The Greatest Tutor.

Ever.

Meet Terezia.  She's our language tutor that we see twice a week.

She was/is a professor and she knows her stuff.  She always keeps us on our toes and we couldn't be more appreciative!  She laughs and jokes, but takes our learning very serious.

And Jason can get her to do about anything.  Take this photo for example:

For a little background, this picture came about from a conversation we had about wearing head lamps in caves.  Please note how the head lamp is upside down.  She also has some random glitter/light spot on her upper lip.

One of the many reasons she rocks and we love her!

24 weeks!

Today we ring in 24 weeks of life (inside the womb) for our little one!

She's been growing and moving a lot.  She is about the size of an ear of corn this week and is developing more fully her lungs, taste buds, and skin! It's crazy to think about how that is happening inside my body.  Definitely a huge testament to our awesome Creator.

And while the combo of pregnancy and allergies really isn't my favorite, I am so thankful she is growing and that being said, I'll take the nausea any day.  The allergies...well, they can go away ;)

As for her name, we do have one picked out that we are pretty set on.  When we'll share it, well, I'm not sure exactly...maybe sooner than later.   We'll see!

The Dealio

Usually I like staying up to date on this here blog.  But this week, blogging just wasn't supposed to happen.

Here's the dealio.

It's been one of those weeks.  One of those weeks where you feel like you just can't get anywhere or get anything done!

Let me preface this by saying we know we have much to rejoice and praise the Lord over.  We generally don't like whining and complaining, but if we're being honest, we've both felt a bit more whiny this past week.

I'll explain.

1) Jas has been dealing with (for nearly three weeks now) a persistent cyst on his lower back.  I won't go into more detail (he'll appreciate that!), but it's been a literal pain in his, well, back. We've now made quite a few trips to the doctor and have been nursing it at home.  Not to worry, we're confident it'll heal...but it hasn't been too pleasant and it's hindered him from doing normal activities that he enjoys.  But I have a feeling it won't keep him down for much longer :)

2)  I have been enjoying allergies.  Let me rephrase that...I CAN'T STAND ALLERGIES.  Ok, now that that's off my chest, let me proceed.  Runny nose, sneezing constantly, itchy eyes, itchy mouth (seriously!), and itchy ears.  Not fun.  And to go with that I think I've given up all hope of getting rid of pregnancy nausea.  I think I'm one of those women.  You know the kind, the ones who are sick until birth day!  Pleased to meet you, I'm Charity, and I'm an allergic, nauseas pregnant woman ;)  I just keep telling myself it'll all be worth it when we get to see our sweet girl and that allergies will go away...eventually.

In addition this week we have done our fair share of studying Slovak. We've spent many an hour studying words and concepts and then quizzing each other.  We like to make it fun in between sneezes and trips to the doctor!

So, all in all, we'll be happy to usher in a new week next week.  Hopefully one with fewer doctor trips, fewer trips to the bathroom, and fewer tissues involved.

We'll let ya know how it goes ;)

We've got growth!

Well, it's official.

We've got growth.  Jason has succeeded in getting seeds to sprout.

It's exciting to see new growth!

I'm pretty proud of my husband.  I'm fairly certain if I was the one trying to grow plants from seeds that nothing would be there now.

Next stop...peppers!  yessssssss!

To the Zoo We Went

Today we got the chance to join two of our Slovak friends at the zoo.

We were STOKED!  It was a nice, hot day and perfect for enjoying the plethora of animals.

The only drawback (for me) was the killer allergens.  I think I sneezed my head off...ughhh...

BUT I did get some great shots of the animals.  And we enjoyed hanging out with Stela and Martin.

Mama and baby.

One word...adorable.

Little piglet.

Meet Jason's brother, Monkey ;)

Lunch = a plate full of grass.

Stela and Martin.  And a dino.  This zoo also had a DinoPark.

He does a really good T-Rex impression :)

Good times!  Thanks, Stela and Martin!

Lil Polas

It's true, I'm a sucker for a good craft/anything artsy.  I love a good craft blog.  So when I stumbled upon these lil cuties here, I couldn't resist making some myself!

Granted, hers look WAY better than mine, but I was working with what I had here people, ok? ;)  (In other words, I haven't found the local craft store yet hehe!)

May I introduce you to our new little polaroid (or pola) magnets?

It really was quite simple.  I just followed her tutorial.  I used the polaroid template she provided and then added my own personalized pics.  I then resized them down to a much smaller magnet-like size.

I brought them all into a big document and printed them out.  If I had had photo paper, I would have used that, but I didn't, so I just went with regular paper.  They would look better on photo paper.

Then I glued them on to some thick cardboard (I reused an old Ikea box) and taped over them with clear tape to give them that polaroid glossy effect.  Then I cut them out!

The hardest part was finding magnets around here.  BUT I did finally find them (thank you, Tesco)!  I glued those on the back and voila!  Adorable mini polaroid mags.

I think I'm in love :)

Frisbee in the "Snow"

On Monday nights Jas goes to a frisbee club to hang out and meet other Slovaks (and to develop relationships!).  I often go with him to get to know some of the girls that play and watch :)

Tonight he didn't play in the game because they were already in the middle of a heated one when we arrived, however, we threw frisbee a while with a new Slovak friend.

All the while we were throwing we were getting snowed on!!

Ok, not the for real, cold, icy snow, but POLLEN that resembles snow quite a bit.

The snow pollen as we call it now, is an allergic person's nightmare.

But it makes for lovely pictures!

Now that's some intense snow pollen right there...

Some under the leg action.

Uh huh.  That photo pretty much speaks for itself.

Showing off all the snow accumulated while throwing.

How about that for some frisbee playing in the "snow"?

Greens Gone Blue

So my family has a history of good gardening//flower growing.  Well, my grandmother and aunt, at least.  They can grow everything from orchids to lemons and oranges to nearly any flower.

My mom and I...ehh, we're a different story.  I won't speak much on my mom because while she has killed an orchid, she hasn't killed nearly as many plants as I have.  And she's good at a ton of other things, like sewing, for example.

Me, however, well, I think it's time to hang up the ole hypothetical gardening gloves.  Yep, I'm throwing in the towel (at least for now) on the green thumb.

What I'm getting at is, no matter how hard I try, I cannot keep plants alive.  I either let them die of dehydration, or I let them die from over-hydration.  It's a lose lose for me.

Exhibit A:  Potted flower Jas bought me.  Cause of death = too much water.

Exhibit B:  Flower from our teammates.  Cause of death:  Unknown? Lack of care? Too much or not enough water?

Exhibit C:  Orchid from my sweet friend Zuzka.  Cause of death:  NO IDEA!

At least two of the three orchid blooms are still alive (I promise I'm trying, Zuzka!)

Proof...Here they are in their purple glory.  We'll see how long I can keep the last two blooms alive.

Jas is now going to try his hand at gardening on the balcony in the form of potted veggies.  We'll see how it goes, but I have no doubt he'll do WAY better than I could! :)

Random Culture Post

WOW!  So finally Blogger got things together!

Here we go...a random post on various cultural things.

**I have an awesome Slovak conversation partner/friend (and so does Jas!).  This week I learned how to say "you stink like fish."  Doesn't everyone need to know that!? :)

**Speaking of language, Jas adds "I had a really rough day of language today" in reference to language class.  Ahhh...Slovak!

**As we were headed out to study the other day we were greeted by two Coca-Cola representatives handing out the tiniest (and yummiest) Cokes for FREE!!  We were stoked.  And I won't say whether or not my husband walked back by them later for a second...

**Speaking of second soft drinks, Jas has been on a soft drink kick this week.  We went to Austria for a chorus concert and there Jas got not one, but TWO Almdudlers (an Austrian soft drink).  His reasoning, "I'm hardly EVER in Austria to get these!"  Oh, my husband.

**While walking through some side streets the other day to an appointment, we stumbled on this quaint street.  I was digging these windows.

Hope everyone had a great week!

Baby Reveal!

Ok, for real this time.

We are so excited to announce...

It looks like Jas is going to have more than one lady around the house in coming days.  I think he'll handle it just fine ;)

The Lord is really teaching me a lot about trusting Him fully with this child's life.  It's HIS child and we are really just given the privilege of being guardians over it.  (note to myself as a future mom:  KEEP THIS IN MIND AT ALL TIMES!)

We're ready to meet her in September and look forward to what God has in store for her life.  We know He has taught us a lot through her already...seriously.  Now we're just praying she continues to grow and develop in the next 19 weeks like she's supposed to!

And I'm thinking it's time to think of a good, girl name...

My Man the Chef

The other night Jas had a hankering for something sweet.  There were some apples that needed to be eaten soon, some granola (museli) left, and some packets of cinnamon sugar in the cabinet.

So he set to work making a baked apple granola dessert (I can't even think of what we call this normally!)

Anyway...he created a sugary version of maple syrup (I think it's nonexsistent here, or if it's found here it's costly) with the sugar and poured that over cut apples topped with museli.  He then popped it in the oven for close to thirty minutes and we waited as the heavenly smell overtook the room.

Seriously, it had my mouth watering.

Then we ate it.  And I must say, for a creative, resourceful dessert, it was DELICIOUS.

He's a lil chef in the making (ahem, I mean a manly chef in the making)...

See I told you so!  We almost ate the whole thing before I snapped a pic.

P.S. -- Check back in the next few days for another sweet treat having to do with BABY PALMER :)

HOKEJ!!!

Our city has been taken over by a giant.  That giant is called HOCKEY (or hockej here).  It's huge!!!  And I'm convinced the whole city is in to it.

The cool thing is the World Hockey Championships are taking place right here in Bratislava across from our apartment building (well, practically).  The big arena and "Fan Village" are down the street and that's where the daily hockey games take place until May 15th (and in another town called Kosice).  We can see and hear a lot of the celebration going on from our balcony.

It's been pretty exciting to experience.  So much has changed, it seems, in preparation for hosting this large event.  Bus stops have been renamed and new stops have even been created.  The whole city is super clean. People are constantly bustling around our neck of the woods.  It's loud, unifying and all together pretty awesome to see.

The other night we headed down to Fan Village to see things in action firsthand (you can watch the games on tv...but in Fan Village they throw it up on a big screen for multiple person viewing pleasure).  And by multiple people, I mean A TON of people.

We were located right next to a fellow who thought it would be awesome to clang a cymbal every time something exciting took place (which in his mind was literally every few seconds...haha).  So other than busted ear drums, we came back happy to have experienced a big part of Slovak culture!

Maybe these will give you some idea of the madness...

We unsuccessfully tried to look mean...

And their heads weren't large enough ;)

Just one part of the field!

This is probably the best view for giving you a little taste of Slovak excitement for hockey.

Now if I can only work on understanding the rules better...

One of Our Favorites

Lately we've really been into VEGGIE PIZZAS.

I found this recipe tucked inside a book the other day and wanted to make it, so I did.  Then I made it again.  And I'm sure I'll make it again really soon.

Oh and did I mention it's super easy and very tasty?

So here ya go...one of our favorites:
VEGGIE PIZZA (at its finest)

You need-
pizza crust (I use the kind you bake first)
Ranch dressing pack
1/2 cup of mayo
8 oz package of cream cheese
any veggies you want (we prefer them finely chopped)

1)  Bake your pizza dough according to package instructions.
2)  Meanwhile, chop all your veggies.

3)  Combine ranch, mayo, and cream cheese.  Mix well.
4) Spread mixture on pizza dough (let it cool first), then sprinkle on your veggies! (I use carrots, broccoli, and yellow pepper, but any will work...radishes, tomatoes, olives, cucumber, etc...)

5) Eat up the colorful yumminess!

What are you waiting for!?!? :)

What is a CZECH SPA WAFER!?

On Saturday we got to hang with out a sweet Slovak couple.  We went to lunch with them and then visited a new castle just outside of Bratislava.  The castle was gorgeous and we really enjoyed the company.  We didn't get to tour the castle because we were short on time, but we hope to go back there with them sometime in the near future.

Soo....what does all that have to do with a Czech Spa Wafter you ask?

Well, they were awesome and gave us a bag full of goodies before we departed.  Inside were lots of sweets, chocolates, etc.  And one such box was labeled "Czech Spa Wafers."  We thought it was just a large box but with small wafers packed inside.

Well, we were wrong.  Jas opened the box to try them out and this is what I found when I looked over at him...

Um, HUGE wafers! As big as his head.  But for the record, he says they're really good and sugary.

And there you have it...a Czech Spa Wafer :)