Here are some more pics from our trip to Budapest.  We enjoyed Easter dinner, walks along the Danube, and lots and lots of food.  

Xavier participated in his second annual Easter egg hunt.  Regardless of being the only contestant, he still came in first.

If we can offer any advice, it would be to make a trip to Budapest.  A perfect combination of Eastern and Western Europe.  Cheap and full of sights and memories.  Please take our advice and visit!

These were taken from my phone thought out Wes and Gladys' visit to Bosnia and our trip to Budapest.

I will add more from our camera, but here is a quick look!

Everytime I watch this clip from Seinfeld, I smile.  You never know how George is going to react in any given situation.  This is no exception!  

I am proud to announce that Krista and I are taking our talents to South Beach....oh wait.  That's been taken.  

We are here to announce an exploritory committee for a presidential bid.  Too late?

We are proud to announce the arrival of Flight 6004 to Split, Croatia.  Actually that will be Wes and Glady's announcement in a few weeks.

I guess I should just rip off the bandaid and say, Xavier will have to make way for a new car!!!!!

Ok, enough.  We're having another kid.  We found out this weekend and have taken the time to tell some of our family and friends here.  Since we have been going nonstop all week from 8am to 8pm with our Education Interaction Team, we have not had the proper time to tell everyone.  So forgive us if this is the way you are finding out.  Krista just told me a few minutes ago...

We will share details as they emerge.  For now we are teaching Xavier to respond to brother and periodically snatching things from his hands in preparation of a new sibling.  We are thankful for another chance to raise a kid and are praying for a smooth pregnancy in the midst of the work that we do here.  Balancing several things just got even more complicated!  

Earlier this week we decided to get out of snowy Livno and head to Split, Croatia for the day. And it dawned on us: let's go see a movie. As a family. With Xavier.

We found an early movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks, for about $3 a seat. Our expectations were low, but so were the ticket prices. We really didn't know what to expect.

However, as usual, Xavier surprised us. With the exception of a few trips up and down the empty theater's steps, he chilled and watch the Chipmunks dubbed in Croatian.

You can definitely tell he is an only child when we document things like "first trip to the theater." There was one other family there doing the same, so we didn't feel so silly! Here are some pics and videos.

In the last couple of days I have read post after post about Whitney Houston.  Some point out her numerous flaws, struggles, and addictions and end with something about her being a waste of talent because of those things.  Others seem to ignore her skeletons and celebrate only her achievements and talents, leaving no room to learn from her mistakes.

I am stuck.

What is the proper respnse in death?

Do we make note of the flaws or do we ignore them to celebrate the life.  Whitney was a mixed bag for sure because she had obvious feet in both camps.  A wonderfully talented singer that encased her life in drugs, depression, and whatever you want to call the relationship with Bobby Brown.

I guess something else comes with this question and that is how do you want to be remembered? We are all clearly flawed.  In death would you want others to learn from you (flaws as well as sucesses) or simply celebrate the life you did make for yourself?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

 

A lot of people have been wondering how we are holding up since the big snow storm came through. Overall we got a about 2 feet of snow, and with the snow drifts that followed, it was by far the most snow I've seen at once in my lifetime. A lot of people here have said the same.

It pretty much crippled Livno for a few days. The plows could not keep up and there really is no place to put all the snow now. School has been cancelled since Friday afternoon and plans to be cancelled until Monday. We've managed to keep some kind of schedule, but most of this week has been digging out cars, shoveling streets and foot paths, and staying warm from the sub zero temps and around -20F wind chills!

The whole country got pounded and we were apparently on the softer side of storm. Sarajevo got about 3 feet! Even the sea city of Split got about 6 inches. They rarely, rarely get snow. So, this made for craziness there, too.

There is beginning to be a shortage of food and diesel as the trucks can't get in to replenish. We went on an egg hunt (literally) last night and today and thankfully I filled up our car Monday night.

A city in our county has been completely closed off since Friday. No cars in or out. Our city is the county seat and most come to our hospital. Some people needed to get dialysis this weekend. They were loaded into a bulldozer and made the 20 mile journey up and over one of the mountain surrounding the city, only find the roads drifted over before they could return.

The roads are scrapped now and more cars are out (even though there are many less parking spaces in town). It was beautiful coming down, fun to play in, and now a mess to clean up. More is expected to fall this weekend. I innately pray for snow. I am not sure if I am excited about more falling or just hoping it will pass us over!

Below are some pics and a video that I shot yesterday as my colleague, Josh, and I walked around upper town. The gusts were deafening. Icicles in the beard just walking around. Enjoy the pics and know that we are all ok!

As loud and boisterous as Xavier is, there are times when he quietly slips away and functions on his own. Those are usually the times he's doing something wrong.

This morning, Krista left her bowl of milk from her cereal on the table. While we were not looking or praying for the souls of the world, he climbed up and went to work.

That kid is a cartoon character to watch sometimes. This was no exception! Today I will go for my regular Sunday morning coffee with my buddies and get together with some more friends as a family later. Watching Xavier when he thinks no one is watching is a great way to kick off the sabbath!

Sometimes it is easier to just use an all-inclusive greeting, especially when it has been a while since greeting you all!  Christmas was very special this year.  Not only was this the second year that our family could celebrate together, it was even more significant to celebrate with Xavier being a little more cognizant of the season.  

Most nights we read an advent reading, lit advent candles, and ushered in the remembrance of the coming of Christ.  Some days Xavier would wait to eat his food once the devotional was done, other days he would be half done before we could finish praying.  He would always end the prayer with an "Amen!"  It was still a good family tradition for us!

We celebrated the actual holiday of Christmas quite different than other years as we joined our friends'holiday traditions.  The custom here (and maybe this is true for other Catholics around the world) is to fast all day on Christmas Eve.  Again for here, fasting means no meat (with hte exception of fish) or animal proteins (milk, butter, cheese, etc.).

We showed up to our friends' house around 5 and sat down for an evening meal of grilled trout, potatoes, squid, and Francuski Salata, which is basically like 3 of the 7 layers in Seven Layer Salad.  It's mainly mayo and some veggies. Not sure how mayo slipped through the fasting cracks.  For Catholics here, the fast is broken after midnight, once midnight mass is performed.  Leading up to midnight we played games, talked, and spent time remembering about Christmases and life in the past.

After midnight, we feasted!  Oh did we feast!  Lamb is the main event when breaking the fast.  We also threw down on some cured meats, cheeses, and sweets.  It was almost like celebrating New Years.  We were all watching the clock and anticipating midnight.  Once midnight struck, the Croatian TV Networks started streaming midnight masses from all over Croatia or Rome and we greeted each other with a kiss and a "Sretan Božić (you guessed it, Merry Christmas).

It really was a great night of anticipation and then celebration, quite different from other Christmases for us.  We left about 1.30 AM and returned home to sleep.  Xavier gave us the biggest Christmas gift of all by sleeping in until 9, quite different from his usually 6-6.30 wake up time.  The biggest Christmas tradition I brought with me to our family is Christmas morning breakfast.  Usually this is a big spread of pancakes or waffles, eggs, sausage, and whatever else I can find.

Sadly, the power was out when we got up.  And stayed out.  Til almost noon.  No breakfast for us, on Christmas morning at least!  We did have Christmas breakfast the next day.  Once Xavier got up, we opened gifts, which seeing a child opening gifts, regardless if he has any idea why he is, is always a treat.  We didn't really do the Santa thing.  People here celebrate St. Nikolas day on Decemeber 12.  That is the day they put our boots and St. Nikolas brings them candy.  You see Western Santa everywhere here now, but more as decoration rather than belief.  So for this year we just skidded past Santa.  I am sure we will tell Xavier about Santa and St. Nikolas, but I doubt he will get the full American Santa experience as long as we live in BiH.

The rest of Christmas day we went from house to house eating some food and celebrating with friends.  We ate a lot.  A lot.  It was a great time to get around to those close to us and celebrate together.  Monday and Tuesday we spent having people in our home, eating more food.  Again, a lot.

Fast forward to Wednesday.  The Nettletons, our team leaders, offered to watch Xavier so that we could get out of town for a few days.  We never really got out for our anniversary and had a couple days of time-off left.  That, partnered with the fact that some friends in Split were going back to the States for Christmas and left their flat for us to use, we could not pass up the chance to get out of Livno, sans kid.

It was nice.  Really nice.  Slow.  Relaxed.  We missed our little guy, but enjoyed the freedom to sit at a coffee bar, go to a movie, and not worry about nap times or attention diversions.  We saw Sherlock Holmes in a Split movie theater, ate Chinese food from real Chinese people, and walked around a mall.  These are things we do not have in Livno.  

We came back Friday afternoon just in time for Krista to come down with some kind of virus.  New Year's was spent at home, with Krista going to bed at 10 and me watching some college basketball via the internet.  The fireworks went crazy at midnight and I rolled over to tell Krista, "Happy New Year."

We got a couple more inches of snow last night.  It began falling around 10 and brought us a less-than-ideal sloshy, wet snow.  It was beautiful to look at, though.  THe forecast is calling for flurry/wintery mix the rest of the day!  Winter is here!

The first couple of pics were from Sunday morning.  The sunrise looked awesome on Kamensnica, the mountain we face off with.  The next couple are from a hike my buddy and I took Sunday afternoon.  The water comes from the mountain behind us and supplies the city.  It was a perfect day for a hike.

The last ones plus videos are from this morning (Monday).  Don't worry, we were safe in the car, even while filming.  At least that is what the cop told us...

We drove just about 5 miles outside the city, but up.  Up there the climate is a lot different.  A lot colder and more snow.  It was still snowing up on the Kruzi while down in Livno it was only drizzling.  Beautiful drive, though!

Here's a sneak peek of our family Christmas pic!  Merry Christmas!