Ieva's Snowy Day

We have today & tomorrow off work for our Easter break and we're having lots of fun being home together as a family! Here's a video we made of Ieva (still in her PJs) playing outside on our balcony this morning!

Kim's blessing in Dubrovnik

As I wrote earlier, part of the reason we went to Dubrovnik for our spring break was so I (Kim) could attend a retreat for missionary women hosted by the organization Women of the Harvest (WOTH). This blog would be longer than what anyone would care to read if I went into all the details of how phenomenal the retreat was & the many ways the women there blessed me to no end, so I'll just give a few highlights (which is still going to take time).

:::Pampering:::

WOTH brought 30 volunteers for the sole purpose of serving & ministering to the 75 retreat attendees. The volunteers ranged from massage therapists to counselors to worship leaders, and those who came without a specific ministry were taught to do pedicures, be small group leaders & give make-overs. We were each given a pampering scheduling card that we got to fill up as we signed up for these different luxuries. I signed up for every one. And as each woman massaged my back or painted my toenails or washed my feet, they asked what was going on in my life & then prayed over me. I've never been so simultaneously physically & spiritually pampered in all my life.my pretty painted toes

:::Gifts:::

The target area of this retreat was Central/Eastern Europe, so the WOTH retreat coordinators researched the items that American women can't readily get in this part of the world & proceeded to smother us with gifts. When we arrived we each received a big gift plate with everything from note cards to trail mix to Bath & Body Works lotion. Then every time we'd gather for a group session, we'd each find a tote bag or a coffee mug, books or chocolate chips, recipes, packets of Ranch dip mix, candy and other goodies at our seat. I couldn't believe it. The ultimate gift was the massive white elephant gift exchange they arranged where they broke us into two smaller groups of 35-ish where we sat in a circle with a big gift bag under each chair. As it was our turn, we said our name & the country we're serving in, then proceeded to pull the bag from under our chair & (without looking inside) determined if we wanted to keep it (and open it) or trade it for something that someone else had already opened. Each bag had a strategically-coordinated combo inside like: peanut butter & jelly; Bath & Body Works shower gel & a loofah sponge; a massive bag of pecans (which was a stand alone gift & the first to be "frozen" after 3 women quickly stole it!); a box of Lucky Charms & a box of pop tarts; brown sugar & chocolate chips...the amazing combinations went on & on. I ended up with a box of Swiss Miss hot chocolate packets (Andrew's favorites!) and a bag of mini-marshmallows! Apparently each volunteer was only permitted to bring one suitcase of their own; their 2nd bag was to be used fully to bring gifts for the retreat attendees. Wow...it was amazing.

:::Worship:::

WOTH brought a wonderfully talented worship leader to lead us in musical worship twice a day. They also created our own song books with a vast selection of songs ranging from classic hymns to current worship songs. We sang together before each keynote session and it was overwhelmingly beautiful to be in a room with 100 women praising Christ in song! Since I went to the retreat alone, I was struck by how free I felt to worship in whatever way the spirit led me without feeling self conscious of how people might watch & judge me (something I'm constantly aware of in our spiritually-diverse & sensitive setting at LCC). Once there, I realized that I haven't felt that kind of freedom in worship in YEARS. It was incredible. I spent much of the time weeping out of the joy that freedom brought!the WOTH worship team

:::Teaching:::

The keynote speaker for the retreat was Mimi Wilson, a beautiful woman with a beautiful heart after God who was raised in Africa to missionary parents & spent much of her adult life on the mission field with her husband. She has written several books, the one she referenced most with us is Holy Habits (1999). She challenged us, encouraged us & fed us from the Word. The illustration that stood out the most to me was when she talked about how we often pray that God will "fill our empty cups" to give us what we need. Ironically, I told my small group on the first night that the thing I was hoping to get from the retreat the most was "to be filled" as I was feeling empty & burnt out. A day or two later, Mimi holds up a small empty glass in front of us & then lowers it into a large pitcher full of water. She talked about how we're often praying for God to fill us, when really, it's just a matter of us submersing ourselves into Him & then we're immediately filled. She talked about dwelling in God...living always IN the full pitcher of water. It's when we pull our small cup out that we're quickly drained by all the different pulls life has on us. I was in awe, as it was exactly what I needed to hear.Mimi Wilson, WOTH keynote speaker

:::Connections:::

For a person with the strength of Connectedness like me (from the Gallop Strengths Finder test), the way I got to share my life with 74 other women who truly get the kind of life I'm living was fantastic. And, I met loads of people who I actually have real connections with: one girl was led to the Lord in college by a good friend I've met at LCC, another girl is the cousin of a woman I used to work with in Oregon, and I discovered that the founder of the entire WOTH organization is the sister of a dear friend of mine that I've known since I was 15 from camp! And I made a new friend who was a kindred spirit from the first time we talked - Kathy was one of the volunteers who came from Tennessee who was one of my 2 small group leaders. She & I bonded so deeply & dearly during those 4 days that it's obvious that only the Lord brought us together. Despite only being with her for 4 days and our roughly 20-year age gap, I feel like I've known her for years & already love her dearly. It was a joy to run into many of the volunteers & especially Kathy 2 days after the retreat finished in downtown Dubrovnik!Kathy got to meet Andrew & Ieva in Dubrovnik after the retreat!

:::Healing:::

I've heard it said that you often don't know how sick you are until you've been healed and can look back with some retrospect. This was me 100%. The retreat began on Thursday evening as we met with our small groups & shared what we hoped to get out of the next 3 days. On Sunday Kathy told me that she could see how empty & hurting I was that first Thursday & by Sunday she saw a totally new persona within me. I did go into that retreat in bad shape. I was carrying the leftover burdens of burnout from my job, the loss of our beloved nanny & our current haphazard childcare system, our surprising & devastating miscarriage, guilt over not giving enough to my family or my staff, etc, etc, etc... and then my empty cup was submerged into the overflowing love of Jesus shown to me through each of these elements of the retreat. I truly feel like I have been healed from a sickness I didn't even know how to describe prior to attending & I praise God for it! Since returning from Dubrovnik I've had a fresh outlook on everything around me and now can live each day immersed in the lavish love & freedom of Christ! Hallelujah!!He makes all things new!

The Pearl of the Adriatic: Dubrovnik, Croatia

After the length of the previous post, we'll give you all a break from reading and let you sit back and enjoy the view.

The view from our balcony during the day...

...and at night.

A Dubrovnik sunset

Part of the old city wall

Kim & Ieva looking out over the old city from the carport above our apartment

Ieva taking a rest from all the stairs going down to the old city with a new friend!

Part of the old city fortress

The narrow sidewalks & stairs within a residential area of Dubrovnik

In the city of Zadar, on the Northern Croatian coast

Outside the Zagreb Cathedral at sunset

What a fabulous trip!

Is this the road to Dubrovnik?

(Written by Andrew, who contributes once annually to the Blog)
That was the theme of the first part of the trip Ieva and I made to connect with Kim in sunny Dubrovnik, Croatia (Hrvatska in Croatian). After getting the two of us packed, fed, on the bus to Vilnius, taxi to the airport, back to town for dinner, back to the airport by taxi, 5 hours of sleep in a room with no shower, 6am flight to Prague, 7 hour layover and flight to Zagreb, at 2:30pm we were into our rental car and on the road to Dubrovnik for our anticipated 7.5 hour drive. Since the car came with the free upgrade of a GPS system, the question we continually asked our new friend "GPS", was "Is this road to Dubrovnik?"

I have limited experience with GPS navigational systems and had not intended to use one until I believe (never confirmed) that the rental company gave it to us to keep us happy when our Fiat Punto that we reserved online (car with some room) turned into a Fiat Panda (car with room for Ieva, a Ieva sized friend and a bag of pretzels).

Croatia is shaped like a backwards comma and the Zagreb airport is somewhere at the top of the comma with Dubrovnik at the extreme south end. Our goal was to head to the A1 motorway that spans most of Croatia's long and skinny western coast. I entered a Dubrovnik address into our electronic friend and it immediately told me to drive straight and then turn left in 210 meters. I thought, "wow, how precise" and started off.
My instincts told me that I would need to drive west for a while before we linked up with the motorway and even though we spent considerable time driving southeast, I thought that it must be setting me up to hit the motorway through a more direct, back road route rather then a major highway.

2.5 hours later and nearly at the border of Bosnia I resigned myself to the fact that the automatic settings were set to take me the absolute most direct route and this was through Bosnia. So I began the task of figuring out where I was, where I wanted to be and how to get there. I soon realized that my friend GPS wasn't going to be much help after it sent me two miles down a dirt road that ended in a large mud quarry with a burned out old steam shovel and a bunch of broken down farm equipment that had been run off the road. I have to say at that point that I was less then confident in my new friend's abilities. Trying to get your microscopic rental car down a wet dirt road with your wet diapered two year old screaming, "Ieva want to get on Dada" isn't fun in rural America but in rural Croatia where the guide books say, "if you see signs that say "land mines, stay on the path", they mean, stay on the path!", its more then a little disconcerting. Needless to say, the atlas worked out better for me the next few turns and finally I got to the freeway where I was able to drive unimpeded for several hours on beautiful three lane motorways with little traffic, lots of gas stations and places to stop.

I mistakenly went back to the GPS which was proving more reliable until we encountered the one thing that GPS can't handle, road closures. Apparently a bridge was being repaired and the resulting detour was more then it could take. As the hour became later (11:30pm) and the detour became longer I again began to lose faith in "GPS". Croatia doesn't identify with my need for "affirmation signs", signs that aren't necessarily at a major turn or intersection but that "affirm" that you are indeed still on the right path (I think that the 150 km detour had three signs saying "Dubrovnik"). After the GPS unit sent me again on a wild goose chase into an abandoned gravel parking lot of a factory in what could have been Kazakhstan, I reversed direction, pulled up to the road I had just left and offered up a desperate prayer. It was 12.00am, the "system" had been telling me that I was 1.5 hours away for 1.5 hours and my cell phone was out of network coverage. I'd been driving for 9 hours with a two year old (who other then 5 minutes of crying was an angel and I was so proud) mostly in the dark on country roads in the mountains somewhere between the Adriatic and the Black Sea and I was at the end of my rope.
No sooner had the "God, just get me to Dubrovnik" exited my lips when a car flashed by with a license place that started with DU. I thought, "could that stand for Dubrovnik", didn't wait to find out and tore after the car. Needless to say, the car took me right to the outskirts of the city, 150 km away and I was able to pick up Kim at her hotel and get to our flat.

I have to say that never in my life has God answered a prayer so fast. I don't tend to get to the end of my rope very easily so perhaps it was the absolute desperate thoughts of spending the night in this little car in the middle of nowhere with my sleeping daughter that prompted the rapid response but I couldn't have even snapped my fingers before the answer to my dilemma was in front of me. Its amazing how when we get to the end of ourselves there's a lot of God left to cling to.

At 1:30am after 11 hours of driving when we finally settled into our flat, owned by a strange but nice man named Mirko, we were greeted by the reason we came, the view of the old city and its ancient harbor was magnificent and was right out our bedroom window. While I would have gladly traded the 11 hour drive for the 1 hour flight that Kim had taken, the experience, the time with Ieva even in frustration and humility was worth it as I silently praised God for his provision and faithfulness to his children, even the ones who don't always think that we need it.

Croatia, here we come!

For the past 5.5 years we've lived here, we've often talked about exploring the Balkans - especially Croatia (since we heard the coast was amazing) and Albania (since we've had a number of Albanian students that we've known well at LCC). So, the time has come for us to head south & check it out!

Part of what promted our trip was a retreat designed for women missionaries sponsored by the organization Women of the Harvest that will be hosted in Dubrovnik this weekend. The timing was perfect, the price was right, I am IN NEED of some spiritual nourishment, and everything has fallen into place for us to go. Hallelujah! I can't wait.

So, tonight I'll board a bus for Vilnius & spend the night in the airport hotel so I can catch my 6am flight out in the morning. I fly to the capital of Zagreb in the northern part of the country & then have a 1 hour layover before catching another flight to Dubrovnik. Pray that I don't have any delays & can catch my flight on time! The retreat is held at a 4-star hotel in downtown Dubrovnik and aside from the spiritual teaching & fellowship they advertise that there is a fair amount of pampering involved. Again I say Hallelujah!!

On Sunday Andrew & Ieva will fly to Zagreb, rent a car & drive down to Dubrovnik. It's faster to drive through Bosnia to get there, so they'll go that route & will meet me Sunday evening. Please pray for their travels as Andrew navigates the bus, plane & rental car all with Ieva in tow!

You can see how Croatia stretches down the coast of the Adriatic Sea - Dubrovnik is the furthest city south!

We plan to spend the rest of the week relaxing in Dubrovnik & are hoping to drive down to Albania for a day or two. We've discovered that Croatian rental car companies don't allow you to cross over the borders of non-EU countries with their cars, so if we want to go to Albania, we'll have to find a different way to do it. We're hopeful something will work out. Next Thursday we plan to start heading up the coastline, spending a night somewhere mid-way up and then making our way back to Zagreb in time to fly back on Saturday. We'll post photos when we return! Thanks again for your prayers for us - please pray that the retreat can give the spiritual nouishment I'm longing for & the trip can be the mental & physical break we both need.

Grandma & Grandpa Stave came to visit!

Hi! This is Ieva writing. I wanted to tell you all about my Grandma & Grandpa Stave coming to visit me!! They left this morning to fly in an airplane to go home to Oregon. I'll fly in an airplane to see them in Oregon later this summer.

We had soooo much fun together here at my house in Klaipeda! We read lots of books together -- my favorite is "Drummer Hoff fired it off...KABABLOOM!!" we played with my toys, talked about letters and words, I got really good at my alphabet because we practiced a lot, we danced and sang and cooked and Grandma let me try wearing big girl underwear but I kept going pee-pee in them so I stayed in my pull-ups most of the time.Yesterday we went to Palanga to eat kepta duona (that's fried bread with melted cheese) at the big HBH restaurant where there's a play area for kids. Grandma & Grandpa went to the Amber museum with Keith & Casey and some students and then walked around in the rain. After my nap when Mommy & Daddy & I came to get them, they were really wet! It was great having so much time with Grandma & Grandpa and I can't wait to see them again this summer!