Since we returned from the States, we've had lots of precious visitors!
At the end of July, the Helm family stayed with us.
Here they are in Buda, with Pest in the background.
Last week, Bostonians Wilson and Chris Lowry...
... and their sons Ben and Joe Lowry came to Vác
for a gentle, pleasant, chilled-out visit.
This past weekend, our buddy Arden came up from Szeged.
Here she is on the walk next to the Danube.
Karen and her new friend Megan in the pool,
where they spent much of their free time.
Nine people were baptized in the pool on Friday afternoon.
Rebeka, on the left, was baptized with her father.
The three guys on the left next to Rebeka
(Peti/Pete, Karcsi/Charlie, and Tamás/Thomas)
are from our church in Vác.
Here is Tamás coming up out of the water.
For more fun scenes at the pool, see Karen's blog.
The weather was fantastic this past Saturday at the cookout
that our friend Ildi hosted for two other families.
Standing, left to right: Ildi, Lea, Karen, Flora, Sara
Seated, right to left: Zsuzsa, Tamas, Gergo
They surprised Lea with a birthday cake in the shape of VIRGINIA,
with Richmond, Charlottesville, and Stuart marked by candles.
Impressive, huh?
Ildi's daughter Kati will celebrate her birthday this week.
Doug's brother Dave swarmed by Hannah, Haylee, and Karen
On Sunday evening, Karen and I and several others from Tabernacle Church
went to see an outdoor presentation of Shakespeare's The Tempest at
Agecroft Hall.
Before the show, we had a picnic together with everyone, including....
...our dear Spenge...
...and newlyweds Greg and Melanie.
The Deaf kids loved the attention that the CEO Team gave them!
Back row: Laura, Melinda, Erika, Dori
Front row: Ginny, Maria
Maria, Melanie, Melinda, Caroline, Gina
Here Ginny gets her hair done by Gina.
The CEO Team at the Vác train station:
Esteemed Leader Tom Foley, Laura, Caroline, Ginny, Melanie, Tom, David,
Doug & Karen
Our friend and former co-worker Vivian and her dog Boci
biked up from Budapest to Vác to see us last week.
The number of candles on Vivian's cake was the square root of her age.
(This was Karen's idea.)
Wednesday night our Bible study group got together for our final meeting.
Because most of our birthdays happen in the summer, we celebrated early.
The number written on the cake (25.4) was the average of our ages.
This was also Karen's idea. If you're wondering why the number was
so low, consider that Arwen the Hamster turns one year old this summer.
Summer birthday babies: Orsi, Joanna, Lea, Hugh, and Arwen the Hamster
The crew that went "on holiday" with us this past weekend consisted of
twelve adults, one two-year-old boy, and nine girls aged twelve
and under.
Karen was by far the oldest and the tallest.
We drove and then walked to an air show.
The dads liked it more than the kids did.
A classic shot of Lake Balaton
The whole group
Lea's college roommate arranged for baseball hats to be made
and delivered to the Deaf kids. The hats were passed out last week.
The question is, does V stand for Vác or for Virginia???
Erika
Melinda, Erika, Gina, Doug
Doug and Gina
Renáta got in the way of a pose
Monika, who today threw with Doug 13 times without missing the ball!
Szimi, who is working on her hula technique
Zoli, not long before the hula hoop hit his ankles
Our Budapesti Deaf church.
Back row: Doug, Szabi, Zsolt, Lea
Front row: Dalma, Adici, Kinga
Zsolt and Dalma
Yesterday Lea delivered some photos of the kids to the kids.
A couple of them thanked her, but most of them wondered why
they weren't given more. Those that got only one or two photos
were really ticked! After some explanation, they seemed to
understand that printing out every picture was too expensive.
Here are some of the 94 pictures that were taken at the Deaf school yesterday.
Monika, Gabi, and Dori
Niki and Anna.
Anna was in the Bible club that we participated in in 2003-2004.
She's 19 and mothers lots of the little kids. Yesterday she was
arguing with a teacher because one kid was on the playground
in her fancy shoes.
Lajos (Louis) was also in the Bible club four years ago.
We just found out yesterday that he and Erika are siblings!
Here's a portrait of most of a class: In the back are
Alex, Lajos, Szilveszter, Marton; in the front are Melinda,
Zsuzsi, and Timea. Zsuzsi (Susan) was one of our favorites
from way back. If you heard us speak in the States since 2004,
you heard about this kid. She's still tiny and full of fire,
and we still hope she finds out just how much God loves her!
Bendeguz and Caleb.
Bendeguz is a LARGE kid for his age. His mom moved to Vác
so Bendeguz wouldn't have to board at the school. He's a smart kid,
although he—and the rest of the kids, for that matter—tend toward violence.
Caleb McBrier is a 15-year-old friend who lives a few blocks from us.
He's a pitcher on a Budapest Little League baseball team,
and he comes to help out at the Deaf school on Tuesdays.
On Saturday afternoon, the Budapest Wolves American Football team
(www.wolves.hu)
beat the Vienna Vikings, who had been
undefeated since 2003. It was quite a joyful victory!
Lee Hlavka, head coach of the Wolves (in white shirt below),
is
a friend of ours. Please pray for him,
because he suffers from a
degenerative nerve disease.
After the game, Doug talked with Wolves player Noure Khoury.
On Sunday afternoon, we watched our 15-year-old friend
Caleb McBrier pitch in a little league game.
Here he is rounding third.
Here's what the center of Vác looks like from the
other side of the Danube river.
We got this shot coming back home after Caleb's baseball game.