moving in.......

Wow, it feels really strange, but really good too! I'm "done" moving in. Yep, everything is put away and organized! Now what do I do? :-)

Thoughts on writing

Some of you blog readers know I have a working draft of a book. I really love to write, and this particular draft was pretty much 'complete' (minus editing) in about 3-4 weeks.

Some friends have read the draft and have been very encouraging, saying it has ministered to them.

Isn't that what our lives should be about...doing the things we're wired and called to do so that others are encouraged and built-up?

Now I'm waiting to see if the draft will actually become a published book.

grass destruction and sunsets

Sunset from my back deck!

Setting a new lawn fashion statement for sure!

Ah the joys of homeownership. I bought the least expensive lawnmower, which does not have automatically adjustable wheels (i.e. you have to unscrew them and lower and raise each one...grrr) and was so impatient that I just decided to keep the mower in a 'wheely' so it wouldn't stall out....and so I got this cool stripey grass look going. I think it is the talk of the neighborhood and while no one has come to ask me for lawn-care advice, I think most everyone is quite jealous of my grass! Hee hee hee!!!

Last night, a new friend and I sat out on the deck and watched the sunset through the trees. It was very interesting to see the many bats flying around and hunting...but they stopped hunting as soon as it was almost dark.

No profound thoughts today...just enjoying the simple things of life like a place to live, beautiful sunsets, fellowship and the goodness of God!

more home pix

Ah, the cluttered office space!

My bedroom! Thanks, Lynn, for the chair!

My bedroom!

Office.

Guest room!

Some pix of the new home

Here are some pix of the new home! Sweet deck out back!


Deck is shaded in the morning...perfect for sitting out and drinking coffee!

Living room, looking down the hallway to the bedrooms!

Living room

Living room....hey Hungarian friends...recognize anything?

Birthdays, Family

Here's my niece, Brooke, with her mom, Christie, opening birthday gifts.

One of the many crazy games Christie organized for everyone to participate in!

Birthday breakfast!

Dinner out with family! Precious times! Brooke, Christie, Roger, Zack, Danna and Kevin!

Kevin and Danna at her son, Zak's, baseball game.

Family is precious! Cherishing these times!

Meltdown #2

People said it would happen...and it is. Meltdowns. When quite suddenly, in the most interesting situations, you just have a major meltdown because you are missing your "home" or adopted culture. You see, Hungary became home for me, and in many ways, even though I'm an American citizen, I feel like a foreigner in my own country.

My first meltdown was with good friends in Virginia...they put on Croatian worship music and I LOST it after about 1 minute and broke into sobbing tears, weeping for about an hour as my friends hugged me and prayed for me. I was missing friends so badly.

Tonight came meltdown number two...and again, it was during worship...but here at IHOP. The message was finished, the worship team was back on 'stage' and people were praying and being prayed for, and my heart just broke as friends from Hungary came flooding into my mind! I miss you all soooooooo much and this is really hard...but I know it's right and good and a part of God's great plan.

So, there I sat, next to a new friend, and completely used up about 5 tissues, bawled, shook with sobbing, and just let it all out!

I've been told to let myself do this. To let myself feel the loss. To grieve. To feel the pain. I actually do love the release of crying, and it does relieve the pain a bit. One friend said it took her over a year to get over missing her adopted nation so much. Other friends have said they are still missing their adopted nation...and these folks only spent 3 years there.

I'm crying out for more and more of God's grace and mercy. In the meantime, for my Hungarian readers, KNOW that this woman truly misses you!!!

Family

Bailey, the amazing jumping dog!

Zack, my nephew, enjoying dinner.

Brooke on the trampoline.

Christie

My brother, Roger, spotting Brooke on the trampoline. Do not try this at home.

Family time was precious and fun in Colorado!

whew, what a drive

Well, my stereotypes of Kansas being completely flat and totally cornfields were shattered today as I drove 11 hours from Denver, CO to Kansas City, MO! Indeed, eastern Colorado and western Kansas are pretty F-L-A-T, but then you get into some rolling hills in central Kansas, and I must admit, very pretty landscapes! :-)

My little Honda Fit did VERY well, averaging 40 m.p.g. on the highway! YIPPEE! And I was thrilled to have an IPOD auxilary adapter to plug my IPOD in so I could worship the entire way home!

It was a super time with family, and now I'm back to my home in KC which still needs a great deal of moving in organizing done to it! However, I'm thrilled that it is cool enough tonight to open windows and have fresh air flowing! whoo hoo!

Pictures to come.....just too tired right now!

More travel pix

For a minute, I thought I was back in europe! Hee hee hee!!

Entering St. Louis, MO! LOVE the sign in the middle right of the picture!

Travelling across the country....

Oops, I got these out of order, so start from the bottom and scroll up!!!

Ah, the joys of travelling across beautiful America! The landscape is so different everywhere!

Pix of the big move...finally

Lynn Ainsworth and I had fun loading up the truck!

Ah, the joys of moving!

George and Lynn Ainsworth...precious friends!

Saying "bye" to Lynn outside of her house!

This is the first time I've gotten to sit down and get some pix posted of the past couple of weeks. Moving has been challenging and fun at times.

Wow, things are expensive here in the U.S.A.

The reality of just how expensive things here in the U.S.A. are is really hitting home. I'm not talking about luxury items. I'm talking about basics: cars, car insurance, mobile/cell phone plans, gas (although cheaper than in europe, the distances are larger and one MUST have a car to get around, so it's expensive), and then monthly bills like gas, electric, water. I'm not complaining, although I'm sure it sounds that way, but I'm experiencing major culture and ticket shock just getting to a basic survival mode of existence here in the good 'ole U.S. of A.

The Prayer Room

Many people over the months have asked me, "Why are you moving to Kansas City?" Well, one of the main reasons is because of IHOP. No, not International House of Pancakes (although I saw one fairly close by the other day). Rather International House of Prayer. You can check it out in detail at www.ihop.org

I first visited here with a friend in 2006 and loved it. I spent many hours in the prayer room, in which there has been 24/7 prayer and worship since 1999. It's an amazing place of no pretense but rather people earnestly seeking to know and love God more. At that time, the Lord gave me a number of songs, some of which are recorded on a CD I made with a friend, and others of which I recently put on a new CD. I returned again, twice in 2007, and wondered as I sat in the prayer room, if this might be a good place to do a year's sabbatical. At that time, I had much peace about that possibility.

Then as I began to pray and consider, IHOP continually came to the surface. It was then that I started to wonder if this might be a good place to move and have as a "home base" from which to "go out" to the nations.

Well, as time passed and things unfolded, it has all fallen into place. I now am a happy homeowner of a house exactly 1.5 miles from the prayer room, and the house is set up so that I can have renters in the basement and I can live upstairs. Should God call me away from here back overseas or elsewhere, it's also an ideal set-up. For now, I'm having fun setting up house, settling in to American life, sort of, and looking forward to some rest time and growth time in the Lord during this sabbatical year.

Pictures are forthcoming....

American pace of life....

I knew life in the U.S. was fast-paced, but I'm plumb worn out. Of course much of it is due to wanting/needing to get the house in some semblance of order and looking/feeling like a home. But it is definitely amazing to see just how busy people's days are here.

I splurged today...I got one of my Switzerland pictures blown up...I want to frame it and hang it on a wall. I thought I could unframe one of my pictures, which I proceeded to do, but the new pic didn't fit. :-( Then, as I was trying to put the old pic back, the glass broke. :-( So, now it is hanging glassless on the wall. Let's see who notices. :-)

I went to an American icon today...TARGET...oh and Wal-Mart too! I kept asking myself: "Is this a need or a want? Is this a need or a want?" So, I got only needs and yet the bill was HIGH. Yikes! Oh, I did get one 'want'....a DVD/CD player. The house has been rather quiet without any TV or music...my laptop speakers are not doing so well these days. Quiet is a good thing, but I'm looking forward to being able to chill out in the evening and watch a movie. :-)

More culture shock....perfect strangers catch your eye in the store and say, "Hello!" Cashiers at the check-out speak with you and make comments about the things you are buying. Distances are HUGE!

Off to bed...........I'm beat!

The goodness of God!

There's been so much goodness from the Lord directed my way in the past few days!

The goodness of God in giving me friends who have busy lives making time to help and reach out...

The goodness of God in giving me friends who have given precious gifts to me to make my transition to the U.S. easier...

The goodness of God in providing a beautiful home to live in...

The goodness of God in providing me with a fabulous bed to sleep in...

The goodness of God in providing safe travel across half the U.S.....

The goodness of God in provision day to day....

The goodness of God in preserving my physical body, especially my back, while moving, lifting, bending, turning, etc....

The goodness of God in healing my heart from aches of the past and showing me that HE is faithful...

The goodness of God......in His great, unconditional, everlasting, kind love!

Isn't God good?

Powerful visit

Something powerful took place today. My new friend, Linda, took me to Jill Austin's grave here in Kansas City. Jill went home quite suddenly to be with her Lord in January.

Before my friend picked me up, I was walking around my house thinking, "what can I take to the grave to place on it?"

Jill had a ministry called Master Potter, and she herself was a master potter. So, as I walked and prayed asking the Lord, I came upon a ceramic flower and a miniature 'water pot' I'd brought from Hungary. The flower is blue and was made by a ceramics potter in Hungary who is married to a dear friend of mine. The flower was given to all guests who came to their wedding. It struck me when I saw it that I needed to take that to the gravesite...Jill was quite literally 'married' to Holy Spirit and He was her husband and so it just seemed overwhelmingly clear that this gift, from the nations (Jill ministered across the globe to MANY nations), made by a ceramics potter and given at a wedding was the perfect thing for her grave. In addition, the small Hungarian water pitcher/pot jumped out at me from the shelf...when Jill would minister, the Holy Spirit would pour out like water over people!

So, there they sit, a tiny ceramic flower and a tiny piece of pottery in the form of a water jug, side by side, on her grave. May all that God did through her in the nations multiply 100 fold for the glory and honor of Jesus alone!

The joys of moving

I'm still in the moving in process. And I'm looking for a car. Had an interesting experience today. The guy at a Honda place thought when I said, "I'd like you to crunch the numbers and see what kind of a deal you can give me," that I was BUYING the car. It was funny...in an odd sort of way when his boss came in and started "taking over" the deal and trying to convince me that if I didn't buy it today, it would be sold. I don't like pressure....so, I said 'thank you' and 'I'll call you!'

I still have bags to unpack because yesterday I decided to go to the prayer room, and then in the evening, I went to the Friday night service they have here...then a friend came home with me and we had a late dinner and she was my first guest to sleep over!

Anyway, for you blog readers, whom I love dearly, this is the latest. Praying God gives me HIS guidance in everything....making so many HUGE decisions is challenging and I need Holy Spirit to guide me!

LOOONNNNGGGG DAY!

The movers came today to help unpack the truck. The funny part is that most of what was stored in a basement in Virginia is now once again stored in a basement here. Go figure.

It only took an hour for them to unload the truck, so I put them to work the second hour putting together some furniture I bought in Virginia! :-) So, I now have 4 very nice chairs around my kitchen table, and a beautiful mirror/coat rack next to my front door! whoo hoo!!!

I still have the U-haul truck...will return it tomorrow morning...and also about 100 miles to use; so I was off to the grocery store today in the truck! What a sight! Got enough groceries for a while. Now, I'm in the hunt for a car! Still looking for a Honda Fit (American version of the Jazz). There's one about 2 hours from here that is in my price range....but how to get it here? Oh how I long for busses and trains! So, after tomorrow morning, I will be wheel-less....which is kind of challenging in this country. I guess that will force me to get my house settled, and figure out creative ways to get out to see some cars. Ah, europe does have it's many advantages over America when it comes to transport!

I only slept about 3 hours last night....not sure why....but I did wake up trying to unload the truck in my brain and decide where everything needs to go. So, I was up at about 6 after tossing and turning for 2 hours. Hoping I sleep tonight....oh, I think I may have some ambien! Yea, that'll do the trick!

Sorry this blog has turned into kind of a diary....but my Hungarian friends have said they will be reading and keeping up with my every move...so here you go dear ones! I still miss you and always will! Loved skyping with Pepus and Lari today...great to hear your voices!

Pictures....coming.....well.....I'm taking them, just not downloading them. HA!

Home in Kansas City!

What a day! It all started at about 6:30 a.m. and by 8 a.m. I was on the road toward Kansas City from just outside Louisville, Kentucky. The drive was quite uneventful, however I did stop at Target just across the Illinois border to get some hangers for my clothes, and I ate lunch at Quizno's Sub. Yet another culture shock...as I was leaving the restaurant, a woman just randomly asked me where I'd gotten my shoes. I was a bit taken aback at first, and then realized, "Oh yea, I'm back in the U.S. where random people will just start talking to you out of the blue!" :-)

About 2 hours outside of Kansas City, I stopped to visit dear friends, Ed and Fran Lambeth in Columbia, MO. We had a short, but very nice visit and caught up a bit!

Then I finally arrived to my "new" home! The guy who has been cutting my grass was here just finishing up, so I came home to a nicely cut lawn! We had a great chat...me distracting him from grass cutting and him distracting me from unloading a few things from the U-haul truck.

I also met one of my neighbors...she was out cutting her grass and came over and introduced herself. Seems like a very sweet lady.

Well, when I walked in the house, I could tell I needed to clean....not a fun arrival, but oh well, such is life. So, I've just spent the last two hours cleaning, and now I'm ready to move in! :-) Albeit, it is nearly 11 p.m., but when the movers come tomorrow morning to unload the truck, at least they will have clean places to put things! :-)

One really strange thing is that I've not been down to the newly renovated basement apartment in my house! I've been SOOOOOOOO excited to see it, but there are renters down there, and they weren't home when I arrived, and now it's too late to go down and introduce myself...maybe tomorrow. I'm just so excited to see all the great renovations with my own eyes!

So, the next couple of days will be busy and full! I need to get moved in, try to find a car to buy, find some health insurance, and get some food in this house....not necessarily in that order!

Thanks for the prayers for a safe journey! It was a pretty easy drive...today was a bit long, but now I'm here, and will be settling in. I'm SOOOOOO glad I didn't try to bring one or both of my cats on this trip. Gotta get everything ready for their arrival in August!

Sorry, no profound thoughts in this blog, but for those who are following, hope this updates you on me and where I am!

The journey.........

I'm sitting here in a hotel room in southern Indiana, watching TV, and chilling out after driving nearly 8 hours on Interstate 64! Another 8 hours are in front of me tomorrow.

I'm starting to experience culture shock. After parking the u-haul truck, I decided to walk around the area where the hotel is, where there are a lot of shops and restaurants...but no sidewalks. So, I got some interesting looks from people IN THEIR CARS. No one is walking around....everyone is driving.

Then I've seen the 'large' people in the U.S.....and there are many of them. Wow, I am really shocked by just how many and how much they can eat as I observed them at a restaurant. Interesting. People are loud too....quite loud. All of this is very interesting for me. Sorry, no pix yet, but I have some good ones from the road!

U-haul day!

This picture is actually AFTER moving stuff. We just HAD to get Dunkin Donuts coffee and a donut as a 'reward'! Thanks Kathy and Cynnie for the treat! And Pepus, yes, we will find a Dunkin Donuts, cuz this is truly an American thing to do!


The three strong ladies who helped. Not pictured, Bobby, who stored MANY of my belongings in his basement during my 9 years in Hungary! Bless him!

Lynn was the "organize the truck person"....determining HOW to pack things in the truck!

Cynnie and Kathy hauling the dolly full of heavy boxes up from Bobby's basement to the truck!

Kathy noticed the hilarious picture on the side of the U-haul....Wally the Walrus...we named him, so Wally will be travelling to Kansas City, MO in another day or so! :-) Pictured are Kathy, Cynnie, Bobby and Lynn!

Today I drove a U-haul truck many, many miles to pick up many worldly belongings from many different places! Of course, it rained today...but thankfully, during the times when we were loading things, it seemed the rain just stopped for a few moments! Thank you, Lord!

I'm overwhelmed with the love and generosity of friends here. I'm not very good at "receiving"...but God is stretching me in this area as people just keep giving and giving and giving and giving and giving...may ALL of them be blessed in abundance for their loving gifts of time, effort, muscles, money, gifts and LOVE!

First days in the U.S. and missing Hungary!

This is Skidder, a beautiful Chesapeake Bay Retriever, who, yes, is eating corn on the cob OFF the cob! :-)

I spent the 4th of July at Lake Monticello with friends! What a perfect day! We did water aerobics in the lake, had a cookout, and just enjoyed hanging out and talking! No fireworks this year there because of the economic crisis!

Joanna Foley and me outside the Foley home in Charlottesville! We have jet-lagged eyes! :-)

Rebecca Foley being a ham!

Anna Foley and John Collmus.

I've had a very, very busy first few days in the U.S., seeing friends, collecting my worldly belongings from various people's basements, renting a U-haul truck, visiting my home church, laughing, and now, BAWLING my eyes out. The floodgates opened up tonight and I've been crying hard for hours missing people in Hungary!

More goodbyes in Hungary

My dear buddy, Barb, and Franci and Klari, precious friends....they saw me off at the airport. We all did pretty well until I started walking toward security....and then I wept my way through security! :-(

Melitta travelled from Kecskemet to Szeged to have lunch with me and say goodbye. Thanks precious friend! I miss you!

Kati and I have known each other for 18 years.......what a treasure, and as I type this, I have tears running down my cheeks!

My precious friend, Larisa....my camera was really acting up and refused to focus!

I know, I'm already in America, but I have pix from my last couple of days in Hungary that I've wanted to put on my blog. So, here you go. Doing this is challenging because I'm CRYING my eyes out....it's very painful....I miss you all!