The year is sliding away and it's hard to believe how quickly the last couple of months have gone!  We've made a couple of brief trips to Germany for conferences, celebrated Thanksgiving with 16 other Americans and Christmas with friends from Northern Ireland, the US, Germany and Syria.  We held a Christmas potluck/music night with over 50 in attendance from many countries.  It was a blessed time to share together the HOPE that Christmas brings to those who believe!

We've learned many things the last two months - mostly about bureaucracy and how it does and does not work.  We had our apartment up for sale and had a good offer.  At that point the buyer usually puts down earnest money and signs a preliminary agreement.  We found out (at that point) that no one currently has power of attorney to sign that document.  While working to correct that (much longer story) the people backed out.  We now have potential of another buyer so are hoping all the legalities will be cleared up soon.  I could add a couple more situations here, but suffice it to say that I have an even better understanding of the struggles of expats coming to America!


Our adventures in parking (for which this blog is named) have
continued.  After doing some work at church, we came out to
find that our car (the blue one in back) was blocked by a
white car that had parked in front while we were inside.
Thankfully, the person arrived shortly and, with apologies,
quickly moved!


One thing we continue to experience is God's faithfulness.  He
shows up when we are thankful and when we are discouraged.  He continues to remind us that His plans are often different than ours - and better, even though we might get impatient to see them work out.  And that God really does show His strength in our weakness.

We pray that this Christmas season has reminded you anew of the amazing GIFT that God has given us by sending His Son to earth to live among us and provide a way for us to be His children.  And we hope this New Year brings you exciting adventures in God's goodness and grace!

A few pictures from our Christmas celebrations:

A quick trip back to the US

Before getting into any news, yes - we are headed back to the states for a brief trip from Oct 9-19 to use our insurance one last time for physicals, etc. visit my mom in Sioux Falls, visit First Baptist in Cambridge on their mission Sunday and spend time with our kids and a few other family.  We'd love to see anyone in Cambridge when we're there and may see a few others as time permits.  Short trips are always so challenging!  (Once we land, I can be reached at my old number 602-315-4375.)

Here in Sofia it's hard to believe we've already slipped into Oct, the leaves are changing color and falling - as is the temperature, going from 75 one day to a high of 45 the next.

With the change of seasons come other changes as well.  Kids are back in school, expats who've gone home for the summer are back and the church is more filled with "regulars."  Fall ladies Bible study has started with 10-12 on Wednesday morning and another group of 4-5 who will meet on an evening starting in Nov.  We've been to Germany for meetings and will return late in Oct for a few more.  Paul is busy with preaching, meeting individuals and facilitating other activities at the church.

For some, there are big and difficult changes.  A good Bulgarian friend at the church lost his wife to cancer at age 50, after a 6 year battle.  His wife was Orthodox and we were privileged to attend the service and burial to support and grieve with him.  Times like this not only deepen relationships, but give us insight into culture and history.  Our friend commented several times about Chernobyl, the catastrophic nuclear accident on April 26th, 1986, and that many more deaths would be seen this year, some 30 years later.

At the time, those of us in the states were scared and nervous, but the situation was much more close at hand for people in Bulgaria and other eastern European countries.  In many of these places authorities were not quickly forthcoming about the dangers of the incident and citizens were required to attend May Day parades just days after the meltdown as polluted rain fell on them and officials often stayed under cover.  How do events like this impact a culture?  How do we as believers share the faith and hope we have in Christ in ways that can reach into the hearts of people who are often skeptical, distrustful or uninterested?

We are thankful to be here to share the love of Christ amidst both the international community and Bulgarians. Please pray with us that we will faithfully follow the opportunities God gives us.

Going, going, gone?

I promised an update on our summer, but have been woefully slow.  So

before we move too far into fall, here are the highlights from summer:

Paul and I travelled to Hunadoara, Romania (about 8 hours from Sofia) for Paul to perform the Christian wedding service for Kiki and Stefan Tanev.  Kiki is Romanian and has been attending IBC Sofia and Stefan is Bulgarian.  During our stay in Hunadoara we had opportunity to visit Corwin's Castle with Kik & Stefan. The old castle has quite a history (including Dracula!)

In June, I spent a week helping at a Young Life camp for teens from Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria.  My time was mostly spent preparing the dining room, serving food and cleaning up for about 120 teens and their leaders.  It was a wonderful opportunity to serve, help out,  occasionally participate in the fun, and see God at work in the lives of these young people.

In July, we had our first guest - our dear friend, Casey Heid.  She was only here for 3 short days, but we had a wonderful time showing her some of our new favorite places!  The day Casey left, Sarah arrived and spent a little over 2 weeks with us.  We were able to see a bit more of Bulgaria with her and spend 3 days in Macedonia.

Getting morning coffee 

Casey at 24 Grill Center

Paul & Sarah with our friend Eric

Summer is a time for lots of goodbyes and hellos.  In an international church, many people are only posted to their country assignment for 2 or 3 years.  Through the summer we said goodbye to 9 families who had served and participated significantly in the life of the church.  As we lost our key worship leader, two elders, a musician, a tech person, our youth group leaders and a Sunday school teacher, we are seeing God provide new people to step into those roles.

The summer also has many visitors - including those from the Netherlands, Slovakia, Nigeria, Sweden and Madagascar.  We are blessed to welcome people from around the world - whether they live here long term or are only visiting for a few days.  And as we head into fall, we are seeiing new families come who are just starting life here.  

If you'd like to see more pictures from the summer, please check out my Facebook page.

Blessings, Kathy for the two of us

Welcome to our new blog!

Although this comes out under my name, Paul will also be sharing on occasion.  You may be wondering how we picked this title - or maybe the background picture gives it away!  We've found that often, in Bulgaria, cars are parked on the sidewalk, making it necessary for walkers to move to the street.  This can sometimes be humorous, sometimes inconvenient, and occasionally provides a different perspective on "getting around" - much like other aspects of life overseas.  

We've had a busy summer and we'll be sharing more about that in our next post, including news on:

• Paul officiating at a wedding in Romania
• Kathy's week at Young Life camp on the Black Sea
• The fun of summer visitors
• Goodbyes and hellos
• Summer in an international church

If, for some reason, this is the first you're hearing from us since our move to Sofia, please let us know and we can catch you up on the changes in our lives that brought us here.