Loving Fall

Closing out September with a few of my favorite photos from the gorgeous fall we've been having.

There is nothing I like more than taking a walk on a pretty little road near us...every season is beautiful here!

Next fall, I won't have Claire with me to enjoy the change of seasons...she'll be at college. So we're doing our best to soak in these beautiful days together.

One of my favorite places to walk.

Kaylee loves nothing more than a good run on this little road!

So pretty...my girl, my dog and the view!

Visiting JV Staff

Dave has over a thousand miles (1700 km) of driving ahead of him this week-end!

Over the next four days, he'll spend time with JV staff in Hungary, Serbia and Romania.

On Saturday and Sunday he will be speaking at a youth conference in Serbia for about 400 young people. On his way down, he'll spend time with JV staff in Hungary, and with one of our national partners in Romania on his way back.

Mel Ellenwood is traveling with him so he's got some good company along the way!

Will you pray for:

• Safe travels for Dave and Mel
• For Spirit empowered speaking to the young people in Serbia
• Times of blessing and encouragement with our JV staff along the way

Thanks for praying!

Fast and Easy Meal

If your day was anything like mine, there wasn't a lot of time to make dinner.

Oh, my day was full for all good reasons...I loved what I got to do today and wouldn't trade any of that precious time with people.

But it's days like this when I need something fast to prepare, yet want it to be nutritious, healthy and filling. What to do?

Meatloaf, baked potatoes and green beans!

Found this new recipe for the meatloaf HERE on All Recipes. I subsituted the bread with our gluten free bread, but otherwise did just what the recipe said.

It got rave reviews tonight! And seriously, the prep time really was only ten minutes.

If you plan ahead just a little bit, you can get all sorts of things done in a day, and still have a good meal for your family!

Glazed Meatloaf II

Rated: Submitted By: Delia Photo By: Rebecca M Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 1 Hour 10 Minutes Ready In: 1 Hour 20 Minutes Servings: 8

"This meatloaf's flavor is enhanced with beef bouillon and a brown sugar glaze with a hint of lemon juice."

Ingredients:

1/2 cup ketchup 1/3 cup brown sugar 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon dry mustard   2 pounds lean ground beef

3 slices bread, shredded 1/4 cup diced onion 1 egg, beaten 1 cube beef bouillon, crumbled 3 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.	In a small bowl, combine ketchup, brown sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and dry mustard until smooth.
3.	In a large bowl, combine ground beef, shredded bread, onion, egg, bouillon, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, and 1/3 cup of the ketchup mixture until well mixed. Form into a loaf and place in a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
4.	Bake 1 hour. Pour off fat. Pour reserved ketchup mixture over loaf. Bake 10 minutes more.

Dad and His Girl

I'm always so happy when I hear these words: "Hey Claire, want to go out on a dad-daughter date?!"

Dave is great about caring for and loving his girl...and she loves it when he does!

They were out for about six hours on Sunday doing all sorts of things together...like teaching Claire how to drive in a parking lot nearby!

She starts "auto škola" tomorrow so wanted to drive with her dad before classes start with an instructor. Claire wrote more about that HERE on her blog.

After that they headed up Pustevny, a beautiful ski area in the winter, but a great chairlift ride to the top anytime of the year!

It takes about fifteen minutes to ride up to the top, all the while enjoying the gorgeous view while you talk sitting side by side.

There are some beautiful buildings at the top, with one in particular that has a great restaurant where we always eat lunch. If you're ever here visiting, we'll be sure to take you there as it's such a great experience!

They both came home all happy and filled up with special time together!

So thankful for Dave and what a good dad he is!

Odd Assortment

Even after almost 19 years of living here in Czech, there are a few grocery items that, on occasion, still come home in my suitcase when I'm traveling back from the States - tastes that are still "home" to me.

Today a few of those tastes, albeit from GB via Prague, were delivered to my doorstep, thanks to Robertson's, an import deli in Prague.

Since 2004, they've been importing food items from Great Britain. But I didn't find out about them until just a few weeks ago when I saw something about them on a friend's FB page. (Thanks Andra!) It was fun to get on their website and browse around to see what we might want to try.

The Rice Krispies are for a recipe for homemade Luna Bars that Claire tried last week (with the last of the Rice Krispies we brought back in the summer). Oh my, were they ever so yummy. I bought those in hopes she'd make them again (did you get the hint Claire?!).

We make our own hummus but I thought I'd try out theirs since it was reasonably priced and I've never seen it in any shops here on this side of the country. Claire said it had a good taste but needed more olive oil.

The extra mature cheddar cheese is perfect! It's the one thing out of this collection that I'd definitely order again to satisfy my craving for that sharp cheese taste.

The root beer was...hmmmm...interesting. It's Australian. Don't know if it's a typical or unusual taste there. But it wasn't exactly the taste I was expecting. Oh well! It was worth a try. I only need a root beer every once in a while so I guess I'll still be waiting to have that taste when we're in the States next time.

All in all, a fun package that perked up an otherwise fairly normal day today!

**An added note to this post...Dave tried the root beer later on that evening and liked it! He said it tasted like real root beer to him, the kind that his family made when he was growing up! The kind that started exploding in the garage when it had fermented too long! :) Glad at least he liked it.

Long Distance Shopping

My mom and dad are saving me a plane trip right now.

Because we are getting ready to ship another container to the Czech Republic, I needed to order more furniture and items for our newest buildings at Malenovice like we did almost two years ago (see HERE for part of that story).

But instead of me flying to the States to buy everything, I've been on the phone with my parents, and a great salesman at Rife Furniture in Eugene, Oregon, working out all the details of an order!

It's been pretty funny...my mom on her cell phone calling my Vonage number in the Czech Republic. My dad in the background trying out various couches and letting me know how comfortable they are. Curt, the salesman, being super helpful, looking up items and getting prices off his computer and the internet - even calling the owner to ask if we can order something that their store doesn't usually stock.

All the while...I'm sitting here at my desk, in my home, in the Czech Republic, talking to them all as we work this out!

So thankful for my parent's willingness to shop on behalf of Malenovice, and for Rife Furniture, pulling through for us once again.

If you're ever in Oregon and need furniture, I sure do recommend them!

Indigenous Empowerment

One of the core values of Josiah Venture is something we call "indigenous empowerment".  What does that look like in real life?

Yesterday, Greg Carlson, who has been the country leader for JV in Poland, turned over that leadership to Michal Skiba, a Polish man, who will now lead the team forward in that country, seeking to reach young people with the Gospel.

It was a moving evening as Greg spoke about his fifteen years of ministry and leadership in Poland (he spoke in English for the benefit of those of us who came to celebrate this occasion that don't speak Polish! Thus Dawid is here as his translator).

Then Michal came to the front as Greg gave him words of commissioning.

As if often true when Greg is in the room, there were some good laughs! :)

Greg is also an incredible gift giver, and gave these sunglasses to Michal as a symbol of his prayer for him - that he would have eyes of faith as he moves into this leadership role.

I loved being there to witness this moment of transition - of Greg turning over leadership, empowering Michal to take the national movement forward into the coming years.

After that Michal passionately spoke about his heart and passion for the young people of Poland, and of his own life transformation with the Lord that occurred in his teens, which is the motivation for him to take this leadership mantle. It was so moving to hear his heart for his country!

JV teammate, Daniel Eifling, translating from Polish into English so we all could understand!

All of us who were there stretched out our arms in a covering of prayer over Michal and his wife, Sylwia, as they were commissioned for the leadership of JV Poland.

Praise the Lord for these two faithful couples! Greg and Heidi are staying in Poland to continue their ministry under Michal's leadership. Very cool example of "indigenous empowerment"!

Bill and Bobbie Trenckmann were able to be there as well. They were Greg's (and mine!) youth pastors when he came to Christ in high school, and discipled him through his college years. They now serve with JV in Romania and were up for our fall conference, so were able to be there for this special evening.

Precious Carlson family, still living out the core values of JV! Thank you Carlson's!!

Search and Rescue: In Practice

Yesterday afternoon, in the middle of our JV fall conference on evangelism, thirty six groups of 5 people went out into the surrounding area, within an hour of Malenovice, to share Christ.

One of our JV national staff from Estonia sent Dave this photo - she is from the Ukraine (and is at the conference) and he is a homeless man in Frydek Mistek, a town not far from Malenovice.

There were literally hundreds of these kinds of conversations yesterday: in malls, on the street, in cafes, in stores, on trains, in homes - in fact, at least 340 people heard the Gospel, and seven or eight (I've heard both figures) trusted Christ!

Photo from Justin, one of our JV staff

The teams were back at the hotel by 8 last night and had a beautiful time of sharing testimonies of how God had worked, in the lives of those they shared with, as well as in their own lives.

One of our teammates led someone to Christ in a sport's store, while the young man was working.

Two of our staff had a conversations at the local university with a man who had a meeting cancelled just two minutes before they saw him, which allowed them to spend two hours sharing Christ with him.

Another of our staff shared Christ six times while riding the train back and forth into the city.

Others walked the malls and courageously approached people who seemed to have time to have a conversation.

It was challenging, encouraging, discouraging, and exhilarating...and everything in between!

One of our board members sent Dave this picture just a few minutes ago as he is on a train to Prague, headed home to the States. He had the opportunity to share Christ with this man who sat down opposite him.

I love what he wrote:

"Here is my new friend flipping pages in the New Testament that Dusan gave me in case I had an opportunity.  My seat mate and I are having a great visit and he has now heard the gospel.  He wants to think it over and says he may read his new bible.  This is a great train ride."

Pray for this young man, and for all those like him who have heard the Good News these past few days!

The Original Patty Boys

See any similarities here??

Both of Dave's brothers, Josh and Steve, are here for JV conference this week!

Steve (the one in the middle) flew in from the States to teach a class to some of our JV teammates over the week-end, and Josh came up from Slovenia (where he serves with JV), for the conference as well.

These three don't get to be together very often...mostly at family reunions every three years or so. It's REALLY fun to see them all here in Czech!

Seriously...do they look alike or what??!!

Claire was happy to see her Uncle Steve, and got a picture with him yesterday...when it was sunny, compared to today's rain!

The Good News

Almost two weeks ago I wrote about Caleb's unexpected check-up with the doctor in Cleveland.

What I haven't written about is the good news that has come since he had the epidural procedure.

Four days after the doctor gave it to him, the pain he's had for ten years...was gone!

GONE!!!! He's now had ten days with no pain. I can only imagine how that must feel after all this time.

However, we know that this could be just temporary relief.

We also know there's a chance that his damaged nerves could heal as the medicine allows them to, in essence, "rest" during this time.

What we don't know is what will happen when the medicine wears off in 2-6 months.

But for now, we are praising God for this good news for Caleb!

Search and Rescue

It's JV Fall conference at Malenovice this week!

Titled, "Search and Rescue", the focus is on evangelism - seeking and rescuing the lost.

It was so great to see our team arriving today...leaders from 14 different countries coming together to connect, worship, learn, fellowship, share ideas and a passion for Christ and the lost...awesome!

Dave started off the conference tonight by talking about "the seeker"...not the one seeking God (as that phrase has come to be known by)...but rather God, "The Seeker", who is the One who seeks after the lost. It was so powerful.

There are over 200 leaders at the conference this week, so it's a packed house. So packed that there is a live feed from downstairs where Dave is teaching, to a video venue upstairs!

Was up in the loft of the library looking down on these conference attendees, diligently taking notes!

We're praying that this time together will result in many more lost ones in Central and Eastern Europe being rescued by The Seeker.

It's Dave's Birthday!

While Dave celebrates his actual birthday today up at the hotel with the JV Council, I'm celebrating him here on my blog!

Dearest Dave, I love you and I am so thankful God chose me to be your wife! It's a joy and privilege to walk beside you in all the goodness of life that God has given to us.

I am praying on this birthday, through the verses in Ephesians that he gave us for our wedding twenty five years ago, that this will continue to be even more true: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith...that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE!

1971 - Back in Time

All summer I meant to post this, but am just now getting to it!

When we were in Yellowstone this summer, I kept thinking about the first time that I visited.

Yes, that's me, along with my brother and my mom in 1971. Guess pantsuits were in! :)

I don't have any recollection of how this trip came about, but my grandparents on my mom's side, took us on a six day driving trip from Eugene, Oregon to Yellowstone in Wyoming. Quite a driving feat in such a short time!

I have a very clear memory of that morning, standing outside our house while my dad took a picture (and my grandma checked my brother over before getting in the car!). We then settled into the car for what seemed like (and probably was!) a long ride in the eyes, minds (and backsides!) of an 8 and 9 year old.

We reached Yellowstone three days later, though the picture that I remember having in the scrapbook I kept during the trip is long gone now. Too bad, as I am pretty sure it was a picture of me standing in front of Old Faithful. That would've been fun to compare with this one 41 years later!

Old Faithful, the perfect name for the geyser that just keeps on blowing through the years.

 It was great to be back there, this time with my husband and daughter!

 

**Thanks to my brother, Mike, for digging up those old scrapbooks and scanning the pages!

Make My Day

Some days all it takes is a couple of cuties to make your day!

Abi D and Teo S

I came home from meetings yesterday to find these two, along with their mommies and some other moms and kids, having a little afternoon get-together on our patio. It just made me smile!

Doesn't take much to do that when these two are around! :)