Check it out...

Go check out our team blog...the link is on the left hand side of the page. Here the whole team will be posting. No I have not yet...but I will too, don't worry. :)

Bonnie, Clyde and ...

This makes two in one week, wow; I am getting better at this Blog thing…:)

So anyways, my roommate and I were talking about getting ourselves a pet. A cat to be specific, I am a huge do fan and so is she but we wanted a pet and a cat is much easier. So in the mist of all this talk we end up with two small animals we call Bonnie and Clyde. They came to us one day much to our dismay, but we are enjoying watching them in daily life. One goes, the other call to him, and he comes back and the day goes on like this. They are not noisy and they require little can. But they are still fun to watch. So to back up let me start from the beginning.

We live on the fourth floor of an apartment building so no it is not a cat or a dog. Last week there were two pigeons trying to nest in one of our flower boxes. I spent a lot of time shooing them away that morning. Then, much to my dismay, two days later they were back, with TWO twigs and building a nest in a pot on our baloney. The two birds decided that having a nest that was half way done for them was nice. Over the past week the nest has grown, a little. Then yesterday/last night, Bonnie laid her egg. We were so proud of her. We have 15 more days to wait until there is a baby bird in the nest with Bonnie and Clyde. But for now we enjoy taking pictures and watching them interact.

Two pigeons were not the type of pets we were looking for, but in a month we will be cat sitting for six months so I guess we can wait until then to have something soft and “cuddly” in the apartment with us. So here are some pictures of the two new "additions" to our appartment:

Meet Clyde (on the rail)

And Bonnie (in the Pot with the plant)

Meet the egg (we have not named it yet, so it is just the egg for now) mom had gotten up for a minute to move and we ran for the cammera's.

Momma and her baby (She 'saw' movement in the apartment and decided it would be wise to make sure her egg was safe.)

Hope you enjoyed the pictures...as things happen I will take more pictures and keep you updated. Have a blessed day!

Present and Accounted for...

So I thought I would begin by saying I am sorry for the long span of time between blogs. Thank you to all who check and see if I blog...I know your out there. Also, there are times I am the worst at keeping things like this updated, sorry.
The last time I wrote anything was three months ago...wow. I had only been teaching for three weeks then, and now I only have three weeks to go. We will be finishing up the second and third grade years in three weeks. The girls cannot be more excited. I have loved teaching them and watching them learn and grow. I will begin next year teaching third and fourth grade and eventually gain a sixth grader. I cannot wait. I have always enjoyed teaching and this is definitely why God created me.
Ok...what has been going on in Poland. Besides school {a huge chunk of my time} I have been going to a coffee shop, working in different villages teaching English, learning Polish, and watching the weather change. I am in aw of how creative our God truly is. Having lived most of my life in Florida I know different season: Hot, Hotter, Hottest, and Hurricane. {You all know it’s true} In Poland we truly have four seasons. I arrived in the middle of winter. It was gray, overcast, and snowing. It was nice to see the snow and a different type of weather and season. Then about late-March the weather really stated to change. The snow melted {yeah} and the world began to gain some more color. This was nice because it started to warm up. Now that we have hit May most everything is in full bloom and very colorful. I am loving it. I am looking forward to seeing the next two seasons. I feel like the kid who has never seen snow and is seeing it for the first time with this season changing thing, I love how much detail is put into everything God created.
Something fun and exciting has happened in the past month. The pastors wife at the church I go to had her baby. His name is Peter, and he is a cutie, but the cool thing is I have been able to hold him since he was less than two weeks old. You say so-what I say YEAH! In Poland no one but mom and dad get to hold or touch the baby until they are at least two weeks old. It is a germ phobia thing. Anyways, his second Sunday morning he needed to be watched and I was asked. He is a wonderful baby but he woke up, and I got to hold him. I was told I am trusted with her son and I have watched him several other Sunday mornings. I love my baby time!
Other than that all is going well. I am looking forward to the end of school and summer vacation. I get to begin my vacation in Greece and on a cruise. This I cannot wait to do. I will take pictures and post some and tell you all about it later.
Thanks for all your support as I live God’s word in Poland. :)

I am still alive

Wow has the last month been a whirl wind. I have been teaching for 3 weeks now, started my forth week today actually. I am really enjoying teaching. The girls are great and we have a blast daily. They are a new joy each morning. Because my job is teaching I spend a lot of my time planning how to teach the kiddos all they need to know. I spend the next main part of my weeks studding language. I only have class for two hours a week but I enjoy being able to absorb all I learn in the two hours. It takes me a while to learn a new language so I am happy for the absorption time each week. Other than that I go to the coffee house each week and talk to those who come. The last two weeks in our area of Poland, we have been on winter break so we have not gone out to the villages to work but beginning tomorrow village work will begin again.
I have been going to the church in one of the villages we work in on Tuesdays. I have enjoyed the last few weeks out there. I understand very little of what they are saying, but I am starting to be able to sing along with the songs. The Poles at church love to try to talk to me, but because it is all in Polish we have a language barrier. The man who plays the piano, one neat thing is he is blind, speaks English and we talk after church during coffee and tea. I am hoping my language improves so I will be able to commutate with those at church quickly.
As far as fun times, we had a team Valentine’s Day party on Saturday and we all had a blast. I let the girls make Valentine’s on Friday and you would have thought I gave them gold. They were able to spend about 1.5 hours working and letting their creative juices flow. My favorite line of the day we “Miss Naomi don’t look at my desk” it made me laugh all three times. I gave the kiddos roses and I loved the looks on their faces when they realized they were theirs and no one else’s. The three year old had the best face of plain aw and happiness. We spent time playing games and eating pizza and fruit dipped in chocolate and homemade cookies and cupcakes. All in all it was a great evening.
I am staying warm…well as warm as possible. It SNOWED yesterday while we were at church and I really did not have on the clothes and shoes needed for that amount of snow. I was fine as long as I was inside or in the car, but outside I was cold. The sun was out until we were about half way to church (a 30 minute ride or so), and then it basically snowed for the rest of the day. Today the sun was out again, which was such a blessing, and I was able to spend some much needed time out in it. It has started to stay light longer, it used to be dark by 3:45 but it is 4:15 and still light out right now. I love to sun and am very glad it is staying light out longer. I can do without the sun at 6:30 but all will be good. At least I know I am up when I need to be up. Life in Poland is becoming easier and more routine, it can still use a little work but it is getting there. God is using this time to help me to rely more and more on Him and I quit enjoy our time together. Thank you for all your prayers and support.

Here at last

I have been in Poland now for eleven days and all is going great. I start school on Wednesday thus lesson planning is taking up most of my time. Good thing I love what I do, right. I will be teaching for about 4.5 hours a day, actually it is about 4 hours and 15 minutes. I only have three kids so that should be no problem. There are really seven kids on the team in all and they are all great and I am enjoying getting to know each and everyone of them. Other than school I will be working in the villages on Tuesday and going to a Coffee Conversation Connor (3C) with my roommate on Thursdays.
In the villages we work with groups of children teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). We are doing a program called Hero’s of the Bible to teach them two things at once. Bailey, my roommate, says it is going well and the kids really enjoy learning and doing the crafts. I will go and help out and maybe be able to work on a little Polish while I am there.
At 3C we go and just talk to those who come, in English. It is a great way for us to get to know Nationals and plant the seeds and open doors for them to know and understand who Christ is and why He lived on the earth. Last week no one showed up, but it snowed all day and we think the weather played a part in that.
I begin language classes on Friday. I only go for two hours a week for now because of school. Planning and teaching take most of my time, so language is worked into my schedule. I am glad it is on Friday because there is no school prep for Saturday. I will have homework in Language which will help me learn better and hopefully Bailey will be able to help me out as well as talking to nationals.
As far as how I am doing, I am great. I have not been too cold or to hot {:-)}. I have a wonderful pair of boots and a wonderful coat that keep me worm outside, and wonderful neighbors, who run their heat, which keep me warm inside. I turned the heat on the first night and go hot and it has been off since, actually we have to open a window at times. I am learning how to grocery shop and cook again because everything is different. I am learning where the stores are and what stores you go to, to find certain items. I have been riding the bus alone and it is not that bad as long as you know what time the bus comes and what stop to get off at. Then you have to walk to the destination, easy as pie. I am adjusting well to being here and not knowing anything and I know with time and God it will all become that much easier. I know God is always there and He will see me through anything. Thanks for your prayers and support.

Happy New Year (Merry CHRISTmas)

Well its official, I have nine days left until I leave for Poland. I am not packed and I am slightly stressed out about that. But I am not going to worry about it because it will get all done; I have nine days to do it in. Christmas was wonderful; I spent the day with my family opening gifts and enjoying their time. We had a nice relaxing day and had more food than I thought one could have. {We are still eating leftovers :) } We did something new this year, and it was great, we each gave Jesus a birthday present. It is after all His birthday we are celebrating. This gift could be anything we wanted it to be but it had to be something we were giving to Jesus. I loved this gift-giving time.
After Christmas life has been a little crazy, but enjoyable. I have spent several days with friends and those I “babysit”, I had a “farewell” party, and both sets of grandparents are at the house. We are going to have a wonderful time here for the next few days. There are seven adults and three dogs in a four bedroom house. We plan to use all the sleeping space and then some and have a blast doing it.
I greatly look forward to the next nine days spending it with friends and family. The trick will be getting packed, finishing my to-do-list, and spending the needed time with all those who love me.

Almost Done....

So we only have four more days of training left. There is one weekend left and my family will be here on Tuesday. It has all gone by so very fast and I am not ready to leave. I am so ready to get to the field and begin working but I am not ready to leave the relationships I have built here. They tell us we will see everyone again and we will stay in contact, but that is not the same and living with them. Its like summers in college, you don't talk for two months and then when you see each other again, it's like you never left each other. I have learned so much, but I feel as though there is so much more I need to know.
These last two weeks have been long and hard. We had a week of 8-5 classes with little breaks, and this week has been hard because it is the last full week. Last week we spent three days with our region talking about matters which just pertain to us. This was nice. I liked spending time with those I will be working with and finding out what will happen in Europe. One of the best times was the day the ladies went to the Cheesecake Factory. I have never eaten there before, and oh, it was WONDERFUL. I would recommend it to anyone. (But go at lunch because it is a lot cheaper then.) The rest of the week was spent being trained in how to handle the "Bad Guy". We had security training. It was a great three days and I learned a lot. We had a few laughs and several AHHH moments. But all in all it was a great training. I don't think they should send anyone to the field without this training.
As far as the rest of the week, we have one more day and then the weekend. On Saturday we are cooking in the dorm for dinner instead of eating in the Caff. I am so excited. We are having baked spaghetti, bread, salad, and Oreo Balls for desert. YUM.
Like I said my family will be here on Tuesday and then we are commissioned on Wednesday, and then we leave Thursday. Then it's Christmas, New Years, and then off to Poland. YEAH! I am so excited.