Thankful

Thanksgiving time already? Crazy. I'm sure those of you back in the States feel similar to us. We can hardly believe that we've been here for almost 3 months already. We've even gotten a little nostalgic this past week. Sometimes we look around and remind each other of the first time we saw the city, the main square, all the times we got lost or went the wrong way and how we swore we'd never learn to get around. But here we are, having to remind ourselves of those moments we were in awe and for the most part we've stopped getting lost. 

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. This past week we started the process to officially have our visa for the next year. We were connected with an American missionary family who had an organization that would be able to invite us as volunteers and so we are pursuing that and should have our visas sometime next month. Thank you to all of you that have been praying with us for this to work out. It's a huge step and things are looking really positive. This visa procedure has also allowed us to become better connected with the missionary community here in Zagreb and for that we are most thankful. They have truly shown us God's community here as they have taken us in and gone above and beyond to be helpful. 

We also got the opportunity to spend time with some of our Croatian friends this past week too. Jerry's spent a lot of time with his frisbee team and gotten to build relationships there. We spent Friday evening at Jadranka and Vito's for my birthday and it was a great birthday. She made me some Spanish inspired food and it was a great night of awesome food, time with friends and our Croatian parents that we love so much for taking care of us those first few weeks. We also had our first big gathering at our apartment so we could get some help with the 2 cakes I got for my birthday. We also made salsa and queso for them and it was a hit. Overall, we have just really begun to feel a little more at home, like this is where we are and live. And that is something we are beyond thankful for. 

In talking with Vito and Jandranka this past weekend Vito mentioned something that has stuck with me. We were having our nostalgic moment( I told you we were having them a lot), remembering our first night in Zagreb when Vito took us for chevapi and ice cream in the Centar and just telling them for the thousandth time how much we appreciated them taking care of us and he shared with us again the story of how we came to stay with them. For those of you who don't know it was pretty last minute and their son had just left for London to study hours before. Yeah, they are completely amazing for taking us in.  They said how they liked having us because the house could be full again even though they were missing their son. Then Vito said "I think God does that. He often does not just one thing but more than one that work together good: like our son leaving and you coming. We both needed that." 

So this Thanksgiving I'm thankful to be apart of the many things God is doing. Grateful to be serving a God that weaves many things together for good and humbled to be learning from the amazing people he has given us as friends here in Croatia. Happy Thanksgiving Week!