.communicare.necesse.est.

three days of texting while andi was gone to sarajevo

.litera.

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.

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.

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....

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.

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.

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:

1. set up your tripod
2. mount your camera on it
3. set your camera to remote control
4. have your daughter sit in front of the camera
5. give her the camera remote control

the result? her very first self portrait :)

.srebrenica.

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.

enjoy :)

.glory.to.god.

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!