Thursday, December 31, 2009

A Family Christmas

My parents are visiting for Christmas, which is a great blessing. We love having theme here, and Nate really enjoys spending time with Grandma and Grandpa - and they kinda like him too :)
This year Rosemary and I got our first real Christmas tree.

For since before Christmas we've been meaning to take some pictures in front of our tree, and today we finally got around to it.
Here goes:






Tuesday, December 22, 2009

:(

I hit a tree. The tree won. :S
Neki mentem egy fának, de a fa győzött. :S

Monday, December 21, 2009

Last Week in Pictures

On Monday we took a family picture on our balcony:


On Tuesday we went to Vajta for the graduation of our friend Pablo from Bible College. We have known Pablo for many years and it is a joy to see what God has done and is doing in his life. Congratulations Pablo!


In this one you can see how pregnant Rosemary is:


During the rest of the week, we put together a lot of furniture, trying to get the guest room ready for my parents who arrive today for Christmas.
Nate was so excited to help build the furniture. He kept saying 'Work!' and moving pieces of wood around the room and telling himself 'Good job Nate!'. He loves mechanical stuff and working with tools. Here are some pictures of him helping me hammer some nails:



Sunday, December 20, 2009

Hulla hó és hózik - The sky is falling

Egy ideig úgy nézett ki, hogy nem lesz igazi telünk Magyarországon - aztán hétfőn kezdett esni a hó, és még most is esik.
For a while there it looked like we wouldn't get a real winter here in Hungary - but then on Monday it started snowing, and it hasn't yet stopped completely.

Alíg várom, hogy menjek snowboardozni... Talán kedden a Kékesen...
I'm dying to go snowboarding... Maybe Tuesday...

Íme, egy pár fénykép ami a lakásunkból készült:
Here are some pictures taken from our flat:




Saturday, December 19, 2009

Sleeping Habits

Nate is good at going to sleep by himself. We leave him in his room and tell him to go to sleep, and after playing for a while, he falls asleep.
The only thing is that we usually have to go in once he's asleep and move him, since he often falls asleep in strange positions.

Here are some examples:



Don't worry about this one, he's fine. He just decided to fall asleep on the floor for a few nights. Then he was over it.


This is how we used to find him a lot when he was still in a crib:
Sleeping habits

At least he's a good sleeper :)

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Ja ♥ Eurocrem

For a short vacation Rosemary and I went to Serbia for a few days a few weeks back.
Here are a few things we love about Serbia - check the links if you aren't sure what something is:

We spent our first day in Subotica with some friends, and got to go to church in the evening, and then went to Novi Sad the next day, before heading back.

Here are some pictures:

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Creepy Santa - Fura Mikulás

I found this flyer the other day in Mezőkövesd:
Ezt a szórólapot találtam Mezőkövesden:

Here's what it says:
Dear Kids!
Santa Claus with a limousine! Come on out and I'll take you for a ride! Location: Parking lot of the SZTK, Time: 4pm-8pm.


Is this not creepy? I think this kind of thing would never fly in the States - that some guy with a Santa outfit passes out flyers to get kids to come out to a parking lot at dusk and get into a limo with tinted windows to go for a ride!? Super creepy.
I'm just glad that in Hungary it is still safe enough and people are innocent enough for this to not be seen as suspicious.

Ez nem tűnik furcsának? Szerintem az ilyen fajta dolgot tutira nem engednének Amerikában - hogy egy fickó egy Mikulás jelmezzel osztogat szórólapokat azért, hogy gyerekek eljöjjenek szürkületkor egy parkolóba és beszáljanak egy sötét ablakú limuzinba, hogy elvigye egy körre!? Szuper izé.
Én csak annak örülök, hogy Magyarország még annyira biztonságos és az itteni emberek még annyira ártatlanok, hogy ez nekik nem tűnik gyanusnak.

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Our New Flat

We moved this past Saturday. Friday night I was very nostalgic about our old place when I wrote the previous blog post, and was feeling pretty nostalgic again today as I went there for the last time and said goodbye to the landlord.
But after having moved to our new place, and getting a bit settled in - we have no regrets.

We were concerned about how Nate would take the change, and he was upset when he walked out to the living room Saturday morning and nothing was in its place, but as soon as people from the church showed up to help, he got excited and really enjoyed the whole time. He really loves our new place, and loves his room.

Here are some pictures - not the best, but more will be coming later, once we get things in order:

The view from our office/guest room (facing East)

On a clear day, it has a great view of the Eged hegy - Eger's local "mountain".

Office/guest room


Living room 1


Living room 2


Kitchen/Dining room 1


Kitchen/Dining room 2


Staircase


Here's the layout: Downstairs is a kitchen/dining room and a large balcony, Upstairs there is a living room, 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, which means that Balázs not only has his own room, but his own bathroom too.
Our bedroom has a balcony :) - which makes up for the wallpaper, which has Roman women bathing on it...


We're still in the process of settling in and making it our own, but we're already feeling at home here, and we're thankful to the Lord for leading us to this place.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Moving

Tomorrow we will move to our new flat here in Eger.
Moving makes me wish I didn't have so much stuff...but on the other hand I hate to throw things away - it's a vicious cycle :)

When I moved to Hungary, all I brought with me was a backpack and a laptop. The backpack was filled with my gigantic Bible and about 2 sets of clothes.
Since then I've acquired a lot more stuff...

Someone told me recently that for kids, moving house can be a traumatic thing, because where they live is part of their identity.
I never imagined that moving from our current flat where we've lived for the past 4 years would be that hard, since it's not our own, and we just rent it. But tonight as we were packing, I started to get sad about leaving this place, because although this flat is just a bunch of walls and doors - it has been a part of our lives.

When we first moved here, there were only 2 of us , and since it is a 2-bedroom flat, people from the church were surprised that we got such a big place - so much so that 2 girls asked if we would let them rent our extra room! Obviously, that wasn't an option we were interested in.

We held the church's Wednesday night Bible studies here for a year and a half, until Rosemary got pregnant. We've had so many good times here, and have so many good memories.

This is the place we brought Nate to when we brought him home from the hospital, and this is the only home he's ever known. I hope the move won't be too hard on him.

Now there are 4 of us, and one more on the way. The flat has gotten too small, and we have to move on.
I never expected to be this sad about leaving an apartment, and I know that God has good things in store for us in the new place and that the best is yet to come.
As a Christian, this world is not my home. We are "strangers and exiles on the earth"; we are just passing through. We're here for a time, with a purpose, on our way to and looking for "a city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God".

Thanksgiving / Hálaadás


Happy Thanksgiving!
Although I don't believe that America is a "Christian nation", I am glad that there are a lot of Christians there, and I think it's great that we have Christian traditions like Thanksgiving, a holiday all about being thankful for God's blessings and grace.
What an awesome and Biblical thing to stop and take time to thank God for all that He's blessed you with - it keeps us from becoming small people who are characterized by murmuring and complaining about what we don't have or what we don't like.

Here's a short list of some things I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving
  • My family
  • God's provision for our needs
  • Good health for those I love
  • The new baby who will join us in January
  • A new place to live where we will have more space
  • The Christian community / church family
  • Jesus, through whom I have true life
What are you thankful for today?

Boldog Hálaadást!
Bár nem hiszem, hogy az USA egy "keresztény állam", örülök neki, hogy ott sok hivő van, és szerintem nagyszerű dolog, hogy vannak keresztény hagyományaink mint a Hálaadás, egy olyan ünnep ami arról szól, hogy hálasak legyünk Isten nekünk adott áldásaiért és kegyelméért.
Mennyire király és biblikus dolog megállni és hálat adni Istennek mind azért amivel téged megáldott - ez tart minket attól, hogy "kicsi" emberek legyünk, akikre jelemző a morgás és a panaszkodás arról, hogy mi nincs, vagy mi nem tetszik.

Itt egy rövid lista arról, hogy miért vagyok hálás ezen a hálaadási ünnepen:
  • A családomért
  • Isten gondoskodásáért
  • A szereteim egészséséért
  • Az új babánkért, aki januárban fog érkezni
  • Az új lakásunkért, ahol több helyünk lesz
  • A keresztények közösségéért / a gyülekezeti családomért
  • Jézusért, aki által van igazi életem
Te miért vagy hálás ma?

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Győzelem / Victory

Ma a parlament megszavazta azt a törvényt amelynek része volt a vajtai Bibliaiskola - hivatalosan mostmár a Golgota Teólogiai Főiskola - akkreditációja!
Ez azt jelenti, hogy kb két hét múlva a köztársasági elnök elé kerül a törvény aláírásra, és azután ki lesz hirdetve.
Ennek a hosszú folyamatnak még nincs vége, hogy Vajtán lehessen kapni egy akkreditált főiskolai diplomát, de ez egy nagyon nagy győzelem ennek érdekében - hiszen volt ellenállás ennek, főleg magukat kereszténynek nevező politikusoktól.
Dicsőség az Úrnak ezért! Láthatjuk az ő keze munkáját ebben.

Today the Hungarian parliament approved the law which included the accreditation of Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe!
This means that in about two weeks the law will go before the president of Hungary to be signed, and after that will be declared.
This long process of getting the school accredited, so that the Bible college in Vajta can give an accredited Bachelors degree, is not over, but this was a very big victory for Calvary Chapel, as there was opposition to it, mostly from politicians who call themselves Christians.
Praise the Lord for this! We can see the work of His hand in it.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Their Own World

A great video, about how some Christians want to create their own heathen-free world.
Funny stuff. Enjoy:

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Family Fun in Szeged

Rosemary and I have been wanting to take a short trip somewhere before the new baby comes in January, just to get out of town and do something fun.
We were originally planning to go to England for a few days...until we looked into how much it would cost!
So, we decided to get in the car and drive to Serbia, and visit friends in Szeged and Subotica, with the intention of getting to Novi Sad to take pictures and walk around.
We are in Subotica right now, and got blessed to be able to stay at a friend's apartment - where there happens to be free wifi in the building :)

This afternoon we stopped in Szeged on our way, and visited with Kyle and Odi Eckhart, and got to see their 2 month old baby Zara. It was a real blessing. Afterward, we hit up an Indian restaurant before heading to Subo.

We did get to spend a bit of time downtown in Szeged while it was light out, and took some pictures:

The Little Prince on his throne -


Dom in a puddle -


Family photo -


Nate's favorite free-time activity: Terrorizing pigeons -


More:







Saturday, November 14, 2009

A Dose of Randomness

  • This website is a collection of real pictures taken of people who grace the isles of Walmart - www.peopleofwalmart.com
  • The other day Nate saw some birds flying in the sky and shouted "airplanes!"
    What kind of world do we live in when kids are more familiar with airplanes than with birds?
  • We were in Debrecen on Friday, and I saw an old lady crossing the street in full "néni" attire - head scarf, black smock, stockings, legwarmers, boots. The first thing that came to my mind was - Hey, I know that lady from Eger! She lives on our street and I walk past her every day! Then I realized that it wasn't the woman from our street in Eger - it was just another néni wearing the typical néni outfit... Oops.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Tear Down This Wall

Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.
In reflecting on the events which led up to the wall coming down, it seems there were a few key events which almost didn't happen.
  • German Politburo member Günter Schabowski accidently blurted out at a press conference that East Germany would allow its citizens to pass through border crossings into the West, and then made it worse by adding that this would happen immediately, even though that was not what East Germany was actually planning to do. Because of that error, people gathered at the borders and at the wall on Nov 9, 1989. More about this here.
  • According to this video, Ronald Reagen almost didn't say his famous words: "Mr. Gorbechev, tear down this wall!"
  • Margaret Thatcher was actually not supportive of German re-unification, fearing that a unified Germany would be too powerful a force in the center of Europe.
But the wall did come down, and communist governments in Eastern Europe fell not long afterward. Nowadays its hard to imagine it any other way.

Here is a list of walls which are still standing around the world.

Monday, November 09, 2009

Saturday, November 07, 2009

For the Love of Bill

A few years ago we took a trip through Serbia and Kosovo. It was 2003, so the Kosovo conflict of 1999 and the NATO bombing of Serbia was still fairly fresh.

In Serbia we tried to keep a pretty low profile as Americans, since many Serbs were obviously not too happy about the US having bombed their country. We had a good time in Belgrade, we liked the city a lot and found people very friendly and kind.

But in Kosovo, it was a completely different situation. The city itself is nothing special. Sightseeing in Prishtina consisted of visiting the UN headquarters, the big hotel, the (black) market (ok, that was actually pretty fun), and the money changers - like 20 guys standing around near a bus stop who changed money as a business (ok, that was fun too:) The cool think was that in Prishtina we were very open about being Americans, because since that same NATO bombing, many Kosovars love Americans. We got treated great - we were given free pastries in bakeries and free coffee in cafés, a good price on exchanging money - just because we were American.

America is viewed as having saved Kosovo - and the savior himself is Bill Clinton. And they certainly love him. The main street in downtown Prishtina is named Bill Clinton Boulevard.
Bill Clinton Ave
We even saw his name on random other stuff, like this company which sells marble.
Long Live Bill Clinton!

This past week, for the love of Bill, a 3 meter tall statue of him was erected in the Kosovar capital. Bill himself was there to unveil it.
Here's a video of it, and here is an article, which contains one of the pictures I took back in 2003.

Friday, November 06, 2009

Desiring God for Free

Until November 21, you can download a free audio copy of John Piper's Desiring God here.

I downloaded my copy a few days ago, and am really enjoying it.
I read Desiring God a few years ago when I was going through a dry time spiritually, and was greatly encouraged and uplifted by it. It's still one of my all-time favorite books. Enjoy!

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Rules

I recently read the Rule of Benedict for my class on Church History. Benedict's Rule is essentially an all-encompassing list of rules for how a monastery should function (i.e. Benedictine monks). There were many "rules" written; one for each faction or group - but the Rule of Benedict is seen as a standard, and is even considered canonical by some branches of the the church.

Anyways, as I was reading it, I found some things interesting and/or funny:

XXII. How the monks are to sleep.- Let them sleep in separate beds, and let the beds be suitable to their manner of life. Let them sleep clothed, girded with belts or cords - but without knives at their sides, lest they injure themselves in sleep.
Yea, so no pajamas, and no knives in bed either! If they hadn't pointed that out, who knows what could have happened?!

XXX. Concerning boys under age, how they shall be corrected.- ...as often as such persons offend, they shall either be punished with extra fasts or, coerced with severe blows, that they may be healed.
Severe blows? In every monastery they had monks who functioned as doctors. I wonder if the referenced to healing them means that they beat the young ones so they could practice healing them???

XLII. On silence after compline.- Monks should practice silence at all times, but especially in the hours of night. Therefore on all days, whether fasting days or otherwise, let them sit together as soon as they have risen from supper (if it be not a fast day) and let one of them read the 'Collations' or 'Lives of the Fathers', or something else which may edify the hearers. But not the Heptateuch (the first 6 books of the Old Testament) or 'Kings'; for it will not profit weak intellects to listen to that part of the Scripture at that hour.
So, after dinner no one is allowed to read or listen to Genesis-Judges or Kings. I had no idea that was a problem!

And my favorite:
LVIII. Concerning the manner of receiving brothers.- When any new comer applies for admission, an easy entrance shall not be granted him...Therefore, if he who comes perseveres in knocking, and is seen after four or five days to endure with patience the insults inflicted upon him, and the difficulty of entrance, and to persist in his demand, entrance shall be allowed him...
4 or 5 days?! Insults inflicted upon him?! I wonder what that was like - Hey, you're an idiot, and you're momma's ugly! Go away or else I will insult you a second time!
Interesting. I wonder if it was anything like this:

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Autumn in Eger

Now that Nate is getting bigger, he can really enjoy autumn a lot more.

He dressed up like Superman for Halloween:


He raked leaves in the backyard:


And he had a good time playing in the leaves in the park in his new winter coat:

Monday, November 02, 2009

English Grocery in Eger

Last week as Rosemary was walking in town, she saw an flier in the mud advertising an English import grocery store in Eger. The next day we drove by to see if it was for real, and were very excited at the prospect of getting English products in Eger.
One of our favorite things about traveling to different places is going to a local grocery store and seeing what kinds of unique stuff they have there. I've written about some of our favorite stuff here and here.
So, this morning we went out and check out what they have. Here's a short list:
  • English Tea - Tetley's and PG Tips
  • Real English Cadbury products - not the Polish Cadbury that Hungarian Tesco sells
  • McVities brand stuff - like Rosemary's favorite Digestives
  • Lots of canned soup - probably not going to go over well in Hungary...
  • Crisps/Chips - English brands (Walkers) and English flavors > We bought a bag of Prawn (garnéla rák) flavored chips/crisps! Not bad actually.
  • Malt Balls! (like Whoppers in the USA) - Nate tasted one, and wasn't sure what to think...but we like them :)
  • English sauces, ginger cake, candies, cereals, Strongbow beer, etc...
Since the shop just opened, they are still figuring out what things to import. We made a few suggestions of stuff we would buy if it were available:
The owner is a very friendly English guy from Liverpool. He said that this shop in Eger is the only English import grocery in Hungary, and he plans to send shipments from Eger to Budapest for Brits living there.
The prices are a bit high, since everything is imported, but I hope the business will be successful and stay around for a while.
Here's their business card. If you're in Eger, stop in and support them.


What British products do you think they should carry? What would sell? What would you buy?