We have experienced a beautiful spring here with so many flowers and flowering trees.  The smells have been amazing - including peonies (just like at our house in Lakeville!) roses, cherry and lynden trees.  Bulgaria is the leading producer of rose oil in the world, but also has a wide variety of decorative roses that line the parks and boulevards.  The weather has been great for taking long walks through the parks and city to enjoy all this beauty!

This is also the season for moves - people visiting their home country, but also people moving to a new overseas assignment.  For us, that means a short trip back to the US to visit family and participate in a wedding (Paul will officiate for a dear friend and I will cheer them on!)  We hope also to see many of you in the short time we are back!  To help facilitate that, we have arranged to have a few tables at Lake Nokomis near their outdoor counter service restaurant, Sandcastle on Wednesday, June 27th.  It is on the west side of Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis (4955 W Lake Nokomis Pkwy, right next to the main beach access).  Come for food and drink or just to socialize.  We'll be there from 5:30-8:00.  There is some free street parking and also a pay lot.  We'd love to see your faces, catch up on your lives, see how your kids have grown and just reconnect!

As we know will happen every year, we are losing dear friends to other places.  We've been blessed with some great relationships in the short time we've been here, making it hard to see those people leave.  And yet we know this is part of the life God has for us here!  Sharing the joys and challenges of expat life, studying God's word together - whether in a couples, ladies or men's group - learning about and praying for the country we now call home are all part of this experience.  While there is pain and sadness at times, and definitely hurdles of unfamiliar bureacracy, we have seen God's faithfulness time and again in large and small ways.  We are learning faith lessons we probably should have mastered far earlier in life, but living in a foreign country provides huge opportunities to trust and see God's faithfulness at work.  We have been reminded time and again that God is love and His plans for us are good and trustworthy.  The joy of worshipping with people from many countries, singing sometimes in multiple languages and recognizing we are joined together by our common bond of faith continues to awe us!

I've been trying to finish this for days amidst a bathroom renovation that has taken out two layers of old tile, a tank water heater - and a ton of concrete dust!  It's time to send it off!  I arrive back in the US on June 19th, but will head to Sioux Falls for a few days with my mom and sisters.  Paul arrives on the 25th and we both return on July 11th.  We'll have our old US phone numbers once we arrive.

Kathy:   602-315-4375
Paul:   952-200-5781

Thanks so much for your interest and partnership in life!

If you are interested in giving to our work in Bulgaria, and Paul's consulting in Africa and beyond, gifts can given online at Global Horizons/Emmaus Assoc or mailed to Global Horizons, PO Box 856678, Minneapolis, MN 55485-6678.  Please attach a note indicating Emmaus.  Thank you!