Summer Blitz

The next stage of life here in Prague begins tomorrow…

The fall semester of Czech school starts!!

We are so excited to get back into a regular groove and routine of language learning. This language is very interesting and pretty fun to learn at this point so we are happy to continue studying.

I feel like as we dive into fall, like so many of you did in the last few weeks (thank you, Facebook), I should catch you up on our summer.

Ready for a summer blitz? Let's do it!

The Jamails came to see us!! We love this family- they are so precious to us!



We bounced from Vienna, to Budapest, to Prague.



We night-trained and segwayed.



What wonderful friends! Thank you for coming!!

Not long after that, we were off to Turkey to see Sirin and Xavier!

Remember them? Our friends from Belgium!



Priceless time spent together!



It was awesome to see Sirin's homeland and meet her family!




Then we headed to the coast for a few days to celebrate our 6th anniversary.

On our way to Ephesus one day, we just couldn't resist the beautiful ocean as we drove by.



And Clay of course had to get in :)



We made it to Ephesus and had our minds blown.





Here are our feet entering the agora where tradespeople would work and sell their wares. It's pretty certain the Paul, Priscilla, and Aquila spent time here during his 2 years living in Ephesus. Pretty incredible to place our feet where Paul walked.



We were in awe.



This is the theater that the mob ran to in Acts 19. This is where they yelled "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" for 2 hours in protest of Paul's teaching against their idols. We sat high up in the stands and read the Bible passages that referred to Ephesus. It was just plain incredible. I will  never forget it. We praise the God who was God then and is still today!



After our time at the coast, we headed back inland to visit the Mittwedes! It was an awesome time of catching up!



Soon after we got home to Prague, Laura and Andy visited us from DC. Laura is one of my oldest friends- we met on the bus in Kindergarten :)

This is the one picture that I took during their trip. That fact makes me laugh. Just like Laura and Andy make me laugh. What fun, joyful friends! We enjoyed their visit so much!



Clay ran several races this summer with his running partner Marek.



Another big event for us this summer was when the Wilkins headed back to Texas. We sure do miss them here!

I got to spend some good time with the girls before they took off.

A tea and cat dancing party :)



And sweet reading and chatting time.



One of my favorite pictures so far in Prague was also taken this summer. I love how it ties so much together- these chairs I had just found by the dumpster, our street, and these sweet kids. Love it!



Soon afterwards we jumped on a train to Slovenia for our company's Europe conference.

This is us forcing the boys to play Phase 10 with us :)



As we passed through Austria, I kept wondering why we weren't just getting off there- so beautiful!



But Lake Bled didn't disappoint either!



We had great down time with the Lord and rest during that week.

Here I am on one of my walks around the lake.



The best part of these conferences is spending time with all of our co-workers. These people have become like family over the years. So much wisdom. Our times together are just so fun and special.




Lots of time for games and fun talks.



Every day when we broke for break-time on this terrace it felt like we were at a wedding reception :) SO gorgeous!



We also were able to be present at a sweet friend's baptism in the lake. We loved that week!


 
It was hard to leave Slovenia, but happy for us to get home to our new little friend :



The Wilkins gave us their sweet kitty! We love her so much!



Clay even put a crate up in our beams for her to have a special bed- she sleeps there every night :)



We've named her Šárka, pronounced Sharka. It's a Czech name that comes from a legendary maiden warrior that fought many battles. It seemed fitting for this feisty kitty.



She sits on our lap a lot while we work. How sweet is she? We are so happy to have our first pet!



We've been spending lots of time with the Kellers lately, both in team meetings, but also just having some good fun!

Laura and Andy brought us some root beer from the States that we enjoyed in a root beer float party!



Last week brought the first day of school for the Keller boys. It was an exciting day! We have all been awaiting this day since they arrived in March! Clay and I went down to send them off to their first day!




Whew! That about sums it up! A huge summer! We are happy to be here in Prague, excited for language to begin tomorrow, and look forward to being a part of what God is doing here in Prague. He is certainly doing a lot in us!

Love to you all! And Happy fall, Y'all!! :)