Good Night Jesus

One of the best times with Nate is when we get ready for him to go to bed.
Every night it's the same program: We read a book, and then we pray.
Nate really likes to pray - especially when we pray for people who are sick. He always prays that Jesus would take away their owies.
He was cute tonight after our prayers - here's how it went:

Me: (praying...) Amen!

Nate: Goodbye Jesus!

Me: We don't say goodbye to Jesus, because he never leaves us. He is always here because he loves us.

*Pause*

Nate: Good night Jesus!

Nate (whispering to me): Jesus is going to sleep!

Me: Jesus is always awake to help you.

Nate (whispering to me): 7 times!

Me: Huh? What?

Nate: 7 times! Then shout! Then the walls fall down!

He's a clever little guy :)

Dorothy Grace Blog

Írtam már többször Dorothy Grace-ről, egy kislány aki nagyon hasonló problémákkal született mint a mi kislányunk, Felícia.

Azoknak, akik szeretnétek követni Dorothy életét és fejlődését, ajánlom ezt a weboldalt és blogot amelyet az édesanya, Enikő, készített róla: http://www.dorothygrace.elivepage.com/

I have written before about Dorothy Grace, a little girl who was born with very similar problems as our daughter Felicia.

For those of you who are interested in following Dorothy's progress, her mother, Enikő, has started a webpage and blog about her: http://www.dorothygrace.elivepage.com/

(the blog is only in Hungarian, but you can easily translate it into English using a service like Google Translate or the Google Chrome browser)

Local Celebrities - Helyi Hírességek

Rosemary, Nate and Felicia had their picture in the local newspaper today.
Ma megjelent egy kép Rosemary, Nate és Felíciáról a Heves Megyei Hírlapban.

They had gone to the children's library, which happened to be closed - but there was a photographer from the newspaper who asked them to pose next to this art exhibition, since they seemed very photogenic.
Úgy volt, hogy elmentek a gyermek könyvtárba, ami amúgy zárva volt, de közben volt ott egy fényképész a hírlapból aki megkérte őket, hogy pózoljanak egy művészeti kiállítás előtt, mert annyira fotógének voltak.

We are becoming local celebrities :)
Egyreinkább helyi hírességekké válunk :)

Tweeting the Bible

This British man made the news with his project to tweet summaries of every chapter of the Bible.


I think this is an interesting idea, and I think it's great that he's getting so much press for it.

You can follow him here: @biblesummary

Are you on Twitter? If you are, you can follow me here: @nickcady

Felicia Neurology Check Up

Today we were back in Budapest for a check-up with the neurologist at the developmental neurology department. It's been 3 months since our last visit with this doctor, at which time she told us that Felicia's condition was still bad, but that there was a good chance of her having a total recovery.
Ma újra felmentünk Budapestre kontrol vizsgálatra a neurológusnál a fejlődés neurológia osztályon. 3 hónapja voltunk legutóbb ennél a doktornál, és akkor azt mondta nekünk, hogy Felícia állapota még mindig rossz volt, viszont jó esélye volt annak, hogy teljesen meg fog gyógyulni és felépülni.

Today she told us that Felicia has recovered so well that she no longer has any symptoms of being sick, and thus we don't have to continue doing the therapy with her at home.
Ma azt mondta nekünk a doktornő, hogy Felícia már annyira meggyógyult, hogy már nincsenek kóros tünetei, és így nem kell folytatnunk vele a gyógykezelést otthon.

We were somewhat expecting to get a good report, as we have observed for ourselves how healthy she seems, but it was so good to hear from the neurologist that Felicia seems perfectly healthy. Although we will have to continue going back to the neurology department for check-ups, this gives us a sense of closure to this chapter of our lives, and now we can move on from here with our healthy little girl.
Valamilyen szinten el is vártuk ezt a jó hírt, mivel látjuk a saját szemeinkkel, hogy Felícia már mennyire egészséges, de nagyon jó volt azt hallani a neurológustól, hogy Felícia teljesen egészségesnek tűnik. És bár vissza kell járnunk a neurológiára kontrolra még egy jó darabig, így valahogy letudjuk zárni az életünknek ezt a fejezetét, és folytathatjuk innen az egészséges kislányunkkal.

God has been so good and so kind to us. Thanks again to those of you who pray for us.
Ez alatt az idő alatt Isten annyira jó volt hozzánk, és annyira kegyelmes. Köszönjük még egyszer azoknak akik imádkoztok értünk.

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Together

Rosemary and I both enjoy taking photos, but we don't have enough pictures of just the two of us as a couple. Today was an exception. We filled up all 7 seats of the Dacia and headed up to the mountains in Slovakia for the day. On the way home we stopped at the top of the Dobšiná pass and took this photo.

Tornado in Eger

Here is a picture and a video of a tornado on the outskirts of Eger yesterday.
I was outside with Nate, and the wind was really strong, but I would have never expected there to be a tornado in town!

The tornado didn't touch down, but the high winds did cause some damage to houses and knocked over some trees. Nothing too serious - but big news in a quiet town like Eger!
Here is an article (in Hungarian).

English Camp Video

This video was made by some guys from the church at our English Camp last month.
The guys are really talented and did a great job with the video; it gives a great picture of all that went on at camp.

Summer Update

Greetings from Eger!

We hope you are having a nice summer. For us, this is one of the busiest times of the year, but one of the most exciting and fruitful. We will be traveling to the US in September and October on the following dates:

• Denver: September 2-22
• Southern California: 24- October 14.

We are looking forward to seeing family and friends; if anyone would like to meet, please write us so we can set something up.

Here's what's new with us:

Church
We bought a new car in June - a Dacia Logan. It seats 7 and we love it; it totally meets our needs, and it was certainly time for us to get a new car. You can read more about the car here. Our old car is up for sale here; please pray that we are able to sell it soon.

The biggest event for us every summer is the English Camp. We put a lot of work into preparing for it, and it has been getting bigger and better every year. This year's camp was very fruitful, and right now we are working hard on following up with the kids who came to camp., through our youth group, which is led by Dani. A lot of kids have been coming to youth group, which has been great to see. Read more about English Camp and youth group here.

We have a new co-worker at the church here in Eger. Scott Fales arrived in July from Southern California, and will stay for at least one year. He has been a big help so far, with the youth and with setting up the church. More about Scott here.

The church is doing well. In this year we have said goodbye to a few key people, but there are many new people in the church, and we see the Lord at work amongst us.
We started doing some mission trips to Ukraine, which we plan to continue. More about Ukraine here.

September is a really busy time in the church, and one of the months when we do a lot of outreach, as students return to the city and people are back from summer holidays.
This September, the major outreaches we are planning are: Distributing "Survival Packets" in the dormitories of the Eger College with a follow-up event in October when we return, and a medical outreach in the city center for World Heart Day. We did both of these outreaches last year too, and we hope this year to do them better and more effectively.
For the church, this will be an interesting time, as they will do these things without us here to oversee them. We know that this will be a stretching, but good thing for them.
It is a real blessing to see the growth in the church, and that the ministry of the church carries on without us.

Family
Felicia is doing great. She is now 6 months old, and it seems that she is totally healthy. We still continue to do her therapy, although less now than before. The doctors are amazed and are saying that most likely she will have a FULL RECOVERY! We are so thankful to the Lord for healing our little girl. You can read more about Felicia here.

Nate will be 3 years old on September 1st. He is a big boy, and full of energy. He has really enjoyed summer time and getting to spend so much time outside running around and swimming. He is good at soccer and loves cars and trains - and sometimes his sister too. We enrolled him in Hungarian nursery, which he will start when he comes back from the US. You can read more about Nate here.

Balázs will start 10th grade this fall. He will be coming to Colorado with us, and is very excited about going to the US. Balázs is a really good kid, and it's a joy to have him as part of our family. More about Balázs here.

Rosemary is very tired because of the kids; Nate wears her out. Rosemary had a major role in organizing the English Camp, which was a lot of work, but she was satisfied with how well the camp went. She is enjoying not having any major programs this month before we head to the States.

I, Nick, apart from pastoring the church, still teach English part time. I am sill doing my theological studies, but have enjoyed a nice break from it during the summer. I stay busy, but it is a blessing to make my own schedule and be together with my family a lot.

Prayer requests

• For safe travel and a blessed time in the States.
• For the church, its ministries and outreaches, especially while we are away.
• For the kids' health and development.
• For Rosemary to be refreshed and strengthened.
  
• For our marriage to be strong and healthy.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

English Camp 2010

This year we held our 5th annual English Camp in Felsőtárkány, in the hills right outside of Eger.
100 kids attended the camp, which is the most we've ever had before, and God provided us with a great group of helpers from Hungary, the USA, Australia and India.

Our camp, and our church along with it, has gained quite a good reputation in Eger and the surrounding area. One of our goals in organizing the camp it to have a high standard and to do a quality camp - and the fruit of that has been that people in Eger have a good impression about it. This year, we were contacted by a local radio station, who interviewed me about the camp, and a reporter and photographer from the local newspaper came out to take pictures and interview a few people for an article about the camp.

Through the camp we are able to develop relationships with the campers, and we have always tried to follow up with them after camp is over, with varied success.
Last year, we started a youth group, with the hope that we could plug the kids into it after camp was over. There were kids from the camp who attended, but we wanted to do it a lot better this year.
We have had a lot more kids attending the youth group since camp. Dani (pictured on the right) is leading it and it now meets every week. Dani, as well as Scott and others in the church, have a real heart for the kids and have done a great job following up with them - organizing events and hanging out with them a lot outside of youth group as well.

Here's a picture from a church barbecue party we had that a lot of the campers came out to. This coming weekend there will be a canoe trip on the Tisza river.

Here is a video taken at a recent youth group meeting:


Thank you to those who prayed for the camp. It was a success, and a lot of fun.
Please continue to pray for the kids who attended and for our church as we seek to follow up with them.

Scott

We have a new co-worker in our church here in Eger. Scott Fales moved to Eger in July from Thousand Oaks, California to serve with our church for at least the next year, and possibly longer.

We have known Scott for the past few years, and he has been out to Hungary before. He is a good friend of Shane Daniels, who served with us for the past few years until recently moving to Szolnok, where he plans to start a church this autumn - our church, and Scott, plan to be involved in helping that new church plant to get started.

Here is a link to Scott's blog. Please keep him, our church, and the church plant in Szolnok in prayer.

Android

A few weeks ago I got a new phone, a Motorola CLIQ, which I bought used from a family member in the US.

The CLIQ uses the Android operating system, the main competitor to the iPhone - and it seems that Android has actually surpassed iPhone in sales in the smart phone market.

I've never had an iPhone, but I do have an iPod touch, and have some experience using the iOS operating system which also runs on both devices. There are some things which I like must better about Android, and there are others ways in which I think the iOS is better.

One of the main things that makes the iPhone better I think is that it functions as an iPod. Android also has a media player, which is also very good - but it is not as easy to navigate and use as the iPod in the iPhone.
There are also some apps for the iPhone/iPod touch which I really miss on the Android, such as the ESV Bible app, Tweetdeck (coming for Android, but still in development), and especially Amazon Kindle reader.
To me, the iOS seems a bit more fluid and responsive, but there isn't a huge difference.

On the other hand, there are some things I prefer about Android, particularly how it syncs so well with everything on my Google account - particularly that it uses the Google Calendar and GTasks.
Another thing I really love is the universal inbox, where I can view both my email accounts, text messages, facebook and twitter messages all in one place, and respond to them all without having to open separate applications.
The CLIQ has a virtual keyboard, similar to the iPhone's, and I actually prefer the Android's spell check to the iPhone's. The CLIQ also has a full keyboard, something I didn't think I would use or like, but which I now actually prefer to the virtual keyboard.

All in all, I really like Android, and don't feel any need or desire to switch from it to the iPhone - although I really do wish I could read Kindle books on it!

Anyone else out there using Android? What do you think of it?
Is there a way to read Kindle books on it? Will it ever be possible?

Felicia is 6 Months Old

Today we took Felicia back to the hospital here in Eger to get a check up from the neonatal doctor who treated her when she was first born. We love this doctor, and she loves Felicia! She was the doctor who broke the news to me about how critical Felicia's condition was, and that there was a great chance that she would not survive.
Ma vissza vittük Felíciát az egri kórházba, kontrolra, ahozz az neonatalis orvosnőhöz aki kezelte Felíciát amikor megszületett. Nagyon szeretjük ezt az orvost, és ő nagyon szereti Felíciát! Ő volt az az orvos aki elmondta nekem azt a hírt, hogy Felícia állapota milyen, és hogy kockán forgott az élete.

The doctor told us something about Felicia today that we had not known before. She said that when Felicia arrived to the intensive care unit in Budapest, they detected a certain enzyme in her blood test which is an indicator of brain damage. The acceptable or normal level of this enzyme is 25 - but Felicia's was 1500. According to the doctor, this high number of enzymes usually means that the baby will remain in a vegetative state, perhaps for their entire life.
Felicia's level of this enzyme by the time she left the hospital was 25, which the doctor said is amazing, and she reminded us again of what a miracle Felicia's recovery is.
Az orvosnő olyan dolgot is mondott nekünk ma, amelyet eddig még nem tudtuk. Azt mondta, hogy amikor Felícia megérkezett az intenziv osztályra Budapesten, észlelték egy bizonyos ezimet a vérvételen ami agykárosodást jelez. Az átlagos vagy elfogadható mennyisége ennek az enzimnek 25 - Felíciáé pedig 1500 volt. Az orvosnő szerint, az ilyen magas mennyiség általában azt jelenti, hogy a baba vegetativ állapotban fog maradni, akár az egész életén át.
Amire Feliciát elengedték a kórházból, már 25-ös volt ennek az enzimnek a szintje a vérében - erről az orvosnő azt mondta, hogy ez egy kész csoda, hogy ennyire szépen és gyorsan gyógyult.

Because of Felicia's oxygen deficiency at birth, it would be expected that she would be lagging behind in her development, but amazingly she even ahead of schedule with some of her developmental milestones!
Felícia oxigén hiánya miatt, az lenne az elvárás, hogy egy kicsit lassú és visszamaradott lenne a fejlődése, viszont csodálatos módon, ő inkább az átlagnál hamarabb éri el néhány fejlődési mérföldkövet!

We are so thankful to God for the gift of our little girl. She is wonderful.
Thank you to all those of you who have prayed and continue to pray for Felicia's full recovery.
Nagyon hálásak vagyunk Istennek a kislányukért. Ő egyszerűen csodálatos.
Köszönjük mindenkinek aki imádkozott és aki továbbra is imádkozik Felícia teljes gyógyulásáért.

Be Careful What You Search For

I use Google Analytics on my blog to see how many people are reading my blog and from which countries.

It also tells me how they find their way to the blog, and if they got there through a search engine like Google or Yahoo, it tells me what 'keywords' they typed into the search engine which led them to my blog.

Every now and again I get some weird ones. I guess people type strange things into search engines when they think no one is watching. Today I saw that someone found my blog by searching for this:

A closer view:
I'm guessing Google directed them to this post about a baptism in our church - but why someone is looking for pictures of Pastor Nick bathing...that's just weird.
I just hope that they were looking for a different Pastor Nick!

Justice

About a year ago Balázs got robbed on the train on his way to Szihalom. 3 young guys started harassing him and pushing him around, demanding his money and mobile, as well as his jewelry. It got to the point where Balázs decided to go in and report them to the police.

At first, it seemed to us that reporting it would mostly just be a waste of our time, because Balázs had gotten his phone back from them, and had only lost a small amount of money and a necklace - but we reported it anyway. And it did take a LONG time. We spent about 12 straight hours at the police station filing the report - only finishing at 6 in the morning - just in time to get ready for church!

But it turned out that filing the report was worth it. We found out that Balázs wasn't the only person they had done this too - but in fact these 3 guys spent all day every day riding the train between Miskolc and Füzesabony, bullying people and stealing mobile phones and money. So, when Balázs reported them, although it wasn't a huge crime, it was the final straw.

Over the past year we have had to go back to the police station a few times and went to a court hearing where Balázs had to testify. And last week we got a paper from the court informing us of the sentencing that the 3 guys got. They were charged with a 'gang robbery' (tömeges rablás) against a minor, and the older 2 got sentenced to 3 years in jail, the younger got 2 years.

I have to say that I was impressed with the Hungarian justice system throughout this whole thing. I know that other people have had bad experiences with them - but in this case I think they did things right.
I think this story is a good example of how it is worth it report crime to the police, even if it is just for seemingly small crimes. I only wonder how many other people these guys robbed who didn't think it was worth it to report it to the police.

Anyone else out there had experiences with the Hungarian police - either good or bad?

Starbucks in Budapest: A Report

On our way home on Saturday from a conference in Vajta, we stopped in Budapest to eat and feed the baby, and we figured since we were there, we might as well try out the new Starbucks in the Westend mall.



The long and short is this: It's expensive. But that's probably not a surprise to anyone.

I got a solo espresso for 420 HUF and Rosemary got a caffé latte for 620 HUF. My espresso was good - but certainly not amazing. Rosemary said her caffé latte was very weak and tasted mostly like warm milk.

For anyone who likes Starbucks memorabilia - the mugs or thermoses, they have them there. They also have lots of expensive pies and cakes.
The atmosphere is very hip, and the place was packed. They do have free wifi, which is a major plus for any coffee shop - and an improvement on the US Starbucks, where there is wifi, but it's not free.

They also sell coffee beans for making at home - the espresso roast was 1500 HUF for 250 grams, which isn't bad for gourmet coffee. Illy costs at least 2000 HUF/250 gm.

So, if we go back it will probably only be to buy beans - or to stand outside and use their free wifi :)

The thing is that there are so many other cafés with coffee that is just as good and an atmosphere that is just as good at far better prices. The prices were all the more shocking since we had just come from Vajta, where we spent our days drinking espresso which tasted just as good for almost a third of the price.

One of the only things Starbucks offers which is unique is that if you want - and are willing to pay for it - you can get a GIGANTIC coffee. But I think we've been in Europe too long to appreciate that :)

A Special Bath for Jesus

I love the way that Rosemary teaches Nate about Jesus. She tries to do it in a way that makes sense to him, and I think she's really good at it.

This past Sunday we had a baptism service in our church. Baptizing believers is absolutely one of my favorite things to do - it is so great to be part of someone taking that step and making an outward statement of their commitment to Christ and the new life they have received in him.

Before the baptism, during Sunday school, Rosemary taught Nate about John the Baptist and explained baptism. She told him: "When you love Jesus, you take a special bath to show everybody." I guess that's right - I'd just never thought about it in those terms!

Nate doesn't always like taking a bath, so when we went down in the baptismal for the baptisms, Nate started getting nervous and saying, 'Oh no! No bath!'
Then Rosemary told Nate: 'Look, daddy is like John the Baptist!' - which helped Nate to relax and eat some pretzels while watching the baptisms.
Immediately after I got out of the water Nate came up and gave me a high five and told me, 'Good job daddy!'

After the baptisms we had communion. Nate got excited when he saw all the little cups of juice, and wanted to go to the front to get one - but Rosemary stopped him, explaining, 'Nate, that is special juice for big people'. Nate obviously had a hard time accepting this, as he wanted a snack and couldn't understand why we wouldn't let him have any. He'll figure it out eventually :)

Here are some pictures from the baptism:

Pictures by Balázs Dániel

Felicia's Dedication

We spent last week in Vajta at the annual Foundations Conference for Calvary Chapel church leaders from Eastern Europe. We had a good time and good fellowship with many friends we don't get to meet with very often.
During the conference we had Felicia dedicated to the Lord by Pastor Brian Broderson. Pastor Brian married us, and he was Rosemary's pastor in Vista before she came out to Hungary as a missionary.
When we went up for the dedication, Pastor Brian asked me to tell the story of the miracle that the Lord did in saving Felicia, and then he prayed for her.
Felicia loves people, and she stole the show by acting cute through the whole thing. She was the star of the night and looked very cute in her 'princess dress'. The person who gave us the dress told us, 'after everything she's been through she needs a princess dress!'
We really are still so amazed by what God has done in Felicia's life. She is now 5 months old and doing so well. Thank you to those of you who have been praying for her and continue to pray for her that she would grow up knowing and walking with the Lord.
Here are some pictures of the dedication:

A múlt héten Vajtán voltunk az éves Alapok Konferencián, amelyet a kelet európai Golgota gyülekezetek vezetői számára szervezik. Nagyon jól éreztük magunkat, és jó közösségünk volt sok olyan barátunkkal akikkel csak ritkán találkozunk.
A konferencia egyik estén volt Felíciának a baba bemutatója, amelyet a Brian Broderson lelkipásztor csinálta. A Brian pásztor összeadott minket és ő volt Rosemary lelkipásztora Vistában, mielőtt ide költözött Magyarországra.
Amikor előre mentünk a bemutatóra, Brian arra kért, hogy mondjak egy pár szót arról, hogy mi történt Felíciával, és arról, hogy milyen csodát tett az Úr azzal, hogy őt megmentette és meggyógyította - és aztán Brian imádkozott érte és odaszántuk a kislányunkat az Urra.
Felícia nagyon szereti az embereket, és ő volt a sztár azon az estén. Nagyon cuki volt a 'hercegnő ruhájában'. Aki adta nekünk azt a ruhát, azt mondta, 'azután a sok minden után amin keresztül ment ez a kislány, kell neki egy hercegnő ruha!'
Még mindig nagyon annyira csodáljuk azt, hogy mit tett az Úr Felícia életében. Ő most már 5 hónapos, és nagyon szépen fejlődik. Köszönjük mindannyiatoknak, hogy imádkoztatok a gyógyulásáért és hogy továbbra is imádkoztok érte, hogy megismerje az Urat és járjon vele ahogyan fel nő.
Itt van egy pár fénykép a bemutatóról:

Photos by Németh Laci

New Car

With our growing family we've been feeling the need for a bigger car for some time now. When we first bought our Peugeot right after we got married, we felt like we had a really big car - but now cramming all 5 of us into it we feel like sardines - and like fried sardines when its 38°C (100°F) and the air conditioning isn't working.
I started out looking for used cars, until someone told me to check out the Dacia Logan MCV, a 7-seater that costs new only slightly more than the used cars we were looking at. We we a bit hesitant at first about buying a Dacia, but after reading consumer reports and talking to 'car guys' about them, we started to think more seriously about it. Dacia is assembled in Romania but owned by Renault, and they have Renault motors and parts. A friend of ours in Eger owns the 7-seater that we were interested in, and he let us borrow it for a day to try it out, and we really liked it.
We found the one we wanted in Székesfehérvár, and are picking it up on Monday on our way to Vajta for the Foundations Conference. We're really looking forward to it - and now we're trying to sell our Peugeot. Hopefully we can do that soon.

Here are some pictures of the car. This is the actual one we will get. It was in the showroom, so that's why there's no radio in it, but there will be by the time we get it.


Here's a diagram of how the seats can be moved around:

Homesick

Ahh, the US of A! Home sweet home!