Blessings

We are in our new apartment/condo digs, as of Sunday night. Once again, we are going non-stop just trying to learn how to get around in this big city. We have some fun ideas for our blog but have realized that until we are settled in our house there will be no "regular" postings :) This city was not made to drive cars in but in the last few years many more people have started to. Let's just say that's it's a traffic nightmare. The boys have been attending baseball training camp this week. The area where they play is called Erd, it's approximately 20 km outside of the city. Monday morning was our first experience with "rush hour" traffic and I wish you could have seen it - oh my! Sorry there are no pictures to begin to give you a taste of what it was like. The second day it took John two hours to get back to the apartment after he dropped the boys off. We can do nothing but laugh and assume with time that we will learn how to get around better. We are currently staying on the Pest side of the Duna but our home is on the Buda side. Not having to cross the river on a daily basis will make commuting easier for us.

When we arrived on June 11th, we stayed up until it was bedtime here. We were dragging by that time but we knew it would help us get on our new time zone. We are six hours ahead of Eastern Time Zone. On Saturday, the 12th, we went to the island in the middle of the Duna. It is a fun kid area. While the kids were playing a father and son heard us speaking English and came over and said, "oh fellow ex-pats, huh?" We said yes and introduced ourselves. We invited them to church the next day and he said he had been there and they would see us there. We got to meet his wife and daughter at church. We played once with them and our other new friends last week at the park and when we got to the apartment/condo on Sunday night to move in we recognized the stroller parked in the hallway and it turns out that they are our neighbors here!!!! God is good - always going before us and pouring out His blessings making sure we know He is with us!! We are so very grateful!! They are here with the father's company for 18 mos. Their containers have not arrived yet so they are living here until they can move into their house, just like us.

Before we left the US, I received an email from a family that had been here for about 8 mos. doing a similar assignment, and they wanted to extend their greetings and let us know they learned about our family from our pastor's wife at church. They also homeschool and have four children. We conversed by email and then we had the privilege of meeting them at church that first Sunday. We became fast friends. Their boys are who our boys are playing baseball with. We have been with them almost everyday since arriving. They are ahead of us on the learning curve and so gracious to help us. They are certainly ahead of us on the Hungarian language learning curve and we are making lots of plans for school things in the fall. We've met some other families that are here as missionaries and homeschool so we are hoping to have a fun group to either co-op with or just do field-trips with when school begins. Praise you Jesus!!!! Here's a few pictures of the kids with their new friends. We can't tell you how grateful we are for all our family and friends across the world. In this new season, we are especially grateful for these Godly families that we can walk this journey/adventure with.

The First Week

We will try to give you a taste of life in the big city. This is not going to be our norm but for now it is. We don't move into our home until July when our belongings arrive. Until then, we are on one BIG vacation trying to get our bearings. We are currently at a hotel and will move to a "condo" next week.

When I have to start cooking again it's going to be a sad day. The food here is AMAZING!!! They are very healthy eaters - only fresh, nothing prepackaged.

Freezers are not common here. For instance, they don't do ice in drinks and you very rarely see "fountain" drinks. We are big water drinkers. We have to order water and always have to be sure to order "still" water. The kids hate sparkling water. You have to be very careful at the market when you buy water that you have purchased "still." The breakfast at our hotel has such a healthy, tasty selection every morning. J and I are coffee drinkers and we just can't wait to get downstairs each morning and have coffee - it's amazing here. There are coffee houses on every corner. The first Starbucks opened in the city at the largest mall today. There is no need for Starbucks here though. The coffee houses here put Starbucks to shame. They don't do coffee as a drive-through thing. You go in and sit for hours and relax and chat, it's addicting :)
Our favorite restaurant is around the corner from us. It's our special family place to sit and discuss our day and how life here is different. Here's two pictures of it that the kids insisted I post-ha!


Right now our days consist of sight-seeing and trying to figure out the subway, bus and train system. This city makes NYC seem like a piece of cake to get around in, even by car. It's a good thing our kids have traveled alot and know how to use a subway system well, if they didn't, this would be even more complicated!! They have a much better sense of direction than their mama!!!

We will blog about some of the sites we've seen in a few days.

EUROPE, baby!!!

Well, the Handel's are officially here!!! We thought the day would never arrive when we actually boarded the plane to move to Europe for two years but if finally did. Spending more than 3 months with family and friends made it hard to leave but we knew the day would come when we would have to say good-bye. It was bitter sweet. We had been staying with my mom the last few months and it was hard to leave without bringing her along. She put up with us and our mess, not to mention our dog, Hannah, who she agreed to keep until our time here is done.

I'm too ADHD to blog/write but I'm going to try and update regularly (ha!) Eventually, I will turn this job over to the kids. Maybe I will become a better blogger by doing it more frequently. Right now our focus is on learning the language here.

We arrived on Friday, June 11th. We have been all over the city from the moment we arrived. Here are some pictures of our weekend.

Szent Istvan Bazilika

The kids engaging in a friendly game of soccer with three Hungarian children
at one of the local parks.

All the restaurants have outdoor seating and checked tablecloths. We really like all the different foods we have been eating.
Our church. There were so many nationalaties represented on Sunday morning. Russian, African, Romanian, Hungarian, American, Israeli and British just to name a few. It's amazing to worship with people from all over the world and be singing the same songs to the One and Only Lord of all!!!
The boys first baseball game

She's Healed

My aunt had her pet scan last week and there was no cancer that showed in it!!!!!!! Praise The Lord!!! We are thrilled and she has several opportunities to share about this journey to some groups this week and next week. We thank you so much for your prayers, they have been answered :)