Chris writes - last week was a short one. We were off on Monday for the Independence day holiday so I visited a friend in his new English school in the morning. In the afternoon we visited one of the families of the children - building relationships. Had a party in the evening with some pretty amazing dancing. Tuesday was the big day and we went into Gjakova to celebrate with the guys from the Smile centre. The evening was amazing just walking up and down the main street greeting people. The whole Independance thing is quite strange and it feels a little unsteady - as you might be aware many countries still do not recognise it - hopefully given time they will. But Kosovar people are very patriotic and their flag, and many other countries flags who helped them, were proudly displayed everywhere. We got home to bed very late wishing we had another day off! Wednesday was a regular day with the addition of a volunteer from the UK who brought us some fantastic treats over - thanks Charlie!! Out for coffee to Prizren in the afternoon - Kosova life! On Thursday evening we were invited out to one of the families for a Burek (my favourite!) and some amazing Kosovar hospitality - the life! On Friday we took our volunteer back to Gjakova and went shopping - Joy! Saturday after cleaning the auto went out to Prizren with another couple and home for food. On Sunday we were at our church and after - for coffee - the life! In the evening we caught up with some langauguage and the enevitable three hour power cut - with the invertor only working for one hour this was pretty tough - Kosova! Still battling with my gremlins and find myself having to keep asking for forgiveness! Still struggling with trying to be a loving husband/team-mate. Some days are better than others - sometimes it is silly things which trip me up! Keep on keeping on!! Thanks for reading and praying!!

Lorraine writes- where has the time gone!!! Three months has just flown by. We so love being here, learning how to be part of a different culture. We have started to visit each of the children attending the day care (a long process as we have 45 on the register) Its wonderful to meet the children in their home environment; to see where they live, meet their brothers and sisters. Meeting their parents has been a privilege. Being able to encourage them regarding their child/children has given us a great opportunity to engage in conversation and to begin to establish a relationship with them and to share about what life is like in the day care. Kosova's Independence day is just around the corner (17th Feb) and we are keen to be part of a country celebrating freedom, after experiencing so much pain and oppression. Quite how they will celebrate is yet to be seen, but we are looking forward to it!

Chris writes: we have now been in Kosova for over three months and it is really feeling like home. That is not to say it has been easy. Working and living as a team for me and Rainie is new to us so naturally there have been some adjustments to make and it has not always been easy. This has been particularly hard as we live and work in the same building - often with other people around us so moments together can be precious. This has of course all stretched our relationship - sometimes more than othertimes! I must admit I have not found it easy trying to be a good boss and be a loving husband! We are also still without Dave and Cindy who hopefully will be back in one month. Yippee! We have also had big problems with getting our money - thanks Abbey! We have also struggled with the language and finding the time in the evening has often been a battle for us both. Praise God we are living through it and growing in grace for this new life we have taken on. Last night we had a mains power cut and just got on with what we were doing - sometimes by candlelight sometimes with the generator. We seem to have hit a milestone with the language and are starting to remember some of the words inspite of our dyslexia! Now that is an answer to prayer! At one stage I thought I would never remember a word! I guess our testimony is: it has not always been easy but then we never expected it to be - but we are living and growing through it. Whoever said living any kind of life - living life God's way - was going to be easy? Nobody I know. When people ask where was God my only answer can be He was right there with us all the time - His hand just so clearly seems to be on what we are doing here we have found favour with the staff and children and had some answers to prayer and watched His provision on the way too. It is not to get complacent of course or make you think that we have got it all cracked - we still have much to do and it won't be easy - but all this bodes well as we think and pray about what happens after September but that is for another day! Thanks for reading and I pray that you can know and share something of our relationship with Our Heavenly Father. :)

Lorraine writes- Our weeks are becoming more and more enjoyable.....the children are really at ease with us both and are often keen to have us sit with them at their table. A few times I have played a cat and mouse ring game with the younger group; reckon its a conspiracy though, as every time I play, when its time for the cat to chase the mouse almost every time the children have chosen me to be the cat and run after them (the mouse)!!!!! There's always a lot of laughter during that game :-) and lots of energy released on my part. At the start of every day we gather as a staff team and I lead a time of encouragement. We had been discussing role models, recently; what are they, how to be a good role model and why. Its been great how the staff are able to share their thoughts on the topic. As we chatted we talked about how we had people in our lives who inspired us yet there are those who don't always have a positive role models to look to. We are role models for the children and as a team we are investing in the lives of the children in our care; that investment (i.e manners, acceptance, love, faithfulness, trustworthiness) can then flow out and be passed on, into the lives of those the children, come in contact with, like their family and friends. As a result positive behaviour, attitudes, kindness, happiness and love can flow out into the village and even further a field as they grow up, out into the wider community and society. Wow, what an exciting opportunity. We pray every morning, before day care starts, Chris, Alban (our translator) and my self; we pray that God's love will flow over the day care; we have been reading through some Psalms. Psalm 139 verse 15 reads "My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body". I think about the children here and how God saw each of them as they where created, if we can show them just a glimpse of how much God loves them then how amazing will that be!!!

Chris writes: have been thinking a lot about sacrifice and giving up recently. As a Christian of course we ask what can we give up when we have everything in Jesus - and indeed that is the ideal but for how many of us is it really true. How many of us can say we are totally fulfilled by our relationship with Jesus? Not with our ministry or anyone or anything else. We can have total fulfilment in Jesus! How amazing! Look at Jesus in the Gospels - he sought to meet all the needs which were presented to Him. He healed (there is a study in itself - the complete person eyes, ears, legs, hands and so on....) He raised the dead, cured the lepers, He fed - physically and Spiritually - was there any part of the body which Jesus did not touch?? As a Christian a relationship with God includes Him as friend, provider, parent, Saviour....and so on - another study there! I am reading one of Yancy's books, entitled prayer and this quote jumped out at me from a monk he was visiting: "if you need anything let us know and we'll teach you to live without it!" What do we need and what do want? what are we willing to give up? I got this other great quote from our daily reading notes recently questioning how you know it is God asking you to give up something when 'you are willing to leave behind those things which now mean nothing in order to live for those things which now mean everything'. So is God everything to you? For me coming over here has really moved me along that road - I guess to the place where I have been able to let go of 'those things which mean nothing'. The truth is of course as i am sure someone said around 2000 years ago after the death of Jesus - the more you give up the more God gives back to you - finances, friends so we don't really go without - its a bit of a pardox I suppose. Wow! Amazing God! Or Awesome! As they say in USA.

Things are going well here. The Snow has almost all melted and it is so good to see some green again - although our lawn looks like it has been attacked by a large family of moles! Going well with the roles bit and learning what each others role is. We have now started back with the nursery after an extended break and are just trying to get to know the staff and the children more and trying to be good role models but maybe Rainie will tell you more about that.
Thanks for reading :)

Chris writes: it seems that we are rapidly settling into life here and adapting to all its quirks. It is great to think how quickly we are adapting to this culture - the wonder is how quickly would we adapt back to life in the developed west. One test has been trying to even update the blog. Every time for the last few days i have tried to do it the power has gone out - and typing by candlelight is not very appealing! Kosova. We are really learning to adapt and in some ways it is good training for what seems like a recession which our friends and family are going through back home in the UK. The only difference is that over here they are prepared and used to this way of life - in some ways this is refreshing. We have just returned from four nights in Macedonia which was a good break but great to be home again in Kosova. We left on rather difficult snowy roads. We returned on the same roads and any hopes of a thaw were dashed. the weather here has been quite amazing. Temperatures so far as low as 20 below and snow two feet deep plus in places - it seems that for some the novelty of the snow is now wearing a little thin! Today it has been raining and this has frozen so we now have a sheet of ice everywhere - much to the joy of the children who enjoy skating down our driveway! This weather has meant that the school has been closed so we in the nursery have followed suit. Hopefully we will open next week as we are both missing the children, the staff and the routine of the day-care. One of the most exciting things from our time here is the way our relationship and faith in God is developing. Not having many of the distractions from back home has been really good for this. Also working together as a team has been challenging for us as a couple and one which we are learning and seeking to improve upon everyday. It seems really exciting to think of all that we are learning in this way of life and i would recommend it to you all!! Thanks for reading.

Lorraine writes- On the stroke of midnight the sky across Gjakova was lit up by fireworks, celebrating and welcoming in 2009. It almost glowed and was a sight I haven't ever seen before. Bonfire night always has fireworks going off at different time; but this was fireworks all going off at the same time, amazing!!! All you could hear was the sound of rockets whizzing and bangers popping. The noise was almost deafening. After having a wonderful, very English Christmas, it's safe to say New Years eve was very Kosovan. Two very different times of fellowship but both equally enjoyable. I got quite emotional to think we were celebrating Christmas and New Year in Kosova. As the snow fell on Christmas day, it was hard to stop the tears of amazement and joy. Amazement and joy at God's nature and creation, at His faithfulness to me (and Chris) and at what He has in store for us here in Kosova. Even though we have been truly blessed with our accommodation and surroundings, it feels like God is stripping away luxuries and getting me to look at myself, my character and the basics of faith. He's wanting to simply say 'I Love You Lorraine....let me remould you, make you new'!! I'm excited about 2009 and pray that I will be open to God's loving arms and touch. Thank you for your prayers and support. I, we, really appreciate and value it. Many blessings to you as we go into 2009. Happy New Year!!