The Third Day of Chirstmas . . .

Yes, in Poland, there are three days of Christmas. The 24th being the most important, the 25th for family and the 26th for friends.

I went for obiad (lunch or dinner for you mid-westerners). I was greeted with smiles and well wishes. We talked for a while and then Mira (mom) had us all gather around and gave us wafers. She then blessed me and my next year. We then broke off a piece and ate it. Then I got the three side kiss. Then the girls, Anna and Ewa and then Romik (dad). They then asked if I would pray the Lord's prayer in English since that is their tradition. I was touched and honored.

We had chicken soup, Polish style (my favorite) and then the meat came out. . . RABBIT! Yes, I ate Bugs Bunny! Can you believe it? Alice, the picky meat eater, ate rabbit and LOVED it! It was so good! Mashed potatoes, sour kraut and something else that I forget came too. What a great meal!

After I was stuffed and they brought out desert! All kinds of desert! Coffee, desert and good conversation! We then sang (I listened) Polish Christmas carols because no one sings them until the 25th and then you hear them for 6 weeks. They thought it interesting that we end everything on the 25th.


One of my Polish teachers is a very close friend she came over with her son, and we had more great conversations! Nothing was taboo in our discussions, so we talked about EVERYTHING including politics and religion and no one got into a fight! Wow! Amazing! :)

The evening ended when they asked if I would go with them to mass. I was honored that they asked me to and so I said "yes". I will blog about it later as I am still trying to process it all.

I am now leaving tomorrow morning for 4 days in Zielona Gora for New Years and to spend time with a very good friend!

God is GOOD!

The Second Day of Christmas . . . .

We woke up and the girls opened their stockings. They then got to open presents that were sent from their supporting churches. What fun it was to see how their churches love and care for these young ladies! Kelsey got a box full of beads for her jewelry making hobby and Jillian got two "barbie"dolls who look like members of "High School Musical". The bead case came broken, so we had a box full of beads that needed to be separated out. Don't ask me why, but I love doing stuff like that. It is my kind of putting a puzzle together. So for 3 hours I did it with the help of Kelsey, Jillian and Greg.

I had to leave regrettably since the third day of Christmas was to be at my next door neighbor's!

On the First Day of Christmas . . .

Last week when my neighbor and Ewa were making cookies, I was a little apprehensive of Christmas week. Ewa was sick and I just KNEW I would get it. I did, but God in his love and grace allowed me to really be sick the few days before I left for Bielsko Biała, Poland to spend Christmas with the Carlson's.



What a great time I had with them! I felt like I had known them forever and our time was very relaxing and natural! Christmas Eve was a great time where Heidi and I spent the day in the kitchen making dinner and talking. I felt like I was at home and we had a great time getting to know one another more. Christmas Eve is the BIG day here, so we had our big meal that night and opened presents.


The girls. . . three words to describe them: High School Musical! I had to watch both movies before I went over just so I could understand who what who and who sang what song! They are great girls! Kelsey and Jillian. We played Bible Trivia and I was amazed by how much of the Bible they know! Greg and Heidi are teaching them well. This year they both got something that they NEVER thought they would get, a iPod nano. What a joy it was to see their faces as they opened up their boxes!




My Bible study group from Denver sent me a wonderful Christmas box filled with all sorts of wonderful things. One item was the, "A Christmas Story" dvd. Nothing to do with Jesus, but everything to do with family. A very funny story. Greg, Heidi and I laughed and a great time watching it.

Before present opening, we talked about the real meaning of Christmas and how it really starts in Genesis. We then read the Christmas story and then each prayed and thanked God for sending Jesus to earth.

It was a great time! Thank you, Father!

Merry Christmas!

The Day of Anticipation!

It is the 23rd today and I am in Bielsko Biala, Poland. I have been invited to spend Christmas with the Carlson's! It has already been a joyous time. They have two wonderful girls who could not wait to have me come and have fun with them. It has been so long since I have spent Christmas with kids, that I look forward to this one with great anticipation to watch their eyes light up with the excitement as they receive things that they never thought would be possible!

As I think about that, it causes me to think about my Heavenly Father who constantly gives me things that in some ways is impossible and yet He does it. His love is given to me even though I have not deserved it. The Christmas celebration is all because of His love. The world wants to make it all about good will and the jolly old man who wears a strange outfit, but even his beginnings is based off of the love of God!

"Saint Nicholas of Myra is the primary inspiration for the Christian figure of Santa Claus. He was a 4th century Christian bishop of MyraLycia, a province of the Byzantine Anatolia, now in Turkey. Nicholas was famous for his generous gifts to the poor, in particular presenting the three impoverished daughters of a pious Christian with dowries so that they would not have to become prostitutes. He was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity. In Europe (more precisely the Netherlands, Belgium, AustriaGermany) he is still portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes. " - Wikapeida


A few thousand years ago, a baby was born to a virgin and her husband. They named him Jesus and that baby grew up, lived a perfect life, died and rose again on the third day. He was, is and will forever be the Son of God! He came, lived, died and rose for our sins! Thank you, Lord.

I have watched the Carlson girls check out the gifts under the tree and have found myself wondering if I look to Jesus everyday with that kind of anticipation and wonder. . .

May this season be one of great reflection, rest and joy for you and your family! May this next year bring you closer to the One who makes life possible and wondrous!

So Alice, what will you miss from America about Christmas?

That is a question that I have been asked many times. My answer is obviously family and friends. I miss not being home and celebrating the birth of Christ.

My answer for the secular part of Christmas is laughing at the absurd Christmas light shows. I think they are fascinating in a computer program way, but who in the world got up one morning and said, "Hey Honey, lets blow hundreds of dollars buying thousands of lights, program all those lights to a song that has nothing to do with Christmas and annoy our neighbors!" By the way, it takes about 4 months to pay of the electric bill. . . .

Here is my case and point:




For those of you who have beautiful light displays and even have them move to Trans Siberian Orchestra, you are A-Okay in my book! :)

Cookies for Christmas!

The other day my neighbor and I got together for 3 days to make American Christmas cookies for our neighbors. It was so much fun to spend the time with Ewa and to help her with her English. For a time, I had her act like she was doing a cooking show in English and she had to tell me what she was doing. It was great fun. This picture is the ONE BATCH that got away from us. Somehow a cup of flour was forgotten and for those of you who bake, was a bit of a disaster. Ewa, however was so proud of the result that she wanted a picture with it! :) So here it is!

Drum roll please . . . . . .

Ewa with the cookie goo!

Thanks Ewa! It was a great time with you! I loved watching your face when we put M&Ms in the cookie dough! Yes, you can do it and it tastes GREAT! :)


Culture note: When giving gifts, anticipate a small return gift which is normally chocolate, adult beverages, or a combination of both! Can we say culture shock??? :)

Extreme Day. . . .

Today was a day of extremes! I began the day tired from the last 3. My teenage neighbor and I have been baking cookies for 3 days for our neighbors. It was fun, but I woke this morning tired and with a gunky throat and cough. Yuck!

I got up and drove to say good bye to one of our team's families. They are moving back to America and I feel like I had to say good-bye to family. How can you be so sad as such a wonderful time of year. I am excited to see what God has for them, yet sad that it is our loss.

I had to go to the Apple "store" to get my iPod fixed (too much playing games, I wore out the click wheel!). As I was walking in the mall, the song, "Falis Navedad" was playing. . . in a POLISH MALL! THEN I heard "Walking in a Winter Wonderland", except that the words were "Walking in Women's Underwear". As I was listening to the lyrics, I was sadden. It was all about how these men loved to wear women's clothing. I am sure that the Poles have NO IDEA what was being sung and only recognized the tune. It was a bit disturbing.

I then went to our Bible book store to get a Polish Bible and talk to the owner. We talked about the fact that I am honored to have been asked to the second day of Christmas by my neighbors. Wow, I did not realized how important it was. . .

I got to my Polish class and went over test the test I took the other week. The other test I took last week, did not go well. This one looked good. The only problem was that the "case" that I did not think I knew, was the only case that I got correct the whole time!

I am very happy that I am here during this season, yet I miss all of my family and friends and wish that Mr. Scott would get his act put together and get that transporter up and running!

Beam me up Scotty!

PS If you were born after 1980, you may not get the last few lines, ask your folks. . . :)

What a WEEK!

All I can say is that I am tired! I have had a huge week and God has blessed me throughout the who time.

Monday - Polish test #1
Tuesay - Polish Class
Wednesday - Polish Class, English Bible study
Thursday - Polish Class, High School Bible study, Teammates coming for me to take to airport in the morning
Friday - 3 am airport run, go to the Czech Republic (2 hours away)for an AWESOME "high school" concert
Saturday - Stay with Carlsons and have a GREAT time, take Polish test #2, last minutes box wrapping
Sunday - Church, Operation Christmas Child, English conversation tutoring
Monday - Work on English camp book and take my laptop in AGAIN, there is a communication problem. . .
Today - I am taking a few hours off and just read.

With all of this, God gave me some incredible conversations with people and time to relax and laugh with friends. I got to play my guitar with my upstairs neighbor and even told her about my life of following Christ to Poland which lead into my telling her Bible stories.

My week this week is almost as busy. After that, I get a bit of a reprieve. God is good.

A Time to Give and A Time to Receive

For those of you who have been on the giving end of Operation Christmas Child, this is what the receiving end looks like. I had the privilege and joy of participating at both ends this year.

Our church gave 28 boxes! They were combined with others form around the world. The kids who received the packages, are kids from very poor, hardworking families. It was both heart breaking along with having my heart filled with joy that we would share Jesus' love with these families.

The time started with the parents bringing the kids to the gym and a group of teenage volunteers took them to assigned groups. For the first hour the kids were entertained by music, clowns and a great hip/hop break dance group. Then the gifts were handed out and the smiled began!

This little girl touched my heart. It is hard enough to be a Downs child in a country where there are many places that help, but to be in a country where there are not as many and to be born in a home which can not afford the extra help is hard. Yet, this girl smiled bigger than any of the others. After I took this picture, she ran up to me and gave me a HUGE hug! Nothing in the world could have touched me more than that moment. I felt God's love for me in her touch. A very special time.



Here are many more pictures if you would like to see them.

I Hate You! I Love You!

Over the past several days I have hated and loved Poland! I would love to share both with you. Let me start with the complaints.

1. I thought I hated Christmas time at the malls in the US. Not after the fiasco I went though at our mall last Sunday! You would have thought it was Dec. 24th NOT Dec. 1st.

2. Weather that is just warm enough to bear COLD rain and not snow just IS NOT RIGHT!

3. I can log in tons of Polish language listening time when we have a church members meeting because it takes an eternity to get through it. :) We stay until the job gets done. :)

4. People have just been plain rude on the road over the last few weeks. I think the Christmas rude "bug" hits here too!

Things I just love!

1. I went to go pick up a book that I forgot at one of my teacher's home. I knew that I would not be able to get out of there in under a 20 minute "tea drinking time". I got there and my teacher had a table filled with breakfast items. She made breakfast for me! I was there for over 2 hours. This woman displays so many of the qualities that Jesus talks about and yet she does not know Him. She blessed me in a huge way Saturday.

2. Apple is helpful all over the world! I had to get my laptop fixed and they took a month to do it. I tried to be patient because I know that if they do not have the parts, they have to get it from America. Well, I got it back and it did not work! So, I took it back to my "Apple" store and the salesman spent a little over 2 hours with me trying to figure out what was going on, so they would not have to send it back. We got it done and so far my computer works just great!

3. I am blown away everyday by how much people are willing to help me with my Polish. When they hear that I am trying to learn Polish, they get a very sympathetic look on their face and then they help me. I am speaking more now than ever!

4. My neighbors are wonderful! I went up to their flat on Monday just to ask Ewa (my conversational English student) a question and ended up leaving 4 hours later. We had a great time speaking in English and Polish. They have now invited me to come to the second day of Christmas, Dec. 26th to celebrate with them. Another blessing!

5. Our monthly city-wide youth group, Moosk was GREAT! Krista, my teammate is gone for Christmas and the students ran this meeting on their own. They did a GREAT job. They were so nervous doing it on their own, but I can say that it felt like Krista was there. She has invested well in them and if she would never come back (which she IS coming back!), I think the group could go on. Here are some pictures:






So, my life has been very busy lately. I have one Polish test that I took on Tuesday and am waiting for the results and one more to go!

Today I visited a young woman and spent a few hours hearing her story. Our conversation got me thinking . . . How faithful would I be if neither my husband or ANY in my family wanted me to believe? No one is saying anything, but there is a constant pressure in her life to give up and make everyone happy. We even talked about how some of her family fears her rejection because she loves Jesus and they don't want to be left alone. It is a difficult way to live and yet she lives and loves Jesus day by day.

Poland is good! Poland is frustrating! Poland is feeling more and more like home!