Milestones

This week on Monday Balázs turned 21! It's hard to believe that he has been with us almost 7 years!

He recently started talking about moving out on his own - which seems fine and good from a rational perspective, but I was surprised at how sad the thought of not having him in our home made me.

Nate has been doing Tae Kwon Do for the past few years. It's been good for him, and he has done well at it. A few weeks ago Nate took the test to get his green belt and today he found out that he passed and he received his belt.

 

Graduations

Last week we had two graduations in our family: Nate graduated from Kindergarten and Balazs graduated in High School.

We are very proud of both of them, but especially of Balázs because of how far he has come sine he first came to live with us. High school wasn't easy, especially since he had to study in a foreign language, but he did it, and he finished well. His last semester was probably his best in all his years of schooling so far.

One week from today Balázs will start his new job at LEI companies in Denver, in an electrician apprenticeship program.

Here is a video of Nate's kindergarten graduation and some pictures of Balázs' high school graduation.

 

Receiving an acknowledgement for his community service:

 

Day Trip to Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison

 

Big Day for Nate

Yesterday was a day Nate has been waiting for, for a long time. About 2 years ago I took Nate skiing for the first time, to Bánkút in Hungary. At the time I went snowboarding, and Nate really wanted to snowboard, but I told him he had to wait until he was 6. He never forgot those words - and yesterday I took my 6 year old to Eldora for an all-day snowboarding lesson.

He did really quite well; I think part of it was that he was motivated. He told me his goal is to get good enough to go riding with me :) I look forward to that day!

Here's a video of him learning to ride:

Exactly 1 hour after his snowboarding lesson ended, his Tae Kwon Do class started back here in Longmont. A few weeks ago Nate tested for a yellow belt; we weren't sure if he would get it since he didn't know some of the forms perfectly, but his teacher awarded it to him because net never gave up during the test. Some of the other kids he tested with didn't get a belt - so we were impressed with Nate's perseverance and determination. It's little wins like this which motivate you to keep going and work harder.

Here's the video of Nate receiving his yellow belt:

 

Images of English Camp

Camp is over; the week flew by, but it was an excellent week - a lot of good ministry was done and the Gospel was preached.

Nate had such a good time at camp. On Friday night he was so sad that camp was almost over, that we let him stay up until almost midnight playing games with us in the coffee shop. The next morning he was so exhausted, we couldn't get him to wake up when it was time to go!

Natalie and Suzan did a great job teaching classes, crafts and archery to the kids. They loved the archery - it's somewhat of a national past time here in Hungary, so it was a good connecting point.

This year we had the greatest number of kids come to our testimony times than ever before. We don't make this part of the camp compulsory for them, but this year we had so many kids each day, that often times, kids who came late had to stand because there were no more seats. In spite of that, kids would stand on their feet for an hour listening to us tell them stories of how God had worked in our lives. It was great.

Here's a photo of Anil sharing his testimony. Anil was a medical student in Debrecen back in the day, when Rosemary and I ministered amongst them, and now attends Calvary Chapel in Syracuse, NY.

Erika from church here taught the kids how to do tie dye.

Rosemary spent time with pastors' wives Tünde from Eger and Anna from Nyíregyháza

 

You can find a lot more pictures of the camp on the official Eger English Camp Facebook page.

 

Reunited

I arrived in Hungary on Saturday night; I actually love doing the long flight alone - it's so relaxing!

My friend Laci, pastor of Calvary Chapel in Dél-Pest, picked me up and we spent some time catching up. I always enjoy spending time with him - great guy with great vision, and The Lord is doing a great thing through him on the south side of Budapest.

It was great to see Rosemary and the kids again!

Nate and I got coffee in the morning; his was a milk actually. He's so excited being in Hungary. He's been speaking in Hungarian and been outgoing and friendly with people. He was looking forward to this trip for a long time, and he's having a lot of fun.

Natalie and Suzan got into Budapest by train Saturday night, when I was already asleep, so in the morning, we all went to church and then took the train to Eger, where we were picked up by Jani, Szabi and Kati. Jani and I took Nate and Felicia over to Dr. Krisztina's house, and then we joined the others at the orientation for the camp.

Orientation is something that Rosemary and I used to do, and we took it pretty seriously, but now Kati and Ilona were doing it - and I must say that I think they were more efficient and better prepared than we were! They made bound books of material for each level, and it seems that they have thought of everything. Essentially, they have taken what we handed them, and they have made it better.

From a leader's perspective, this is and should be the goal: to raise up people who surpass you in their accomplishments. It was great to see how the church here has done a good job organizing the camp for the first time completely on their own. Many people have stepped up to fill in the gaps, and are succeeding.

But, of course, good preparation is only one piece of the puzzle. What we also need for this camp to be a success is a move of the Holy Spirit, so that the kids would hear the Gospel and it would penetrate their hearts. Please do pray for that!

Speaking of being reunited, one thing I'm really happy about is that our Australian friends Andy and Kim are here at camp again this year, along with many other dear people who have served at camp before, like Geoff and Angela from Syracuse and Shane from Szolnok. One great thing is that a young man named Kristóf who attended camp for many years, whom we shared Jesus with for YEARS, seemingly to no avail, has given his life to Christ, attends the church now, and is one of our main helpers this year! Praise The Lord for that. Another young man, Balázs, who got saved through our first camp in Eger, and has been a staple and cornerstone helper for years, had to drop out because some family members have fallen seriously ill. We will miss him this year; please pray for him and his family members.

Anyway, I will keep posting on here about how camp goes, so keep checking in. In about an hour I am heading up to Felsőtárkány to set up for registration. Camp begins today!

Family Photos

At Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park.

Right before these guys left for Hungary.

 

In Transit

I was sitting on the plane from Amsterdam to Minneapolis, and I decided to play Angry Birds to pass the time. The only reason I have Angry Birds Star Wars on my iPad is because Nate begged me to buy it for him.

So here I am playing this game, and I realize that all the levels I am playing, Nate has already beaten on his own - not to mention that I have to try multiple times to pass his high scores!

Lets just say, I'm feeling humbled that my 5 year old is way more clever, or at least way more persistent than I am....

I'm in Minneapolis right now waiting to get on my last flight back to Denver. On this trip I've passed through 5 airports, and here's what I think:

• I like Denver's airport. It's easy and quick to navigate.
• At JFK I had to do something I've only done once before: I had to leave the airport entirely and walk down the street to another terminal building. The only other time I've had to do that before was in Paris, when Charles du Gaulle was under construction a few years back. JFK was not a great experience this time around, especially since it was snowing outside while I had to walk from one terminal to the next.
• Charles du Gaulle was ok, but it took so long to get to my connection that I missed my flight. It was pretty boring to spend 5 hours there and the Internet connection wasn't good.
• Budapest is nice, especially since they've renovated it. Easy to navigate, free wifi, very comfortable.
• Although I like KLM a lot, Amsterdam's airport was a mixed bag: on one hand they had a good system of getting people through passport control, with people standing around and allowing those who were close to missing flights to cut ahead in line. It was very efficient, and I wish I had that before at times when I've missed flights because no one would let me ahead in line. After that though, they had a terrible bottleneck at the gate, because they do security at each individual gate for the transcontinental flights.
• Minneapolis is simple and easy to navigate, comfortable and has free wifi. All things I love to have in an airport, especially if you have to spend a few hours there.

Almost home...

 

Little Kids

I took these pictures on Saturday morning while the kids were eating breakfast at the kitchen counter.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Road Trip

We spent last week in Southern California. I attended a pastors conference in Murietta and Rosemary and the kids spent time with family and friends in Carlsbad.

We had a really nice time. On our way home we decided to take a detour through Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. They look really close to I-15 on the map, but they are a bit of a jog off the highway...especially Bryce Canyon.
Usually the trip through Utah is hard because it is so desolate and monotonous. I admit that I've never thought of southern Utah as a beautiful place - BUT I really did enjoy Zion and Bryce Canyon - especially when we got off the road and hiked down into the canyon. Our kids were troopers and had a great time hiking around and getting to see some wildlife up close.

Road trippin':








Kids at Bryce Canyon:




Here are some photos from Zion and Bryce Canyon:

Stuff Nate Says Lately

* On a rainy day, while driving in the car - "Dad, how do you say fog in French?"
* After watching "The Rescuers" - "Dad, I hope you don't get adult-napped."
* After moving into our house today: "Dad, I like Longmont, but can I visit Eger some day?"

Disneyland

A few months ago we promised our kids we would take them to Disneyland when we were in California. Thanks to the generosity of some friends and Christian brothers and sisters we were able to make it happen, and we all had a great day.

Here is a video of some pictures from our day there:

Philistines for Friends

This past weekend we went to visit family friends in Los Angeles and had a really nice time, as we always do. They are more family than friends, and we make sure to see them whenever we are in So. California.

Probably as a result of living in Hungary and being aware that different people speak different languages, Nate often asks me what language different people speak in - including Darth Vader and R2D2.

Here's the conversation we had this morning:
Nate: "What language does Auntie Lola speak?"
Me: "She speaks English and Tagalog."
Nate: "What's Tagalog?"
Me: "It's the language of the Philippines."
Nate - with big eyes: "The PHILISTINES?"

Nate has taken in his fair share of Vegitales videos and Bible stories, so as he said this, it was as if I could see exactly what was going through his mind: "Auntie Lola and her family are Philistines?! The Philistines are the ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD!!!"

So I quickly tried to explain to him that they are not Philistines, they are from the Philippines - but since he doesn't know what the Philippines are, I'm not sure it helped much.

Later on Nate was talking to cousin Jack -
Nate: "Who is that on your shirt?
Jack: "It's Darth Vader"
Nate: "Wow! I have Darth Mal on my underwear! Look!" (starts taking off pants...)
Us: "Nate! Don't take off your pants in public!"

Maybe having such exciting underwear isn't such a good idea... It's hard to have Darth Mal on your underpants and not be able so show anyone!

Our First Week Back in the States

We've been back in the US for over one week now. Before we head on to Colorado and get into ministry there, we are spending some time in San Diego with family and people who have supported us over the years in Hungary.

Our flight back to the US went really well. The kids were really well behaved on the long flight from Frankfurt to London, and took good naps. When the kids are well behaved, it makes the whole experience better.
We had a 5 and 1/2 hour layover in San Francisco, which was very long - but it turns out we needed the time, because we accidentally lost Balázs' passport… We got it back, but it took a long time to find out exactly who had it, because it had been passed around from the airport employees to the police, to United…

On Saturday we went with Rosemary's brother Tony to see the USS Midway aircraft carrier in San Diego, and on the way our car started to overheat. Long story short - the radiator cracked and needs to be replaced. In all actuality, it couldn't have happened at a better time or in a better place. We have friends here in the car business who are going to get the car taken care of for free - not to mention how much worse it could have been if the radiator had gone out later this month in the middle of the desert or in the mountains while driving out to Colorado.

But while I took the car back to Vista, the kids and Rosemary and Tony all went down to San Diego and checked out the aircraft carrier.

On Sunday we were at Calvary Chapel in Vista, where Pastor Rob prayed for us at both services and we got to connect with people from the church. After church we had some people over who have been supporters of ours for years, and Rosemary made Hungarian food for them and we talked and hung out.
We really are thankful for all the support we have gotten from Calvary Vista over the years. This is a church that is really missions minded, both internationally and locally, not to mention a very loving body of people.

This past weekend we went to LA. We went to church at Reality LA and on our way back were able to make a short but blessed visit to Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, where we joined the missions prayer meeting, a great group of people committed to praying for missionaries week in and week out. They have prayed for our needs and requests for many years, and we are so thankful for their support and impressed with their hearts for the mission of God and for prayer.

On Wednesday Balázs and I will be driving out to Colorado, with Rosemary and the kids coming by plane on Friday. Please pray for our travel and our transition to Longmont!