What are we up to?

As you have probably gathered - we are here (Abi and the kids) and Brad isn't!! He has been gone now for a few weeks in the UK and the Balkans. We have 10 more days and then he will be back. He has basically been travelling for most of February. 19 sleeps is a long time but it has gone so much better than anticipated - not that the usual sickness, teething etc haven't plagued us, but we have been armed to survive the storm!!

Brad is now officially the US Director of Radstock Ministries so he will be travelling around churches in the Radstock Network in the US helping them think through their missions strategies and helping them to connect and partner with other churches in the Radstock Network across the world. He will also be promoting the whole aspect of Business as Mission which he has such a heart for. He has an office at our church which is wonderful and very close to our house. Abi likens our small town to a cross between Wisteria Lane and Stepford!!! It is very small and you know people wherever you go. There is a certain familiarity about that which is nice and a certain spooky feeling which is slightly unnerving!!

The children have all settled in to life here extremely well and are enjoying the new experiences. We have learnt lots in the last few months and had many hilarious cultural experiences!!! Here are a few which we have enjoyed:
The Yellow School bus - picks up and drops off the children pretty much from our house twice a day. (Abi thinks this is absolutely amazing as she can still be in her pyjamas when it is time for Quin to go to school!!)

Pre-school - You don't have to exit your vehicle in order to drop your children off. The teacher comes to the car and removes Tate and puts him back in when pre-school is over (Again, Abi thinks this is fantastic as she isn't having to put Jems in and out of the pushchair/stroller numerous times in a morning.)

Pokemon cards - key to survival in any Second Grade boys life

Nintendo DS - cost a Kindergarten girl all her money but is totally worth it in every way, especially as it comes in pink!!

Valentines parties - survival of the fittest on every level - the amount of candy that comes home in backpacks is astounding!! Every child gives a Valentine to each class member, usually with a piece of candy taped to it. An amazing haul all around, the Byrd children can hardly believe their luck!! (Does this really happen every year???? - Abi is appauled as the writing of the Valentines is a particularly painful process, as is the potential sickness that comes at the end of the day when the parties are all finished!!)

Friends for playdates who speak the same language and live closer than 2 1/2 hours away!! What a novelty. Tyler and Ryan Mac are Quin's good friends and live walking distance from our house. Hayley and Grace are Ezzie's friends - she loved having a sleep over at Hayley's. Jackson is Tate's absolutely best friend in all the world. (Thankfully they will still be in the same pre-school class next year.) He also announced to Abi when talking about another little girl he knew "Mummy, I can't help myself, I just have to kiss her!!!!" This doesn't bode well for the future!!Jems hasn't really developed too many close friends yet although she endears herself to all in the Nursery at church.

Trampolining, gymnastics classes, baseball, swim lessons - all to be had for the taking if wanted. Again, we can't believe our luck.

All in all the transition has been much easier than we anticipated and we are thankful every day that we have power and are not chopping wood to keep us warm!! (Although apparently we have had more power outtages - 2 since we arrived - than they have had in years here!! - We have brought a little Balkan love with us evidently!!)

We miss Kosova and our friends there and we are keen to return as a family next Summer. For now, we will remain here in Central Illinois and Brad will travel where he needs to go.

Gezuar Pavarsia!! - Happy Independence

Gazuar Pavarsia - Happy Independence. That was the phrase of the day here in Peje and all over Kosova. The day many have waited for has finally come. Kosova was declared an independant, free and democratic republic, making it the worlds newest nation. Thousands gathered in the central square in Peje, the streets were heaving with people and flags were flying proudly. It remains to be seen who will recognize this new nation and to what lengths Serbia will go to keep her territory in tact. I think there is no turning back now and its just a matter of time until the whole world comes around. The bigger question is, "Is Kosova ready for the big wide world?", not, "Is the world ready for Kosova?" The people of this new nation have a lot of hard work ahead of them. Many of us are praying for them in this time of new birth, that not only will there be the birth of a new nation but the new birth of the hearts of individuals as well.

The new Kosova Flag

Pavarsia - Independence!!

Brad is back in the Balkans and just sent me this blog entry. It is such an exciting time for him to be over in Kosovo. I can't believe the kids and I are here when this is happening.

A blanket of snow is beginning to shroud the city of Peje, and yet the hearts and spirits of the residents are not at all dampened. Independence is coming to this tiny forgotten corner of Europe. Soon the world will be reminded of Kosovo/Kosova and not only those of us here witnessing it first hand but the whole world for a short time will have its attention focused again on this tiny Balkan territory. They say they are finally going to be free, freedom from the Turks escaped them 600 years ago and then they were under the Serbs for the last 100 years. Freedom from the Serbs in 1999 meant control by the United Nations. Now it is the time to strike out on their own and make their own destiny. What will that destiny look like, is this the begining of something great and long expected or is it the begining of the end and hopes ripe are about to be dashed? We are all waiting. Tomorrow is supposed to be the day, will it happen? From the crowd, the decorations, the flags flying one can't see how it could not happen. The anticipation is thick in the air. We wait...."

A frenzied exit!

We are officially back in the US after being quiet on the blog front for a few months now. Many apologies to everyone but thank you for your patience with us.

Our exit from K-land was stressful to say the least but we made it back eventually!!

Our plane was initially cancelled due to horrendous fog (one of the down sides of where the airport is located there.) Abi's seemingly faultless plan for us to have one extremely long day of travelling and then be at our house was foiled completely!! Anyway.....we called the airline and airport a couple of times during the morning to be told they still had fog. The cloud was lifting in Peja and there was beautiful sunshine so it was hard to believe that fog would still be a problem. At 12.15pm we received a call from the airline to tell us that if we wanted to be on our flight it was now taking off from Skopje in Macedonia and in order to board the flight we needed to be there by 4pm at the very latest. The city of Skopje is a 4 hour drive when the border is good and the airport is another 45 mins the other side of the border!!!!!! We left extremely hurriedly in 2 cars, having had to switch our drivers due to license issues and hurriedly drive around town to pick up passports etc. The journey began........

As soon as we headed down into the area where the airport is in Pristina the fog was SO thick you could barely see in front of you. We had a couple of very scary skids as there was so much ice and snow on the road. During our mad dash for the border we realised that one of the vehicles couldn't take us all the way due to car paper and insurance issues so our friend K started calling colleagues who work in Macedonia to arrange for taxi's with trailers to take us from the other side of the border. Bear in mind we were moving and had 12 large over the weight limit bags ourselves, a stroller, carry ons for everyone (and a few extra's in there by the end) as well as another friend who was travelling with us and his bags!!! We arrived at the border just gone 3.15 ish, although it is all a blur at this point!! We said hurried goodbyes and loaded ALL the luggage, children, carseat etc into the one truck that was taking us all the way - we needed to get across the border before we could meet the taxis!!!

To say that there were some strange looks would be an understatement!! The guys walked across no mans land and we chugged as slowly as we could, praying all the while we didn't lose any of the bags off the back!!

All went well and we met the taxis the other side, threw the bags on the trailer and hurtled off to the airport. We arrived a few minutes before 4pm - how that happened I will never quite be sure!! We weren't charged for any of our overweight bags as they were so keen for us to get out on the flight. We arrived in Vienna, having been told we would be staying right at the airport hotel there - of course, that was not to be and we had a 30 minute bus ride into the centre to the hotel we were going to be staying in there. By this point though all our bags were checked right through so things were alot more manageable.

We arrived at the airport the next morning to find that for some bizarre reason our passports wouldn't enter into the system. They finally managed to get it to work just as they called our flight, to this day I have no idea why just ours were a problem!!

Exactly half way through the flight there was a commotion across the plane from us and a lady had collapsed. The guy we were travelling thought that they were Albanian, and indeed they were so Brad and I ended up translating for the flight attendants and her distraught mother. That took up quite a while by the time she was stable and we had calmed everyone down, including the Romanians, who by trying to be helpful really were making things alot more complicated and confusing. We collapsed into our seats wondering when it would end!!! What more strange and stressful things were ahead of us before our final destination???

After arriving in the US and a seamless entry and transfer of our bags we heaved a huge sigh of relief, foolishly thinking we were on the home straight - we arrived at our gate for our connecting flight only to find that an error had been made in the rebooking from the day before and Brad wasn't booked onto the flight at all!! By this point we had been travelling for 2 days and we weren't in the most accomodating of moods!! After alot of handwringing, explaining, trying to keep a lid on our tempers they agreed that Brad could take Jems' seat and she could sit on my lat. We were all over the plane which was not as bad as it could have been as it was a small one, but after the journey we had just taken it was a stressful last leg for the children and us. We arrived in Indianapolis relieved to see Brad's parents and our friends Brent and Denise who were all there to haul us and our luggage back to our house!!

We fell into bed around 11pm so thankful and relieved to be there and for the journey to be done with!! We were up at 2am due to jetlag and for the next week watched our new neighbourhood wake up at 2.30am, 3am, 3.30am, 4am etc - you get the picture!!!!! Needless to say our house was completely unpacked by 7am the first morning!!!!

We wont be sad if we never have to experience a journey like that again, but it certainly makes for a good story!!!