Happy Casimir Pulaski Day!

Happy Casimir Pulaski Day! What? You've never heard of it? Well, that's not surprising if you're not from Illinois. My friend Wikipedia can tell you more about it.

Pulaski was Polish and Illinois has quite the Polish population, so Chase and I celebrated Casimir Pulaski Day by going to the student center for lunch where they were serving Polish food. Mmmmm... pierogies!

100

Wow, 100 days to go. It seems like a long time to go yet only a short time left. Baby R2 has recently shifted from kick/punch mode to super squirmy mode. The mothers I've talked to have pretty much all said that their children who were very active in the womb were/are also very active outside the womb. One said her 35-year-old is still that way.

Some friends of ours just had a baby Friday. Chase is making some "meet love*" to bring them for dinner tonight. We're pretty excited about meeting Baby Jonathan. That's three babies down and at least three more to go in our group of friends! Keli, you're up next!

*When we were in Poland last May, Chase made meatloaf for a Bible study group and one of the guys wanted the recipe. He referred to it as "meet love."

Rich!

Our missionary friend Rich is featured on the International Mission Board web site. Rich is a journeyman in Poland. Click here to read the article about what he's doing in Poland. You can also read a bit about how he became a Christian here.

Mystery Solved!

I wouldn't say that my job is any more stressful or difficult than most office manager/secratary type jobs, but it's always difficult to go back to work after being gone for two weeks. I mean, I like my job and all, I love the people I work with, I love that I get to serve my church through my work, and I especially love being able to go home every day for lunch! Working in an office, though, is such a major contrast to what we had been doing in Poland on our mission trip for two weeks. I went from having something different to do almost daily in a new environment to doing familiar work behind a desk. I know, too, that short term mission trips are more jam packed than long term. The missionaries in Lubin, Poland don't do what we did every day of every week, but still...

Well, like I said, my job isn't any more paticularly stressful than any other office job, but after coming back from another country for a couple weeks, little things were starting to get to me. For example: I had purchased a download of Photoshop CS2 for my office computer just before leaving. I'd printed off the receipt with the download site and username and password and left it in a spot where I knew I'd be able to easily find it when I got back. I still had some downloading left to do. Of course, when I came back to work I couldn't find the paper I needed. I checked files and folders on the computer, files and folders in my desk, and looked under any loose papers I could find until I gave up. It was the Mystery of the Disappearing Photoshop Code. For some reason (jet lag?) this little thing was stressing me out big time. I gave up...

But today, the lady who was filling in for me was here. I thought, "She probably won't remember what happened or even know what I'm talking about... but I should probably ask her anyway." So I asked Lori if she knew anything about it, and you know what? She did! The Mystery of the Disappearing Photoshop Code is solved!

Okay, so it's not really that exciting, but it was pretty relieving! Hopefully this week I'll be able to work some Photoshop magic, and that's at least exciting for me.

Side note: We're still updating the Poland Blog, so keep checking and keep praying for the church in Lubin.

Polska

Chase and I have been in Poland since last week (Wednesday) and will be here until Monday. We've been updating the Poland Team Blog as much as we can. There are pictures and stories there about our trip with more to come!

Here's just a taste:


Yes, that's Chase getting some mad ups playing a USA vs Poland basketball game. Check out our Poland Team Blog for more!

The Land of Pol

Tomorrow, Chase and I leave for Poland with four friends (well, three if one can't locate his passport in time) for our second international mission trip. We're supposed to have Internet access at our hotel, so we're planning on updating the Poland Blog we made last year. If you go to that blog, you can see pictures and stories from last year's trip and a bit of what we're supposed to be doing this year.

Not Quite Miranda...

While in Poland, Chase & I discovered a drink called Mirinda. It's only one letter away from being my sister's name (Miranda). I thought of my sister whenever we drank this "orange exlpolsion" of a drink. (I'm assuming "orange explosion" is the correct translation.) I was sure to save the label of one of these drinks for her.

Speaking of Poland, we've got a couple updates with pictures on the Poland Team Blog. Be sure to check them out. Here is one picture to spark your interest.

Back in the States

We came home yesterday around 2:00 am to a phone/Internet modem that had stopped working. Mediacom, I shake my fist at you!!!!

Poland was great. While there weren't any specific commitments to follow Jesus Christ, we did see some drastic change. There was one boy in particular who, on the first day we met him, took a bread knife from another missionary while she was cutting bread, acted like he was going to cut her and then himself and would not give it back to her. I went over to him and told him in the most stern voice I could muster (the disciplinary voice I got from my mom), that he would either give her the knife back or leave. He gave it back and left pretty mad. This kid had been a trouble maker for a while. By the end of the week, he had started coming to VBS (Vacation Bible School) and even read the Bible. He hugged us goodbye with tears in his eyes. I would say that this was probably the best thing about the trip.

Other highlights: Chase got pooped on (the arm) by a bird in Wroclaw (Vro-swav). A few minutes later, Caleb got pooped on (the head) by a bird... and didn't wash it out until the end of the day. More Poland stories will be posted at our Poland Blog.

(Oh, and I really appreciate having soft tolietpaper, now!)

In other news, my hair is now a whole foot shorter! Keli & I went to the mall yesterdays and got our hair cut. She got some sweet bangs and I got a short 'do. I'll be sending a 12" ponytail, a 10" ponytail and a 9" ponytail to Locks of Love. Having short hair is great. I can just wash it, let it air dry and it looks pretty cute!

Well, it's work time!

Heading to Poland

Well, our plane takes off for Poland in approximately 15 hours. Actually, there are a couple connecting flights, so the plane we get on first doesn't go to Poland... But still... Chances are I won't be updating on here, but we'll try to keep our Poland Team Blog updated as much as we can. There's even the possibility of pictures and video! Ooooh! Aaahhh!