...and we're back!

After 3 weeks of Internet problems and a nasty case of the flu we are back! December has just flown by. I can't believe that we have been here in Albania for over 5 months now. Just yesterday, Kaitlyn said that is seems like we have lived here for years already. For every week that has passed that I have not been able to post a blog, I have felt a growing pressure to keep everyone up to date with what is going on in our lives here. I am sorry that we are not able to be more consistent with postings as I would like, and I know many of you would like as well. So I decided that I would catch everyone up to date on a few things that have happened in the past few weeks.

On December 9th the women at our church hosted a Christmas function and out reach. It was exciting to see over 30 women attend the meeting. Our pastor shared about the lineage of Christ from Mary and Joseph and how God showed Himself faithful and sovereign in bringing Christ from the line of David through them both. It was a great reminder of how intimately He moves in each of our lives throughout history. We had a great time watching a food preparation demonstration and then I was able to show the women how to make a rubber stamped card. They don't have anything of that sort here and had a great time making their own Christmas card by hand. Of course, we had lots of goodies to snack on and the fellowship was stellar. I went home encouraged that so many women brought unsaved family and friends. Please pray that these women will see something different in us and be drawn to the Christ that was born and died to save us from our sin. On December 14, Kaitlyn celebrated her 11th birthday! I can't believe that I am old enough to have an "almost teenager". It wasn't so long ago that I remember holding this 6 pound 14 ounce bundle of joy in my arms and crying with the wonder of it all. I think that Christmas took on a whole new meaning to me as I thought of Mary holding her very own baby boy, the Christ-child, as I was holding my sweet child. The amazing condescension of Christ was more impactful as I saw the helplessness and dependence of my baby and thought of the God who created the universe in one word confining Himself to the humanity of an infant. Now, 11 years later, the wonder continues.Kaitlyn has matured so much in this past year. Her heart for others and for the Lord is a gift from God and we praise Him for it. She told me the other day that she prays every night, before she goes to sleep, for her sister's salvation. What a great God we serve for softening the heart of this child for His kingdom. Thank you for your continued prayers for our kids.
For Kaitlyn's birthday we took the 7 girls from her 5th grade class and an Albanian friend from church to a nearby ice skating rink. I couldn't believe that there was such a thing in Albania. It wasn't quite like rinks in the states, but we had a great time. Whitney, Sierra and Breanna had never been ice skating before and were very thankful for the little penguins to help them get going. After only a few minutes, Whitney proved that she is her daddy's girl and took off without any fear. She is a natural athlete. I have to admit that I was happy to "help" Breanna hold onto the penguin. LOL.
Here is the birthday girl herself! She had a great birthday and was so thankful to be able to have a pizza dinner and a slumber party as well. What was her most exciting and different birthday present? She was overjoyed to receive a package of seaweed from a Korean classmate. It is a tasty snack. Maybe God is preparing her for mission work in the orient someday. Who knows. Kris and I are so thankful to God for another year with Kaitlyn. We realize what a special gift she is to us.
On the night of December 15th it snowed in Tirana!!! We woke up on Sunday the 16th to see this out our back window. The neat this is that during the day of the 15th Breanna and I were talking about Christmas and Jesus's birthday and she linked Jesus's birthday with it snowing. I told her that it probably wouldn't snow in Tirana because it rarely does (it hasn't snowed for over 2 years and even then it didn't stick). I told her that she would have to talk to God about it snowing. She asked me if I would help her "talk to God" about it. So we prayed that God would allow it to snow sometime in Tirana. As I turned to go, I heard her sing-song pray, "Let it snow God, please. Thank you!" That night it snowed! It was a great thing to wake her up and tell her that God heard her prayers! She was sooo excited. The snow melted by the afternoon, but it was a wonderful and loving lesson from a gracious Father to an impressionable 4 year old. Of course, I was thrilled as well. I miss the snow terribly, having grown up in Colorado. It was a bright and refreshing blessing from God on His day, Sunday. We were so grateful for a house with heaters and lots of warm jackets, hats, gloves and hot chocolate. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Well, here are a few of the highlights of the past few weeks in the life of the Stires. We pray that this season is filled with joy and hope as you celebrate CHRISTmas wherever you are in the world. "Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King."

Thanksgiving in Albania

Thanksgiving is a day that evokes wonderful memories for me. I remember going to pick out a turkey with my family as a child from the turkey farm. Of course, it wouldn't have been such a pleasant memory if I had seen what they did to that poor turkey. I remember being a pilgrim in my 4th grade thanksgiving play. I remember waiting expectantly by the door for all my cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents to arrive for a whole day of fun and food. But most of all, I remember all the years of recalling what God had done during the previous year to show His love and providence. Of all the Thanksgiving traditions this time of reflection and sharing is the most meaningful. This year was no different.

Thanksgiving was quite a bit different in many respects this year. First of all, our whole family spent the morning at the local soccer field to watch Kris play in the annual "turkey bowl". This much anticipated event features males from churches in the Tirana area playing American football for a turkey bowl trophy.
Here is a picture of this years participants. Sadly, our church team lost the trophy to another church's team this year.
The men enjoyed playing together and also sharing in a time of prayer before the game. Getting together with fellow Christians for fun and good sportsmanship is a great way build unity. The down side of this is that you have a bunch of "young" men most of whom are over 35 running around like they are 20 years old. We only had a few injuries. Unfortunately our team leader ruptured his ACL practicing for this years game. He will be heading back to the states over the Christmas holiday for surgery and rehab. But, in spite of his injury, he was out on the field as quarterback on Thanksgiving day. Talk about commitment, or something. LOL!
The highlight of the day was getting together with over 40 people from our church for a traditional Thanksgiving feast. Most of those who came were American, but we did have a Korean family and a few Albanians. Everyone brought a dish or two and we laid out a table packed with all the turkey and stuffing and cranberry relish and pies you could want. Of course, some things were different than I was used to. The turkeys are quite expensive and hard to get a hold of in Tirana, so we had turkey breast instead of a whole carved turkey. Cranberry jelly has not been introduced into the Albanian culture yet (sad for them) so we had one can cut up into little pieces. Someone did find a box of frozen cranberries to make some yummy cranberry relish. There were lots of "pumpkin" pies and a "sweet potato" casserole. Actually, they were carrot creations made to taste just like pumpkin and sweet potatoes. The pumpkins here are not like the traditional orange ones in the states and there are no sweet potatoes (sad for me). However, these substitutes were hardly noticeable.
I thought we would never eat all the food that was laid out. I was amazed that there was hardly a crumb left in the dishes at the end of the meal. It was unusual and a little sad for me to meet in a restaurant for Thanksgiving instead of being at home preparing the whole meal. Kaitlyn said that it didn't really seem like Thanksgiving because we didn't have our family to spend it with. There were some sad times in the day as we recalled all the fun memories we have made with our family stateside. However, we quickly turned our thoughts toward all that we had to be thankful for this year and the joy we have in sharing this holiday with our church family.
The kids had a blast playing with their friends, having a coloring contest and winning small prizes for games. It is neat to think of the memories that they are making of childhood Thanksgivings to recall later in life.

After we finished our wonderful meal we pulled our chairs into a circle to share in a time of prayer, praise and public thanksgiving for what God has done for us. It was a poignant time as I heard people who have been faithfully serving Him all over the world recount how God has proven Himself abundantly gracious year after year. We prayed for each other and for America. I was more thankful than ever to be an American citizen with a rich heritage of godly men and women as founding fathers.

What would Thanksgiving day be without some college football? We had a few people from our team over to our house after dinner to watch a game on line. Due to a poor Internet connection we watched about 2 minutes of a game. It all worked out because we had a great time talking, laughing, and eating more food.

All in all it was a wonderful first Thanksgiving in Albania. We are thankful to God for His amazing salvation. We are thankful to God for how He has cared for us in the past few months of transition in Albania. We are thankful to God for stretching us in new and sometimes painful ways because it transforms us more into the image of His Son. We thank God for friends, old and new, who have filled our life with a fragrant aroma of brotherly love. We thank God for our dear family who sent us on our way here to Albania with some tears, but mainly with great joy that we can honor God in our lives across the ocean from them. We thank God for our four daughters who have soft hearts towards the Lord and who we have the privilege of discipling for God's glory. We thank God, and often, for you. Thank you for making every day a day of thanksgiving as you pray for us and support us so faithfully.

Purity Retreat

In the beginning of November our church hosted the first ever (that we know of) retreat for single girls, in Albania, regarding sexual purity. It was a great joy and honor for me to be able to attend and help lead as a "spiritual mom". Sexual purity is a huge issue for the youths of Tirana. I have been told that most of the students in the high schools and universities are sexually active. The immodesty is appalling! Sometimes I am floored by what I see the girls wearing, or not wearing, just walking on the streets of Tirana. The decadence of the west has swept into Albania and is wreaking havoc on this young generation. Many of the cultural taboos are still in place regarding birth control and speaking out loud about sexual issues. It is a disturbing mystery that girls do not have any shame in wearing the barest minimum of clothes and yet will not even say certain medical terms relating to their bodies. Abortion is rampant here, as it is a more acceptable than birth control. Given this horrifying trend, it was greatly encouraging to have over 20 committed young girls and women attend this retreat. Here is a photo of the leaders and attendees. We had a special speaker from the Czech Republic give us the biblical view of sex and God's purpose for purity. Some of the girls said that this was the first time that they had ever heard these verses about God's plan for intimacy and His commands regarding purity.
Our retreat started on Friday night and we came back home on Sunday morning for church. We had many great opportunities for hearing God's Word, worshipping with song, praying together, and breaking up into small groups for discussions.
We stayed at this Christian retreat center in a nearby town of Priske. The facility was perfect for our needs, although we didn't have hot water (or any water for showers) or heating. It was in the 40's at night and I was thankful for the foresight of Kris to bring our warm sleeping bags to Albania. The mountain air was so refreshing! It was a gift from God to wake up to a spectacular sunrise on the changing foliage and to hear a bubbling brook nearby.

One of the most impactful times, for me at least, was the small groups. The desire of Gretchen, the youth leader who put this retreat together, was to provide a "spiritual mom" for these girls to begin to share with and build a relationship with. Discipleship and long-term spiritual friendships were the goal of these groups. Here I am with my small group. Eri, on the left, is finishing up her studies to be a doctor. Rose, is an American woman of Albanian descent, who is here on a short term trip to work with university students. She is 77 years old and is here in Albania with a passion to share Christ with her people. Bruna, in the blue shirt, is my true spiritual daughter. I have seen her grow from spiritual birth to become a leader among her peers and younger girls in the youth group. I am so proud of her! Aida, on the right, is in her first year of university. She is quiet, but has a solid grasp of Scripture and loves the Lord.
We had so many great times of reading from Scripture, talking about how culture has shaped our thinking regarding our view of morality and modesty, and sharing some real life struggles that each of us has.
Here I am with Eri on Saturday morning. I received a special letter from some of the girls at the conference. Here are what some of them had to say:

"Thanks for being in Albania. Thanks for being with us. Thanks for sharing with us...be sure that your testimony has changed a life."

"Chelle, thank you for sharing with us about your personal life...may the grace of God overflow in your life. Your name is written on the table of my heart because of your words and I praise the Lord for giving me the opportunity to know you and to experience the joy and the love of the God through you."

"Jam shume miremjohere per ty dhe jolenderoj Zotin qe no dho munderine te te kem mike." (I'm still working on translating this one :-) )

Please pray for these girls. Many of them are first generation Christians and face stiff persecution from family members. Some parents are even encouraging the girls to wear immodest clothes and engage in pre-marital sex in order for them to find a good husband and start their own families. They are under intense pressure from their culture, friends, and family to cave into Satan's world view. Pray that they would remain committed to their First Love and keep themselves pure for His glory. Pray that I would be able to get involved in the lives of these girls and give them a life picture of the benefits of a godly marriage. Thank you for your faithful prayers.

The Power of Prayer

Praise the Lord! He has heard and answered your faithful prayers. Our power problems have been fixed at this time. On Monday, our landlord finally realized that the problems were bigger than he could fix on his own and told us to get an electrician. Praise God that we know an Albanian contractor in our church who brought over an honest and hard-working electrician. He came over and found quite a few problems that he fixed.

We are so thankful that now our power is only out, like everybody else, for 6 hours a day instead of a 10-24 hours. Perspective makes everything look different. A friend, here in Albania, read a piece of work to me that was truly convicting. It had great bearing on how God helped me to deal with the electricity problem and so I thought I would post it for everyone to read.

Dying to Self

When you are forgotten or neglected or purposely set at naught, and you sting and hurt with the insult or the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy to suffer for Christ—that is dying to self.

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient loving silence—that is dying to self.

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, or any annoyance, when you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus endured it—that is dying to self.

When you are content with any food, any offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any attitude, any interruption by the will of God—that is dying to self.

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation, or to record your own good works, or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown—that is dying to self.

When you see your brother prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances—that is dying to self.

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself, can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart—that is dying to self.

Ouch!!! God is so faithful to reveal the true state of our sinful hearts, bring us to repentance and then bind up those wounds. Job 5:17-18.

Anyhow, thanks for you prayers. We rejoice that He answered in such a short time. Now, we are enjoying the snow on the mountains nearby from a cozy, warm house.

Pray for power (and patience)

Our family is so thankful for the faithful and loving prayers that each of you lifts up to our Father on our behalf. Please be assured that your ministry of prayer has made you a vital part of our life and work here in Albania. It is in this light that we wanted to let you know of one specific thing that you can be praying about for us.

I Thessalonians 4:18 says, "in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." We have been having lots of opportunities to learn about having a thankful heart in the past 4 weeks. The power situation at our house has been a daily trial. As you know, the electrical power supply in Albania has been in a state of "crisis" for some time. We have gotten used to having our power shut off for 4-6 hours a day. Of course it is inconvenient at times, but hey, it's the way things are here in Albania. However, about 4 weeks ago, the power in OUR house began to become erratic. Often, the power will not return in our house when it returns for the rest of the neighborhood. Even our landlords, who live in the other side of our duplex have power, but our side does not. Sometimes, the power will come back on one or two floors, but leave one or two without any power. Usually, when the power does come on, it is coming in at such a low voltage that it won't power any of our heaters or major appliances. This is really a big deal because it is getting down to 9 degrees Celsius at night (in the 40's) and it remains in the 50's in our house without heating. We do have a generator that we can run, but it is very expensive and we only run it when we must to heat up the rooms, recharge battery operated lights, send e-mails, and things like this. Sometimes, however, the power does come on and everything is fine.

The crazy thing about the whole situation is that it doesn't seem to affect any other house but ours. I have to admit that God has been using this to chisel away at the sinful attitudes, expectations, and responses I have displayed. He showed me how selfish I was because I was content to be without power when everyone else was without power as well. But when we are the only ones in the dark and we are cold...well, that's a different story. One night when our house was dark and I was struggling to not complain that we "deserved" to have power like everyone else, we heard a loud popping noise and saw bright sparks from outside our window. Kris and I looked out and saw the electrical pole by our house burst into flames and begin to rain down sparks onto the street. In my heart I was hoping that at least everyone else would lose power too. It was as if God was just exposing that to me because even though the whole pole was burning, no one else lost power - just us.

At this point, we are trying to go through all the channels to get this resolved because it has begun to affect our ministry, study time, budget and sanity. We want to have a Christ-like attitude in this because we are aware that our landlord, as well as the rest of our neighbors, are watching intently to see how we will respond to this. Please pray that we will not shame our God, but will showcase His sovereignty and joy and peace despite difficult circumstances. We also ask that you pray that we would be able to get this power issue fixed. It is not good for our appliances to have constant power surges and we don't want to be poor stewards of what God has given to us.

It is quite comical to see us in the house though. The other day, Sierra came down dressed for school and she looked like the Goodyear tire man. She had SIX shirts layered on. She could hardly move her arms. Most days, we have on at least two pairs of pants, 2 long-sleeved shirts, a sweatshirt with hood, two pairs of socks, and slippers.

I hesitated to blog this because I didn't want it to sound like a complaint. Have I complained (alot) about this in the last 4 weeks? Sadly, yes. However, I know that you want to know and pray about the issues that we deal with on a day to day basis. We need prayer; prayer that we would remain steadfast in faith and thankfulness with or without power and prayer that we would be able to fix this problem in the Lord's timing.

One friend, who lives here in Tirana, helped me to see this from an eternal perspective. She said that all the other houses in our neighborhood had light and our was dark, but in reality their houses are devoid of The Light and ours is the only one with The Light! We pray that we would "let (our) light shine before men in such a way that they may see (our) good works (attitudes, responses), and glorify (our) Father who is in heaven."

City of a Thousand Windows

Our family in a 13th century castle

A couple of weeks ago, the girls had a holiday from school and we decided to check out the city of Berat, Albania. This city is only an hour drive from Tirane and is supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in the country. Berat was founded in the 13th century and was built on the ancient Greek city of Antipatrea (which was established in the 2nd century BC!). In the past 2,200 years this city has been occupied by Greeks, Illyrians, Bulgarians, Eperians, Serbs, and Turks. Berat is called 'The City of a Thousand Windows' because of the multitude of windows of the red-roofed houses that scale the cliff. We couldn't wait to see the amazing city.

The day was cold (16 degree Celsius or 60 degree Fahrenheit) and rainy. We weren't sure if the girls would even enjoy this trip because it is mostly a historical city with not a lot of "fun" things to see. On the way there, we drove through cities and villages, beautiful country and dirty streets littered with everything from trash to human refuse. We saw gorgeous produce in hundreds of small stands lining the road - bright orange carrots, vibrant purple cabbage, sunshine yellow persimmons, mounds of shiny, red apples, and lush green grapes. We marvelled that God would bring us to such a diverse country and give us the privilege to learn and grow and serve with these Albanian people. We arrived at the city and drove up the winding road to the castle. There were no ropes or signs or even a parking lot. We actually pulled right up to the castle wall. What we didn't know is that we could have driven right through the arch of the castle wall because the area inside this 13th century castle/city it is still occupied! Yes, I did say it was still occupied. There are small, stone homes and quaint little cafes right next to 1,000 year old churches and turreted walls. It was the most surreal thing. The girls thought that climbing the hills to the the top of the wall was great fun, I didn't think so. They wanted to clamber down decaying stairs to look into an old dungeon. Shouldn't things this old and unsafe be off limits? For them this was the best day ever. Kris had such a great time with the girls.
Here the girls are, standing under the arch of an ancient stable or something. It is just crazy that we were walking around a castle wall that was used to defend the people from the Ottoman hoard nearly 800 years ago. We were soaked and cold, but enjoying the whole experience.
This church was built in the 1400's. Right on the other side of this gorgeous, historical monument is a small, but lived in house. I guess I am just so taken back by this, because in the states, everything of historical importance that is older that 200 years is behind thick glass or roped off a mile away. It is quite emotional to walk up to these ancient stones and touch them and imagine the hands of the thousands of people over the past 1,000 years that have toiled hard to scratch out a living by these same stones. Of course, the girls weren't into such reverie, they were sliding down the muddy hill and laughing all the while. Oh well.
Breanna decided she was ready for a break and asked mommy to carry her. I remember sitting on my daddy's shoulders when I was four and feeling like I was on top of the world. I couldn't carry her for long as we climbed up and down slippery stone streets. It sure was a good work out though.
After we left the castle, we drove down into the city of Berat, proper. Here is a view of some of the "thousand windows". I am not sure what it looks like in the sunshine, but to us it was a spectacular sight. We were cold and hungry and looking for the perfect spot to have a warm meal. We parked and walked along until be found 'Shtepia e barthe' or the White house. No relation to Washington DC. The top balcony perched over the street and afforded us a wonderful view of the city and the nearby river. Now, I don't' know if the food was exceptionally good there or if we were ravenous and cold or if it was just the experience that made the lunch one of the best we had enjoyed - vegetable soup, homemade bread, cheese pizza, veal shishkabob and roasted veggies. After lunch we wandered up the hillside among the windowed houses. It felt like we were in Italy or something. These cobblestone footpaths were narrow and cozy. Colorful flowers and unique doors peeked around every corner. The girls ran and explored all the small alley's and alcoves.
Here I am with 4 cold, soggy, but thoroughly happy girls. All in all, it was a wonderful day and a tremendous memory making event.

Come and visit us and we will take you to visit is amazing and beautiful city.

Young professional fellowship

Is it a great privilege and joy for Kris and me to be able to serve in the church. We are currently working as lay staff in the young professional ministry. The young professional group ranges in age from 20 and single to 30 and married. Most of the people in this ministry are finishing up university or are already working in their profession. We have doctors, teachers, a dentist, a shop owner, a business owner, two mommies, a female prison guard, a police officer, and three seminary students , just to name a few. These young Christians are the future of the church in Albania. Most of them are first generation Christians and live in tense family situations because of their faith in Christ. It is a truly humbling thing to hear their stories and realize the persecution they endure for the sake of the gospel on a day to day basis. We are so grateful to God to serve and grow in the midst of these trail-blazers of the faith in Albania. This gathering at our home was a few weeks ago on a Sunday night. I was told to expect maybe 9 people to attend. We packed out the house with over 25 young professionals!! Praise God that He provided the space and the generator to have these functions. I served some traditional American finger foods - a cheese ball with crackers, chicken noodle soup, deviled eggs, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (they don't have peanut butter over here), and an apple crisp. It was fun to see them try things for the first time.
These are three of the men who will carry the baton of the work of the church for the future in Albania. Marcel, on the far left, is already a leader in Campus Crusade work in the universities here in Tirana. Afrim, in the middle, is a doctor whose takes his role as a worker for the Lord very seriously. He is a serious student of the Word and has a reputation among the leadership of the church as being a faithful servant and a good man. Flori, on the right, is finishing up at the seminary that Kris is teaching at. His desire to dig deep into the Word and feed the flock in his native country is seriously needed thing in Albania. Godly men are few and far between in the church, and these men are taking the call of God to lead the church by example very seriously.
Here I am with two wonderful young women. Afrodita, on the right, is a committed young woman who has endured much family persecution because of her faith. She is in her late 20's and still single because she refuses to marry an unbeliever. The joy on her face is a characteristic of her life. I never see her downcast or complaining. She faithfully serves the church as a translator and is always busy at church doing whatever she can to help (teaching children's Sunday school, serving meals, heading up administration of the prayer team). Pray for a godly man to see the rich treasure in this woman and snatch her up! Irina, on the left, is from Russia. She is married to the Albanian man who works with Campus Crusade. She and her husband have a small boy, Sasha. Even though she is not an Albanian national, her love for the country and her desire to see them turn to Christ is contagious.

Thankfully most of the young professionals in this group speak enough English that we can communicate with them. However, we are realizing that to have relationships that will go deeper than surface words we need to work hard on learning the Albanian language. Please pray that we will be diligent in this long and difficult task.

Kris and I praise God that He has allowed us to jump right into a ministry that we have had a passion for and had experience with in the states. We are praying that we will be able to minister to those who are newly married and starting families. This is really an untouched ministry in the Albanian churches. Pray for wisdom and patience as we get to know these dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Cultural differences, language barriers, and time constraints make ministering here different than we have experienced stateside. Thank you for your faithful prayers on our behalf as well as your love for the people of this nation that God has called us to.

Stire kid's corner

Kris and I are so thankful to the Lord that He has given the girls such an easy transition to life in Albania. He has been so faithful our family. We know that many of you are praying often and fervently for the girls and I thought that you might like to hear from the girls own mouths what they think of Albania, what they miss about America, and whatever else is going on in those little heads.

I hope that as you read each girls section, you will take time to pray for them individually.

*Pray that they would not join the ranks of "M.K.'s" (missionary kids) who have the reputation for rebelling against the Lord and dishonoring His name.

*Pray that they would be soft-hearted to the gospel and recognize their need for a personal relationship with God.

*Kris and I recognize that what they see and hear at home will impact them deeply as they begin to see the connection to what they hear about God and how we live that out. Please pray that we would be faithful and diligent to model Christ-likeness for them.

*Pray that our family devotion times would be consistent and that the Word of God would pierce their souls (Heb. 4:12). Thank you.

Kaitlyn - age 10 (almost 11)

Kaitlyn says, " I really like living in Albania, but I miss Japanese food and friends and family back home. Here are some things that I really like about Albania - for instance, there's lots of adventure and different stuff, like going on short trips to parts of Albania. In this picture we are visiting a castle outside of Tirana with some people from our church. It was really cool to see such an old place and stand on top of one of the old towers (note from Chelle - she scared her mommy to death by standing on one of turrets to get a better look. They don't rope unsafe areas off or have any kind of guardrails and so Kaitlyn just climbed up on the 4 story turret and leaned over to see what was at the bottom. After recovering from a near faint, I was praising God that He is so sovereign and protects my children). It was really, really hot and a long walk to get there, but I still had fun. I hope to visit all of you back in America. For you people who are praying for me and my family, pray that I would do well in school and that I would grow to know Jesus more."

Kaitlyn has really become such a helper for me. She loves to keep things orderly and help me in the kitchen and with her sisters. She is liking school, but thinks that it is much harder than school in the states. She definitely has more homework, but she is diligent to get right to it when she gets home from school. Her Albanian class, at school, is hard for her, but we are able to work on it together at home, as Kris and I are learning some of the same things (colors, days of the week, days of the month, and numbers). Her accent is really good. She tends to get easily discouraged about things, so we have been really encouraging her that she doing well and that school will get easier as she gets into the routine. This is the first year she has a locker and moves from one one classroom to another for different classes.

Pray for her to grow in her walk with the Lord. She has confessed Christ as her Lord and Saviour and we thank God for opening her eyes to her need for Him. It is neat to see her being convicted by the Spirit regarding her sin. Pray that she would continue to be sensitive, but not introspective, to her sin.

Here are Kaitlyn and Whitney before school one morning. They are getting so big! It's fun for me to see them becoming more independent and beginning to form a friendship that will deepen and endure through the years. We praise God for these sweet gifts from the Lord!

Whitney - age 8

Whitney says, "Albania is a great place because there are lots of dogs there. The dogs were thrown out of their homes because people couldn't afford them. They live out in the streets and they eat from the garbage. The people in Albania are always nice. There's nice friends here, like Elley, Lydia, Wesley, and Miss Waites (my teacher). I miss my friends from America. My friends names are Emily and Rebekah and Rebekah's mom and Emily's mom. America has nice homes and nice people at church, and I miss our house. And I miss the church. I miss going to my friends house. I am thankful to God that we live in a house and that we don't live in the street. I miss the food that's there in America and I miss my family that's in America."

This is a picture of Whitney just after Kaitlyn accidentally knocked out her baby, front tooth last week. She cried a lot. There was a lot of blood. But soon after, Whitney was thanking God that Kaitlyn knocked out her tooth because she got Albanian lek (money) for it. She is so cute with that snaggle-tooth smile.

Whitney made mention of the dogs here. She loves all kinds of dogs and wants to take all the stray dogs home. She is even writing a book about some puppies near us and the mommy, daddy and grandpa dogs who find food in the trash bins for them. You should see the adorable illustrations that she made for the narrative.

Whitney also loves going out in the back yard and watching our landlord work on things. He is quite a handyman and is always digging something, building something or fixing something. She will just sit and "talk" with him in English/Albanian for hours. He thinks it is really fun to have her there and gives her fruit and veggies from their garden to bring home. Who knows, but she may be the opening God uses to bring him to the Lord.

Sierra - age 7

Sierra says, "I miss you! I like it here in Albania and I like Chinese food and things here. I miss Rebekah and all my friends. I miss Grammie and Granbud and Poppy and Mimi and I wish I was with Nannie and Grandpa. I miss all the food that's in America. I like all the new friends here, like Abbey and Gemma and Austin. I like the house here and my new room. I like to go to school because I like learning new things and playing soccer. I miss you so much."

The picture of Sierra above is taken right after she pulled out her first tooth! It was just hanging by a thread, but she wouldn't let anyone pull it out. She wanted to do it herself.

She is doing really well in school and her teacher said that she is at the top of her class. Praise the Lord!

Sierra is very faithful to thank Jesus for dying on the cross every time she prays. This morning after I had finished praying at breakfast, she said to me, "Mommy, you forgot to thank Jesus for dying on the cross for our sins." How right you are, little one! What a great reminder she is to be cross-centered everyday. Of course, not 30 minutes later, she was standing in front of me whining that "there's no one to play with". Ha, this is why we had 4 of you little people. Never can they use the excuse that there is NO ONE to play with. She didn't think my reasoning was valid. She wanted somebody "fun" to play with. Such is the life in our house.

Breanna - age 4

Breanna says, "I like to live here because it's beautiful. Albania is beautiful. My friend Isabel goes to school with me. I miss my friends and miss my church in America. "

In the picture above, Kris is having some fun daddy-daughter time playing Play-Doh with Breanna. When he sat down at the table, she turned to him and said, "Daddy, I will make the plans and you do the work." Kris and I just laughed and laughed. Now we just need to ask the Lord to help get that "administrative" (i.e. controlling) personality under the power of the Spirit.

Another funny story about Breanna...She and I were saying good-bye to an American friend who teaches Kindergarten at GDQ. All of a sudden Breanna looked at her and said, "Mary Poppins." Our friend thought that was the sweetest thing for Breanna to liken her to Mary Poppins. As she turned to go, I said, "Mirupafshim (meeruhpahfsheem)", which is goodbye in Albanian. Breanna piped in with, "Mary Poppins!" She had been trying to say goodbye in Albanian, but to her it sounded like Mary Poppins. At least she was making the connection between the Albanian words and the right action.

Being at the Albanian pre-school has been very good for her Albanian language learning. The other day I had an Albanian friend at our house and she told Breanna, in Albanian, to tell her mommy that she was beautiful. Breanna turned to me and, in English ,said, "Mommy, you are beautiful." I was floored! We are thankful that many of the seasoned missionaries here encouraged us to have her get a solid foundation in the language by putting her in the Albanian pre-school for a few hours a day. One English pastor's wife told me that all of her kids are fluent in Albanian because of the pre-school time. We are hoping and praying that Breanna will pick up Albanian quickly and help mommy and daddy with their Albanian. LOL!

Well, I hope that you enjoyed hearing from the girls. If you did, thank my mom, it was her idea. Kaitlyn suggested that we do this once a month. So, hopefully, you will hear from them more often. They would love to hear what you all have to say to them, so please comment on this blog. Thank you for your continued support and prayers.

Getting settled at home

We have been in our house for almost 1 month now and we have most everything unpacked and set up. After being "homeless" and living out of suitcases for over 2 months, we are even more grateful to the Lord for providing this perfect haven for us. Not only is it a great place for us to live, but we are able to use it for ministry purposes already. This week we are hosting a visiting seminary professor for a few days. Hopefully some of you will be able to stay at our home when you come to visit or serve on a short term mission trip. We would love to have you! Also, beginning next month, our church is starting weekly home prayer meetings. We will be having one of these prayer groups at our house. We are really looking forward to using this house to glorify God and serve the body for years to come.

Many of you have asked to see pictures of the house now that we are settled and have our things in it. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy.

Welcome to our house! This is the view of the downstairs from the front door.

We didn't know when we packed our container with our furniture, knick knacks, and pictures that they would be so important to us here in Albania - most of all to me. God was so gracious to allow us to bring our "homey" and familiar things - like greenery (fake, our course, because I have a "black" thumb and kill any living plant), toys, books, and family photos. Having these familiar things makes moving to a foreign land not quite so foreign.
This is our family room.

Albanians are very particular about having clean houses. This is good for me because it forces me to keep a tidy house all the time. Who knows when someone will drop in. We have these tile floors throughout the house. They are wonderful and cool in the summer, but everyone has told us to be prepared for how cold the house will be in the winter. I have already realized that when our house is chilly inside, it is warm outside. I am getting our blankets and heaters and cozy socks ready for the first real cold spell.

Praise God for this wonderful kitchen!

We spend many hours in this room and so we are grateful that it has lots of space and a wonderful breeze. I am especially thankful that our stove/oven is both electric and gas. This means that when the electricity is out, I can still cook. Our electricity has been going out from 1-4 pm and then again from 5-7 pm every day, so I am thankful to have this stove. Of course, I look funny with a miners light on my head trying to cook in the dark. LOL! But hey, no one complains how I look when there's dinner on the table.

This is the landing on the second floor and my office area.

This area is very versatile. The girls will be practicing their piano here when we start lessons up soon, I study and do my language work here, and we are able to store lots of things in the large wardrobe. It's such a bright and airy room. I love it.

Here is Kris's office.

Because Kris needed to office out of the house due to space issues at the seminary we were so thankful to find this house with lots of room for Kris to work. He has 5 bookcases full of great resources for teaching and studying. Praise the Lord that Kris was able to bring these these valuable tools.

This is Kaitlyn and Breanna's room.

Kaitlyn loves having how own space on the top bunk. She is such a great sister and helps Breanna get dressed and make her bed every morning.
This is Whitney and Sierra's room.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the pictorial tour of our home. We really would love to have any of you come for a visit. We are so thankful for the way you serve us in prayer and support that we would love to show you our Albanian hospitality.

Please continue to pray for our neighbors. We have had so many opportunities to get to know our English speaking and Albanian neighbors. We praise God that He put us in this home to be a light in this dark area for His glory.

First day of school for the girls and Kris

Kaitlyn, Whitney and Sierra

GDQ SCHOOL

September 4th arrived and with it the start of school for the girls and for Kris. Thankfully, we had a few days to be in the house to unpack and find the things we needed for school. Amidst all the boxes we found (barely) all the clothes, shoes and school supplies needed for everyone to start a new school. We have been blessed immensely to have had almost two months to get to know many of the students and parents of the school that Kaitlyn, Whitney and Sierra are attending. There were some "huge butterflies" in Kaitlyn's stomach as we drove to school, but for the most part everyone was really excited to begin a new year. Here are Kaitlyn, Whitney and Sierra on the front steps of our house. The school that they are attending is called GDQ. It is named after a man, Gjerasim Dhimitër Qiriazi , whom some consider to be tool God used to bring about the Albanian Christian awakening in the 1800's. The school's mission statement is "educating international children to have maximum influence to the glory of God in their lifetime". Due to the fact that there are no other English speaking schools in our price range in Tirana, God directed us to GDQ. It is a real blessing to have a Christian school for the girls to attend. It is in large part due to your generous giving that our girls have the privilege of being shaped by the Word of God in the academic setting. We are so thankful to God and to you for your faithful support! The staff at GDQ are men and women who have committed to serve families in ministry overseas by teaching their kids. We are indebted to the sacrificial service of these Christian men and women. Sierra's teacher is from Texas, went to Texas A&M, and taught in The Woodlands for years. The level of education at GDQ is superior!


This is the GDQ facility. GDQ educates about 90 students from all over the world from grades K-8. They are praying about and looking into starting a high school at a different location. Please pray that this would come to fruition before Kaitlyn reaches high school. The school is located right next to a large compound of Albanian apartment buildings. They are intruiged by the crazy foreigners and you can see them hanging out their windows and balconies to see what is going on. This provides a unique opportunity for evangelism. The parents of GDQ and the school have started a weekly sports program with the intention of building relationships with the kids in the area and then sharing the gospel with them. I am so excited about this, because it will allow my kids to see their school as a vehicle for ministry and not just learning.

This is not the only opporunity for evangelism that GDQ provides. There is another English speaking school in Tirana, TIS (Tirana International School). Many children from various international embassies attend this liberal institution. The kids from both schools mingle at the local soccer league each year. One mother, whose children attend TIS, told me that the children from GDQ are the most obedient and kind children she has ever seen. This opened the door for me to share with her the transforming power of the God and His Word in lives and society. What an amazing testimony GDQ is having in the national and international community. Pray that we, as a Christian community at GDQ, would continue to focus on God's purpose for the school for His glory!

Kaitlyn, Whitney and Sierra pose in the foyer of the school. The girl's classes are quite small in size. They run from 12-15 students. This is one aspect of GDQ that I really like. The students get real attention and the teachers are able to work with each child personally. Kaitlyn and Whitney have Albanian language classes as part of their curriculum. They are really loving their classmates and have made some great friends. Each of the girls has a group of girlfriends in their grade that they can play with at school and at church. Between the three of them they have been to 4 parties and 4 playdates in the 2 weeks they have been in school. They are definitely not lacking in friends or a social life! Praise the Lord!

Breanna

KOPSHT - PRE SCHOOL

Look at this big pre-schooler! She was so excited to start her own school. Breanna is going for 4 hours a day to an Albanian pre-school/day care. She carried around her little Dora lunch bag for a couple of hours before we finally left for school. The word kopsht, in Albanian, means garden and is used of an actual garden and for the pre-schools. Breanna attends this kopsht with 9 other kids ages 2-4. Seven of the other children are from families who are working here with Campus Crusade. One of the other girls attends our church with her family. It is great to have Breanna interacting daily with kids who are being taught Christian values and discipline at home. This is Breanna and Teta Anila. Teta is the word for aunt in Albanian. Instead of saying Miss Anila (term of respect) children call adults Teta or Xhaxhi (uncle - pronounced jahjee). Teta Anila loves Breanna and is wonderful with the children. She runs the pre-school out of her home. Anila is Albanian and speaks only a little bit of English. This was one of the big benefits for Breanna to attend this kopsht. She is able to learn Albanian very quickly because that's what she hears everyday. Of course, the majority of the children speak English, so that helps her. She is already picking it up. The other day she did something well and I told her, "Shume mire". She said, "Mommy, that means good job". She was right! Shume mire, Breanna!

Anila and her family are not believers, but have attended a local evangelical fellowship and she is very open to the gospel. We are praying for her salvation! I gave her an Albanian/English children's Bible book and asked if she would read it everyday to the children. She was very happy about the book and I am praying that as she reads child size bites of theology in her language that God will open her eyes to her need for Him.

Breanna has lots of fun toys to play with in this beautifully painted room. They do some work with numbers and letters in English and Albanian as well. We are very pleased with this kopsht and Breanna loves to go everyday.

Kris

S.E.T.S. - Southeastern Europe Theological Seminary

Kris started teaching his class at the seminary, as well. Here he is getting the syllabus and course curriculum ready for the first day of school. Kris is teaching the thesis class to the 5 graduating seniors this semester. This class has never been taught here before and so there is no curriculum set up. Kris is also the only professor at SETS who has ever written a thesis - he is the only one with a ThM (Masters of Theology). This task has been daunting for him, but he is thriving with the challenge. He is taking course curriculum from The Master's Seminary as well as Dallas Theological Seminary and making a unique curriculum that will work for the Albanian graduates. It is really exciting to see him create something that he can use to teach and disciple these men with. He has been able to establish some neat relationships with these men and is working on spending time with each of them outside the classroom for life on life discipleship. This is really where Kris excels in ministry!

Pray that he will find the balance between work/ministry and language learning. The downfall of jumping right into teaching a class is that it takes you away from the necessary time to really learn the language. It is imperative that Kris and I learn Albanian, and we have been cautioned about letting anything get in the way of the vital time of study. Every seasoned international ministry worker has told us that we need to keep our focus on language for this first year so that we can minister better in the years to come. This is a hard balance to strike.

Professor Kris is heading off to school with his own lunch in tow. The seminary is only a 7 minute drive from our house. Some days he rides his bike. We are thankful that God provided such a great location for us to live. Kris spends all day Tuesday at the seminary, teaching his class, meeting with the students and attending the chapel meeting in the evening.
I don't have pictures of me and Kris at our language classes, but we started those as well. We meet on Wednesday and Friday for 2 hours each day with a language teacher. Arta has been teaching Albanian for many years. We are blessed to have her. So far we have learned the alphabet and the numbers/counting. I feel like we are in pre-school too. LOL! Of course, we have been learning quite a bit of Albanian by speaking it with people at church, at the local market, with our Albanian friends and watching some Albanian sub-titled TV. I am sure that Arta is easing us in to language and then she will load us down with grammar and vocabulary in a couple of weeks.

Well, now you know how the Stires are doing in school. Thank you for your continued prayers for us. God is undergirding us with such tender care as we transition to a whole new kind of life here in Albania. God is good - Zotit este i mire!!

Moving in

Well, here we are with our container! Can you believe it? It arrived on Friday, August 31st. This was almost a month earlier than we had antipated. If you read my last blog entry, you might remember that I said that the way God had been working things out for us, I wouldn't be surprised if the container came on the the day after we moved in, on Friday. That day was Friday, August 31st, and the container pulled up at 5:20 p.m. God proved Himself to mighty on our behalf - again. The amazing thing was that the container arrived at our house with the original seal still unbroken. No one even opened the container from the time our dear friends in Montgomery loaded it until our new friends hauled everything inside here in Tirana. God kept everything safe and not even one dish was broken.Members of our team and a group of hard working youth showed up and unloaded the container in only 1 hour. We were so thankful for their help! Our gracious heavenly Father has provided a place to live, the comforts of home and the sweet fellowship of friends.
Here is Kris with brothers, Fation and Andi. They worked until 11 p.m on Friday night helping us get our beds and things set up. It has been 10 days since we moved in and we are almost all settled. I will be posting pictures of the house and blogging about the girls first day of school now that we have finally gotten our internet hooked up.

Thank you all for praying so diligently for us and for the container to arrive. I think that your prayers just pushed that container across the Atlanic ocean and through customs here. We are confident that your loving prayers have been heard at the throne of God. We praise God for hearing your prayers and answering in such a magnificent way.