We finally have internet access!  It came earlier this week and we are now able to update this site a little more frequently and also send out updates to our faithful prayer partners.  We are pretty excited about this.  Rather than try to recap the last several weeks, I think I'll just fill you in on our day today since it was a typical day for us.

Botanical Gardens on our Cell Phone camera

The service was all in Croatian.  We are getting better at Croatian, but it is still very difficult to follow anything other than greetings and simple phrases.  Praise songs are great though, because we can pick up lots of phrases that are repeated over and over until we learn them.  One I caught this morning was "Ti si moj kralj!" which means, "you are my king".  It is an exciting moment when you can lean over to your family and say, "Hey that means you are my king."  However, it is a little frustrating when they all say, "Yeah, we know".  I'm getting used to that as well.

When it came time to take communion, we encountered another of those extra decisions we have to make a lot.  One cup was passed around to everyone and it was wine.  Do we give it to the girls or not?  Bonnie and had a quick discussion and made a call (I'll leave the decision up to you if you ever have to make it) just as the cup came by.  Unexpected things keep popping up in places we don't expect them.

As the sermon started I was thinking that my time here so far feels like surfing.  I have never actually surfed, but I often feel like I am on a little board on top of a huge wave that is constantly moving forward.  There are times of beauty when you relax and look around, and times of intense activity as you struggle with your board, knowing that the wave won't stop to let you get back on.  Even the falling in is not bad, but riding the board is a heck of a lot more fun than struggling to get back on to the board.

After church we relaxed a bit, and then I drove Bonnie to an empty parking lot so she could practice driving the stick shift and then Bonnie drove home for the first time in Croatia.  This was her first time to drive in Croatia.  The traffic here is more intense than in the States so it took her a little while longer to choose to drive.

Thats the day and it was actually very typical for us.  I am looking forward to the time when things like going to church are more of a routine process for us.  However, I am also thankful that we are here and acclimating to this new culture so well.  It is truly a blessing in the way God has orchestrated so many events around us to make this a smooth transition.  He is good.

Dobar Dan (Good Day)!  We are doing well, but have not been able to communicate very much as we still do not have internet access at home.  Things work differently here.  We were supposed to get internet today, but it was delayed for “another” day.  We would love to tell you when we will have internet and communicate a little more, but we don’t know ourselves.

Our time has been a rush of many different activities mostly centered around getting set up in Croatia.  Week one involved registering at the police station, waiting for about 4 hours to get all our documents in order and stamped.  Then we went to order phone and internet.  The remainder of the week involved getting our home set up.  We are mostly done, but need to run to Ikea in Austria to get a computer cabinet that works well in a smaller space.