Where's Waldo?

Ieva's new favorite pastime is finding Waldo. Remember him? He's that skinny guy with big glasses and a red & white striped shirt & hat? Oh yeah...and he's always surrounded by lots & lots of crazy people and scenery with lots of bright busy colors that make it difficult to find him.


Yep - that's the one!


























She's actually gotten pretty good at finding him! In fact, she knows exactly where Waldo is now on every page of both of our books & not because we point him out to her. I still haven't figured out if she's really that smart or just has a really good memory. Regardless, we think it's pretty fun! Here's to more fun-filled Waldo searches!

The Good & the Bad of the weekend...

After a terrible start to the weekend, it has grown increasingly better. It began with a crazy afternoon at LCC with 10 things demanding my (Kim's) attention at the same time. This craziness was followed with the nerve-wracking realization that my wallet had been stolen in the midst of it all. Once I realized what happened, I spent the next hour retracing my steps from the afternoon & then the next hour on the phone cancelling my credit cards & other important documents. Because of all that, I missed the annual SLI BBQ that my staff & I had been planning (I'm so thankful for an amazing staff that can run the show without me!!) which was a bummer as well. YUCK, YUCK, YUCK!!!

But, in the midst of all that, our dear friend Sabine & her mom Hedwig & Aunt Annamie came to spend the weekend with us. Sabine was a German exchange student in my high school & lived with our family during our senior year. During that year, she was the sister I never had & we became dear friends. We've stayed in contact over the years & I've been to Germany to visit her & her parents a few times. Sabine's parents (Hedwig & Joseph) have become our European family while we live here in Lithuania, but none of them had been up here to visit us until this weekend!15 years ago we played together on the dunes of Lake Michigan. This weekend we played on the Nida dunes on the Baltic Sea.

Since Klaipeda used to belong to Germany in the first half of the 1900's (then called Memel), Hedwig & Annamie's generation had heard a lot about our region & specifically the Curonion Spit. On Saturday, we took the ferry over to the spit & then drove to the end to the resort town of Nida where we wandered around, climbed the huge sand dune & saw the German Foreign Minister who was there dedicating a museum to the German author Thomas Mann. We had a great time together & the ladies especially enjoyed meeting & getting to know our Ieva! Ieva was especially drawn to "Annie" (as she called Annamie) & couldn't get enough of her. Since Annamie is an experienced Oma (German for Grandma), she was great about it & even spent our morning coffee together in the hotel today at the kids table coloring with her! They all headed back to Germany today (Sabine to Frankfurt & Hedwig & Annamie to Koln and then on to their village of Lamersdorf).Annamie, Sabine, Kim, Ieva & Hedwig in Klaipeda's Theater Square

Being with them this weekend reminded me that in the grand scheme of life, losing a wallet stinks, but ultimately it's just another thing. I have a beautiful & healthy daughter, a loving husband, wonderful family & friends all over the world and am able to live in a unique place & have a ministry that I am passionate about. Those are the truly important things!! What's a couple (hundred) Litas and ID cards when compared to that?? It's amazing what a little love & perspective can do for you.Sabine, Kim & Ieva being silly together in Nida