March 14th, 2012 by Kim

After getting a bit off schedule last week with my weekly blog, I am surprised that I didn’t forget this week, or find it easy to skip another week! I am however, trying very hard not to write so much (or use so many words:) today, as I communicate with you things going on here with our family and ministry! I felt a little guilty after last week’s post! It was much longer than I expected in the end. And I am sorry if it took you a long time to finish it (or worse, you weren’t able to finish it). I, myself, don’t have a lot of time for reading blogs.  I do love to read them however and I find myself  often skimming over the “fluff” to get to the  “bullets”. Some blogs however, are written in such an enticing way  I enjoy slowing down and reading every word.

I don’t consider mine one of those blogs! I could really use some blog lessons on this art of writing.  Because I really don’t think I have it! In fact, I am even nervous to share my blog with other friends who have really great blogs! It’s so intimidating to share these writings! I mean, I like to write and tell about our life here in Slovakia and I have so many words in my head of ways I could tell it. But it really is an art to get it out just the way I envision it. In the end, I find myself satisfied just to pass along the information and not fuss with the art or cleverness of it all!

Emili– It still continues to be a roller coaster with her and her studies. She got a 5 (F) this week in Slovak language.  That was very discouraging to her. Her math teacher is helping her outside of class and that makes 3 tutors she has each week. It’s a lot. I really do choose to thank God for this difficulty. It has given her the opportunity to express her thoughts to me about all of this and enabled me to see some of her thinking (good and bad). She has 2 tests tomorrow, math and Slovak language.

Gwyneth has a concert on Thursday. She was taken out of her last concert at the last minute since she was on the verge of sickness. We talked yesterday and she feels good about it and doesn’t seem to be nervous. In addition, she has a competition next Friday!  I was also very proud of her when her school teacher announced to me in the teacher’s room, that Gwyneth made a 1 (the highest) on her Slovak language test! Yea, Gwyneth!

Samuel is a young man of few words! So when he does talk, I take note! After a few times in the past weeks with some American families, he has expressed to me how he misses those friendships (in English). It is hard for me to hear the hurt in his voice. Again, I find myself thanking God for another opportunity to hear the thoughts inside my child’s head; good and bad. At least he’s getting them out and entrusting them to me. I pray with him specifically and ask God to give him peace. After a hard night of talks (and prayers) last night, he was up with a smiling face this morning. Thank you God.

Hampton is on the roller coaster with Emili. Except it seems that his has been only going up for a very long time. He still is very verbal about NOT liking or wanting to go to kindergarten . Yesterday, when i picked him up, I could see it on his face. He looked like he would break into pieces if I looked at him. My heart ached! I don’t know how well you are at getting information out of a 4 year old, but for me it’s very hard (and inconsistent). It was however, very apparent that he had had a very hard day. Zac and I talked about how it doesn’t seem to be getting better and what actions we should take. Should we take him out and get a baby sitter for when i teach? Should I quit teaching? We didn’t decide anything yet. And then today, I picked him up and he said the words, “today was the BEST day at school”!  Ok, so i guess he’s finally coming down! Thank you God!

As expected, the Women’s conference was amazing. The focus this year was prayer and worship. I personally found Austria (near to Salzburg) an incredible setting for this and recommend it to everyone! It was a retreat center owned by Calvary Chapel right on a lake nestled in the mountains and an incredible drive the whole way from Slovakia.  God personally taught me more about how to worship Him and prepare myself for worshiping him. Everyday we had 3 hours of personal prayer time. At the first thought, i couldn’t imagine how I would be able to last that long  However, I quickly realized how fast the time went. As usual, I returned home both encouraged and exhausted from a week with 40 women!

This Friday night is EMKo and we are looking forward to continue the discussion with the group of young students. We are asking God to reveal Himself and change lives. Zac will tell the Bible story, Duski will prepare games and Anicka and I will have some food for them. For the first time we have asked the parents to stay for a short meeting when they come for pick up. We plan to talk to them about possible community projects. We anticipate questions and ask God to give us the right words to explain in the best way the purpose of our group.