Carmen

Last night, Johann and I went to the opera and saw Carmen. This was a dream come true for me and I loved it!

When I was little my Aunt Iris came to live with us for the summer as she was a school teacher and had the summer off. She was single and loved kids so she played with Travis and I all day (and did a lot of teaching too). She loved classical music and opera and played them for us daily. I guess that is why Travis and I love that music to this day. Anyway, Carmen is one that she played quite a bit. I remember her telling me what was happening in the story and how the people were dancing and what was going on. I have some pretty vivid memories of dancing to Carmen with Aunt Iris in the living room.

So, you can see why it was so special to see Carmen last night. We saw it at the Prague National Theater which was gorgeous! I wanted to get there early so we could walk around and look at the theater and take some pictures which you can see below. We were also able to sit on the front row! Opera tickets here are a normal part of life and (unlike other things here) very affordable. But, now I am spoiled and always want to sit on the front row. Johann even had a pretty good time. It was a great show!

I think Aunt Iris was quite happy for me as she looked down from heaven last night:)

The Retreat

I am finally going to write about the retreat! A wonderful, wonderful church from Georgia came over to Prague for the explicit purpose of giving us a fabulous week and encouraging us spiritually. They knew, what we as missionaries sometimes forget -- that weariness is something that plagues far too many people in full time ministry. We didn't know how much we needed them until we were on that retreat.

Since coming to Prague Johann and I have struggled to be happy here and have struggled to not give in to depression. We had so many reasons. But, those reasons are behind us now. Sure, we will always miss home and family and friends -- but we have real joy at being here now. On one of the session nights the most fabulous Pastor Keith talked to us about weariness and Johann looked at me and said -- "that's us, we are weary." We went to that retreat full of burdens and weariness BUT we left them there.

Pastor Keith led us in the best Lord's Supper I have ever experienced, we played games and relaxed, we sang and worshiped and prayed together. It was everything a retreat should be and more. We can't thank the sweet people from Georgia enough.

Below is a picture slideshow of our retreat. You will see pics of Jack (of course), the mountains where we stayed (and where the Chronicles of Narnia was filmed), the precious two ladies who took care of Jack during the sessions and some others of what we all did there. The last pic is of Pastor Keith who did an outstanding job!

Grocery Store Horse

Today we went to the big grocery store to stock up. They had one of those horses that you put a quarter in and it gallops to music. Well, I put Jack on and the music he galloped to was the theme from "Little House on the Prairie".

I promise to write more about our fabulous retreat. I've been busy taking care of sick Johann for a few days and now I am not feeling so well either. The doctor said the pollution level here is so bad that sinus infections are rampant. Johann is totally worn out after our trip to the store. Hopefully, he will be better soon.

Oh, Jack can stand all by himself now without holding on to anything!

Christmas In March

Last week the whole regional office staff went on a retreat that was paid for by a fabulous church from Georgia. I cannot even begin to describe how fabulous it was. It wasn't just fun, but it was VERY needed for us. I will write more about that in the coming days -- probably several posts because there is so much from it to talk about! But, first I will share with you what the Georgia team called "Christmas in March" for us. The team brought over a trunk of goodies for all of the missionary families in Prague. There are several families here since the regional office is here. The Strickland family from Georgia filled a trunk full of goodies for us and sent it over with the team. My favorite item was brown sugar. There is no brown sugar here and I was sooooooo excited to see a 7 pound bag of brown sugar! Johann has already requested chocolate chip cookies. Other great things we got were: Crest toothpaste (Johann's fav), no stick cooking spray, reynolds wrap foil (the foil here is so bad that it is pretty much pointless to have it), ranch seasoning, infant tylenol, disposable bibs, clothes and toys for Jack and more! Here are some pics of the really great day! Everyone in the office was thrilled with their goodies and the favorites all seemed to be food related items like brown sugar and peanut butter.