Pomlazka

On Easter Monday here the women of the Czech Republic are beaten with the Pomlazka. Now, you think I am kidding -- oh but I am not. Easter Monday is a bigger holiday than Easter is. Banks are closed, schools are closed, the whole place shuts down. Except for young boys and grown men who are out with their Pomlazka's searching for young women to beat. A young man will beat a young woman with the Pomlazka stick and she will in turn say a poem to him and give him painted eggs. Beat might be too strong of a word -- hit might be better. But, all Czechs will say beat. To you and me this sounds quite strange. However, they think it is strange that Americans believe a giant bunny hops around giving people candy. The idea of the Pomlazka goes back to a long time ago when it was believed these special sticks would beat the evil spirits away from a person which is why today young women are happy to be hit and say their poem and give away their decorated egg. There is also something with fertility in that story as well. Last week, Lucy came over and gave Jack a pomlazka. I help Lucy with her English and after visiting her grandfather in his little village she came back with a handmade pomlazka. As you can see, Jack loved it! And yes, he hit me several times with it -- in the face I might add:) Below is a picture of Lucy and Jack with his new pomlazka.

The Frame Shop

Yesterday, Johann and I went to a little picture frame shop to have some pictures framed. We had seen it awhile ago while visiting some people who live more outside the city center than we do and so we were hoping it would be less expensive and it turns out it was. We walked a little over half a hour to get there and took our pictures in. We found some frames we liked and will pick them up next week. The best part is that we did the whole thing in Czech! The lady helping us was so kind and pleased that we spoke Czech. It really gave us a boost of confidence to be able to do something like that and understand most of what she said!

On another note, we pray that wherever you are in the world you are having a blessed Easter weekend!

Johann's Birthday

We celebrated Johann's birthday Friday night with the other young missionaries here. We played a new game Johann got for Christmas and had a great time! Below are some pics of the night.

And as a complete aside, the other day I was walking to the store and passed a hotel with a sign out front in English that said "All you can eat breakfast buffet -- beer included".

I guess that's what you get in a country where beer is cheaper than water.

Jack Pics

If anyone doesn't want to see Jack pics -- I am sorry but you will just have to! Since most of you won't see my baby grow up in person you will have to put up with my pics:)





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Lambs and Jan Hus

The past few days haven't been too happy for me. My brother was married on Saturday and I missed it. I also missed his college graduation because I was in Hungary. Poor Johann had to watch me cry and mope around on Saturday. And Sunday. And Monday. On Saturday I was upset I was missing the wedding. Then on Sunday I realized it was the first of many, many things like that I was going to miss. So, for three days I was in a depressed funk.

Then today I came out of it largely due to Lucy and Petra. Lucy and Petra are economic students who come over on Tuesdays to practice their English. They are 21 and both so very sweet. Today we were talking about Easter and I asked them how they celebrated Easter with their families. They told me that they had the traditional Easter lamb. Well, I jumped all over that. These girls heard about why the Lamb and Easter are related and about Jesus resurrection. We continued to discuss holidays and they told me about the national holiday to celebrate the famous Czech, Jan Hus. (For those of you who don't know who Jan Hus is -- he is a Christian martyr who tried to do what Martin Luther did -- he just did it 100 years earlier and was burned at the stake for "heresy".) Well, I jumped all over that too.

So, now God has once again convinced me that it is actually worth missing so much from home. Two girls heard about Jesus today and had their eyes opened a bit. That is worth it.