Sierra's 9th birthday - July 28th

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The Reward of Faithfulness

It is a great joy for me to be able to write this particular post. (By the way, sorry for the long delay since the last post, I have been having lots of problems with my computer and I just couldn't upload any photos to the blog).

Back in 2005, when Kris and I made our first trip to Albania, I met Bruna. Months before we arrrived in Albania I had been praying for "the one" that God would allow me to minister to or share the gospel with. I arrived here looking for my "one". Who would have known that that "one" would have such a large part of my life for years to come.

Bruna and I met the second day we were in Albania. I saw her sitting alone at the park while our team played volleyball with youth from the church and I went and sat down with her. As we talked she made it pretty clear that she was only at the church to be a translator for our team and not for the spiritual aspect of the camp or ministry. I began praying for her and that the Lord would open her eyes to the truth of the gospel.



Over the next week, at camp, Bruna and I began spending more time together. On July 15th, 2005, Bruna became a new creature in Christ! I was honored to be able to share the gospel of hope with her and to be there, in the quiet,dark night, when she repented and gave her life to Christ! Our hearts have been knit together in a unique and special way since that time. The photo above was taken the day after Bruna became a Christian in 2005.

Over the past few years Bruna and I have been communicating via the internet and spending time together when we came back on short term trips. Once we moved to Tirana, we began meeting together regularly for discipleship. It was so exciting for me to see how tremendously she had grown. She was a staff member of the youth ministry as well as a key member of the worship team. Just seeing her heart for service was a huge joy. The reclusive, closed and fearful girl had been transformed into an outgoing, loving and service minded woman of God!!! My heart would practically sing with joy and thankfulness to God each time I saw her "in action" at church.

One huge prayer request for Bruna was a godly husband. This is a big problem for many of the Christina women in the church in Albania. There are many more Christian women than men and some Christian girls have been forced into marriage to a Muslim man by their families. There is such a cultural expectation for marriage by a certain age and in the birth order that it makes it difficult for youth women who want to obey God to wait patiently for God's provision of a spouse. So, we were praying, praying, praying...

And along comes Micah. Micah is an American who was in Albania for a year and a half to work with our team leader. Their love blossomed out of a sweet friendship and Kris was able to do their pre-marital counselling. In the months prior to their wedding, Bruna and I spent much time together talking about marriage and going through a few books on the Biblical role of wife and mother. Her heart of submission and desire to obey God made this time a supreme pleasure. We scoured the city for the perfect material for the bridesmaid dresses and made her wedding invitaions together. Those days will always be special memories for me.




Therefore, it was with manny tears and a heart bursting with happiness that I watching my "one", dear sister in Christ and spiritual daughter marry Micah on July 11, 2009.



The morning of her wedding I realized that I had met her for the first time 4 years ago to that day. I had to redo my makeup once I finished crying with that thought. God's goodness and mercy outpoured on us has been so profound. I am so grateful to the Lord that He has allowed me to continue to be a part of Bruna's life and to see her grow into a beautiful woman of God.



One of the other wonderful thing about their wedding was that Kris performed the ceremony. This was the first Albanian wedding that he had officated. Thankfully he did not have to the the whole thing in Albanian since Micah's family and some foreigners needed it to be in English. However, he did do the vows in Albanian for Bruna to repeat to Micah in English. By the way, it was super neat to hear Micah say his vows to Bruna in Albanian - he did great!

Now, Bruna and Micah are waiting for her visa to move to Oklahoma with her new husband. Sniff, sniff. However, I know that our hearts are knit together in the Lord and that God will continue to grow her and use her because she is committed to loving her with all her heart. She has reaped the reward of faithfulness!

Girls Perform at end of school Spring Fling program

On June 12th the girls celebrated the last day of school by performing in a school wide program. Each class put on a skit or song and also gave awards to each student.

Here are the girls, all dressed up in their school uniforms with curly hair, for the Spring Fling.



Whitney, grade 3, received the award for Most Oranized. Kris and I was both really surprised, more like shocked, that she got this award. She really does like to put things into their places, but they are usually lots of small containers. Her room is full of all kinds of boxes, bags and containers of all sizes, stuffed full of "precious" things like a zillion shells and nondescript rocks. She is the consummate packrat. However, we are holding out hope that the organization of her desk will eventually move to her room.



Sierra received the Crafty Creator award. It really is amazing the things that this girl can come up with. Just a couple of weeks ago, she made a card for Kris for Father's Day and used all sorts of scrap paper and markers to make a really unique and fun card. She definitely has an artist's eye for color and detail. Of course, she can also be quite crafty in the other sense of the word too. She is always trying to be crafty and do practical jokes on us. Watch out for this girl, she is a handful.



Breanna thoroughly enjoyed her Kindergarten year. Actually, she doesn't want summer vacation to be here because she wants to go to school everyday. She received the Sunshine Award for always having a bright and helpful disposition. She was so excited to get this special award.



I was sorry to miss the photo op for Kaitlyn's award. She received an award for being caring at all times. She is so consistent in praying for her classmates and in trying to make everyone feel a part and not left out. When each class has a max of 12 students, it's easy to become "cliquey". Kaitlyn is a wonderful friend and is always trying to bring everyone together and settle any fights between friends.


This video is of Whitney's class performing one of the three songs they sang. She is the second child to the end on the left side. She has really blossomed this year, despite all the interruptions in her learning because of medical trips to Greece or America. We have seen her really grow into a lovely and caring girl that wants to work hard in her academic endeavors as well and play. She is a super sports girl (THE sports girl of the family. None of the others really prefer to play sports. She also really wants to learn to play the guitar. She has a lot of talent in that tiny body of hers.)


This video is of Breanna's Kindergarten class (minus 2 students) performing a Seeds song. She is the last child on the right. Even though she is one of the oldest kids in her class (she turned 6 last February), she is the smallest one. She really knows how to play up to being the baby of the family. She also has the greatest sense of humor. We are always laughing at her for the spectacularly funny things she says and at just the right time (she has the comedian's timing down perfect). I don't know where she gets it b/c I am not all that funny. Oh, yeah, Kris. He is hilarious.


This video is of Sierra's class singing the song Indescribable. Sierra has really come out this year with a true talent for singing. Her music teacher told me that she needs some professional training b/c she has perfect pitch. Again, another trait from Kris. She is always making up some song and humming around the house. Her personality is so very different from Whitney (who often gets pegged as her twin because they are the same size although they are 14 months apart in age). Sierra is always ready with a smile and a laugh for anyone she comes across. She is just a ready with an argument or a fight. She has the extreme type personality that makes her fun to live with. It is never dull when Sierra is around. We are really thankful that she has made a profession of faith and seems to be making choices that reflect a desire to honor God.


This video is of Kaitlyn's class performing a hilarious skit, based on Cinderella. One of the student's parents wrote this skit for them and they did a superb job on it. Kaitlyn is one of the "ugly step sisters". I was so sad that the video ran out in the last few seconds of the skit so you can't see the end, but I am sure you can get the idea. Kaitlyn had such a better year this year in 6th grade. It seems that it just took her a while to get into stride with a new school and new friends. She did a wonderful job this year.

Whitney's 10th birthday

May 23rd was Whitney's 10th birthday. She is an avid dog lover and so we had a dog-themed birthday party and sleepover for 4 friends from school.



We made dog collars with pet names on them and did face painting (actually just water-color markers because I didn't have face paint) so everyone could be a doggie.



Here are two of my "litter", Sierra and Whitney. They look so much alike in this photo.



One game we played was "Puppy Stuff Up". Each girl had to eat a bowl of popcorn like a dog. The first one to finish was the winner.



"Pin the bone on the dog" was another favorite game.



Present time is always fun and Whitney loved every gift given by loving and thoughtful friends. It is always special to receive gifts from other cultures. Of the friends at the party we had Holland, England, Albania, and the United States represented.



What would a party be without a cake? Double layer chocolate cake with butter cream frosting and vanilla ice cream was ordered by the birthday girl. And of course, it had to follow the dog theme.



Whitney blew out the candles about 10 times - they were the relighting kind.




Well, the party went over well and we survived the night with 10 girls in the house. I couldn't believe how many chocolate chip pancakes those girls put away the next morning. So now we have 1/2 our kids in the double digits in their age. How crazy is that?

We are so very thankful to be celebrating this birthday with Whitney. After all that we have been through in the last year with her eye, we are all the more mindful that each day with our children is a gift not to be taken lightly. Whitney's sweet and lovable nature is reflected in her nickname, "Snugglebug". She is so tender hearted and gentle. We pray that God captures her heart and gives her a desire to use her caring spirit to glorify Him.

Visit from Poppy and Mimi

For those of you who have been following our blog, I know that the posts have been quite sparse lately. Sorry about that. My goal this summer is to have the girls keep a journal everyday with events of the day, directed story writing and prayer requests. Since they are going to be doing this, I plan to try to keep up with some kind of post or photo of my own on the blog. So, here are some photos of the trip my dad and step-mom, Bill and Amanda Boyd, took to Albania last month.



Amanda, or Mimi, to the girls, was not feeling too well when she arrived in Tirana, but that did not keep her from giving lots of hugs or even playing a rousing game of Monopoly Jr. Everyone was so excited to have them here for the second time since we moved to Albania.



We so enjoyed touring city on foot. The weather was beautiful and not too hot (a note for those of you who want to come and see us - May is very pleasant. Hint, hint). We have the national park across the street from us and one day we strolled through the park and had coffee at the Sky Tower (the restaurant on top of a slowly spinning tower) in order to get a great view of the city. The best view though, was the smiling faces of our family as we fellowshipped together.



Kaitlyn and Mimi snap a perfect shot together. Love it!



Who's having fun now? There was no need to say "smile" for these shots, Sierra was missing Mimi and Poppy so much that she couldn't stop smiling once they arrived.



Dad and Amanda in the park. There are tons of trails to go hiking on. The park was created during communism and there are many reminders of that era - was memorials, a military installation, and broken sidewalks. One of my favorite things about the park is the people watching. They come in droves to walk in the park or sit on big stumps and play dominos or checkers.

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We played plenty of games ourselves during the week. The game of choice was backgammon. Even Breanna got in on the action. I think that Amanda was the over-all winner, although dad came in a close second. The girls even began carrying a small backgammon board with us around the city so we could play while we waited.



While we were playing games, Kaitlyn was doing what she is always doing - reading. She is a voracious reader! "Readers are leaders", that's what my dad always told me. If that's so, Kaitlyn will be some president or something when she gets older. The difficult thing about her rapid reading program is that I can't keep enough books in her hands. We can't just go to the public library and get more books for her, so she has taken to reading many of my books or even re-reading some of her old ones (she has read the Little House on the Prairie series 6 times!).



One day we took the 2 hour drive to a local beach. It was really nice because everyone else was still in school. The girls made a sand fort, played in the tide pools and jumped in the really cold waves. I enjoyed my book in the shade.



Mimi introduced the "Rubber Ducky" song (Thanks Mimi, they still sing it all the time). Kaitlyn dressed up like a yellow rubber ducky for a skit the girls put on and hijacked Poppy's hat and glasses. She is so hilarious. Here are dad and Kaitlyn pretending to read the Albanian newspaper. I was using the newspaper for language translating practice.



So, Uno even got in on the game action. Breanna is such a stinker - she is checking out Mimi's cards during the photo. She is so hilarious!



On the last night together with dad and Amanda we enjoyed a traditional Albanian meal with a meat platter and kos (a yogurty sauce), fried potatoes, salad, bread and pizza (for the girls). It was really great!



What great memories we made together! We praise God that He provided this small bit of encouragement and refreshment with our family. We were so blessed to receive spiritual strength and wisdom from them during our long talks, walks, and prayer times together. Thank you Lord!

Latest update on Whitney's eye

Hello dear ones,

We just wanted to let you know that we arrived home safely from Greece a couple of days ago. Here's a quick run-down on how things went.

The trip down to Thessaloniki was uneventful and rather quick (just under 7 hours). The car is now practically driving itself there since this was our 6th trip in the last 6 months. Kaitlyn was not with us on this trip as she is staying with an Albanian family for at least a week to work intensively on her Albanian language. The other girls did a great job on the drive through all the winding and bumpy (but getting better) roads. The border crossing was very fast. We had prayed about that as we left Tirana. When we drove out of the border patrol area Breanna piped up in the back, "We should tell God thank you that we got through the border so fast." Out of the mouths of babes... Then she prayed.

When we arrived in Thessaloniki we called the doctors office to see if we could get in on Monday night instead of Tuesday, when we originally had our appointment scheduled. We arrived in the city earlier than we thought because of the quick drive and no problems at the border. The doctor said to come on in and she would try to get us out in under 2 hours. We usually wait at least that long because they are in great demand. Actually, I think that if Dr. Kawly, in Houston, had not referred us to Dr. Brazitioks, in Greece, and called him personally, we would not have been accepted as a new patient. It didn't take 2 hours, only 1. Yeah God!!! We were up and out before some of the people who were there before us were even called in.

So, Whitney's vision was 20/20!!!! Praise God!!! The OCT scan showed that there is no accumulation of fluid behind the retina, which is the best case scenario for Whitney. So far the retina is still damaged (and will always have that damage), but has remained "dry". Once the fluid leaks into the damaged area and builds up under the scarred area, then she has the drastically decreased vision like she did in December. We are so very thankful that God has protected her eye from further complications. Based on these steady results - unchanged since her second appointment with him and after 3 shots - they said that we could begin coming in for the scan every 2 months instead of every month. This is good news. We will probably have to make this trip for at least another year, maybe 1 1/2 years. That does sound a little daunting, but very do-able. We are thanking God for all the ways He has provided financially for these unbudgeted/unplanned for trips. What a great reminder that they were not unplanned for by Him when we created out budget before we even left the USA for Albania. He has it in HIS budget. What a relief!

One other really amazing thing...
On the way back to Albania we prayed, as usual, for a safe drive home and for protection for the car and all parts. About 1 hour out of Thessaloniki, we noticed that the car was beginning to vibrate quite a lot. The roads aren't always great, so we have kind of become used to a not-so smooth ride. We pulled off the highway and Kris looked at the tires (they are old but still have lots of tread on them - he had just had them checked in April). They seemed fine. We got back on the road and had not gone 50 yards when we both realized the vibrating was a lot worse. "It just so happened" (such a God thing) that we were right at the off-ramp for Berea (yes, the one from Acts). Once we pass this city we begin the winding and steep climb into the mountains that have lots of tunnels and hardly any place to care for distressed cars. So we are praying, like we had been since we stopped, that we would find a place to fix our Toyota car with Bridgestone tires. Lo and behold, just down the road was a small Toyota dealership attached to a little Bridgestone tire shop! (Imagine lots of cheers in the car). We pulled up and the old guy at the tire shop didn't speak a word of English, but just then his son rode up on his bike and he spoke great English! (Imagine more hurrahs for God). As it turns out, and was now very obvious, the front right tire was severely distended/bowed out and was causing the car to gyrate. The guy told us that if we had kept driving, within at least 2 kilometers the tire would have exploded! That would have been right in the middle of a narrow tunnel on the mountain! WOW GOD!!!! He said that the tires we have on the car are very strong and durable and that if we had had another, less sturdy, tire it would have already blown. God's care over us is just astounding! (Now imagine tears, cheers and some great big sighs of relief).

So, we got back on the road within 30 minutes and arrived home safely. It is great to be back home in Tirana. Thanks for all your prayers for our safety and for Whitney's appointment. Our Father has been immeasurably kind to us all during this long journey of Whitney's injury (almost 1 year now). We are so very thankful for all the ways He has shown Himself so big and also so into the details of our lives. Our faith has been stretched and strengthened. We are profoundly grateful to Him for these invaluable lessons.

Just to give us even more - we found corn on the cob in Thessaloniki!! I know this doesn't sound too impressive, but we haven't had it in 2 years. I bought some at the store and we had huge ears of sweet corn for dinner that night. They were SO yummy! Breanna ate hers down to the cob and even kept on gnawing on it until it got all mushy. Kris called her a "cornivore". Hahaha!

Just thought I would let you in on all the blessings we received on this trip.

There is no other way to end this testimony of God's goodness but to quote:
Psalm 145:3-7
"Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall praise They works to another, and shall declare Thy mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of Thy majesty, and on Thy wonderful works, I will meditate.
And men shall speak in the power of Thine awesome acts; and I will tell of Thy greatness.
They shall eagerly utter (literally "bubble over") the memory of Thine abundant goodness, and shall shout joyfully fo They righteousness."

Kris speaking in Albanian

Well, we are coming up on our 2 year anniversary of arriving in Albania. We are so thankful to God for these past months of language learning. We have been stretched and challenged in ways that we never imagined in this endeavor. It has been humbling, oh so very humbling, to stumble along and "butcher" this lovely language again and again.

June 14th was a historic day for Kris. He was asked to preach the Sunday message at a local church here in Tirana, and he did a portion of his introduction in Albanian! Even though this is just one small step for him, it is a huge encouragement to know that we are progressing in our language acquisition. God knew that we needed this milestone to encourage us to press on in this long and arduous process of learning the language of our new home country.

Enjoy listening to Kris as he begins his message speaking Albanian.


We appreciate your continued prayers for us to be diligent in studying and practicing Albanian. Even though we are done with our official language classes for the summer break we continue to work on maintaining and improving our vocabulary and grammar usage by meeting with our language coaches and visiting and having coffees with various neighbors and shop-keepers in our area. We are looking forward to having a bit more flexibility in our schedules over the summer to make impromptu visits for relationship building and language practice.

Pray for me, Chelle, as I have been interacting and having coffee with our local seamstress, named Reti. I told her and her two workers (Adi and Dita) that I am translating and working on my testimony (history of my life with God) and that when I am done I will share it with them. This is a very unique concept for them. They were quite interested in what I was talking about. My goal is to be able to communicate the gospel in the context of my life testimony by mid-July.

Praise the Lord that He gives us the ability to learn and use this language for HIS glory and the building of HIS kingdom.

Bible times around the table

Every morning, before the girls head off the school, they work on a Bible study that is age appropriate. Word of Life has put out this wonderful resource for them to use. We have been so encouraged to see them learning to build the discipline of daily quiet time with the Lord from a young age. Kris and I find that these small samplings of Scripture and commentary are a wonderful springboard to discussions about specific application in their lives. Even Breanna gets in on the action. She is always so excited to "read" her Bible. Praise God for the living and active Word of God.



Kaitlyn and I have begun a regular discipleship time together. We are reading and discussing Elizabeth George's book "A Young Woman's Walk with God" about the fruit of the Spirit. It has been a wonderful and incredibly encouraging time for me, as Katilyn's mom, to see her studying and appropriating the Word of God for herself. The first time we sat down together to go over our study, right after we prayed Kaitlyn looked at me and said, "Well, mom, what did you find interesting or convicting on the first page?" Who's discipling who here? :-) I have to say that our times together have been some of the best one-on-one discipleship times I have had with anyone. Her grasp of the deeper meaning of things and how to make specific application to her life is amazing to me. After working with Jr. High and High School students for many years I was expecting more immature and superficial discussions, but was overjoyed to have her asking lots of great questions and relating the truth of the Bible to her heart and her motives. Praise God that He has given her a heart that is inclined towards Him.

Please continue to pray that the Seed of the Word that is being planted in the hearts of our girls would bear fruit from a young age for His glory.

Grace group kick off

Februrary brought the start of a new ministry at Grace Church Tirana. Small groups or Grace groups finally started after months of leadership training. Kris and I were especially excited to be a part of this ministry because small groups were such a vital part of our life and growth in our years at Lakeside Bible Church. There are about 6 groups meeting all over the city of Tirana at people's homes. The purpose of the meetings is to have a deeper level of spiritual fellowship, pray together, use the Sunday sermon as an avenue for daily Bible application and live out the Biblical principles of discipleship and the one-anothers. It was with great anticipation that we opened our home for the first meeting and lunch.


Here is the young married/young family group at our home. Our group consists of mainly Albanian nationals. We do have a few non-Albanians that are married to an Albanian in our group. Out of this group 2 couples later decided to attend other grace groups that met closer to their homes.


One question that we get frequently is, "Do you speak Albanian in your group meetings?" The answer is, "Not yet". All those who attend our group speak English very well. Of course, our goal (to which we are are working very hard to attain) is to be able to have our meetings totally in Albanian because it is much easier for the Albanians to relate and discuss in their own language. However, we are so very grateful that God has allowed us to be able to minister even though we can't yet do it in the native language. It is really exciting to be able to converse more and more in Albanian during the fellowship time. We continue to make LOTS of mistakes, but these dear friends are so very gracious with us and don't laugh too much. :-)


This is Ghazi and Irena and their baby. Irena and I have had many opportunities to get to know each other in the past year and I am thankful for her continued thirst to grow. We continue to pray for the salvation of Ghazi, her husband. He is very open to spiritual things.


Tim, Gerta and their baby boy are new to Grace Church. Gerta is an Albanian who lived in the states for 9 years where she met and married Tim. They are a really committed couple and have been involved in ministry for quite some time at other churches. We are really thrilled to have them join our church and our group. Tim is teaching English at a Turkish school here in the area. Pray for him to be tremendous witness to the many Muslim co-workers and students that he comes in contact with every day.


Nik and Lizzie have one boy and one baby girl on the way. Nik is an Albanian who attended university in the states and met and married Lizzie, who is a missionary kid herself. (An interesting side note - Lizzie and I actually met in 1991 in Nepal where her parents were missionaries and I was on a 2 months short term medical trip. When I came to Albania the first time in 2005 we both realized that we had met so many years before. How great is God to bring us together again.) Lizzie inspires me in my language learning. She is fluent in Albanian and has a really great ministry with other young Albanian women and moms. Their passion for Christ-likeness is a joy to behold.


Flori and Genta are newlyweds. Flori is a recent graduate from the SouthEastern Europe Theological Seminary where Kris is a professor. Genta came to know the Lord through the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ here in Albania and worked for them for quite a few years. Genta definitely has an evangelst's heart. She is always looking for people at work to share with and get to know. She meets with two committed Muslim women for a Bible study on Christianity and the Muslim faith. Her passion for the orphan girls has led her start a weekly ministry in the orphanage. This is a ministry that I have the privilege to be a part of. Flori is an intern at the church.


Lenci and Alta are dear friends and co-laborers in this ministry. Lenci also graduated from the seminary and does lots of translation work into English. He has a wonderful grasp of the English language, as does Alta. Alta teaches English at the Lincoln Center here in Tirana. Alta's father is a pastor and she had the privilege of growing up in a Biblical based family - this is VERY rare in Albania. She and I have spent lots of time together talking about Christianity and the Albanian culture. I look forward to many years of fruitful ministry with them.

Lost and Found

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind but now I see."




Wednesday, February 4th 2009, will be the most important day in the life of Sierra Stire. Yesterday, our 8 1/2 year old daughter was reborn into a new life in Christ!!!


For a few months now, Sierra has been asking lots of questions about what it means to "repent your sins", what a Christian is, and how to become one. Her little heart has been getting softer and more sensitive towards spiritual things. A couple of weeks ago we were talking about what it means to have Christ on the throne of her heart and how that will affect the "little" decisions she makes. She told me that just that morning she had seen some candy that she knew she was not supposed to eat and she almost took it but then she thought, "Mommy might not be able to see me, but God can always see me." She chose not to take that candy.

Well, last night Sierra and I were making dinner together(chicken pot pie, if you were curious). We began talking about salvation. I shared the whole gospel with her again and she was really attentive and asked lots of questions. She told me that she had been asking God her help her "repent her sins" and we talked about what that meant. When we got to the end, I basically went through what the "sinner's prayer" consists of and explained why all those aspects were a vital part of saving faith. After I had finished, she said, "Mommy, I prayed all those things in my heart to God while you were talking. Am I a Christian?" I was so thrilled to be able to share with her the promise from God that "if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Rom. 10:9). I praise God that He gave me the immense privilege to be a part of and see this new birth. What a joy to be there for her physical and her spiritual birth for now she is my physical and my spiritual daughter! Wow!!!

Then we discussed the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer and how true saving faith will produce the fruit of the Spirit. She was so excited to begin to see that fruit growing in her life, as are Kris and I. At the dinner table we shared the good news of Sierra's conversion with all the kids and Kaitlyn said, "Sierra, welcome to the family!"

We praise God for answering our prayers for the salvation of our Sierra Michelle Stire. In the past we have requested that you pray for the salvation of our children and I wanted to share the joy of this answered prayer with you as well. Please pray that the seed of the gospel would have found fertile soil in Sierra's heart and that it would grow up and increase and yield a crop and produce thirty, sixty, and a hundred-fold (Mk 4:8).

We say, "O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvantion" (Psalm 95:1).

By the way, you will notice on the photo that Sierra is without her two front teeth. She lost both of them in a 24 period this week. So they were "lost", but she is "found".

Shipley's donuts in Albania?

Well, it's not really Shipley's donuts, but our donuts still tasted so yummy!
One thing that the girls miss the most about living in America is the donuts. We decided to try to make them at home. My mom used to work at a donut shop in high school, so I thought that maybe there was some transfer of expertise to me. Kailtyn did all the research on the computer for the best recipe.






Kaitlyn and Sierra were great at rolling out the dough and cutting them out. The donut holes were one thing highly anticipated by all the girls.










Here is everyone in on the deep frying process. I have to admit that after seeing the donuts frying in all that oil, they were not so appetizing to me. I am sure that is a good thing, considering how fattening they are. The girls had so much fun dropping the dough into the oil and watching them puff up.





And here are the wonderful results. They looked and tasted really good. The best thing about this adventure was the great time we had doing it together.

By the way, I am a little late in posting these photos. They were taken the first weekend of January. No, I do not still have my Christmas table cloth on the kitchen table. :-)

Whitney's second surgical procedure in Greece - lessons in the fog

Precious friends and prayer warriors,

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

Yesterday morning, as we drove out of Thessaloniki, Greece, we saw a spectacular sight. It was dawn, and the mountains surrounding the valley that Thessaloniki lies in were visible in the distance. The plane in front of us was lush green. In the distance the land was covered with a low-lying fog that ended as the purple mountains jutted out of the ground. The mountains were covered with sparkling white snow and behind these mountains God was painting a gorgeous sunrise with rich oranges and vibrant pinks. It was a breathtaking view! We all commented on how creative and magnificent God’s power is. Not long after that we drove into the mountain pass. Almost immediately we were surrounded by dense fog. We kept going on and on in this thick, cold murkiness. We began to discuss how easy it would be to think that the sun was not shining at all because the fog was so dark and we could hardly see the road in front of us. Every so often, the sun would penetrate the clouds allowing us a quick glimpse of the blue sky. We were thankful to know that the fog would end and that eventually we would come out on the other side of the mountain range to a sunny valley.

While we were in that fog, God reminded us of an important truth. These past months have been like that heavy, dark fog. There have been so many uncertain times and unknown endings. We have been moving forward in the vehicle of God’s protection, energized by the power of the Holy Spirit. We have not questioned that we were on the highway of His perfect will, but it didn’t change the fact that we could not see what was in front of us. It was even difficult at times to remember the majestic displays of God’s power that we have personally seen in our lives. Often we would find ourselves focusing on the dreary “sameness” of this small trial and our spirits would sag and match the grayness around us. But then God, in His lavish love, would break through that fog and pierces us with His Light at just the right time. It may just be for a short time and then we are back in the God ordained fog of a trial, but how merciful is that refreshing reminder that He is with us. His Light is still guiding us and He will bring us out of the darkness and into His glorious Light in His perfect timing. The profoundness of this visible lesson left us worshipping God, in tears.

This trip to Greece, for Whitney’s second surgical procedure on her right eye, has been like one of those breaks in the fog from God. We are overjoyed to be able to share with you what God has done! When we visited the doctor here in Tirana 2 ½ weeks ago the results of the visual acuity tests that he performed were not so encouraging. Although the hemorrhage was gone from her eye, Whitney’s vision was still at 20/200, the same as before the first procedure. We were told that Whitney’s vision might return to 20/50 where it was before the hemorrhaging began in early December. When we arrived at the ophthalmologist’s office in Greece on Monday, they performed this test again. How amazed and speechless we were when Whitney’s vision was confirmed at 20/30!!! This is the best vision she has had since the initial injury in August.

When the doctor performed the OCT scan of the retina, she said that Whitney’s results were very close to a normal, healthy scan. We sat there and looked at the healing power of God with tears in our eyes. Whitney’s retina and macula are still damaged and will always have residual problems (humanly speaking), but at this time she only has a slight myopia, or near-sightedness. And just to let Whitney know that He heard her prayer (she was the only one who prayed it), the doctor said that Whitney did not need that IV dye test this time. We all praised God right there in that office!

Whitney did have the second injection of Lucentis into her right eye on Tuesday morning. Thankfully, she also responded better to the anesthesia this time. We are praying that the combination of the three shots will continue to sustain the healing that God has brought about. We do not know how long these shots will maintain this level of eyesight, but we are thankful for the mighty work of God at this time in our lives.

Thank you for your faithful and fervent prayers for Whitney and for our family during these past months. He has answered your prayers in ways that are beyond all that we asked or imagined. We proclaim with David, “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend Your works to another; they will tell of Your mighty acts,” (Psalm 145:3-4).

We are scheduled to return to Greece at the end of February for the last of this series of procedures. During the intervening weeks we will take Whitney for a follow-up visit to the eye doctor here in Tirana and continue to monitor her vision.

Thank you for continuing to pray for us. It has been a tremendous thing for us to see and experience God’s answers to all of our prayers. We are so grateful to God for each of you.

Bondservants of the King,
The Stire family