Sunday Services, School, and our Shipment

There are so many days that I want to sit down and blog about everything that we are experiencing. However, there are many things that have been happening, and I don't have the time to write. Here is a short synopsis of some of the exciting things that have happened in the past weeks...

SUNDAY SERVICES:
On Sunday afternoons at 4pm, we have our worship services. We have been fortunate to have 8-12 people attend each service. John is new to being a pastor and preaching every Sunday. Plus, we are new at leading an entire service. There have been a few hiccups with the computer and slide shows, but overall we have been able to worship the Lord with gladness. It is always exciting to see the different faces that show up on Sunday afternoon. There are the regulars and then the people just passing through. No matter if they come every Sunday or if they are new, it is great to fellowship with other believers.

SCHOOL:
 Eli and Ada started Kindergarten/Preschool on September 1st. In the Czech Republic, they do not officially start school until 1st grade. So, both Eli and Ada are attending a Kindergarten that is really like a preschool. They go from 8am-12:30pm. They can stay all the way up until 5:30pm, but I figure that a half day is enough. They only speak Czech at this school. There are a few teachers that know a little English, so that is a blessing. They have someone come in to teach the kids a little English and German, but I don't think it will be much. So, I plan to teach Eli and Ada English in the afternoons. I will start "English Homeschooling" in October. Right now things are still crazy with getting settled... 

It seems that Eli and Ada like school. The first week was a little difficult. The first couple of days the kids loved school. Ada was a little chatterbox after the first day. I think they really wanted to play with other kids their age. After a couple of days, Ada started crying and said that she did not want to go to school. I think this was mostly because she missed me. Eli and Ada have been with me since the end of May. If we were in the US, I think we would have had the same problem. It does make it difficult that everyone at the school speaks Czech. However, the kids have already picked up a few Czech words. I won't be surprised if they speak Czech by the end of the year.

Surprisingly, many of the parents have reached out to us! There is one father of a child in Ada's class that speaks English. (I think he is British.) I have not met him yet, but he sent his business card home with Ada. I have emailed him, and we plan to get our families together sometime soon. Yesterday, a mom started talking to me in English. She said if I needed anything to call her. So far, everyone has been pleasant to us. We are very thankful!!! Someday I will have to blog about the difference between Czech Kindergarten and US preschool. It is very different!

(The new foot attire you have to wear inside the building.)

SHIPMENT:

We received our shipment from the United States last week!!! We were so excited to have our things. It felt like Christmas. It made me smile to unpack our everyday dishes. It seems like little things make me happy. I am so glad to be using more than 4 plates a day. The only sad thing is that some of my baking pans do not fit in the oven and some of our pans are too big for the stove. Oh, well. I am just glad that our things made it over the ocean.