Łazenki Park

This is some stuff I shot today while meeting a friend for ice cream and a walk through the park on a beautiful day.

They are actually backwards from the way I shot them, but I don't feel like re-arranging. 

Enjoy! :)

us :) in "that's not traffic" aka, it gets worse than this - a lot worse!

pretty duck! with a not so pretty duck and pigeon behind him. Someone said his name comes from mandarin. I guess because of the orange color.
their squirrels are red instead of grey. This one let me get about a foot away and just stared at me while he ate his bread. I love his fuzzy, pointy ears!
a bad attempt at a good idea. I liked how he matched the hole in the tree with his shape, but he wasn't being a very good model. Plus I probably needed my other lens.
the ice cream :) mint - yummy

Easter

First off, I hope everyone had a very happy Easter! 

I am thankful that my God had a plan and has the power and authority to raise his Son, Christ from the grave so long ago, so that I might have the ability to live in Him. 

For me, this year was a time of reflection in a way. This was not my first Easter away from home, but it was my first Easter in another country. The traditions are different. They seem more aligned with what the holiday is all about, however it also seemed quite distant from the heart. 

Easter is one of the most celebrated holidays here. For some families, it is even more important than Christmas. During the weeks leading up to Easter, I found people participating in various ways. I had seen these things being sold in my bazaar and almost everywhere I looked for some time. I had no idea what it was until shortly before Palm Sunday rolled around. With the help of a friend, I learned they were palm branches. 

We left for church on Palm Sunday, and almost every Catholic church we passed had people flooding out the doors. They each had palm branches in their hands that they had either made themselves or bought. 

Palm branches were even being sold right outside the church that day. Some walked by as they already had a palm branch and others stopped to purchase one before entering the church doors. 

After a while, once the mass had started and the church was full, people stood outside and listened.

If only people gathered like that each week...where would our world be today? What would it look like if people gathered in groups all over the world to worship Christ, not just in buildings, but anywhere?

I saw children, each with their own branch standing outside the church. Some were playing and others stood and listened.

That morning as we drove to Otwock, I saw an old lady on her bike with the palm sticking out from one of her handle bars. Not long afterward, a family crossed the street, palms in hand. 

I found out later from talking with some people that in the villages, people will go into the forest and make palm branches from what they find. They make huge ones - some as tall as a person - and take it to the church. It's almost like a contest to see who brings the biggest and best palm that morning.

The traditions continue and the Saturday before Easter, people will take baskets of food to their church to be blessed by the priest. The baskets contain sausage, eggs, bread, and a "sugar lamb" made of cake, sugar or chocolate, among other items. After it is blessed with holy water by the priest, they take it home and will eat it the following day. 

On Easter in the States, I can remember going to our favorite Chinese restaurant because it was one of the only restaurants open. Here, not even a McDonalds was open on Easter Sunday. I think that as we drove around I saw 1 small food store open and maybe 2 street vendors. Aside from that, every major store, mall and restaurant were closed. Half were still closed on Monday. So, people took the opportunity to go to local parks and enjoy a beautiful day. 

I took the opportunity to enjoy the silence locked bazaar doors brings and catch a Sunday afternoon nap. :)

There is one thing I missed about being home for Easter, that I always miss when I am away. When I was a kid, my dad brought a dogwood flower to me Easter morning and put it in my hair. It's always been a sure sign of spring, and an early bloom. Each year following, another dogwood would be placed in the clip as I pulled my hair up for our Easter service. It would last long enough, until after I returned home. I found out they do have a type of dogwood here, but I haven't seen any of my most treasured blooms from home yet.

I hope to update soon about some exciting things coming in May. 

love!

Womens' Day

Who ever heard of a holiday celebrating women, other than Mothers' Day? It wasn't until I arrived here that I learned of such a day. :) I have to admit though, being a girl, I kinda like it! Flowers and chocolate - what could be better?

I got a beautiful red tulip on Sunday during our partner church's Agape meal. Instead of a more traditional service, we all bring food and have a meal with fellowship, worship through song and a short message along with testimonies from those who feel led. It's not terribly different from most Sundays, except for the food! It's one of my favorite times because I can watch the congregation gather and enjoy each other as we celebrate our Lord. As usual, I hardly know what is really going on, but I can feel the Spirit moving.

That evening, a group of ladies from our English Club decided to get together to watch a movie. They chose a Polish film - written in Polish, produced in Polish, filmed in Poland. How much did I understand? More than I thought I would, but still not a lot.

The evening, overall was a struggle at first. I had spent the entire day in Polish and was trying my best to keep up but failing quite quickly. I really wasn't sure that I could handle an entire movie in Polish - especially a chick flick, as those are not my favorite type of films to watch. We started with coffee and a social time in which a dear friend recognized the others around me were pre-occupied and I was left to observe. He came and joined me and we caught up on some good conversation. It was light, but still fun and something I had missed recently.

A little later that evening, God answered a prayer of mine in a way I didn't expect. I wondered why I was supposed to be there - why did I say I would go to a Polish film? Why was I not understanding? Oh.... one of many frustrations. All the sudden, it was like God truly just dropped the answer in my lap. An incredible question from someone gave me assurance that I was supposed to be there and an energy I was lacking all day. With everything appearing to be "wrong" or inconvenient, I was told that its not my burden. I felt like God just took the reigns and said, OK child.... let me drive a while. 

It's not always easy here. Life in general is difficult and just harder! It takes longer to get things done and the language barrier is unbearable sometimes. It's frustrating when I can think of every word I need except one!

So tomorrow I go to get my local residency card (again) and then to the Visa office to pick up my card. :) FINALLY! After Monday, everything will be finished and final and done done done! I can stay and don't have to worry about going to the Visa office again!

love to you all,

Kay

Another Snowy Day in Warsaw

It's been snowing...for days now. It started on Friday (the 13th). I've never had a bad Friday the 13th before, but this one was. First off, I lost my metro card with over a month still left on it. Not only did I lose it, but I lost it the day it began snowing....and it kept snowing and keeps snowing!

I've decided there's no hope for my poor metro card - oh well, such is life!

However, over the past few days as I wake up to big white, soft looking flakes, the snow has accumulated to a pretty nice height on my porch. It was flawless....a blanket of white splendor. I thought, "hmm, I should take a picture of this" .....then my doorbell rings. It's my language teacher ready to start lessons.  So we do. 3 hours later I had forgotten all about the photo I wanted to take until I looked out my window at my still perfect, snow-covered porch while I prepare lunch. 

"oh, I'll get the photo after I finish eating" I think to myself. 

Nope. Within minutes, I look back up and there are 2 lines of bird feet prints! "What!? Why?" Saddened, I continue working and look up now to see 4 lines of prints, now going in all directions. Then I spotted the culprits! 2 pigeons have decided to explore my balcony for a bit. I watch them roam around for a while and shake my head. "There goes the one beautiful bit of untouched snow left..." 

So, you get to enjoy the bird prints with me. At least something got to enjoy the snow! I have been tempted though to go outside and make a small snowman with what's there. And for those of you who know me and how I don't really like the snow, that's saying something! 

Fortunately, clear skies are in the forecast for the next few days but I fear snow will soon return on Monday. 

Otherwise, things are going well...we will have a time of worship and fellowship on Sunday together. Then, we are getting together for some FUN with the girls from English Club! Games? Movies? Food? who knows... Whatever it is, I hope a lot of laughter and smiles are included.

So with this I leave you... enjoy your warm, sunny days, rainy, cold or snowy ones... whatever the weather, whatever the temperature... have fun this weekend and find some smiles and laughter somewhere, dear friends!

Everyone can use a little sunshine in their life

It's the middle of winter in Poland, but you can see signs that it's starting to fade. Yes, we will probably have another good snow or cold snap before it is truly over, but at least there is hope! There's a touch of light in the sky... the sun actually does exist! I believe that everyone can use a little sunshine in their lives now and then. It just adds great color to everything around you, is bright and just makes me want to smile! The opposite is true with grey or rainy days... those are times you want to stay in, curl up under a blanket and not move. At least I do anyway! I have no desire to leave the comfort of my home, my blankets, candles and book. I mean, why go out? It's messy!  

I guess I truly am a summer girl! Considering I was born in the middle of summer, always had access to a pool, grew up in the beautiful and warm SOUTHERN state of North Carolina, and always preferred to go barefooted; summer just has my name written all over it! Therefore, its natural to also say that I don't like winter very much. It was cold and wet - 2 things I hated, especially when combined. 

Winter here has been symbolic of my life recently. I have had a lot of adjustments to deal with; some very difficult. I've struggled, questioned and have striven to find who I am in all of this. (thanks to a good friend who was a little needed sunshine) 

God talks about refining us by fire... sounds fun? nope... kinda scary actually. I mean, really, who wants to be thrown into a fire?!?!? Not me! ... but wait ... doesn't God have to throw us into the fire at some point? A lot of things get put in fire in order to come out "right". I think His children are included in the list of things that get put into fire... see:

The List:

clay

silver

gold

God's children

I was listening to one of my favorite artists, Shane and Shane, and probably my favorite song of theirs came up on my list. It's  called "Burn Us Up". It's a song about the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I keep thinking of how they got thrown into the fire, and survived. They came out unharmed. Man, just thinking of that makes me want to praise God and say, THANK YOU! Because I have hope that when I get thrown into the fire, I will survive because my God is big enough to do that!

It is only because He loves us that He will put us into the fire. It is only because He loves us that we will come out like He wants us to.

So, anyway, new perspective helps...and sometimes you need someone to tell you where to look. Now that I know where to look, things aren't so bad. With God's help, I'm pulling strings and straightening out the mess I have in front of me.

Anyway, here's a little something to show you what it's been like lately. These are all off my balcony. Snow....snow.... more snow... and in this picture, its actually snowing...

then, yesterday, this is what I got :) It got up to almost 40 degrees! wahoo!
a gorgeous sunset that only got better with time.
unfortunately though, there's still a little bit of Warsaw in it.... you just can't get away from the construction and cranes! They're out every window I look... 

so I took a picture of them. They don't seem such a bother when there's a gorgeous picture behind it. I just keep looking past the distractions and onto the sunshine in life. 

cuz like I said, everyone can use a little sunshine...

Castles and Snow covered mountains

Hey everyone! Sorry for such a late update... 

Happy 2009! I know it's almost Feb and I haven't updated this thing in forever. I apologize. Time just gets away, especially over the holidays! They were good though! It was my first Christmas away from home, so I decided to treat myself to a little vacation to Romania to see a friend. We had a lot of fun and it was a great time to fellowship and catch up!

We traveled a few hours away to the mountains. There were beautiful snow-capped mountains that we were able to enjoy for the day! My teammate went to see his friend, so the 4 of us hung out for the day and just enjoyed some of God's creation. 

We went part way up one of the mountains in this cable car. It was a gorgeous view (through the dirty windows) but a little frightening. They cram it full of people and I don't do so well with heights anyway.

  

You could see where the snow stopped, almost in a perfect line part way down the mountain. I had never seen snow covered trees like I did there... I had no idea they actually existed outside of movies!!!

New Years was also an adventure. They shoot off fireworks much like we do for July 4th, but they go off all over the city rather than just one show like we often have in the States. Imagine over 2 million people shooting off fireworks at the same time! We stood and watched the sky light up in every color. It was quite beautiful and although cold, definitely worth standing on the balcony for almost an hour. They continued shooting them off for 2 solid days and were shot off as early as 11am.

Just recently though, I had a chance to travel a little more through Southern Poland. We went to Częstochowa, a place that many Catholic Poles will pilgrimage to in order to worship in a church that has the Black Madonna, a portrait of Mary and Baby Jesus. This is a picture of it found outside the church in an arch way.

People will fill every empty space surrounding the church in August when the protective covering is taken off once a year. It was definitely an eye-opener into the culture here to watch the attitudes of people coming in such reverence to Mary. The church was packed, considering the time of year and we watched as people flooded in and knelt down at the beginning of Mass.

After that, we took back roads on our way to Kraków and stopped at a few castles. We did the same route coming home and stopped to see more castles. We saw 7 castles in 3 days! It was totally awesome. We would drive down the road, stop at a castle for a little while, drive a few more kilometers, turn the corner and there was another one. Some were rebuilt, some were original and some were in complete ruins. It was amazing to see how they built level buildings on top of uneven rock faces. I didn't realize how huge they were until you stand at the bottom and stare up this rock face that turns into a tower and walls. It totally rocked!

we had the chance to climb up some of the rocks surrounding the castle and got a great view of the courtyard side. This thing was huge and we spent all afternoon there! 

This was one of the castles we saw on our tour home. Thats me with 2 of my teammates.

The lighting was just so great that I couldn't resist doing some cool portrait shots with me and my teammates. We stood in one of the holes in the wall with one of the main towers directly behind us. You can see how the tower looks like it comes right out of the rock.

Yet another portrait... Im teaching my teammates how to use my cameras :)

Of course, I just had to have a shadow shot when we were climbing all through the rocks behind the castle!

This one had a cool legend where a priest apparently asked for a stone to be put in the ground like that. I'm not entirely sure of the legend or if that's even correct, but we referred to it as the "toothpick castle" ... you know, the one with the big toothpick rock sticking out of the ground next to it!

So those are just some of the adventures I have had in the past month or so. I have another one tomorrow morning with the Visa office. I will be going to ask for another extension. I turned everything in at one time; or so we thought. Then I go back to receive my decision of whether they will approve a 2 year visa so I can legally stay and they said I was missing 3 or 4 documents. We have turned everything in except 1 letter which is somewhere in the mail. I have to go tomorrow and ask for more time and pray the letter arrives quickly!

On that note,

PRAYER REQUESTS: 

- for my continued adjustment in Poland

- to stay grounded in God's Word daily

- opportunities to build relationships

- opportunities to share my faith

- Visa issues - I'm asking for the extension tomorrow, however they could at any point decide not to approve it and I would have to leave the country for 3 months. I have faith that God knows what he is doing, but please still lift it up!!! 

Thanks!

me

Shoeboxes

Photos from my latest email update, just incase you can't get them...

The Chistmas tree with all the gifts.

Santa giving out presents to each child.

The little boy who carried around his box just hugging it for 20 minutes without even knowing what was inside.

while others opened their boxes immediately.