Hi everyone!
I just wanted to share some great pictures of our family enjoying Christmas with you all. Enjoy!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
It has been quite a while since we posted on this blog but Rastislav and I have decided to keep family updates here as well as our Slovakia updates. This way we can keep things organized for our family and friends. If you would like to see more specific updates or art and craft updates by Maria you can visit her personal blog here. So, happy 2012 everyone. Our latest update is that in 2011 we had a new baby, a little girl named Teresa. She is growing strong and healthy and as of January 26 is 6 months old. We now have 5 children and love every minute that we spend with them. Rasty is the senior Master Technician at IOT where he has been working for the past 7 years. Maria is at home taking care of baby Teresa and getting Nikolas (4) geared up to go to Kindergarten in the Fall. Susanna, Jonah and Mariana all go to L'Toile Du Nord French Immersion School were they speak French all day while learning their other studies. We just had a bunch of work done on our house to waterproof the basement and are still planning on several more projects for the beginning of this year.
Last summer Rasty's parents came to visit us for a few weeks. We had such a wonderful visit with them and had plenty of time to do real all-American things with them like celebrate the Fourth of July and even go to a couple of parades. They really enjoyed themselves but ended up having to leave before the baby was born. This Christmas they sent us a bunch of goodies from Slovakia including chocolate Christmas tree ornaments and homemade Oblatens.
Already this year is in full swing for us and we are busy again with the kids schools, work, knitting and swimming lessons at the YMCA. We love and miss all of our friends and family and always appreciate any contact or visits!! Hopefully we can plan on a little traveling this year to see some of the many people we care about.
Last summer Rasty's parents came to visit us for a few weeks. We had such a wonderful visit with them and had plenty of time to do real all-American things with them like celebrate the Fourth of July and even go to a couple of parades. They really enjoyed themselves but ended up having to leave before the baby was born. This Christmas they sent us a bunch of goodies from Slovakia including chocolate Christmas tree ornaments and homemade Oblatens.
Already this year is in full swing for us and we are busy again with the kids schools, work, knitting and swimming lessons at the YMCA. We love and miss all of our friends and family and always appreciate any contact or visits!! Hopefully we can plan on a little traveling this year to see some of the many people we care about.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Running behind
We apologize for the delay of this post.
We are back safe and sound. The trip back was fine. we will write about it but instead of one big post we will do couple of shorter ones.
After getting back from the castle we finally settled down a bit. Kids were helping Babka and Dedko ( grandma and grandpa) feed animals. I do have to mention that it was quite early in the morning. Sometimes as early as 6am. They fed goats and chicken and then they went to have breakfast. Our taste buds were a bit challenged ( Rasty was used to most of the stuff) some kids handled it pretty well, some not. They also started to get involved in Slovak language.
Along with us there was Rasty's cousin visiting next door with their little son Lukas. The kids had a Lot's of fun together. Babka bought a kids swimming pool so whenever weather permitted they played in water. The weather was OK almost like in MN morning warm, noon hot, and afternoon showers and T-storms. Well this much for now. We will do some more later
Tank you for all your prayers. God's blessing to you all.
We will be posting pictures on our web site soon
We are back safe and sound. The trip back was fine. we will write about it but instead of one big post we will do couple of shorter ones.
After getting back from the castle we finally settled down a bit. Kids were helping Babka and Dedko ( grandma and grandpa) feed animals. I do have to mention that it was quite early in the morning. Sometimes as early as 6am. They fed goats and chicken and then they went to have breakfast. Our taste buds were a bit challenged ( Rasty was used to most of the stuff) some kids handled it pretty well, some not. They also started to get involved in Slovak language.
Along with us there was Rasty's cousin visiting next door with their little son Lukas. The kids had a Lot's of fun together. Babka bought a kids swimming pool so whenever weather permitted they played in water. The weather was OK almost like in MN morning warm, noon hot, and afternoon showers and T-storms. Well this much for now. We will do some more later
Tank you for all your prayers. God's blessing to you all.
We will be posting pictures on our web site soon
Monday, July 6, 2009
Slovakia
Hi everybody, we have arrived. Sorry for the delayed post, we have been a bit busy.
The Tolo reunion was great. It was very nice to see all of the family, meet new people that we knew were in the family but have not met before. We also got a chance to meet some of our Norwegian family. After a first bit cooler day we had beautiful whether and we all got sun burn. We are good now.
The flight from Seattle to London was quite pleasant. Nikolas got to sleep in his own bed. He had sort of a car seat attached to the wall and that’s were he slept. It was a bit harder to Vienna because he had to be on the lap for the whole flight. (2.5 hours) and then we drove over night to Rasty's home town. Came home about 5am and we thought that kids would still go to sleep but NO. They were so excited, went to see all the animals, and start playing outside. Although about 11 am all of us crashed and slept till about 4pm that day. Now we are used to local time.
Over weekend we attended Rasty’s family reunion in Myto. It was also fun to see all of the family members. There were about 133 people all related. The local church was full. We stayed the night in the local hotel that the original building belonged to the family. (we got 20% discount on stay) . From there we did a small road trip to High Tatras and we also stopped at castle Stara Lubovna. It was a lot’s of fun for all of us, especially kids. They loved the castle.
Kids are doing great in communicating with their grand parents. Rasty has to translate a lot but we are also having them to use some Slovak words. We all are having great time.
I would like to thank all of you for all your prayers. We also are praying for you.
Gods Blessing and see you later.
The Tolo reunion was great. It was very nice to see all of the family, meet new people that we knew were in the family but have not met before. We also got a chance to meet some of our Norwegian family. After a first bit cooler day we had beautiful whether and we all got sun burn. We are good now.
The flight from Seattle to London was quite pleasant. Nikolas got to sleep in his own bed. He had sort of a car seat attached to the wall and that’s were he slept. It was a bit harder to Vienna because he had to be on the lap for the whole flight. (2.5 hours) and then we drove over night to Rasty's home town. Came home about 5am and we thought that kids would still go to sleep but NO. They were so excited, went to see all the animals, and start playing outside. Although about 11 am all of us crashed and slept till about 4pm that day. Now we are used to local time.
Over weekend we attended Rasty’s family reunion in Myto. It was also fun to see all of the family members. There were about 133 people all related. The local church was full. We stayed the night in the local hotel that the original building belonged to the family. (we got 20% discount on stay) . From there we did a small road trip to High Tatras and we also stopped at castle Stara Lubovna. It was a lot’s of fun for all of us, especially kids. They loved the castle.
Kids are doing great in communicating with their grand parents. Rasty has to translate a lot but we are also having them to use some Slovak words. We all are having great time.
I would like to thank all of you for all your prayers. We also are praying for you.
Gods Blessing and see you later.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Getting ready to go
Well it's been while since we did an update. so here are some updates on our trip.
First of all, we would like to thank all of you for all of your prayers. Things are coming together for both trips, Washington and Slovakia.
After hours of talking to the passport agency and visiting them personally, today (satureday) we received them in the mail. We needed to expedite them and there is a cost to it by for some reason we did not have to pay for that (Thank you Lord). We only paid for shipping so we could get them before we left. We got confirmation that the car in Slovakia is ready for us. Tickets are ready, now we just have to pray that there will be a seat available on planes for Nikolas. Because he is under two and is not paying full fare price he is not assign the seat. So if there are seats available we might get a sit fot him. If not, he will sit in our laps.
Our dog situation is solved. our friend Lynn will be staying in our house while we are gone. It worked out perfectly. Her rent was up so instead of finding something really fast we offered that she can stay with us and even after we come back and that way she can find something in peace and also help in our need of taking care of our home and pets. Some friends also offered walking London. THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
Rasty has recieved an invitation to share at a camp "KECY" in Slovakia. Its a youth camp that is organized by the youthgroup in Bardejov and its also English speaking camp. That is something that we needed to support our misionary fare. Please pray that God will use him there.
We would like to thank all of you that helped us financially. We really appreciate it and we will be praying for you.
Please keep checking on updates while we are in Slovakia.
First of all, we would like to thank all of you for all of your prayers. Things are coming together for both trips, Washington and Slovakia.
After hours of talking to the passport agency and visiting them personally, today (satureday) we received them in the mail. We needed to expedite them and there is a cost to it by for some reason we did not have to pay for that (Thank you Lord). We only paid for shipping so we could get them before we left. We got confirmation that the car in Slovakia is ready for us. Tickets are ready, now we just have to pray that there will be a seat available on planes for Nikolas. Because he is under two and is not paying full fare price he is not assign the seat. So if there are seats available we might get a sit fot him. If not, he will sit in our laps.
Our dog situation is solved. our friend Lynn will be staying in our house while we are gone. It worked out perfectly. Her rent was up so instead of finding something really fast we offered that she can stay with us and even after we come back and that way she can find something in peace and also help in our need of taking care of our home and pets. Some friends also offered walking London. THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
Rasty has recieved an invitation to share at a camp "KECY" in Slovakia. Its a youth camp that is organized by the youthgroup in Bardejov and its also English speaking camp. That is something that we needed to support our misionary fare. Please pray that God will use him there.
We would like to thank all of you that helped us financially. We really appreciate it and we will be praying for you.
Please keep checking on updates while we are in Slovakia.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Will You Please Feed Me?
For those of you who haven't meet our dear little friend, we proudly introduce London. He is an 11 month old Cockapoo who couldn't be sweeter and more lovable. If you like dogs, or know someone who does, please consider helping us out this summer while we are in Slovakia. Sadly he is one of the loose ends that we haven't been able to tie up yet. Can you believe that no one has volunteered to feed this cutie and walk him while we are gone? If you can help let us know, and tell your friends too! We can afford to pay a reasonable amount for your troubles... (as if he would be any trouble). London is very friendly and lovable, sweet and gentle with kids and just eats up all attention. The only problem is that he get so lonely easily. The ideal situation would be if someone could stay in our home to keep him company or take him to their home while we are gone, however we are getting desperate so people who could do drop by visits at this point are wanted too. It is possible even that some people would be willing to share duties with others. Again if you would like to help, or know someone who would, please let us know ASAP!
Friday, May 8, 2009
We thank all of you again for checking up on how we are doing and how our trip preparation is progressing. Right now we are really working on all of our passports and making sure that we get any paperwork taken care of that needs to be done. So many people have been so generous in helping us and praying for us. Thank you to the Paulson family, the Putzier family, and the Jore family. Every blessing and contribution large or small is so encouraging to us and we really appreciate that.
An answer to prayer lately for us is that we have a family friend in Bratislava who is willing to loan us a vehicle to use when we arrive there after landing in Vienna. He is also taking care to make sure that good car seats will be installed for all of the kids which is a huge blessing so that we won't have to lug our own along with us. We will be using this vehicle to travel from the South Western most part of Slovakia to the North Eastern most part of Slovakia were Rasty's family lives. This will be a big and interesting part of our travel so please pray for traveling mercies!! The blessing in this is that we will see a lot of countryside and many beautiful sites along the way, and perhaps we will stop somewhere fun for a while depending on how the kids are holding up.
Maria has recently posted up some items on eBay to try and make some money for the trip. Right now there are some old comic books that we have had given to us from Maria's brother. Soon hopefully there will also be some of Maria's handspun and hand dyed yarns, jewelry, and artwork up for purchase. I will post some links so that if anyone would be interested in contributing in that way they may do so.
Meanwhile Rasty is working very hard and trying to get new customers for his company so that he can make some commissions from signing them up with their printer service. If anyone knows of a potential client please let us know or you can have them call Rasty directly for more information. Call his work number at (651) 775-6011. He keeps it on at all times and has lots of information to give so go ahead and call! This time getting closer to our trip is a little stressful for us sometimes and we so appreciate your prayers for peacefulness. Maria is also starting two online classes for this Summer semester and is trying to secure an internship for next Fall. She will have to bring her laptop on the trip to keep up with homework assignments and online work! Also she will be doing research on this trip through Slovakia for a class that she will be taking next Spring and so has a lot of work to do as well. The kids are all finishing up school and trying to get outside as much as possible. We are doing as much as we can to prepare them in anyway, especially by telling them about the differences in culture they will experience, teaching them Slovak phrases, showing them pictures and telling them all about the animals and farm and forest that they will get to explore at Babka and Dedko's house. We know this will be such a challenging and rewarding trip for us all and we look forward to sharing our experiences with you all.
Thank you all for your continuing support in so many ways.
I also just want to thank those who have contributed to us by donating food for our family and have offered to meet with us and pray for us. We really do love you all!
An answer to prayer lately for us is that we have a family friend in Bratislava who is willing to loan us a vehicle to use when we arrive there after landing in Vienna. He is also taking care to make sure that good car seats will be installed for all of the kids which is a huge blessing so that we won't have to lug our own along with us. We will be using this vehicle to travel from the South Western most part of Slovakia to the North Eastern most part of Slovakia were Rasty's family lives. This will be a big and interesting part of our travel so please pray for traveling mercies!! The blessing in this is that we will see a lot of countryside and many beautiful sites along the way, and perhaps we will stop somewhere fun for a while depending on how the kids are holding up.
Maria has recently posted up some items on eBay to try and make some money for the trip. Right now there are some old comic books that we have had given to us from Maria's brother. Soon hopefully there will also be some of Maria's handspun and hand dyed yarns, jewelry, and artwork up for purchase. I will post some links so that if anyone would be interested in contributing in that way they may do so.
Meanwhile Rasty is working very hard and trying to get new customers for his company so that he can make some commissions from signing them up with their printer service. If anyone knows of a potential client please let us know or you can have them call Rasty directly for more information. Call his work number at (651) 775-6011. He keeps it on at all times and has lots of information to give so go ahead and call! This time getting closer to our trip is a little stressful for us sometimes and we so appreciate your prayers for peacefulness. Maria is also starting two online classes for this Summer semester and is trying to secure an internship for next Fall. She will have to bring her laptop on the trip to keep up with homework assignments and online work! Also she will be doing research on this trip through Slovakia for a class that she will be taking next Spring and so has a lot of work to do as well. The kids are all finishing up school and trying to get outside as much as possible. We are doing as much as we can to prepare them in anyway, especially by telling them about the differences in culture they will experience, teaching them Slovak phrases, showing them pictures and telling them all about the animals and farm and forest that they will get to explore at Babka and Dedko's house. We know this will be such a challenging and rewarding trip for us all and we look forward to sharing our experiences with you all.
Thank you all for your continuing support in so many ways.
I also just want to thank those who have contributed to us by donating food for our family and have offered to meet with us and pray for us. We really do love you all!
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