was as much fun as the first. There was one church at which we spoke that was an hour and a half from any other SBC church. It turns out the pastor has an easier time talking to missionaries than he does most pastors because he tends to be isolated like most missionaries.

Overall, my time in New York was encouraging for me and I hope it was for the churches as well. Please be in prayer for the churches in New York that they would be encouraged in their ministries!

Family and Fun in New Jersey

About 2 weeks ago, we got to spend an awesome 10 days with Brian's cousins in New Jersey, his home state. He is so very proud of the place he was born. In his opinion, it is 'God's Country' cause there are Dunkin Donuts every 1/5 mile and the YES network which shows all Yankees, all the time. I reminded him that they do not have sweetened iced tea or Bojangles, but he said there was no need with donuts, NJ pizza and Yankees TV.

We had a blast spending the first part of our time in Towaco with his woodsman cousin and his family. ;) Mark loves to hunt and will shoot anything that moves and has fur on it. :0) Their little girl is just a few months younger than Kate and they had a blast playing together.


The second part of the week, we moved over to Licoln Park to stay with his oldest cousin and his family. We had a great time hanging out with their two boys, one of which is Brian's godson.


The family took us to the zoo, kept Kate while we went to the 15 inning Yankees, Red Sox game, made late night Dunkin Donut runs with Brian, took us over to Hoboken, NJ (greatest place in NJ), went with us into THE city (NYC), and ate with us at quite possibly the most expensive sandwich shop in the world.
Look at the size of that sandwich!

Brian and I in Time's Square.


We also got to go over to Garfield, NJ, where about 30,000 Macedonians live. Our friends, Marija and Aleksander, live there now. We enjoyed a day with them. Brian was the best man at their wedding about 2 years ago. They showed us where they work, took us to the Macedonian grocery store, and made us a skara (Macedonian cookout). While we still miss them terribly and wish, selfishly, that they would move back to Macedonia, we are so thrilled to see that they are thriving in this new world. Please pray for them, that they will find a church in which to be active and that they will grow in their faith in Christ.