It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like...Groundhog Day!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.... the sweet missionaries put up our Christmas tree last week while I finished making lunch for them and we have been blanketed with over a foot of snow this weekend. It is a gentle reminder that time is passing and while we are not counting down the days until Christmas, we might be counting our time left in Sarajevo which is now down to 50 days! It is passing very quickly and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it... as I've probably said 100 times this week alone, it's very bittersweet.

This is out our back window.... and it was still snowing!

I love the evergreen trees when they are covered
in a blanket of fresh snow! 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with many special people. We were blessed to have all 14 of the Bosnia missionaries gather in Sarajevo for feast and fun. One of the families that work for the American Embassy, Rhett and Camie Rhees, have a large home and gave us the key while they traveled to Budapest for the holiday. We were sad they didn't get to spend the day with us, but grateful for their willingness to open their home. It would have been a tight squeeze to fit everyone into our little apartment but because of their gracious offer, we had two ovens and tons of space to accommodate everyone for the feast followed by lots of game playing! We were also joined by the other embassy family, the Woods, and our good friend Emir and his darling family. It was so good to hear little voices laughing and little feet running in circles around the house from the four little kids. It was a very traditional Thanksgiving meal with a huge Butterball turkey (thanks once again to the Rhees family) and all the trimmings. As much as I dislike cooking for just Denny and I, I love cooking for a crowd and really enjoyed my time spent in a real kitchen. hahaha!

The young missionaries came over the day before and helped
with the preparations. The sisters made delicious pumpkin pies!

Elder Corona (white shirt), who is from Tasmania, asked if I would make a
Banoffee Pie. I asked his mom for the recipe via Facebook. Well...
I got the ingredients and let him make it instead with a little
help from Elder Leach! He said it turned out pretty good! I didn't try
it because I don't do bananas unless you can't tell they are bananas.

It was so fun to have so many people gathered
around for the table for the holiday!

I especially loved having the kids there! This is the Wood family.
Shay works for the American Embassy and his wife, Alexis, is a
speech therapist and helped us with our iPad project. They are
awesome people with a couple of super cute little boys!

Carolyn Bradford and her husband are senior missionaries serving
in Banja Luka. Coincidentally, the Bradfords lived in Ashburn, VA
the same place we lived in. They moved into the area just as we
moved out, but we know many of the same people. It's a small world!

Emir and his wife, Dijana, have become like a second family to us.
Emir does legal work like visas, selling cars, writing humanitarian
project contracts and telling us how to stay out of jail here in Bosnia.
The mission would really struggle in Bosnia without his assistance.
They are two of the people we will miss tremendously when we leave!
(Somehow I didn't manage a picture of their two cute kids, Ema and Tarik)

There was lots of game playing following dinner!

Elder Leach (white t-shirt) had fun teaching others how to play
Seven Wonders...not quite sure he had fun losing to Denny
earlier that week though. And Denny refused a rematch!

More fun and games...

This week felt a bit like "Groundhog Day" for us. It was a week for "Part 2" of a couple of our projects. The first "Part 2" was for the Women's Health gynecological exams. Unfortunately, we weren't able to attend the clinic this time because it conflicted with our iPad training, but an additional 75 women received free exams on Saturday! That's a total of 150 women who received free screenings to help detect and hopefully prevent health issues. We also had an extension to this project approved to provide funding to offer exams in an additional city for another 70 women. Muslim Aid is a fantastic partner here and has handled everything, making our load much lighter.

After spending nearly three weeks programming iPads everyday , downloading software and fighting with App Store issues (talk about "Groundhog Day!"), we had our second iPad training held in Banja Luka this weekend with a total of 21 participants from 8 different centers attending. It was fun to watch their eyes light up as they realized the positive impact using the iPads will have on their students. I had several tell me they couldn't wait to get back to their centers and start working with the children using their new iPads and some of the ideas they learned at the workshop. It has opened new possibilities for them as educators and therapists and will in turn hopefully open up a new world of learning for their students. It gives us another reason to want to come back! To see how they are using the iPads AND incorporating them into the EDUS training they will have received. ("Part 2" of EDUS training is the week we leave in Jan.)

We haven't started looking at plane tickets yet, but we're definitely thinking about a return trip in May, just before school gets out. It also happens to be the same month as the annual horse show for Riders of Hope (and Pegasos) as well as the annual mission Kresmir Cosic basketball tournament. Denny is scheming how he can bring Bryan and Brennen out too so he can create a team to play in the tournament.

Alexis Wood put together an informative presentation on why
and how to use iPads effectively. Unfortunately, she wasn't able
to attend this training so, as the understudy, I got to do it. I
was very happy she had a great PowerPoint already done for me!

Participants testing out some of the applications

Another key part of this project is that we now have
local educators and therapist who are able to train others so
this project can continue to have an impact after we leave. Here
Edita, from Mala Sirena, explains how to customize
an AAC app into the local language.

Jasminka, also from Mala Sirena, also did a wonderful job
working with participants to  help them be successful in programing
and customizing applications to use with students. 

Participants programmed iPads into their preferred language.
Some into Croatian, some Serbian and one who wanted to
leave hers in English!

This is one amazing group of ladies (we did have some men
participate in the last training in Mostar) who are moving
in the right direction to change their world for good!

As we are wrapping up our various projects, we hope and pray that we have heeded the counsel we received in the Missionary Training Center to go "deep" with our impact. Our focus on improving life for those with disabilities has been rewarding. Mostly because of the people we have met on the journey. In addition to the children and adults with special needs, we've met parents, educators and therapist who truly want to make a difference, to change the way people with disabilities are educated and treated in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are the ones who have sacrificed to create havens for children and adults to feel loved and valued. They are the ones who have instigated change, who have spent countless hours working towards a greater cause. They are the true champions who are bringing hope for a brighter future. Their eagerness to learn and grow on behalf of those they love is why our mission has been so fulfilling.