The First Couple Weeks

Once we arrived in Krakow, there was a lot that had to happen before we really felt settled. We didn't have a car, so we had to call taxis anytime we wanted to go anywhere. I didn't have my kitchen supplies yet, so my cooking was fairly limited. The kids had no toys, so they resorted to doing things like this for fun....


Our evening outings were a little limited due to the car issue, but we managed to get out a few times and explore. The following pics were taken outside our house as we were getting ready for an outing to the mall....





The kids played a lot outside in our yard. Above is a picture of Andrew and Caleb on our patio. Below is Caleb posing by our grapevine trellis. The kids thought it was great fun picking grapes.

Naomi really likes our yard too but I have to watch her very carefully since the steps and patio are all marble. It makes me a little nervous about her falling down.


We went on lots of walks that first week to explore around our house. Here's some street signs leading to our home....

On one of our walks we walked up to the entrance of the Mounds. The boys were so excited to climb these so Luke took them that weekend. I'll include pics of that in another post. Here they are posing outside the mounds.

More pictures later this week!

Catching up...

We finally have a way to hook our camera up to our computer, so this blog is about to be overloaded with pictures! I think I'm going to try and post about once a day this week to catch everyone up. We've been here three weeks now, so I have a lot to share. We'll start with the day we left...

9 checked bags + 4 kids+ 2 strollers = 2 parents praying for patience

The kids were all excited to get on the plane....

Andrew loved watching the airplanes take off and land....

Thankfully all the flights went smoothly and the kids did great. Once we got to our house in Krakow (about 24 hours later) Naomi and Andrew found a bed and crashed. Travelling is hard work!

In case you are interested....

...both Isaac and Caleb now have blogs. This is going to be part of their schooling while we are in Poland. They should post about once a week. Hint: They love comments!

Isaac http://isaacsthoughts-isaac.blogspot.com/

Caleb http://theworldaccordingtocaleb.blogspot.com/

We made it!

We have now officially been in Krakow for one week. We arrived last Saturday, completely exhausted but also very excited to be here. This week has not been without some trials, but overall it's been an enjoyable week getting to know the city and making friends. I can't post pictures yet unfortunately because our camera cord hasn't arrived yet (along with our beds, clothes, kids' toys, etc.) but as soon as I get that silly cord I will post pictures from our travels here.

Until then.....here' s a top ten list to give you an idea of how our week has gone.

Our Top Ten List of things we have learned after one week in Poland....

10. You do NOT want to Jaywalk in Krakow. (Luke has a story to tell about this one.)

9. When grocery shopping in Poland you will NOT get help bagging your groceries. Nor will they wait for you to bag your groceries before they start ringing up the next customer. And it just adds to the fun when your cashier only speaks Polish.

8. Poland has a lot of slugs. Isaac and Caleb think this is very cool.

7. Skype/e-mail/Facebook are wonderful blessings when you are missing family and friends.

6. Stacie has to learn how to cook with an Easy-Bake Oven. (At least that's what the size of her oven reminds her of.)

5. We have no dryer. We have clotheslines. Not sure if we are going to tough this out, or break down and buy a dryer. Our towels feel like sandpaper after line-drying, so we will probably buy a dryer.

4. We really need to work on our Polish. Caleb wanted to tell our next door neighbor "Hola."

3. Trying to buy a used car in a foreign country can be quite adventurous. On Tuesday, Luke went to look at a van that he found online. The van looked great online, but when he arrived at the car "dealership" he met a very shady-looking character selling used cars out of his backyard. (Luke's keen business instincts told him not to buy a van from this guy.)

2. Krakow is a wonderful city for families. There is so much to do here we're not sure we can fit it all in into two years!

1. God is still faithful no matter where you are living, what language they speak there, and how far away you are from home.

It's finally here!

This summer has flown by and our departure for Poland is here! We fly out this morning and should arrive in Krakow Saturday morning. We are excited to get there and see what God has in store for us, but it has also been hard saying good-bye to our family and friends. We are so blessed with wonderful family and friends, and especially our church. I'm sure we will make new friends in Poland, but we know lots of people who will be missed here in the U.S.A!

If you think of us today, please pray for us as we make this trip. Please pray that Naomi will do well with the long flight. (I'm sure the boys will do fine, but an active toddler on an international flight could get a little troublesome.) Also, please pray for safe travel and that Luke and I will have patience as we travel with four young kids.

Lord willing, at this time tomorrow we'll be writing from here....

Happy Birthday to Naomi!

One year ago, this little peanut was born....

...and yesterday we got to celebrate her first birthday!

We had a very fun day celebrating Naomi's first year of life. We invited the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins over for swimming, pizza, and birthday cake. A fun time was had by all...here's some pictures of the festivities.

We love you Naomi!

Our Trip to Poland

Luke and I returned home from our house-hunting trip to Poland last night. It was a wonderful week, but we were so glad to see the kids last night! We'll try to give a more detailed write-up of our trip later, but until then here are some pics from the beautiful city of Krakow.

This is a picture outside Wawel Castle. To give you an idea of how huge this place is, that is me standing at the bottom of the stairs on the right. I'm the speck wearing the blue shirt.

Here are some shots of the beautiful Market Square. It's the biggest market square in Europe and has over 650 restaurants in this one area. There's a lot of historical buildings to check out, and the architecture is stunning!

This was a picture of Wawel Castle and the Vistula River. This was right outside our hotel.


And finally, some shots of our home for the next two years.....

The front view....

The views from outside...you can see Wawel Castle from our patio!

One of my favorite views from last week was Andrew running out the door to greet us when we got home! Love that kid...and the other three who were waiting for us as well. We had a great week, but it feels good to be back home as a family. We also got to meet with a missionary family while we were there, and are excited about some friendships that are already starting with some believers there. The Lord blessed us abundantly this past week, and we are excited to see what He has in store for us over the next two years!