Busy week ahead...

Hello! We just returned from a very relaxing time at the coast. We met a Bosnian family there. It was wonderful, as the kids played together and we were able to have great conversations in Bosnian. The kids enjoyed playing in the water and in the sand.

We went from the coast to the Brents' house for 2 days. They have lived in Split for 10 years and they have 3 girls who our kids adore! We returned to Sarajevo a couple of days ago.

This next week and a half will be particularly busy, so we would appreciate your prayers as:

1. I have started Kindergarten with Israel. After much wise advice, I decided to purchase My Father's World curriculum . We started yesterday and it is really fun, just please pray for both of us! My goal is to get her reading before she turns 6 and then goes to Bosnian school where she will have to learn to read in Bosnian.

2. Our STINT team arrives on Tuesday. Before then, Josh and Djordje are trying to find them an apartment (the guy STINTers' contract fell through last week). Please pray for them as they look!

3. I'm looking for an apartment for the married STINT couple joining our team on Tuesday.

4. Shannon Murphy, our nanny, arrives on Saturday, Sept 1!

5. Jonathan and Ashley Trousdale , the first of our long term team, will be joining us on Wednesday, Sept 8!

Please join us in prayer for all of our "newbies" and lots of transitions. Thank you all so much for your love and prayers!

taylor

To the coast...

We leave for the coast on Friday! So excited! We will all stay in a one room apartment near the water. It will be great, but tight !

This will be our last "hurrah" before the school year starts and the pace picks up a bit. You can pray that our time as a family would be sweet and we would prepare for the faster pace ahead.

We also had 3 rooms in our house painted yesterday: Our bedroom (love it!), the office which will be Elijah's bedroom when Shannon gets here and Elijah's current bedroom which will be Shannon's bedroom while she's here. All are various shades of blue and I'm just so excited about the new changes!

Thank you all for your prayers and love.

Fashion Show!

Hey just wanted to tell you something funny: last night at Dzenana's shop our little girls were playing together with some other girls. Then, all of a sudden, Dzenana turned on Black Eyed Peas and started dressing up all the girls and they had a first class fashion show! Complete with poses! It was a RIOT!!! People on the street just stopped by to watch and take pictures! I'm going to post the pics on my facebook site so make sure to look. ! :)

Other news: It was my first day back in language class and I had a great time. It was so wonderful to see Sandra (my teacher). She answered the door and it was so refreshing to have what I felt like mirroring smiles! (my smile was as big as hers) "Ciao!!!!" And a big hug and kiss on the cheek . The class went great. 1 hour of talking in only Bosnian. I love my teacher!

Hey, if you would like to learn some Bosnian for free, check out www.byki.com...it's great!

Okay, just wanted to send a quick update. And please post comments, they make our day!

OH and (hint hint) here's our address:

IRBY

23 Veliki Alifakovac

71000 Sarajevo

Bosnia i Hercegovnia

English Camp! Karens...etc....

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to update you with this week's happenings. Another organization here "Nova Zora" (New Dawn) brought in a team from Minnesota and they did an English Camp for kids at a youth center here. Israel and I attended and I helped in the 4-6 year old classroom. For Monday-Wed. of this week we participated in group singing and dancing, games, and art. I got to know some precious Bosnian children and use my language a lot. I met the preschool teacher who works there and she asked me to help teach some music classes (maybe once a month or as I would like) in Bosnian!

Another really fun thing was last week: Karen Butler (on staff in Zagreb, Croatia) and her friend Karen came. Karen (friend of Karen B.) is an English teacher and was helping Josh get started on writing the Miss Irby book. It was very helpful for him. We also attended the Sarajevo Film Festival with them, such a treat!

Some more news: Our dear friends the Tinlins are leaving Sarajevo because of Dan (he's the dad) has some heart problems and has to have surgery. Please join us in prayer for this dear family. Dan is a pediatrician and was working on opening a clinic here, free for all Bosnians. Their girls babysit for us and Julie is a dear friend! We are praying that they will be able to return.

The Tinlins were expecting Shannon, a full time nanny, to arrive in September. But because they have to leave in 2 weeks, Shannon will now be staying and nannying for us! I talked with this dear girl (graduated college 2 years ago with an education degree) and I have a feeling we are going to get along great! This is a huge answer to prayer, as we didn't know what we were going to do after our regular babysitter has her baby (early October), or for childcare while at the national conference in September. Shannon just stepped right in and we are excited to welcome her to our team from September 3 until December 7! Please join us in prayer for Shannon as she prepares to come.

Just wanted to update you with this information...stay tuned for more very soon. :) And pictures are posted on my facebook.

--taylor