Christmas is coming.....

Just ten more days til Christmas!  Somehow this reminds me of that little ditty we used to sing: "Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat; please do put some pennies in the old man's hat!"

Traditions!  Where do they come from and where do they go?  Sometimes it takes work to hang on to traditions; some just happen upon us, stay for a time and depart.  At our house there are a few old traditions that are dear to our hearts....like writing cards and hunting for the "perfect" live Christmas tree.

These were traditions in our family for years.  Then life got busy with other things and not so many cards were written.  It was much simpler and easier to just e-mail and send off a few photos.  Same with the tree tradition.  For a few years now we've passed up on having a live tree since friends passed along their artificial tree to us.  Here in our modular home where space in the living room is somewhat limited we decided it wasn't practical to try to have an inside tree.  It would take up too much living space!  But we did enjoy having our artificial fir out on the deck lit up with lights and visited by our feathered friends.

However, this year we have returned to some of those old traditions.  I began sending out our first cards from Hungary and now have followed up with more from Canada.  And our tree this year?  It's a Fraser Fir carefully chosen from our own farm here!  Last Saturday we went searching and in the far, back corner of our acreage found a pretty little tree that hadn't been pruned too much.  O.J. proceeded to dig it out and it now sits in a large pot in a corner by our front door.  We won't be using that entrance this Christmas but we will enjoy having a real live Christmas tree once again!

So, come visit our house as Christmas approaches.  You'll find touches of the past and some new decoations that reflect our recent days in Hungary too.  You'll see the Thomas Kinkade puzzle which we assembled years ago, the Christmas before O.J. left us for Myanmar.  Now it is hung each Christmas as a fond memory of the hours of labour that went into that puzzle some time ago.  You'll maybe notice the hand-painted sign sitting atop the tiny table covered by a carefully embroidered cloth...memories of our recent days in Hungary and our new friends there.  On the walls see more mottos from days present and past.  And of course there is the Fraser Fir tree brightening the corner by the front entrance.  Yes, Christmas is coming and Ron has started making his caramels.  He also built me a tiny bird feeder this past week and has been doing some TOC (teacher on call) work too.

Christmas is coming....and our family will all be together here soon! Grandma Gamache arrives in one week with Bryon, Christy and Kai due to arrive the next day.   This year there should be 12 of us all together for the holidays, ages 3 to 92!  And we all join in sending special Christmas greetings from our house to yours.....

Home sweet home....December 5th

Yes, it is true!  We are home again and it is so very wonderful to be back to Canada, back to family and people and places familiar.  How special to have our son O.J. at the airport to meet us with a sweet smile, huge hug, fresh baked cookies and lots of good news.  Later we gathered at Jeff and Jenn's along with Kaden, Abby and Emma for more debriefing before the kids' bedtime.  And this grandpa and grandma found themselves suddenly very tired too!  It was time to head down the driveway to our own home and to our own bed for the first time in three months.

Home sweet home.......

 

Yesterday was a time of cocooning and enjoying browsing through our piles of mail; cooking again on my electric stove....making soup and baking bread as the washer and dryer did their duty taking care of several loads of laundry.  There was time to venture out and inspect the new sign at our gateway announcing Christmas trees for sale here on our farm for the very first time!  And, the sun shone and the skies were blue...at least for a few brief morning hours.  By afternoon we were back to rain again but inside it was cozy and warm.  O.J. had not only started Christmas baking but he'd started putting up Christmas decorations and lights too.  So for sure we feel welcomed and loved, and for certain it is good to be home again in time for all the festivities and fun of Christmas here in Canada.  In closing this chapter we want to once more thank each and all of you who prayed for us and supported us in so many ways on this our first trip to Hungary.  Thank you for walking with us and encouraging us on.....

December 4th --- Heading home!!

As I write it is early morning on this the 6th day of December.  We are home again and so glad to be back to Canada, to family and things familiar.  It was a wonderful feeling to arrive safely on Canadian soil again as we touched down in Vancouver about 6:30p.m. on Tuesday evening.  It had been a good flight with British Airways from Budapest, to London and onward home again, skipping over several time zones as we flew westward.  Along the way we had several interesting  encounters with folks from various places.

 

 

 Notice the little Russian girls all dressed in pink who we met in the Budapest airport.  Only an hour later we found ourselves surrounded by a huge volleyball team from Croatia, en route to Finland for a tournament.  And then there was the tiny Punjabi princess who travelled with us on the same flight from London to Vancouver.  All of these brief encounters reminded us of our world and how small it really is when one can so quickly fly from one country to another.  And in this we take comfort as we settle in here at home once more.

 We know we need this time here in Canada to re-connect again with family and friends.  We need time to recuperate and rejuvenate and save up before we head out again to live and serve in Hungary.  Sensing that we will, in God's time, return again to Tapolca and loved ones there indeed made those final farewells much easier.  And thus this blog will not necessarily be ending now.  For those of you who have enjoyed taking this journey with us, we invite you to stay tuned.  In due  time we hope to return again.  In the meantime we know He has work for us to do here, and new lessons to learn, so these will be things to share with you as this blog carries on......

Parting words and final farewells....

December first has dawned crisp, clear and bright!  It reminds us of one year ago today when we left our home in Aldergrove and set out for a month in Myanmar with O.J.  That was one amazing adventure and now we are here wrapping up our last days in Hungary.  It is with a great mix of emotions that we bid farewell to our new friends.  The only thing really helping to ease the pain of parting is our hope to return again someday or to have our friends come to Canada to visit us there.  We believe all of this will happen in God's time.  For now it is a time to say farewell and depart for our homeland.  We are for sure excited about being "home for Christmas" with family and loved ones there.

As we enjoy these final days together there are the parting words often expressed in a variety of ways.  Many have come bearing cards and gifts.  Two of these gifts from different people have expressed the same words, spelled out in the original Hungarian script.  It is apparently an old household blessing, often displayed on the walls of homes in days gone by.  But today they are words that bless us and warm our hearts as we have them translated for us by our friends here.  So as we write today let us share this blessing with you, our blog readers too:

"Where there is faith, there is love; where there is love, there is peace;
Where there is peace, there is blessing;
Where there is blessing, there is God;
Where there is God you need nothing more!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forever friends....we hope to meet again before too long.
 In the meantime, as the inscription embroidered so carefully on this  old wall hanging says,
 "Where there is God we need nothing more!"

Last days, last meals and fond farewells....

These final days in Hungary find us with a full schedule and full hearts too.  There continue to be so many happy highlights as we continue on until the end.

 As of last evening we have a plan for our departure.  All being well we hope to leave from here by car on Sunday afternoon, with Shaun and Sondi taking us to Budapest.   After a late afternoon church service at the Kelenfold Evangelical Free Church we will spend that night with our new friends, the Madsens...Paul and Ellie plus sons Silas and Timothy.  We hear the boys need some more grandma and grandpa time!  And Silas is presently studying Canada at school so maybe we can help out with a few more facts there too.

 After one night with Paul and Ellie we will have our final overnight stay in Budapest at the ACSI guesthouse, and then mid-day on Tuesday the 4th we leave to fly home to Vancouver where our family will meet us about 6:30p.m. on that same Tuesday, December 4th...amazing how time flies when one is heading westward by plane across many time zones!

But for now we are still very much here. These past few days have been filled with many special times.... our Sunday Christmas Tea; continuing to counsel and tutor students; learning to make galuska; baking for the various groups meeting here; having friends in for tea; going out for meals in several homes....Today we are invited back to Magda's school for a special noon meal prepared and served by the culinary arts students there; tonight we'll be with Szilvi and Miki (and other friends) for supper; and in-between we have Reka, Tomas and a friend coming by for tea. In the midst of all this social action Ron had a new and exciting adventure this week when he was invited to join a school group headed out to explore some underground caves. But I'm hoping he will write later and give you his own personal version of this new caving experience.  For now let's return to Sunday afternoon and our ladies' gathering here at our apartment....



Ladies Christmas Tea on  Sunday, November 25th when
22 ladies of all ages gathered for a relaxing and inspiring afternoon of fun, food and fellowship.

 

Last meal times with new friends---Andrea and family plus Livia and family all treated us so well! We are learning to love Hungarian food!



Learning to make galuska in one quick home lesson....and yet another school visit.

Though we didn't have a huge turn-out for our Canada Day program on Wednesday afternoon, those students and staff who came seemed to have a good time and several lingered long to snack on the sweets and chat with us afterwards.  Then a very happy surprise was to have Alex (tall boy on Ron's right) appear here for our English club gathering last evening.  In fact he was the very first one to arrive!  Though Alex seems to have very little English he is certainly an eager student and we hope we can continue to keep in touch by e-mail and encourage him on in his English studies here in Tapolca.

Saturday, November 24th...another slice of Hungarian life!

UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE-- Pannonhalma, Hungary

Art, history and beauty everywhere...from floor to 

ceilings painted like skies! 

 

 

 

 

Gateway to learning at the Abbey.....



 

Hundreds of hungry boys eat here every day.....

 

Another day at the Abbey....

 

 

 

 

Past and present meet at the Abbey where new construction carries on in the midst of historic statues and momuments.

 

 

 

At the invitation of Sylvester and Erika, last Saturday found us once more  away on another amazing adventure.  This was a day that our new friends had carefully planned for us.  Could we clear our calendar and be ready to spend the entire day with them?
 Yes, we cleared our calendar and moved our Ladies' Christmas Tea from Saturday to Sunday the 25th.  Here people seem flexible and such changes don't appear to disturb anyone too much!  (We had a great turn-out on Sunday and will tell more about our tea another time.)

Thus last Saturday found us free and ready to leave from here at 10:30a.m.   Sylvester and Erika arrived with their car at the appointed time and we were off!!

 We headed first to the World Heritage site and beautiful Benedictine Cathedral and Boys School located high on a hill above the town of Pannonhalma, not too far from the Austrian border.  It was this very monastery that Sylvester had attended for several years as a younger man.  At one time he had even contemplated being a monk, but in the end he set this idea aside and married his sweetheart, Erika.  So visiting this school and cathedral held many memories for Sylvester and he proved an able and knowledgeable guide as we toured the grounds and enjoyed lunch in the huge school dining room, surrounded by dozens of hungry school boys!

  After lunch we left Sylvester to visit some old friends and the rest of us set off on an extensive "English" tour of this Benedictine school.   There were a good number of guests there this Saturday, since it was also an Open House day at the school.  Some parents were there visiting their sons; others had come to check out the school before sending a son there for his further education.  It is a famous institution of learning and many hope to have their children enrolled there at some time in the future.

 

By 4:00p.m. we decided it was time to leave the Abbey and head on to our next stop in the city of Gyor.   Arriving in Gyor by dusk, we strolled the streets and alleys until we found a quaint coffee shop where we paused for a short while before carrying on to the Danube River. There we had the unique experience of dining aboard a large paddle-wheel boat moored at the river's edge.  The food was excellent and service speedy. This was good as we needed to keep moving.  Erik and Sylvester had friends ready to meet us at the theatre where we were booked in with reservations at the evening ballet program featuring the story of Zorba the Greek.  Thus we enjoyed yet another memorable evening with new  friends eager to share with us a special slice of their life here in Hungary.  For sure we were thrilled to have the opportunity to share this day with them, trusting it won't be too long until Sylvester and Ericka come our way for a visit in Canada.

Hidden Art

Furniture hand-crafted by family and friends....

Come sit awhile and enjoy our old but newly-recovered loveseats.....

 

Love, beauty and "hidden art" everywhere......

 

Many years ago when I was a young wife and mother I stumbled upon the writings of Edith Schaeffer.  Meeting Edith through her books such as L'Abri, What is a Family? and Hidden Art was like discovering a kindred spirit.  Here was a woman who embraced life to the full and found time to behold and create "hidden art" in so many different places.  I devoured her books and longed to be like her...this woman who served alongside her husband and worked hard to make their home in Switzerland a place of rest, refreshment and rejuvenation for the many others God brought their way.

When we flew to Hungary in September I brought the book L'Abri with me and read it while flying eastward.  Then how amazing to discover that the young man seated next to me on the plane was Swiss born and headed home after some months of English study in Canada!  We enjoyed many hours of conversation re his homeland and how life in Canada compared to that in Switzerland.  It was a rare meeting with a fine young man... and only the first of many friendly Europeans we've been privileged to meet and talk with during our months here in Hungary.

Not only have we met friendly folks but so many with an eye for beauty as they observe the world around them.  Ron and I felt and experienced this at the fine arts school here in Tapolca....we see it every day in the carefully designed pansy beds bordering the roads; in the patterns of the paved walkways; in the ornate architecture of the buildings; in the stained glass windows of the churches; and even in the amazing array of fresh flowers displayed in each and every cemetery.  Everywhere we turn there is so much beauty....so much "hidden art" in each home we have entered.

For today we wanted to tell you a bit about the wonderful weekend we had
one week ago when English teacher Erika and her husband Sylvester (who has very limited English) took us into their hearts and their home.  This all began with an invitation to supper with them on Friday evening.  So off we went, past the fine arts school and Christian Reformed church here in town, on to their home a short walk beyond the school and church.  The meal was totally and truly Hungarian with homemade wine; pickles preserved by Erika's mother; a big pot of galushka and a savoury beef goulash stew.  While  Hungarians tend to use pork or chicken most of the time, Erika had purposely bought beef as a treat for her Canadian friends.  The stew was delicious as was the zucchini and cheese side dish she served as part of this first course.  And then there was a plate of her own homebaked sweets, and more wine......

 

 

Following supper we enjoyed a "show and tell" time as Erika brought out a beautiful tablecloth that her students had secretly made for her as a gift.  The huge white cloth was bordered with bright red cherries that had been carefully hand-embroidered, along with the names of each of the students who had taken part in this long-term labour of love!  Also we had a house tour as we heard about various friends or family who had re-upholstered furniture for them; painted pictures for them or built cabinets, tables etc.  Erika also loves to shop in thrift stores for clothes, accessories and other bargains so always we had much to talk about!