The Magical Dalmatian Coast of Croatia

Sorry that I haven't had time to post more about our trip to Bosnia.  We're home and getting re-acclimated to our sleeping schedules and "real" lives.

These are a few shots from our first stop in Podstrana to catch our breath from the long flight.  It's on the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia along the Adriatic Sea.

In the meantime, here's a link with some more photos (but still not the whole trip).  They're on my Facebook page, but you don't have to sign up to see them here.

This last photo is from a little town called Omis, in Croatia.  I loved the architecture there!

We did a lot of walking on our trip, which was wonderful.  The weather was great everywhere we went!

We're Hoping to go to Bosnia!

Terry and I are excited about a chance to travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina for a short-term mission trip – our first ever! God has provided the opportunity and the availability of time off for us to travel and we are so very thankful. 

If we can raise the necessary funds, we'll go as part of a team from our church, led by Bob and Helen Ryan.  Helen leads Open Door to the World (ODW) an outreach arm of our church, Open Door Fellowship, in Phoenix and her husband Bob is an amazing musician and songwriter.  The Ryans have been working for years with the people and churches of this struggling nation since the war that tore Yugoslavia apart in the 1990’s.  

Open Door to the World, has worked to help bring hope and reconciliation to Bosnia since before the war's end. Beginning with a long-term assistance program to Bosnian refugees arriving in Phoenix, and working to impact the country with yearly teams to Bosnia itself, ODW has formed long-term relationships in the struggle for peace there. 

Mission:

This year, the Catfish Hunters musical duo (Terry and Bob Ryan) have been invited to perform at various venues in three towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina. What we’ve been asked to do is present songs that speak about forgiveness, hope and reconciliation to this war-scarred country. It's a badly needed message.

Now here’s the awesome part! 

Terry’s part in the team will be to use the musical gifts God has given him to minister in the cities of Mostar, Sarajevo and perhaps one other.  For those who haven’t heard him, he’s now playing guitar, mandolin, banjo, bass and harmonica.  Through the Coffee-bar performances, our Team’s prayer is to reach out to the communities as a connecting point between the Christians and their non-believing friends in those cities.   They'll be playing both at churches, to encourage believers, and in secular “Coffee-bar” venues to bring the message of forgiveness and reconciliation.

I hope to use my photography to capture glimpses of the stories of the Bosnian churches, people and ministries and bring them home to those who want to know more about the work God is doing there.   We also look forward to opportunities to share Christ and to encourage the hearts of the believers, young churches and our own Open Door Fellowship missionary family there (the Tinlin’s) in practical ways as well.    Along the way I hope to provide written and visual updates, whenever Internet access is available.

We hope to be a blessing to the people of Bosnia. And we believe that doing so in God’s name will be a blessing to us. You can share in that blessing – In prayer as we prepare and while we travel, in financially supporting this work, and by keeping in touch with what we find and experience as it happens, through our regular communications during the trip.

In a nation of several million people and fewer than 2,000 evangelical believers, the churches struggle to meet the needs of their members and to have a significant impact on their cities.

Open Door to the World ministry trips are financed through the fund raising efforts and personal contributions of team members.   Your participation with us is a significant investment in the Bosnian churches and their testimony in the surrounding communities. 

And so…

We would welcome any questions you have and will look forward to keeping you abreast of our plans, preparations and travels if you decide to partner with our team. 

Bosnia is still filled with strife and ethnic and political division. Without Christ, there is no solution that will bring these divided people together. Your prayers and financial support will give us the opportunity to use the gifts and talents that God has given us to encourage and minister to the people of Bosnia, using the universal message of music to reach across language and ethnic barriers to share the Good News of Jesus Christ!

To learn more about the goals of Open Door to the World visit www.ODFchurch.org and click on “Outreach”.

We hope you're as excited about this opportunity as we are! Can't wait to get there and see how God will use us to impact these communities.

Our Semi-official Christmas Letter - 2009

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Greetings to you, our dear friends and family!

If you have a few minutes, settle into your favorite chair and catch up on our latest news.

As always, God has been good and our year has been full!  Most of you know that we have been empty-nesters now for a few years.  The photo of the whole family was taken at Disneyland for our one weekend all together so far this year.  We’re excited that we’ll be together again for the weekend after Christmas.  Now let’s see what the family has been doing…

Kevin recently spent about 6 months in Afghanistan conducting some top secret missions with the Air Force.  He’s not allowed to tell us what he was doing for at least 50 years.  (Safe bet that we won’t even be around by then, right?)  He was honorably discharged from the Air Force in August and is now working for a strategy and technology consulting firm.   His job is located in Meridian, Mississippi, a somewhat smallish town a few hours from the gulf. Quite different from anywhere he’s lived before.  All we know is that he’s doing curriculum development and training for the military, relating to the equipment that he worked on in Afghanistan.  He’s been there since early October and is still getting acclimated to the job and the terrain.

Amy and her husband, Andrew are living back in Southern California, just a half hour or so from where they grew up (in Santa Clarita).  She was able to transfer with her job from a similar position in Scottsdale.  She’s an editor for press releases, so gets in on the breaking news before any of us hear it, but isn’t allowed to say anything.  She’s also pursuing her dream of being a wedding and portrait photographer and had the privilege of shooting a wedding in Italy, as well as several others this year.  Her hope is to eventually do photography full time, so if you know of anyone who’s looking, please pass her name along.  She’s willing to travel.  Visit www.TeeganPhotography.com to see her work.  

Andrew has pretty much landed his dream job!  A few years ago he attended The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences here in Arizona, and then was offered an internship at a recording studio in So Cal.  Since then he has moved to a new studio and has the privilege of working with and learning from a well-known mixing engineer.  He’s worked on albums by Green Day, Dave Matthews band, Hanna Montana and many others.  He also has a chance to do his own free-lance engineering work in his spare time.  He LOVES what he’s doing and is learning so much!

Terry is thankful to have survived a round of layoffs at American Funds and has been enjoying some special assignments in his job that keep him from getting bored.  He also loves the 10 minute commute!  During his free time he has been playing music a lot!  Just this month, in addition to the time he plays at church on Sundays, he played in a band for a Christmas concert for 2 nights, then with a different band at a CD release party at a coffeehouse the next weekend, and this weekend he played with a friend at the local Borders Bookstore.  He already has a few gigs scheduled in January as well. I'm so glad that he has the time and opportunities to express his gifts and talents in this way.  It's what he loves to do more than most anything.

As for me, I’m working 4 days a week for Uhlmann Family Offices http://www.familyoffices.org/ .  I enjoy a lot of variety in my position.  Parts of my days are spent assisting the non-profit organizations that share office space with us.  I have the chance to do a little bit of everything…event coordination, basic graphic design, photography, help with mailings, blog posts, website updates, and even a bit of bookkeeping.   I really love my job and my schedule!  My Fridays are precious to me because I have a chance to spend time with my mom and take her shopping, to doctor appts, lunch, the movies or whatever we decide to do together.  My sisters come along sometimes as well.  It gives me the chance to make up for some of the time that we lived in So Cal.  I love having that extra day to get things done either with family, friends or at home.   Speaking of extra time, I now have the time and energy to pursue hobbies like photography, blogging, crafting and hopefully sewing soon (when I get my machine).

Terry and I also were blessed with some fun travel this year.  We went to Steamboat Springs, CO for a week in the summer.  Kevin and two of our dear friends were able to join us too.  We had gorgeous weather and spent a lot of time outdoors.  In September we spent a long weekend enjoying Antelope Canyon and the north rim of the Grand Canyon with a couple of other great friends. The next weekend we drove to L.A. to go to Disneyland with Amy, Andrew and Kevin.  We had a blast!

In early November we spent a week with Terry’s dad and wife, Ginny in North Carolina.  We were treated to some amazing Fall colors and other gorgeous scenery there.  It was wonderful to have the chance to spend some extended time with them.

So what’s on the horizon for 2010?  You’ll have to ask the kids about their plans, but I’m hoping to travel to Fort Myers, Florida with my mom and sisters in February.  At 86, my mom still loves to travel, as long as one of us comes along with her.  We’re looking forward to visiting her half sister, Alice there.

In May, Terry and I are hoping to travel to Bosnia with a few people from our church.  Open Door Fellowship has had ongoing relationships assisting several churches there since their war and unrest in the 90’s.  Terry and two other guys are planning to go and play music at several churches and coffeehouses.  The men who lead worship at these churches are often the pastors who end up doing everything on Sundays.  The guys will be able to give these pastors some rest from that portion of the morning and will give the congregation a treat by having some different music and musicians.  They’ll also play at local coffeehouses to begin to make connections between the churches and the community they serve.  I will be going along to help with whatever I can and document as much as possible with photos.  They haven’t had anyone go with them to Bosnia for the purpose of capturing the images of the people and places and I hope to be able to bring home visuals that will help them spread the word about the work they do there and the needs that are evident.  We will be raising money for the trip in the coming months, which will be a first for us.

We'd love to keep in touch thru-out the year and hear updates from you anytime. We’re all on Facebook  (except Terry), so look us up there. 

We trust that you have a blessed new year, filled with the love of family and friends.  We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you in the coming year!

I'll leave you with a photo that we took of the family just this week.  Amy made the beards and mustaches as stocking stuffers for all of us.  Fun stuff, huh?

Love from all,

Nancy (and Terry)

Happy Birthday to me - Early Birthday Presents

I haven't posted in detail about it yet, but Saturday we had a get together at our house for Andrew's birthday and the 4th of July. Since my birthday is this week too, a few people brought over gifts early.

Now being from a large family, I never expect gifts for my birthday, especially nothing elaborate. And since last year for my 50th, Terry and the kids went all out, I am definitely not expecting anything big. With that said, it's always nice to get treated special, no matter what the occasion.

Amy & Andrew brought me these gorgeous beach glass wine charms. Based on the packaging, I'm assuming they ordered them thru Seashaped on Etsy. You know what wine charms are, right? They're supposed to be used to tell which glass belongs to which person. Unfortunately, I don't think these will ever make it on a glass. They're just too pretty! Here's what I'm thinking. I'll make each one into a necklace, or maybe I'll make a couple of them into (non-matching) earrings. Wouldn't that be awesome? Now I just need to find someone to show me how or help me do it.

My mom also gave me a sweet card and some spending money, which is ALWAYS fun!

My dear friend, Sharon gave me these lovely blue drink stem glasses that can be used for anything - wine, dessert parfaits or even water! They'll match the gorgeous blue glass pitcher that she gave me last year. She also topped it off with the yellow and green summery dish towels. She knows I love them!

What a fun day. Tonight Terry will take me out for dinner wherever I want to go. Seafood, of course!

Reminiscing...
If you have some time to kill, visit the Facebook Group called Hand in Hand (Phoenix, AZ). It's a collection of friends that experienced the old days of the Hand in Hand Christan evangelistic ministry in the late 70's. Terry and I were both in bands back then. There are some pretty funny pics there.

Our friend, Bernie Rolfe has also created a website with lots of history and even quite a few recordings from that season of life. There are photos there too.

Terry's band was Glory Road, and the band I was in was called Shira.

Enjoy!

A Trip Down Memory Lane...
I'm starting to work on a short slideshow of the history of our church, Open Door Fellowship. I recently attended our Newcomer's Class, even though I started attending over 30 years ago (with an 18 year absence in the middle when we lived in California).

They didn't have a class like this when I started attending when I was 16 years old, so I went to the Newcomer's Class just to see how they describe this unique family when people are new. It was a wonderful reminder of all the reasons that I love this place and hope that we never have to leave again.

Anyway, one of the Sundays they went thru the 30+ year history (which was fun). While they were talking thru it, I had so many pictures pop into my head of the various buildings that we met in, and the people in those "early days" when most of the attenders were hippy Jesus Freaks (in the 70's).

So I offered to work on a slide show that they can use in future classes just to give people a flavor of where we've been. It doesn't need to be anything too long because the newcomers won't really care about too much detail, but I thought it would be fun to give them some visuals just for the big picture. So, I'm starting to try to track down old pictures.

These are a few pictures that I came across of Terry and I and friends from the "early days" when we were each singing in Christian bands. Terry's band, Glory Road, was more rock n roll, and a little bit country rock. The band I was in, Shira, was more of a folk band. We had tons of fun.

If you notice Terry's pictures, he goes from almost no beard to a ZZ Top-type beard. Isn't he just so cute?

My hair was long, I didn't wear make-up and overalls were my very favorite thing to wear. I would still wear them if I could. They were SO comfortable!

The most awesome thing about all of these memories is that we're still in touch with most of these people on a regular basis. The picture at the top is my precious friend, Sharon and me when we were teenagers. She's also in the center of the last picture with her future husband, Jay on the left of the picture. She is still one of my dearest friends. We also just saw two of the guys from Glory Road a few weeks ago when we went to see John, who is still playing guitar. What an amazing gift in this transitional culture to have such sweet friendships that have continued over more than 3 decades.

I really believe that much of that is due to the environment of grace that has been cultivated in this place since the beginning. Don't get me wrong, mistakes are made and people are hurt because we're human, but the goal is to be able to forgive and continue to love each other, no matter what. I am so thankful to be part of this amazing family of God.

Christmas Sunday
As mentioned before, we waited to do our Christmas until Amy & Andrew were there on the weekend.
Notice Shredder in one of her favorite sunny spots. Her tail kept knocking down the trees on the window sill. She's so funny and oblivious.

Terry and I opened our Christmas Eve PJs and ornaments on Weds, but stockings and the rest of the gifts waited until Sunday. This is me in my new soft flannel pajamas, not too heavy so I can wear them longer in the year.
Amy & Andrew opened their Christmas Eve gifts on Saturday afternoon. This is Andrew's pirate ship ornament. He really likes pirates! Amy posted a pic of the camera ornament that we gave her on her Teegan Photography blog here.

Here's also a photo of Amy's new pj's and some new socks that Andrew's mom gave her. Doesn't she look cute and comfy? Then she's modeling her green cardigan from Julie, her mother-in-law and her red slippers. Classic Christmas colors!

Kevin called on Sunday and we gave Amy most of the time to talk to him, since she hadn't spoken with him in quite a while. She was excited to get to spend some time with her brother. We had time to talk to him on Christmas day, so we were happy to share. It was sad not to have him here, but at least we got to hear his voice and catch up a little with him. More to come about him in another post. We did find out that he's in Afghanistan now, and not Iraq. We miss him!

I thought I'd show you an example of one of the tags that Terry wrote. He started the tradition of the creative gift tags and Kevin and the others have carried on the tradition. There are some standards that I always get, from Terry like: To Lady, From the Tramp, or he'll write the name of the artist on a CD like: To Nancy, from James (on a James Taylor CD). So it's always fun to try to guess what's inside based on the tag. Kevin's tags are much more random and unpredictable, but lots of fun too.

Terry was fortunate to find out that he gets a $400 reimbursement from his employer each year for any money he spends on fitness related expenses. Could be things like gym membership, exercise classes, even Wii Fit. This year he chose to buy himself 2 new golf clubs, so they were like Christmas presents, but we got reimbursed for them. Cool huh? Now he just needs to get out there and actually golf. Note how close his club is to the overhead light. Fortunately he didn't break anything.

We all got great gifts! Way too many to list here. I especially like my digital picture frame and can't wait to get pictures loaded and take it to work. I also like the book on how to use exposure in photography. I've started reading it and have signed up for an official Nikon 1-day photography class that's coming to town. I also got permission to attend a class on Adobe Photoshop Elements during work time, since I can use that for some of my projects at work. I'm very excited about learning and using my photography more for gifts, projects, etc. this year!

Later in the afternoon I tried a new recipe for a seafood chowder that turned out pretty well. We served it in bread bowls with a green salad on the side. Mmmmm I'll post pictures on this later.

Maui - Happy Anniversary to us!

31 years as of yesterday! We've been having a blast! God was so good to allow us to come here to celebrate our anniverary and enjoy 10 days with some wonderful folks and new friends.

I still need to post about snorkeling, seeing whales and dolphins, Haleakala crater, the Tedeschi Winery where this picture was taken.

More pics to come.

Tonight we're going to the Feast at LeLe.

Just an FYI, I've been trying to post some comments to a few other blogs, but I keep getting an error message, which is frustrating. I hope they get it fixed soon.

Birthday Surprise (Day 4) This is the last one for my birthday weekend. Whew!

We woke up on Monday morning and Terry gave me my choice of doing whatever I wanted to do. Since he had been so good to me and spoiled me all weekend, I decided that I would choose something that he's always talked about doing. Whenever the subject of Meteor Crater comes up, he always comments about the fact that he's never been there but would like to go, so even though he made no requests to go there, that's where we went.
Just as we arrived a group was leaving for an hour "tour" of the crater. Basically we walked along the top edge for a short distance and heard some of the history about how they think it happened and the man who discovered, tried to mine and then preserved it for research and the public to enjoy. You can read more about it here. There was also this adorable German family on the tour with 4 little kids (about 2 - 8 years old) that just couldn't stay still. The guide (and Terry) were freaking out that they might fall down the edge of the crater, which probably wouldn't be too hard to do. The parents seemed pretty oblivious (as parents can tend to be when they're used to the chaos of having little ones). Thankfully everyone survived with no more than a scraped knee and a few tears.

The crater is essentially a massive hole in the ground where a meteor struck long long ago. It's about 550 feet deep, 4000 feet across and 2.4 miles in circumference. Cool thing is that many of the astronauts that went to the moon trained at the crater to try to simulate the lunar surface. In fact, when one of their training suits was torn by a rock, NASA realized that they needed to make changes in the design because a tear of that kind on the moon would have meant certain death.

The gray fenced area at the bottom of the crater is an area where they tried to mine iron in the early days after discovery, but were unsuccessful. If you enlarge the picture you might be able to see the full size cutout of the astronaut and American flag to give you an idea of the scale of the crater. You really can't see it with the naked eye at all from the top. It's very hard to get true perspective on the size from the ground pictures, so go to the website if you want more detailed information.
After we left the crater, we decided to drive down part of historic Route 66 thru Winslow and on to Payson then Phoenix. We had recently watched an Arizona Highways TV show about Winslow and remembered some interesting sights that we thought we'd check out...and how often are we going to get to Winslow anyway?
While driving along the highway, this train engine reminded me of my younger days when we lived just a few blocks from the railroad tracks. Whenever we were near the train we would always signal to the engineer or the caboose to blow the whistle and they obliged. My brother, Rusty ran away to California when he was only 13 by hitching rides on empty train cars too. I realize that trains may be obsolete someday. Cabooses already seem to be obsolete, which is kinda sad.
When we pulled into Winslow, first we stopped to see the statue commemorating the famous line from the Eagles song, "Take it Easy". You know the one, "standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona such a fine sight to see...".

I know it's cheezy and definitely just a way to get tourists to stop, but I took the bait and indeed stopped to snap a few photos just for fun. We also stopped at the gift shop across the street and I bought a spiffy little Route 66 coffee mug as a souvenir of the weekend.

On the way out of town we passed by their 9-11 Memorial which we had seen on the show, but completely forgot about until we saw it. There are photos here of the two twisted beams that the town of Winslow requested and received from the World Trade Center towers after 9-11. The plaque and American flag all stand at this same memorial at the edge of town. You probably wouldn't even know what it was if you were driving by, but if you get up that way, be sure to stop. I find it touching that this little town has chosen to honor the tragedy and those who died in this precious way, so far from New York, out in the middle of the Arizona desert.

After this stop we headed south thru Payson, then stopped for dinner in Scottsdale before heading home after a truly amazing weekend.

Birthday Surprise - Day 3 (part 3)
(you're probably thinking this is never going to end, huh?)

If you're looking for the winner of the book drawing, go here.

So I think I still have too much to cover in one post, so I'll just do what I can and finish the rest another day.

Sunday after Walnut Canyon we decided to visit the Arboretum at Flagstaff, which we had never heard of before. Apparently it's been around since the 80's, but that's about the same time that we moved to So Cal, so explains why we weren't familiar with it.

Anyway, it was a lovely place for a stroll as you can see from the photos, but was a bit frustrating because the map that they gave us didn't match the signs that were on the grounds which made it difficult to navigate around. We decided that the person or people who designed the map and signs obviously didn't understand the meaning of "attention to detail"...oh well, it was a nice cool summer day and we enjoyed our time there. The squirrel was in the process of hiding some acorns at the bottom of that tree, which was fun and it had been a long time since I'd seen a robin. They were so common in Ohio, but definitely not in Phoenix.

In our next post we'll head to Meteor Crater and take a drive down Route 66 thru Winslow.

Birthday Surprise Day 3 (Part 2) Exploring Nature around Flagstaff

Don't forget to scroll down to my post about the book giveaway and add your comment to get in the drawing. I'll announce the winner on Tuesday night.

So, on to the next report...after the kids headed east and west, Terry and I checked into our hotel, then decided to head out to a place that we hadn't been since the kids were young. Walnut Canyon, a great place to go in the summer to get out of the Phoenix heat and enjoy the cool and green of the north country.

Walnut Canyon is filled with Indian ruins and caves in the rocks that you can actually walk in and imagine what it would have been like to live in these dwellings hundreds of years ago.

Unfortunately, when we arrived we were surprised to discover that two separate rock falls had damaged the main trail at Walnut Canyon National Monument last December, 2007, depositing a 49-ton boulder, several other large rocks, and 100 additional tons of debris on the most popular Island Trail. The slide demolished concrete stairs, handrails, and a bench. The trail was immediately closed to the public, and park staff began assessing the cleanup process. According to reports, the project has proved more complicated than it first appeared, and the trail will remain closed through at least September of this year. If you plan to go up there sometime, I'd recommend calling first to see if the trail is open, since it serves as the only access to the cliff dwellings (the most interesting part).

Posted here are some pics of some of the wildlife that we saw. If you click to enlarge the 4th photo you can see at least 3 different dwellings in the sides of the canyon. You can see in a couple of the other photos what the dwellings look like from closer up.

In the 6th photo from the top, you should be able to see the large bird (hawk?) flying on the right side of the picture. It was really cool to see these birds soaring below us, when we stood at the overlook.

Even though we couldn't walk down to the dwellings, we still had a nice time. As you can see the clouds were a bit ominous and we heard some thunder and got sprinkled on a little, but we look forward to that around here. It's a nice change of pace.

Next we visited the Flagstaff Arboretum...