Lots of "firsts"

I've experienced lots of "firsts" this trip to the U.S. It was my first time experiencing a cancelled flight after having waited 5 hours for it to take off. First time I'd been in Penn Station in NYC...and the first time I ever rode a train in the U.S. However it's not the first time I've had delayed luggage....AND, I just checked Delta website and my luggage has made it to Washington and is scheduled to be on a flight to Charlottesville, VA, where I am, soon! Yes, I'll have my own clothes! Yes, another first, is this is the first time I've worn Anna Foley's clothes. Thanks Anna!!!!

Lost luggage

Wish I wasn't writing about this....but so far, no luggage has arrived! PRAY!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes I really don't like traveling! Going out to shop for some clothes! Joy.......

Wedding fun!

I'm leaving for the U.S. in less than 2 hours...so I don't have time to download the plethora of pictures I took at Klari and Franci's wedding yesterday...but I will and get some up on my blog in the next couple of days! For now, know that it was an amazingly beautiful wedding...numerous times tears welled up in my eyes as this precious woman of God, whom I've known for 8 years and her wonderful new husband, who, every time I see him amazes me even more with his maturity, carried themselves with such grace, love and beauty, testifying to God's amazing grace, love and beauty!

The festivities started at the city hall...that's where the "legal" wedding must take place in Hungary...at 2:30 p.m. Then it moved to the church, and to make a long story short, I left the reception at 1 a.m. just as two Hungarian folk dancing pairs and Klari's sister began entertaining the guests at the reception with traditional wedding folk dancing!

What struck me most as I sat at the reception was the reality that this was a small picture of what heaven will be like! There were people there from sooooo many different nations, and everything was translated into three languages: Hungarian, Italian and German. Thankfully, at the wedding feast of the Lamb, there will be no need for translation, but to see the nations gathered for a party and people meeting and greeting and rejoicing in this celebration with Klari and Franci gave me a small taste of heaven and how wonderful it will be!

Scazzero again....

"Loss marks the place where self-knowledge and powerful transformation happen---if we have the courage to participate fully in the process....We numb our pain through denial, blaming, rationalizations, addictions, and avoidance. We search for spiritual shortcuts around our wounds. We demand others take away our pain. Yet we all face many deaths within our lives. The choice is whether these deaths will be terminal (crushing our spirit and life) or open us up to new possibilities and depths of transformation in Christ."

I realize the last two posts have been pretty 'heavy', but these are questions we all must face, I think, if we are going to grow in our relationships with God AND with each other. I believe true healing of the inner person and true healing in any relationship can only come through true seeking of God and allowing Him to do ALL that He needs to do, in His time and His ways, to bring healthy, lasting transformation.

Thoughts from "Emotionally Healthy Spirituality"

Peter Scazzero has written a couple of excellent books which I've read more than once now in the past few months. One is called "Emotionally Healthy Spirituality" and is a must-read, I believe, for every Christian believer, who is ready to come face to face with him/herself and allow God to do deep work inside. Here's just a couple of quotes from the book to make you ponder...

"Ultimately God chooses the length and level of intensity. He has a unique purpose for each of us, knowing how much there is to cleanse out of our inner being, and how much he wants to infuse of himself into us for his greater, long-term purposes. Our Father knows how much we can handle...."

"I rarely realize how attached I am to something until God removes it....When we put our claws into something and we don't want to take them out, we are beyond enjoying them. We now must have them.
The Wall, more than anything else, cuts off our attachments to who we think we ought to be, or who we falsely think we are. Layers of our counterfeit self are shed. Something truer, that is Christ in and through us, slowly emerges."

Ah the freedom of experiencing freedom only God can bring us to, out of the clutches of the past, the sin and the strongholds which can so easily entangle us! The "dark night of the soul" time is not enjoyable, but oh so necessary for growth! Thoughts?

Gettin' ready!

Francesco and Klari at ICF!

Anyone who has ever travelled much knows that getting ready, i.e. cleaning, doing laundry, packing, paying bills, cleaning, etc., can be tiring. I love the challenge though, and my bag is basically packed, except for toiletries, swimsuit (which I just used at the pool and is drying outside), and of course last minute things. Even though I don't leave til Sunday morning, tomorrow will be a full, fun day!

My dear friend and former student Klari Takacs will marry a wonderful young man from Italy, Francesco...and I always forget his last name! (Sorry Franci!) You must understand something about Hungarian weddings...they last basically all night long, or at least until the wee hours of the next morning! Klari's civil ceremony (required for every Hungarian) will start at 2:00 p.m., followed by the church ceremony at 3:00; this will be followed by the reception in another village. I spoke with the bride-to-be yesterday and she was "sad" to hear that I would have to leave before the end of the reception, due to flying out the next day. She assured me that I need to stay until at least 12:30 a.m. because there will be lots of fun and funny events til then! I will hit the road back to Szeged after that to sleep for a few hours before boarding my flight to the U.S. Sunday early afternoon! But first, I'm very excited to share in Klari and Franci's BIG day, and may they be blessed in abundance, walk closely with Jesus all the days of their lives and model what it means to be a couple who loves Jesus first!

Where is our strength?

My nephew, Ollie, and I had a couple of moments of clowning around and in the pictures above, you can see each of us "posing" as "strong individuals", having climbled and conquered the peaks in Torocko, Romania. We were feeling really great as we headed down through the forest...and then we began to slip and slide along the very muddy trail, losing our footing at least twice each and ending up with muddy back sides. The strength and confidence we had at the top was quickly fading, and by the time we were walking the road back to our pension, we were pretty beat. We needed rest and refreshment, and a good shower!

Where do we as believers in Jesus find our strength? Where do we get rest? Where can we find refreshment? Where can we take a good "shower"? The Psalmist David knew exactly where his strength lay: in the Lord. Numerous times throughout the Psalms we read that "The Lord is my strength", "He is my strong tower", "I will rest in the shadow of His wings", "He alone is my hope and my deliverer", and on and on...

Jesus talks a lot about water...the living water...He is that living water, pouring into and through every believer who has made Him Lord of his/her life in the person of the Holy Spirit! As we sit in the presence of God and allow Him to "shower" us with His unconditional love, grace, mercy and kindness, we are strengthened and revived after the slips and falls and challenges. The challenge is looking to Him alone for that strength...we can so easily look to people, methods, things of the world, jobs, relationships, hobbies or even Christian activities to give us strength...none of them will provide the true and lasting strength that only the Holy Spirit can pour into us as we rest in Him and allow Him to fill us up!

More pix

The roof of Stephansdom in Vienna, Austria!

Ollie standing outside the University of Vienna! His parents met in Vienna over 20 years ago!

The evening Mozart concert was in full time-period dress!

The concert was in a beautiful hall!

Beautiful Vienna experiences!

More pix from my trip with Ollie

Castle ruins outside of Torocko, Romania.

Typical Hungarian/Romanian breakfast!

We visited a working salt mine in Romania! Very cool!!!!

Yep, that's salt on the walls!

We went to see a Mozart concert in Vienna our last night together!

Here are more pix from my trip with Ollie!

Whirlwind trip with my nephew, Ollie

Visiting castle ruins in Deva, Romania.

We finally reached our destination, Torocko, Romania, and this is Ollie standing in front of the mountain range we would hike the next day. We hiked up between these two peaks, up the valley!

It was a challenging hike at points! However, extremely beautiful and well-worth the effort!

This "post" was at the top of the peak...the colors of the Hungarian flag, as this part of Romania, a 7 hour drive from Szeged, was once a part of Hungary! All the people in the village of Torocko still speak Hungarian!

One of the panoramic vies from the top!

My 15-year-old nephew, Ollie, and I enjoyed a whirlwind trip to 3 different countries in a week! First we arrived in Hungary, then drove to Transylvania in Romania (used to be Hungary before WWI), and then returned to Hungary and took a train to Vienna, Austria! Our travels included going by plane, car, bus, taxi, trolley, train, tram and underground, in addition to walking, hiking, sliding down muddy paths, scrambling over rocks and boulders, eating "strange" foods, hearing strange languages, tasting many different ice creams and experiencing many different cultures! What a blessed time!

More cruise pix

Ollie, Jennifer, Arden and Kevin on board ship.

Don't they look GREAT??? Can you believe they've been married 50 years?

We had a couple of FUN nights in the disco on board! Me, dancing with neice, Jennifer!

Ollie and his mom, Carol.

We sure had fun!

Some cruising pix

Dinner in the dining room on board ship....

After dinner in one of the boat lounges before going to the disco!!!

The "kids" on a bike trip on Visby!

Yes, we had to practice just in case we needed to abandon ship!

Here are a couple of pix from our fun family cruise. More to come.....

Quick blog....

Haven't blogged in a while because I've been with family on a celebratory cruise! My parents will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in November and invited us to go on a cruise in the Baltic Sea region. We've had a fabulous time, and today starts a special week I will spend with my 15 year old nephew, Ollie, who comes with me to Hungary! Pictures from our trip will be forthcoming.

Another good Merton thought....

"You know my soul. You know all that needs to be done there. Do it in Your own way. Draw me to you, O my God. Fill me with Pure Love of You alone. Make me never go aside from the way of Your love. Show me clearly that way and never let me depart from it: that will be enough. I leave everything in Your hands. You will guide me without error and without danger and I will love You all the way. I will belong to You. I will not be afraid of anything for I shall remain in Your hands and never leave You."

What a tremendously honest cry of the heart for intimacy with God, the only One who can fill us perfectly in every way!

More Merton

"The Holy Spirit, Who is Love living in me...is preparing far more surprising things in the future, if I will let Him act.

"There is nothing else worth living for: only this infinitely peaceful Love Who is beyond words, beyond emotion, beyond intelligence.

"Cradle me, Holy Spirit, in Your dark silver cloud and protect me against the heat of my own speech, my own judgments, and my own vision. ward off the sickness of consolation and desire, of fear and grief that spring from desire. I will give You my will for You to cleanse and rinse of all this clay.

"I want to give myself to You without solicitude, without fear or desire, not seeking words or silence, work or rest, light or darkness, company or solitude. For I will possess all things if I am empty of all things and only You can at once empty me of all things and fill me with Yourself, the Life of all that lives, and the Being in Whom everything exists."

Guess how much?

The slices of bread and pieces of fruit above were just purchased from the least expensive place in town. Take a guess as to how much all of this cost?

$6.77

Meditations from Thomas Merton

I picked up a book last evening which I've had for a while but have not read..."Dialogues with Silence" by Thomas Merton. While it is not to be read in one sitting, being more of a devotional, I devoured it and turned down corners of pages which hit my heart deeply. So here is one of those:

"Tribulation detaches us from the things of nothingness in which we spend ourselves and die. Therefore, tribulation gives us life and we love it, not out of love for death, but out of love for life.
Let me then withdraw all my love from scattered, vain things----the desire to be read and praised as a writer, to be a successful teacher praised by my students, or to live at ease in some beautiful place----and let me place everything in Thee, where it will take root and live, instead of being spent in barrenness."

Trains and Theatre - two cultural extremes

An "action" shot of the opera from our nose-bleed section seats, which I loved!

Saturday proved to be an interesting and fun day. My wonderful neighbor, Kati, who loves and takes care of my cats as if they were her own, invited me to her workplaces' annual picnic celebration. I knew she worked for MAV as some sort of secretary, but somehow, I never made the connection: She works for the company that builds, runs, maintains and organizes all the wonderful trains that go to and fro criss-crossing the country! So, yes, it was a celebration for those who work for the train system company in Hungary!

It was cool to see a photo gallery of the history of trains in Hungary, and to see probably 50 or 60 different large kettles of goulash and porkolt simmering in a row. It was definitely a cultural experience, but not unlike a celebration in the U.S....lots of food, lots of people, lots of drinks, music and fun!

Then in the evening, I donned pretty clothes and went to the Szabadteri performance...each summer there are various theatrical performances outdoors at the Dom here in Szeged! My sweet friend, Eniko, who lives in the U.S. now but just happened to be in town, invited me to see a wonderful opera performance...can't tell you the name in English, but it was very fun, funny and extremely well-done! There was a special appearance of a famous opera singer...again, no name land here....who has performed on this particular stage for 45 years!!! Of course she got quite an ovation!

Needless to say I was pretty beat after my two cultural experiences, but thankful, as ever, to be a part of this precious land's culture.

Switzerland Photo Album

Hoping that the link below will lead you to my photo album! Click on it!

http://ardencampbell.myphotoalbum.com/

Quick post...first vacation pix

Just one of many amazing vistas!

At the top of Europe: Jungfrau!

The hills are alive!

I just got home from vacation...spent 7 days with a good friend in Switzerland, hiking in the Oberland region...that's where the Eiger is and Jungfrau, etc. Was very peaceful, strenuous but relaxing at the same time, refreshing, fun, and amazing! So thankful!