Where to begin . . .

My good intentions of blogging have gone by the wayside of an amazingly busy schedule.  We have been going since our arrival here in Poland.  It's hard to know where to start in sharing our time here. I'm going to have to break up my posts over time and hit different things each time.

After our fun day(s) of travel, Dustin and I spent Saturday divided.  He went with Pastor John and Paul (and Ian from Sugar Grove, Goshen) to visit some other churches in the area.  They then spent their day driving all over the place visiting a castle, a church, a Polish work camp, boar hunting, eating etc, etc, etc.  It was a great chance for the men to enjoy time with each other and take in some history, culture, and food.  They got home at about 23:00 that evening!

Underground tunnels built under houses allowing people to move around town without detection.

"Work for Freedom"  This is was a Polish work camp and the average lifespan was 5 weeks

Yes, Dustin came all the way to Poland and ate pizza

While the men were off doing their thing, Christine and I got to have our first interaction with the ladies of the Lubin Church.  We just so happened to be in town for their annual ladies tea, one of their outreach events.  We went in early to decorate, assemble party favors, and prepare food, and met a few of the other missionary women for the first time.

Amber, team member

Linda and Carlene arranging seating

Our questionaire

Party favors

The ladies tea was a lighthearted event with several fun activities. We had a number match-up game where we were supposed to decide what numbers corresponded to certain things like:  How many cups of tea do people in the whole world drink each day?  3,000,000,000  What's the percent of Brits that drink milk in their tea?  98%.  Of course, it was in Polish.  So, I wasn't much help but there were about 25 questions.  The high score was 9 correct.  They were tough!

Two women volunteered for a sensory game where they put bandannas over their eyes and were supposed to guess by feel what certain items were.

Thank you to those that prayed for me in preparation for my testimony.  It went very well and it also opened up some good conversation with several women.  Bogusia (Bo-goo-sha) did a beautiful job of translating for me.

We also did a some fun photos with props and had a light snack.

We laughed, we talked, many translated, and we cleaned up.  We finished around 8pm and it was a blessing to be a part of this time.  Dustin and I have already been invited to homes for dinner, and our children have play dates set up for their future here in Poland.

I will share more as time allows and catch up when I get home with the things that I may not get to at this time.  Thanks for sharing in this journey with us as we prepare our hearts and minds for what God has in store in our future.

Poland-Take One . . . and ACTION!

This week Dustin and myself are headed to Poland with our pastor and his wife.  We've been given an  amazing opportunity by our church to visit the very missionaries we are hoping to join as a family for one year.  We will be leaving Thursday morning.  We will be spending 12 days traveling, visiting, connecting, and exploring.  I cannot begin to tell you how very thankful we are for this chance!  Our children will be staying behind to enjoy grandpa and grandma while mom and dad get to focus in on God's plan for our future.

As I did with our journey to adopt from China, I plan on using the blog to share about our time in Poland.

We would appreciate your prayers as we gear up for our trip.  Here are some specific prayers:

1. Travel mercies-Dustin and I will stay in Poland for the duration of our trip.  Our pastor and his wife, John and Christine French, are visiting multiple missionaries in multiple countries across Europe by multiple means of transportation.  Prayers for safe and uneventful passage are much appreciated.

2.  I will be giving my testimony on Saturday the 27th at a ladies tea.  Please pray that as I share, God makes it clear what is important to share.

3.  We want to be supportive of the team in Poland.  Please pray that God's will is made clear about how Dustin and I can do that now and in the future.

4.  Keep our children and grandpa and grandma in your prayers.  Not too sure the kids will even notice that we are gone!  We will however remind them by phone/video chat that we still exist and plan on returning home. I know grandpa and grandma will need an extra dose of energy and probably a vacation when we get home.  So, pray for their sanity and rest while we are gone.  They volunteered for this but it may have been in a moment of weakness. But seriously, we have five of the most amazing children in the world!  We love them to pieces and we pray that they enjoy their break from mom and dad.