Heading out!

My packing list has almost everything checked off, just the last minute things remain. Joel is in bed right now, trying to get some sleep before driving through the night to go to Josiah Venture's Spring Bible Conference. We are really looking forward to it! Well, me and the kids, especially. Joel has already been doing quite a bit of traveling this year, we're looking forward to traveling with him this time. Some of our favorite conversations together happen on the drive to and from conference.

We're looking forward to meal times with all of our JV friends. One of the things we love about the conference is all the JV Kids running around in freedom with their friends. We're looking forward to Abigail making some new friends there and seeing her as she gains confidence and runs around the hotel with all the other kids. We adore the kids in JV and are so happy for Abigail and Elijah to get time with them this week.

We're also really looking forward to some good Bible teaching as well as worship and relaxing in the afternoons with the other JV Missionaries. Some of my favorite times are the afternoons, hanging out on the couches in the hotel lobby or on the outdoor terrace. One of the days is always a "family day" with some fun activity to do together. This year, we'll be having a luau, so that should be a good time.

All in all, we're just really looking forward to the trip! I'll post again when we get back! Oh...and the photo to the right was taken at last year's conference. We're hoping to get a new family photo taken this year. So I'll be posting that for sure! We need one of the little guy too!

Shus!

Abigail has received several new pairs of "shus" recently and boy is she enjoying them! We often find her sitting at the front door trying to put on her new shoes so she can go outside. And it has sparked a new word in her vocabulary which is fun to hear. And she is still very much in love with her brother. Probably once a day we're telling her, "Please get off your brother Abigail, he can't breathe when you're laying on him." Only one time has he let her know that very thing in not so many words, but in very communicative screams. She clearly understood. It's so sweet though.

Elijah's allergies

Well...Elijah had allergy testing done today and the first results came back negative for everything! They drew some blood to be tested for dairy and egg allergies that we'll get the results for in about a week or 10 days. The skin/arm test though, included milk and eggs and it showed negative results, so hmmm....

The Dr. thought maybe it is Dermatitis instead, we're waiting to hear about the blood tests before moving forward.

I must say though, that I am so glad to hear that it might not be allergies to dairy and egg products. It is so! so hard to keep that out of my diet! It seems like almost everything has some form of dairy or egg cooked in.

It's interesting though, that his skin cleared up after I stopped having dairy products. Hmm...

Another little thing is that he is often itching his ear and the part of his cheek just in front of his ear. I asked the Dr. at his last appt about that and to check to make sure he doesn't have an infection and she said it was okay, but that his skin appeared to have something like Dermatitis.

The Dr. today recommended some bath soap and lotion for him, so we'll be trying those while we wait for the results of the blood test.

So that's the news about the boy.

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.

Inheritance

Every couple of days I just walk out our front door to cut a new bouquet of flowers for our kitchen. It has been so wonderful to have fresh flowers to enjoy indoors and to have them inherited from the previous owner is a real blessing!

Jernej's Birthday

Jernej is one of the students that has been coming to our group since the first summer's camp. He is such a great guy. Unfortunately he doesn't have a very good family life. His parents are divorced, he lives with his mom and older sister and often comes home to an empty house not knowing where anyone is and wakes up the same way. Because of that, we're so glad he has found a stable home in Trdna Skala with friends who love and enjoy him.

At his party Friday night, Joel talked about love and every person's dire need to give and receive love. Afterward, he gave time for everyone there to just love on Jernej and tell him things they admire and appreciate about him. It was awkward for most everyone there, but they were able to get serious for a short time to celebrate Jernej. Joel, Kathy and I also spoke uplifting and truthful things to him that will hopefully remain in his heart and mind.

We just love the guy!(Jernej is the guy in the middle of the picture.)

Fun photos

I just have a couple fun photos to post!

Kathy gave these fun sunglasses to Abigail for Easter. It was hard to get her to stand still long enough to get a picture of her! And this one is from this afternoon. My two handsome boys!

A 3 Monther Now

To see his one month picture with this bear, click here.Elijah is 3 months old now...time goes so fast!
We are in love with this little guy!
Enjoying his...

...totally kissable cheeks....

...his grins...

...and his sweet laughter.

He had his second doctor appt the other day. He's in the 95th percentile for length, and between the 50-75th for weight, which we were definitely surprised at! : ) He's almost 2 lbs heavier than Abigail was at the same age. He's a boy alright! ...and we love it!

He's still having allergic reactions to things in my diet, although I'm not sure what, so he has an appt with an Allergist on the 28th. We're looking forward to learning more about our little guy.

And it seems that once he turned 3 months he decided to start sleeping longer naps through the day. What a relief! Abigail is down to one nap now and when I put Eli down at the same time I can get some things done...like this blog post for example! : ) I'm so much more refreshed when I get that break in the day. Whew!

High Class Mama!

Abigail has found a new use for those Fisher Price stacking rings.She's turned them into high-heeled shoes! Often she walks around on her tip-toes...finally she has some support!

Sleep Issues

We've been having some daytime sleep issues with Elijah. On Tuesday, he turns 3 months old and is sleeping 8-10 hours stretches at night already, but during the day he only sleeps for 30-45 minutes before waking up. Often he wakes up screaming and or crying so I know he isn't fully rested. I'm not sure what's going on with that because...

• sometimes it seems like his stomach is bothering him since he is allergic to dairy and I think eggs too and I hear his stomach gurgling when I go to him.
  
• Sometimes it seems like he's just upset because he's alone and in bed and doesn't want to be there by himself.
• Sometimes it seems like it's just his sleep cycles.
  

Any thoughts Moms?? Especially any of you moms who have/had kids with allergies.

I've been watching him for signs of when he's tired and then take him to bed, sing him a song and lay him down. It's about an hour to an hour and a half after waking. He usually falls asleep within a minute or two and hardly ever cries until he wakes up a half hour or 45 minutes later.

I think it's going to come to a battle of wills with him about staying asleep and sleeping in his bed, and I'm willing to tackle that with my little linebacker, but I also want to be sensitive if it's more of a stomach thing because of his allergies.

When Abigail was about this age I read, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Weissbluth and it was like it was written for her. So I've been re-reading that, but he doesn't address this sort-of sleep issue. So just curious if anyone has any advice for me.

Feel free to leave comments or send me an email!
Thanks so much!

Parent's Night Dessert

Several of you have asked how the parent's fundraising night went. Thank you for your prayers for that. It was one of those things that we did/do that we have no idea if people would come since they don't do that sort of thing here. Our Pastor, Drago, said, "Go ahead! It's worth a try!" So we did!

Aljaz's parents came as well as Zan's mom and Matic's mom. Joel had prepared a slide show of the pictures from the last two years of using Trdna Skala as well as showing the video he made of the before and after in preparation of Trdna Skala. (I think many of you have seen that video. I'll try to post it here on the blog if possible for those of you who haven't. It's really great.) When Joel turned on the laptop however, it gave him a message saying that the hard disc was locked and was password protected. Two of the students that were there are very computer savvy and told Joel, "That's not good." So he wasn't able to show the slideshow or the video and that was disappointing, but everyone had a great time anyway.

Joel had prepared some youth groupy type games for the parents and he said that they were having so much fun with those he thought they would have been content to do those all night!

In the end, we were given 50 Euros toward purchasing Trdna Skala and I think the parents were encouraged that their teenagers have a fun and safe place to spend their time. They are all parents that we've had relationships with for the last two years so it wasn't a new realization for them, maybe just a reminder and hopefully another step in them seeing a difference in their students lives and ours.

Another note about parents: Joel has started having English class here at the house on Monday nights for any parents of our students. Anja's parents and Zan's mom have been attending and it's been really great! They understand a lot more than they thought they did and are also learning a lot. Joel is a really great teacher, I enjoy watching him teach and we're enjoying getting to know them all a little bit better in the process.

I'm going to be posting more later...it's been hard to find time for posting these days...so check back in for more news, stories and pictures!

Jerusalem, Judea, and the rest of the world...

It's been over a week since I got back from Israel but the things I've learned are still floating around. When I read the Bible now it's like I'm reading it in color for the first time. Things aren't vastly different in my understanding of truth but it's as if my faith and the stories I've heard since I was a kid have been stamped with an "It's true!"

Some of the highlights were:

• The temple mount, thinking that Jesus hung out there!
• The southern steps up to the temple. Praying there with people from all over the world and feeling a breeze and knowing God is at work today as He was 2000 years ago!
• The Herodium. A fortress of Herod, towering high and mighty over the surrounding area and seeing the lowly village of Bethlehem below where the true King was born.
• Ceaseria Phillipi. A great visual to bring a Biblical setting to life.

And so many more. It was a trip of a lifetime.

We have a lot going on around the ministry here. We are in full swing of raising money to purchase the student center/church. We are having a fund raising dessert in TS next Friday for all the families of students of TS. We are praying they will catch a vision for what can be and be involved in helping us establish this for the future.

I will also be going back to the States for a short visit in April to speak at Cornerstone for an offering they will have at the end of April. I'm not looking forward to being gone from my family more days but I'm excited about this opportunity and to see some family and friends back there.
When I came back from Israel, Abigail would not let me out of her site for 2 or 3 days. It was cute and meant I got a lot of hugs and kisses and Elijah had changed so much, I was gone for 1/4 of his life at that point!

We have camps to plan, Bible studies, a new English course for parents at our house starting Monday, all Slovenia camp team training time, and two kids! I wouldn't trade it for the world!

The tomb is empty!

On Joel's recent trip to Israel, he was able to visit the possible tomb where Jesus was buried. His tour guide told them with excitement in his voice, "Look inside! The tomb is empty!!" Jesus has risen!! Happy Easter everyone!

Abigirl

I just couldn't post a bunch of other news without posting recent pics of the girl! It's been so fun to see her interacting with my parents. She is so much fun!

Two Months Down

Wow! Elijah is two months old now! Where has the time gone? We are really enjoying this little guy. He's so sweet and smiley and making lots of new noises. Yesterday he started saying "ma" and he's having long conversations with a toy tiger than dangles in front of him on his bouncy seat. I think the tiger must taunt him, because he's taken a few swings at him. : )


His rash is pretty much gone now. I can't believe how hard it is to keep dairy products out of my diet! It's in so many things. I'm getting much better at it though and I notice a big difference in him when I'm not eating any dairy. He's totally worth it!

Help is here!

Joel left for Israel on the 6th and my parents arrived the next day to help out with the kids. It's been such a blessing having them here. My mom has been busy, busy, busy around here, doing dishes, laundry, helping to organize trouble areas. It's been really great. One day she woke up with a premonition of how to do some organizing in Elijah's room. So we headed to OBI (our version of Home Depot) and got bricks, shelves and baskets and voila!We spray-painted the black bricks to make them look like tires and the bottom ones are supposed to look like bolts or something. It was a fun project! And it feels great to have Eli's clothes organized in baskets now instead of in a Rubbermaid tub!

It's been nice to live our normal lives here, just adding in Grandma & Grandpa. We all wish we lived closer. We've gone out for coffee, grocery shopped, walked around the mall, visited lake Bled, went to church, even went junking! Although, we didn't find anything.

Here are a few pictures:

The Little Man

Elijah had his first check-up a week and a half ago and he'd gained two pounds and grew two inches! He's doing great except that we've discovered he is having an allergic reaction to milk and maybe other dairy products. I've stopped having dairy products and his rash and/or acne is clearing up, so that's good.

He's started smiling a lot and sort-of chuckles when we tickle his feet. He's a really sweet baby and we're enjoying him!

The Little Mama

Abigail has been such a help around here...at times. : ) Often times she is the one terrorizing the place and taking her toys from room to room creating messes where ever she goes but she's also so eager to help out whenever she's asked. She's been so much fun to be with lately...

carrying her babies

helping to unload the dishwasher

cleaning up after a very messy spaghetti lunch
enjoying all her jewels...at one time

Another blogger

Kathy has a blog now...you can see it here.

Sweet Moments

Lately Joel has been taking Abigail outside in the afternoon to give her a chance to run around and get energy out and sometimes they just sit and enjoy the fresh air and each other. Here are a couple pictures I captured during one of their sweeter moments together sitting at the front door.