Photo Friday - 15th May

T-shirt counting at conference! Each country had to count their t-shirts for camps this summer. It went so well!

Dave Patty, our president, was our speaker during conference. 

The day after conference the Hungary team stayed so we could talk through the year-long cycle of camps. They are doing their first official JV camp this summer so it was good to have this day to train them. Plus, they're a lot of fun to spend time with, and we had a particularly interesting/hilarious time with dinner in a nearby restaurant! Here we are, with Katka joining us, on the Polish side of town overlooking the Czech side.

After a busy time at conference and the Hungary training day, it was wonderful to have a day off. The Sunday of conference was Mothers' Day in America so all the women at conference were invited onto the stage to be given a flower (because we are all spiritual mothers, and some are also biological mothers). So this flower brightened up my flat for most of the week!

Receiving thank you notes are an amazing part of my job! I love the people I get to serve.

For a weird reason taking my car to the car wash seemed like a huge deal to me. So I hadn't done it, even though I'd lived here almost two years! Thankfully someone else did take pity on my car at one point last year and got it washed. But this week I took my car to the car wash! And it was no big deal except that to me it had been and I was successful! Sadly the pollen has been crazy and my black car didn't stay clean very long but, hey, small victories! 

My set up for working from home this Friday! 

Photo Friday - 8th May

This book was given to me by Julianne, my American friend, and what's more funny that the book are the annotations she made in it! 

I am really grateful for this prayer journal from here. It's been such a useful tool and has helped me faithfully persist in prayer.

A fun night that included dinner with friends! 

The camp bracelets for this year arrived today! The theme is You Are Here and those four symbols are a tool we use to share the Gospel. Six thousand of these bracelets were ordered! It's so exciting to think about the conversations they will hopefully prompt and help!

And today the camp t-shirts arrived! It was a record to have them so early and they came out so well! 

Thursday Spring Conference began, in this beautiful location. The theme this year is Family on Mission and I'm so grateful for the Josiah Venture family I get to serve alongside.

On Friday we went to a science museum in the nearest city as part of "Family Day" at conference. It was a lot of fun!

Photo Friday - 1st May

Saturday nights when my kitchen look like this are such a blessing. It means my home has been full! I had a girl over for dinner and then we had small group with lots of yummy snacks. I'm so grateful for these girls and that we get to share life together.

I love slowing down on Sundays - and eating leftovers from the dinner on Saturday night!

I'm able to run further and further so I'm exploring new parts of the trail! 

The last of the mini eggs.. it was a sad moment! 

One of the bridges connecting Czech and Poland in my town, and the one I most frequently cross on my runs.

This. This took thirty minutes. Thirty minutes of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Ok, not quite. But close. Czech words change endings depending on which of the seven cases applies, if it's singular or plural, if it's masculine animate, masculine inanimate, feminine or neutral.. and other things I'm sure I'm forgetting. 

Today involved a wedding! So a good excuse to wear a cute dress.

Photo Friday - 24th April

Watching the transformation of the tree outside my window as spring has arrived has been beautiful.

I bought some lego.. here is the extent of my creations so far, but the little people who come to this house love it. 

Planting lavender on my window sills.

The view I wake up to - and look, more green!

It was a busy day, working from my flat with our camps' administrator. 

Reading a book on leadership - and taking lots of notes!

I spotted this heart on one of my many evening walks through my town. The feelings are mutual - I love living here! 

Photo Friday - 17th April

Holiday continued - walking the city walls of Dubrovnik.

Dipping my toes in the sea.

It was so fun to have this lady here for a week and explore new places with her! I'm glad we could add another adventure and a lot of miles to our twenty-three years of friendship.

The snow finally stopped! And spring started springing.

The great thing about being away from the office for a while is fun post is usually waiting for your return.

The beautiful stretch in the evenings.

My neighbours were watching a game out on their terrace - and because I had a lot of my windows open it felt like I was watching it with surround sound. The TV/their terrace is directly above my spare bedroom. 

Photo Friday - 10th April

I got to spend time with this lovely lady on Easter Saturday! It was so much fun to catch up.

It was wonderful to hang out, eat good food and sing worship songs in English on Easter Sunday.

Yes, yes that is snow you see falling...

Tuesday involved driving to Krakow to pick up a visitor for a week of holiday fun!

Vienna in springtime.

Exploring the many little streets of Zagreb, Croatia.

Plitvice Lakes - a beautiful national park in Croatia, where you can spend all day exploring around these lakes and waterfalls. 

Photo Friday - 3rd April

A fun little Saturday afternoon painting project!

On Sunday I was on the road again - this time to Krakow with six other women who serve JV internationally. We all live in Czech but serve various international ministries. On our way we saw American troops who were convoying through various central and eastern European countries to reassure their NATO friends that they have not been forgotten or abandoned to Russia. What was crazy was how many Czechs and Poles were out, standing by the road or on bridges, cheering and watching!

Krakow was rainy!

The women of the retreat! I am so thankful for these women. We spent our three days reading the book of Job and talking about how to do hard things well through Christ's strength. It was a really refreshing time.

We also had some fun - including spending time exploring Krakow and this cute little Polish pottery shop. 

The weather here is a little crazy right now!

The blackboard in my kitchen is especially true on Good Friday. Because of Good Friday I have been rescued and redeemed. It is such crazy grace.