A SUPER first week

Well, I did it!  I joined a Croatian/ English Bible study via Facebook and Good Morning Girls or Dobro Jutro Djevojke.  It has been encouraging to see the ladies hungry for God's Word. I am glad that I found this and hope that it helps me in my language learning.  You know, Croatian is the ninth hardest language and mainly only spoken in Croatia.  Thus the need to connect with Croatian women.  Our group has grown so much now, that we have  five smaller groups.

  I have connected with women from Čakovec, our current city.  They have been great at putting up with my broken Croatian.  Thankfully I can post in English and still be understood.  I forgot to mention that our leader is an American who is married to a Croatian.  Such a small world.  I can't wait to get together sometime when we are in Zagreb again.

I never imagined that life would be this way with so much technology.  The fact that I can communicate  at the blink of an eye with people all over the world.  What a blessing!  

Good Morning to find this...

Friday morning I woke up and found a tiny gem in my Facebook newsfeed from my missionary friend, Jayne, in Zagreb, Croatia.  For a long time now I have wanted to join in a Ladies Bible Study online since we have nothing like that in Croatia.  There is a group called Good Morning Girls, and you can join various groups of ladies around the world or create a group yourself to study God's Word.  I never joined a group because I was never in the same time zone.

 I love this idea, and now I really love the fact that they now have this Bible study translated into the Croatian language.  Talk about a blessing!  I have been praying about a way that I can minister in Croatia.  I am far from being able to communicate in the Croatian language intelligently though.  I think this is a really useful tool to draw women in Croatia to the Savior.

Croatia really lacks in Christian Bible Study material that is not based on the Catholic faith.  I can't wait to contact the ladies who started this Bible Study group in Croatia.  I plan to look at both the Croatian and English study just to keep the language fresh on my tongue.

Precious Friends

Childhood friends

Girly girls

Lovely

Kind, never hateful words between them

Virginia girls

Kindred spirits

BFFs

Wish Emma & Zoe could come with us to Croatia, because the friends are few to none for my girls. :(

I would even homeschool them LOL!

Can't wait for church this morning to be with great friends and to worship our God!

I was a Weight Watchin' a time ago...

Yep, this is the current me! I told my walking partner and missionary friend in Croatia, "I can't wait to get back to America and sign up for WW! It's going to be easy!!" Yeah right! The fact is that watching what you eat anywhere is HARD if you are not committed. I thought that I would use all those cool APPS and I would be set. Well, I have the APPS, I'm just NOT very committed to using them. I must however reclaim control over all it takes to become fit and healthy again. I want to feel better, look better, and not delete anymore pictures of myself again. This is an uphill battle, but I am determined to win it! *Sorry, no pictures with this post. Maybe the next one... all of us girls got bangs again. We can't seem to make up our minds concerning our hair. But then what WOMAN can?!?*

Missionary Challenges

Sometimes I look at other missionaries and think WOW, they are real missionaries. They go without clean water and electricity sometimes, get malaria, have to eat really strange things, and often go without modern conveniences for the sake of the Gospel. People seemingly responsive to the Gospel.

Then I look at myself and our family in Europe, Croatia to be exact. Never had to eat anything remotely scary, always have water and electricity, no malaria, and pretty modern. People here are pretty cold to the Gospel. We don't have the multitudes of children and adults wanting to hear about God who sent His only son to forgive them if their sins.

I know mission fields will look different and present their own challenges definitely. God also equips us differently to do the job we are called to. Maybe I need to stop looking at others and myself and just keep my eyes on Jesus. He is our greatest example.

So... are we wasting our time in Europe? Some may say yes, others say no. As for our family, we say NO! The two years we lived in Northern Croatian we saw 6 Croatians accept Jesus as their Savior. These are results just from the efforts of our family as a part of the church we are in. There have been many more saved and I wish I could tell you that they are all serving somewhere and growing in The Lord.

We are thankful for the few though who desire to learn more and grow. Your prayers are needed for the nation of Croatia. There are still so many who need to hear. Especially very dear friends we made while there. Pray for us as we continue to break down these spiritual walls they have built. I don't know who will continue to try and reach them after we move.

Our family is looking forward to the next phase of ministry in Croatia. We are excited about those who want to come and help us. Keep us in your prayers that we would follow God's leading.

Sunday traditions revisited

For as long as Kevin and I have been married,we have always used Sunday nights to pile in the bed and go through the Sunday paper. He always started with the funnies and me the sale ads and coupons. Sunday was always a grueling day since Kevin was in a major position at the church.

I always had a plan of attack for Monday- Weight Watchers meeting, Walmart, then usually out with Kevin and the girls. Now things are different since we've lived in Europe... No Weight Watchers meetings, definitely no Walmart, but we do have sale ads. They usually all arrive by Wednesday before the new sale starts on Thursday. Once again, our same tradition continues just on a different day and different country. Oh and BTW... We don't have coupons in Croatia. It's a good thing I didn't get good at the extreme couponing stuff.

Tonight I'm looking at ads on the iPad. Technology has come so far, what did we do back in simpler times?!?

Pinteresting?!

Yes please, and lots of it! ;).
I really don't know where this has been all my adult life...
Like while I was planning our wedding,
or before we had babies!

Seriously, there are so many cute things out there!
Everything from hair, to outfits, DIY, PRINTABLES,
and don't get me started on the plethora of ReCiPeS for everything.

Those Six Sisters sure have me drooling over their recipes.

I also don't know how the ladies of How Does She? find the time and creativity for all
the stuff they do.

It really is a time sucker... I usually go on PInterest to look up something and thirty minutes later
I'm still there.

I must admit that Pinterest has helped me tremendously while living in Croatia to find homemade versions of many things we love.

Oh yeah and I'm going to be in big trouble if it ever goes away....must make plans to preserve my most loved and used pins.

So tell me, what is your most favorite thing to "pin"?

Well, it's early Saturday morning in Virginia and we are catching up with my girls sweet friends and their momma. We can't wait to see them, they've been so missed while we were away. I'm praying we find good friends for our children who will be kind and true. This is my biggest heart ache living so far from those we love. Can't wait.;).

Night all!