JV Women's Conference

Myself and 16 other women from Slovenia, including a few nationals, traveled to Slovakia to join all North American Josiah Venture missionaries with the purpose of refreshment, fellowship, and encouragement from God’s Word. We heard testimonies of ladies that have been serving abroad from 4 years to 12 years that are all on the path of “choosing joy” and “keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith”, (Romans 12:2) and “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”(Phil. 3:13) Amy Carmichael said it well to us too from her book “Thou Givest....They Gather.” She said,  “May God give us the heart that is fixed, and keep us with our eyes on the track, not looking to the right or the left or backward, but plowing a straight furrow.” I am thankful for what God did in my heart those days to humble me, teach me again that “apart from Him I can do nothing”, and to refine friendships that are dear to me.

ABC’s and 123’s

The Lord has given me the opportunity to “teach" each of my four children at home at least until the age of 6. But it has come as an unexpected blessing to have this opportunity with Braden and Karsten in Slovenia. Culture and language acquisition are high priorities to us as we seek to guide our children through life here and we thought those needs would be met for the boys in a school environment at this point.  However, circumstances have kept Braden and Karsten home for another year and I am THRILLED. I am so thankful to be able to teach them to read, finger paint, play math busters, build towers, go on hikes, discover creepy crawlies, put on our chef aprons and cook together, watch their friendship flourish and also have Slovene friends over to play for one more year. 

We are making memories, having fun, and learning a lot!!!

"Swish"

Praise God for opportunities, via front yard basketball games, to develop a relationship with the neighbor kids. They are eager to play with our kids and particularly with Chris. Just recently we were ALL out there “hoopin’ it up” and what a fun time we had with 11 year old Kris, 4 year old Žiga, and  6 year old Rok. How cool would it be if in sharing our lives with them they would recognize the hope, joy and peace they can have in Christ. Our prayer is that these friendships would grow, trust would increase, and that doors would be open to share the gospel. 

Running

This year I (Chris) realized that although I look fit on the outside, my insides were terribly out of shape. I have actually known this for many years and ironically my most out-of-shape years were as a police officer! Anyhow, this was the year I decided to start running. I actually have never enjoyed running just to run. I prefer running with a ball or chasing someone, but those things are less frequent now. Therefore, I figure I need to learn to like running. One thing that definitely helps is when I am distracted from the lung burn by the beauty around me! See the images below :)

Šola v Sloveniji

One big step of faith for our family when we moved to Slovenia was placing our children into the Slovenian school system. We knew in order to thrive here this was something they must do and there is no better way to learn the culture and language than to be right in the middle of it! (In many ways as parents we wish we could start in Slovene first grade as this would help us in our language.) We are now a year and a half into schooling here and we are so proud of the girls! Our prayer was that they would be like Daniel and thrive in another culture while remaining filled with integrity and love for the Lord. Clearly prayers are being answered! We are in awe at how much language they know, and how well they are doing in school. Really that is understated, because several weeks ago a high ranking teacher at the school came to me and told me the ENTIRE staff at the school is amazed by the girls. This teacher told me the girls had raised the bar for the whole school! That report is obviously awesome to here as a parent, but we give the credit to the Lord as he answers the prayers of our family, friends and supporters. Beyond the education our girls have each had unique opportunities to share their faith with friends and teachers, which is incredible to see their boldness and we pray this will continue as the years go on. Our boys are going to have a tough act to follow because the girls have set the bar high!

Back to Blogging!

Wow, over a year has passed since we last posted an update on the blog. In all honesty I had decided to just let the blog die since we are active on Facebook, but in the last month I have realized it is impossible to capture the depth of our life in short Facebook posts and pictures. Therefore, I have resurrected the blog and plan to post a little more depth on our family life and ministry. Stay tuned for  a better view of our family's life here in Radovljica.