The Lost was Found

While we were gone during Christmas break, an Albanian student named Ana graciously stayed to take care of our kitty Asti. A couple days after we returned, Ana came to my office & gave me the keys to our flat. I remember her in my office. I remember her handing me the keys. But beyond that, I had no memory of where our extra set of house keys went. Over the past couple of weeks, we searched in all the usual places & have come up dry.

And then today Ieva was playing with the plastic Christmas ornaments we have in the 2 jars that act as door stops. She does this often, so the only thing that caught my attention today was that she pulled the sharp metal top out of one of them. As I came over to repair the ornament, something silver in the jar caught my eye...and there they were. Our extra set of house keys.

As we tried to figure out how in the world the keys got there, our best guess is that when I brought them home from the office, I probably put them away in the drawer of our small entryway table where they usually go. Ieva likes to open that drawer and we're assuming that she got the keys & in a moment of clever creativity, thought it would be funny to hide them from mommy & daddy in a place they'd never think to look - the ornament jar! Obviously, our darling 16-month old daughter hasn't yet developed this kind of cognitive processing, but we still think she's pretty darn smart!

Here's Ieva being mischievious (& cute!)

in her new sweater we just got in the mail - thanks Michelle!

Anniversary Scares

Yesterday, January 22nd, was my parents (Buz & Barb Cliffe's) 41st wedding anniversary...and one they won't soon forget. They had decided to have a relaxing evening in with a fire in the fireplace, dinner & a rented movie. All was well when they went to bed, but when my dad got up at 3:00am (a habit mom & I used to nag at him about, but never will again), he found the living room full of smoke. They called the fire department & apparently, there was a crack in some part of the chimney & a spark was smoldering somewhere in the wall. Thankfully, mom & dad had enough time to clear everything off of the mantle & away from the fireplace before the firemen came. By the time the fire crew left, they thought all was well. Until an hour later, when mom heard a noise in the wall & looked up the chimney to see flames.

The firemen came back, but by this time, what had just been smoldering sparks were now flames that did a lot more destruction to the house. Aside from being filled with smoke mom, dad & all their stuff were okay - Thank you, Jesus!! But apparently, the house is in pretty bad shape & unable to be lived in. The insurance company is taking care of cleaning or replacing everything, and while they do, they are putting mom & dad up in a hotel where they may need to live for up to 2 months. Ug. Fortunately, they found a place where they have a small suite with a living room & kitchen, so they can be a little more comfy & don't have to live off of Subway & Wendy's for the next 2 months...but I still can't imagine it's very fun.

Please pray for my parents as they go through this tough time. I can't imagine the scare of knowing that your house could have burned down with you in it...but I guess we're all just that vulnerable. Praise God we can trust in His protection! If you're in their area & want to get in touch with them, you can always leave a message for them at the church - Covey Hill Baptist in Paw Paw or call my mom's cell phone. But most importantly, please join us in praying that God will give them peace during this relatively stressful time and praise Him for His protection over them!

Finally!! Winter has come to the Baltics!

After an unusually mild fall & winter with only one short-lived snow back in October, we're excited to finally have snow - and lots of it! Ieva has had fun with it, too - it's the first time she's really been able to get out & run around & play in it! This photo is taken in the small park behind our house where she & Andrew had a snow party! She tasted her first snow & learned how to make snow angels! All in all, we're all thrilled by the winter wonderland we now get to experience every day!



This is the view of our house from the park in our back yard. We live on the top floor - you can see the snow lining the edge of our balcony.

The Christmas that went on and on and on...

We know that Christmas isn't all about the presents... however... over the course of our Christmas break, we had 5 different family present opening sessions!

The first was in Hawaii after we exchanged names among those of us there - the immediate members of the Stave family. (the Christmas tree in our apartment pictured)
The second was in The Dalles on Christmas day at Grandma & Grandpa Smith's with Vicki's 3 siblings & their families (the first time I've been with all of them at one time)! We are pictured here with Andrew's Grandma & Grandpa Smith.

The third was the day after Christmas in Beaverton at Grandma & Grandpa Stave's with Tom's siblings & their families where we again had perfect attendance (and even the addition of 2 boyfriends). Pictured here is the entire Tom Stave family.

The fourth was at Buz & Barb's (Kim's folks) in Paw Paw(Michigan) on the 29th. Ieva & I are pictured here opening presents at my mom & dad's.





The fifth was in Midway, Kentucky at Barb's sister Shelley's home with the same crew I've spent Christmases with for most of my life: my folks, Shelley, Steve & their boys Dayn & Erik. We're all shown in the photo here.

If you count the present we opened from Corey, Leslie & Elijah (Kim's brother, sister-in-law & nephew) when we spent the night at their place in Portland on our way to Hawaii on the night of the 13th, then I guess technically, that makes 6. It was crazy!

But far beyond all the gift exchanging going on, our time with family was absolutely precious during this trip. Everyone LOVED seeing Ieva and we loved giving her the chance to be with them. It made our hearts ache to leave all of them again, but we are thankful for the rich time of fellowship we had with each one. Ieva is pictured here with her Grandpa Cliffe.