I am in awe of the kindness my friends and neighbors have shown me since we have moved here to Banja Luka. Hospitality is an innate way of life for local people. They serve and care for us as if we had always been here. It is very humbling to be the recipient of such love and care, especially with the knowledge that most people here live very modestly, very economically. Even more than hospitality, life definitely has a different pace, and while it challenges my "list-maker-check-the-the-to-do-list" mentality, it also embraces me with the "Mary" aspect of relational living in my rather "Martha"ish mindset most times. Today, I drove our language teacher's mother Nada home. She and Tamara had spent the day with the children while we were at some training. At the end of the day it was just Nada and I because Tamara had to leave earlier for class. Nada speaks very little English and my Serbian has a long way to go! Coupled with trying to drive stick and maneuver through late afternoon traffic while trying to answer questions, it was comical (or dangerous!) indeed! We got to their home and Nada invited us (C was with me) in for coffee. We visited and practiced language. It was a lovely afternoon. We met Nada's father and Tamara came home later and then her brother came home too. We shared pita and stinging nettle juice (much better than you might imagine!) around the table. We talked about funny things and heartfelt things. Suddenly I realized the sun was getting quite low and as it has been setting around 7:30, I realized Keith might be wondering where we had gotten to over the past couple hours! This had not been my plan for the afternoon, but I cannot think how we could have spent it any better.
Hi there! Miss your family. Congrats on new baby! Gabrielle misses Cordelia very much and would like to keep in touch with her as a penpal! Love to see your newsletters and blog. LEt's stay in touch. Culture shock period for us right now here in Jordan. Heading into month 6:-)
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Delanie
5/7/2013 01:55:06 am
WOW mom.
LOVE YOUR WEBSITE!!!
Maybe add a few more pages.
Your Loving Daughter,
Lanie
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Jennifer Wagar
Currently, my husband and 7 children and I are living in Banja Luka Bosnia on an adventure following after Jesus and desiring to be on a path that glorifies God and brings others to Him. I'm pretty simple. I love photography and books, coffee and tea, and of course, chocolate. I am trying to understand life and how it looks for us in a totally new place. I am finding that process provides a whole lot of laughter when we allow it.