More Pictures!
Many of you keep reminding us that we need to keep putting more pictures on the blog, especially of Emma! So, here are a bunch of pictures from the last few weeks. Not all of Emma, but almost!
Emma started walking a few weeks ago, and is now an (almost) expert at it. She toddles all around the house, following us wherever we go. She's such a cutie.
We recently took a few days trip to the island of Krk as part of a team retreat. This was part work/meeting together, and part just fun. We had a great time having long conversations about the state of the church in Croatia, getting to know each other better, praying together and doing some team planning. We also had fun playing in the water!
Emma's first swim was in the Adriatic.
She really loved collecting rocks from the beach.
Our teammates, the Downey family.
A small passageway in Krk Town.
Three little girls in one van makes for one very interesting drive.
Family photo op.
Home Again
On Wednesday we said goodbye to our friends in Hungary and made the drive back to Croatia, after receiving the green light to return. We were so excited! It was almost surreal to come back to our apartment here in Zagreb--but in a good way.
I wasn't sure how I would feel coming back--would it feel like coming "home" or would it feel like starting all over in our adjustment to Croatia? Happily, it felt more like a homecoming. It was exciting to be able to understand a few words on the billboards once we entered Croatia, after being around the strange Hungarian language for 2 1/2 weeks. And our apartment felt sort of like home too, even though we really notice the more urban setting we live in (i.e. traffic and construction noises) compared to the peaceful village of Diosd, Hungary where we were staying outside Budapest.
But before we had much chance to relax in our newfound home, it was off for more paperwork. We were required to finalize our visas at the police station on Thursday. What we thought would be a quick hour or so turned out to be 6 long hours, most of it waiting in lines. (The word "appointment" at this office appears to have a slightly different meaning than we may have assumed.)
If you've ever tried to entertain a very busy toddler while standing in line for 6 hours, I wouldn't recommend it. After awhile, Emma and I left poor Greg in line and we escaped outside, where Emma could sit in her stroller while we walked and walked and walked all around Zagreb.
But it was all worth it. We are now the proud owners of one-year "temporary stay" visas. Hooray! This feels like quite a victory. It has been amazing to see God provide for us through this whole process. Despite the unexpected complications and having to leave the country, God blessed us with great time with friends in Hungary, great places to stay (no hotel payments!), and a safe trip back home. Greg and I even got to spend our 6 year wedding anniversary strolling along the Danube admiring the beautiful city of Budapest.
A big thanks to all of you who were praying for us through all of this. We appreciate it!
Waiting in Budapest
It's been almost 2 weeks now since we left Croatia and headed for Budapest, Hungary due to unexpected visa issues. From what we hear, our paperwork for our visas is moving along back in Zagreb, but we are still waiting to hear the final word so that we can go back. Last we heard there was a possibility we could go back this weekend, but no guarantees yet.
Meanwhile, we've had an awesome time hanging out with friends here in Budapest. It was a HUGE blessing that Dave & Melissa White were gracious enough to let us crash at their place. (Little did they know they would be having unexpected refugees from Croatia staying with them.)
Emma has especially loved it, because all of a sudden she has 2 new playmates and a whole house full of new toys that are different from her toys at home. She especially loves following Samantha around, trying to do everything she does and trying to steal any toys she has. Emma also likes to teach Norah bad things ("See, you can climb the stairs too! Just like this, it's easy. You just have to do it when your parents aren't looking.")
She also discovered a new toy that she can push and walk behind it. After a bit of trouble at the beginning (resulting in her face slamming into a doorframe), she quickly mastered it and began tearing around Dave & Mel's house at top speed.
After a week and a half at the White's house, we're now staying at the home of some other family friends (Mike & Nancy Elwood). The Elwoods were heading to the States for a few months and kindly offered their home to us this week while we wait to head back to Croatia. (Yet more people that we are so thankful for!)
Here's some more pictures from the last few weeks. We'll keep you updated!
Croatian Bees Sniff Out Landmines
Here's something interesting I just read about on BBC:
A new technique to help find unexploded landmines using honey bees is being developed at Zagreb University in Croatia.
"We started this because our citizens are exposed to serious risks with mines," explains Professor Nikola Kezic, as honey bees buzz around his head. "Luckily we also have a long tradition of keeping bees and making honey. Our solution makes use of what we have."
Croatia, like Bosnia-Hercegovina and the other countries of the former Yugoslavia, has a big landmine problem, inherited from the wars of the 1990s.
More than 1,000 sq km (380 sq miles) of Croatian countryside are thought to be contaminated by the mines. About 250,000 mines are still buried, and more than 100 people have been killed by them in Croatia since 1998.
Removing mines is slow and very expensive. And even after the de-miners have done their work, some may remain in the soil.
Field testing is the next step after trials in the tentProf Kezic's idea is to use honey bees to find any explosives that might have been missed by the de-mining teams.
Training the bees to find mines takes place in a large net tent pitched on a lawn at the university's Faculty of Agriculture.
A hive of bees sits at one end, with several feeding points for the bees set up around the tent. But only a few of the feeding points contain food, and the soil immediately around them has been impregnated with explosive chemicals. The idea is that the bees' keen sense of smell soon associates the smell of explosives with food. So far this has proved successful.
Prof Kezic says bees can quickly be trained to detect explosivesProf Kezic says that training the bees takes only three or four days. The first day or so is spent in the large net tent, getting the bees used to associating the smell of TNT with food. After that several bees are taken out of the colony and tested to see if they react correctly when presented with extracts of explosives.
"This year our work is to increase the bees' sensitivity to the smell of TNT," says Prof Kezic. He warns that it will take time before they are sure the system is reliable enough to use properly.
Once the technique has been shown to be reliable, the idea is to use the bees on areas that have already been de-mined.
Parts of Croatia are still littered with mines laid in the 1990sThe colony of specially trained bees will be released in the de-mined area, and followed with a special heat-sensitive camera. The bees will be expected to settle on areas of ground that smell of explosives. If they land on an area where no landmine was discovered earlier, the de-mining team will investigate to make sure they have not missed one.
If the technique proves a success it might provide a cheap and easily available resource for de-mining teams all over the Balkans.
In the Croatian countryside bee-keeping has been popular for centuries. Delicious pots of honey and other produce can be bought directly from the bee-keepers at roadside stalls all over the region.
Despite many years of working with bees, Prof Kezic has not lost his enthusiasm for them. His office, full of charts, diagrams and models of bees, is testament to his interest in these social insects. And in his fridge there is further evidence of what makes bees so special: pots of honey and some delicious honey-flavoured raki, the local strong alcohol.
