Three years come and gone..... So fast

New Year's Eve will mark our three year anniversary serving here in Belgrade.  It is hard to imagine we have been here that long.  It is even crazier to look and see how much our family has changed.  The Girls have grown a ton and we added a little man to the mix.  We have found things here that we love, and still miss some things from the states. (Starbucks Coffee, Peanut Butter, and Oreo's oh how we miss the).  Luckily family and friends have made sure we have some of the comforts of home.   Three years ago we arrived thinking we would be in the big city for a year then move South and I would coach football, but the Lord had vastly different plans.  We settled and planted deep roots here in Belgrade and I started a company to teach business and English to students here in the city.  The girls have established themselves in local schools, made friends, and really opened a ton of doors for us in the community.  We miss our friends and church but we have made amazing friends here and God has blessed us with a wonderful community of folks meeting in our home weekly.  We desperately miss family but have been blessed to have several family members make the trip to visit us here.  It's been an amazing journey.  We have cried a little, laughed often (mostly at ourselves when we make language/cultural blunders).  Most importantly, we have seen the mercy and grace of God on display daily in our lives. 

Here is a walk through the last three years in pictures.

shortly after our arrival, walking home from the store 

At the 1 year mark, waiting for Wilson

Speacial Delivery, just after Christmas

2 years into our crazy journey

Year 3... 1 more year and we will be home

We got Rythem

Last year Michaela started taking Rhythmic gymnastics at her school.  For those of you who are wondering what that is, its the Olympic sport no one in America watches.  Its the one where all the girls spin and throw ribbons, balls, hula hoops or other apparatus, then catch the apparatus and keep spinning.  Although in the states Rhythmic is not very popular, it is huge in Europe, I mean very very HUGE.  So we have become quite the fans, and Kyleigh has even started taking classes. 
This past week they had their first show and we got to see all of their hard work.  The girls were great and did a terrific job.  Kyleigh is amazingly graceful, and Miki is a work of precision.  Each of their classes performed and also the "top" girls put on quite a show. 

Miki's Class

Miki on the far left

After her stunning performance

Working the ball

Christmas Tree

Living in Eastern Europe and trying to replicate American Holidays is always an adventure. For Thanksgiving I was sent on two manly adventures.   I went foraging for sweet potatoes (this means I went to all the grocery stores/markets we could think of) and was unsuccessful, we settled for pumpkin as a substitute and in true Jen fashion it was outstanding (a ton of butter, brown sugar and pecans - can't go wrong).  I also went on a turkey hunt - I went to two grocery stores and bought nearly 16 lbs of turkey breast. no luck finding a whole turkey.  In the spirit of my new found manlyness (must be from the hike you can read about here) I decided to take the family to cut down a new Christmas tree.

We had been using this hand me down tree we were given at our arrival here. Not very impressive.

So we loaded into the car to head to the store (you really did not think I was gonna spend money on and cut down a real tree did you), but little did we know the adventure that would wait.
We took Super Santa and his elves!

Out and about around town Super Santa keeps a low profile, acting like a seemingly ordinary BOY!

The forest provided many choices of trees, tall ones, skinny ones, white ones, black ones, short ones and fat ones.  We decided on the Arctic fur - green of course.

Little did we know that our tree search would turn into such an adventure, on our way from the tree farm (store) we ran into wild animals.... Bears helping Santa get ready for Christmas.

Momma was happy with her new tree, one taller then us.  And Super Santa was worn out after all the adventure in the day

To Be Thankful

Psalm 106:1 Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
I love that verse, I think it gives specific instructions to all of us - Praise the LORD and Give thanks.  But it also tells us why, because God is good and he has given us enduring love (through his Son Jesus).  With that in mind and as we wrap up November here are just some of the things I give thanks and praise for.

The Cross - That Jesus would come and die for me (for all of us) to redeem us of our sin.  It is the most spectacular sign of a love that endures forever.

This Lady - any one who would put up with me daily, much less follow me around the world is a gift from God.  She is an amazing mother, she schools all our kids, and generally takes amazing care of all of us.  We (and me especially) are extremely blessed to have her in our lives.

 These Guys - These three are the funnest people I know.  Some days they do drive me crazy but they are pure joy.  K is a blessing, a helper. Watching her figure out who she is and seeing God use her is a daily joy.  Miki is funny and loves school.  She loves being a kid.  Wilson is... well he is just a boy he likes to run and jump and climb.  But he is sweet, he loves to give hugs and kisses.  All three of them keep us busy but they bring a fullness and richness to our lives that is hard to put into words.

This Guy- I am extremely thankful for this guy - Sam.  He is an encouragement daily and a constant reminder how much God loves us.  He is a tireless evangelist, and amazing teacher of the word and passionate about bringing truth to this part of the world.  Jen and I get the pleasure of hearing him teach and lead every Saturday night in our home.  He is not only our ministry partner but also a great friend.





There is not enough space to list all I am thankful for.  Family back home in the states, friends all around the world, and all of you who follow our adventures and pray for us daily.  Take a minute to day to thank God for all he has blessed you with but also to praise him for who he is. 

A hiking Kyle will go...

Jen and I overlooking the Gorge

Jen and I had the great pleasure this past week of attending a leadership meeting in Greece.  We stayed in the mountains of northern Greece in a quaint little village.  Most of our time was spent training, meeting and learning but I did get one serious adventure in on this trip.  Sunday all the guys went on a "hike".  If you know me hiking (or anything outdoors) is not on my radar but I thought this would be a great opportunity to spend time with some friends and maybe relax, so a "hiking" I went (there was some serious peer pressure applied as my other choice was to shop with the women).  When I hear the word hike, I think of a long walk in the woods, maybe a river to cross.  Apparently when my colleagues say hike they are really saying "we are going to climb down a mountain walk four hours in difficult terrain at the bottom of a gorge and then climb back up about 3000 feet." - unfortunately I figured this out after we had hiked for 45 minutes and we came to a sign that said START.  When half the guys came out with hiking sticks, boots, camel packs etc, I should have clued in that this may be a little difficult.  By the end of our 12 mile hike I was exhausted, especially after climbing out of the gorge but it had been a fantastic experience and a great time with a great group of guys.  
When I came out of the gorge Jen was waiting for me and told me there is a sign at the top of the gorge stating that the "Vikos Gorge" is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the worlds deepest gorge (after some research I found out this is true and a gorge is different from a canyon.  A canyon is wider and a gorge is more narrow.  So as an example the Grand Canyon is deeper the Vikos but they are different).  So not only did I survive the hike, I got to hike the deepest gorge in the world.  That is an adventure worth noting (also worth noting, hiking the worlds deepest gorge only needs to be done once). 

Papigo, the village we stayed in

The Proof

Nearly Dead at the end of the Hike

Clouds settling on the mountains

Europe's cleanest River according to a waiter in a restaurant we ate at.

Kyle and Jen on a getaway

Because of the generosity of some great friends back home, Jen and I were able to take a weekend getaway to Romania a few weeks ago.  Jen found a great deal on a hotel in what we thought was going to be quaint little village just across the border in Romania in a town called Timisoara.  We had a grand plan to sit in the center and sip coffee and see some sights.  The night before we left our language tutor mentioned what a great mall this city had. That lead to a Google search of the mall and surrounding restaurants by Jennifer.  While she was looking for places to shop and eat (she found a sushi restaurant we ate at three times).  I was looking for Starbucks and yes the had one.  STARBUCKS 2 and half hours away..... these are the things I dream about.  So the plan changed rather quickly.  We took in the sights, took some pictures and headed to the mall.  We Christmas shopped and went to Starbucks and ate sushi, then we went to the hotel.  We got up the next day and went to the mall shopped, ate sushi and went to Starbucks.  Yeahp perfect getaway. 
We did more then that.  Most importantly we talked and talked and talked, and no one interrupted us.  It was amazing.  Hopefully we can do this yearly and keep reconnecting.

Thanks European union for cherry coke and 7up

Art critic

on top of the mall

Jen with a Giant coffee

SUSHI

Is this a Blood Bank?

In the beautiful town center

Can't go wrong with a weekend away with her!

Having Fun after the adventure

If you have read the two previous posts you know that getting to Slovenia and staying there created some exciting times for all of us.  But luckily it wasn't all hair raising adventure and car theft, although nothing brings a group closer then landmnes, storms and attempted grand theft auto.   We were in Slovenia for a team retreat.  As a team we were going to be working through some personality inventories and spiritual gift assessments that we would be using to better understand each other, work together and find the best ways for God to use us to further his Kingdom. Getting to know about people and what motivated them was great and I enjoyed seeing how God knitted our team together just way he knew would make us most effective.   We also wanted to spend some time in fellowship and having fun.  The place we were staying had in indoor water park as well as an outdoor park.  All the water was heated naturally and so even in October it was great. Here are some pictures,  I really thought I had some more of Kyleigh but she was to busy going on the water slides. 

Adventure Part 2

So our team is in Slovenia for a retreat and on our way we had this adventure.  But little did we know this was not the craziest thing that would happen to us over the weekend. 
First let me tell you a little about Slovenia.  It is the jewel of the former Yugoslavia.  A small country with a population of 2 million.  A member of the European Union, the highest per capita income in all of Europe.  Slovenia is a gorgeous mountainous region known for its outdoor adventure sports.  It also has one of the lowest crime rates in the EU, so with this information your thinking what could happen here?

On our first night the storm of the century blew in.  Rain, thunder, lightening, high winds, hail, it was all there.

This is a small tree that was uprooted as proof of the crazy storm

 But the storm was not the big adventure of the evening.  The next morning I woke up to assess the damage and noticed my teammates car was not in front of his bungalow but was down the road about fifty yards.  My first thought was "poor Josh, his car died, we need to buy him a knew one".  Then I hear Josh, yell to me from across the way "They tried to steal my car".  This was shocking on multiple levels.
1.  Only very desperate people would try to steal a 10 year old van with like 200,000 miles on it.
2.  We are in a gated community, how did the thieves get in?
3.  Why were car thieves wondering around in the storm of the century?
4.  We are in Slovenia, people need to steal cars in the wealthiest country in the EU?
5.  Landmines and stolen cars, we have only been here for 1 day.

As Josh contacted the police we found out that the thieves broke into and hid in a vacant apartment (getting out of the storm).  There were probably a large number of them (hence the need for the van). They were probably immigrants (that came from the police, assuring us that no Slovenian would need to steal a car) and after unsuccessfully trying to hot wire (yes old school hot wiring like you see in the movies) the thieves moved on and stole a car about a mile away.

Police and Crime scene tape - a dream come true for me

Scene of the crime, the thieves hideout

Josh and Kristen cordoned off behind the tape.

Luckily we were able to get the car repaired so Josh and his family could get home.

Thanks Eastern Europe for keeping the adventure alive.

Still some adventure in our lives Part 1

We have lived in Eastern Europe now for almost three years and so many things that used to be "adventurous" are now just ho hum day to day things.  The visitor may find them to be an exciting adventure but for the Stevens family it is just life.  But this month Eastern Europe came through - more specifically the former Yugoslavia and we got a big dose of adventure. Our team was having a retreat in Slovenia and little did we know the weekend would be full of adventure. 
As we were traveling to Slovenia we came across a little traffic jam.
When you see the following picture. what comes to mind?

 

Things like:

Wow that must be a massive wreck up ahead!

Maybe there is some road construction.

Is a bridge out? 

The options are limitless but I promise the reason for this traffic jam would never ocur to you in a thousand years.

As we were stopped (cars turned off, people out milling around, we were not only stopped,

 we were parked) we had these thoughts as well as some outragous ones.  We really had one clue as to why we were stopped.  It was this sign:

The exclamation usually means warning, so we assumed there was some danger  and the text basically says closed due to clearance, so that leaves us thinking what were they clearing.  If we go to our earlier list this all makes sense but the bottom part of the sign basically says that trafic will move the first 20 minutes of every hour so it could not be a wreck, this was the clearance of something planned.  No one seemed to be to put out by this so we just rolled with it and eventually moved on.  The problem was we never saw anything being cleared, no wreck, no bridge, no construction. 
We were ahead of our traveling party so we texted them and told them they would be held up a little but it was no big deal and they would get to Slovenia.  Still very curious about what was going on we hoped they could find out.
As we were pulling into our destination Jen got the following text:
Traffic is stopped because they are clearing landmines!!! The government does not want any cars around in case something goes wrong. (that can be interpreted as landmines start exploding and throw shrapnel all over the road).
Now be honest, did that cross your mind as a reason for a traffic jam?  Me neither.
On our way home, we were very observant and did see guys in millitary fatigues right off the road ready to search for active landmines.
Keep reading later this week as the adventures and hijinks continue.

Trip to Sarajevo

Standing where WWI started.  Pretty cool!

In July I got the opportunity to drive to Sarajevo for business and see the city.  I was pretty excited, Sarajevo has a tremendous history.  One of the great European capitols, crossroads of culture (Ottomans, Orthodox, Catholics), '84 Olympics, ground zero for a devastating war in the '90's.  To be honest for all its history it is still a city trying to recover from the war.  Everywhere you look there were reminders (commonly known as bullet holes) in the facade of nearly every building.  What once was a melting pot of culture is now mostly an outpost for European muslims.  The influence of the middle east was apparent every where as new modern office buildings and malls were being developed throughout the city funded by oil.  You know progress is being made when a McDonald's sits right in the city center.    Despite the city's beauty and history it was an eerie place to be.  The whole city is only about 6 miles long, it sits in a bowl with huge mountains all around, there is one road in and one road out.  All that to say I can not imagine living there during the war.  The most amazing thing to me (it's really not that amazing just to me) was the way Sarajevo vendors are still living off the Olympics.  With all the amazing gifts and souvenirs you can get there (lots of Turkish things) by far the most popular item was '84 Olympic souvenirs.  Postcards, magnets, lapel pins, stuffed animals of the mascot Vukic, you name it they were selling it.  It was like the Olympics Just happened - very strange.  Which also leads to Olympic mountain, that is one big imposing mountain that can be seen anywhere from the city and there were at least 1,572,789 signs pointing you to the mountain as you drove through town.  I would go as far as to say 1984 may have been utopian in the eyes of Sarajevans. 

First Day of School

We had two first days of school this year.  Kyleigh is homeschooling 100% of the time and Miki is homeschooling 50% and going to Serbian school 100%.  So in August along with our team mates we kicked off World Net Academy - our homeschooling co-op.  So far the kids are loving it.  Here some pics of the crew.  

He Just wants to go to school like the Big Kids

Looks like a happy Crew!

So two weeks after Home School started it was time for Miki to start 1st Grade.  I can not believe she is in elementary school.  She was very excited, mostly to see her friends, but also to be in big school.  When we arrived she go to sit next to her best friend.  Her teacher is Kyleigh's old teacher so we were excited about that.  In Serbian school, the kids and teacher stay together from 1st through 4th grade. So this will be her teacher and class for the next four years.   We know Miki is going to do great.  Her teacher has already told us she is a very serious student and her Serbian is excellent.  Here are some pics of 1st Grade day one.

Heading to the garage for the first day

Walking with Dad

This kid just wants to got school

Infront of the school

Let me go!

Mom and her 1st Grader

The best friend has arrived so this will be a good day

Waiting to go in

Ready to learn!