What a Week!!!!

WOW! God is SO Good!!!! We had an absolutely wonderful week with the volunteers from Red Bank Baptist Church in Chattanooga, TN! They worked SO hard and we are already seeing fruits from their labor! Here are some highlights:

-- Mark Fraker learning to say "WAZZ UUUPPPP!" in Macedonian. HA!

-- Building a great relationship with one lady for the week and hearing her say the words, "You guys are different. You're the nicest people I have ever met" Of course the team told her why they were different.
-- Making stuffed cabbage leaves, called sarma, with a long time contact and being able to explain to her why the people that came all the way from America to serve her people had such joy and peace.
-- A successful parenting seminar that ended with five moms asking, "So, when is our next meeting?"
-- A lady promising two men on the group that she would start studying the Bible with us.
-- Kate, Judah and Josiah having two fantastic little girls to play with for the week. WOW! What an encouragement to our kids. (Thanks Paige and Bob for bringing your sweet girls. You will never know what a blessing they were to us, our kids and the Macedonian children!)
-- Lots of new contacts and
-- LOTS of fun!!!

Here is a little slideshow that I put together. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures of the men because I spent most of my time with the ladies. Sorry guys!

Thanks to Red Bank for sending your members to help us out for the week. They were awesome, and the Lord used them to do some amazing things here!!!

Happy Easter! Jesus is Risen!!!

We hope you all have a very Happy Easter celebrating the fact that Jesus miraculously finished His work on earth, tore the veil, redeemed us, making us joint heirs with Himself, and now He is risen and we are alive together with Him if we have believed on Him as our Savior. Praise God! What a glorious holiday.

Things have been going full throttle here lately. We praise God for all of the opportunities to serve Him and we are constantly having to encourage one another with that verse: "Do not grow weary in doing good..." We are on the verge of growing weary and retreating to bed. :) We are pooped, but we are SO excired about some things God has on the horizon. There is a volunteer team coming in from Tennessee tomorrow. They will be holding classes for moms and children in the preschools, working with the Red Cross and holding a parenting seminar where we will give out a copy of "Shepherding a Child's Heart" to each parent who comes. We are very excited. They are at the airport now. So we need YOU to start praying NOW! Pray for their safe travel and for the people they will encounter in the next week. Pray that He will do something beyond our wildest dreams and that people will give their lives over to Jesus because of the faithfulness of these dear southerners to come to Macedonia.

Also, pray for our kids and our health.

Thanks!!!

Sunshine Perspective

The other day I was walking through town on a rainy day and I thought, "Ewk. What an awful day." Looking down under my umbrella, I saw the ground littered with trash, dodged the giant puddles of mud that laced the sidewalk, and felt the cold wind that blew on my neck giving me a shiver. I was disgusted with the conditions around me. I wanted to get out of the rain as soon as possible. I wanted to be warm and dry.

The very next day I was out on that very same path to and from my destination, but this time, the sun was shining so bright. It was so warm and beautiful. I saw green GREEN grass. I noticed the deep blue color of the lake and how the rays of the sun just seemed to be dancing with its flow. I noticed the big mountain in the background of the city, still topped with snow with little patches of green grass scattered throughout its face. I thanked my Creator for all of His beautiful, colorful artwork, and then, He reminded me that those things hadn't changed from hideous to beautiful in 24 hours. The sun had been there the day before. I just wasn't looking for the sun. I wasn't looking at my path through its light. I didn't notice the green grass because I was so frustrated with dodging puddles and trying not to get splashed by the passing cars. I didn't notice the blue lake under the gray sky. I didn't look up from under my umbrella to see the beautiful mountain. It took the unclouded sun to shine its light on those dark things for me to see them in all of their beauty.

The Lord used this to point out that I far too often focus on the puddles of mud and forget to look up and see that what He is doing is still beautiful even though I may have to search for the beauty. I only need to see the view through His eyes while pushing away the things of the world. I need to have His perspective--to let Him shine His light in my life.

Colossians 3:1-4 says, "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."

So whatever path God has me on, even if it seems grim, it is beautiful because of the cross and resurrection. It is beautiful because my life is hidden in Him who redeemed me. It is beautiful because He is MY LIFE, and in Him I have hope for something I have yet to fully comprehend. It is beautiful because of the SON.

30 Years

I realize this is a little late, but I thought I would inform you all that Superman turned 30 years old on February 24. WOW! He's an oldie but a goodie (I know I will get comments for that one.)

OK, so maybe he is not THE Superman, but I definitely should have given him a cape for his birthday! I am SO very grateful for my awesome husband who never ceases to amaze me.
Here is MY Superman and with his cake and his lil' super-dude.

Yep, he even got a Superman placemat. Cheesy maybe, but I think I made my point.

Good Book

I normally do not write a review of a book, come to think of it I never have done it, but I think it is worth making you all aware of this book. I just finished a book with a long title called Reinventing Jesus: How contemporary skeptics miss the real Jesus and mislead popular culture..


Reinventing Jesus is the best and most objective book I have read that address common questions concerning the preservation and accuracy of the Bible. It is also written for people like myself who know nothing of the field of study. Many people wonder what the early church believed about Jesus, did the Bible change over time (i.e. did the Church tailor the Bible to suit their needs/beliefs), and most recently, although set to be a fiction thriller, how much of Dan Brown's book, The Da Vinci Code, addresses true issues with the Church and the Bible. Whether we see it or not, Dan Brown's book addresses A LOT of common beliefs among people. There is so much stuff that is circulating about the accuracy of the Bible and so many different and conflicting opinions that some people do not feel like they can know.

The reason I like this book so much is because it lays out a lot of verifiable facts and then uses those facts to support the claim that the Bible is the same today as it was 2000 years ago. Yes, the author's are biased towards the Bible being true, but they have that bias because of the argument they bring forth.

I would highly recommend this book to a small number of people. If people have it set in their minds that the Bible has changed/been edited/been lost, then reading this book will not persuade them. However, if someone *thinks* the Bible has changed/been edited/been lost and is willing to look into it, this book is great! I also recommend this book to Christians who have questions about the authenticity of the Bible and want to know where and how we got it. Below I am going to list just a few of the good issues covered in the book that resonated with me.

1. Did the apostles write it down correctly? After all, the Gospels are not written exactly the same so why the difference?
2. Did what the apostles write down get preserved?
3. How many manuscripts do we have of the NT? Do they all agree?
4. Did the early church remove/add books from the Bible?
5. Did the medieval church preserve the Bible and add/remove from it?
6. What about all of the gnostic gospels? (Gospel of Judas/Thomas)

This is by no means a comprehensive list, so if anyone has any further questions about the book, please ask or let me know. As I said, I do not recommend this to everyone but I would recommend it to your friends who question the Bible and are open to a good argument for it's authenticity.

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!