What's new?

The days are starting to blend together. We've been here for four weeks and in some ways it feels much longer and in other ways, I'm like "four weeks, really?"

We didn't do a lot that was news worthy this week, but on Friday we went to a store called Makro. If you have ever been in a Sam's Club in the US, then you have a pretty good idea of what Makro is. You have to have your Makro card, and they check it when you go in and it has the feel of a Sam's club. It seems to have everything. The difference between a Makro and Sam's club, is that you can get things without it being in bulk. For instance, I bought one small hand soap, which at Sam's club they wouldn't have that, it's too small. Makro did have the huge refill bottles, but I needed the small one. We really enjoyed our visit to "little America" and wish that we had known about the store earlier. When you leave Makro you have to show your receipt just like at Sam's club. The prices were pretty good too. So, if you live in Greece and don't know about it, look it up! Its huge :)

On Saturday we decided to explore a new (to us) beach. We went to Schinias beach.

The seatbelts in Matt's work car doesn't always work, which is why Kayla is not wearing hers. On the way to the beach.

 

Our fearless driver....

 

We can see the ocean...
 

We literally drove until the road ended and parked on the beach.

 

 

 Trying to get a family selfie...Matt's arm's aren't quite long enough :)

  Can you see the beautiful mountain in the background??? Beach and mountains, you can't go wrong.

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

This picture really doesn't do it justice, it was beautiful beyond description :)

 
Our stuff....notice there is no one else near by!!! Perfect...it got more crowded later, but it was never "too" crowded. We had a great time and I enjoyed swimming in this beautiful water!

 This was the view right behind where we were sitting and our car is parked a bit beyond this.

 

 

Speed bump sign on the road leading to the beach and the speed bump below....

 

 

Saturday afternoon we put the kids wall stickers up on their walls. Kayla said "It feels even more like home!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today is Sunday. We went to Church this morning, we have only visited three different Churches, but there are not that many English speaking ones here. This morning we re-visited the second one we had attended. We are planning to make it our Church home while we are here and we are happy to have that settled. The people are very friendly and welcoming. This afternoon we are just "chillin'" at home. I am working on my blog, Kayla's reading, Elijah's playing his DS and Matt is playing with Legos. We are planning to have some "family" time in a little bit.

"Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, prise his holdy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits." Psalm 103:1-2

 

Wild Hair

So, I was about to get in the shower this morning when I decided I was tired of my hair. It needs to be cut, but I haven't had the energy or motivation to start looking for a stylist here. I have too many other things needing my attention. So, I grabbed the scissors and started trimming up my hair. I didn't think too much about it, or I wouldn't have done it. I was running short on time because maintenance was supposed to be here soon to take care of the wasp problem. So, I trimmed my hair the best I could in the short amount of time I had. I still need to work on the back and the left side a bit more.

I also decided that I needed to trim up the kids hair too. I managed to talk them into it and their hair looks fine. Elijah's needs a bit more work, but I am not going to do it or I know I will mess it completely up. I just trimmed the dead ends off of Kayla's. So, I managed to have a pretty productive day and saved some money too.

Also, maintenance sprayed some pretty stinky stuff where the wasps were building their nest and caulked the window, so we shouldn't have any more problems with the wasps.

I realized yesterday that it is summer and this is my time to relax and enjoy the kids and the free time that I should have. But, again, there is so many things that need to be done with setting up the house, that I am not taking any time to relax. So, we sat and watched the Lego movie while we ate lunch. We really enjoyed it. Once it was over the kids immediately went back to playing with their Legos and Kayla keeps singing "Everything is awesome!" So funny.

Happiness in a box

Before I even get started, I can hear someone saying, you can't find happiness in a box, or you shouldn't find happiness in a box, and to an extent I agree. However, over the last week most of the moments that have brought us joy, have been found in a box, or a letter, which came in the mail box. I know that is a sad statement, but it is a true statement. Last week was one of the roughest weeks I can remember having in a really long time and this week hasn't started out all that much better.

Kayla and Elijah got two letters last week from friends, and that really made them happy.

On Tuesday we got a box from my sister, which made us all happy.

Toys for the kids, chocolate, cake mixes, snacks, coffee, all smiles from this box! I baked Matt a cake yesterday, the mix came in this box and the cake itself came out of a box. It was nice and he was happy! Thanks Jennifer!

On Friday our airshipment came, in the form of many boxes and that made us happy. It was really good to see our stuff that we hadn't seen in 9 1/2 weeks. The moving truck was much smaller than I had imagined

By the time the movers left it was 4:30 and I was completely exhausted, and walking into the kitchen and seeing every surface covered was overwhelming. So I went online and had dinner delivered.

 

Elijah cracked me up, I had went in the kitchen to get plates and came back and he was eating the pizza right out of the box, but he was hungry and happy.

 In case you don't know, when you order something and it says it comes with potatoes, what they really mean is French fries! I ordered Matt a pita with gyro pork, which came with potatoes, tomato, onion and tzatziki (sauce). It was really, really good. He kept making "mmm" sounds :)

I ordered me a half  grilled chicken with potatoes and rice (once again expecting a potato), but it was really good too. I don't normally like plain white rice, but this was really good, and I'm not sure what they put in it, but I ate all the rice and had chicken for lunch the next day too.

 

One of the things we ordered for Kayla to try was pita with sausage. We asked for it to have no sauce, but as you can see with the picture below, it had a lot of sauce and you couldn't see the sausage. The sausage was like a smoked sausage. It wasn't that good, but at least she was willing to try it.

See the boxes the food came in ;)

Saturday we spent a little time at Ikea, where we got a small cabinet to go under the counter in the kitchen, and a small shelf for Kayla's bathroom, these came in boxes and help with the organization of the house and that makes me happy.

 

For those who at this point might be worried about my spiritual state, I am doing everything I can. I am reading my Bible, daily, calling on the Lord, about hourly! We are looking for a Church, so I am not far from the Lord, it's just that more happiness has come from the stuff in the box than the other things going on in our daily lives. I am looking forward to some Amazon boxes coming this week and I've placed another grocery order, so more happiness is coming.

 

I have met all the neighbors in the building and I am working on trying to make friendships for us. But, right now, things are still rough. I went to the market yesterday and I wanted to buy potatoes. Apparently, for this particular vendor I wasn't' doing it right. He would only speak to me in Greek and of course, right now, I don't speak or understand Greek. He essentially shooed me away and I was very frustrated and feeling pretty worthless. The market did not bring me the joy it usually does. We are going to have to learn some Greek, and I hope to start that soon, but in the meantime things can be very frustrating.

 

I have always heard people in America say to the foreigners who move to our country "Why can't they learn the language??" I hear you. I am thinking in my head that that is what they are saying about us, they live here, why can't they learn the language? I plan to try. Languages do not come easy for me and I may end up being one of those people who have their children translate for them. I have picked up a few words in Greek, so I guess that is a start.

 

I was talking to my sister yesterday and she asked if I would be ready to leave here in 3 years. I told her we were still in the rough transition days and it was too early to tell. I also told her I wasn't ready to pack my bags and head back home yet, so I guess I am doing okay.

 

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

 

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Psalm 34:18

 

"He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds." Psalm 147:3

 

"But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness." Galatians 5:22