Thursday Encouragement 11/20/25

It has been a long week! I am thankful it is Wednesday and the weekend is in sight! Our house is officially sold, with all the obstacles removed and we will be closing in a few short weeks. We have looked at 8 houses so far this week, in between working and going our regular things. While we are ready to find our next new home, we are trying not to rush into anything.

Thursday Encouragement 11/13/2025

We had snow for the first time this season. I was not ready, but it was pretty! We still have a little snow on the ground, but each day has been progressively getting warmer, so it will be gone soon. If you are following along on the house saga, we are officially under contract again, but they still have to sell their house. We are praying that their house sells and they fulfill the contract to buy ours, and that God would provide the right house for us, in His timing.

Personal Reflections

I love that so many people use the month of November to reflect on life. I love that we use this month to really reflect and think on what we are thankful for. As I was going about my day yesterday I started thinking about a particular situation that I knew I had worried to death. The funny thing was, I couldn't remember what had happened, the end result.

This really got me to thinking, how many times have I worried, only to have it come to nothing? And, why do I do it? I know God is in control. I also know how often the Bible talks about not worrying.
Have you ever done that? Worried yourself to death, most likely with situations that you have no control over and can't change, only to have it turn out fine? Why do we do this? Why do we stress ourselves out and continue to worry about every little thing.
 
I go through seasons with this. Sometimes I don't worry about anything...I just let things happen and refuse to think about the negative outcomes...and I believe things flow smoother like this. Other times, I worry every tiny little thing to death. I live in a very stressed out state and have the white hairs to prove it. What I can't understand is why I let myself get like this. It's not going to change the circumstances, but when I am doing it it seems so hard to get out. I think at these times I am so wrapped up in myself that I can't see beyond myself or circumstances. I need to focus beyond myself and keep my focus looking up.

Should I even touch on how my kids are in the two situations? Yep, I see my behavior, moods, tones, complaints reflected right back to me. It's like looking in a smaller mirror.

This morning I was listening to music and the song "Blessed" by Martina McBride came on my MP3 player. It has been so long since I have heard this song I had completely forgotten I had it on my MP3 player. It really spoke to me this morning:

I get kissed by the sun each morning
Put my feet on a hardwood floor
I get to hear my children laughing
Down the hall through the bedroom door (SO TRUE!)
Sometimes I sit on my front porch swing
Just soaking up the day
I think to myself, I think to myself
This world is a beautiful place

I have been blessed
And I feel like I've found my way
I thank God for all I've been given
At the end of every day

I have been blessed

 With so much more than I deserve
To be here with the ones that love me
To love them so much it hurts
I have been blessed

 

Across a crowded room
I know you
Know what I'm thinking
By the way I look at you
And when we're lying in the quiet and
No words have to be said
I think to myself, I think to myself
This love is a beautiful gift

 

I have been blessed
And I feel like I've found my way
I thank God for all I've been given
At the end of every day

I have been blessed

With so much more than I deserve
To be here with the ones that love me
To love them so much it hurts
I have been blessed

 

When I, when I'm singing my kids to sleep
When I feel you holding me

 

I know, I've been blessed
And I feel like I've found my way
I thank God for all I've been given
At the end of every day

 

I have been blessed
With so much more than I deserve
To be here with the ones that love me
To love them so much it hurts
I have been blessed, oh yeah
I have been blessed, oh yeah, yeah

 

I have been blessed
I have been blessed
I have been blessed

 

My devotional was along similar lines this morning, I will paraphrase:

"A new day waits in front of you, but already your restless mind is walking you through countless problems and chores left over from yesterday. You feel the negativity crawling up your back like an impending viral cold. Once again, you face the choice of hopeful expectations and thankfulness or despair and complaining. Which one will you choose to feed with your thoughts? To choose thankfulness is really a choice each of us makes. After all, doesn't everyone have issues to deal with in life? Whatever the problem, God asks us to continue to look to him and express a heart of thankfulness. 'Give thank in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus' (1 Thessalonians 5:18)."

 

So, what will you choose? It really is a choice. We have control over the words that come out of our mouth. Will we choose to be uplifting and positive? Or do we choose to spout negativity, complaining about everything, in the hopes of drawing others' attention to ourselves and our pain? I know it's not an easy choice and I know that some think it's not a choice and they can't help it. But, you can. If that makes you mad, I'm sorry. I do know that there are horrible circumstances and situations that are completely out of our control. I am not saying it would be easy or that you should be positive and uplifting in those situations. I am more talking about our daily circumstances. I can hear it now "But you don't know my circumstances or how hard my life is. You wouldn't say that if you were going through what I am going through." And, you may be right, I don't know your circumstances and I don't know what you are going through. And, maybe if I was walking in your shoes, my views would be different. But, I have also had my share of hard and difficult circumstances, we can choose to learn from them or we can let them be the only things that we see. We can let those times define us and who we are, or we can learn from them and move on. I have learned from the situations that I have been in. I don't begrudge those circumstances because they have all shaped who I am today. I choose to be thankful (at least for this season). I am human and by no means perfect and I have no doubt I will drop back into being negative and complaining again. I just hope that I am able to see beyond my self to see what God is trying to do in my life at the time. Or, that some friend or family member will tell me that I am doing that, and draw me out of myself.

 

The Tide is turning

It has been a pretty good week. I finally got my car back, which means that I have my freedom back. Unfortunately, we have been so busy we haven't gone anywhere (yet), but at least I know that I can which is half the battle.

Last week I made an appointment with my cardiologist, skipping the middle man (Embassy doctor). I insisted that he change my blood pressure medicine, that I was not happy with my numbers and I informed him that I had NEVER in my years of having high blood pressure had it so out of control and for so long. I told him that the medicine he had prescribed was not working, that I had done everything he had told me to do and still no results. He told me to be patient and I told him I had been patient. I wasted four months on a medicine that didn't work for me. He agreed with me and changed my medicine. I have not had one number that was bad since he changed my medicine. The numbers have been beautiful and I am SO thankful! Both of these are answers to prayer. I am finally feeling like a new person again. I have energy, I am able to exercise, I'm still not sleeping well, but I think it will come. At least I have hope that it will. We are excited and looking forward to the holidays.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Quick updates

So here are a few quick updates from us....

The Car...the mechanic determined that it would cost more to fix the car than it is worth. The other insurance adjuster (the guy who hit my car, his insurance), went and looked at the car last Monday. He has until October 14th to decide if they are going to total my car of fix it. In the meantime, I am carless.

My health...I have one more test tomorrow (Wednesday) morning and then we should have final results...conclusions and medicine changes. Hopefully this will be the final test. I am still not sleeping well. My insomnia is still pretty out of control. I get between 3-5 hours of interrupted sleep. Every once in a while I get about 6 hours. I am hoping that this gets better with the medicine changes as well.

The kids...they are doing okay. We are plugging along in school and they like some of what we are doing and don't like some things. We are still trying to find the magic formula (if it exists). They are getting along well and really enjoy playing together. Elijah is enjoying soccer and Kayla is enjoying her music.

Matt...he is also doing okay. His job is going fine and we are thankful for his work car, so he is able to get around without any trouble.

That's about it for now. We still miss our family and friends and think about you all often.

Jeremiah 29:11 "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."

Random stuff

  It's been a few weeks since I've written anything. Quite honestly I just haven't felt like I have much to say, or that I could put a positive spin on what I would say...I still don't, but hate to get out of the habit of keeping up.

  The past few weeks have been pretty routine, school, soccer, piano lessons, violin lessons, work for Matt. I did take the kids on a field trip a week or so ago, with one of my friends. We went to the Greek Museum of Folk Musical Instruments. It was pretty interesting and the kids had a good time.

  We are adjusting to being here and getting into our routines, but we don't love it here. Most days I would say we don't like it much here. I am hoping and praying that our attitudes change, but we are taking it one day at a time. It's hard to put into words what exactly we don't like, it's not like things are awful, they just aren't great either.

  Some things that make it harder being here...Kayla has asked me repeatedly if several of her friends (who happen to live in the states) can come for her birthday. I've tried to explain to her REPEATEDLY that it is expensive and her friends are in school and can't come, but she just doesn't seem to get it (or doesn't want to). And she acts like it's my fault that most people don't want to/can't afford to drop that kind of money for a trip here.

  Driving is difficult and frustrating. It would be easier if the people on motorcycles didn't drive between cars (in your lane, not behind you!), cut you off or knock into your mirrors as they pass you and then cut you off. Pedestrians never have the right of way. This rule must only apply to foreigners because they are not going to slow down if they see me crossing the street with my children, in fact, they might just speed up. However, if they are crossing the street, even when they don't have the right away you expect me to stop.

  The language is difficult and frustrating to me. I really do wish I had known before we got here that we would need Greek to make things easier. The kids and I have been learning the Greek alphabet since July. Matt started Greek lessons last week, he came home and promptly told me all that we had been learning wrong. I also realize that the Greek curriculum we had bought for school was New Testament Greek and not modern Greek, which isn't going to help at all. Sigh. We are thinking of hiring a tutor to come in and teach us Greek, but it's so hard to find the time to fit that in.

  My health hasn't been great. I have been through a battery of tests in the last two weeks trying to find the cause of why my blood pressure spikes so high and then later goes low. With the understanding that I might not ever know. I am hoping and praying for answers. I am still awaiting the results of most of my tests. Although, on a great note, my heart, arteries, liver, spleen and pancreas is all good. I won't even get into the frustrations I have had just going to these medical buildings for the tests. My insomnia has also flared, where for the past 2 months I average between 3-5 hours of interrupted sleep. (maybe, just maybe this is the cause of my discontent, although it doesn't explain the rest of the family)

    There are several other situations that are causing me to stress, but I really can't go into them on here, but I have no idea how I am going to resolve them.

  Some things that are going well...

 Kayla likes her piano teacher and is now practicing an hour a day on piano. She continues to improve.

Kayla loves her violin teacher and practices 30-45 minutes a day. She also continues to improve with violin. She doesn't love practicing the violin as much as the piano, but I hope with time that she will grow to love the violin. She thinks it's too much work and I love that something is finally challenging her.

Elijah loves being back in soccer. Even though most instruction is in Greek and ALL instruction is in Greek at the games he is enjoying it. He had his first game on Saturday and didn't actually seem to be in it as much as he was in the states. I am hoping as he picks up the language that will change.

We almost have our apartment like we want it, still waiting on one more rug to arrive.

We have made friends, which always makes things a bit easier.

School is going okay, we are still making adjustments, trying to figure out the best way to make everything work, especially with Kayla having so much practice time for music. However, we have finished the first 6 weeks, which feels like an accomplishment!

Matt and I have had one date night since we've gotten here and it went well :)

We have started doing family game nights and family movie nights, we alternate weekends and we have such a good time with those.

That's about it from here, for now. One of my friends asked me recently what we missed the most that she could put in a box to mail us, well, unless we've started putting people in boxes to mail them, there's nothing anyone can send:) We don't miss things as much as we miss people. We miss all of you so much. We love getting letters, phone calls, text messages, emails and Facebook messages from you! It helps us to stay connected. I do apologize if this sounds whiny or sounds too much like complaining. That is truly not my intent. It's hard for everything to come out sounding positive, I just wanted to update on where we are and this is it.

Part 2 of First Impressions

     When I left you we had just gotten to Café Verde (Still not sure if it was Café) and our first impressions of Greece. This restaurant had a lot of outdoor seating and some indoor seating. We walked all around outside looking for six seats (us and our neighborhood sponsors, Eric and Susan). It felt like everyone was staring at us. I may have been a little paranoid and possibly self-conscious. I figured I was under dressed. Susan was in a black skirt and a nice shirt. I was in jeans and a plain t-shirt. The next morning, I asked Matt if he felt like everyone was staring at us (he is almost NEVER self-conscious) and he said "Yeah, but I just figured it was because I was wearing a baseball cap and no one else was wearing any kind of hat." So, we were being stared at, Matt thought it was him, I thought it was me, but looking back the next morning I realized what it was...and I will tell you later, but they were definitely staring at us.
     Anyway, we found a seat inside, where there were a bunch of no-smoking signs. Susan said it was funny that the signs were even there, that Greeks smoked everywhere. It was only a few minutes later that we realized she was right.
     We sat for a while and then the waitress came up and gave us all glasses of water. Susan asked for menus and a while later they brought one menu. Susan told us that some places have menus in English, but this wasn't one of them. Her and her husband looked at the menu and decided what they wanted, they helped us figure out what was most likely a cheese pizza and then gave the menu to Matt. He looked at it and was like I can't read any of this, but I can read club sandwich, so I'll have that. Then they passed the menu to me. I agreed with Matt, we couldn't read anything because we don't know Greek. I didn't feel like trying to figure anything else out and we were pretty wiped out by this point, so I also ordered a club sandwich.
     A while later the waitress brought place mats, silverware out and placed our bill on the table. It was very weird to me because we didn't have our food yet! I asked Susan if it was typical and she said it was. If you order dessert they will bring you another bill, with only the dessert on it and you will have to figure out the total yourself.
     After a while our food came, the kids pizza had tomatoes on it, so we picked them off and the kids ate. I took the cheese off of my sandwich and it was pretty good.
     The waitress never refilled our water glasses or came around very much. Susan and Eric flagged her down when we were ready to pay. They picked up the tab which was very sweet of them.
     After that, we pretty much came home and crashed. I think we made it to about 7:30.
      It wasn't until I was laying in bed Sunday morning thinking over the previous evening that I realized why (or maybe part of the reason why) people were staring at us. There were NO kids at this particular restaurant, at all. It was only adults. So, I don't know if were in a more upscale place that caters mostly to adults or what. But, our kids were the only kids there that night. After talking to a new friend this afternoon, she said it was unusual for there not to be kids. That she sees kids everywhere. It's very common for the kids to be out super late here, it's just part of there culture. So, when we are not so jetlagged, we might try that restaurant again to see if there are any kids the next time, or just ask Susan about it.
     So, between the last post and this one I took a few pictures.
These two pictures are of mine and Matt's bathroom. I was trying to get the angle right so I wouldn't be in the mirror.

 

 

The next pictures are of the kitchen, it shows our counter and cabinet space.

 

For friends from Singapore, does this look familiar?

 

And then I took pictures of our entryway. We have two doors when you get to our landing. The one with the floor mat in front of it is the front door, and the other opens into the kitchen. You can not get in the doors without the keys, there is no door knob on this side. You also need the keys on the inside to unlock the door.

 

Now for some pictures of the elevator. The first picture is the elevator with the door closed. If you notice the little window thing, when it is dark the elevator is not here and you can't open the door.

Once you call the elevator and it gets to your floor you can open it and this is what the inside looks like.

You have to close both doors and then press the button for the floor that you want, otherwise it won't move. The bottom picture is me inside the elevator looking out.

Finally, I took a picture of our entry way, simply because I had not done it yet. The first picture shows the entry way facing the sitting area that is between the dining room and living room. The open doorway is leading into the kitchen.

The last picture shows the entry way from the sitting area. Pardon our junk, we are not quite organized yet. The door to the apartment is to the left of the shoes and to the right of the shoes is the hallway leading down to the bedrooms and bathrooms.

So, welcome home and when are you coming to visit?? ;)