.grbavica.

In my previous post I mentioned that not much interesting has been going on.

Well, I did forget to mention one thing. We recently watched a film that deeply touched us, and that we warmly recommend to everyone. It is called Grbavica (the name of a Sarajevo suburb), and was directed by Jasmila Zbanic, a young director whose name I am sure we will hear more and more in the future, as she has already won numerous awards with this film.

The film itself is about life in post-war Sarajevo, Bosnia (the place in which we are praying to be able to serve the Lord in the future). It paints a very good, and realistic picture of life there these days. Do not watch it if you want to relax and something to laugh at. However, DO watch it if you want your life to be touched by a beautifully made, and wonderfully acted movie that tells the story of a people who have suffered so much.

The official website will tell you a bit more about it ...

.the.cable.girl.and.other.stuff.

It's been a while since we last posted, we are aware of that. The reasons are multiple, of course, but they mostly have to do with Arpi being very busy preparing for the next semester here, at the Bible College, and me being busy with Nina, proofreading, and some new responsibilities. I have been proofreading some book translations and finalizing a book I translated ("Under His Influence" by Lloyd Pulley) for publishing, as well as working on organizing a board of translators, proofreaders and cover designers within the Calvary movement in Hungary. I was asked to do this, so we can work on translating and publishing much needed Christian books for the Hungarian believers, and do so in quality. It's been fun, but you can imagine how this has been filling up the little time slots I have left while Nina is napping.
All this to say, there hasn't been too much interesting stuff to report, but to avoid this post being completely boring, here are a few pics of Nina which were all taken in the recent days...

Sporting the new hat daddy picked out at H&M, on a BIG sale. (Mommy was very happy!)


"Stuffed animals ain't got nothin' on me" declared Nina after discovering Daddy's computer cable. To minimize danger and damage, Arpi quickly found a cable he doesn't need anymore, and it is the new favourite. Here you see "the cable girl" with the toy of the month.



Computer savvy at 7 months!

We hope to be back soon, with some interesting stuff to report. We are going to Serbia tomorrow afternoon, just for the week-end (a day only at each grandparents' house), as the second round of presidential elections will be held on Sunday. Because Arpi and I are both still citizens, we want to vote. For those interested, please pray that the hard-liner nationalist (potentially war-mongering) guy DOES NOT win, but that the democratically minded one (Mr. Boris Tadic) gets elected. That country has seen way too much war in the last decade and a half, and we are praying for continued peace and stability.
If interested, you can check out the latest news in English, straight from Belgrade, here.

.incisors.

Nina has two maxillary central incisors and one maxillary lateral incisor by now, so besides masticated toys our furniture is in grave danger as well :)

.something.to.share.

A friend recently shared with me the devotional below. It convicted, taught and encouraged me. Hope it does the same for you! (Thanks, Alida!)

Mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me. (Isaiah 38:14)

Hezekiah had been sore sick when he wrote the Psalm, or ode, from which these words are taken. A long and painful illness had brought him to 'the gates of the grave'; and he here expresses, in pathetic language, some of the groans, and sighs, and cries, which were wrung from his heart during the time when he feared that he might be deprived of the residue of his years.
"Mine eyes fail with looking upward." Upon first reading these words, my heart felt envious of the poor sick king's experience. What! To look up to God so constantly and continually that my eyes should be wearied with the upward glance? This surely would be a pleasant pain, a sweet sorrow, a most rare and blessed spiritual attainment. With me it is, alas! so different; my eyes mostly fail with looking inward! The fountain of sin within seems ever rising from the depths of my nature, and overflowing the banks of my life, and my gaze is too often riveted on the dark flood, instead of being lifted to him who has cast all my sins behind his back.
But I look again carefully at the text, and find that it should read thus, "Mine eyes fail upward." The two words 'with looking' are interpolated, they are not in the original Hebrew. The meaning is, literally, 'Mine eye-lids droop, mine eyes are too weak to look upward.' Ah! Now I can understand, and Hezekiah's words touch my very soul. It is as if he said, "What I have so often had to say,) 'I am utter weakness, Lord; a weight of sin , and sorrow, and sickness oppresses me, I am brought so low that I cannot even lift up my eyes to you; but come, sit by my bed, close to me, Lord, so that I need not look up, but can shut my weary eyes in the joyful knowledge that you are looking down in tenderest pity on me, and saying, "Fear not, for I am with thee."
'Undertake for me.' Oh, the blessed restfulness of putting everything -- physical, mental and spiritual -- into my Father's hands, and just leaving all there! When once faith can heartily make this transfer, all is well with the soul, and its peace is perfect. God does nothing by halves; if he undertakes our case, he will deliver us from all evil, he will blot out our transgressions for his own Name's sake, he will sanctify our affliction to his glory, he will turn our sorrow into joy."

Taken from Susannah Spurgeon, "Free Grace and Dying Love"

.piggie's.ride.

I have been wanting to share this photo for a few weeks. We stumbled upon this unforgettable sight on our drive home for Christmas.

As I was getting ready to take the photo, the owner came out from the pub (the car was parked right in front of it), and I got worried that he would have a problem with what I was doing. Alas, not quite! He was actually very excited, and quickly gave me his address and asked me to make sure I mail him a copy of the picture. Go figure ...

.airstream.mechanisms.

Nina discovered the use of her glottis and the use of her pharynx, so do we have some shrieking we want to share with you. Enjoy :)