I'm starting to see a trend.....it's 1 a.m.....for real! There have been so many great moments the last few days. One today was when Ray and were walking in Cakovec (a village near Brezje where Mladen lives and we played baseball the first year). There was a little street fair going on. I asked a lady what it was for, since it was a Friday afternoon, and she told me the children learn to make traditional crafts and items at school during the year and then they have this fair and sell the items at the end of the school year. So that was a nice little story. I bought one of her items. Then we walked down two more tables and some kids were looking at us a whispering. I guessed we looked different and I had on my ACU shirt so I think they were talking about that too. Then one says, "Jura! Jura!" (a very common name here, so I didn't think anything of it...yet) and lo and behold it's one of the kids we played baseball with two years ago. And then another. And then another one. Jura immediately asked me, "How is Jonathan?" :-) They were selling little painted wooden step-stools and children's chairs, so when you see the one in our house you will know where it came from.

We also spent more time with several church members the last few days. We've been to Zvonko and Zlata's home in the gypsy village. We've been to Darko and Miljenka's apartment. We visited Nadica's house twice. We've been to Josip and Ana's twice. Tomorrow we will go to Sasa and Danjella's house for dinner. But first we will have sarma, a Croatian dish with cabbage and sausage and potatoes. Apparently it is a "winter" food, but they are making it special for us since Nancy always talks so highly of it and I wondered what it was.

Tonight we did a mini-marriage seminar with 5 couples attending. It was blessed to be sure. We were anxious about the difference in cultures and generations, but of course we are all far more similar than different. We talked about God's commandements for husbands and wives to love and respect one another and the differences between the two. Then we briefly talked about the "5 Love Languages", which is available in Croatian so some were familiar. But the fun came when they all did the Lion, Otter, Beaver, Golden Retriever tests. I didn't know if it would make sense to them, but they loved it. And I could tell by their responses that they truly understood the concept. For those who know them, Josip and Ana are both Lions, but she is also a high Golden and he is a very high Otter. Ray commented that their house must be very loud. That was met with a lot of laughing and head shaking from their son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. Ana assured us she is a very faithful (Golden Retriever) Lion.

There will be more stories to tell when we are face to face. We thank you for your prayers and encouragement. We certainly can sense them. This week has flown by and though we are more than ready to see our kids, we wish there was more time too. Next time..... :-) We love you all!