Walking Down Memory Lane

Eventually, a more detailed post needs to be written about Abby & Joel's time in Slovenia this summer, but for now, I want to get these photos posted. :)

With just a couple days left in the country, the team took a day off to go to Croatia for a little break and beautiful sight-seeing. Joel and Abigail stayed in town though and re-visited friends and places that are very special to us.

Here's Abigail in the little village grocery store in Sencur, where we lived. She LOVED pushing the kid-sized shopping cart through the store where we would buy our rolls, freshly baked and get our sliced meats, cheese and ice cream! ;) Our house was located across from the center of the village so we would walk to this store daily for things we needed.

Abigail was just two years old, (Hannah's age now!) when she decided to walk to the store by herself for some bubbles. I was away in the Czech Republic at a women's retreat when I got this text from Joel, "Abby just walked to the store by herself" followed by another one that read, "She's ok though." Even though our house was very close, it was on the main road that went from the main-main road out of our village to other surrounding villages behind ours. She had to walk across two main streets to get there...as a 2 YEAR OLD by herself! Yikes! Someday in heaven I'm sure I will meet some angel (or two or three!) who will tell me how they stopped traffic and safely guided her across the street.

So here's the rest of the story...Abigail had asked Joel for some bubbles and he said, "We don't have any. When Elijah wakes up from his nap, we'll walk to the store and get some." Shortly after that, Elijah woke up and both Joel and Abby heard him from the monitor. While Joel headed upstairs to get Elijah from bed, Abigail quietly slipped out the front door and across the street. Joel got Elijah ready and started to call for Abigail, looking all around upstairs, going downstairs and back upstairs again, back downstairs and to the back yard and driveway. Back upstairs again, he was in her room looking out the window when he saw one of the store clerks walking her back home.

He rushed outside to meet them and found out that she had wandered over there and they noticed her right away and asked her where her Mom was. Realizing that she was alone, they made her stay right by them until one of them could take a break to bring her home. It really was terrifying for both Joel and I. We are so, so grateful that she was ok!

 This is the Catholic church in the center of our village. Those church bells were a comforting sound after listening to them daily, hourly, quarter hourly for years. When funerals would take place there was a special bell ringing that would happen. I remember one time someone saying, "that is the last time those bells will ring for that person." After that, when I would hear the funeral bells, I would stop, listen and pray for the family and friends of whoever might be grieving in the church right then. The house below, our first house in Sencur, was behind and to the right of the church, so we were very well acquainted with those bells! ;)

"Stranska Pot 5" This was Abigail's first house she lived in. Her first year of life was spent in those walls, drooling on those floors! Here she is almost 7 now and standing (so much like a teenager, actually) on the doorstep of where she was first brought home.

 This lovely lady is Lojska, the dear neighbor we fell in love with next door to that first house. She lives down the street now in her brother's home. The house she lived in where we first met her was the house she was born in. It was an amazing home to see! She was oh-so-sweet and we loved getting to know her and hearing her stories.

 These dear people were the neighbors we came to know and love at our second home in Sencur. The two standing are the Grandparents of Abby's friend, Ajda. Abby said she really enjoyed being with them.

 In the garage of the house we bought, were quite a few interesting things. One interesting find was a stack of old pictures, all hand-painted of village scenes from Slovenia. I fell in love with them, cleaned them up and brought them here to the states with me. When we were leaving, we had a garage sale and I put one of them that were a duplicate in the sale. The woman in the red top (who was born in the house we had bought and was/is related to the family we bought it from) asked if she could have the picture. "Of course!" I said and told her about the rest and how much I loved them. She said, "I painted them when I was a little girl and my Grandfather made the frames." Oh my...I asked her if she wanted the rest of them back too but she said, "no, you keep them, I only want this one." They have a special place in my home and forever in my heart as well.

 Abby loved getting cuddles from Ajda's Grandmother! She said she was missing being cuddled.

 "Pipanova Cesta 4" ...the home we lived in for two years before the Lord moved us on. Apparently, it is now owned by some people who have a car dealership. There was no fancy gate when we called it "home." :)

 Dear Anja...one of the first students we fell in love with in Sencur! We first met her during her 8th grade year and spent the next four years getting to know her, loving on her, enjoying her and sharing our lives and our daughter with her! She was Abby's first baby-sitter. Tjasa is Anja's cousin and together, they were Abby's favorite "friends".

 The hospital where Abigail was born!! The room where we stayed (for three days!) looked out at that yellow cross-walk platform. Back then, it was the designated smoking area for the hospital so it wasn't a very lovely view. :) It's amazing to see Abby standing here!

 We often frequented this cafe! They had yummy ice-cream year round as well as delicious coffee! It's in the "mall" where we would go to just walk around, do my grocery shopping--yep! shopping malls in Europe have grocery stores! It's really nice actually!! We got used to it and would do a lot of shopping in one trip! Below is Abigail in front of the grocery store where I did most of our shopping.

The cafe is very special to me though...I took Abigail there when she was just 17 months old and we had a little "date". I was pregnant with Elijah and he was due in just a few short weeks. I was realizing that our family was changing and it was going to be very different once a new little person joined our family. I wouldn't be as available to Abigail, her needs were going to have to come second to the new baby, etc. Joel suggested taking my sweet Abby out to "talk" about it. ;) We did a little shopping beforehand, bought some new hair barretts and jewelry at H&M and then stopped for a chat at this cafe. I remember telling her that even though a new baby is joining our family and I will also love him, it didn't mean that I would stop loving her and I told her how proud I was of her. It was a very special time for me. Here is the post of that little date!

Potato Fest #2!

Remember last year's potato festival? Today there was another celebration, although quite a bit smaller. We were able to just sit in our driveway to watch the parade and then the booths that were all set up in front of our house last year were down the street near the fire station instead.Elijah loved watching the parade! We always enjoy seeing the horse-drawn carriages and seeing the antique farming equipment. At one point the parade was held up in front of the house while a choir sang a few songs in front of the statue of Maria Theresa. We had this giant bull in front of our house for almost 10 minutes. It was hard to hold Elijah back from going over to pet it!For dinner afterward we had pototoes in honor of...potatoes! But instead of the traditional Slovenian "prazen krompir" we made homemade potato chips which went great with grilled hamburgers! : ) After dinner Elijah got a much needed haircut and then we headed to the neighbors for a visit. Abigail was completely filthy from being outside almost all day, snacking on cherries before dinner while Joel grilled the burgers and was wearing my flip-flops...on the wrong feet. Funny girl!

Celebrating Fall with Neighbors

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." thankfully Jack Frost isn't nipping at our nose yet! Every fall through winter here you can find men selling roasted chestnuts over an open fire, it's a nice, sort of "cozy" tradition.

This past Sunday we had a "Chestnut Picnic" with our neighbors...a sort of "block party!" It was another beautiful day and so fun to get to know our neighbors a bit more. We still hadn't met some of them, it was a nice way to do so!

This little cutie is sweet Spela, sister to Ajda.

I also want to post a picture from last Sunday. There were some horse races here in Sencur, actually directly behind the house where we used to live. I took Abigail over there after lunch just for her to see the horses, but we ended up seeing an interesting race! There was an obstacle course set up and horse draw carriages were being timed as they made their way around it. It was so interesting and fun to watch! After that was another race of individuals riding horses through an obstacle course, after that a barrel race. It was a hot time in the old town that night!

The President Has Left the Country

It was exciting knowing that President Bush was just 5 minutes from our house today! All roads to and from the airport were blocked off to secure traffic during the approximate expected time of his arrival last night. Kathy Codanti and I excitedly walked with cameras in hand to the edge of our village in high hopes of seeing his entourage. We listened and watched for his plane, finally saw it and then waited for his parade to pass by.

There were several routes he could take to get to Brdo, and unfortunately he chose the one that DID NOT pass by us. Bummer. Today though, I was watching the EU Summit on TV so Joel and I had a good idea of when he would be passing by this time and most definitely where! So we took the kids for a walk and met up with our friends, the Hunnicutts and we all watched his entourage and his plane take off.

As I watched his interactions with people, I was so proud of our President. He seemed so sincere, affectionate and culturally sensitive. I think that last one in particular sparked some pride because this is a country I've grown to love with it's people, traditions and culture. It was honoring to see our President enjoying those things as well.

Oh! And those close up shots are compliments of Reuters, definitely not mine! Although, I would have loved to have taken them! : )

In Honor of ...

Potatoes! Today in Sencur there was a celebration of Maria Thesesa and potatoes. She was the Archduchess in Austria in the 1700's and sort-of forced the Slovenians to begin growing potatoes. It ended up being a good source of food for Slovenians and even for their animals. Many people say it saved the people from starvation during those days.

Today's celebration included a parade of historical potato farming equipment, traditional Slovene folk music, as well as traditional arts and handmade crafts, and lots and lots of potatoes! Specifically, one of Slovenia's main dishes, "prazen krompir". They're potatoes that are boiled, then sauteed with onions and are very tasty! If you've ever had lunch in Slovenia, most likely you've tasted this delicious recipe! There was also a dedication of a monument across the street, a relief statue of Maria Theresa holding a potato!

Our friend, Lojska, came from a family of potato farmers. She called the other day to ask if she could come see the festivities from our house. I really enjoyed standing next to her during the parade and hearing her relive old family memories of the different equipment.

It was a fun day to be in the center of the village today, walk out the front door and into an air filled with good music and great smelling food as well as people just out enjoying themselves!

Weekend Bike Race

This past Saturday there was a bike race in Sencur, with the start and finish line in front of our driveway! It was loud, but mostly fun to be in the center of things. At one point Joel was standing in our driveway with Elijah and the MC said, "There he is folks, the youngest racing fan here today. He'll actually only be here for about 5 minutes and then he'll need a diaper change, but at least he's here. Go ahead, step forward Dad so everyone can see..." It was a fun event to be a part of.