Ieva turns 3!!!

On September 25th, our baby had her 3rd birthday! We had a great time spending the next 3 days celebrating! Before she went to school on the 25th we opened the box from Grandma & Grandpa Stave, Auntie Hannah, Uncle Morgan and Auntie Ingrid. She immediately wanted to cover herself with the fun band aids they sent - especially the cool Spiderman ones from Ingie! And she wanted to wear her new sweater that Grandma knit for her to school.The birthday girl in her new sweater that Grandma Stave knit

Showing off her Spidey band aids for Auntie Ingie!

We sent her to school with chocolate chip mini-muffins to share with her friends & we picked her up from school with a big flower made out of twisted balloons which all the kids thought was pretty cool. That evening we went to her favorite pizza place & let her order special treats that she normally wouldn't get. We came home & let her open a couple presents, then talked to Ama & Grandpa Buz (Kim's parents) on skype. She & I made a big pan of imported American brownies and our friends Carrie, Jared and Chris all came over to sing her happy birthday.

Mom & Dad got her a pretty pink umbrella!

Then on Saturday, we had a JUNGLE PARTY for her friends! We decorated the house like a jungle and gave all the kids stuffed giraffes as a gift to take home. Ieva's friends Sophie, David & Erik came. We were sad that Erik, Nike & Ema weren't able to come, but our small living room was still full of energy with only 4 kids!

Welcome to the Jungle!

Birthday girl

friends...Ieva, Sophie, David & Erik

Getting ready to give out giraffes to her friends!

The jungle crew...

After Ieva blew out her candles on Saturday, we asked her to tell us how old she is now. She did her typical response of holding up her hand & slowly opening up 1, 2 & 3 fingers...but then she pulled up a 4th finger & said "I'm 4!" I said "are you sure? I thought you were 3?" To which she responded "we had a party the other day & I was 3 then. At this party, now I'm 4!" Pretty good theory, huh? :)three...

Prayers have paid off!

The first two weeks of Ieva's preschool debut were difficult. Very difficult. Much more difficult than I (the mommy of the family) ever expected. Our kid has been saying goodbye to us as we left the house each morning since she was 11 months old. On the occasional day that she decided to be clingy, the babysitter always said that within 2 minutes she was as happy as a clam again. So she should do fine going to school, right? Apparently not so much.

We had talked it up. School was a BIG deal for BIG kids! On her first day she was excited...at least in theory. When it actually came to walking her into that classroom & then walking away, her excitement was replaced by tearful pleadings for us to not leave her there. We'd come at the end of the day, hopeful that she had adapted (like she did at home with the babysitters) but instead found her tearful in the arms of her teacher.

Mornings were getting increasingly difficult by the day. The worst was Friday of the second week when she cried so hard with me in the coat room that she made herself throw up. It was all I could do to not scoop her up and run all the way home so we could spend the day together in familiar comfort. Instead, I pryed her out of my arms and into the extended arms of a teacher & fled the building as quickly as I could so as not to let Ieva, the teacher or anyone else see the tears I was fighting back.

I was having such self-doubt about my parenting. In the evenings she was acting out far more than usual so instead of lavishing her with comforting time together as a family, we found ourselves in discipline mode more than anything else. We knew why it was hard for her - she's an extremely verbal kid and the teachers don't understand her when she speaks English to them. That would frustrate me, too! And she's never had such a high kid to adult ratio in her life...sharing the teachers attention with 14 other kids was challenging for her. And she probably doesn't fully understand everything going on around her. And they feed her weird food (not the PB&J or Mac & Cheese that we spoil her with here). No wonder she was upset!

This past Monday we decided that we'd all walk to school together (it's on the way to LCC) but only Andrew would take Ieva in and drop her off. She reacts much more emotionally to me than to him, so for both her emotional stability and mine, we removed myself from the morning drop off. And suddenly...everything changed. At the end of the day she was playing happily when I came to pick her up. The teacher said she hadn't cried all day!

By Wednesday Andrew said that he had to remind her to give him a hug & a kiss because she was in such a rush to run into her classroom! And by this past Friday when I had to drop her off in the morning, she did the same to me. I was thrilled!!

I've talked to a number of moms at LCC (and beyond) over those first two weeks seeking advice, wisdom & prayer. A number of people have said they were praying for her (and me) as she transitioned. And at least for last week, the prayers paid off! I don't expect perfectly smooth sailing from here on out, but having one good week was so very encouraging!

Ieva's 2nd Flower Girl Debut...

...was just over a month after her first on September 6 for the wedding of Aurelija, Ieva's first nanny. Aurelija joined our family in August of 2006 when Ieva was 11 months old. She left us in November of 2007 to move to Lithuania's capital city of Vilnius where her boyfriend Balys lived so they could see what it was like to date while living in the same city. We had met Balys & thought he was pretty fantastic, so we were happy for them to develop their relationship in closer proximity to each other, but were heartbroken to lose Aurelija. We've stayed in touch with the couple - visiting when we're in Vilnius or when they're in Klaipeda and were thrilled when they got engaged over Easter. They invited us to the wedding before we left for the summer, and when we returned from the States they asked if Ieva would be their flower girl...an unusual element for a Lithuanian wedding. Ieva already had the dress, so we just changed the sash from green to red to match their colors.

the red version

We spent a glorious weekend in Vilnius around the time of the wedding: the weather was in the high 80's (a nice break from the 60's it had been in Klaipeda), the city was hosting "Vilnius Days" which covered all major streets & squares with local artisans selling their wares and concerts, we took our friends Jared, Carrie & Charlotte Schumacher and had fun introducing them to the city as well. Our highlight of the weekend was by far the wedding.On the train to Vilnius with the Schumachers

The ceremony was beautiful & much like many evangelical weddings we’ve attended except in Lithuanian. Since the reception wasn't scheduled to begin until after the bride & groom drive around the city taking photos, they had planned for the 60+ of us remaining to take a rousing driving tour of the city on 2 decorated trolley buses – complete with on-board entertainment & food! It was a very fun way to stall while the photo shoot happened. We returned to the church just before the bride & groom and each guest proceeded to line up in the lawn & present gifts to the couple, give greetings and take a photo. Of course, we had forgotten our gifts in Klaipeda, but it was still fun to get a few minutes to chat with them personally.Here come the bride & groom!

We had gone to the wedding expecting to know no one but the bride & groom and to not understand much. Instead, we were amazed by the number of LCC alumni there as well as how many people spoke great English & were very excited to talk to us! We were also blessed to be surrounded by such a vibrant, young Christian Lithuanian group of people. Even though I had to carry Ieva down the isle (again!) no one minded & she was a star in her beautiful dress. All in all, a wonderful celebration and a wonderful weekend!

Ieva's 1st Flower Girl Debut...

...was on August 3rd in her Auntie Hannah & (now) Uncle Morgan's wedding in Oregon. Since Hannah got her an amazing dress that practically matched her own wedding dress, we talked a lot about how Hannah would be the Queen & Ieva would be the Princess for the day. Once in the dress, Ieva felt pretty good about herself so she kept trying to convince us that she was ALSO a Queen (along with Auntie Hannah, of course)! Getting Ready...

Royalty

The wedding was held at a golf course on the McKenzie River outside of Eugene. The ceremony was under a canopy & the reception in a covered picnic area with a backdrop of mountains. It was a beautiful setting & fun to celebrate with all of the Stave family and lots of friends!

The Stave Girls

(Ingrid, Hannah, me & Ieva)

The Lithuanian Staves

The wedding's official cake-tester

Kickin' it up at the reception

(aren't the crocs great? They were Hannah's idea...)

Our baby goes to School (preschool)

Normally September 1st involves Kim and I rushing around LCC as we finalize last minute housing details, hire last minute student employees and begin to arrange what our semester will look like as we interact with the students that we minister to in the university. This September 1st was a little different as we dressed Ieva up in a "pretty dress" and walked the 15 minutes to "Obelele Darželis" a derivative of "little apple kindergarten or preschool. This preschool is fairly close to our normal walking route to LCC and is tucked away in a little neighborhood off the main road. While on the outside it doesn't look like much, the teachers are friendly, the director is happy to have "foreigners" in her school and the staff, even though they don't speak English, try very hard to communicate with us and Ieva.

Kim had run out the night before to buy some flowers for her teacher and teacher's assistant. (a September 1st tradition in Lithuania) We made her look all pretty (not a tough task) and headed out the door for the walk. Along the way we talked about all the kids she would get to play with, the new toys and games she would see and all the fun she would have with her new friends.


She fortunately already had two friends in the preschool, David and David, both English-speaking children of some LCC colleagues. As soon as we arrived she seemed to be fine and when she sat down next to a little girl and began to play in the little kitchen, we thought we were home free.

And then it started...."I want you to stay with me, I want to go to your office with you, I want to go to LCC with you mommy." I guess we should have expected it but it has been a hard week of early morning goodbyes. In fact, each day has been harder then the one before, culminating with this morning when Kim had to drag a limp, crying girl in the front door, leave her with her teacher (who is very sweet and patient) and walk quickly away. One thing that it has reinforced is how much she appreciates us and hugs us when we pick her up in the afternoon. There's nothing like a little girl hug to make a daddy melt.

Overall we're hopeful that this will pass and she'll be excited about going to school and playing with her friends. One other fun thing is that she has begun to say many of the Lithuanian words that she is learning. As we walked to school one day, Ieva spouted out proudly "girl is mergaite" and even pronounced it pretty well. Each day she's adding more words, counting to ten in Lithuanian and adjusting to this different way of life then her norm, a babysitter coming to our house and focusing only on her.

While it will take time, we're excited for her language learning opportunity, excited for her to make more friends and continue to grow and experience new things. We welcome your prayers for her to adjust and develop a sense of security when we leave as well as prayers for us to trust that she'll be ok when she's clinging to us and begging us not to leave her in the mornings.

The 'Getting to Know Us' series...

After living in Lithuania for 6 years, it's easy for us to forget that many people have either lost track what we do here, while some new friends may have never had a very good picture of it in the first place!

The following series of blog posts are categorized topically, allowing you to read what interests you most.

Life in Lithuania 1 gives a general overview of how we came to live here, links to specific information about LCC's mission & history, where we've lived, how our family has grown & a little about our lifestyle .

Life in Lithuania 2 is more specifically about our ministry roles at LCC and how our jobs have evolved over the past 6 years.

Life in Lithuania 3 gives you a taste of our economy here - what things cost and how that has changed during the past 6 years as well.

Life in Lithuania 4 specifically outlines the details of how our funding process works. If you're feeling led to donate to our ministry, please see that post for information for how to do it online or via snail mail.

Life in Lithuania 5 tells you about our church history over the past 6 years while we've lived here and some of the things we've learned about "doing church" on the mission field.

These will give you a brief taste of our lives here...if there is some other aspect of our lives that you're interested in hearing more about, please let us know!

Life in Lithuania 1: an overview from 01-08

In December 2001, we were told about a Christian College in Lithuania that develops leaders in post-Soviet Eastern Europe. We were intrigued & upon further research, discovered much more about this unique place called Lithuania Christian College. In 1991, months after the country of Lithuania gained its' independence from the Soviet Union, LCC was founded at the request of the national ministry of education. To read more basic facts & figures about LCC, click here.

In August 2002, we sold virtually everything we owned, let people borrow the rest & moved from Newberg, Oregon to Klaipeda, Lithuania to work for LCC. Andrew was 26 years old & Kim was 27. We had been married two years. Andrew was hired to be the Sports & Recreation and Student Orientation Coordinator, and Kim to be the Director of Leadership & Service. In 2002, LCC had approximately 500 students and only approximately 20 of them were international students (not counting students from neighboring Latvia).

We had to raise $19,000 for our first year here. The value of one US dollar was 3.54 Lithuanian Lita (LTL). For every $100 that was donated to us, we got 354 LTL - it was a great deal! As I write today, April 6, 2008 we currently get 2.2 LTL to every US dollar. This year we need to raise $37,000 to cover our living expenses. To read more of our perspectives about the changing economy in Lithuania, click here.

From 2002-2003 we lived on the 5th floor of a red brick Soviet-bloc apartment building that looked identical to the 50 other buildings in our neighborhood - some were 12 story while some (like ours) were only 5. There were 3 apartments on every floor. Our apartment had two bedrooms as well as a two-room bathroom (tub, sink & washer in one, toilet in the other) & a small balcony. We didn't own cell phones. Or a car.

In the spring of 2003 we moved to the 3rd floor of a small German house on a quaint, tree-lined cobblestone street named Vilties Gatve (Hope Street). It houses an Oil company office on the 1st floor, a family with 3 kids on the 2nd & us at the top. Our apartment has two bedrooms & the room for the toilet is inside the larger bathroom in this one. We have a nice big balcony, but no bathtub. We got cell phones, but not a car.

In the fall of 2003 we acquired our first baby, Astorijus the cat. A colleague heard him crying in her parking lot when he was only 3 week old & rescued him. She didn't want a cat, but knew we did. We thought she was a girl, so we named her Astorija (Astoria) to remind us of the beautiful city in Oregon, but with a Lithuanian spelling. As she grew bigger she grew parts that only boy cats have, and since Lithuanian names can easily be converted to the opposite gender, we changed his name to Astorijus (A-story-oos). We call him Asti. He comes when we call & is always waiting at the door when we come home. He loves to play, but never uses his claws on people - only the furniture.

In September of 2005, Ieva Kirstine was born in the Baltic American Clinic in our capital city of Vilnius. If you want to read more or see photos, go back to our earlier blogs here. She has been the highlight of our lives since the day she was born!

Now in 2008, we're nearly finished with our 6th academic year at LCC. The school has changed its' name to LCC International University. Andrew is now the Athletic Director & Kim the Director of Community Life. The president who has served for the vast majority of LCC's 17- year life, Jim Mininger, is about to retire after 14 years of service. Our student population has grown to 600 students, nearly half of whom are internationals.

We've lived in our little house in the trees (as my dear Aunt Shelley calls it) for 5 years and have started our family here. We still don't have a bathtub or a car (despite our temptations to purchase both), and Kim still uses the same cell phone she bought in 2003 (who needs new technology??) Andrew is now 31 & Kim 33 years old. We just celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary last month & adore playing with our 2-1/2 year old daughter. We've lived in Lithuania for approximately 65% of our married life and have worked at LCC longer than either of us have worked any other job.

This is Lithuania: our home.

Life in Lithuania 2: What we do

In 2002, we were both hired to work in LCC's 3-year old Student Life division: Andrew as the Sports & Recreation and Student Orientation Coordinator & Kim as the Director of Leadership.

In the 5 years Andrew had this role he supervised a 3-student sports & rec staff who planned & facilitated sport tournaments. Back in 2002 we didn't have a gym, so he organized ping-pong, pool & chess matches. Since there was an outdoor basketball court behind our student dormitory (a 30-minute walk from the main campus), they would occasionally organize a basketball or floor hockey tournament there. Since the completion of the Michealsen Center in 2003, he's increased his sporting events to include intramural basketball, volleyball & football (American soccer) tournaments, as well as introduce badminton and indoor floor hockey to the LCC student athletes. With the new gym came a beautiful weight room and a 5-person fitness center staff whom he also supervises. He also helped coach the LCC men's basketball league team in that time. On the Orientation side of things, he supervised a 12-student staff to plan freshman orientation events and taught a first year seminar class (then called LIFE group).

In August of 2007 along with the inception of a serious men's basketball program (including a recruited coaching staff & recruited players), Andrew was promoted to Athletic Director. Beginning in the fall of 2008, he'll pass the orientation baton to someone else to focus fully on developing LCC's growing athletic programs.

Quickly after being recruited for the Director of Leadership role, Kim received notification that the position she was REALLY interested in at LCC became available and she transitioned into the Director of Community Life (which was where her real passions lay all along). In 2002 she supervised a 3-person staff of Resident Directors (RDs), all of whom lived & worked in LCC's one dormitory, Karklu Hall. Each RD had a side responsibility supervising another, smaller student program: student activities, student health & international students. In 2003 Kim's staff shrank to 2 as we decreased the RD staff, but in 2004 it went back up to 3 as we saw the need for a more comprehensive educational program for our rapidly increasing international student population and developed the Intercultural Student Program.

During the 2006-2007 academic year, Kim's role took on a whole new vision as she worked on the planning team of a new on-campus residence hall. Due to this new facility opening it's doors in August 2007, her RD staff increased back up to 3 again. At the same time, with our international student population continuing to sky-rocket, we saw the need for a second staff member working on the Intercultural Team and Kim's overall staff increased to 5.

Kim has also been given a myriad of additional responsibilities throughout the past 6 years as a sort of "second in command" within the LCC Student Life Division. Whenever our VP is away, Kim is acting VP. For the past few years she has managed the Student Life staff recruitment process and serves as the primary judicial affairs officer (disciplinarian) for the campus. She has run the Student Life programming each July for the Summer Language Institute (SLI) and has been given a slew of other random responsibilities ranging from editing the Student Handbook to organizing the "bag of chips" staff award.

Both of us stay very BUSY...but both of us love what we've been called to do. Andrew has been able to work with LCC's athletic demographic to teach & model sportsmanship & has had countless opportunities to engage in meaningful discussions with these students. Kim has worked closely with LCC's residential population & has really enjoyed the conversations that largely result from disciplinary situations, as it's there that she can dig deep about the real issues in students' lives.

Life in Lithuania 3: The Wallet

When we arrived in Lithuania, one of the first things that hit us was how cheap everything was: groceries, eating out, going to movies, transportation, etc. Our first day in Klaipeda, a colleague took us to a restaurant and we ate dinner for 12 litas ($3.40 US) including a full meal and coke.

We would routinely get groceries, filling up two large bags with food and household products for around 50 litas ($14.15 US) and be on our merry way. Getting around town was easy as a bus ticket from one end of town to the other (purchased in advance) cost .80 centas ($0.23 US). A taxi ride from our house to LCC was 4 litas ($1.13 US) , including a small tip for the driver.

On the occasion that we wanted a good dose of Americana we would go to the local cinema and see an American movie in English with Lithuanian subtitles. On cheap movie Mondays, the viewing cost us 6 litas ($1.69 US) or the full price on other days was 10 litas ($2.82 US). Dinner and a movie could be had for the two of us for 50 litas ($14.15 US) resulting in two well-fed and well-entertained foreigners.

As we slowly watched the value of the US dollar decline in relationship to the Euro, (the Lita is attached to the value of the Euro: if it goes up, so does the Lita) we watched as things started to slowly get more expensive. Today's US dollar buys 2.19 litas, a drop of 39% of its value 6 years ago. This combined with the double digit inflation that we are experiencing lately has caused a large increase in the costs that we are having to bear.

That same dinner we had on our first day in town is now 21 litas ($9.58 US), the same movie costs 13 litas ($5.93 US). The grocery store now only gives us one bag full of groceries for our 50 litas ($22.83 US).

Getting around town just went up last month as the pre-purchased bus ticket is now 1.50 litas ($0.68 US) and the same taxi ride is now 8 litas ($3.65 US). It is good, however, not to have a car as gas prices here are outrageous: 3.30 litas per liter or 13.20 litas per gallon ($6.02 US) up from 2.20 litas per liter, 8.80 per gallon. ($2.48 US).

While everything overall has become somewhat more expensive, the place where our wallets really feel the pinch is in our housing costs. When we arrived, monthly rent for our first apartment was 1000 litas with an average utility bill of 250 litas (1250 litas = $353 US) Our apartment now costs 1100 litas per month with an average utility bill of closer to 400 litas. (1500 litas =$684.93 US) In the winter months with heating prices increasing, our highest month was nearly 1700 litas ($776.26 US). Ouch!

Even the postage that we use to send our thank you notes, Christmas cards and prayer letters has risen dramatically. Recently we bought 20 international stamps for 2.90 litas apiece ($1.32 US). Prior to 2007, international stamps cost 1.70 litas each ($0.58 US).

As you can see, what used to be the quaint and inexpensive land of Eastern Europe has rapidly become much more like Western Europe: the place that we joke about not being able to afford to visit.

Life in Lithuania 4: How we're funded

Let's start in the very beginning... (a very good place to start!)
When we first learned about LCC and our chance to be a part of it, the reality of raising our own support was a daunting task. Kim had raised support for a number of short team projects but as far as long term, full time support raising, neither of us had much experience with it.

We clung to the promise that God's finger would never point where His hand would not provide and proceeded to send out more then 400 letters to friends, family, acquaintances, colleagues and anyone else that we could think of that might be interested in partnering with us in this journey God was taking us on.

We received an abundance of responses to our letter, many one time gifts, many words of encouragement, commitments of prayer and approximately 30 commitments to monthly funding. With a good percentage of our first year's annual need (around $19,000) raised in one time gifts, a huge garage sale and early monthly gifts, we moved our life to Lithuania in August of 2002.

How our funding works...
Individuals and/or churches send monthly, annual or one-time checks to LCC's North American Charity office in Harrisonburg, Virginia where an LCC employee logs the checks, ensures that the money is credited to the right LCC employee and deposits a predetermined monthly amount into our checking account. This same amount is deposited whether or not we receive the actual sum total needed that month, which means LCC pays for us in advance (to ensure we have what we need each month) and the funds that come in for us pay LCC back.

Each LCC employee operates within a recommended budget amount that is based on a number of variables (number of family members, educational loans, childcare, etc). Our budget includes lines for:

• Travel to and from the States (1x/year for fundraising)
  
• Housing
• Living expenses
• Visa and residency permits
• Medical insurance
• Child care,
  
• Graduate school loans
  
• Discretionary travel
  
• And in our final year, there will be a resettlement allotment
  

What you don't see here are things like savings, retirement plans, college funds for Ieva, things like that.
Different strokes for different folks...
North American volunteers at LCC are funded from a variety of sources. Some are sent by their mission agency fully funded, some are sent by mission agencies only partially funded & have to raise the rest. Others are funded fully by churches while others are self-funded. One set of friends are actually funded by one individual who hires them on as employees and pays them to teach at LCC.

There are several of us for whom LCC acts as our mission agency, which means we have to work individually to raise all our funding, but the donations are channeled through & organized by LCC. We've been told by the LCC charity office that in LCC's 17-year history, we have had the broadest range of individual donors of any expat volunteer. That donor group includes approximately 30 consistently-giving individuals or families, three consistently-giving churches and a large number of individuals who have given one-time gifts.

Set-backs...
This system has worked fairly well for us (our needs have essentially been met each year), but since our costs have doubled during our 6 years here, it's getting more difficult to continue living off the same monthly gift amounts that were established in 2002. This means we have to keep working at finding new monthly donors and pray that God would continue to lay us on the hearts of those who have the resources to give us a significant one-time gift.

As our time in Lithuania has gone on, we've been amazed by the faithfulness of many of our long term, consistent givers. We've also had a number of amazing surprises, people who gave one-time gifts that shocked and humbled us. Over the past six years we have truly experienced the love & support of a long-distance community who give so faithfully.

This year...
Over the years we've also lost a large number of supporters; people who pledged to give and for whatever reason, have dropped off our lists. While we have continued to speak in churches, make new contacts and communicate the vision and ministry of what we are doing in Lithuania, this year's funding has been much poorer than in past years. Aside from our shifting support base, some other suspected reasons are Lithuania's recent inflation, the incredibly weak US dollar, and six years of being further from only being in people's minds through e-newsletters, blogs and notes.

Ultimately however, it's the declining dollar and rising prices that have most impacted our costs. A $50 per month gift in 2002 resulted in 3% of our total annual need. That same gift today in 2008 meets only 1.5 % of our annual need. In 2002 dollars, it bought us 177 litas. Today it buys us 109.5. This means that we either need to have more people giving the same amounts or the same people giving larger amounts or some combination of both to meet our needs.

Will you prayerfully consider joining our funding family?

You can either donate a tax-deductible gift online here, or send a check made out to LCC INTERNATIONAL FUND to LCC International Fund, 39 Southgate Court, Suite 202, Harrisonburg, VA 22801. Please put our names on the memo line so the funds go to our account. Thank you!

Life in Lithuania 5: Our church

Many people wonder how we "do church" while living in Lithuania. It's certainly been an interesting process, but we're so thankful for how God has provided us with a church home that truly has become the body of Christ to us.

From 2002-2005 we attended St. John's English-speaking Anglican church. Services were in the evening so we could rent building space from the Evangelical Lutheran church. Our pastor was an English Anglican Minister married to a wonderfully sweet Dutch woman. Toward the end of 2004, the British dioceses decided that St. John's was not a self-sustaining congregation & needed to close its' doors. In other words, the congregation couldn't pay to keep the church going. But the congregation was made up of missionaries & students -- go figure!!

Since the majority of our congregation was made up of LCC staff, faculty & students, we made a decision to go through a period of discernment to seek the Lord's leading on what was next for us. At the end of it all, we felt led to begin our own body - International Christian Fellowship (ICF). We partnered with the local Salvation Army ministry, as they have a large facility that is perfect for our needs & our rent helps them fund their work with the local homeless & street kid population. Partnering with them also gives us opportunities to join in their ministries, which has been a tremendous blessing for our congregation!

It used to be difficult to worship with the same people every Sunday that we saw at work every day. But the longer we're there, the greater sense of community we feel within that specific group. Not everyone at LCC attends ICF. There is also an evangelical Christian Lithuanian church called City Church that meets at LCC each week where many colleagues go. It tends to have more upbeat & modern worship and there is translation from Lithuanian into English for non-Lithuanian speakers. We've attended at times, but have consistently felt led to stay at ICF and worship and engage with God in the language of our hearts.

ICF is yet to have a full-time pastor & the leadership is still searching for someone to fill that role. We currently have a leadership team of 2 elders, 2 deacons & a couple who are both ordained pastors serving in part time pastoral roles. Their leadership has been a gift this year.

At the time Ieva was born, she was the only baby at ICF and the only other 2 kids were about 3 & 6. About a year later those kids left & Ieva was alone until another baby was born to the congregation. The two babies had about 8 months as the only ICF kids until the 2nd baby left and in August of 2007 4 new kids came!!! Having 5 kids in the congregation has allowed us to have children's sermons (which Ieva has just recently begun sitting in on), a Living Nativity Christmas program and it also means that she won't be alone playing with the babysitter in the kid's room. We don't have any organized children's church yet, but are hoping that will come. We hear there are a couple more families coming to work at LCC this fall and we're hoping they'll decide to come to ICF to keep our children's population up!

We're so thankful for the many ways God has blessed us through the church. Kim learned a lot while serving on the leadership team a couple years ago and both of us have enjoyed the variety of spiritual expressions we've encountered while ministering within such a broadly ecumenical body. It's a rich place to be!

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.