Livin it up with the little lady

I had the chance to do my first overnight babysitting job last night with my own Eliana, it was great. Sharon had the chance to go to a women's conference in town led by Beth Moore. This was an amazing opportunity that Sharon had been waiting a long time for.
So I got to take of my girl by taking care of my little girl Friday evening till Saturday afternoon.
Now, I have to admit it wasn't very hard. Eliana was great, she took it easy on her dad. I also got to hang out with a buddy last night who was watching his kids so his wife could go hear Beth speak.

I got some great girls.

Size of SLO

Many have wanted to know facts and figures about Slovenia. Here are a few interesting ones...

First, for those who are a bit geographically challenged, Slovenia is in Europe not Africa.
Here is a map of Europe with SLO highlighted in dark green.

The population of the country is 2,053,355
The population of Ljubljana, the capital where we'll live, is 275,000
Ljubljana is about the same latitude as Astoria Oregon
57% of the people are catholic and about .01% are protestant and 10% Athiest.

Since a photo is worth a thousand words I'll keep this short and just let you see just how BIG the country of Slovenia is in comparison to the State of Oregon.



Thanks to Johnny Stevens for creating this JPG.

The Culprit Revealed

Last night we had Kathy Codanti over for dinner. She got back a couple months ago from spending a year over in Slovenia as an intern. It was a good evening hearing all that God did in and through her during her time in SLO. It was also good to ask all kinds of questions about Slovenia, the people, and the culture, especially since we haven't visited there yet.

One thing that we discovered was particularly interesting. It seems that Kathy was the one who suggested to the leaders of Josiah Venture in Slovenia that they should contact Sharon and me to come there and start a University ministry. We have a lot to thank her for.

So it was fun to hang out, catch up, and hear how God is working behind the scenes and to hear part of "the rest of the story."

It was also another good reminder of the specific needs in Slovenia and to be honest, we can't wait to go and help fill some of those needs.

livin the vida loca... not really

Well, we are still getting used to the whole parenting thing and especially how to get our little girl to sleep at night. She and we are doing well though.

I, Matt, am working as an electrician for the time being. Construction is slowing down but that's not a bad thing, it'll give me more time to focus on raising support.

Sharon is doing a great job at taking care of our little girl, who might I add is as cute as her momma.



As we mentioned before we are living with Bob & Anita Bailey right now. They have been gracious enough to open up their home as we prepare to go back overseas this summer. It has been good living with them, they are great people and super easy to live with. One of the many perks to living with them is their amazing house in the forest that overlooks the river. I love being out away from the city since I grew up outside of suburbia here in the country. Today was great, on my way home from work I even got to see 9 deer grazing in a meadow on the street we live on. It's rough.

Ceremonies abound

This last weekend Sharon, Eliana, and I got to be a part of some very cool events....

First, was Jason and Julie's wedding.
We had the pleasure of serving with Jason in Lithuania for 2 years and got to know, love, and appreciate him very much. We've also known, loved, and respected Julie for a number of years. But we always knew them separately and from different circles. It all changed when Julie came over on a short term summer team to Lithuania and met Jason. Their story began a year and a half ago and it has been so fun to watch it develop to this day.
This couple is very special to us because Sharon has been a mentor to Julie over the last 4 years while I have had the pleasure of being a mentor to Jason. We had a blast as we did their premarital counseling over the last few months and I also had the honor of marrying them on Saturday. It is so cool to see God bring such a amazing people together and create such a solid couple.




Second, Sharon and I had the privilege of dedicating our little girl to the Lord. We got to stand in front of our church on Sunday and give our word that we would try and raise her in a way that would please God and encourage her in the faith. We feel so blessed to have her and can't wait to see how God uses her to impact not only our lives but her world too. She's gonna be a sweet MK (missionary kid) who will rock it up in Slovenia!