slovakia, part 2: long flights, Vienna mornings and Bratislava

howdy y'all. welcome back for part 2 in my adventure! so excited to be here, as always!

it was an eight hour flight total. I was in a middle seat, in between Hutch and Emily. now, Hutch is a 15 year old growing boy, and he took up his fair share of the room. and Emily took up her fair share as well. not to mention the fact that the middle seat just isn't the most comfortable. but somehow we managed. (I managed...) Hutch slept most of the flight, Emily slept some and I slept none. I listened to my iPod for hours straight, read some, wrote in my journal and just sat there, drinking water, eating when I felt like it.

that is NOT the way I recommend enjoying a long flight. that's a good way to be miserable. just fyi. :) but it was all okay. I was just happy when we landed. I gathered up my trash, my backpack (which felt INCREDIBLY heavy) and we disembarked cause the ark was parked. :)

we expected it to be hot. in the 80s, maybe even the 90s. y'all. it was 54 degrees. it was absolutely heavenly! I quickly found a bathroom and changed into a different shirt and skirt and then we all just stood around. our flight was early, but Pavle was on his way.

Pavle Cekov. that man is one of the most amazing, godly, passionate men I have ever met. from the moment he walked into that airport, I knew that we were going to be good friends. and we were. it was the best thing, to be around him and learn from him. he has so many stories of how God has worked in his life. I literally could have sat for days and just listened to him talk to me.

we were able to tour Bratislava that day. it. was. beautiful. Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and it was your typical old European city. old buildings, castles, cobblestone streets. it was breathtaking. I was in awe the entire time.

walking. 

a palace in Bratislava

Pavle gave us so many great details about Bratislava. 

the US team with Pavle in Bratislava

From Bratislava, we hopped back in the van and drove towards Nove Zamky. (let me be honest here, I slept every spare minute that day. "we're gonna be in the van for 10 minutes?" I'm sleeping. "We're gonna sit down on this bench and wait for someone?" I'm sleeping. it was ridiculous).

we stopped for a very late lunch. I had some delicious chicken soup and pizza. (for the record, Slovaks have soup before every meal except breakfast, so we ate lots of soup). I had my first taste of Kofola. what is Kofola, you ask? oh honey.

{prepare yourself for what's coming...}

 Kofola. and we are not obsessed. AT ALL.

okay, so I just totally lied. we are obsessed. and proud of it.

Kofola is a Slovak/Czech Republic drink, that's kind of like Coke, but not really. its flat, isn't sweet at all and tastes so doggone good. I literally drank more Kofola in the 12 days that I was in Slovakia than I have drunk any other beverage ever.
the "Kofola team" consisted of Hutch, David from Romania, Samuel and David Cekov and me. we added some others to make them feel loved, but they weren't the real deal. they weren't obsessed, they just tasted. weirdos. :)

okay. we can try and move on now. try. because I would just talk about Kofola all day...

we finally made it to our home away from home. Nove Zamky. the place that totally stole my heart. but you'll have to wait to hear about that tomorrow.




 

slovakia trip, part 1: goodbyes, first flight and DC

hey there, blog world. it is finally time to begin the great recap of my Slovakia trip. YAY! I know you are all so excited and have been dying to hear about it. (that actually isn't sarcasm...some of you have used those words on me!) so! here we go!!

oh, yeah. there might be someone reading this, thinking, 'wait, you went where and did what?' you can hop right over here and here  and read those two posts and you'll be set. :) please and thank you.

okay. my adventure started on the morning of June 26th. and when I say the morning, I mean, 1:30 a.m. my flight departed at 5:45 a.m. and I had to be at the airport by 3:45, and so I was up and ready to go by 2. yep. I was pumped. so pumped.

I spent the night before I left with Michael and Heather and baby Zeke. (that's my oldest bro, his wife and my nephew for any newbies around these parts). Michael got up before the crack of dawn and we headed to the airport, me totally pumped and excited...him...well, he swears he wasn't emotional...so whatevs. we listened to Bieber (which I need to write a post about...gulp...) and I really enjoyed those last few minutes with my brother.

we got there and he took care of getting my baggage labeled and all that, just let me sit and drink my coffee. then we hugged, said "I love you" and he went back home to go back to bed. I checked in my baggage, prayed with my team mates and we went through security.

security was a breeze. I will admit, I had been worried about it, but heck, I aced it. :) seriously, no big deal. we got through security and still had over an hour and a half wait before we boarded so I took that time to look at Facebook, Instagram, read blog posts that I had missed, drink Starbucks and basically tap my foot wanting to get the show on the road!

finally it was time. we boarded.

me and Emily, my roomie.

y'all. my first flight was awful. the worst thing I have ever experienced in my life. I was sick as a dog. lost my stomach at the very beginning. it was a short flight, but the plane was so small and it was hot and bumpy and...yes. awful. never wanna go through that first flight again.

we landed in Dulles around 7:30ish, and then we headed towards DC. we grabbed two team mates from the DC area and all went to get breakfast together. that was a totally great breakfast. it was at this nice Greek restaurant and their pancakes were so. good. it was fun to be together with the US team. 12 in all. Mr. Lou, Mrs. Sue and Paul, Emily, Hutch, Mrs. Dee, Mrs. Deb, Mr. Frederic, Mrs. Donna, Mrs. Nancy, Mr. Hayward and me! really, the greatest mission trip team in the history of the world.

a very shameless "I made it through my first flight" bathroom selfie :)

after breakfast, we headed into the heart of DC. we parked in the Arlington National Cemetery parking garage, and I headed into the welcome center to meet up with some of my favorite people on earth. that would be my cousin, Janice and her kiddos: Grayson, Lucie and Violet. (my cousin, Rob, was working, but he's a favorite, too). I got mommy hugs from Janice and we set off to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers.

I'll be honest. I was emotional. I love history. it has always been my favorite subject. I teared up more than once that day, looking at different things. it was hard and so amazing all at the same time.

if there was one thing I wanted to see, it was the World War II memorial. I didn't care what else I saw. it was everything I wanted it to be.

I really was pretty strong til we got here. Grayson and I hopped out of the van and went to look around by ourselves (since parking in DC is basically non-existent!). when I saw it, I'm not sure if my heart stopped beating or was racing. it was such a weird emotion.

my great-grandfather was in the Marine Corps in WWII. he was on Midway Island, building airstrips. he was on Guadalcanal. he was at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed. I have literally never felt so proud in my entire life as when I was standing there, looking at the names of those islands, reading them over and over again, knowing that my granddaddy fought on them so that I could be free. knowing that he fought for me. it was an experience I will never forget.

after that, we went to the air and space museum and looked around there a little bit, and then headed back to Arlington, where we exchanged hugs and "see you later's" and I was off to meet back up with the team.

from there, we drove back to Dulles International Airport, and started through security. that was a nightmare. worst airport experience ever. we were in line for over an hour. finally, we made it through, all clear and grabbed some food before hopping on the plane...and it was at this point that I realized that we were missing two key players. Mrs. Donna and Mr. Hayward. They were behind us in security because they had to park our vehicles, and they weren't on the plane!

we all said some quick, urgent prayers and they were heard and answered, and Mr. Hayward and Mrs. Donna arrived, breathless and red-faced, only a few minutes before take-off.

and then it was time for an eight hour flight across the Atlantic Ocean. I was taking off on the biggest adventure of my life. and I couldn't have been more excited.

a year

wow.

yeah. just wow.

July 30th was two days ago. and it was the anniversary of the day I started blogging.

I knew it was, but I was working that day, so I didn't write a post. besides, my thoughts would've come out jumbled. I needed time to process somewhat.

I've been blogging for a year. a whole year.

its a really funny thing, blogging. you sometimes write things that you don't want to post. you sometimes don't write things that you do want to post. you sometimes write things and post them and then later totally change your mind about that. (are you confused? yeah, me too).

I've blogged about fulfillment. I've blogged about my family. I've blogged about preparing for someday. I've blogged about me.

I've learned a lot from blogging. I've made some best friends from blogging. I've grown because of blogging.

so here's to another year of this crazy thing we call blogging. here's to many more posts, lots of good pictures, and many more friendships. here's to this little blog of mine.

happy thursday, friends.

home.

it's a nice place to be really. although I fell deeply in love with Slovakia, I did miss my family and all the craziness that goes along with having 7 younger siblings. 

          (the vbs camp in Slovakia.)

I cannot wait to tell you all about the trip and share lots and lots of pictures with y'all, but for now, I'm still trying to process my own thoughts. so just be super patient with me and I'll be back as soon as possible! 

  (pica, emily, me, david, hutch and paul)

 

have a great weekend friends and I'll hopefully be back next week! :)

xo,

Jennifer 

introducing Amy

hey there friends! well, as you read this I am in Slovakia, loving on kids and showing people Jesus' love. it's such an exciting mission and I can't wait to share my stories with y'all!

but for now I get to introduce you to someone really great. Amy and I "met" several months back. I found her blog and after reading several posts, I knew that we would be friends. some comments were posted, she read some of my blog...that led to emails being exchanged and prayers being prayed for each other. THEN, we exchanged phone numbers. God is so so good and I have seen Him do such good things in Amy's life as she grows to love Him more.

so anyway, without further ado, check this lovely friend of mind out!!

Hi everyone! My name is Amy, and I blog over at Sweet Home Santa Barbara. 

I am so blessed to be sharing my heart here as Jennifer is out sharing her heart in the mission field. What an amazing opportunity! Can't wait to hear all about it when she gets back :)

As I prayed about what I should post on, it became super clear that I should share something that I've recently struggled with. 

Or, let's be real, something that I'm still struggling with. 

I am a class A people pleaser. The more I get to know myself, the more I see how often I am searching for identity and value in the opinions of people here instead of the opinion of the One true King. 

I used to search for security in relationships. And somewhere between unsuccessful relationship A and unsuccessful relationship D, I started searching for security in my friendships. While that may seem a whole lot healthier, it really isn't. It leads to a place where I am not serving my friends, but rather using my friendships for identity and self worth. 

God has been showing me more and more why this is not what He wants for me. The things of this world can never give us what we're looking for, even the most wonderful people just can't fill us they way that we desire to be filled. 

And that's why we were put on this earth to serve one another. When we are truly serving, we are not looking for anything in return. 

I recently came across the story of the teachers of religious law interacting with Jesus in Luke 20. I've heard this story many, many times, but for some reason it hit me differently this time around. As I was reading, I couldn't help but notice how concerned the religious teachers were about what others were thinking of them. 

'Did John's authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?'  They talked it over among themselves. 'If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn't believe John. But if we say it was merely human, the people will stone us because they are convinced John was a prophet.' So they finally replied that they didn't know. 

And Jesus responded, 'Then I won't tell you by what authority I do these things.'

Luke 20: 5-8

The religious teachers were so consumed with what others thought, that they missed out on valuable lessons from Jesus. I realized that I have done the same, many, many times I'm sure. 

And after reading this story, I realized that I had to put an end to the constant over analyzing, and people pleasing. I had to truly let God be the source of my identity and confidence, and stop looking to other people to fill that role. 

When I let God be the source of my validation, He will never fail to make me feel wanted. And I will be left feeling free to truly serve my friends, without looking for anything in return. 

Anytime I feel myself growing concerned with what others think, I remember the story of the teachers of religious law in Luke 20. I remember that I do not want to let my own insecurities get in the way of the teachings of Jesus. 

And I cling to the truth in Galatians 1:10.

I choose to be a servant of Christ. Even when it's hard, and doesn't at all come naturally to me, I choose to seek His approval, which will always be there. 

XO,

Amy

Romans 8:38-39

Nothing can ever separate us from His love

the best thing about today was... (vol. 1)

(stealing this idea from my sister, Becca. go visit her here).


the best things about today was...working on a new blog design! Sorry if things are a bit messy for a little while. :)

Have a lovely Thursday, friends!

where you invest your love, you invest your life

As I told you in my last post, I've been doing the She Reads Truth: Hosea plan with some of my beautiful blogger friends. Loving it, too. It has been so amazing. 

Last night, I had gotten a little behind, so I played catch-up. I was listening to "Awake My Soul" by Mumford and Sons, and it just so happened that they used the lyrics in one of the readings! (Coincidence? I think not...) Here's some of my notes:

-"Come let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up." Jesus allows us to be broken. He helps us to realize just how much we need him. When we get to the point where we can't go on anymore, we understand that we are nothing without him. 

-This book is a beautiful picture of faithfulness. There is a bride, a bridegroom and the things that draw the bride away. She deserts her groom, leaves him behind but expects him to be there if she gets into any trouble. And the groom just stands there. He waits, watches, heals, restores and constantly loves. That is the story of the gospel. It is a story of redemption and restoration. It is a story of forgiveness and faithfulness. It is the story of how God never changes. 

"For every look you take at yourself, take ten looks at Christ. He is altogether lovely." -Robert Murray McCheyne

-The larger my view of sin, the larger my view of the cross. 

"Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love...it is time to seek the Lord..."

"In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die

and where you invest your love, you invest your life.

In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die

and where you invest your love, you invest your life."

Awake My Soul-Mumford and Sons