Quick Update...

Well, it's the end of day two of our camp out in Platyny and it's late, I'm tired, and I should really be in bed by now....BUT I wanted to post some pictures and updates of the past crazy week! So, in short form, here's the rundown:

-Sean and Bryan have literally covered nearly all of the fine country of Poland trying to work out the details to pick up our team's new van (upon which most of the schedule for this week was based upon)--this meant several trips to Warsaw, a nice three hour drive

-the volunteer team was stuck in JFK airport for a couple of days-ish and arrived in Poland 2 days behind schedule, missing the first day of the camp which was a major bummer for them and us (and let me just say that they are troopers...after all of that, they came straight to Platyny this afternoon with awesome attitudes)

-the minute we pulled into Platyny on Friday, the old van (now affectionately known as the "hoopty") got a flat tire

-the first day of the camp was rained out...we had to move everything inside and busted out the Dance Dance Revolution mats---the kids (and I!) loved it!

-I got to share my testimony yesterday (via a translator) about why I'm in Poland

-there were lots of kids (and some adults) yesterday, and even more today, as the rain held off utnil we were nearly finished and we were able to do everything but the kielbasa roast outside...hopefully we'll do this tomorrow

-everyone survived the USA vs. Poland soccer game-I'm sure you can guess who the winner was, but I honestly can't say for sure. I didn't play and was busy being the water girl

-one of the men who came with the volunteer team and his 12 year old son did a Tae Kwon Do exhibition today which was really cool....I'm pretty sure most of the kids went home and "practiced" their newly learned skills on one another tonight.

-I love these kids. They're awesome. Please continue to pray for them =)

So, here's the hoopty minus some air.

Ok, so we figured the soccer game would be us goofing around with some Polish kids. WRONG! They brought out the pros...I mean, we're talking uniforms, painted lines, a ref from a town an hour away. No joke. As we drove up, we saw the team doing organized warm up drills and stretches. Never a good sign. (And, by the way, if you look closely at the pic., these are clearly not children...these are MEN!) In all seriousness though, everyone had a good time and it was really neat to get more of the people from the village out and involved. Hopefully some good contacts were made.

This guys is awesome. They call him Bialy...which means Whitey. As Abby says, that's what they call skinny little white kids (as opposed to the skinny little non-white kids, of which there are few) here in Poland. This guy fits the description.

No, these are not new member of team Northeast Poland...these are some Polish kids (including Bialy) that we had to recruit. I'm so not even kidding.

Red Sky at Night....

Think of this as a picture of the "calm before the storm" (and, by the way, who can say that Lake Erie is not beautiful!); that's what we're experiencing here these past few days. We've been getting ready for a volunteer team coming from Virginia on Thursday. They're coming to help put on a day camp for the kids in a nearby village, Platyny. Two of the ladies from the team will be staying with Amber and I, so we're also getting ready to host house guests for a week, which should be a good time! I have to say that I'm really excited to see what God's going to do in this village. Spending time out in villages isn't something I really thought much about in coming to Poland, but I have loved every moment of it. It's something I always look forward to and hope to get to do even more. Please pray for the kids and families out in Platyny; that their hearts would be opened to Christ and that we'd make lots of contacts and connections to follow up with. We'll be there Friday through Tuesday doing all sorts of things: crafts, music, Bible stories, games, Tae Kwon Do demonstrations (yes, I took one quarter of it in college, but I will not be demonstrating!), a USA vs. Poland soccer game (that should be painfully humbling), an English lesson taught by Amber and me, crowd control (come on, it's a group of kids on summer vacation!), and lots of other fun-ness. I'll be sure to update and let you all know how it's going!

More Breaking News From Poland...

My goodness, has Poland been in the news lately or what??? Good grief!
Well, I once again have nothing earth shattering to blog about, but I thought I'd share some news from Poland that, for some odd reason, you may not have heard about on CNN:

We're coming up on the longest day of the year here in Poland. The other morning I happened to be awake at 3:20 (don't even ask!) and got a shot of the morning sky. And the sun doesn't set until around 10. It's crazy! You know what else is crazy???...my bedroom faces east.

In other news...McDonald's now sells pierogies in their Happy Meals. I have to say that I don't frequently visit McDonald's--it just seems better that way--but Amber and I had a craving for a little grease today, so we stopped in. I wanted the McKielbasa sandwich, but that's the Monday special. If the craving ever hits on a Monday, I'll let you know how it is. As for the pierogies, they were filled with spinach and cheese and not bad. AND I got to choose my own toy. I'm lovin' it!

And, for the final news of the day...have no fear, I have found a beach in Olsztyn. Now, you must realize that this little blogger has lived on the beach for the past 27 summers of her life. I got my first sunburn before the age of 1. My backpack still has sand in it from last summer. So, imagine how happy I was to find this beach today. Amber and I had tried to find the beach here a couple of weeks ago, but it just didn't go so well. Our first inclination that something wasn't right was the fact that people were laying down their towels in a patch of weeds, there was no actual sand in sight, and the ominous dark clouds looming overhead. So, today we were much more pleased when we found this. Fortunately, it's not as convenient as the beach in my parent's back yard, so I won't be tempted to spend too much time here. It was really beautiful to see though, and felt like a whole different world outside of Olsztyn. I'm sure we'll be back!

So, that's the weekend update from this side of the world. Other than the man who woke up from his 19 year coma, missiles, presidential visits, and CIA secret prisoners, that's what's going on in Poland. Oh, and we bought more strawberries today. Have a great weekend!

This Just In...

Now, I don't know how much Polish news reaches the rest of the world, but if you haven't heard about the man who woke up from a 19 year coma in Warsaw, you've GOT to check out the article here. It's pretty amazing. It's not only medically amazing to me, but it's also such an amazing picture of love. His wife cared for him and moved him every hour for 19 years to prevent bed sores! That's romantic! (insert sarcasm here) I mean, really! That's amazing, self-sacrificing love. She demonstrated her love for this man for 19 years, getting nothing in return. No "thanks, honey, you're the greatest"; no flowers; no gifts; no shared laughter...nothing for 19 YEARS!! This may sound crazy, but in a way it reminds me of God's kind of love for us. There's a verse in the Bible that says:

"But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners."

Just like this wife, God demonstrated how much He loves us by caring for us and meeting our greatest need through Jesus...and all for nothing in return--we had nothing to give Him. Just because He loves us. Amazing.

In some other exciting news out of Poland: it's fresh strawberry time here! Let me just tell you that I'm amazed at what fresh strawberries actually look like. For the record, they are not supposed to be 3 inches in diameter like the ones at Wal Mart and are not supposed to last for more than 2 days. I never knew this until now. It was news to me. We bought a bunch this afternoon (almost 1 kg...mainly because we didn't know how to ask for anything else) and are going to have some for dessert tonight. Yum!

Whole New Depths of Randomness...

Well, to be real honest, I feel bloggin' uninspired. It's a cloudy, cool day (I told you it would get cold again!! If you're wondering about the weather in Olsztyn..think Ohio; it's pretty similar). So, we're just spending a Saturday afternoon relaxing, I suppose. Amber is painting and I'm, um, blogging.
We got to spend some time with some friends last night who all speak English! One is the secretary at our language school (she took me to get my nails done the first time--and, by the way, Amber has decided to get her nails done, too, so pray for Marzena as she'll have to put up with us for three hours!!!), one is a friend of hers that we'd met before, and the other two are english teachers at our language school that we met for the first time last night. One of the girls lived around New York for about 2 years! She had taken some road trips, so we talked about eating lobster and seeing lighthouses in Maine and about Taco Bell!! Do you know what kind of a bonding moment it is when people of different cultures can talk about Taco Bell. It was a beautiful thing. They seem really excited to get together more often to talk and hang out. They're really sweet and a lot of fun. Please pray that we'd get to build relationships with them that would point them closer to Christ.
Let's see...other than that, not too much going on here. We had 2 girls over Monday night to celebrate Memorial Day. We introduced them to their first s'more experience. It went well, I think. Poles don't typically like really sweet, sugary things (you know, like marshmallow, chocolate, and graham cracker all mooshed up together!). It's the weirdest thing for us. We'll see a huge piece of chocolate cake and have an idea what it will taste like, only to dig in and say "well, that's different".
I told you I was bloggin' uninspired. Hmmmm. I could make some things up. Wait, to have more fun, I'll make some things up and include some truths and see if you can guess correctly! Won't that be a fun Saturday afternoon activity?!?!? Ok, here goes:

The other day I found a diamond ring on the ground. Then a woman came up and starting going off in Polish, so I assumed it was hers. Who knows!
I am really thinking of going to Italy, specifically Rome and Florence and Venice.
I heard Sweet Home Alabama coming out of a pub the other night.
I saw a 6 inch slug on the ground. I only wish I had salt.
Sting is coming to Olsztyn and I'm going!!!!!
I'm learning how to do my own nails.
I've seriously fallen in love with the mullet. I'm really thinking about it. After all, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
We saw a man propose the other afternoon. She said "tak" (that means "yes"), then he got back up off of his knee and they ate their ice cream.

So, what do you think???
Well, I think that's enough, um, lying for one day! Have a great Saturday afternoon!