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!