Bible Stories

Every night I've been reading the Bible to the boys. It is a great story Bible with pictures and questions and they absolutely love it. In fact it helps me get them to want to go to bed. I read the story and ask the boys questions and when Tony comes up to tell them good night they retell him the story so he'll know it too. It is so amazing to hear them to retell the stories and the details they remember. Even little Mackie surprises me ever night.

The other night we read about Hannah and Samuel. When we got to the part about Hannah giving Samuel to Eli, Brady cried. We tried to explain it to him how Eli became like his dad and reassure him that he wasn't going to live with an old scary priest but there was no consoling him. He was just so upset that Samuel didn't get to live with his mommy. His heart is so precious and tender, and he feels things so strongly.

Tonight we read about how David became king and brought the ark back from the Philistines. We've seen the ark twice in our picture Bible so far and Brady seems to be following. I took this opportunity to talk about how when Jesus came, God's spirit didn't dwell in a box he lives in our heart. Mac said "Jesus isn't in our house" and I said "yes he is, you can't see him with your eyes but you see him with your heart, that's where he lives" -- Mackie said "I doesn't live in my heart, he lives in my belly." --- it was so funny and caught me off guard.

Unfortunately there is a lot of killing and dying in the Old Testament but the stories are really good. I can't wait to get to the stories about Jesus. Reading the Bible with my boys has been my most rewarding spiritual endeavor this year and it fills my heart to over flowing. It's a kiss from the King.

Brady's program

Brady is the little boy in the black hat. He is also wearing a plaid shirt and an apron. He is supposed to be a farmer and they were reinacting an ancient greek political play where the people are electing a leader. They choose the one who passes out sausages so they will never go hungry. A lot of people got in the way and you can hear Mac's voice asking where Brady is. Chaos.

O Mikros Pringipas

This is the name of the school that Brady and Mac go to. It is really cute and they have a good time. This is their summer program. It was really cute but there was chaos too. Mac was supposed to be a dancer but as you can see from his video he chickened out and spent the rest of the program on my lap. This contributed to the shaky nature of Brady's video but I thought you'd enjoy them anyways. I know that it isn't very easy for them since they don't speak much greek yet, but they are doing a great job.

Paging Dr. Brady

Tony and Brady were running an errand the other day and Tony was asking him questions. One of the things Tony asked was "Brady what do you want to be when you grow up." Usually Brady says "I don't know.". This time however was the first time Brady had an answer. He said "I want to be a doctor." Actually I think Brady would be a great doctor. He is really smart and loves to learn and he is so compassionate and helpful. When someone is hurt or upset he always tries to make them feel better. So now we sometimes call him Dr. Brady. He really likes it.

In the Navy

So Tony turned 30 last Sunday - it was a great day of celebration. We just finished up with a Save Europe's Children team and our good friend Sara left for Ireland. I got my first babysitter since I've lived here. There is another American family that lives close to us and has teenage daughters and they are awesome. We went with our Greek friends Nina and Thomas (you pronounce the TH when you say it in greek). We went to the only steak place in the city and had a great time. It was election day here so most greeks had returned to their village to vote. There were 2 American ships at the port in Thessaloniki for the weekend pooring about 3000 Americans onto greek soil. Since most of the greeks were gone just about everyone we passed was American. I could understand everyones' conversation without even trying. We spent most of the time explaining the americans to our friends speaking only in greek. It was tough but really fun. The next day we connected with the chaplin and he gave us a tour. Tony was excited because they had Mt. Dew on the ship but unfortunately it was all gone. We took the boys with us to the ship and it was really hot and they were really tired but it was quite an experience. I was holding Mac most of the time because he was so sleepy. At one point he randomly licked my arm.... my whole arm. He said "you taste like playdough mommy".

Mac's Girlfriend

We said goodbye to a good friend last week, Miss Shannon. Shannon was studying abroad here in Thess this semester but it came to end and she returned to Florida. We connected because she was involved with her Chi Alpha group and met at the Summit over New Year's. Mac was in love with Shannon. She was #5 in his love tank. He went with Tony to take her to the airport and cried as she left. Now everyone plane that goes by he asks "Is that Miss Shannon?".

Thank You Kansas

We have been here there and everywhere of late here in Greece. We've been continuing to learn Greek and build relationships and are preparing for our first team. We had a great visit with Pop Pop Rando and Grandma Linda from Wichita and they came with oodles of stuff for us from home which was so awesome. We also connected with their church who did a 2 day trip here in Greece before their trip to Israel. Recently we got together with all the A/G personnel here in the Balkans, and the Kansas group was so fantastic to bring things for all of them. We did a little auction Survivor style and had a fun time. I am always amazed at the generosity of people and nothing has touched my heart as deeply as this. We are so grateful for the ways God provides through the goodness of people.