...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.