settled (take up residence and become established)

There is one recurring question people ask us nowadays: "Have you guys settled in?" We unpacked everything and put everything away three days after the move and about seven days later we inadvertently referred to the Gate House as HOME. I guess we have settled in.

We even have a daily routine by now. I get up at 06:00, make my way to the coffee maker and while the coffee is brewing I prepare my breakfast cereal. Then I read and pray for some time while sipping coffee. Then Andi wakes up, we pray (but only after she raids the toilet - she is pregnant, you know) and then we watch a morning talk show for a bit. Then I go to work, around 12:30 we eat lunch, and I go back to work until 16:00 or so. After that it is always different, but it usually involves sports or hanging out with people and watching an episode of [spooks] later in the evening. We intend to enjoy this while we can, because we know that Nina is definitely going to have a say in our scheduling methods when she comes, don't you think?

A mighty rushing wind... of a different kind

A few days ago, on the day of Pentecost, there were huge windstorms in many parts of Hungary, some of which even tore off roofs of buildings. We had ours on Monday. It came quite unexpectedly. One minute it was sunny and warm, the next the sun was nowhere to be seen, and then in a split second the wind became very strong. Then we heard a VERY LOUD cracking noise. I looked out the window, and the bigger branch of the tree right in front of our house had been broken off, and was now sitting on the ground.

Here are the pictures I took from the window:

The move

A week ago today, we moved from Pecs to Vajta, and this is to say a big THANK YOU to all who came and helped: András, Zsolti, Tamás (Schauermann), Tamás (Németh), Géza, Balázs, Edit, Jon and the interns at Vajta, and our moms (the amazing cleaning crew).

Here are some pictures of the ingenious ways the boys devised for moving our stuff into the apartment in Vajta:

A box goes up ...

I would have never thought that the wardrobe can fit through that window!

Reactions

If I had the time, I could have done a very interesting study over the last few weeks. Unfortunately, I can’t afford to do a detailed study of my topic of choice, so I will just share some interesting stories here.

Being pregnant, my stomach has been growing at an insane speed. Being of a small build, this is even more noticeable than with the average person. The last few weeks, every time I was “out” in town, taking care of errands, at least one complete stranger had some kind of a reaction at the sight of my belly.

Here’s a short compilation:

1. Optometrist, before even responding to my “hello” said “Wow, when is the baby coming?”
2. The waitress at our favourite restaurant in Pecs (Lemon Café) said “When are you due?” then upon hearing my answer to her question said “Wow, you have a BIG belly!”
3. A number of people I barely know (a relative’s relative, a relative’s neighbour I have only seen once before in my life, etc) said running up to me with huge excitement, putting their hand on my belly (without asking) “Look at your belly, how cute! And how are you both doing?”
4. On our trail with Arpi (he was running ahead of me, and I was walking) a man I had never seen before was running from the opposite direction. When he saw me (a big sweatshirt WAS covering my belly, gotta give him that), he said “Just walking, sweetheart, just walking, why not run?” My answer: “Can’t quite do that, being seven months pregnant.” The poor guy was so shocked: “Oh, I am sorry, so sorry, I didn’t see!”
5. And then there is what I call “The Look”. This happens as I am walking somewhere and a person glances in my direction, looks away, then looks back AGAIN, for a second look. This time their eyes are open much wider, and the expression on their face is as if they had just seen something terrible. They are probably thinking: “Is this woman crazy? She looks like she’s ready to pop, she shouldn’t be going anywhere? Stay at home, sit on the couch and don’t go ANYWHERE, just await your fate, you crazy woman!” (Okay, I don’t KNOW that this is what they are thinking, but the expression on their face definitely describes something similar.)
6. This is by far my favourite, it was very sweet. I was standing in line at the dressing rooms (found a very cheap, on-sale maternity shirt, yippee!) in a shop. I was second in line, but the girl in front of me (upon realizing I was behind her) insisted that I go in before her. I tried to object, but she wouldn’t hear of it. That was so nice!

All this to say, I have been discovering that being pregnant changes so many things, among others, the way people look at you, and it’s been fun. I have been learning to take it all in stride, especially the comments that emphasize how BIG (i.e. fat) I have become. Children are a blessing from the Lord, we know that from the Bible, and I am glad and blessed to carry our child for this time.

Any of you who have been there, I would be curious to hear your comments!

Hormones and Insomnia

It is now 3:45AM, and I am still up. Again. I have been trying to get back to sleep since I woke up at 1:30AM, but to no avail. Have read, checked the news on the internet, tried all the sides of the bed, and still nothing. The most frustrating part of it is that next to me, Arpi has been sleeping like a baby, and that makes me so jealous. Not much I can do about it though.

So, I decided to post a quick update of what is going on with us. We are now officially less than two weeks away from moving and the “living amongst boxes” experience started for real last night. The interesting thing was that we got home (from visiting our folks in Subotica) in the afternoon, and I went to take a nap. When i woke up, I was shocked to find out that someone had disassembled our living room! In the midst of the half-filled boxes and moved around furniture stood my wonderful husband, with a smile on his face. It was that smile he gets when he is in the middle of a project, it’s all going well, and he has a sense of accomplishment.
Until a day later (Sunday afternoon) I wasn’t sure exactly why, but I wasn’t sharing in his smile. Just couldn’t. And then it hit me. A flood of tears came over me as I was packing up the bathroom and waddled (32 weeks pregnant, don’t forget that aspect!) around with a sponge and a dust-cloth: this feels like there was no warning whatsoever! Ohmygosh! We really are moving! Ohmygosh, a month after the move I will be a mom! How exactly do I do that? I don’t know! Needless to say, as the tears started flowing, I ran to Arpi who had no idea what could have possibly transpired in the bathroom (it seemed like a pretty safe place until now) that made me cry so hysterically. I filled him in, and as usual, he comforted me, and was able to bring back some reason to my hormonal mind. Until those same hormones woke me up a while ago.

Speaking of which, I will go back again, and try to sleep once more.
Good night y’all!

ABBA

Since the girls were so round, we thought it would be fun to take a picture in ABBA fashion. A day after the picture was taken Lili gave birth to Sári on Monday.

End of an Era

Balázs has officially taken the church over. We laid hands on him and he is the new pastor of Calvary Chapel in Pécs. Here are a few pictures.

Tortilla Factory

Tomorrow Balázs is going to officially take the church over from me. After church we are going to have a Mexican fiesta, kind of an early Cinqo de Mayo celebration. It would not be the church in Pécs if we did not celebrate with eating.

The fun part happened today though, when we made the food. Home made tortillas, salsa, and lots of other delicacies. Pastors (old and new), elders, adults and children, men and women of the church were involved in preparing the food. It was truly fun.

Appearance

Though she is smiling, don't be fooled! She is dangerous to approach. Twelve weeks to go until delivery, but she is very ready to give birth to our Nina.

Nina