Pictures

Here are some recent pictures of Felicia, looking cute and doing her thing :)



Nate played with bubbles for the first time yesterday, and LOVED them. He did it for more than an hour...

Felicia - Back to Neurology

Today we took Felicia back to the Margit Hospital in Budapest for a scheduled check up in the Developmental Neurology department. It has been one month since she came home from the hospital and we have been doing the physical therapy with her to help her heal.
Ma vissza vittük Felíciát a budai Margit Kórházba kontrol vizsgálatra a Fejlődés Neurológia osztályba. Egy hónapja haza jött a kórházból és csináljuk vele a fizioterápiát, hogy segítsünk neki meggyógyulni.

We met with the neurologist who has been working with Felicia, and she did some tests to check her reflexes, her muscle tone, and how well she pays attention and focuses on objects - basic brain functions.
Találkoztunk azzal a neurológussal aki Felíciával foglalkozik, és ő megvizsgálta, megnézte Felícia automata reflexeit, az izmai tónusát, és azt, hogy mennyire tud figyelni - tehát, alapvető agyi funkciókat.

The doctor was pleased to see that Felicia is gaining weight (she called her a little fatso :)) and that she has made significant improvement over this past month.
What the doctor said was that Felicia is doing well, but she is not totally fine yet. In her estimation, if we continue doing the physical therapy, there is a 90% chance that Felicia will be totally fine, and have no symptoms whatsoever. She also said that the 10% change of her having a disability would only be a slight physical disability and not a mental disability, as it seems that her mind is totally fine. One of the signs that her mind is well, is that she smiles, and smiles in response to people talking to her - something babies with mental problems do not usually do.
Az orvosnő örült annak, hogy Felícia sokat hízott (kis duci babának hivta :)) és hogy jelentősen javult az elmúlt hónap alatt.
Az orvosnő azt mondta, hogy Felícia jobban van, de még nem tökéletes. Ő úgy gondolja, hogy ha folytatjuk a fizioterápiát, 90% az esélye annak, hogy Felícia teljesen rendben lesz, és teljesen tünet-mentes lesz. Ráadásul, az a 10%-nyi esély, hogy maradandó sérülése lesz, az csak mozgássérülés lenne, nem értelmisérülés, mivel úgy néz ki, az értelme teljesen rendben van. Az egyik jele annak, hogy az értelme nem sérült meg az, hogy mosolyog, és akkor mosolyog ha valaki beszél hozzá - ami egy olyan dolog amit az értelmisérült babák általában nem tesznek.

We are so thankful to God for this good news! When she was born they told us there was a VERY SLIGHT chance that she would survive and be totally fine - and now, they are telling us that there is a very slight chance that she will have any problem at all. The miracle that God has done in healing our little girl is amazing, and we are so humbled by it and thankful for it!
Annyira hálásak vagyunk az Úrnak ezért a jó hírért! Amikor Felícia megszületett, azt mondták nekünk, hogy NAGYON KICSI az esélye annak, hogy túl fog élni és tejlesen rendben lesz minden - most már azt mondják nekünk, hogy nagyon kicsi az esélye annak, hogy bármilyen baja is lesz. Ez a csoda, amit az Úr tett, hogy meggyógyította a kislányunkat, egyszerűen bámulatos, és nagyon hálásak vagyunk érte!

We will continue to do the physical therapy until the doctors determine that she doesn't need it any more. It is a lot of work and very tiring, but at least it is effective and is helping her to get better.
Thank you for your continued prayers for Felicia's total healing. God is answering these prayers and is very gracious to us. God bless you all!
Továbbra is folytatjuk a fizioterápiát, mindaddig amíg az orvosok meg nem mondják azt, hogy többé nincs rá szükség. Nagyon sok munka és nagyon fárasztó, de legalább eredményes és segít neki, hogy meggyógyuljon.
Köszönjük, hogy továbbra is imádkoztok Felícia teljes gyógyulásáért. Az Úr meghallgatja az imáinkat, és nagyon kegyelmes hozzánk. Isten áldjon meg benneteket!

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new m every morning; great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.
(Lamentations 3:21-24)
De ha újra meggondolom, reménykedni kezdek:
Szeret az ÚR, azért nincs még végünk, mert nem fogyott el irgalma: minden reggel megújul. Nagy a te hűséged!
Az ÚR az én osztályrészem - mondom magamban -, ezért benne bízom.
(Jeremiás siralmai 3:21-24)

Ordination

On Sunday evening we went to Nyíregyháza for the ordination service of the new pastor of the Calvary Chapel there.
Our friend Jancsi started that church back in 2003, about the same time that I started praying about coming to Eger. When Jancsi first started the church, Rosemary and I used to go with him sometimes for the Bible studies on Wednesday nights.

It was good to be there and see the work God is doing. The last time we were at one of their services was 5 years ago, when we still lived in Debrecen, and I taught at their Sunday night service! They now have a great meeting place in the city center, and some wonderful people in the church. The Lord has raised up Gábor Gulyás to be the new pastor, and it was a blessing to get to be there and pray for him and the church as they make this next step.

Here are some pictures - all taken by Tibor Kun

Jewish Cemetery in Eger

There are very few Jews in Eger. Probably it would be better to say that Eger doesn't have very many Jews any more, because at one time there was a significant Jewish population here, which is now almost completely gone.

In Eger there were two synagogues - one which was very large, but neither of which are currently functioning - and a Jewish cemetery. Obviously some of the Jewish population left Hungary and went to Israel or the United States - others weren't so fortunate in how they ended up leaving this region... Eger is not so far from Krakow, and I have heard stories from people here about the sad fate of Jews from this area during World War II.

Here are some pics of Eger's Jewish cemetery. Notice that the writing on the gate is in English; I would guess that is for the sake of the Jewish families who now live abroad, and don't speak Hungarian, who come to visit the graves of their ancestors who used to live in Eger.

Felicia - Rosemary's Perspective

To put it short - my pregnancy was healthy, Felicia was healthy up until I went into labor. Then they couldn't find her pulse when I arrived at the hospital.
I had an emergency c section, and she was close to death with an apgar score of 1, she was completely blue and had her lungs and stomach full of meconium. The neonatal doctor saved her life by quickly cleaning her lungs out, pumping her full of drugs and intubating her to give her oxygen. No one thought she would survive.
When I woke from surgery, they brought her into my room in an incubator for me to see her and touch her, and basically say goodbye. She was taken to a special ICU unit in Budapest where they did hypothermia treatment for 72 hours, cooling her body to reduce brain damage and other damage she would have from the time she was without oxygen.

Nick and I were in shock. I then had nothing that I could do except lay in the hospital and recover and get strong enough to travel and be with my son, Nate, who is 2 1/2 and doesn't understand the confusion and doesn't deal with change well. I could only pray and rest. I had seriously no time to worry - but I was in shock and carried by all your prayers to be in God's grace each moment of the day. Nick was strong and took charge of the family, and traveled to Budapest to see Felicia. Both our phones rang all day long as we answered questions and talked about our daughter.

It was disturbing for me to have to say over and over again that my daughter was near death - and to quietly thank people who didn't know what to say and would tell me not to worry and that she would be fine. God had not yet answered prayers to heal Felicia, so those were empty promises people gave to make me feel better. Nick and I felt alone - but very strong in the love of God.

We were so encouraged to hear how many people were praying. We know that God did finally answer those thousands of prayers from all over the world to heal Felicia. We were told on day 4 the first good news about her - that she was improving; it was the first time I cried. On day 7, we were finally told that she will surely survive and her lungs will be healed. I cried again. I still was trying to prepare myself for a child with special needs and possible brain damage.

I have a hard time in an ICU unit. I have visited there too many times - with my mom and dad who have already passed away. My dad had juvenile Parkinson's and finally died of pneumonia. My mom had a bacterial infection in her lungs for years and she also succumbed to pneumonia. Felicia now had pneumonia, and I was glad that she would live - but concerned.

When I was being prepared for the emergency surgery, I was amazed at how quick they were and also that Felicia was able to receive such good medical care in the best unit in Hungary. I knew God was with us, and looking back now, I could see how He took care of so many details along the way to save her life. In preparation - I had planned on staying home for the labor as long as possible, but I started worrying that something was wrong when my labor sped up, so we called my doctor and immediately went in. Had we waited 10 more minutes, she would surely not have survived.
The neonatal doctor on duty in Eger that day was doing training in the Budapest ICU with babies with the same lack of oxygen that Felicia had. She was very experienced and was also the one to treat Felicia all week long in the unit in Budapest. She told us that she felt like Felicia was her own daughter.

We were hanging in limbo, not sure what would happen. We couldn't be angry - at whom? What would that accomplish? We didn't "fall apart"; we had too much to take care of - Nate and Balázs, for example. We put one foot in front of the other each day - and in each moment of the day, we were focused and trusting God. What else could we do? Nothing else made sense to us except to go on and do our best. We could only pray and Nick wrote each day so that others would pray for our daughter and family.

I felt nothing at the time. I was in shock. I didn't know what would happen, and accordingly, how I should feel - grieve, rejoice, what? My tears began to flow with relief as Felicia improved. She was called the miracle baby by every doctor she came in contact with, even in the best hospital in Hungary. As we talked to the doctors and medical staff, it became more and more clear to me what had happened and how big of a miracle she is. I came home, and started to educate myself online, and I just became amazed. The tears began to flow more and more as I am thankful that God gave us back our baby girl and I feel so humble that He would do this for me, for us. We were preparing for the worst - and then we came out with the best.

After the stress of the situation, we are now dealing with the emotional part. Nick and I were exhausted as well.
I spent 1 week with Felicia in a developmental neurology unit where they tried to determine how much damage she has - and she amazingly has minor muscle tone problems that show some lack of oxygen in her brain. We were taught a unique physical therapy to give her at home, 6 times a day for 30 minutes. She does exercises to stimulate her brain and cause it to repair itself. Its quite a lot for us - we are able to manage 4 times of therapy a day. Nate is learning to love his baby sister, and we are learning to be very disciplined with our time.

Thank you for your prayers. It gave us our daughter back, in an amazing way.
Please pray for us to manage her therapy, which will be adjusted each month when we go for check ups to her neurologist in Budapest. Its hard for Nate, and Nick and I are so tired. As Felicia grows up, only then will it show if she is developing well or has problems.

~Rosemary

Family Pictures

Fast!

This past February I held our church’s second “vision meeting”. I want to have these once every 6 months to talk about where we are at as a church, what is the direction we believe God is calling us to move forward in, and how people can be involved in that.
One of my shortcomings is that I am not very good at communicating with people. I have often made the mistake of not letting people know what is going on, or what the plan is; I just assume that they are on the same page – but often they aren’t… So, I realized that I need to work on communicating better with people – including the church, and these meetings are one of the ways I've started doing that.
Since we started this, the results have been very fruitful. People appreciate being brought up to speed on what’s going on, it makes them feel more involved in the church community, like they really are a valuable participant and not just a butt in a chair. It also results in us working together, as one unit, rather than everybody just going different directions and doing their own thing.
At this last vision meeting we talked about a lot of outreaches we would like to do this year, as well as some bigger, long term plans. One of the guys in our church, Peti, had it on his heart that we would pray and fast as a church, and he organized a prayer and fasting chain. I was glad to see his initiative and the church working organically - something I have been seeing more and more, and which I consider a good sign of maturity and a healthy church.
This week 13 people in the church have been taking part in the fast. This has been a really good thing for our church, and it is something I hope will become a regular practice for us.

There are many reasons why fasting is a good and helpful practice for believers. Here are a few:

1. When you fast, you are teaching yourself to withstand temptation. You are essentially placing a temptation before yourself by denying yourself something, and by doing so you are strengthening yourself. You are teaching yourself to say no to temptation by placing a temptation before yourself, so that you when you are faced with an actual temptation, you will know how to withstand it, because you have trained yourself in saying no to your flesh.
   The point is that we would become master over our flesh, rather than allowing the demands of our flesh to dominate our lives. Fasting can help to break the hold that your flesh's demands have on your life.
   
2. Fasting makes you better appreciate what you have. You realize how much you take God's grace for granted and how blessed you really are, when you go without something. We can take for granted the fact that we always have food to eat and a roof over our heads; choosing to fast from something makes you more thankful for what you have.
   John Piper, in his book "A Hunger for God" talks about fasting for the purpose of having greater compassion for the poor and hungry.
3. Fasting adds a dynamic to prayer. Fasting which isn't done together with focused prayer is nothing more than a diet! The point of fasting is that it would add a dynamic to your prayer life. You give up something physical to spend time with the spiritual. You deny your flesh to nourish your spirit, and your outer, fleshly man becomes weak as your inner, spiritual man gets stronger, and you do spiritual work in your now strengthened inner man.
   In Mark 9, Jesus alluded to the idea that fasting should be a regular part of our lifestyle, and that there are something which will not change if we don't spend time in dedicated prayer and fasting. It is a bit of a mystery how exactly this dynamic of fasting works, but I'm willing to take Jesus at his word on it, and do it even if I don't completely understand the mechanics of it.

What are your experiences with prayer and fasting?

3 Years

Marika is here in Eger helping us around the house and with the kids, and she reminded me that 3 years ago today she got married to her husband Bernie!
Their special day was special for me too, as it was the first wedding I ever officiated.
Here's a picture of the happy couple from the big day 3 yrs ago:

Happy Anniversary Bernie and Marika! May God bless you with many more happy years together; may He make your marriage strong and an example and blessing to those around you.

Goodbye to Romance

Randy Rhodes was one of the best guitar players ever. He played guitar for Ozzy Osbourne on his first two solo albums. After Randy Rhodes died in 1982, Ozzy was still famous, but his music wasn't nearly as good. In 1986, Ozzy recorded a live album, which was a tribute to Randy Rhodes, and when I was in 8th grade, I bought that album on cassette at a used record store in Arvada.
Randy Rhodes az egyik legjobb gitáros volt, aki valaha élt. Ő gitározott Ozzy Osbournenak az első két szoló albumán. Miután Randy Rhodes meghalt 1982ben, Ozzy még mindig híres volt, de a zeneje sokkal rosszabb lett. 1986ban, Ozzy csinált egy élő koncert felvételt Randy Rhodes megemlékezésére, és amikor 8.os voltam megvettem azt az albumot használtan, kazettán, egy colorádói zeneboltban.
I listened to that record all the time, and one of the songs on it was called Goodbye to Romance. I always assumed that song was written about a romantic relationship and a break-up, but that didn't totally make sense, because the main chorus line was: Goodbye to romance, goodbye to friends... A while later I read an article about how Ozzy had actually written that song after leaving Black Sabbath - it was him saying goodbye to his friends that he had worked with in the band.
Nagyon sokat hallgattam azt az albumot, és volt rajta egy olyan dal, hogy Goodbye to Romance. Én mindig úgy gondoltam, hogy ez a szám biztos valamilyen romantikus kapcsolatról szólt ami tönkrement, de nem igazán stimmelt, mert a refrain szövege az volt hogy: Goodbye to romance, goodbye to friends... Később olvastam egy cikkben, hogy Ozzy akkor írta azt a dalt amikor elhagyta a Black Sabbatht - tehát így búcsuzott el a barátaitól akikkel együtt dolgozott a zenekarban.

Shane and Marianna Daniels moved away from Eger last week to Szolnok, where Marianna is from, and where they hope to plant a church. Shane moved out to serve with us here in Eger 3 and a half years ago, and seeing him leave was kind of a "Goodbye to Romance" type of experience.
We're thankful for Shane's time here in Eger and that God sent him to us for a time, and although we're sad to see him leave, we're even more excited for what God has in store for the future. Our church has a new worship leader, Dani, and we are glad to see new churches being established and the Gospel being preached.
Shane és Marianna Daniels (vagy Dánielsz Sejn és Marianna???) elköltöztek Egerből Szolnokra a múlthéten. Marianna onnan valósi, és ott szeretnének majd gyülekezetet alapítani. Shane eljött Egerbe 3 és fél évvel ezelőtt, hogy velünk dolgozzon, tehát elbúcsuzni tőle egy olyan "Goodbye to Romance"-féle feeling volt. Hálásak vagyunk azért hogy Isten ide küldött Sejnt hozzánk egy ideig, és bár szomorú dolog elbúcsuzni tőle, még inkább izgatottan nézünk előre, és várjuk, hogy Isten mit tartogat. A mi gyülekezetünknek van egy új dicsőítés vezetője, Dani, és örülünk, hogy új gyülekezetek jönnek létre és hogy az evangéliumot hírdetik.

Please pray for our church as we transition, and please pray for Shane and Marianna in Szolnok, that the word of the Lord would spread throughout Hungary and that there would be a great harvest of souls.
Kérlek, imádkozzatok a mi gyülekezetünkért, ahogyan átmegyünk ezeken a változásokon, és kérlek, imádkozzatok Sejnért és Mariannáért ahogy Szolnokon vannak, hogy az Úr igéje terjedjen Magyarországon és hogy nagy aratás legyen!

Videos

Here are 2 videos we took today - one of Felicia and one of Nate.

Felicia and Rosemary -


Nate likes puppies...a lot. As you can see in the video, he even has a puppy on his shirt.
Today he wanted to drink his water like a puppy. I'm not sure where he learned this - I'm guessing it was from seeing a dog do it.

Felicia - Week 6

Felicia is now 6 weeks old. She's a very calm baby, sleeps well, loves to eat, and she's super cute :)
Felícia már 6 hetes. Nagyon nyugodt kisbaba, jól alszik, szeret zabálni, és nagyon cuki :)

We are doing the physical therapy with her, and we can tell she is getting stronger and making progress. We will go back to the developmental neurologist at the end of this month; we're interested what they will say about how she is doing. She seems perfectly normal to us - truly a miracle.
Csináljuk vele a fizióterápiát, és látjuk, hogy fejlődik és erősödik. Vissza megyünk a fejlődés neurológushoz a hónap végén, és kiváncsiak vagyunk, hogy akkor mit fognak róla mondani. Nekünk teljesen egészséges és normálisnak tűnik - egy igazi csoda.

We are very blessed to have Marika Winkelmann here from Germany to help us for 10 days. Marika's husband, Bernie, was a member and elder of our church when we first got started here. Marika is helping with so much, and it frees us up a lot to have her help.
Nagy áldás a számunkra, hogy Winkelmann Marika eljött hozzánk Németországból 10 napra. Marika ferje, Bernie, tagja és elöljárója volt a gyülekezetünknek amikor itt elkezdtünk. Marika sok mindenben segít, és nekünk sokat jelent.

Here are some pictures of Felicia doing her physical therapy:
Képek Felíciáról, ahogyan csinálja a fizióterápiát:



Brother and sister at bed time:
Tesók lefekvéskor:

An Easier Way

I am a bit behind with my seminary studies because of what we went through with Felicia. I was given an extension for my two final assignments which were due at the beginning of February; my new deadline is this Friday, and I still have a lot of work to do.

Rosemary forwarded me an email yesterday that just might have solved my problems. Apparently, there is an easier way to get a university degree than by studying and spending weeks writing research papers!

Here's what the email said:

You are nominated for a Ph.d
GET YOUR DIPLOMA TODAY!
If you are looking for a fast and effective way to get a diploma,(non accredited) this is the best way out for you.
Provide us with degree you are interested in.
Call us right now on:
For US: 1.718.989.5746
Outside US: +1.718.989.5746 "Just leave your NAME & PHONE NO. (with CountryCode)" in the voicemail.
Our staff will get back to you in next few days!

I'm nominated? How lucky is that???!!!
This is almost as lucky as when that Nigerian guy wanted to deposit all his father's money in my bank account!
Man, if only more people would know about this, people could stop wasting their time reading books and get down to the real business that people with Ph.d-s should be up to: writing reference books, doing experiments in laboratories, being professors, leading universities, finding cures for cancer...

On second thought, calling internationally is expensive, and I'm already half way done with my assignments...

Nate and Felicia Around the House

Brother and sister hanging out:




Nate likes to kiss our wedding photo :)

Olympics - The Good Old Days

I really like watching the olympics, both winter and summer.
My favorite events in the Winter Olympics are the slalom skiing and the snowboarding events and hockey. The USA-Canada match yesterday was great; I have to say though that I would still like to see Canada get the gold on their home soil this year.

I found this article on wired.com, about some of the events which were held in the past in the olympics, but have since been discontinued:

The 1900 summer games included a swimming obstacle race with things like fences and boats for the competitors to navigate. Sadly, this event was never seen again at the Olympics, along with equestrian long jump and two-day cricket. It would be too awesome to watch Michael Phelps climbing out of the water to jump off a platform and then dive under a string of floating barrels.

That would be awesome! I would watch a swimming obstacle race or a horse long jump any day instead of ice dancing /*barf*

Another highlight was the first Olympic medal won by a person of African descent when Constantin Henriquez de Zubiera won a silver in the tug of war.

Tug of war? That is awesome. That is a sport that truly divides the men from the boys - even though it is usually played during recess...

The 1924 Olympics saw the first use of a 50-meter-long pool with marked lanes for races. In gymnastics, 23 men were awarded a perfect 10 in the rope-climbing event, which has since been discontinued.

Rope climb! It is like 8th grade gym class on a world-class competitive level! That is awesome. And all those guys got a perfect 10 - wow, we just don't have athletes these days like we used to!

I wouldn't mind seeing some of these events come back. They seem a lot more interesting than synchronized swimming or curling. Here's to the Olympics returning to their roots!

Felicia and Rosemary - Back Home

After a week at a hospital in Budapest, in the Development Neurology department, Felicia and Rosemary got to come home!
Felicia is now 4 weeks old, and so far she's only been at home for 1 of those weeks. It is really good to have Rosemary and Felicia back home; Nate is very happy to have his mom back, and is even glad to see his sister. Yesterday, when we went to get her from the hospital, Nate went into the room where Felicia was sleeping and said, "Sister, no more sleeps!"
Rosemary és Felícia egy hétig feküdtek be a budapesti Szent Margit kórházba, a Fejlődés Neurológia osztályon - és tegnap este haza jöttek!
Felícia már 4 hetes, és eddig csak egy hétig volt itthon nálunk. Nagyon jó, hogy Rosemary és Felícia végre itthon vannak; Nate különösön örül, hogy anya újra itthon van, meg annak is, hogy a kis tesóját is láthatja. Tegnap amikor a kórházba mentünk érte, Nate bement a kórterembe, ahol Felícia éppen aludt, és azt mondta, "Sister, no more sleeps!" (Hugi, ne aludj többet!)

The main point of the week was to diagnose the extent of the damage done to her central nervous system and how to treat it. They found that she did suffer some damage, but that it is not nearly as bad as it could have been, and there is a good chance that with treatment, she could be totally fine!
Small babies still have stem cells in their brains, which means that even if damage occurs in their brains, the stem cells can be developed and the brain repaired, but it must be done in the first few months of life to be most effective and successful.
We will have to go back to the hospital once a month to monitor her development, and they taught us how to treat Felicia at home with physical therapy. We have to do certain exercises with her 6 times a day for 30 minutes. The exercises are designed to retrain her brain, to strengthen areas which have been damaged, and to develop the stem cells. We have to be on a strict schedule which takes up almost the whole day; it is a lot of work, and very tiring for both us and Felicia, but it will be worth it if it helps her get better.
Ennek a hétnek a fő célja az volt, hogy kiderítsék, mennyi károsodás történt a központi idegrendszerének, és hogyan kezeljék azt. Azt találták, hogy valamennyi károsodás azért megtörtént, viszont nem olyan rossz mint lehetet volna, és jó esélye van annak, hogy kezeléssel teljesen meggyógyul!
A kicsi babáknak vannak őssejtjei, ami azt jelenti, hogy akkor is ha károsodik az agyuk, az őssejteket lehet fejleszteni és így az agy meggyógyulat, de ezt az élet első pár hónapjában kell csinálni, hogy hatékony és sikeres legyen.
Vissza kell járnunk majd a kórházba havonta egyszer kontrolra, hogy megnézzék, hogyan fejlődik. Gyógytornát is tanították nekünk - különböző gyakorlatokat kell csinálnunk vele, naponta 6-szor 30 perc. Ezek a gyakorlatok arra vannak kitalálva, hogy újra képezzék az agyát, hogy megerősödjönek azok a részek amik károsodtak, és hogy fejlődjenek az őssejtek. Egy szigorú ütemtervet kell betartanunk, ami majdnem az egész napot foglal el. Ez nagyon sok munka, és nagyon fárasztó, nekünk is meg Felíciának is, de megéri, ha ettől jobban lesz.

The hospital in Budapest where Felicia was has the only development neurology department in Hungary, and they treat all the babies who have suffered serious oxygen deficiency. The head doctor deals with cases like Felicia's all the time, and told us that considering how serious her condition was at birth - that she was practically born dead - that it is a miracle she is doing this well, because most babies don't fare this well.
We truly are thankful for God's grace in healing our little girl. It is very humbling that God would show us such kindness.
A Margit kórházban van az egyetlen fejlődés neurológiai osztály Magyarországon, és ők látják el azokat a babákat akik súlyos oxigén hiányt szenvedtek. Az osztály főorvosa minden nap hasonló helyzetű babákat lát el mint Felícia, és azt mondta nekünk, hogy ahozz képes, hogy mennyire súlyos volt az állapota amikor megszületett - hogy gyakorlatilag halottan született - ez egy kész csoda hogy ennyire jól van, mert a legtöbb ilyen eset nem ilyen sikeres.
Igazán hálásak vagyunk Isten kegyelméért, hogy meggyógyítja a kislányunkat. Alázatra indít minket, hogy Isten ekkora jóságot mutat felénk.

Thank you for your prayers and concern. It means a lot to us.
Köszönjük az imákat és a törődést. Sokat jelent számunkra.

Felicia Update

Today I took Felicia and Rosemary up to the hospital in Budapest, where - if all goes well - they will be until Friday. I got to be there for a little while with Felicia before we had to leave.
After doing some initial physical tests today, the doctor said that it seems that Felicia has suffered some damage to her central nervous system, but that she is "the better case", meaning that there is hope that her condition is treatable and the therapy will be effective.
These tests were testing reflexes and muscle tone; they found that her reflexes are there, and that she is good at paying attention to things, which is a very good sign, but that her muscle tone indicates some neurological damage. This next week will be spent trying to discover exactly what damage has occurred and how to help her.
Ma felvittem Felíciát és Rosemaryt Budapestre, a kórházba, ahol - ha minden jól megy - péntekig lesznek. Lehetőségem volt ott lenni egy kicsit Felíciával mielőtt mennünk kellett.
Az első pár megvizsgálás után, az orvos azt mondta, úgy tűnik, hogy Felícia központi idegrendszere némi sérülést szenvedett, viszont ez a "jobbik eset", ami azt jelenti, van remény hogy az ő állapota kezelhető és hogy a terápia hatékony lesz.
Ezek a vizsgálatok a reflexeit illetve az izmai feszültségét vizsgáltak meg, és azt találták, hogy a reflexei ott vannak és hogy nagyon jól tud figyelni, ami egy nagyon jó jel, viszont néhány izma tónusa némi neurológiai sérülésre utal. Ezen a héten, azzal fognak foglalkozni, hogy kiderítsék mennyi sérülés történt, és hogyan lehet neki segíteni.

Tuesday (today for some, tomorrow for others) is Rosemary's birthday. They only really let her see Felicia to feed her and for a few hours in the afternoons, so she's pretty bummed about being away from home and by herself - not to mention on her birthday.
Ma van Rosemary születésnapja. Őt csak akkor engedik Felíciát meglátogatni amikor eteti és délután egy pár óráig, úgyhogy nem érzi jól magát úgy, hogy nincsen itthon és egyedül van - meg ráadásul, ma van a szülinapja.

We continue to pray for Felicia's total healing and restoration. Thank you so much for praying with us. We are already so blessed that she is doing this well, and we believe God can heal her completely, so that she will be able to live a normal and healthy life.
Még mindig imádkozunk Felícia teljes gyógyulásáért és helyreállásáért. Köszönjük szépen, hogy ti is imádkoztok érte velünk együtt. Annyira áldottak vagyunk hogy ennyire jól van, és hisszük, hogy Isten tud őt teljesen meggyógyítani, hogy egy normális és egészséges életet tudjon élni.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1
Isten a mi oltalmunk és erősségünk, mindig biztos segítség a nyomorúságban. 46. Zsoltár

Felicia - Back To Budapest

We have really enjoyed having Felicia at home for the past week and a half. She is gaining weight, and seems totally healthy and normal. Glory to God for that.
We took her to the hospital in Eger this week to show her to the doctors who delivered her and helped save her life. She was a big star - everyone in the hospital knew about her and wanted to see her. The neonatalist who treated Felicia in the critical first minutes of her life took pictures of her with her phone and called everyone else in to see Felicia, the miracle baby!
Nagyon élveztük, hogy Felícia itthon volt az elmúlt másfél hét alatt. Gyarapodik a súlya és nekünk úgy tűnik, teljesen egészséges és normális kislány. Dicsőség Istennek ezért.
Ezen a héten elvittük őt az egri kórházba, hogy megmutassuk az itteni orvosoknak akik kezélték és segítettek megmenteni az életét. Ő egy sztár - a kórházban mindenki tudott róla és meg akarta látni. Az orvos az újszülött osztályból aki fogadta és kezelte Felíciát az élete kritikus első perceiben lefényképezte a mobiljával és behívott mindenkit, hogy meglássák Felíciát, a csoda babát!

Tomorrow we will take her back to Budapest for another week of treatment. This time she is going to a different hospital, where she will be given neurological tests and physical therapy. This is standard protocol for all babies that have suffered oxygen deficiency - the goal is to find out if there has been any damage to the central nervous system and to aid her development.
Holnap vissza visszük Budapestre kezelésre, és ott lesz egy hétig. Most egy másik kórházban lesz, ahol majd neurológiai vizsgálatokat és fizikai terápiát fog kapni. Ez amúgy az általános eljárás minden olyan baba esetén, aki oxigén hiányt szenvedett - és a célja az, hogy kiderítsék, történt-e károsodás a központi ideg rendszerének, és hogy segítsék a fejlődésén.

Rosemary will stay with Felicia at the hospital in Budapest, and I will stay in Eger with Nate and Balázs.
Please pray for Felicia, and for our family during this coming week. Thank you in advance!
Rosemary ott fog maradni Felíciával a kórházban Budapesten, én meg itt maradok Egerben Balázzsal és Nate-tel.
Kérlek, imádkozzatok Felíciáért és a családunkért az elkövetkezendő hét során. Előre is köszönjük!

It's kind of sad that Felicia will have to leave home; we've loved having her here. Nate is also warming up to her more and more:
Egy kicsit szomorú dolog, hogy Felíciának el kell mennie itthonról; nagyon örülünk neki, hogy itt van. Nate is lassan megszokja:

Interaction

Nate is slowly warming up to his little sister. Every now and then he will walk over to her and watch her for a little bit.

He is still not super excited about her though. Today I told him to give his sister a kiss, and he said, "No! No kiss!"

So far he has talked to her directly only twice:

1. "Bye bye baby!"
2. "Go to sleep!"

I guess he'll have to get used to her; she's not going away!

Adventures in Bureaucracy

Compared to what we've been through already with Felicia, this is nothing major, but in addition to her health, there were also some complications with her documents.
Ahozz képes, hogy min mentünk már keresztül Felíciával, ez semmi komoly, de az egészségügyi nehézségei mellett, a hivatalos papírügyeiben is volt néhány komplikáció.

In Hungary, when a baby is born, they get 3 documents: a birth certificate, an address card, and social health care ID card.
We got Felicia's birth certificate a few days after she was born, and were surprised to find out that our little girl's official last name was completely different than ours! On her birth certificate, her name was written as NAGY Felicia Pearl (in Hungary the surname comes first). I don't know how that happened - no one in our family has that name, and they had my last name on the birth certificate correctly.
Next we got the address card - also with Felicia's new "official" name - NAGY Felicia.
Then we got some letters from the government in the mail, made out to NAGY Felicia, that I had to go pick up at the post office, and explain why my daughter has a different last name than me.
And then, best of all, we got the social health care ID card in the mail - made out to NAGY Letícia. What? Now she has a completely different "official" name, than the one we originally gave her?
Magyarországon, ugye, amikor megszületik egy baba, 3 dokumentumot kap: születési anyakönyvi kivonat, lakcímkártya, és TAJ kártya. Felícia születési anyakönyvi kivonata megérkezett postán egy pár napja a születése után, és meglepődtünk rajta, hogy a kislányunk "hivatalos" vezeték neve teljesen más volt mint a miénk! A születési anyakönyvi kivonaton a neve NAGY Felícia Pearl volt. Nem tudom, ez hogy történt - nincs Nagy a családunkban, ráadásul az én vezeték nevemet helyesen odaírták.
Aztán, egy pár nappal később, a lakcím kártya megérkezett - szintén Felícia új "hivatalos" nevére - Nagy Felíciára. Aztán egy pár darab levél is megérkezett hozzánk Nagy Felícia nevére, amiket a postán kellett átvennem, és előtte megmagyarázni, hogy a kislányomnak miért más a vezeték neve mint az enyém.
És aztán a legjobb - megérkezett a TAJ kártya, amin megint egy teljesen másik név szerepelt: NAGY Letícia! Tessék? Mostmár teljesen más neve van hivatalosan, mint amit mi adtunk neki?

So, today I gathered up enough courage to face the Hungarian bureaucracy, and get her papers changed into the proper name.
I had no problem with the birth certificate; the registrar was very helpful and apologetic.
Szóval, ma összeszedtem magamat, hogy szembeszálljak a magyar bürokráciával, és elmentem a hivatalokba, hogy megváltoztassam a papírjait. Az anyakönyvi hivatalban nem volt semmi probléma; az anyakönyv vezető nagyon kedves volt.
When I went to get the new address card, they tried to charge me money, because they said I was changing my child's name! I was like - "I'm not changing my kid's name! You guys changed her name! I just want her to have the name that WE tried to give her, before you people changed it!" So after talking to them for a while and asking them to call the registrar, which they did not want to do at any cost - they let me "change my kid's name" for free! Thanks!
Amikor elmentem az okmány irodába a lakcímkártyáért, azt mondták, hogy fizetnem kell, azért mert meg akarom változtatni a gyermekem nevét. Mondtam nekik: "Nem akarom megváltoztatni a gyermekem nevét! Ti változtatátok meg a nevét! Én csak azt akarom, hogy legyen meg neki az a név amit MI probáltunk neki adni, mielőtt TI változtatátok meg!" Miután probáltam őket erre rábeszélni egy ideig, és kértem, hogy hívjanak fel az anyakönyv vezetőt, amit semmi áron nem akartak csinálni, végre megengedték, hogy "megváltoztassam a gyermekem nevét." Kösz!
Then I went to the social health care office to get her new ID card. When I got to the door, the security guard told me, "You can't come in; we're closed." So I said to him, "What do you mean you are closed? The sign here says you are open until 12. It is 11:20." He said, "Yea, but we will go to lunch soon, so you have to come back another day." Then, seeing that we were arguing, another security guard came up and asked me what the problem was. I said, "I would just like to get in line to get an ID card - since this office is open for another 40 minutes." So that security guard let me in, and I was able to change my daughter's name from NAGY Letícia to CADY Felícia without any major problems.
Aztán elmentem a társadalmi biztosítás hivatalba a TAJ kártyáért. Amikor bementem az ajtón, a biztossági őr mondta nekem, "Nem jöhetsz be; be vagynk zárva." Mondtam neki, "Hogy érted, be vagytok zárva? Ki van írva hogy 12 óráig van ügyfélszólgálat. Most csak 11:20 van." Azt mondta: "Igen, de nem sokká megyünk ebédelni. Vissza kell jönni máskor." Aztán, egy másik biztonsági őr meglátta, hogy "beszélgettünk" és odajött és megkérdezte tőlem, mi a baj. Mondtam neki, "Egy sorszámot szeretnék kérni, mert ide ki van írva, hogy még 40 percig nyitva van ez a hivatal." Ez a biztonsági őr beengedett, és nagyobb akadály nélkül sikerült megváltoztatni a kislányom nevét NAGY Letíciáról CADY Felíciára.

This was a relatively easy day, compared to some of my past experiences doing official paperwork in Hungary, especially at the immigration office...
Ez egy viszonylag nagyon könnyű nap volt előző tapasztalataimhoz képes, amikor hivatalos papírokat kellett intézni, főleg a bevándolási és állampolgársági hivatalban...
Here are some things I have learned about dealing with bureaucracy in Hungary:
Egy pár dolgot tanultam azzal kapcsolatban, hogy hogyan kell bánni a bürokráciával Magyarországon:

1. Persistence is key - Az állhatatosság kulcs fontosságú
   I think the main objective of every official worker in Hungary is to send you away without helping you - even if they can or should help you. They will always try to tell you to come back - but if you are persistent, and refuse to let them just send you away for silly reasons, you can get a lot done.
   Szerintem azoknak akik hivatalokban dolgoznak Magyarországon, az a legfőbb céljuk, hogy küldjék el mindenkit, akkor is ha tudnának segíteni. Először mindig probálják azt mondani, hogy gyere vissza máskor - de ha állhatatos vagy, és nem engeded meg, hogy elküldjék buta okok miatt - sokkal jobban fogsz járni.
   
2. You must know the procedures better than the officials behind the desk - Jobban kell ismerned az eljárásokat mint az aki a pult mögött ül a hivatalban.
   Half the time, the officials aren't really sure about what needs to be done in the given situation. There have been times, like today, when I have explained to the official what is going on, and what they need to do - and that helps a lot.
   Sokszor akik a hivatalokban dolgoznak, fogalmuk sincs mi az eljárás minden adott helyzetben. Többször előfordult velem, ma is, hogy elmagyaráztam az ott dolgozónak hogy mi a helyzet és neki mit kell csinálnia ilyenkor - és az nagyon sokat segít.
   
3. Write down names - Írd le neveket.
   Because half the time the officials aren't totally familiar with the procedure, it is good to get names, so you can say, "This or that person told me this information." This helps avoid the common situation of: "Well, I don't know who told you that - but they were wrong." Also, if people know that you are writing down their name and what they told you, they are more careful about what they say, i.e. they are less likely to make stuff up if they aren't sure.
   Mivel sokszor nem ismerik az eljárásokat, jó ha leírod a neveket, hogy később, ha vissza kell menned, mondhatod hogy "X-y mondta nekem ezt az információt." Így megelőzöd azt a gyakori helyzetet, hogy lekezelő módon azt mondják neked: "Hát, nem tudom ki volt aki azt mondta neked - de nem úgy van!" Ráadásul, ha a dolgozó tudja, hogy leírod a nevét, akkor sokkal pontosabbak lesznek azzal, hogy milyen információt adnak neked, tehát más szóval: kisebb az esélye annak, hogy kitalálnak valamit ha nem tudják biztosan.
   

Has anyone else out there had any adventures in bureaucracy?
Voltak-e neked is kalandjaid a bürokráciában?

Big Brother

A lot of people have been asking how Nate is reacting to having Felicia come home.
Sokan megkérdezik, hogy Nate hogyan reagál Felíciához, ahogy most már itthon van.
I think these pictures should serve to illustrate Nate's reaction to his baby sister:
Szerintem ezek a képek illusztrációként szolgálhatnak, hogy Nate hogyan reagál a kis tesójára:

*Interested*

*More interested in his new car (a gift from his sister)*

*Still more interested in the car*


Nate is actually doing well adjusting to his sister and his new role as big brother. He is not super interested in her - maybe he thinks she is just visiting :)
Every now and then he goes and looks at her, or says something to her. He is nice to her, and doesn't try to hit her. He's more frustrated with his mom than anything.
We're praying for him too, that he would get used to the new situation and be a good big brother.
Nate igazából jól alkalmazkodik a hugához és az új szerepéhez, hogy most már bátya. Nem túlságosan érdekli őt a kis huga - talán azt gondolja, hogy csak látogatóban van nálunk :)
Időnként oda megy hozzá, és megnézi, vagy mond neki valamit. Kedves hozzá, és nem probálja megütni. Inkább az anyukájával ideges, hogy nem tud vele úgy foglalkozni mint régen.
Érte is imádkozunk, hogy szokja meg az új helyzetet, és hogy egy jó bátya legyen.

She's Home!

When we went in to visit Felicia this afternoon, the doctor told us that we were free to take her home - so we did!
Felicia is here at home in Eger, sleeping like an angel. She has a huge appetite!
Ma délután, amikor bementünk Felíciát meglátogatni, az orvos azt mondta nekünk, hogy haza vihetjük ha szeretnénk - úgyhogy meg is csináltuk!
Felícia éppen itthon van Egerben, és úgy alszik mint a bunda. Nagyon nagy étvágya van!

All the doctors we talked to keep emphasizing how amazing her recovery has been – that this kind of recovery after such an acute oxygen deficiency almost never happens, and we've had the chance to tell them that people around the world have been praying for her, and that I am a pastor and that we believe that God answered our prayers and healed her.
Amúgy, minden orvos akivel beszélünk kihangsúlyozza azt, hogy mennyire csodálatos Felícia felépülése – hogy egy ilyen felépülés egy annyira súlyos oxigén hiány után szinte soha sem történik, és így többször volt már lehetőségünk elmondani nekik, hogy világszerte imádkoznak Felíciáért, és hogy lelkész vagyok, és mi hisszük, hogy Isten meghallgatja az imáinkat és meggyógyítja a kislányt.

Her are some pictures from her homecoming:
Itt van egy pár kép a hazajöveteléről:

Felicia News

Felicia had her MRI yesterday, but it will take one week for them to get the results.
Felíciának tegnap megvolt az MR vizsgálata, de csak egy hét múlva kapják az eredményt.

Because Felicia got moved out of ICU on Saturday, her new doctor doesn't want to transfer her to the Eger hospital, but wants to continue treating her in Budapest. This was kind of a bummer, but we are able to stay in Budapest this week for three days and visit her.
Additionally, Felicia has been doing so well that the doctor said that if her pneumonia clears up in the next few days, she would even send Felicia home to us by the end of the week! That would be amazing; we would love to have her home!
Mivel Felíciát áthelyezték szombaton az intenzív osztályról, az új orvosa nem akarja őt áthelyezni az egri kórházba, hanem itt akarja ellátni Pesten. Ez egy kicsit gáz, de fel tudtunk költözni Pestre 3 napig, hogy vele legyünk.
Ráadásul, Felícia annyira szépen épül fel, hogy az orvos azt mondta, ha a tüdőgyuladása elmúl, akkor haza is engedi még e-héten! Az elképeztő lenne. Annyira jó lenne ha már otthon lehetne!

The head doctor of the neonatal ICU was so amazed by her recovery, that he gave us his personal number and asked that we would call him every now and then as she grows up, to tell him how she is doing.
Az újszülött intenzív osztály főorvosa annyira csodákozott azon, hogy hogyan gyógyult Felícia, hogy ideadta nekünk a saját mobil számát, és megkért, hogy hívjuk fel időnként beszámolni Felícia fejlődéséről, ahogyan felnő.

We will need to come back to Budapest for a week when Felicia is one month old so she can receive physical therapy.
Majd vissza kell jönnünk Pestre egy hétig amikor Felícia egy hónapos lesz, hogy fizikai terápiát kapjon a Margit kórházban.

Prayer requests:
Ima kéréseink:

• Felicia's total healing - for her brain, her pneumonia, and a kidney stone they found yesterday.
  Felícia teljes gyógyulásáért - az agyáért, a tüdőgyuladásáért, és egy vesekőért, amit tegnap találtak meg benne.
  
• For Nate, who is sick of traveling.
  Nate-ért, akinek elege van már az utazásból.
  
• For Rosemary's recovery
  Rosemary felépüléséért
  

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. God is good.
Nagyon szépen köszönjük a további imákat és támogatást. Jó az Úr.

Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever;
to him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever.
Psalm 136:3-4

Adjatok hálát az urak Urának, mert örökké tart szeretete!
Nagy csodákat művel egymaga, mert örökké tart szeretete.
136. Zsoltár 3-4

Wires

Here is a song by the English band Athlete, which he wrote about his own sick baby.
We can relate to these feelings so much. At first it's sad, but it gets more hopeful.

Felicia Update and Video

Felicia got moved out of the ICU today!
In one week's time, she went from being in the worst condition in the ICU to being the best. God is gracious!
Felíciát már áthelyezték az intenzív osztályról!
Egy hét alatt, annyit javult, hogy a legrosszabb állapotú gyermek volt az intenzív osztályon, és már ő a legjobb állapotú. Isten kegyelmes!

The danger of brain damage is still there. Today she was scheduled for an MRI, but because of a big snow storm they were not able to transport her to the necessary building, so her MRI is postponed until Monday.
The doctor also said that because of her oxygen deficiency at birth, she will require special treatment to help her development. During the first year of life, the brain of a baby is still formable and can be helped to recover even if damage has taken place.
Az agyi károsodás veszélye még fenn áll. Ma ki volt írva MR vizsgálatra, de a nagy hó esés miatt nem tudták szállítani a másik épületbe, úgyhogy csak hétfőn lesz az MR vizsgálata.
Az orvos azt is mondta, hogy az oxigén hiánya miatt, különleges kezelést igényel, hogy segítsen a fejlődésének. Egy kisbaba élete első évében az agya még formálható és lehet előresegíteni a fejlődést különböző gyakorlatokkal, akkor is ha valamilyen károsodás megtörtént.

We had a nice time with her today, and are so thankful for her progress, yet continuing to pray for her total recovery.
Here is a video from yesterday, when we got to really meet her for the first time:
Jó volt ma időt tölteni vele, és annyira hálásak vagyunk a javulásáért, de továbbra imádkozunk a teljes gyógyulásáért.
Ez a videó tegnap készült, amikor igazán találkoztunk vele először:

Our Day in Pictures

We walked in to see Felicia today and found her dressed and ready to go!
Amikor megláttuk ma Felíciát, fel volt öltözve és készen állt a bulira!

Felicia has shown amazing improvement in the past 24 hours. She is now moving a lot and is very aware. She is now off the ventilator completely and breathing on her own. She is doing so well that on Monday they will move her to the Eger hospital, as she is no longer in need of intensive care. Praise the Lord!
Felícia nagyon sokat javult az elmúlt 24 óra alatt. Most már sokat mozog és nagyon élénk. Most már egyáltalán nincs lélegeztetve, és magától veszi a levegőt. Annyira jobban van, hogy hétfőn áthelyezik az egri kórházba, mivel már nem igyényli az intenzív ellátást. Dicsőség az Úrnak ezért!

The doctors told us today that when Felicia came to them one week ago, she was in the worst condition of all the babies in the intensive care unit - and that they in fact had not expected her to survive. Both doctors literally told us that in their opinion it is "a miracle" that she is doing so well, and that a week ago they never would have imagined that she would be breathing on her own in such a short time.
We of course do believe that this is a miracle, and are so thankful to God for hearing our prayers for our little girl and healing her in an amazing way.
Az orvosok azt mondták nekünk ma, hogy amikor Felícia bekerült hozzájuk egy hete, az összes baba közül az újszülött intenzív osztályon, ő volt a legrosszabb állapotban, és igazából nem is gondolták, hogy túl fog élni. Mind a két orvos szó-szerint azt mondta, hogy szerinük "csoda" hogy ennyire jól van, és hogy egy hete nem is képzeltek volna, hogy önállóan fog lélegezni ilyen rövid idő alatt.
Mi, nyilván, tényleg hisszük, hogy ez egy csoda, és annyira hálásak vagyunk Istennek, hogy meghallgatja az imáinkat a kislányunkért, és hogy csodás módon meggyógyitja.

She will have an MRI tomorrow morning. Please continue to pray for her brain.
Praise God for what He has done!
Holnap reggel lesz az MR vizsgálata. Kérlek, imádkozzatok tovább az agyáért.
Dicsőség Istennek azért amit tett!