It's finished! :)

Oliver now officially has a big boy bed! He came home yesterday from Nagyi and Papa and found his bed in his room! To say that he was excited is an understatement!!! :) He slept there last night and is napping there right now. He still needs to practice going up and down the rope ladder, but he is doing great!

Also, you may have read in our e-mail update and/or newsletter that we are heading into a busy month, full of ministry, trips, etc. We will probably have internet access, but not sure how often we'll be able to e-mail or post! So feel free to e-mail us and don't forget our Name the Baby contest! :)

Where is my bed?

See how poor Oliver doesn't have a bed and he has to sleep on the floor? Well, not really, but he likes to make a little resting place under the kitchen table for some reason. :)

There are better days coming for Oliver, though. Right now Matt is finishing up Oliver's Big Boy Bed that he made for him. Tomorrow Oliver will sleep in it for the first time - we'll make sure to post a picture or two! Father and son have spent several hours in the workshop, hammering, sanding, and painting away. Well, except for the times when Matt turned on the power saw, which made Oliver leave the workshop fast! He is just scared of that thing! Recently he got over his fears of the shower and the car wash, so it won't be long when he conquers his negative feelings towards that awfully loud power saw. Go Oliver! :)

Cherry picking again

It seems like the Tatabanya cherries ripen later than the Budapest ones. Here is a new way of picking cherries from our neighbors' tree! :) They don't mind at all and there is still loads on the tree that can't be reached.

Many thanks to our neighbors and Dollar General for sponsoring this action.

World Cup

Are you watching the World Cup? Not to say that we are big soccer fans, but we do enjoy to watch a game or two, and being in Europe, this is quite inescapable. Because we don't have a TV, Matthew sometimes hops on his bike and goes to the World Cup tent in town, where he can watch the games. He saw one game Brazil played at the Correas, our Brazilian teammates' house - that was fun! :)
If they make it to the finals, I want to be in their house for the game and see how the Brazilians cheer for their team!!!

Watching the World Cup in Melinda's family's household is quite funny. I visited my parents this week, because I translated a few Bible studies at our home church in Budapest and they watched Oliver. Anyway, my mom is not a soccer fan either, but because she used to watch a lot of games with her dad in the 60s, when Hungary had a great team, she still likes this sport. My dad, on the other hand, is the "non-typical man" in this respect. So when Brazil played Japan the other day (quite a good game!), my mom and I watched it, whereas my dad was on the computer and didn't even turn around when a goal was scored! :) (De nem baj, Apu! Mi így szeretünk téged!!!)

New use for the garage

This is an update on our Making Our All-Concrete Yard into Something Liveable project. Remember the garage the guys demolished a few weeks ago? Well, this is what the place looks like now. Not a huge improvement, but we are enjoying it. :)

As you can see, Oliver loves his little pool, which we bought today. Indeed, summer has arrived and instead of having the radiators on, we now have fans on full-blast (especially in the rooms where the pregnant lady is trying to survive the heat :)

We also have a few chairs and a table outside, so we have eaten there a few times and looking forward to inviting people over and having a cookout. The best thing is that this part of our yard is completely private! Not that we have anything to hide, but you don't want all the neighbors (and their many dogs) staring at your dinner! :)

Name the baby contest

We just wanted to update you on the baby's development. As my father-in-law likes to say, there is progress! :) (see photo). I am 7 months along, so we have around 10 weeks left before the baby comes. Thankfully except for being more uncomfortable, I have no major problems.

As for names, we are still working on them! We do have some we both like, but we are open to more ideas! Because we are not finding out the sex and the names have to work in both languages, our job is a little difficult. So if you are feeling creative, help us!!! Send us your baby name suggestions!!! If you are not familiar with names in both languages, that's no problem.

You can leave a comment here or send us an e-mail. If you suggest a name we end up picking, you will receive an amount of fine Hungarian chocolate (or baby carrots, if you're on a diet! :) equal to the baby's birth weight!!! (We stole this idea from our dear friends Tony and Debbie Lemmon - thanks guys!) Just to encourage you, Oliver weighed 3.98 kg (8lb 12oz) at birth! :)

Looking forward to your great ideas!

Matthew, Melinda, Oliver, and the Little Anonymous Baby :)

Pre-school Bible club

Today we had the priviledge to help out at the pre-school Bible club one of the ladies of our church leads. Gabi (she is the one wearing a red shirt) is an amazing person, full of energy and on fire for the Lord and shines brightly in the pre-school she teaches at. All the children come from atheistic backgrounds, so this Bible club is probably the only place they get the chance to hear about God.

We walked to a nice area by a lake, had a picnic lunch, sang a few Bible songs and did some games for the kids. At the end, all the kids received a colorful Childrens' Bible and of course some candy. :)

Oliver also had a great time and enjoyed the big kids' company. We hope to be able to participate in more events in the future and support

Cherry picking

Last weekend was a holiday in Hungary (Pentecost), so we went to visit Melinda's family in Budapest. My mom, Julia, is recuperating after foot surgery, and believe it or not, she loved having us all around (including the two active grandsons :). She can walk quite well (though the surgery was on both feet), but she gets a bad headache every time she sits up - possibly because of all the medication. So she spent most of the weekend on the couch, enjoying full-service dining and of course quality entertainment by the two little guys.

We had a good time together, including a game night, some good discussions, and a visit to the Museum of Transportation, which Milan and Oliver loved.

Even though the weather has been very cold in this part of the world (we turned the heating back on - in June!!!), the weekend had some nice hours. One of the things we did was attack my parents' big cherry tree that was loaded with fruit! Most everyone (well, except my mom) got on a ladder or on a branch and picked and picked...and ate a lot too! :) Here is a picture of all three of us in the tree.