We arrived! Friday, October 24

We arrived on Wednesday evening!  It was raining "cats and dogs," there was a cloud layer over all of Europe from Frankfurt to Tirana, but the plane somehow found the airport, and popped through the cloud layer landing without incident.  That is all good! Alban took this picture as we were coming through the door.

For the first time in years, we were asked to put our luggage through the x-ray machine... but there was nothing of interest!  So, we loaded them back up and proceeded out the door.

Yes, it all fit in Alban's car... I was surprised.  He was so kind, and took us to our new abode... the Jolly Hotel right around the corner from the Qendra Stefan.  We settled in, had dinner and slept.  It reminds me of that song, "Sleep, glorious sleep... " (instead of "food").  It felt good to lie down.  Both Katie and I enjoyed the trans-Atlantic flight at the bulkhead.  We could get up without too much incident, and also stretch out without a problem.  Wow, different from all those other flights that make you bend into a pretzel.

This morning we met with Adi and Berti - it was wonderful.  This trip just feels like we're home!  It is so familiar!  And the people are so good to us!

We will be doing some sewing with this group at CRU - next Wednesday.  Adi and several other women are making the "Road to Albania" from years ago.  Wednesday, we will sandwich and possibly quilt a smaller project, though.  We'll decide what we are going to do with Adi, hopefully this weekend.  Already, Adi has the batting we brought as well as the other things she requested.

Today was spent contacting people.  We are ready to see four or five people tomorrow to plan our days, and it sounds like we will be traveling to Kosovo.  Berti and I discussed those daunting speeches I will give.  And, I never took public speaking!  Well, God will find me there and use me for His purposes, I'm sure.  We also talked about other important things... did Adam and Eve speek with the animals in languages that they both understood?  Did Adam and Eve actually hear God walking in the garden?  I know it doesn't make a whit of difference for our salvation, but I must say I enjoy trying to figure out weird things about the Bible.  

Tomorrow we see our friends from the suburbs.  One of my projects was to try to come up with a piece of jewelry that based on an Albanian artifact, and turn it into something (hopefully) that can be sold as a tourist souvenir.  Here is a embellished purse found in the area surrounding Tirana...  here is the adaptation... well, now that I look at them together, I wandered fairly far afield, but you can see the similarities.  Pray that this is sale-able here.

Well, it is 4 or 5 in the morning.  This trip, so far, is like a past one where I would wake in the middle of the night and not be able to return to sleep.  Hopefully, I'll acclimate more readily than I did before...  Katie is doing somewhat better than I am, but it is a tough transition sometimes.

See you guys soon!

Mirupafsim.

PS - To our friends in California... rain still does exist!  It still is wet and wonderful!