Crazy days and many more ahead

We are getting into our final days and weeks in Prague.  Wow!  It's hard to believe!
We have finalized our travel date and are leaving for Madrid, Spain on June 21st!  We have been trying to see friends as often as we can!
A week ago we got together with some of our good friends, Vladimir & Ludmila from Ukraine who moved to Prague a few months before we did.

 They opened there home 9 years ago for the beginning of a Russian home church group.  These guys are very special to us, we've been through so much with them and we will miss them! Here we are 9 years ago (Ludmila is behind our friend Iva)!

We've changed a little.  Ha!

Before having them over I hadn't carried on a Russian conversation since before we went back to the States for our stateside assignment almost 3 years ago.  I was sure I had lost all of my Russian words!!  I was so happy that there was still some in there!  Ha!  I was able to understand quite a bit.  I didn't understand all of our conversations, but I understood much more than I expected to!  It gave me hope for learning Spanish!  I just know that I am 10 years older since I began learning Russian!  Ha!

We've had some dear friends staying with us the last 2 weeks.  They were here taking some classes.  They just left today and we will greatly miss them.  I'll write more about them and some of their visit later.

Right now we are in the midst of getting a bunch of things ready to be picked up on Monday to give away.  Then we need to get busy selling a few things.
I'm not going to have much time to blog or if I do it won't include many pictures.  I'm sure you all understand that it's crazy around here!!  Ha!

"Show Us Your Life" My Town

I'm joining in on Kelly's "Show Us Your Town."

For the past 9 years we have been living in

Prague, Czech Republic!!

One of the most beautiful cities in Europe (and one of the cheapest still, so come visit!).  It is so well preserved.  Hitler had a love for this city, so it went untouched during WWII.  

A common every day occurrence is to walk cobblestone streets and bridges built in the 1300s.  Like the bridge above, Charles Bridge.

One of the towers at the end of the bridge.

 One of my favorite spots from the bridge, taking a look at the water wheel.

You can walk the streets where Tom Cruise and cast filmed Mission Impossible.

Some other sites you would see when visiting Prague.....quaint walkways near the castle,

The Prague Castle

A must see at the castle....the Golden Lane.

 

The Dancing House, otherwise known as Fred & Ginger (because it looks like Fred & Ginger dancing) is an interesting addition to Prague

Take a stroll through a lovely cemetery.

Funny that I would take a picture of a man hole cover, but Prague has some beautiful ones!!

You can't come to Prague without visiting Old Town Square!

You'll see the Tyn Chapel,

the Astronomical Clock and many other beautiful buildings.

Close to the square is the Jewish Quarter.  I think this Hebrew clock is so cool.  It's backwards from the traditional clock with Hebrew numbers!

 Other sites I pass by on a frequent basis, Powder Tower (Gate), dating from 1475!

Next door is the Municipal House and concert hall.

So there you have it.  My city and some of my favorite spots!!

autoškolas and tour guides

 This last Friday we took our first driving test at an autoškola (auto school).

We drove a Škoda (a Czech brand of car), which you see here.  Complete with a little autoškola sign on top of the car to let everyone around you know you are in training.  Fun, fun!  Seems kind of funny being a 30-something in the car!!  Ha!

In Czech, Škoda is a name.  What cracks me up is that škoda also means "it's a pity."  What a name for a car!  Ha!

This test was to see if we were good enough of a driver to bypass the class time.  Luckily, both Jerry and I passed.  Phew!!!  From what I understand we now have to take the written test (it's in Czech, but we'll have a certified translator to translate the test) then one more driving test with an official to see if we indeed know our stuff and then hopefully we'll have our Czech driver's license.

Saturday I got to play tour guide!!  My friend and fellow Hannah's Prayer board member, Kristi had a colleague bringing some of her students to Europe on a class trip.  She asked me if I would give them a tour of Prague.  I am truly no tour guide.  I love finding the back alleyways and I can get ya to just about any store.  But, my ability to remember historical facts and events is nil to none.  So, I commandeered my friend and colleague, Denise.

 This is right up her ally and something she loves to do.  

 I learned a lot by touring with her on Saturday!  

And I had a great time meeting new people.

After we took them around in the morning we made our way to a Czech restaurant to give them a taste of Czech cuisine.  My lunch was Czech gulash and knedleky (dumplings).  It was so yummy!

The restaurant hired this guy to come around in traditional dress, talk with the customers and allow them to take pictures.  Excuse the photo quality.  I had my little camera that has poor lighting in a very dark restaurant.

What a fun day!  I love touring our beautiful city of Prague!!

Favorite Books

Kelly's "Show Us Your Life" this week is about books!

I love reading, but I don't make much time for it these days.  But every night before bed I have convinced myself that I cannot go to sleep without reading first.  I might only read 5 or 10 minutes, but I for sure get that reading in!
I start out by reading a short devotional from a booked called "365 Daily Whispers For Mother's of Preschoolers: A Year of Inspirational Reading."

 I love this short devotional as they really hit the mark in knowing how to encourage mothers in this stage of life.
After that I read some Christian fiction.  Currently I am reading "the Missing" by Beverly Lewis.

 I love this author and have read almost all of her series.  I like just about any christian fiction, but some of my favorite authors include Francine Rivers, Karen Kingsury and Lori Wick.

And I can't forget to throw in some great books by a dear friend from church when we lived in Granbury, TX.  My friend, Dena Dyer has written several books.  Here are a few.

She's got 2 Groovy Chicks books!

 I just noticed she has a new one coming out soon.

And I just had to mention that she asked for my input on adoption while she was writing Mother's of the Bible.  I was so honored!!

For kids books I enjoy Mindy MacDonald's books.  We only have one, "Jesus & the 12 Dudes Who Did."  It's about the 12 disciples (they're the dudes, ha!) and tells a little bit about each one.  So cute!!

 The author has also put together a few other books which include "The 7 Days of Creation," "Noah's Crew Came 2 by2," and "9 Fruits Alive" about the fruit of the Spirit.  They are all just adorable!
This is also a favorite at our house.

And one that is a great kid's book about adoption is this one.  I love it!

I look forward to checking out everyone's favorites!!

Blog Change.....Again

Yes, I went and changed my template again.  Like it?
Well, if you don't you don't have to tell me! Ha!
I really liked the other one I had, but I didn't like the main column being all the way over on the left. It was a free template that I picked up at Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates (love her stuff) and I don't know how to or if I could play around with the html codes to fix it.  That is so beyond my knowledge!
I love free templates.  I like changing them up a bit, especially during the holidays.  And there are so many great free ones out there that I can't bring myself to buy one.
I've been eying this new one for some time now at A Blog to Brag About.  To me it describes my life a bit and the view from the window looks very European to me.  So, there ya have it.  That's why I changed!  I like change!

Don't forget to go look at the Swagger Wagon video I also posted today.  I just love it!

Swagger Wagon

I came across this on a HP friend's blog I frequent and had to share!  Nothing like making minivan driving look cool!!  Ha!  Love it!!



I'm a newbie when it comes to putting videos on blogger. I selected the smallest window and it's cutting it off on my blog, sorry about that. Have no idea how to fix it.

Mother's Day at a Cermic Market in Beroun

A couple of weeks ago I had to ask a fellow colleague when Mother's Day was because I wasn't sure.  It is not a widely celebrated holiday here, although known. 
Twice a year in a little village outside of Prague, called Beroun, is a ceramic market set up in the town square.  Once in October and once in May.  We already had plans on Saturday and since church is in the evening for us we decided to make a Sunday morning of it.  This will be the last one I get to go to with our upcoming move.  I was (still am) under the weather, but I had to go!!  I realized it was on Mother's Day, but I thought "What better way to spend the day.  A girl's day out!"  So, my friend Julie & I hopped on a morning train for Beroun and arrived around 9:30 to do some shopping.
Our first stop was the ladies room at the Beroun train station.  Hee hee!  Usually I wouldn't mention it, but as we stood there waiting our turn (you know how ladies' rooms are....even in another country!) I began to giggle when I saw this.

Ok, I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but they are selling gifts and clothing out of the restrooms!!!  I guess if they are going to have a cash register in the restroom (in many places in Europe you must pay to use the facilities) then why not?!  Cracked us up!!
On to the square and a pretty one at that!

Here is Julie doing a little shopping action!  

We browsed the ceramics, but there were several jewelry kiosks and we stopped at every one of them.  All but one were handmade jewelry, which we both love!

Here was our lunch.  Bramborak (a potato pancake) and ham sandwich.  I have no idea what this thing was called and actually, I didn't care for it at all.  I usually like potato pancakes, but sometimes a tad too much garlic (ok WAY too much!) is added for my taste.  I had to followed it up with something more tasty, my favorite Czech pastry, the trdlo.  Yum!!
Julie had seen some necklaces she really liked and after perusing the market she wanted to go back to take a second look.  They were necklaces made out of recycled glass.  Taking a second look I decided I REALLY liked these necklaces and needed wanted one.
It took both of us several minutes to decide exactly which one we wanted.  We kept finding more and more we liked!!  I finally settled on this necklace with matching earrings.

 I love the name of the product, Lucky Waste.  We had a great chat with the owner/vendor.  She was great!  And she even gave us some other colored necklace strands to change out the colors.  One thing that you are unable to see in the picture is there's white writing in the glass.  It looks so cool!

 Julie & I had a great day together!

A Day of Joy & Sorrow

I just wanted to wish each of you moms out there a Happy Mother's Day!!

But I will also never forget how difficult this day was for me and continues to be for those struggling with infertility, the loss of their babies and even those who have lost their own mother.  You are in my thoughts and prayers today!!

My day is going to be filled with girl time and church and I can't wait!!  I'll hardly see my family today, but we've had a lot of together time lately with sickness gripping our home for the last 10 days!!

Whatever your situation I hope today brings joy even in the sorrow!

"Show Us Your Life" How We Picked Our Kid's Names

At Kelly's Korner this week we are sharing how we picked our kid's names.
Would you believe that I have been keeping a list of names since I was in junior high!  Ha!  The list changed over time, but there was always a list!
Our kid's names are Karis, Brennan & Reegan (not Ray-gan, but pronounced like Reece with a long "e").

When it looked as if we were going to bring a 5 month old daughter home from a Czech orphanage we knew we needed to start considering names.  But none of the names on my list seemed appropriate.  We wanted a name that had meaning for the long infertility and adoption journey we had been on.   At the time of her adoption I had only heard of the name Karis (rhymes like Paris) once.  We had met a sweet couple at a church where we had done a missions conference in Texas, but I didn't consider the name at the time.
We met our daughter on a Friday and were bringing her home the next Tuesday.  We had to act fast.  I can't remember how the name "Karis" came up.  Jerry told me the name meant "Grace" in Greek.  You can't get more meaning than that!  Grace is also my Grandma's name.

Then Jerry brought up U2's song "Grace."  Or actually the "In the Name of Love" album performed by Christian Artist to benefit AIDS in Africa.  Nicole Nordeman performed "Grace" on that album.  We were convinced this was our name!!  Now, I cannot listen to the song, Nicole or U2, without tearing up.  And we kept Karis' given name, Kristyna, as her middle name.
Funny side story about naming our Czech daughter an American name.  We actually had to have permission by an authorized name specialist to name our daughter a non-Czech name.  You see, in Czech Republic you must name your child from an approved list.  As my friend, Hanka, described it to me, it is to keep people from naming their child something strange like "refrigerator."  It made me think of all those actors who give their kids crazy names!  Ha!  So, we had to pay to have the name researched and verified that it was a legitimate name.  Crazy, huh?!

We got the name "Brennan" from the author Brennan Manning after reading his book "Ragamuffin Gospel."  Jerry was a huge Rich Mullins fan which brought him to read Brennan Manning's book.  Rich & the Ragamuffin Band got their name after his book.
Brennan's middle name is Wayne, which is Jerry's middle name and it is also my dad's (Brennan's grandpa) middle name.  It was just a given.

Reegan's name is not so deep.  Ha!  I heard the name on a few episodes of Frasier (although on the show they spelled it Regan).  Regan also comes from Shakespeare's King Lear.  Regan was one of his daughter's.  But I learned that from the show as I am no Shakespeare expert!  Hee hee!!
Reegan's middle name also came from a TV show.  This time from West Wing for the character Ainsley Hayes.
I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to name her Reegan Ainsley or Ainsley Reegan.  Reegan Ainsley seemed to flow more, although we knew that people would not get the pronunciation correct.


And that is how our kids came to be named!

It's a Family Thing

I've always loved how families have their own things they do as a family.  I remember watching an episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."  I don't remember which one it was, but one of the parents was originally from Hawaii and they had this cool little family dance/hand motion thing they did that I thought was so fun.
When Karis was little and I was checking her toes for toe fuzz.  Somehow she interpreted it into "toe toe" and the name has stuck ever since.  Or how Karis couldn't say "Reegan" so she called her "Ree Ree" and the name stuck.  Or singing "I Love You, A Bushel & a Peck" at bedtime.
Another is how we used baby sign language to communicate when they were little.  I continued using the "I Love You" sign to my kids at bed every night, even now.  When Brennan's Spiderman obsession began I realized the "I Love You" sign is very close to Spiderman shooting webs and a new family thing began.

Now we shoot I love you Spiderman webs at each other every night.

It includes shooting webs from our feet, stomach and mouth.  This boy is creative and has webs coming out of every possible place on his body!  Ha!

Do you have some special things you do as a family??  I'd love to hear about it!