Life is FULL!

Wow. Guys I'm seriously behind on blogging. So much has happened!
We are praising God for providing our newest blessing, Adeline Faith, born October 14, 2 days after Elijah's fourth birthday :)



We had a wonderful time in Budapest, staying with our dear friends the Sanders. We spent almost a month in the Sanders' home and taking in their wonderful hospitality. It was truly a blessed time. The labor and delivery were very fast and we had a wonderful experience! Adeline is simply beautiful and such a calm baby.We are so thankful for her. We had a very time leaving their home as their family became like our own. We miss them daily!

Since leaving, the Sanders' oldest son Luke (20 years old and studying in the US) was seriously injured falling from a high rope swing, and remains in ICU with bleeding in his brain. Please pray for Luke. You can follow his journey here

As for our family, we are gearing up for Christmas. The kids and I are doing an advent experience using Amanda White of Impress Your Kids "Truth in the Tinsel". It has gone great so far! As I type, the kids are playing with their nativity set. Let me just put it this way: I'm glad we have a wooden set! :)

Josh's book was released in September....check it out!

That's all for now...must go and play with the kiddos!

New Life...

For those of you who do not know already, the Irbys are expecting a little Irby to join soon! Baby number 3 (or should I say 4 since God took Little One to be with Him?) should arrive around October 19 in Budapest, Hungary. We have found a hospital there who takes our insurance, which is a huge relief. We are so excited to welcome this newbie to the Irby family! Israel and Elijah are excited...they can tell you themselves:



So cute! We are to thankful to have all of you who have prayed and supported us these past few months. And for those of you going through pregnancy loss, I can honestly say that God is faithful to redeem the pain and loss you are experiencing. When you are going through it it feels like you will never see the light at the end, but even the dark is not dark to God and He is with you. I never felt Him leave.

Josh's mom will come for a visit on Tuesday May 3 and will be with us for 2 weeks. We are grateful when family and friends come see where we live and we can spend time with them. This is Dea's first time in Sarajevo...so exciting!

Will update more later...

In Need of Grace

On a beautiful spring day, full of life and love, I am in need of grace. I have done it again. Messed up and lost patience with my children. Acted crabby, blamed it on chronic pain...difficult to live through but isn't God's grace greater? Scared my children will stumble in darkness because of my flaws in parenting.

But oh the glorious riches of grace! Of a God who can erase bad memories, empower for better living, "present us holy in His sight, without blemish..." (Col. 1) I'm so thankful for this promise. Once, I was alienated from God and made an enemy in my mind because of my evil behavior but now He has reconciled me by Christ's physical body to present ME (! EVEN ME!) holy in His sight, without blemish and FREE FROM ALL ACCUSATION!!!" (Col. 1) I'm so thankful for that. I am free from all accusation. Not only free from the enemy's accusations but free from my own accusations of myself!

So now I can enter this beautiful spring day. Full of sunlight, full of truth, full of confidence in the God who loved me while I was still a sinner....

Sun is Shining and so is Sarajevo!

Sorry it has been a while, folks. We have had a very long winter with snow last week. I was feeling the depression set in, but Spring is (finally!) here complete with beautiful sunshine, birds chirping and flowers starting to bud!

Last week we enjoyed a beautiful time together as a long term team (Jacksons, Troudsdales, Ceca and us) on Jahorina mountain with Rachel's dad who led us in a day of team building. We discovered our strengths and learned a lot about each other. The time was very beneficial. Rachel's dad has worked on teams for a number of years, so he is highly qualified in leading these discussions.

The kids are fully settled in their vrtic now and loving it. It's so fun to see them interact with their classmates and teachers. They are speaking a little Bosnian too. We are very encouraged.

One of my favorite things about spring here is going into town as a family. On Monday and Thursday nights, Israel has ballet downtown, so typically when the weather is nice, we walk into town as a family, get something to eat and chat with our friend Dzenana who owns a clothing store in town. I'm excited as this season is coming back around.

Josh enjoyed six days in Split, Croatia on a writing retreat where he got a lot done. Please continue to pray for Josh as he finishes his book about Miss Adeline P. Irby. He has only 3 chapters left to write! Then will start the long process of editing (which has already begun for the portions edit-ready) and then publishing. We are really excited about this opportunity to connect even more with this city we have come to love, Sarajevo!

Homeschool has slowed down a bit since the kids started vrtic. Before vrtic, I would do homeschool with them almost every day. Israel has started to read some basic words, and Elijah knows almost all his letters. But since vrtic started, neither them nor I want to do any homeschool, we just want to play :) We'll see when we pick back up with it, but I'm not worried since they are still really young.

Hope your start to spring is enjoyable! Let us know how you are doing :)

Another Post on Language Year

Sorry guys for the silence. It's been a bit of a zoo around here. I promise to update Irby Road soon, but until then please hop on over to Language Year to read the guest post I wrote :) Here's a little taste...

At the beginning of my language year, my 3 year old daughter was in preschool and I stayed at home three days a week with my one year old son. I wanted to maximize learning language together, so I googled learning language with children. I found a terrific website called Dream English (www.dreamenglish.com). A young man started teaching English to large groups of children. He had very simple songs. I translated a few and would sing them with Elijah on my lap. Songs like “Apples, apples…I like apples. Bananas, bananas, I like bananas….” The songs have videos that go with them with pictures, so it helped him and me learn some basic Bosnian words. I’m really glad I had that special time with him learning Bosnian together.

Playgrounds and Preschools: Children and Language Acquisition




Many moms struggle with the balance of home and work, and I am no different. My language year started off lonely. I didn’t know many people and had two young children, ages 3 and 2. Through a friend, I found a reliable babysitter for my 2 year old and after much searching put my 3 year old in preschool. I found a teacher through another friend and started attending classes 3 days a week.....

Head on over to Language Year, a friend and colleague Jonathan Trousdale's blog about learning a foreign language!

Quick update

Irby family still busy and doing fine! Josh is trying hard to finish his book on Miss Irby's life in the next couple of weeks. The kids are still enjoying vrtic although sometimes they ask to go back to their old vrtic and often they ask if they can just stay home with a sitter! But the vrtic is really good for them and they are already making friends.
Sarajevo is once again covered in snow and it's just really beautiful. The snow is powdery so there is not much ice, which is a good thing. Not a lot of slipping around!

Has anyone started a gift list? I got to 100 the other day. Here are some things from my list yesterday:
...Josh made dinner last night
...My mom read a book to the kids that her mom read to her when she was little over skype (gotta love technology)
...the way the snow falls so delicately from the sky
...a city covered in a blanket of snow

Life is more colorful and you live more awake when counting the gifts God has given. I always remember my Nannie (who is now 100 and still fully alive and well!) "Count your blessings count them one by one, count your blessings see what God has done!"