The Strellmans

Draw near to God and He will...

2011-12-22T18:02:00.002+01:00

We are content to be having a quiet Christmas at home in Hungary.

We just watched “The King’s Speech” last night and enjoyed it.

We listened to Bill Hybels online about the nearness of God in our lives.

Luiza and her mother Luminitsa are making Cozonac with walnuts.

Our three boys are napping, and so are Luiza’s brother Robert and sister-in-law Gabi.

Before falling asleep Luiza and I are enjoying reading “Heaven is for Real”.

I am helping our Russian leaders finalize proposals for JESUS film projects for next year so that people in the US can raise funding for this. It is a time of winter, a time to remember the past harvest and trust God for a rich harvest to come. This short video is a great encouragement in that regard, reminding us of what God has done. Thank you for your part.

Pray with us for Russia

2011-12-05T10:35:00.000+01:00

Ever wonder how to pray for a big place like Russia?
Here is a video and page that will guide you.

A God with enough love even for me?

2011-12-05T10:27:00.001+01:00

See the video about what God is doing among highschool students in Hungary.

What if He came today?

2011-11-27T20:28:00.005+01:00

It may be at morn when the day is awaking,
when sunlight throw darkness and shadow is breaking
that Jesus will come in a moment of glory
when Jesus receives His own.

O Lord Jesus, how long, how long
Ere we shout the glad song,
"Christ returneth! Christ returneth!
Aleluia amen, Aleluia amen."

November

2011-11-22T11:23:00.000+01:00

I didn’t write anything for a while in here. The question I am getting all the time is how am I doing? I have good days and bad days. I miss my dad every single day. Some days I am smiling thinking how he would fix or help with some things and other times I am overwhelmed with sadness as I can’t pick up the phone and ask him what I need to know right away. I miss more than ever his e-mails with insights and encouragements in our walk with the Lord.
Last week it was the first time in a long while that I went out to a meeting with other women from our ministry. I didn’t want to go initially as I am not very fond of the idea of crying in public. But Dennis encouraged me to go and I had a good time and I didn’t cried.
I am getting ready for Thanksgiving. It is a good preparation for me to think what I am thankful for. It is easy to focus on the thought of losing my dad and not to be thankful. I know that it will be a bitter sweet holiday, but there are still plenty of reasons to be thankful for. God gave me here on earth a wonderful dad who loved me and I prefer this than the alternative to have a distant, uncaring dad. The memories are sweet reminders of how much he cared about us and I am glad that I am his daughter.
The boys are fun.
Yesterday Ryan came home and asked me ”What I will do when I will finish 12th grade?
I: you will go to college
Ryan: But the college is in America.
I: Yes, and you will go to America.
R: But what about Kevin and Nate they will still be in school?! Where will they go to school?
I: They will continue to go to school here.
R: I will go to America and you will be staying here?
I: Yes, you will go to college and Kev and Nate will stay here with us to finish school.
R: (with tears in his eyes): I don’t want to go by myself. I can’t go without you. What will I do alone there? I don’t want to go without you.
Dennis: started to explain that this is normal and other kids are doing that….
It didn’t help as Ryan started to cry by now.
I: (take him in my arms): I will not let you go. We will go with you don’t worry about this.
R: Will you come with me and stay with me too?
I: yes I will not let you alone.
Ryan gave me a big smile and said :I knew it that you will not leave me alone!
He is just 1st grade so college time is far away. I am sure that he will not want mom to come with him by then.

Kevin is echoing my words a lot now “ I wove (love) you mommy. I wove you. You are my boy”. I never was called a boy so this is my time.
Nathan is fascinating with mops, brooms and the vacuum cleaning. He is imitating me and get those things out 50 times a day. Don’t imagine that I clean that often but somehow he is getting a cute smile on his face and come with a mop in his hands. This is fun but the reverse side is that I get to put those cleaning tools back 50 times a day too.

One Woman’s Wrestling Match with Submission

2011-11-01T13:52:00.000+01:00

A colleague here in Budapest has written a very interesting series of articles on womanhood. It is most applicable to married women, but I notice that other articles on the site address singleness issues.
Since it is a blog the first article comes last, so here they are in the proper order:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Funeral for my father-in-law

2011-10-23T17:33:00.002+02:00

For those that prayed for this weekend, thank you. We left after picking Ryan up from school on Thursday at 3:30pm, but the M0 freeway was blocked. After an hour of trying to find the next closest bridge to cross the Danube, we were in heavy traffic in the middle of Budapest. Realizing it would take another hour to even get out of the city, we gave up and headed for home exhausted. It was a rough 2 hours of time wasted on the road, but we were glad we didn't persist and start driving all night in the rain and traffic.

We got up at 3am, loaded the kids, and started driving again. This time everything was clear, the kids were asleep, and we made good progress. Luiza counted that we went through 64 villages on this two-lane road (reducing our speed to 50km in each one), but still we made record time (11 hours in all). The return trip was even better. We got up at 4:30am and left at 5:45am Sunday morning, taking a different route near Cluj, very windy roads, but less villages, and less trucks (perhaps because of the windy mountain roads). We made the return in 10 hours and the kids slept most of the way.

The funeral went well. It was great to be able to comfort my mother-in-law, and Luiza. I met some new relatives. The boys seemed to process their grandfather's death pretty well. Ryan (age 6) got to help the gravediggers in wheeling the casket across the cemetery. He liked that a lot. Ryan said, "So it is kind of like a birthday for Bunicu, starting his new life in heaven." Kevin (age 3) said, "Isn't Bunicu going to come home with us? Why are we leaving him here (buried in the graveyard)?" Usually there are no children present at funerals. They try to shelter kids from death.

It was a beautiful service, but an hour long in the cold room. It seemed like a good balance of expressing grief and condolences, and acknowledging that Stefan has entered a much better life. Over 100 people from church attended. There were piles of flowers on evergreen wreaths. During the service the casket was open, and Luiza pulled back the vale so that we could see Stefan's face. She also went up and caressed his face, to remember it (her first time to touch a dead body). The most emotional part for me was when they lowered the casket down into the 2 meter hole. It was so deep I could barely see a piece of the casket. The hole is a little deeper than normal I was told, to allow for another family member to be buried in the same location within 7 years if necessary. Then according to custom, family and friends throw in a few handfuls of dirt before the grave workers fill in the hole. Luiza said throwing in the dirt gave her a suffocating feeling, as she realized that her dad can't breath there, making the goodbye final.

Luiza explained that an Orthodox funeral in Romania is quite different. There is a lot of crying, in fact people are paid to come and cry. The priest tries to make it as emotional as possible. In one funeral she attended the priest had collected personal information about each relationship of people there, and said goodbyes for the dead person to each one in a personalized way. For example, "And Suzie says goodbye to her father Christy, tell him that I'm sorry I didn't listen to his advice and study harder in school." Luiza says it was awful, like pouring more gas on the fire of grief.

The Bible is full of contradictions

2011-10-18T10:51:00.004+02:00

...at least until you understand it.
Consider these instructions regarding spiritual growth and maturity:
Peter writes "like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation" (1 Peter 2:1)
Then James says "Let not many of you become teachers my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment." (James 3:1)

Now consider Hebrews 5:12-13
"For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe."
So do we want to be like babes or not? Should we be teachers or not? The Bible is full of contradictions!

Answer:
Everyone enters this life as a baby. There are some things that babies do that are to be commended. One of these is how they love milk. This morning our one year old started crying at 6:40am, which meant that he wanted to be held and he wanted breakfast. The spiritual lesson is that feeding on God's word should be my first priority too. Nursing is also his habit before bed, and my habit should also be to end the day meditating on God's word, rather than the news or a movie.

Now our baby is also eating solid food, but there is something about milk from mom that he loves and is willing to search for and insist on. In the same way we move on from spiritual milk to other deeper issues, but we should not tire of simple truth. Even at my age I still like milk on my cereal. Notice the warning is about someone who takes only milk.

Now about teachers, there are some whose main role in the body of Christ is teaching, but we all can teach and should teach. Teaching is actually an important driver of spiritual growth that is missing for most Christians today. Since most churches are structured around a professional pastor who preaches a professional sermon, the average believer in Jesus is taught that spiritual growth comes from listening and learning. Not true! Being a disciple requires a lot more than just learning.

Application of truth comes first. About this the three chapters quoted above all agree. "He (Jesus) became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation." (Hebrews 5:9) "But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves." (James 1:22) Non-disciples "...stumble because they are disobedient to the word..." (1 Peter 2:8) You can not ingest spiritual truth and be indifferent, either you obey and do it, or you suffer the spiritual consequences: "dull of hearing", "delude themselves", "unbelief".

So if you are struggling with belief, try the remedy of daily feeding on the word, asking God to teach you, and look for how to immediately obey what you learn. There are several places where we see that God is able to teach us directly, especially using His word. (John 6:45, Psalm 32:8)

After obeying truth we are able to teach, and "ought to be teachers". But who can we teach?
"The things that you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." (2 Tim 2:2) We see that part of learning is to teach others also, but it says "men". What about women?

I find it fascinating that a woman of low reputation who had known Jesus only minutes was already teaching men in her city. "And from that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, 'He told me all the things that I have done.'" (John 4:39)

Look at a famous passage on spiritual gifts. In Ephesians 4:7-16 Paul writes that Christ gave teachers and other specialists to equip each one of us for service. "Then we will no longer be infants... Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ." (4:14-15) Notice the connection between "speaking the truth in love" and "we will grow". If we don't want to be infants, we must find ways to speak truth as we learn it, this reinforces our learning and our faith.

2 months

2011-09-21T21:56:00.000+02:00

I missed updating our blog. I didn’t feel like do it. I feel that my life changed dramatically in the last 2 months. The last entry in my blog was couple of days before my parents left. They were here with us when my dad started to be very sleepy. We notice after 1 week a slight left foot dragging. The first doctor here said it is just a virus but as he didn’t improve in 5 days we thought that it is better to go home to be able to investigate better in their own language. I was concerned that my dad had a stroke which was what the doctors in Romania said. He went to hospital got better and he was released home.

Two weeks later he suddenly got worse, couldn’t move his left arm and foot. Got back to the hospital and the doctors were puzzled why he is worse now. More investigation was done but none could bring the answers. Then a second MRI showed a brain tumor of 4 cm that wasn’t there 3 weeks before. We were puzzled and very discouraged when we went to see 4 neurosurgeons and all said the same thing. It is not possible to have a surgery because it is at the basal nuclei the tumor. Not even a biopsy and because it seems a fast growing tumor “we think it is malign”. Today it is 1 month since we heard about his tumor. He declined fast..unable to sit, unable to walk, unable to eat this evening or drink… I am in shock as the rest of my family. I am not sure what tomorrow is holding…Please just pray for us...

Here is Nathan 1 year birthday. I went to visit my parents at the beginning of this month. Here is a picture with my dear dad and Nate.

Summer with 3 boys

2011-07-17T22:51:00.000+02:00

A lot of people from here asked me Why I didn’t go with Dennis to the US? How am I doing here by myself with 3 kids? Isn’t hard? Wasn’t better to go with him?
I think I answered those question many, many times these past 5 weeks? So I decided to post here my answers.

I went to US just before Nathan was born. We stayed in 13 houses in 10 weeks. It was very hard. I never unpack. We just scrambled through he clothes and when you couldn’t find them well you start packing again. It was exhausting for me and the kids. We were on the move every week at least once which made so hard to connect with people in one place.
Also Dennis’s parents health doesn’t allow them to have so much noise. We have 3 boys and they are healthy, normal, energetic boys who need plenty of time to run and play to burn all that extra energy. Trying to keep them quiet in a room or at the meals to sit down for 1 hour or longer surrounded by people in their 70 or 80 it is not a realistic option.
Also I know that it is easier for Dennis to focus on his parents if he doesn’t need to take care of us. Also made it easier to meet with ministry partners, speak in churches. To try to get 3 kids in the car in the morning and to arrive at the church at least half hour earlier to be ready for your talk and without any frustration that one kids couldn’t find his blue car, the other doesn’t want to wear sandals and you couldn’t find the baby sippy cup -it seems a dream.
Also on my side was easier- keeping the boys here with the same routine, having time to play with them, going to different places not in hurry, having time to talk and enjoy a more relaxed summer was worthy. My parents also came but they needed to leave earlier as my dad got sick.
So how do I do being here with 3 kids? I think we had a lot of fun. It wasn’t easy as the boys are still small almost 6, almost 3 and 9 month. They still need help with food, clothes, baths, going to bed. But we enjoyed a lot of time together. I was looking forward to be with them as summer is relaxing with no school and no deadlines. We went to library every week, we read on average 15 books/week, we played soccer, we wrestled, we splashed with water, we had picnics, we went to playgrounds, we meet with friends, we went shopping from food to hardware stores (at least I had 2 future men with me so I wasn’t like a woman lost in a wrong store), we went to mall in a super hot day, we played games, watch some movies, and the highlight for the boys was a trip to the Budapest Zoo.

It is an amazing place. I went by myself with 3 kids and Ryan and Kevin walked all day form 11 am till 7 pm. They enjoyed a lot and didn’t want to leave. They close at 7.30pm. We saw so many animals, birds, butterflies, insects, snakes etc. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

4th of July

2011-07-10T17:36:00.000+02:00

July 4^th passed different for us here than for Dennis who is in US. Ryan was in a bad mood as he pleaded with me for a whole week that we should go to the US for America’s birthday. He wanted to go to a parade and here it is no parade. One of the American couple had us over together with other 50 people. It was nice and even Ryan didn’t want to go anywhere and told me as we arrived there that this is boring, he had a great time and had a hard time leaving at the end. We ate, talked, played games and sang songs. The pictures show his mood change.

I missed Dennis the most on that day. Not because I had 3 kids to watch as people were so gracious and helped all the time. Some watched Kevin as they were watching their own children, others took the boys to bathroom as I was busy feeding the baby, some hold the baby so I could participate in the games for parent-child, one dad even played in one game with Ryan so I can play with Kevin in the same game. Both boys wanted to play but I was the only parent for both so it was not possible.

I missed to share the day with him, and laugh and hold his hand and just be together. And of course to help me get there. I got lost as usually and took us a good 35 minutes to find that place.

Ryan said on the way there:”I wish daddy was here with us. I wish we could go together to the parade in Ashland. If he was here he will know the way and not driving in circles”.

Happy Birthday Buni!

2011-07-03T16:42:00.003+02:00

On June 30th we had the joy to celebrate Buni (Grandma)’s Birthday. Ryan was the most excited about her birthday. He asked me couple of day before how old Buni is. I told that she will be 60, 10 times his age. He said: “Wow that is some age I think. When you (mom) will be 60 you will be a grandma too and you will come and visit me. I will be a dad and that time too.” Anyway on the 30th morning I told Ryan that we should say to Buni Happy Birthday when she is coming in the kitchen. Ryan told that Buni is still 59 she is not 60 yet. How come I asked? “She is still 59 till she is blowing the candles from the cake. When you blow the candles from the cake than you change your age but not before.” So till lunch when I planed to have the cake she was still 59.
We went to a Mall with my parents and the boys enjoyed the water fountain. He boys helped to pick some flowers… “golden said Ryan… like Buni age”.” The pink and white one are for little girls but that ones are for real people”.
Buni blowed the candles, not 60 pieces as Ryan wanted so she indeed turned 60. Happy Birthday dear Buni! Happy Birthday and may the Lord give you many, many more happy years my dear mom!

Weeks of sickness

2011-07-01T11:25:00.000+02:00

We still have more than 2 weeks till Dennis come back. It seems he is gone for a LONG LONG time. I miss him a lot. I miss his smile, his laugh, his hugs, his companion throughout the days. The boys are missing him a lot and I can see Nathan is missing him deeply. Yesterday at the pool he saw a man tall and dark hair like Dennis so he crawled to him and hang on his arm. When he turned he realized was not daddy so he let him go but his face dropped.
We kept busy here.
I took Ryan to swimming lessons. He was very good and tried his best. He never complained that he doesn’t want to go back. But yesterday he told me “I am glad that this is the last time”.
I am not sure what he learned as the teacher didn’t speak English and he was with other 12-15 hungarian kids. The interesting part was that I took Ryan to the dressing room and I never could go to see what he was doing in the swimming class. Parents are not allow to step in the pool room. So all the parents said goodbyes to their children in the dressing room and one of the pool employees come and take all of them to the class and after 1 hour they will bring your child back. You don’t even have a chance to talk with the teacher. I am glad that is over too. We will try to do some swimming on our own when the weather is turning back to summer. It is 56F right now, windy and rainy.

Since Dennis left we got one sickness after the other. Nathan was sick. He got a rash on his body. As my parents were here I decided to take him to the doctor as I didn’t want to contaminate everybody else. I thought that he has the fifth disease (one of the childhood illness). Ryan got it from the school and had it in the last weeks of school. I went to the doctor (the one who saw Ryan when he was sick) and she told me no Nathan has just an allergic reaction. To what? She didn’t know. We stopped all the solids and went back to nursing exclusively. Somehow the same night Nathan got stomach flu. So I didn’t sleep all night trying not “to paint” our carpet. The bad part was that my parents got the bug. I decided to do something fun for the boys on Sunday afternoon as my parents were feeling bad. We decided to go for a picnic, to fly a kite and then for an ice cream treat . I took all 3 boys and headed for a hill. Thank the Lord that I decided to go closer not on far away drive. We arrived, started to hike and Kevin was telling me that he wants to go back home because he needs a bathroom . We tried to fly a kite but it was no wind anymore, so I told Ryan lets go back to the car. Kevin is very pale by now but he wants to go and walk more. So we decided to walk till a little meadow . We just arrived and Kevin is collapsing on the ground . I just turned for a second thinking to put Nathan down in the grass too, when Kevin is starting to throw up. So we stayed a little longer there as I didn’t want to clean the car. Ryan is sad now because our plans for the evening are all “messed up”. I drove home as fast as I could praying that Kevin will not have any accidents in the car. Ryan is quite emotional by now, he is upset but he is also fearful. (He got scared seeing little Nathan throwing up. “Mom he is so small. Please don’t let him die. Please do something for him”)
We got Kevin in bed with a bucket near by, and then I had a date with Ryan. We went up on the balcony and had a little of “daddy ice cream”. (“We still saved some for you Dennis”).

Of course Nathan has the fifth disease. He got the red checks and the lacy rash. And guess what…Kevin is getting it too now. The rash can last for 3 weeks so just before Dennis is coming back we will be over it.

At the airport

2011-06-15T15:01:00.000+02:00

We took Dennis to airport this morning. The boys were so much fun. Kevin wanted to go with daddy. Ryan wanted to go just to see daddy’s airplane. We arrived home after a little adventure. First I remember that you pay the parking at a booth as you exit the parking area. Wrong! You should pay it at an automatic booth before. Great! Even that on that machine it is written than it take any bills it doesn’t take anything of a higher value of $2. People were so nice with me as I was scrambling to my wallet to find smaller bills, or it was just the sight of me with a baby on my hip and another one holding my dress and the third one asking me “what is wrong mommy?”. Anyway I managed to pay, get out and here is the funny part: 2 signs for M0 the freeway I need to take back but they go in different direction and how I suppose to know which exit is mine!?!? And of course I took the wrong MO direction and guess what… I ended up again at the airport.

Ryan is talking in the back seat “Wow, we are already back! Why we came back so fast? Where are we going mommy?”

This time I took the right exit and we arrived home fine. Of course Ryan wanted to know at what time daddy is flying. “11am” Ryan was telling us that he hopes daddy is flying over our house so we can see his airplane. We went outside and looked at the sky for 10 minutes at 11 am but we didn’t see any airplane. Ryan got an explanation: “ I am guessing he is not flying over our house. And I know why! Because that would be the wrong direction. He need to fly to Germany so this way is not Germany”. With this explanation we went inside and everybody seemed happy even they missed to wave goodbye to daddy as they planned.

Of course now I am in charge to tell Ryan at what time daddy is flying from Germany. And I have another assignment tonight from Ryan. “We need to have dinner at the same time daddy is having dinner in the airplane, so we can all eat in the same time” This one is quite hard for me to figure out so I am guessing at 6pm is right time.

Missing Dennis’ lots even he is gone just for few hours.

Visiting the Banya with Vanya

2011-06-03T11:26:00.002+02:00

How would a trip to Siberia be complete without a visit to the Banya?
It felt good to be back in Russia after 5 years and see old friends and be reminded of all the things God did among us 10 years ago. It was good to spend time with several families, like the Krapivins..

We took a walk in the forest near their house. I was curious how far we could go before running into more civilization. Ivan guessed about 300 miles. We found this little nest of blue eggs, with the mother bird chirping worriedly nearby. They heated up the banya to 120 C (123F) and we sweated it out. Ivan says it is a good reminder that hell is a lot hotter.

The temperature got up to 120C which is over 200F.

The felt hats are to keep your brains from boiling.

Now the kids are cooling down by submerging in a barrel of cold water. Brrrh!

Visiting the Circus in Kiev

2011-06-03T09:54:00.000+02:00

It was a beautiful performance with a lot of choreography.

This guy folded himself into a glass box, they submerged him in water for 4.5 minutes! Talk about claustrophobia. Amazing!

Valuable lessons

2011-05-31T15:13:00.001+02:00

I would love to write more and often but life was too busy on my end. Dennis was gone for 14 days with 3 days between which also were packed with meetings and a conference here in Budapest. He arrived in the afternoon of the day we left for my brother wedding.

I was too busy to stay and write my thoughts. I was also pretty tired. I woke up every day at 5.30 to be able to have time alone with God and be ready before the boys were up. I needed to have Ryan ready before 8 am when a friend came to pick him up for school. Some days I was the one driving to school and get 3 kids fed and in the car before 8 am wasn’t easy. But we had fun as well. We had picnics, had family time without daddy, played games, candle light dinner, laugh and of course we counted down on how many days till daddy is home.

I learned some valuable lessons:

1. Having time with my Father before everyone else is up it helped me to focus my heart and attitude. These 3 boys are my main disciples and I want for them to see Jesus in me.

2. I am not the only one who miss Dennis. The boys are missing him too and as hard it is on me to be without him it is the same hard on them without him. Kevin came almost every morning in my bedroom asking “where is daddy?”

3. Keeping busy it helps not feel overwhelmed with loneliness. I got a chance to clean closets, wash winter coats, sort clothes, sew buttons.

4. Keeps meals simple and have plenty of time for playing with the boys.

5. Keep the family nights as if Dad is home (we went to a picnic and a playground for one of the family evenings and the other one we watch a kids movie and talk about it)

6. Love them, laugh with them and give them plenty of hugs. Don’t let them or you go to bed upset or angry.

Zanya, Donald's, and What did BIOLA hit Kevin with?

2011-04-14T19:48:00.001+02:00

Poor Ryan was trying to follow our conversation which had quickly shifted from Nadya banging Kevin with a rattle in the childcare room this morning, to her sister Dasha who is entertaining thoughts of going to BIOLA university, but can't afford to. That is when Ryan said, "I have one more question. What did biola hit Kevin with?

Our household has lot's of interesting words right now as well.
The radigators keep our house warm.
Kevin loves to go to "Donald's" after church, because after his hamburger he can climb in their playground.
Tonight we had "Zanya" (spinach lasagna).

Russian Reminiscences by Princess Sophie Lieven

2011-03-30T12:03:00.002+02:00

These fascinating accounts of early evangelicals in Russia, and the hardship and exile they experienced are too good to lose track of. Search the pdf files for PRINCESS SOPHIE LIEVEN and read about the faith of men and woman completely changed by God!
http://www.gospelmagazine.org.uk/december1972.pdf
http://www.gospelmagazine.org.uk/may1973.pdf

Here is a helpful analysis of this revival
http://www.eastwestreport.org/articles/ew08410.html

PJ's Day

2011-03-03T11:51:00.000+01:00

Will you wear your pajamas to work?

The school that Ryan is in for kindergarten had a funny week. Each day suppose to do something unusual. It started on Monday when you come to school in your pajamas. Ryan was talking all the weekend about that. He could wait to wear his pajamas to school. We got couple of pictures to prove it. Enjoy. The sad part id that Ryan got sick with flu and missed all the other days: crazy hat, crazy hair, dressing like a favorite character... He was sick and not feeling well for 3 weeks. Now I got my happy boy back and we are laughing a lot as this week is Dr Seuss’ week at kindergarten. We are reading a lot of silly books.

Kids in his class

First grade class

Kevin is talking all the time and he likes to repeat what we say or Ryan says. His favorite word is: Enough! He is still fond of Nathan and is on top of him every time I put him down. He is not understanding very well the word “gentle” so is trying to play with Nathan as if he is a toy.

Nathan is growing up a lot. He is not even 6 month old but is wearing 9 month old clothes. He is a squeaking delight. He is very fascinated with daddy and he loves to be hold by daddy.

Slovenia

2011-02-25T12:17:00.000+01:00

I love to update our blog but recently I am behind as we were all sick with flu. Ryan was the worst and Nathan got just the throwing up part.
So I will guide you through our pictures.
We went to the Area Staff Conference in Slovenia. Great place we were super busy and I got the baby sick so I attended just one session. The rest I was with the sick baby. I thought to put a picture with all those 1000 people but it will be hard to identify us. So here are just a couple from our family.

On the way home we went to Lake Bled. Beautiful place!

We walked around the lake. 6.5 km

REST

2011-01-19T12:45:00.001+01:00

I am in a different mood right now. I am getting a little melancholic. Why? I don’t know.

I am reading a lot about rest and how Jesus took time to go aside on the mountain to pray when people were pressing in. He seems never to be in hurry. I love this, as my life is running to high speed right now. Rest is not my word. Part is because I love action, I love to do things. Part is because I have 3 small boys who are full of energy. Part is because between wiping noses, nursing, cleaning messes, cooking and folding laundry it doesn’t let any time for rest. Part is because we are getting ready for a conference for over 1000 missionaries.

But this is so bad. I need to learn to rest and enjoy every day. I need to stop running through days and get time to sit down and enjoy what is around me. When is the last time I stopped to watch the sunset more than a couple of minutes? Or to look carefully to a flower or a bug? (I have boys so bugs are important in our family)

Yesterday I had that chance to stop through my busy day. I didn’t use it well but it strucked me as I drove home. I went to doctor with Kevin and Nathan. No matter what time I go I will spend on average 2 hours there waiting. As I was there I became quite stressed out about the waiting being surrounded by all those sick kids. Mine are healthy we are there just for the immunizations. So I realized that I could enjoy that rest time where all I need to do is to watch the boys. But I am very stressed and I check my watch a lot and I count how many people I still have in front of me. I started to even calculate if everyone stays inside her office 10 minutes then I still need to be there…. I prayed a little but then I am back to pace that hallway trying to keep Nathan quiet. I am thinking that I need to keep Nathan awake, I need to nurse him soon… I hope he is not starting to cry… Kevin is through his snack and we read his book 3 times already..I need to go home, feed Kevin, put him down for a nap, then I need to go to pick up Ryan from school… I check my watch again.. and again… So driving home I realized that I could use better that time to rest. I hope next time I will enjoy that time of rest that God is giving me. The problem is that I don’t know how to slow down. I need to learn. So this is my new assignment. I want to do better every time my Father gives me some down time. I don’t need to run all the time.

God brought to my mind a song as a reminder that time is flying by and it never returns.

Did you ever watch Fiddler on the roof? Do you remember the weeding song “sunrise sunset”?

“Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears”

Christmas time

2011-01-04T14:57:00.000+01:00

We had a great Christmas. It was the first one we spent alone since we married. We were even with my parents or Dennis' parents or with our team when we lived in Russia (as Christmas is not celebrated on 25^th there).

It was very good and relaxing for me. I got plenty of time with the boys to play and have fun with them. I could remember the times I was a child and we had Christmas as a family. I remember how my dad will send us in the bathroom and he will call us when Santa will come. All the time he will let the door open a little at he balcony...how else Santa can get in!.. He use to ring a bell and we will rush out quickly to see Santa. But he was very quick so we never got a glimpse of him. It was fun a lot of chuckling as we wait to be called.

We always opened our gifts on the 24th evening. In Dennis' family the gifts were open on the 25th morning. So our family tradition is most gifts are open on 24th evening and one more need to be open on the 25th morning.

I had fun now being on the parent side and watch my boys opening gifts. It is a privilege to see their excitement and anticipation of what is behind that wrapping paper.

We had plenty of time to play, do puzzle, read stories, watch movies and of course eat lots and lots of goodies.

Advent

2010-12-20T17:22:00.000+01:00

This is our topic of discussion in our family for the last 3 weeks. I did an advent calendar as well. It is a good reminder for the boys how long we still need to wait till Christmas.

But also advent in Latin means coming. So we are looking for the coming of Christmas but also we talked with the boys that advent is much more than waiting for the holiday of Jesus being born on the earth. We are looking forward to His second coming. We had a great time discussing that Jesus will come back again but not as a baby anymore but as Powerful King. Ryan asked me one night “When is He coming back? How many days till He is coming?” So I told him that we don’t know when but we are expecting Him to come any day. The longer the waiting the greater will be the joy to see Him.

Of course the boys are looking to open their presents wrapped under the tree. It is normal and fun. We decided to put their presents under the tree very early this year as a reason to teach them about waiting. In my family the presents “appeared” under the tree just on Christmas Eve. I want for them to experience anticipation and longing, to see what is inside each box, and the analogy that we as Christians should long for the return of Christ.

We are counting the days until Christmas and the boys are doing fine on not trying to open any of the presents. Of course they are looking at them every evening and Ryan and Kevin are still arranging the boxes under the tree. I keep one candle in the middle of our dining room table and we lite it every night. I ask them, “why is that candle there?” Ryan had some cute answers “To give us light. That you and daddy can have a romantic dinner. For Kevin to have something to blow out at the end of the meal…” We again explained to them that it is helping to remind us that Christmas is not just about gifts and good food and cookies but it is about Jesus. He is the center of our holiday.

Gifts are fun and we are thankful for them. It reminds us that the magi brought gifts to Jesus when He was born. This year Dennis will go with Ryan to an orphanage. Our church and the school that Ryan is attending will go there and deliver gifts to the children. We want for Ryan to experience more on the side of giving not just receiving gifts. I am praying for good weather so all could drive there safely. I wish I could go but it will be hard focusing on the kids having a baby in my arms. So on Thursday if you remember pray for all that will go to the orphanage.

I told Dennis that I miss hearing about the coming of the Lord at church. Then Dennis was asked to preach. Without realizing when he was scheduled to preach he decided to prepare a sermon on that topic. The day he preached was exactly the first Sunday of Advent. What a great way to start the season. Please make time a listen to his sermon here: http://danubechurch.org/2peter3

The Briefing Library: Factotum #1: The Ministry of the Pew

2010-12-10T16:55:00.000+01:00

The Briefing Library: Factotum #1: The Ministry of the Pew

Here is an interesting article on how to make attending church a ministry!

Ryan's kindergarten

2010-12-02T11:12:00.000+01:00

Ryan loves to go to kindergarten. Every time we drive by the school where Ryan is, Kevin call out from the back of the car full of enthusiasm “Ryan’s school”.

He has 2 other boys that are Americans and they are buddies. I am not sure how much is on their side but Ryan calls them his friends. So far it is a great fit for Ryan and we are happy that we chose the English kindergarten for him. He is blooming being able to talk with other kids and be able to understand everything.

He comes home singing new songs he learned, talking about recess, retelling me the stories he heard, showing me his drawing. He is in the 100 Club. This means that he is able to count to 100. He is funny and eager to have more homework J. He is waking up every day looking forward for the “school day”. We are grateful for the privilege we have to have him in a Christian school. Bellow are some picture for you to enjoy.

By the way this is the “Christmas month -every day is Christmas”-says Ryan. More about the advent in the next post.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T18:03:00.002+01:00

We had a great time for Thanksgiving. Our dear friends Tommy and Dana decided to invite us and another family to their place. This was perfect as Ryan’s best friend is Aaron – Dana’s boy. Also the other family has 2 girls and one of them is in the same class with Dana’s girl. The fun part is that Karen is Ryan’s teacher. What a great time to get to know her outside of school. So we had 6 adults and 8 kids. Anna who is Dana’s girl was excited because when we see each other she is surrounded by boys. She has 2 younger brothers and Kevin is very fond of her.

We had tons of food, more than we could eat, lots of sweets, and a very sweet fellowship. We shared reasons for thanksgiving that day and we enjoyed each other company. The kids listen to Karen as she told them couple of stories about Thanksgiving and enjoyed her yummy “pilgrims’ hats”.

Here are my top 3 reasons of thanks:

1. I am thankful for God who is lavishes me with his love every single day. He is never bored or tired of me. He is always there for me and the more I get to know Him the more I am in love with Him.

2. I am thankful for my sweet husband. He is a great companion and it is a joy to have him around. He has a heart for God and is very kind and gentle.

3. I am thankful for our 3 cute boys.

Ryan is very smart kid and he is full of imagination. He can play pretend with the most ordinary toys. He loves to sing and can make a song for every thing he has or see. He loves to laugh and he likes any books with silly stories.

Kevin is a talker. He is a full of energy, loves to climb on anything that is dangerous. He loves to play in the water- so no surprise why our water bill is so high-. He is echoing Dennis’ prayers at the meals every single time. He loves to wrestle with daddy and it is very enthusiastic to have dad home.

Nathan is a very calm and patient baby. He loves to eat and smile. He likes mom (he knows where the “bread and butter” comes from) and wants mom to hold him as much as possible.

Saturday adventure

2010-11-10T20:30:00.000+01:00

What a beautiful day! Sunshine, pretty warm. A great day to be outside. So we decided to go to a nearby village to get a nice walk and look for walnuts. I know it is too late in the season but that village has walnuts tree 2 meter apart on every single street. We stopped first at a store to buy a few more things and then we arrived in the walnut area. Nathan is sleeping in the car seat. First I don’t want to wake him up as he will think he needs to nurse. So Dennis takes Ryan and Kevin out and locks the car and hands me the keys. I am quite tired as I woke up a lot last night with a nursing baby and another one who had bad dreams. I stayed inside the car for a little but it is so nice outside so I decided that I better get out and walk too. I open the door and it is so warm outside. I take my coat off as I want to get the front pack on (baby carrier), throw the coat on the front seat and get ready to get the baby. In a split second I push my door closed. OOPS!

The moment I hear the sound of the door I realize that the car key are in my coat pocket. I locked the key and the baby in the car. I panicked. Check my pants pockets in a desperate attempt to find keys. I try all the doors hoping for a miracle. Nothing. Dennis is still close and I wave to him to come back. Ryan is coming too and I tell him. I am scared. What to do now. It will take 5-6 hours even to walk home. Ryan picked up my emotions and started to cry. He is panicked and is bawling “the baby, the baby… I need to go to the bathroom… I am hungry… We will starve here and the baby will die… What we will do?….”

Dennis suggested we pray. Dennis had a cell phone with him. Mine is in the coat which is staying nice in the car. People pass and wonder about us and Ryan is attracting a lot of attention. Dennis started to call some of our colleagues who live in that village. One is in a meeting, one is driving to a student retreat and is outside of Budapest already, the other one is not home. Ryan is pouring tears and I can’t comfort him. “no one will come…We will be here forever… I need a bathroom… the baby mommy, the baby… what will we do??? “. I am already thinking about breaking a window. Where will I find a rock, I have no idea. Ryan said: “ we should pray”. I am asking right now that the baby stay asleep a little longer. I can’t stay watching him cry inside because he is hungry. It is not so hot outside anymore but Nathan is in a car seat with a blanket on him. As we pray I see Nathan open his eyes and start to cry, for a few seconds and he is back asleep.

Our last solution is my friend Dana. Dennis tried her husband but he is not answering. (We found out later that he was in an exam. He took a financial course and now was the final exam). Dana lives close to our house. She is home alone with her 3 small children. We call Dana and she agrees to go to our house to get our other car keys and we are praying that our neighbor is home. The neighbor has a key from our house. If Eva is not home than Dana will need to come pick up Dennis, drive to our house, and then back to us to rescue us.

Dana is amazing. She got all 3 kids in her car in couple of minutes and called us from our house to direct her to where the other set of car keys are. She then came in 15 minutes and rescued us. Ryan was asking me every couple of seconds if the 15 minutes passed. “what if she is getting lost? What if she will never find us?” I never was happier to see those car keys. Ryan is beaming now. He suggested on the way back: ”Next time mom you better lock me and Nathan inside. I will open the car for you.” I hope and pray there will never be a next time.

2010-10-19T10:39:00.000+02:00

Nathan is almost six weeks old. This was the most intense time in my life. The third is the easiest people said. Not till now...Life should get easier from now or at least this is my prayer. Nathan got jaundice in the second day of his life and that plus other things that are different here in the hospital make him very sleepy and not nursing. They gave him plain water with a bottle because he didn't have a wet diaper. He ate only twice in 24 hours so... Anyway I was glad to be out of the hospital with him. I didn't have any milk as he was not nursing more than couple of minutes. We went to the doctor at one week and his weight dropped farther 3750 g. (He was born with 4200g, he was 3800g when we left the hospital). We were very concerned and I worked hard to nurse him every 2 hours. After I would spend 1 hour trying to nurse him then I would spend more time pumping. He got also colic so it was the worst combination. I was exhausted. I could sleep even standing up. My parents were here so it was a great help.

At 2 weeks his weight was 3820g so the ordeal was not over. We worked hard to keep him awake to eat, nurse often even than 2 hours.

At 1 month his weight is 4400g. I feel I am getting out of the fog. He is cute and Kevin is very fond of him. He wants to hold Nathan and kiss him. The funniest thing is that now every time I sit down to nurse Nathan, Kevin is coming and sit down and says "Put Nate here" and he is pointing to his lap. Then he is lifting up his shirt and says" I'll do it. I'll do it".

2010-09-25T09:40:00.000+02:00

Nathan Clark Strellman was born 3:00am on 9/9/10 weighing 4.200 kg (9.2 pounds)

Nathan (means gift of God) was a bonus after we had given up on 3 and decided 2 were enough.

Lewis and Clark led the expedition to find a land route across North America to the Pacific, making it to Oregon and back.

Luiza woke up at 1:50am because Kevin came in and wanted to get in our bed.

In the bathroom she noticed that the contractions were 10 minutes apart.

She woke me at 2:05am and we left the house at 2:15am

We drove to Telki hospital in the pouring rain, making the 45 minute trip in 20.

A man came to the front desk, telling us to have a seat and a nurse would come soon. Here we had been risking our lives to get there and other people were not in as big a hurry. At 2:45am the nurse took us up the elevator to the second floor and asked Luiza to sit down and fill out a form in English. Her water broke and the contractions were 3 minutes apart. (I don’t need a form I need to push!!!) Then we went to the birth room and the head was showing. A doctor came and things got busy.

First week of school

2010-09-10T11:58:00.000+02:00

Ryan is going to kindergarten. He was waiting and talking about this for a long long time. He loves being with other kids so we counted the days till September 1st when the school started. The night before he woke up at 5 am and told me he is ready to go. He is already going for 1 week and he loves it. He has 2 new friends Weston and Oliver. More picture will come later.

Are you spending time alone with God?

2010-09-06T11:22:00.001+02:00

I enjoy reading. I love to read. Going here in Hungary for the prenatal check-up is a good thing to do as usually I need to wait for a long time even if I have an appointment. On average I am at the doctor office for 2 ½ hours. I found a book that I didn’t read yet by Richard Burr “Developing your secret closet of prayer”. It is a great book and if you didn’t read it yet I will encourage you to do it. I will not told you everything that is written there but for me was a great reminder of the importance of spending time alone with God in prayer. I love to pray with Dennis or as the need arise but I need to go alone and dedicate a certain time to be with my Father to talk to Him and to listen to Him all by myself. I will just give you two quotes that stir me up. One is from William Temple the former Archbishop of Canterbury and tell you more about the benefits of spending time with God.
“To worship is:
To quicken the conscience by the holiness of God
To feed the mind with the truth of God
To purge the imagination by the beauty of God
To open the heart to the love of God and
To devote the will to the purpose of God.”

“Where there is no remembrance of past mercies and no consideration of present blessings, there will be the certainty of future rebellion!”

So let’s go and spend every day time alone with our heavenly Father so our hearts will not forget all His benefits!

Living on the road

2010-05-18T16:58:00.000+02:00

Right now we are living out of suitcases. That is a challenge for a family of 4 1/2. Our various hosts have been kind, all our needs are provided, but finding ways to exercise and spend time with God are tough. All our habits go out the window and we have to flex. That is furlough right now for our life as missionaries. Now I see why many husbands will just go and raise support by themselves, leaving the family home.

Encouragment

2010-04-25T10:09:00.000+02:00

Last couple of weeks I went through a hard time. I was praying and asking God why life is so hard here. Why Christians go through such painful times as we have a Father who deeply loves us. Why a parent should see his little one die? I prayed and prayed but it seems that the answer I expected never came. Yes I know that Heaven is far better than the life here on earth but it is still painful. As I was struggling with all these questions and praying and spending extended time with my Lord I got an answer. It came on Sunday listening to our pastor preaching. So I decided to share with you too.

1. Life here will be painful and hard for believers. Suffering is a part of our Christian life. “Those who want to live for Jesus Christ will suffer” Suffering can take different forms. From sickness, death, shattered dreams, persecution… but all is part of the same category: Suffering. As long as we want to live for our Lord than we will suffer. This was a great reminder for me and an awakening call not to lose sight and hope.

2. Life here on this earth is not a promise that we will get all the blessings. Life here is just a shadow of what life in heaven will be. We live here for just a short time and then we will have all the eternity with God. “How foolish will be to say to God: if you don’t bless me now in this life time I am not interested. If you don’t bless me right now God you can forget it I am not interested”. Can we compare this short life with all the eternity? How many blessings await for us Home? We were created for that world. It is like a child in the womb who will want all that is good right there in that tight space. How much love, and hugs and kisses he will get when he is out of that place? But sometimes we act that all it is good need to come here in this life on the earth. It is not true.

No matter what you are going through right now, I hope you will be encouraged and comforted with the thoughts above.

Meet the peanut, due September 15, 2010

2010-02-25T11:23:00.000+01:00

New milestones

2010-02-19T18:19:00.000+01:00

Ryan is growing up a lot. He will be 5 this summer. He is excited as he wanted to go to school. Yesterday I went and register him for the preschool. We still need to pass the interview but I don’t think it will be a problem. In the fall he will be able to go to the preschool for the mornings. He is very happy. He loves being with other children so being in an English preschool will help a lot.

Kevin on the other hand has an interest in sleeping in a big bed. He is 1 1/2 year old.I think he sees his brother using one so the crib is not too much appealing. So for nap time he gets his big bed. I am not eager to put him in it for the night as he could wake us all up walking in our rooms at 6 am. So for now he is still in the crib. But I am guessing not too long…

Romania is wired!...5 girls = 5 computers

2010-01-15T19:24:00.002+01:00

Ana went to visit two girls at the Politecnic university who had left comment cards from the Fitzuica magazine. In the dorm room she found that 5 girls lived there and they had 5 computers (4 laptops).

During the conversation both girls continued to chat online using Yahoo messenger with friends, with no apparent difficulty maintaining multiple conversations simultaneously. Ionela was chatting with her best friend, she had met this boy online. Petrutsa was chatting with friends back home in Constansta.

After the talk they exchanged IDs for Yahoo and AnaMaria was able to invite them via Yahoo to the Christmas party, providing links to maps. She also gave them a link to www.EveryStudent.com, which has great articles and apologetics to understand why a relationship with God makes all the difference.

2 Corinthians 12-13 Live

2010-01-14T19:39:00.000+01:00

Hungry? Here is a good meal

2009-12-27T18:01:00.001+01:00

I thought the message at our church in Budapest this morning was like a good meal and thought you would enjoy it as well. Here is the link. It is about 30-40 minutes, begins with a Christmas song from Madagascar, then looks at the quest in Matthew 2, Tolkien, Tolstoy, and others.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-01T14:23:00.002+01:00

“It isn't what you have in your pocket that makes you thankful, but what you have in your heart” Anonymous

We had a nice relaxed weekend. We got together for Thanksgiving with dear friends here in Budapest. We enjoyed the meal but most of all the good conversation.
I am still thinking about Thanksgiving so for this reason I didn’t get out my Christmas decorations yet. I want to linger couple more days on Thanksgiving before I switch to Christmas.
What I am thankful for?
I have so many reasons. From health to a loving husband, 2 cute boys, friends, food, a house to live, a peaceful country to worship in freedom, loving parents and relatives, and many more reasons.

I am thankful most of all for having a Father. I am grateful to be His child and not just a child but an heir with Jesus. Wow! I am amazed to be call to be God’s child but to be an heir is more than I can imagine!!! I don’t deserve anything. I am glad that I am saved but God went a step further and prepared for us an inheritance. What a great God and Father we have! I am looking forward to the day when my “Thank you Father” will be uttered in His presence. Till that day I am thankful to be here and serve Him every single day.

Here we are again

2009-11-22T22:44:00.001+01:00

We are back to locking kitchen cupboards. Kevin started to inspect and take out everything from my cupboards. He is fascinated with my pasta bags, rice, cans, dish soap, brushes, and knives. When Ryan was the same age he was in the pots and pans. Kevin doesn’t care about those. So we got again to lock some of the kitchen cabinets because he can dump out my bags as fast as can I blink my eyes. Wednesday was a hard day. The moment I turned my back on him… he was up to something. He climbed on the chair and from there on the kitchen table. He was on top of the table playing in Ryan’s glass of water. I put him down, giving a time out and the next thing he is again on the table now dumping the water out of the cup. Again down, time out. He left the kitchen and came back with a plastic chair to reach the sink now. Nothing to play with there so in a second he is up on the kitchen table again and took off the lid of his sippy cup and dump the water again all over. (This is his favorite bath) I took him down again; wondering how many times we will do this today. I changed him. I went to put some clothes to wash and heard Ryan calling “mom, mom” I ran downstairs and there was my junior who dumped a whole bag of cornmeal on the flour. We tried to clean it and next here came Kevin with a mop. I turned my back again.. went to put the mop back and then to shake the carpet out. I came back and there I found my sweet angel who went already upstairs and got the toilet brush and he is brushing my pillows from the couch. How he got up and down so fast, I don’t know. But I know that I didn’t close the bathroom door upstairs when I ran down trying to get some clothes to wash.

But tomorrow is another day…

Guess what we have for dinner?

2009-11-06T15:26:00.001+01:00