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.