| the_horváth_kávai_blog |

2011-12-23T16:09:00.004+01:00

As the end of 2011 slowly approaches, we would like to share with you a short summary of events and tasks that characterized these last few months.

Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe

We praise the Lord for continuing to bring more and more students to Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe, students that are not only desiring to grow in knowing the Scriptures, but are also open to the Lord shaping their hearts. It is a priceless experience to see lives being transformed, sins left at the foot of the cross and priorities rearranged in so many lives.

This summer we had the most students yet take part in our summer discipleship program (A Vision for Life). The Fall semester was characterized by true cultural diversity as we had students from seventeen different countries – thanks to the fact that Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe now offers an accredited degree in theology, we were able to secure visas for students from Pakistan, India, South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, and even China. All of the students were part of one of the two dozen outreaches organized, mostly to Hungary, but also to Finland, Romania, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo and Austria.

This year Árpi was teaching a course on the book of Genesis (with Andi translating into English) and a course on Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Romans in Hungarian (there were about two dozen Hungarian full-time students and almost one hundred Hungarian correspondence students enrolled at the college this last semester). Besides raising children, Andi was mostly involved with translation. A book by Warren Wiersbe was published in Hungarian this year, as well as a handbook for studying the Bible. She was interpreting the course on the book of Genesis and a class on Inductive Bible Study.

Calvary Chapel Hungary

This year marked the twentieth year of Calvary Chapel in Hungary. This was celebrated early this Fall by thousands of believers gathering at an open-air theater for a birthday party and a picnic at the nearby park.

This celebration was somewhat overshadowed by the current legislative situation in Hungary. The ruling Christian Democratic Party in unison with other parties passed a legislation that gives preferential treatment and advantage to some churches (Roman Catholic Church, Lutheran Church, Reformed [Calvinist] Church and a few others). When not teaching, Árpi was mostly occupied by discussions and meetings on the topic, or writing proposals and requests. We are looking forward to this period coming to an end (hopefully) soon and Calvary Chapel being recognized as a Christian church.

In mid-November, Andi helped organize and lead the Hungarian CC pastors’ wives retreat. It was an amazing, deep time of much needed fellowship and prayer that everyone was extremely blessed by.

Personal Life

After a turbulent and busy Summer (39 different conferences were hosted this year) we were looking forward to a relaxing Fall, but God had something else in store for us. Our daughter Zoé had to be rushed to the emergency room a day after the semester started, as she had dark blue bruises appear all over her body. She was quickly diagnosed with Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), an autoimmune disease of unknown origin that results in a low platelet count in the blood, which is then not coagulating.

Much of September and part of October was spent in hospitals and with visits to specialists. The good news is that she is healthy now and there is only a small chance that she will relapse. Needless to say, this was a very difficult period for us, but we have seen the Lord come through in surprising and unexpected ways. All the glory is His!

Future Plans

During the first few weeks of January we will spend some time in Croatia, where Árpi is going to teach a few times, while a local pastor is away on furlough. Shortly after that the annual Calvary Chapel Ladies’ Conference will be held in Vajta (co-lead by Andi). During the upcoming Spring semester we are hoping to lead an outreach team of students to Sarajevo, Bosnia.

Finally, we would like to thank you for your support in prayer and otherwise. Please continue to pray for our hearts and the hearts of the students to stay soft and to keep falling in love with Jesus more and more. Please pray for the outreaches planned and the Word of God anointed with power when taught. May the Lord bless you richly in this coming new year.

---

If you would like to financially support our ministry, you may send a check to:

Cornerstone Ministries

P.O. Box 2506

Napa, CA 94558

(make checks payable to Cornerstone Ministries and indicate our name separately)

or contact Jan Wagner at cstoneoffice at yahoo dot com regarding other support options.

.pictura.

2010-06-18T12:21:00.004+02:00

here are a few pictures of zoe (ζωή, greek life)

.she.is.here.

2010-06-18T08:35:00.004+02:00

zoe horvat-kavai was born at 08:15 this morning. she is 4,52 kg (10 lbs) and 55 cm (21½ inches).

introducing ...

2010-04-09T14:24:00.003+02:00

... the first printed image of our second daughter. her name? still undecided :)

.camera.fun.

2010-04-07T22:38:00.002+02:00

.simple.

2010-03-11T07:38:00.004+01:00

in late august of 2007 the lord orchestrated some circumstances, through which we met an extraordinary person. kenzie is a photographer (extremely talented, by the way) who loves god and is passionate about so many things. she spent 10 days in our home and to this day, the room she stayed in is often referred to as "kenzie's room". during those ten days, we bonded deeply, and when she left, it felt like we had known each other ten years!

after she left, we started finding little hidden notes of love and encouragement from her everywhere. on the wardrobe, in my box of contacts, in my recipe-collection folder, in our kitchen cabinet, i even found one in my coat pocket the following spring, and one in a book on the bookshelf last year! but today's find was the best, because it is on the bottom of a candle-holder i have dusted about a million times since then, but have never bothered to look at the bottom (after all, who looks at the bottom of a candle-holder, right?). it simply says: september 2007, i love you, andi! kenz

well, this made my day, and all i want to say is: i love you back, kenz, you are so special, i can't wait to see you again, and i wish everyone had a friend like you!

Storytelling

2010-02-10T11:02:00.003+01:00

Nina has been playing all morning with her "Duplo" store set that she got for Christmas. A few minutes ago she lined up all the "products" (cereal boxes, juice boxes, etc), and placed the man and woman figures on top of them. Then she proceeded to tell them a story:
"God went up to the cat and scratched it!" (she also showed them how the scratching is done, scratching her own belly).

How am I supposed to keep a straight face?

Nina egész reggel a "Duplo" bolt-építő kockáival játszik, amit kedves barátainktól kapott karácsonyra. Az imént sorba rakta az összes dobozt (müzlis doboz, tejes doboz, gyümölcslés doboz,stb), majd a tetejükre állította a "bácsit" és a "nénit". Amikor mindenki a helyén volt, elkezdett nekik mesét mondani:
"Isten odament a macskához, és megvakarta!" (eközben a vakarást saját hasán szemléltette is).

Hát lehet ezen nem kuncogni?

.international.name.contest.

2010-02-09T07:56:00.002+01:00

dear friends,

as you may know we are expecting our second child to be born some time at the beginning of june 2010. we only have a name picked out for a boy: vince (lat. vincere, meaning conquering), yet it looks like we are going to have a girl again.

we are very excited, but troubled at the same time, for we can't find a name we both like that matches the following criteria:

it is used in hungarian, english and serbian / croatian as well.
it is spelled similarly in all the languages mentioned above.
we like it.

to give you a few examples: benjamin, david, alex, etc.

to trigger your imagination, here is a picture nina insisted on taking the other day :)

.camera.fun.

2010-01-13T12:11:00.002+01:00

nina likes to snap a few photos now and then. most don't find this exciting, but some (grandparents, photographers, developmental psychologists) will find this interesting

.communicare.necesse.est.

2010-01-13T11:30:00.002+01:00

three days of texting while andi was gone to sarajevo

.litera.

2009-11-28T23:33:00.003+01:00

one thing nina likes more than watching videos of elmo or curious george and listening to the music of u2 or david crowder are books. she loves listening to people reading to her, she loves pretending to read, she loves scribbling, she loves everything associated with writing and reading. just the other day she recited the entire alphabet, just like that. i didn't even know she knew the entire alphabet, she in not even 2 ½ years old!

however, she may be arithmetically challenged. the other day when i asked her how much 1 + 1 is, she replied: christmas :) or, perhaps it is just too early for arithmetic quizzes.

.moments.

2009-11-13T08:11:00.005+01:00

nina is growing like crazy! this is seen in lots of things, and i am documenting only two of them here. yesterday was the first time she allowed me to put accessories in her hair for longer than two minutes. this one lasted the whole morning:

posing with her first ever pony tails

i am cute and i know it!

she loves helping me with housework. i am aware that this one might not last too long, so i am really enjoying it for now. among her favorite things are vacuuming and washing the dishes. here is a picture of the vacuuming:

child labor? yeah :)

.laws.and.sausages.

2009-11-10T08:13:00.002+01:00

the hungarian parliament was discussing a handful of amendments to the law of higher education last night. one of the amendments (44. §), as a result of nineteen months of work, was adding calvary chapel bible college europe to the list of accredited colleges in hungary. once the president of hungary signs these amendments (in a few weeks), it is going to be official - calvary chapel bible college europe will have an accredited bachelor of arts in theology degree.

being at the parliament was both exciting and boring. i think what the parliament needs are sound effects - once a law was voted on, they should have a jingle, or a random sound effect, something to spice things up.

a lawyer / politician friend once shared a quote with me about laws and lawmaking. some attribute the saying to otto von bismarck, others to john godfrey saxe and it says: the less the people know about how sausages and laws are made, the better they sleep in the night. i agree, wholeheartedly.

.like.father.like....

2009-11-03T08:32:00.003+01:00

nina is at the point in her development where she enjoys music more and more each day. she puts on impromptu dance shows if the music we are playing is rhythmic enough, she tries to "play" music by tapping on books, the floor, or the coffee table.

she also recognizes four musicians when she hears their music being played (in the car, at home, on the radio), and sometimes she even asks for one of these four musicians by name:

bono bácsi (uncle bono) - this, of course, means that we have to start playing some u2
crowder bácsi (uncle crowder) - meaning we have to put on the new david crowder band album
diana néni (aunt diana) - a request for diana krall's christmas album
marcsi - classical worship album from calvary chapel budapest, where her favorite musician friend (marcsi) plays the violin

if we manage to film one of her dance shows, we will post it here, of course.

.nina.quotes.

2009-10-29T11:38:00.006+01:00

this will have to be in hungarian, sorry.

ma délelőtt nina a játékai között talált egy bohócorrot. miközben az orrára próbálgatta, és én éppen arra próbáltam rávenni, hogy hozzon döntést valamivel kapcsolatban, lazán odadobta: most nem tudok rád figyelni, anya :)

röviddel ezután kétségbeesetten rohant hozzám: anya, öltöztesd fel a babámat! én: te is fel tudod már öltöztetni, csináld meg te. mire nina: de én nem tudom, mert nekem kicsi a kezem! ilyen érvnek nehéz ellenállni ...

tegnap előbányászta egy melltartómat, és miközben a nyakába próbálta akasztani, azt ismételgette: hát, most nem igazán tudom hogy mit csinálok ...

nem unalmas az élet ... mit mondjak?

.afternoon.fun.

2009-10-28T22:57:00.004+01:00

what to do when your wife is gone to work and you are babysitting your daughter, but you don't want to watch sesame street (or curious george, or bob the builder) for the 527th time?

my suggestion:

set up your tripod
mount your camera on it
set your camera to remote control
have your daughter sit in front of the camera
give her the camera remote control

the result? her very first self portrait :)

.srebrenica.

2009-07-11T07:57:00.009+02:00

i know that it has been a shamefully long time since we last wrote a real post here. we have good reasons from that, and i hope to write about those soon.

i also know that we usually share funny and happy little thoughts here. however, today i feel the need to share about something more serious, and i hope that you, dear reader will not mind.

today is july 11th, 2009. exactly 14 years ago, in the small bosnian town of srebrenica, a brutal massacre was committed, when 8,000 (yes, eight thousand) boys and men of that town were murdered. here is a short summary (from wikipedia) of what happened that day.

The Srebrenica Massacre, also known as the Srebrenica Genocide, was the July 1995 killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys, as well as the ethnic cleansing of 25,000-30,000 refugees in the area of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) under the command of General Ratko Mladić during the Bosnian War. The United Nations had declared Srebrenica a UN-protected "safe area" but that did not prevent the massacre, even though 400 armed Dutch peacekeepers were present at the time.
The Srebrenica massacre is the largest mass murder in Europe since World War II.

most of these men have never been found, although they keep discovering mass graves around the town and a group of experts has been working for years on identifying the remains. some of the identified remains will be re-buried today, as every year, since the massacre, the mothers, widows, sisters left behind hold a commemoration to remember their loved ones.

my brother and father were able to travel there today, and they will be there to pay their respects. i wish i could have gone with them, maybe another year.

today, please join me in prayer, that the women of that town, and all those in bosnia would find healing and reconciliation in christ, the only one who can give us hope.

.godzilla.

2009-07-08T10:45:00.003+02:00

enjoy :)

.glory.to.god.

2009-04-18T21:13:00.005+02:00

you know how there are those moments when you know for sure god touched you. the holy spirit does something in your heart, and you are touched and changed forever? well, one of those moments happened to me tonight.

i was attending the concert of the golgota gospel choir (from calvary chapel budapest) at the subotica (my hometown in serbia) city hall. upon arriving, shortly before the concert started i was already struck by seeing so many faces that i know from the budapest church. it was that whole thing of: wait ... they don't fit here, this person is out of place! and yet, it was so great to see them here.

the concert started, with the first song being one called glory to god. this was virtually all the lyrics. as I was listening, i was reminded of how 19 years ago, barely 25o feet from where i was standing tonight, i heard the gospel message for the first time in my life. and then a few months after that i gave my life to jesus. about a year after getting saved, i moved to budapest to go to college, towards the end of which the lord called me into the ministry. i was asked to help start a church in budapest. (it will be exactly fifteen years ago tomorrow.) this was calvary chapel budapest, the church that the choir came from tonight. as i watched them and listened to them sing glory to god i was remembering the one (yes, only one) person who was there for the very first bible study we had in a rented apartment. god has done so much since then!

and now, here they were, bringing the gospel, once again, back to my hometown. full circle. yes, i teared up. and more than that. and all i could think was: glory to god! i am so thankful he allowed me to be a part of his work!

.ponytail.

2009-03-17T08:13:00.003+01:00

nina finally let us accessorize her hair :)

you can see more photos here.

.this.weekend.in.pictures.

2009-03-15T14:00:00.005+01:00

we went to aquaworld on saturday - nina loves water and she loves slides, so it was double-fun for her :)

we spent some time on the playground this morning, before it started raining (again)

on the swing, all by herself :)

.hah.

2009-03-15T08:36:00.006+01:00

here is an article to all the sceptics who made fun of me for lamenting my favorite cup when it got shattered into pieces a few weeks ago.

.tupaka.

2009-03-07T09:43:00.006+01:00

many have asked whether nina is speaking yet (since she will be two years old in june). well, yes and no. let me explain - i promise, i am not going to ask you to define speech or define it for you :)

she repeats a galore (one of my favorite words - thank you gaelic folks for making it part of the english language) of words, but not too many full sentences yet. she has a vocabulary of about 200 words or so, and, of course, some of them need some deciphering.

here is a short list of decipherables:

tulipán (tulip) - tupaka
étel (food) - nyamaka
keksz (cakes) - kekszi
dot néni (aunty dot) - doki
jim bácsi (uncle jim) - jibaka
orsi (our friend orsi) - otyi
phil bácsi (uncle phil) - fika (also the word for booger in hungarian)
dolgozni (to work) - dogó
sajt (cheese) - saki
gyümölcslé (fruit juice) - gyibike
elmo (the furry red muppet) - ebi

stopping and smelling the tupaka :)

.amusement.

2009-03-06T14:52:00.003+01:00

the following letter was recently sent by tesco (called fresh and easy in america) to a customer in oxford, england. enjoy :)

dear mrs. murray,

while we thank you for your valued custom and use of the tesco loyalty card, the manager of our store in banbury is considering banning you and your family from shopping with us, unless your husband stops his antics. below is a list of offences over the past few months all verified by our surveillance cameras:

06/15 - took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's trolleys when they weren't looking.
07/22 - set all the alarm clocks in housewares to go off at five-minute intervals.
07/07 - made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to feminine products aisle.
08/14 - moved a 'caution - wet floor' sign to a carpeted area.
09/15 - set up a tent in the outdoor clothing department and told shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring sausages and a gas stove.
09/23 - when the deputy manager asked if she could help him, he began to cry and asked, 'yhy can't you people just leave me alone?'
10/04 - looked right into the security camera; used it as a mirror, picked his nose, and ate it.
11/10 - while appearing to be choosing kitchen knives in the housewares aisle asked an assistant if he knew where the antidepressants were.
12/03 - darted around the store suspiciously, loudly humming the 'mission impossible' theme.
12/06 - in the kitchenware aisle, practised the 'madonna look' using different size funnels.
12/18 - hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed, yelled 'pick me! pick me!'
12/21 - when an announcement came over the loud speaker, assumed the foetal position and screamed 'no! no! it's those voices again.'
12/23 - went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited a while; then yelled, very loudly, 'there is no toilet paper in here.'

you see ladies, this is further proof that it is extremely dangerous to drag us along when going shopping :)

.sentences_mondatok.

2009-02-24T07:16:00.010+01:00

so, this one will be bilingual for the grandparents' sake, and because of the topic. i do hope nobody minds and i hope you will still find it interesting, even if your hungarian may not be so fluent :)

nina is 20 months old today, and last night she spoke her second (the first one a few weeks ago) somewhat "real" sentence. she was drinking juice (which she absolutely adores) and in the middle of it, she happily announced:

"eszike,eszike gyibiki!" (meaning in "ninaese" hungarian: i am eating juice.)

of course arpi and i melted on the spot, as this was yet another proof to us that our daughter is in fact a genius like we suspected.

szóval, nina épp ma 2o hónapos, és tegnap este másodszor hallottunk tőle mondatnak nevezhető valamit. az első mondat pár hete volt, amikor edit lábán ülve kijelentette: "nina csücsi, ede". aki nem érti, hogy ez azt jelenti: "nina editen ül" - nos, sajnálom :)

a második mondat pedig tegnap vacsi közben hangzott el, gyümölcslét ivott éppen (aminek a bolondja), és egyszercsak boldogan kiáltott fel:

"eszike, eszike gyibiki!"

az "eszike" szó gyökerét ugye nem kell magyarázni, a "gyibiki"-ről pedig mi szülők tudjuk, hogy gyümölcslét jelent (régebben egyébként soha nem értettem, hogy a szülők hogyan érthetik meg a gyerekeik halandzsa beszédét.)

röviden ennyi. elolvadtunk, és ismét csak megerősítve láttuk abbéli meggyőződésünket, hogy a gyerekünk igenis zseni.

.lament.

2009-02-19T09:57:00.004+01:00

in the eighth chapter of his brilliant novel nineteen eighty-four, george orwell writes about winston meeting an older man (he calles him a prole) in a bar and the man complaining about not being able to get the right amount of beer. ingsoc made the people switch from imperial to metric measurements, so beer was no longer sold by pint (british), but by litre or half-litre. the man was complaining about this, because, as he said, "a 'alf-litre ain't enough. it don't satisfy. and a 'ole litre's too much. it starts my bladder running."

i completely understand the above mentioned prole, i am the same way with coffee. one regular (9 fluid ounces) cup is not enough, but two cups are too much (for the same reason as mentioned by the prole above). for years i was in agony to find the adequate solution to my problem, and then starbucks came along and introduced me to their large (14 fluid ounces) mug. i would have been living happily ever after if there wasn't for an accident last year, during which my mug (due to it's rigidity) ended up in pieces. for a few months my agonizing continued, but then we visited vienna and i got a large mug at starbucks again. needles to say, as the attached picture accurately shows, my replacement mug was rendered unusable by brute force yesterday. what am i to do now - as there is no plan to be within 200 miles of a starbucks in the next few months?

my preciousssss

.early.addiction.

2009-02-12T22:57:00.003+01:00

in this video you can see how nina turns into an addict to a toy within an hour

.more.snow.

2009-02-11T07:27:00.004+01:00

inspecting the snowfall very intently

.this.weekend...

2009-02-09T20:20:00.005+01:00

... nina found yet another way to accessorize her hair ...

... we went to kékestető (the highest "mountain" in hungary) to spend the weekend with calvary chapel eger at their retreat ...

... and nina confirmed to us one more time that we are soon to say good-bye to our armchairs and television privileges :)

.obscene.

2009-02-01T08:38:00.003+01:00

during the past week or so, nina started talking more and more. for now, she makes up her own version of words she wants to use, and does so using a very simple method: as she is unable to pronounce most words perfectly at this point, she takes just the first syllable, omits the rest, and adds (k)i, (k)a or ga to it.

this is what it looks like:

mandarin (tangerine in hungarian) - maga or magi
banán (banana in hungarian) - baga
dot néni (our friend dot) - doki
cipő (shoe in hungarian) - cipi
kutya (dog) - kutyi

but, something interesting happened this morning, as she and arpi were standing at the window admiring the frost-covered trees, and arpi pointed to the trees and said their hungarian name: fák. nina got very excited, and exclaimed: fakiiiii!

being a child of 19 months and thankfully not yet aware of the fact that this word is quite obscene in english, she has spent the last few minutes running around the house, yelling this lovely word out :)

what can we do? well ... we smile and nod.

.bedside.

2009-01-31T21:29:00.003+01:00

nina inherited a "big-girl" bed from rebekah walsh last week and it instanly became her kigdom, she loves it very much.

.matrimony.

2009-01-25T20:01:00.004+01:00

today we celebrated móni and jw being united in marriage. here are a few pictures (there are more pictures on facebook).

the bride

the bride, again

the bride and her bridesmaids

the groomsmen and the ring bearer

the bride and the groom

mary and nina on sugar high

a very tired bride

.tub.fun...

2009-01-25T09:45:00.004+01:00

... or, should i call it art? nah, tub fun it is.

thank you dusty and norbi for the tub crayons :)

.devotion.

2009-01-22T06:46:00.002+01:00

below is today's devotional in oswald chambers' my utmost for his highest. it really encouraged me.

look unto me, and be ye saved. isaiah (45:22)

do we expect god to come to us with his blessings and save us? he says - look unto me, and be saved. the great difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on god, and it is his blessings that make it difficult. troubles nearly always make us look to god; his blessings are apt to make us look elsewhere. the teaching of the sermon on the mount is, in effect - narrow all your interests until the attitude of mind and heart and body is concentration on jesus christ. "look unto me."

many of us have a mental conception of what a christian should be, and the lives of the saints become a hindrance to our concentration on god. there is no salvation in this way, it is not simple enough. "look unto me" and - not "you will be saved," but "you are saved." the very thing we look for, we shall find if we will concentrate on him. we get preoccupied and sulky with god, while all the time he is saying - "look up and be saved." the difficulties and trials - the casting about in our minds as to what we shall do this summer, or tomorrow, all vanish when we look to god.

rouse yourself up and look to god. build your hope on him. no matter if there are a hundred and one things that press, resolutely exclude them all and look to him. "look unto me," and salvation is, the moment you look.

.things.

2009-01-10T06:54:00.003+01:00

things that made me happy this past week (not in order of importance):

i won the weight-gain contest (i. e. the who will gain less over the holidays competition between arpi and me)! this means that i get to choose whatever i want as a reward ... hmm. that will be a tough one :)
arpi bought a special antenna and hooked it up on the roof, which makes it possible for us to watch two croatian television channels (hrt2 and rtl). we used to watch them while living in pécs (which is very close to the croatian border, so there was no problem with the reception), but as vajta is much further, it is only possible with this special antenna. during the past year-and-a-half, we have really missed hearing the language, and have noticed while at home for the holidays that our knowledge of the language has gotten pretty rusty - which is not a good thing, if we want to stay on top of it as we prepare to move to the balkans in a few years. so, hooray for some language practice!
the fact that more and more of nina's personality is coming out, it is so fun to watch! she has a sweet, cuddly personality, knows what she wants (this is the hard part), loves music (especially piano-based), loves to eat healthy things like broccoli and oatmeal, etc.
yesterday's pizza lunch with neil and anna. neil makes extremely good pizza, and we had a sweet time of fellowship over some of his amazing creations. oh, and chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting as dessert. yum!
the grace god and my husband have shown me every day.

.attack.of.the.g.

2008-12-31T14:04:00.005+01:00

(almost) horror story to follow. if you are sensitive to such things, do not, - i repeat - do not keep reading. we have been visiting our friends, the chuns in mikepércs since yesterday. that's the prelude.

this morning at 5 am, nina woke up to request her usual portion of milk. the house was quiet, not a soul was stirring (except for nina - that is), it was still dark outside, and about the same inside. so, still half-asleep, i stumbled out into the - to me somewhat unknown - kitchen, turned a small light on, and opened the fridge. as i did that, i heard a small, but immensely shrieking voice pierce through the darkness behind me eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee and i froze. i freaked. i almost got a heart attack. in the two-and-a-half seconds that followed, many thoughts went through my mind, such as: what on earth is about to attack me? ... maybe ufo's exist after all ... what if one of the chuns's seven-year-old daughters came down the stairs just to scare me? for fun? ... until i heard a song, which went something like this: very letter makes a sound, g makes ...

then it dawned on me. it's the girls' alphabet game! (they have this little tool that helps them learn spelling - they are in 1st grade. this toy thingie has a magnet, so you can conveniently place it on your fridge - convenient for the kids learning, not so much for the uninformed guest at the crack of dawn!)

i accidentally pushed the g as i was opening the fridge. it really attacked me. for a second there, i was very close to a heart attack. thankfully, it was just the g, which is quite harmless, really. i will be on the lookout tomorrow morning. there might be an h or a p waiting for me. don't want to get on their bad side.

.28.

2008-12-28T16:35:00.004+01:00

that is the number of messages that are currently in my gmail inbox. you might think that is a lot. well, not for me. i have just spent half the afternoon (nina is taking a long nap) clearing the inbox, as i haven't had virtually any time for the things of email during the last two months or perhaps more. i started with 65 messages an hour and a half ago, so i'd say Ii've done well.

i know there's more work ahead, but just thought i'd share my joy with you all.

yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

.caboodle.

2008-12-27T08:04:00.003+01:00

although nina was with lea and lotti (her cousins) for less than one day during christmas, they hit it off right away. occasionally we felt we had three sharks circling us, waiting for their prey :)

unfortunately, the lighting wasn't the best for photography, so i had to use the flash on occasion. and when i didn't, well ... see for yourself.

.subotica.

2008-12-22T11:09:00.004+01:00

as we said earlier, we are spending christmas with family in serbia, more specifically in (and around) subotica (szabadka in hungarian), the biggest city in the northern serbian province called vojvodina (vajdaság in hungarian).

although it is freezing cold outside, we went for a short stroll last night, giving me just enough time to snap a few photographs of the city call. (this city has the most art nouveau buildings in serbia and the city hall [built between 1908 and 1910] is of outstanding beauty.)

.agreement.

2008-12-20T07:07:00.001+01:00

we, the creators of this blog (hereafter referred to as the parties), hereby enter into this agreement on the below place and date upon the following terms and conditions:

it is the intention of the parties hereto, that between the dates of december 20th, 2008 and january 5th, 2009 (also known as holiday season) they participate in a competition amongst themselves.
the subject of the aforementioned competition is the increase of the body mass of the parties during the aformentioned time period.

now, therefore, the parties have agreed as follows:

the parties voluntarily submit to the measuring of their body weight in a 9.08665 m/s² gravitational field (earth, that is) on the aforementioned first day of the contest.
the parties will refrain from using substances specifically engineered for weight loss purposes (natural or otherwise) during the aforementioned period.
the parties may engage in strenuous physical activities to decrease, or to stop the increase of, their own body weight.
neither party may entice the other party to participate in the consumption of substances known to drastically increase body weight, however, parties are free to consume such substances should they choose to do so.
the declared winner of the competition is the party with the smallest increase of body weight (where the minuend is a party's body weight on january 5th, 2009 and the subtrahend is the same party's body weight on december 20th, 2008) within the aforementioned time period.
the winner of the competition receives a gift of his own choosing, which has to be countersigned by the other party.

the validity, interpretation, construction and performance of this agreement shall be governed by the laws of hungary, excluding any conflict of laws, rule or principle that might refer the governance of the construction of this agreement to the law of another jurisdiction.

.unwrapped.and.unboxed.

2008-12-18T09:04:00.006+01:00

as we said earlier, we are not going to be home (in vajta) for christmas, so we decided to give nina her christmas gift a week earlier. she got a k's kids baby with activity blanket. she loves changing the diaper on the baby and feeding everyone (including elmo, and us, of course) with the toy bottle.

this has to be good, it is wrapped in shiny paper!

but who needs the paper?

.christmas.cheer.

2008-12-11T21:43:00.004+01:00

i just finished making 5 gallons [~20 liters] of eggnog (non-alcoholic, of course) - my contribution to holiday cheer. eggnog is one of the few things i enjoy about christmas. it contributes greatly to the insulin roller coaster of christmas, but hey ... i just cannot (do not want to) resist when it comes to eggnog.

i love eggnog, but this amount is way beyond my digestive capacities, it is for the staff christmas party we will have tomorrow night.

you like?

.outlook.

2008-12-10T09:12:00.003+01:00

it is interesting, accorging to folks at princeton, outlook is the act of looking out, but according to wiktionary it does not mean that at all.

anyway, the view from our window was really nice as the sun was rising.

.the.tree.

2008-12-09T19:52:00.005+01:00

when I was a kid, one of my favorite things about christmas was the smell / scent of the tree. i loved the way it filled the whole house, and i loved coming home during the christmas season, because you could smell the tree as soon as you opened the door. and I always felt sorry for those people who only bought a fake / plastic tree in the store. i would imagine that when i grow up i would always buy one of those really BIG and TALL beautiful trees that reach up to the ceiling of the room.

when arpi and i got married, for our first christmas together we bought a - what i would call - medium-sized tree, as there were no kids yet to buy a big one for, and our apartment wasn't too big either. ditto for our second christmas together. we spent our third christmas together visiting friends in america, so no tree then. last year, nina was tiny, and we spent the holidays visiting our respective parents, so we decided not to get a tree at all. yes, there were trees at our parents' houses, but that is not the same.

but this year is different. we got a tree! after two years without one, i was so excited to get a real christmas tree. well, to make a long story short, the more we thought about it in the light of having a toddler in the house, the more reasonable it seemed to just get a fake. so i broke down and we did exactly that.

we decorated it today, and when she saw it, nina couldn't get enough of it. mesmerized is not a strong enough expression to describe her reaction. so here they are, nina and her first christmas tree.

.chocolate.lover.

2008-12-05T08:47:00.003+01:00

i guess nina inherited my love for a certain processed food produced from the seed of the tropical cacao tree - chocolate, that is :)

our very own inigo montoya :)

.from.all.over.

2008-12-02T09:44:00.006+01:00

this past week-end, we were blessed to visit the city of vienna, the capital of austria. coincidentally, a few students from the college decided to do the same, so we met up for a day and spent some time being tourists together. it was great, and also very unique. as we all sat at the dinner table of our hosts - a family originally from bosnia, but now living in vienna - we realized how many nationalities were represented there.

by the way, this is one of the many things we love about serving at the bible college: people come literally from all over the world, and yet, the unity of the body of christ is tangible here. what beauty for the world to see!

here's a picture of our little multi-cultural group, from left to right:

emily (america), andrew (poland / britain), joel (america), claudia (romania), danijela (bosnia / austria), andi and nina (serbia / hungary)

arpi (serbia /hungary), gustavo (puerto rico / america), dunja (croatia)

cool, huh?

.adieu.les.condamnations.

2008-12-02T07:07:00.005+01:00

well, before nina was born, we had unspoken parenting agreements concerning what we were going to let nina do (eat) and what would be out of question for her to do.

needless to say, the rest of the world, all you 6710144870 were not included in the decision making and you keep intruding on our plan. thus, from time to time, we need to give up our convictions, say farewell to them (thus the title) and let nina be influenced by other inhabitants of this overpopulated planet.

yes, this outrage was inspired by the fact that someone gave her nutella for breakfast while visiting friends in vienna (austria) last weekend :)

.tech.savvy.

2008-11-24T19:39:00.003+01:00

she should be ready soon to educate her uncle and tell him finally what a podcast is :)

.our.daughter.

2008-11-20T21:48:00.002+01:00

having your mouth washed with soap is so outdated :)

.giving.in.

2008-11-17T20:46:00.002+01:00

sissy (plural sissies), a noun, meaning a timid, unassertive person. synonyms are mama's boy or pansy.

i have to admit, i am giving in to weather. with temperatures below freezing, i have decided to put on socks and shoes, starting tomorrow morning. good bye rainbows, see you in four months or so (unless i end up having to go to california in january). from now on i will have to spend a total of 90 seconds every morning putting on socks and shoes - time wasted.

good bye freedom

from andi: yes, my husband is weird. and cute.

.the.end.of.the.world.as.we.know.it.

2008-11-13T08:20:00.008+01:00

president-elect of the united states of america barack hussein obama ii was right when he said in his victory speech that america is a place where all things are possible.

i guess it is only expected that american companies, representing american interests (thus american people), show the same kind of approach to business as well. in my personal opinion mcdonald's has gone way too far in implementing this idea by offering hungarian-looking (yes, it only looks hungarian) food items at their establishments (i refuse to call them restaurants).

i have not ventured to try these fine products at a restaurant (there, i said it, i called it a restaurant) near me, and i don't think i will any time soon after reading these reviews at chew.hu and velvet.hu either.

.dont.mess.with.texas.

2008-11-12T00:21:00.005+01:00

we had quite a few guests today. it happened so that all of them were from one of my favorite places - texas. go panthers! dillon football forever!

two of our guests were pastors from calvary austin. we had a wonderful time catching up on what the lord has been doing in our respective lives, making fun of lame christian books and eating chocolate zucchini cake, yum :)

much later, almost at midnight, we were blessed to have heather mercer (of global hope) over for fellowship and sharing about ministry to muslims around the world. we are so thankful for her time and insights and were much blessed by her heart and were encouraged regarding our plan to minister in bosnia.

.bubbles.are.my.friends.

2008-11-11T19:51:00.004+01:00

as a boy i never liked bathing, i felt that it was a waste of my precious time - time that could have been better spent watching television or playing some more.

well, girls are different. they are not smelly (like boys) maybe because they just love bathing. nina loves putting shampoo in her hair. every time she bathes we have to put blue, yellow, and green shampoo in her hair as well. and the end result? see for yourself :)

no comment ...

.500...

2008-11-06T08:19:00.003+01:00

... that is days. it has been that much since nina arrived.

much has changed since then. she speaks fluent gibberish, climbs couches, places phone calls, knows the difference between yes and no. she also knows many other useful things, such as shoes and socks are smelly, that the oven is hot, or that bathing means that we can put shampoo in our hair. we are definitely not biased, we just know she is a genius :)

day 1 / day 500

.let.the.accessorizing.begin.

2008-11-05T07:36:00.003+01:00

i know this is just one small step for nina, but it is a giant leap towards looting my wallet to purchase trinkets :)

her hair in a pony tail last night, for the first time

.this.morning.

2008-11-04T07:02:00.003+01:00

the view (i took it after running)

in the meantime, missy was displaying the journalist genes inherited from her grampa

.trick.or....

2008-10-31T17:56:00.003+01:00

nina, the dragon slayer :)
(thanks nick and rosemary for the costume)

.biscuits.très.chocolat.

2008-10-30T18:56:00.006+01:00

Today I made my first recipe from Clotilde's cookbook, the very chocolate cookies.

And they are just that: like eating three bars of chocolate at the same time. Delicious! Arpi approves! (I made my cookies a bit bigger than the recipe suggests, so they are not as chubby as the original ones, but they are still very, very good.)

If you'd like to try them, come and see us in Vajta! :)

.amen.

2008-10-30T06:40:00.004+01:00

we belive nina uttered her very first conscious full word last night. it was an amen after andi finished praying for dinner.

the funny thing was that after saying amen she started repeating other words as well, pupak for example (which is belly button in serbian/croatian), while pointing at her stomach.

maybe we should have started to teach her croatian/serbian in the first place, since she seems to be so good at it. last night was sort of a balkan night (we had a dinner with a serbian girl from bosnia who lives in austria now, a croat/slovene girl from croatia, and the two of us, hungarians from serbia with a bit of croatian background) and we spoke this mix of balkan languages during the entire dinner. it was fun!

.meet.clotilde.

2008-10-28T19:42:00.005+01:00

I love cooking and baking. I love collecting recipes. I could spend hours searching for and reading new recipes. I could spend hours in the cookbook section of bookstores. Part of me wishes that I could spend days on end just testing recipes, feeding them to large crowds (hopefully, appreciative ones), and then do some more cooking and baking.

Years ago I discovered that some recipe-sharing websites allow you to search by ingredient. So, since I had a bunch of zucchini on hand (it was their season) and was getting tired of sauteing them, I decided to do a search for that ingredient. And out came the recipe for zucchini chocolate cake. Intrigued by the name? So was I. So I gave it a shot. It has since become a family favorite, and I have become a pretty regular visitor of some of these websites, along with the one where this recipe came from. It was a link to a link to a link to here.

The writer of the blog is a young French woman, Clotilde Dusolier, whom I wish I could spend a week-end with, cooking and having gourmet fun. And then recently, my wonderful husband decided to buy me her book.

This book is amazing, and wonderful, and exactly how I think a cookbook should be, and exactly how I like cookbooks to be and the recipes, are - of course - oh, so interesting, and unusual but still doable and mouth-watering. I guess you could say that it's a cookbook after my own heart. If I were a kid, I would put it under my pillow at night for the next week or month or so. But I am not anymore, so I will instead soon try to make the Biscuits Trés Chocolat (Very Chocolate Cookies), or the Tarte Chocolat Caramel (Chocolate Caramel Tart), or the Cake Tomate Pistache et Chorizo (Tomato, Pistacho and Chorizo Loaf), or the ...

.commitment.

2008-10-22T10:30:00.014+02:00

i am so blessed to know that andi is committed to me and to replanting cacti. you see, we are trying to have at least one cactus (or any other kind of potted plant for that matter) survive at least one season in our home, but no such luck so far.

i guess, what i have described with so many words here would be called love, or commitment in plain language :)

.mojo.

2008-10-18T06:52:00.011+02:00

if i believed in mojo, or any other kind of magic charm, i would tell you that i have a very bad geek mojo going on right now. most of the things i touched during the last day acted funky or stopped working altogether. i am in desperate need of displaying some glorious geek bravado.

it all started with my laptop battery charger in the office. it only worked for a second, then it did not work for a second, so my laptop screen was flickering like a christmas display. the good thing is that when i tried a day later, it worked fine.

after that came the brand new (and very brand fake) 16gb pen drive i purchased on ebay for dirt cheap from a very reliable (i am naïve, you can laugh at me) seller in hong kong. my precious posession started corrupting files (not quite what you want from a pen drive) and stopped working altogether after owning it for less than a day.

thirdly, it was time for the internet to mess up my life. i am not going to go into details, but let me just tell you that i wasn't able to complete any of the tasks planned for yesterday. my to-do list now is longer than it was yesterday morning - always a bad sign.

then it was time for a very reliable product marketed by steve jobs (namely the ipod nano we own) to just stop working altogether. no signs of life, no flickering, not even a half-eaten silver apple to reassure me that there is still a chance to enjoy this ridiculously overpriced product.

i really hope this is it for today. if not, i will make sure to give you further updates for your entertainment - if my laptop will be working, that is...

.outreach.

2008-10-17T06:44:00.006+02:00

One of the last things Jesus told his disciples before leaving this earth, was:

Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. (Gospel of Mark 16:15)

One of the coolest (among many) things about the Bible College we live and serve at, is that each semester, the students go out for a 10-day outreach to do exactly that: preach the Gospel. This semester's departure day is today, October 17th, and they are going to the following countries:

India
Kosovo
England
Ukraine
Romania
Hungary
Moldova

How extremely exciting! Please, join us in praying for all these teams during this time (October 17th to 26th): safety in travel, unity, soft hearts...and so much more!

.multicultural.experience.in.the.hospital.

2008-10-16T07:05:00.005+02:00

If you speak Hungarian, and would like to have a good laugh, read this post by our good friend, Trudy. She and her husband are Americans, living in Hungary. Her husband, Russ was hospitalized for a few days recently, and Trudy wrote a great post on Russ's experience as a foreigner in the Hungarian medical system. We enjoyed it tremendously, and we know you will too!

.picasso.dali.klimt....here.i.come.

2008-10-12T19:37:00.008+02:00

during the last few weeks nina has shown an increasing interest in pens and paper, so crayons were purchased, much to her delight. she was amazed when discovering her box of crayons this afternoon and immeditately went to work.

you may think this is foolish of us to publish this, but i guess parenthood makes you do all the clichés you smiled at before becoming a parent.

hard at work

anyone got an appropriate frame for this?

.changes.

2008-10-11T23:32:00.002+02:00

so, tell us, how do you like the new template we selected?

.summer.in.pictures.

2008-10-09T20:40:00.004+02:00

it is very cold in the mornings. well, it is october, you may say, and you are right. it is october, and october is a fall month.

anyway, i was looking at summer pictures to warm me up, and decided to share some that haven't been shared so far.

.what.the...

2008-10-07T06:32:00.009+02:00

Nowadays, more and more things that we use are manufactured in China. I really have nothing against that fact, or against the Chinese people as a whole. I just wish that the companies that make some of these products would hire someone who speaks proper English, in order to double-check all the things they write on these products.
Until they do, Arpi and I will continue to have a good laugh every once in a while - upon discovering the latest weird "English" word.

Here's the object of our latest cheerful moment:

What is the problem here? Take a closer look!

Although this was only a miniature box of washing powder from a toy kitchen set, the questions still remain:

What on earth is senior washing powder? (Is it perhaps to be used only by the elderly?)
What does forever whiteness mean? 'Cause if it means that once I have washed my clothes with this powder, they will never get soiled again, then bring it on! I want this powder in my house!
The absolute favourite is do-it-yourselfery. What ?!?!?!

If you are able to decipher the meaning of any of the above expressions, please, feel free to do so.

Or, if you have any similarly weird texts from a product, we would love to have you share.

Let's all have a good laugh!

.beautiful.slovenia.

2008-10-06T06:59:00.007+02:00

This past week-end, we were blessed to go to Celje (Slovenia) to attend the wedding of our friends, Justin and Erin. The wedding was beautiful, held in a picturesque setting on a mountaintop.

Here are some pictures to show you the reason why we are now in love with Slovenia, and wish we could spend every week-end there...

Justin and Erin

Tiny village (Svetina) hidden amidst the hills

Sunrise

Simply beautiful

.a.good.read.

2008-09-30T06:08:00.006+02:00

I have just finished reading the book below:

It is the diary of a Bosnian Serb journalist, who had lived in Pale (15 km outside of Sarajevo) and worked at the Sarajevo television station before the war broke out. He refused to cooperate with the new Serbian authorities that took over Pale and shelled the city below them, and was marginalized and had to flee. However, he kept a diary during the first three months of the war, which was a fascinating read for me during the last few weeks.

If you are interested in the modern history of the Balkans, reading this book is a must. I highly recommend it. (It's available on amazon)

.mi.casa.es.su.casa.tambien.

2008-09-28T09:19:00.004+02:00

if you are not a friend of the swedish furniture giant ikea, then do not read this post, since this post is nothing else but praise for their korall anemon tent we recently got for nina. she loves it! it is her own little house inside the big house!

she has a few furry stuffed squatters, but hey, we all have to have neighbors, right?

kicking back, literally :)

.breakfast.anyone.

2008-09-19T09:15:00.004+02:00

mornings are by far the most favorite (should i say favoritest?) part of my day. all of us together, tranquility factor high (since nina gets up at 6am and the entire world still sleeps), java levels high, nina munching on cheerios and milk - can it get better than this?

somehow everything tastes better if you use two spoons

yumm :)

.impressions.

2008-09-16T21:27:00.006+02:00

So many things have happened in the last few weeks. Lots of lessons, blessings, but more than anything: God's grace and beauty overflowing around us. Here are a few of my favorite moments:

School started. With the new semester at the Bible College, there are so many new students, and new faces. And yet, two of them stick out to me. Danijela, who is a Bosnian Serb, and Dunja, a Croat girl. They met here, on the first day of school. Amidst of all the 100 people on campus, again and again, I see them together. Sharing, talking, walking, sipping coffee. If you followed the news in the last 15 or so years, you know how cool this is.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28, The Bible)
I love how living and powerful God's word is :)

Last week-end we were blessed to go to Celje, Slovenia. We took our friend Erin there, (who has been interning here) as she is getting married to our other friend, Justin - who has been a missionary/pastor there for 10 years. Other than the sweet fellowship with them, we were so blessed to see the church there, and to see a part of what used to be our country growing up. It is, of course, so different now, and we did feel like foreigners and tourists. Which is what, in all reality, we were.
Slovenia is beautiful, and as we drove back to Hungary, we agreed that we will be back (and not just for Justin and Erin's wedding in three weeks)!

I was planning on ironing tonight. I hate ironing. Thankfully, God had a much better plan. Our good friends, Phil and Joy invited us out for a double date (double trouble, some may call it). Oh, what a sweet time it was! We drove to Székesfehérvár (try pronouncing that! - if you're not Hungarian), had dinner, and then went grocery shopping in a BIG store. (Grocery shopping can be a lot of fun when you live in Vajta, a village of 600 people and three tiny grocery stores, and a 40 minute drive from the closest bigger grocery store.) And it was fun! Great fellowship, sweet times of sharing, lots of laughter!

All I can say is: I love God, and I love His surprises! He does more than I could ever think up or plan, and in all the things He plans for me, His love is written all over. His personal touch of knowing just what it is that would encourage me that day is so unique. I always know it was Him who surprised me. Who ever said that being a Christian was boring?

.pictures.

2008-09-09T14:17:00.003+02:00

these two pictures were taken some time apart, what do you think?

.ministry.update.

2008-08-27T23:14:00.006+02:00

we must apologize for not having written a ministry update for a shamefully long time. we know that this update has been way overdue, and we are thankful for your patience, prayers and support.

a lot has happened with us since we last updated you, and we will try to summarize below, as well as share with you a little bit of what we believe lies ahead of us.

spring
during the spring semester, arpi continued heading up the administrative, legal, and accounting departments of the bible college and conference center. in a place this big, you can imagine that he always has his hands full, but he is loving every minute of it. there are always plenty of deadline challenges, as well as lessons in faith when it comes to dealing with government offices, finances, or people in any other way.
the lord opened a wonderful door this spring for us to get the bible college accredited in the european union, which is something we tried once before after the school moved to hungary in 2002. the accreditation process is a huge undertaking, lots of paperwork, red tape and such. arpi gets to be part of it, and watch god work. please be in prayer for the process as well as arpi and gabor, a lawyer from the budapest church who is doing an amazing job helping us navigate the maze of european bureaucracy.

this past semester arpi had over twenty hungarian students and he taught the book of daniel. it was an amazing time of seeing god work in the hearts of the students.

andi was happy to translate the women’s discipleship class, where we studied the book of james. she also lead a discussion / work-group which was a stretch time-wise, but a huge blessing all in all, as it gave her a wonderful opportunity to minister to some of the hungarian girls much more closely.

during the outreach season, in april, we traveled to sarajevo (bosnia and herzegovina) to seek the lord. while there, he confirmed to us that he has a place of ministry for us there some time in the future, which was a great encouragement for us. however, the time is not yet, and we continue to seek him and wait for him to open the effective door when he sees it fit. until then, we hope to take outreach teams there to work alongside and support some of the missionaries that are there now. bosnia and herzegovina’s spiritual climate is not a light one, and we desire to be an encouragement to those that are already there serving the lord now.

summer
you might remember that every summer the bible college hosts an intensive, six-week discipleship program called a vision for life. years ago, when serving here, andi helped set up the first such program, and this year, arpi got to teach the book of hebrews and daniel to the twenty students that came. it was encouraging to see young lives changed.

during the summer, andi busied herself with (other than nina) translation work, and interpreting occasionally. in the spring, our pastor, phil metzger asked andi if she would be willing to organize and head up a translation and publishing board for calvary chapel hungary. as the ministry in hungary has been growing, we have been trying to connect the churches in the different towns as much as possible so we can be even more fruitful and so we can reach even more areas of the country. translating and publishing good books, that are needed in this country, and doing the job well, is definitely a priority.

after picking the people for the board, andi’s job now mainly consists of coordination, but when time allows, she likes to do a bit of translation and proofreading as well.

hopefully, in our next newsletter, we will be able to announce the title of our first finished project to you.

prayer requests:

may we fall more in love with the lord.
protection for our marriage, and our time together as a family.
for arpi’s classes this semester. anointing, guidance and blessing from the lord.
may god lead arpi and gabor as they pursue the accreditation of the bible bollege in hungary. favor with the authorities regarding this.
wisdom for andi in coordinating and leading the translation board.
daily wisdom in raising our daughter, nina.
for god to continue to use us in ministering to the hungarian students and interns.
god’s timing and an effective door into bosnia in the future.

.transmogrifier.

2008-08-16T19:38:00.006+02:00

the transmogrifier is a fictional device invented by calvin (calvin and hobbes by bill watterson) capable of transmogrifying any object into any other object. the first transmogrifier calvin invensts consists of an upside-down cardboard box and using the transmogrifier he transformed himself into a tiger, a dinosaur, an elephant, and other animals.

nina got transmogrified today, but it did not happen thanks to a cardboard box. a friend gave nina a necklace made of plastic "pearls" and it instantly transformed daddy's innocent baby into a princess - a posing, self-aware woman. scary!

.loop.

2008-08-13T13:59:00.009+02:00

1,996 kilometers (or 1,240 miles) is the distance we covered while driving in four different countries lately, but we are finally (and happily) back home - sleeping in our own beds, using our own showers and bathrooms, ... sweet home :)

we went to split (croatia) first, where we visited our friends (tim and grace warholic). we went to church and we were also able to go to the beach a few times. fun! fun! fun!

on our way to sarajevo, we stopped in mostar (bosnia and herzegovina) for lunch. beautiful town, beautiful landscape, but bosnia definitely needs more highways.

in sarajevo (bosnia and herzegovina) we spent some time with our missionary friends, the mezgers. we love you mezgers, you are much fun and we treasure your friendship :) when in bosnia, you must have burek or čevapi - we, of course, had both :)

after sarajevo we stopped to see laci and keri in vukovar (croatia) and spent some time talking about everything and nothing. it was one of those sweet conversations that had no major topics, but it was very satisfying and encouraging. we hope laci and keri feel the same way - altough they did not even mention it on their blog that they had visitors :(

during our entire trip:

nina threw up twice,
we slept in five different beds,
we had one flat tire,
we spent $239 on fuel,
we went through 27 tunnels,
and we had to show our passports about ten times. border guard #7 informed me that my passport was so full with stamps that i had to get a new one before traveling again - thankfully, i was able to acquire one within 48 hours (for further details read this post).

the leprosy passport (as we call it),
since you get very special treatment
(read, you are treated as a leper)
every time you board a plane
or try to cross a border
bearing one of these passports

in serbia we visited our parents, spent time with family, consumed enormous amounts of junk-food and nina further developed her love for furry four-legged animals and dirt :)

.dorkhood.

2008-08-08T12:42:00.004+02:00

According to online resources a dork is a term used to:

describe someone who has unusual interests and is, at times, silly,
refer to someone who acts on his own motives without caring about his peers' opinions.

We know people who are milk dorks, coffee dorks, coke dorks, green dorks, wine dorks, beer dorks, gadget dorks, etc. We also had a suspicion (which has now been undoubtedly confirmed) that Nina is a dog dork (taking after her maternal grandfather, who is the king of all dog dorks), since she breaks out in loud shrieking and shakes when she gets near one of these furry animals.

Are you a dork? If so, let us know about your dorkhood.

her royal dorkness in action

.the.burek.connection.

2008-08-07T21:05:00.002+02:00

Bureaucracy.

It's a word that makes most people cringe and get a nut in their stomach. I personally start sweating, get a ball-size hardening in my stomach and lose my appetite upon finding out that I need to go to some government office and submit some papers in the hope of them giving me some other papers in return. There are, of course a few reasons for this. First of all, it is never easy. Even if it seems easy at first, things ALWAYS get more complicated than you thought was possible when you first set out. Even if you bring all the papers that they said on the phone you need to bring, once there, they will then inform you that there is indeed something else their uninformed colleague (Who told you such a thing?) forgot to mention to you. Secondly, the lines are always long. And in those lines, EVERYONE is frustrated, because nobody likes standing in lines. And thirdly, because most of the people working in these kinds of offices are bitter, unfriendly, rude and short with the customers. They treat you like you came there with the purpose of ruining their day.
So when, upon arriving to the last leg of our vacation (Subotica, our hometown) this morning, we found out that we need to go to such an office urgently, neither of us was particularly happy. Especially because we found out that the paper we needed takes a week to arrive, and we need it in 3 days, because we need to get back to Vajta.

So we had a quick family pow-wow. There is just no way to get this in 3 days. And then my mom remembered that she knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone ... you know. A few phone calls later, we had a clean passage to THE GUY. (I must mention here that this particular guy has been in his place for many years and is famously rude and mean to people and that he has been rude to me before, which made me dread going again even more.)
Did we have to bribe him? Oh, no! The friend who knows someone who knows someone did ... And this reminded me of the fact that this is how so many things in the Balkan countries are done. If you know the right people, you can get what you need. Sometimes the bribes are monetary, and I wondered what the scoop was with this one. Upon arriving home, I found out. The person my mom knows is a baker. My parents helped him with something YEARS AGO, and he still feels indebted to them. Since then, he has become successful and has built relationships with important people. One of the ways he does this, is providing free baked goods for breakfast to the employees in key offices. So what do these people do in return for free pastries and burek a few times a week? Speed up the bureaucratic process for OUR paperwork because our friend gave him a call! I find that amazing. Actually, it cracks me up. Only in the Balkans.
Yes, there are people who will only be bribed with money, but for some - a burek or two will do it.

p.s. In case you are new to this blog, and don't know what burek is, click here.

.old.glory.

2008-08-06T21:06:00.003+02:00

We went to Igman yesterday, one of the locations of the XIV Olympic Winter Games held in Sarajevo in 1984. Only few of the sites are used today, some of the sites were destroyed during the war - maybe beyond repair.

.en.route.

2008-08-06T20:02:00.003+02:00

we had to stop in mostar to see the old bridge

.ćao.more.

2008-08-03T22:19:00.004+02:00

We said good-bye to the sea today - something we always do when leaving the coast. We are leaving to go to Sarajevo (Bosnia) early tomorrow morning via Mostar on very curvy Balkan roads - God help us!

one last look at the waves

when on the beach

the love of the game

.in.her.shoes.

2008-08-01T20:47:00.005+02:00

We are visiting our friends (Tim, Grace, Thomas and Mila Warholic) in Split, Croatia. Today we went for a walk in Sustipanski Park, all of us walked.

Nina took her first steps barely a week ago, but by now she rarely lets us carry her, or put her in her stroller. She wants to walk, so be it.

.when.on.the.beach.

2008-07-31T22:32:00.004+02:00

oshkosh swimsuit model :)

žnjan (split) croatia, summer 2008

.she.is.cute.and.she.knows.it.

2008-07-29T07:27:00.003+02:00

I think Nina started a purposeful use of her feminine charms. I took this picture yesterday (Kenz touched it up) and I am more in love with Nina than ever, so her feminine charms work on me :)

.on.sleeping.

2008-07-28T06:56:00.005+02:00

Many things change when you become a parent. We were aware of that while expecting Nina. There is one thing however, that nobody warned us about, and that is that sleep becomes a luxury when you have a baby in the house. We actually have no reason to complain - really - as Nina started sleeping through the night when she was 9 weeks old, so I have been getting at least 6 hours of sleep every night since then, sometimes more. Mostly uninterrupted, actually. Of course, only that little because once she goes down for the night, around 7.30PM, that's when I start doing stuff (cleaning, ironing, reading, getting STUFF done).

The problem is, little missy wakes up at 6AM every day. Like clockwork. We've recently been trying to move that to 7AM, but with little luck. Amazingly enough, there were two mornings last week when she DID sleep until 7AM. Oh, how happy we were! But it didn't last long, she quickly remedied the situation and now we are back to 6AM.

I am not complaining. Really. The one problem we have is that both Arpi and I LOVE sleeping. And we both need our sleep. So we are trying to work out a solution to this, mostly by taking turns getting up with her.

On the other hand, I am discovering more and more that there is only one option. Give up the luxury of 7-8 hours of sleep and get used to, accept and EMBRACE that if you want to get as much stuff done as you do, you will just have to do it on less sleep. Get over it, Andi! Really.
It is doable, I know it, because I have done it before, but oh, my flesh fights it like crazy. I want to win this fight, I really do, so here is what I am going to keep reminding myself of in the future, when I KNOW I need to get up, and just feel like I can't:

"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed [is] willing, but the flesh [is] weak." Matthew 26:41

Oh, so true! Once again, Jesus knew what He was talking about. No surprise there.

.balancing.act.

2008-07-23T20:12:00.002+02:00

All of a sudden Nina let go of the couch and, to much of our surprise, started walking towards the table. She is full of surprises :)

Although she walks now, it is still a rare occasion that she does it, so we did not manage to make a video of her walking yet. Until then, here is a short video of the balancing act she performs while standing in her chair.

.one.fine.day.

2008-07-22T07:28:00.007+02:00

Although this is not a blog about politics, I must share that we woke up to great news this morning. Something we've been waiting for for 12 years, has finally happened:

After being in hiding for 12 years, the former leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadžić was arrested in Belgrade and will be extradited to the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague! Praise God!

This man has caused countless people's suffering for many years, here's what the official charges against him are:

Fifteen counts of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other atrocities
Charged for the killing of some 12,000 civilians during the siege of Sarajevo
Allegedly organised the massacre of at least 7,500 Muslim men and youths in Srebrenica
Targeted Bosnian Muslim and Croat political leaders, intellectuals and professionals
Unlawfully deported and transferred civilians because of national or religious identity
Destroyed homes, businesses and sacred sites

Read more about it here.

Update: Radovan Karadžić lived under the pseudonym Dragan Dabić and worked in the field of alternative medicine in Belgrade. Nobody (not even his employer or his landlord) knew who he really was, since he looks so much different. Here is a picture, the transformation is quite amazing.

Radovan Karadžić (1996) "and" Dragan Dabić (2008)

.let.the.game.begin.

2008-07-21T10:07:00.003+02:00

We are going to travel to Croatia in a week to visit with our friends in Split. We will mostly hang out with them, talk about the Lord, parenthood, and ministry, but I am sure we will make it to the beach as well.

While in foreign countries, but especially while on the beach, Andi and I always play an exciting game (exciting for us, at least). To both of our astonishment we discovered on our honeymoon in Tunisia that we are both playing the same exact game of guessing. This exciting game of guessing consists of spotting a tourist and then guessing which country they are from, and then, somehow, finding out whether we were right or wrong.

There are a few signs that give away the identity of any tourist, such as:

socks and birkenstocks - definitely German
loud with a fanny pack - definitely American
bright and unnatural hair color and slutty clothing - definitely Eastern European
sitting in the most expensive restaurant and talking quite loudly - definitely Serbian

We will keep you updated concerning our success rate this summer.

Until then, here is a photograph of a babe in a bathing suit.

Biker angel of a different kind :)

.gourmand.

2008-07-19T19:47:00.003+02:00

According to the linguists at Princeton, a gourmand is a connoisseur of fine food and drink, often to excess. Do you think she may be one?

.expats.

2008-07-04T22:29:00.004+02:00

It is very interesting that some expatriates are more patriotic abroad than they would be if they lived in their own countries.

Below are a few pictures of the 4th of July bonfire at the college.

.pool.

2008-07-04T15:23:00.003+02:00

Little missy has been enjoying herself at the pool lately. She loves the water, so much so that occasionally she has to be forcefully removed. The kiddy pool is perfect for her, the water is chest deep, so this has helped her with her with the balancing act called walking.

However, she may have swallowed some unvanted organisms at the pool, since she got quite fussy yesterday and she had a high fever as well. She is much better today, her true self again - faithfully laughing at our repeated attemps of disciplining and entertaining her.

Having fun at the pool :)

Vegging out and watching Praise Baby :)

.schleudern.or.woes.of.a.housewife.

2008-07-02T11:02:00.005+02:00

In other words: spin cycle. As I have learnt, "schleudern" is the German word for the spin cycle on your washing machine. I learnt this because for the past ten days or so, we have been having some serious washer trouble. First, our washing machine pretended to be done with the washing cycle, but without having done the rinsing or spinning cycle. So we asked the mechanics to come look at it. They "fixed it" the next day. I thought "hooray!" and happily proceeded with my housewifely (is there such a word?) tasks.
Alas, two days later, the same problem occurred. Called the mechanics, who promptly came and removed said machine, and left a replacement. A German one, with EVERYTHING on it written in German. Thus my renewed interest in learning German vocabulary. This machine is older, uglier, harder to use (way more buttons to press), but nonetheless a washer. This was last Thursday morning. So I put in a load on Friday afternoon. It worked. It came out clean. Oh, how happy I was!
And then, yesterday (Tuesday) morning, I started yet another load, my heart filled with the expectation of clean laundry. But it wasn't meant to be. Around two hours later the machine seemed to be done with the load. I even heard it rinse and spin before it stopped. Open the door, and out came the soggy, wet, soapy laundry. That was FAKE rinsing and FAKE spinning!!!!!!

I set the machine to just rinsing and spinning three more times that day, and rinse it did, but spin it didn't. I finally had to squeeze the water out of each piece of clothing by hand, like our grandmothers did. My appreciation for the women who have gone before me has grown immensely, needless to say.
So until something is worked out with our washing machine situation, I will be going in their footsteps, ever more appreciative of the luxury of modern conveniences.

.sola.pictura.

2008-06-24T13:39:00.004+02:00

Nina is one today. Here is her last year in pictures.

.362.days.

2008-06-20T22:29:00.005+02:00

although nina is not going to turn one until tuesday, we had a kiddy party for her today, so that the kids of some of those who came to foundations 2008 conference can be at the party as well.

andi baked gazillion muffins

nina was terrified by how fast time flies

she was quickly comforted by a coconut muffin

the kids played some

and then ate some

some posed for the photograph

others were not too happy

.a.globule.of.gas.in.a.thin.liquid.envelope.

2008-06-19T20:44:00.003+02:00

confused by the above definition? me too! regardless, bubbles are fun

bye-bye bubble

.lost.and.found.

2008-06-14T21:05:00.007+02:00

No, I am not going to write about the television show Lost, but about something quite different. This will be long, and maybe not completely clear, as I am trying to fit a lot in here. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

When I moved to Budapest, Hungary from Subotica, Serbia (then still Yugoslavia) at the age of 18, to go to college, I thought I had a clear picture of who I was, and where I belonged. Having been raised in (the now former) Yugoslavia, which had six republics, and a bunch of different national groups living in them, the question of nationality was never one I considered when I met someone. When it came to identifying myself, I thought of myself as Yugoslavian. Many people did. Three of my grandparents were Hungarian, and one was Croat by nationality. I knew people who had two Hungarian, one Slovenian, and one Croatian grandparent. So what were they? My dad, being a journalist, traveled all over our former country, and had journalist friends everywhere: Serbs, Croats, Bosnian Muslims, Slovenes, etc. All this to say, to me, people were just people, and I was Yugoslavian and VERY PROUD (on a healthy level) to be one.

Two weeks after moving to Budapest, civil war erupted in my homeland, and I watched in horror day by day, for the next many years, as it all finally disintegrated, and as people started evaluating each other based on their national belonging. All this time, living in Hungary, speaking fluent Hungarian, (as it is my mother-tongue), people in government offices were always surprised to find out that I wasn't really Hungarian. By that they meant "not a Hungarian from Hungary". But I have also been told that I am a Serb (because that's the passport I carry).
So, without describing all the influences (bad and good, but mostly bad - in both countries) that have shaped me over the past 18 years, I must admit that about a week ago, I made a discovery. It was in the making for a long time, but I think it finally crystallized. The funniest of all, is that I made this discovery while in yet another country - Germany, visiting my aunt and cousins.

So, as you probably know - if you follow the news even a bit - the European Soccer Championship is going on. It started a few days before we left Germany, and during our time there, we started noticing people posting flags on their cars, windows, balconies. As there are many immigrants in Germany, you could see cars sporting the Greek, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Turkish, Croatian, Russian, Dutch, French and German flags. Some people put two flags of their country in their window, one on each side. Others were more diplomatic: one Greek - one German, or one Turkish, one German - thus declaring their love for their adoptive country as well. I was really touched by all this, it had been a while since I saw people proud of their countries in (to me) a cute way like that. And then I started thinking: which flag would I put on my car? Although neither Hungary nor Serbia made it to the Championship, what if they had? I soon realized that I could never put any of those flags up.
And then I remembered how I often get teary-eyed when we visit my brother, who is a missionary in Croatia, and how I cry when the Croats win in some kind of sport, and how I cry when I hear traditional Croatian folk music (Tamburice! Yeyy!), how two years ago, while vacationing on the coast of - yes, you guessed - Croatia, I made Arpi take a picture of me and the flag while we were traveling on a ferry, and how excited I was every time we saw a car with the Croatian flag in Germany. Hmmm. See a pattern? I did! Finally!
So off we went, and at the first stand that had one, we bought a Croatian flag. I do realize that I am only 25% Croat, but that is where I feel my heart belongs in the homeland way now. I rejoice the most with them, and as weird as it may sound, my husband supports, and even kind of shares my sentiment. Although a full-blooded Hungarian, he LOVES Croatia with a passion.

We are weird, I know. But I wanted to share this with you all, our readers, as it is an important discovery for me. And when is the next time we will actually GO to that beautiful country? Hopefully in August, for a short visit. I'll keep you posted.

Bence and Nina "watching" the Spain - Sweden game

.horticulture.

2008-06-08T08:44:00.005+02:00

When I first heard the word horticulture as a kid, I thought that it had to do something with studying the day and age of the infamous Hungarian leader Miklós Horthy. Today, I know that horticulture is about the science (and art) of raising plants.

Andi and I both kill plants, we kill all plants. We have killed all the plants our mothers planted for us to make our dorm rooms homey, we killed all the plants we have received as gifts. We even managed to kill cacti, which are able to survive the most arid climate or soil conditions. That is why we appreciate those who can take care of plants and build a park like Herrenhäuser Gärten in Hannover, Germany. This baroque park was built about 350 years ago and the plants are still alive! We were able to visit it with Andi's cousin yesterday.

The Großer Garten with one of the fountains

The park has many statues

Some of those statues do not want to be monitored, so they have decided to hide

My very own tree-hugger :)

The park even has an outside theater

What can I say?

You can explore the park in detail if you click on this picture, or if you go to the Google Maps site of Herrenhäuser Gärten

.on.german.fish.and.other.things.

2008-06-05T20:41:00.004+02:00

A few things. Just wanted to thank everyone who prayed for Nina and us during last week when she was sick. She came out of the fever after almost five days and went back to her normal self shortly afterwards. Turns out that it was part teething and part a virus that she picked up in childcare at Calvary Chapel Budapest. The only symptom of the virus being a fever. Never heard of such a thing before. But it was strange, I tellya. I am more convinced every day that some of these new weird viruses that float around are cooked up in some lab somewhere. They are just too weird, and they were not around when I was a kid. You might think I am a conspiracy theorist, and that's okay. I'll still stick with my secret lab theory.

On a completely different note. Nina started feeling a bit better the afternoon before we were scheduled to travel to Germany to visit part of my (Andi) family. My aunt and two cousins have been living in Hannover for a long time, and Arpi and I decided that it would be a good idea to come here for a visit. So we have been in Hannover, Saxony for a few days now and it has been great! Hanging out with family, and eating lots. My aunt has this thing with continually buying more and more food, and continually offering it. And since it's good stuff, it's hard to resist, so we are fearing the worst: returning to Vajta as little |(or big) piggies.

Today we went to a lake called Steinhude See which is nearby and had a blast! We walked around the cute town which is around part of the lake, and even went for a little boatride with an electric boat. I didn't even know such things (not boats per se, but the electric kind) existed! I even got to navigate (drive?) our boat for about a half an hour. It was fun!

The other fun thing we did was eat fish! It was fun, because we both thought that we didn' like fish, but realizing that eating schnitzel in a little town where they sell fish on every corner, would be - well, pathetic, made us order something from the water. And it was good! And then, my aunt wanted to buy some smoked fish at a place where she usually goes when in town, we went with her, and Arpi got some cool photos out of it!

Below are a few pics of the day, hope you like them as much as we do. I LOVE the fish pictures, I think they are very professional, my husband is soooo smart and talented! :)

We like water. Here's Arpi's take on a wave.

Fish drying.

More fish being dried. Poor things. Looks cool though, huh?

Andi, the skipper :)

Nina, after a meal of fruits, biscuits, and some fish.

.events.of.a.day.

2008-05-26T21:53:00.004+02:00

Two things made today memorable.

Around 11AM, Nina started getting really fussy. I mean, REEEAAAALLY. She is not a fussy child. But now she is drooling, she has a runny nose, she is crying for EVERYTHING, the whole deal. Pretty soon I knew that we are about to welcome a new tooth. Or two. (She has all eight of her incisors since last month, so the next step in teething are either the molars or the canines, all of which are much more painful than the incisors). After that, the poor little one's whole day was just miserable, she even has a little fever. We hope the tooth comes out fast, and we get our sweet, even-tempered daughter back.

The other thing is, that this afternoon, I killed 18 (yes, eighteen) wasps by one of our living-room windows. They were all the same exact size, and the funny thing is that no window had been open the whole time. So we finally figured out that their "mom" must have flown in in the fall and layed the eggs somewhere in the wood (part of the wall is covered with wood) under the window, and now they are all coming out. Really weird thing, but there is simply no other explanation to this phenomenon. So while Nina is sleeping now, I sprayed every crack I could find. I honestly hope and pray that this will not be a lasting problem, as I really don't want Nina to be stung by a wasp on top of everything else. Or ever at all.

And that's all I wanted to share about today with you, dear readers. Have a good night, y'all. Special love to all our Texan friends (wherever y'all live at the moment).