Irby road

Life is FULL!

2011-12-05T08:40:00.000-08:00

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...

2011-04-26T02:14:00.001-07:00

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

2011-04-10T05:06:00.001-07:00

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!

2011-03-24T06:54:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-02-28T11:54:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-24T03:42:00.000-08:00

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!"

How to Fight Fair

2011-02-16T21:00:00.000-08:00

Hello all!
It has been a busy week here at Irby Road. On Monday the kids started their first day of vrtic (preschool). We have been waiting for space at this school for 6 months so it was really exciting to finally send them. It sounds like a great place. They have a singing circle, different crafts every day, puppet shows, acting, play instruments, cook, and have a great deal of outdoor play. Here's a picture of them at their first day. Aren't they cute?

Last night we spoke at our Svaki student cafe. The theme was Valentine's day so Josh and I decided to talk about conflict and how to "fight fair". We started with a fake fight about forgetting the notes. It was hard not to laugh (I'm not the best actress) but I think it got the point across on how NOT to argue! We talked about laying ground rules before there is a conflict so that when you are fighting you can remember the boundaries you have set. Here are the ground rules:

DO NOT:
Generalize: Stay away from using terms such as "always" and "never" (you ALWAYS do that, you NEVER do that!)
Speak non- truth: hurtful words you don't truly mean and you will regret later
Threaten: with physical harm or with leaving forever. Josh and I have a promise that we will never mention the "D" word or even entertain the possibility of leaving each other for good.
Leave: There is a healthy leaving referred to as "Time Out" but it needs to be used properly. Instead of huffing off mad and running to a place where the conflict can be avoided and maybe even forgotten, Time Out has to be verbalized. "Can we talk about this in an hour? I'm really mad right now and I don't want to say anything I will regret. I need some time to clear my head and think." My coping mechanism in conflict is to run away angry. This never helps and should be avoided. Josh knows it's my weak spot so when he sees me start to turn, he lovingly takes my shoulder and draws me back in.

DO:
Stay Calm: Avoid raising your voice. This is where Time Out can come in handy!
Use "I" instead of "you": State how you feel without accusing the other person
Apologize: This is a big one. From the beginning of marriage, we have tried our best in conflict to search the conflict to see where we could possibly be wrong. Even if you feel totally innocent and that the other is COMPLETELY at fault, find some place where you said the wrong thing, responded wrong, etc.
Forgive: Again, another biggie for us. Not just for us, but for the whole family. When someone says "I'm sorry" (according to a sin committed against the other, not in a total accident), we never respond with "It's okay." This implies that the offense was not heavy or was just "nothing". When you respond with "I forgive you" it does something within both people. For the one apologizing it makes them feel the weight of what they did, and the sacrifice the other person took to forgive them. For the one giving forgiveness it makes them search the soul and truly offer forgiveness. Such power in words!

We closed with 1 Corinthians 13, the ever familiar love chapter of the Bible:
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

I hope this helps a bit in all your relationships, be it romantic, friendships, children/parent, work....

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! (and happy birthday to my Mamma, Sylvia Sharron!)

1000 Gifts...

2011-02-13T21:29:00.000-08:00

Hey all,
Just wanted to recommend a book I'm listening to and hoping to have a hard copy soon. It's called One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I just listened to the 3rd chapter yesterday in a crowded cafe. The challenge excited me. She challenged me to keep a running list of gifts God has given to you. The small things. Basically the small things add up to become one giant miracle in your life. They are seeds that are planted in your soul that grow over time into a beautiful great tree. So I will periodically post some gifts that I will write in my "gift journal". (you can do this too...you don't have to have a pretty journal...a scrap of paper or a spiral bound notebook will do just fine) Remember, it's the small things. Ann Voskamp found joy in grated cheese. Grated cheese!
The goal is to get to 1,000 gifts. She said after she got to 1,000 she hasn't stopped. It has changed her life and brought joy. So here I go...

#1. Finding peace and joy in a crowded cafe in Sarajevo
#2. Family movie night "Despicable Me" and esp. watching Israel's fear turn to laughter
#3. First day of school and the excitement that goes with that
#4. Early Sarajevo Mornings
#5. The way the light perfectly shines on the red cathedral

Will you make a list with me of the thousand gifts God has given you? Let me know if you do!

Slovenia, Italy, etc...

2011-02-12T22:35:00.000-08:00

Sorry I have been silent for a while! We left the 21st of January and drove 8 hours through Bosnia, Croatia and into Slovenia where we arrived at the coast for a conference with 1200 other workers from our organization. What a tremendous blessing to worship with them!!! I can't spend time posting all the fabulous pictures...so please visit me on facebook to see the pictures from Slovenia and Italy!

It was so much fun to have Josh's brother Seth there to lead us in worship. He is a talented musician who has written and recorded lots of new worship songs as well as just plain fun songs with his beautiful wife Laura! Of course we really missed seeing Laura and the kids as they stayed home, but it was fun to hang out with "Uncle Seff" as the kids call him.

We had a great time being with people from all over Eastern Europe and Russia. The weather was also so beautiful and called us to a beautiful walk through the old town. Such beautiful architecture!

The kids really enjoyed themselves in their own kids' conference. A church team from Laurelglen Bible Church in Bakersfield, CA came to serve our kids. They did an amazing job! Our kids really learned a lot and have carried what they learned home with them.

After the conference we took a family vacation to Florence, Italy...just 6 hours away. A friend has an apartment there and she let us stay there...so great! We saw so much art. My favorite was getting Israel her own guide to the Uffizi gallery. You should have seen the expression on her beautiful face when she would find certain pieces of art her kids' guide would lead her to! We also enjoyed seeing the David, going to Michelangelo plaza to look over the city, and visiting the Duomo Cathedral.

Sorry this post is so short, it's Sunday morning and I need to start getting ready for church. Josh and I will lead in worship today (in Bosnian! Pray for us!) and then I will teach the small children in Sunday School. The kids start preschool tomorrow (!) so look forward to a post with lots of pictures soon!

take care!

Adeline Paulina Irby

2011-01-20T07:07:00.000-08:00

Josh is writing a book right now about a cousin of his who came to Bosnia as a missionary 150 years ago. He wrote a short summary of her life including pictures that you can read or download here.

Going to Slovenia...

2011-01-19T02:50:00.001-08:00

Hey all!
Thank you for all your prayers and support of us here at Irby Road :) Just wanted to send a quick update. We Irbys are so excited to head to the coast of Slovenia on Friday for an area staff conference. Many countries will be represented. Please lift us in prayer as we will drive several hours there. Josh's brother Seth Irby (check out his music!) will be leading all of us in worship. Pray for the kids as they will have their own program, similar to VBS. This was extremely positive for the kids last year when we were in Spain. A team came (and a different one will come this time) to the conference and just played and loved on our kids. They felt very valued and extremely cared for. Please pray for this again and for the kids to make friends with other children in our region.

After the conference, we decided to drive the extra six hours to Florence, Italy! We have some co-workers there that we will stay with. We can't wait to see all the beautiful art and history!

Thank you for your prayers and I'll probably update while we are away or even a post before we leave :)

Family Game Night!

2011-01-17T04:54:00.000-08:00

Last night the kids wanted to play games. I really wasn't in the mood for Candyland. Then Josh had a stroke of genius.

CRANIUM!

But wait. Our kids are ages 4 and 3. How do you play Cranium with kids that little?

Josh set up the board and put out the die, playdough and paper/pencil. He never got out the cards. For those of you unfamiliar with the game, it has 4 categories: Word Worm, Creative Cat, Data Head and Star Performer. We made up the ideas for each category and each family member got to participate! Here are some things we did for each category:

Word Worm: for Israel who is just learning to read, we wrote out a three letter word for her to sound out. For Elijah who is learning the alphabet we wrote a letter that he told us the name of that letter or it's sound.

Creative Cat: We all took turns drawing something or sculpting something out of playdough that was related to what the kids are learning (i.e. Bible stories or something about Italy)

Data Head: We would ask the kids questions about Bible stories (basic Bible trivia) or ask them to quote a Bible memory verse they have learned recently.

Star Performer: We hummed familiar songs or acted out Bible stories and the other would have to guess which story it was.

We had so much fun! So much fun in fact that we played another game. A Christmas gift from "Aunt LouLou" (my sis...thanks, Lou!) A classic...COOTIE BUG!

Nothing spiritual about that, just having fun making those cute little bugs :)

What kind of games do you play with your kids?

Day of Prayer

2011-01-13T12:54:00.000-08:00

This Friday is a day we have dedicated to pray for Sarajevo. Thank you for taking time in your busy schedules to pray with us.

Josh with Israel and Ada, one of Israel's friends from ballet

First 2 weeks of January : Homeschool

2011-01-10T04:46:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! I just wanted to do a quick post about what we are doing in homeschool these days. I have been following the curriculum for My Father's World Kindergarten for Israel, but for Elijah (besides just sitting in) we do some Montessori-type activities. I have been so challenged since what I wrote in my last post about this. I am not a certified teacher for academics, just for music, so this is hard for me. It's tempting to spend all my free time searching the internet for ideas, reading more books and worrying. But I'm trying to keep my focus right. When I find myself stressing over it, I hear the words "Be still!" And I will be honest, it's hard to obey. But when I can get the stress out of my mind over it, we really have a lot of fun! Elijah really enjoyed building his tower:

So proud

Now the fun part!

Israel loved her moveable alphabet. She uses the letters to spell words on the card.

Elijah liked putting lentils on numbers. He lines the foam numbers in order and puts the correct number of lentils on each number

This idea came from Counting Coconuts. It's just a little box with clothes in it. The kids take the clothes out and practice buttoning, zipping and velcroing. I can't wait to add snaps and ties in there :)

Israel only did this one once, but Elijah wanted to do it again and again. The kids can pour water into their own glass, but they have a hard time knowing when to stop at the top. I put some green, red and normal color pasta (we're talking about Italy because we are going there in a few weeks!) into a kid-sized pitcher. They pour it into each glass.

Of course there were a lot of messes with this, but Elijah doesn't mind sweeping them up! :)

We did patterns too. Because we are learning about Italy, the kids are making patterns with red, white and green.

In My Father's World, we are doing a unit on Farm Animals. The kids have had this Fisher Price barn for a long time, but lately they haven't really played with it much. I put it out on the shelves along with this fun activity and today the barn was a hit! It started with Israel putting together basic words (red: adjectives, blue: verbs, black: nouns..but we didn't get into it that much!) to make basic sentences as she played. It was so fun and really cool to see her begin to read!

Last but not least...our composer of the month. We did this when I was a music teacher, but now that I'm teaching my own kids it's so much more fun! We picked Vivaldi because of the Italy study, but also because Israel danced to the Winter movement of the Four Seasons Concerto. Together, Israel and I made a scrapbook page about Vivaldi. Every week we will make a page or two about Italy, laminate them, bind them and take them with us on our trip. I think the kids will remember more that way.

And more about what is going on in our lives besides homeschool.....

Elijah received his first ice skating lesson with Jeff, one of our friends who plays on the hockey team!

I couldn't post without including this! Those of you who participate in Operation Christmas Child each year...a huge thank you! Because of all the shoeboxes given all over the world, we can minister more effectively. Here's a picture after our church's puppet show, where we distribute the boxes. We brought two of Israel's friends and their mothers this year. The girls loved their gifts!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Linked up with "Artists and Art" at www.theadventuresofbear.blogspot.com

Confession...

2011-01-04T22:43:00.000-08:00

Hey all,
First of all I want to say thank you to all who read this blog. It encourages me. Last year I rarely updated it, but now I'm getting into the whole blogging thing. :)

I wanted to confess something on here. Recently I have been trying to re-evaluate what is important. In light of our recent loss life has held so much more meaning. So in light of the new year I have tried to focus on 2 things: living in the here and now and words.

First: living in the here and now. Many of you know that I am a worrier. No, not in the visual sense where you see a frazzled worrier running around. I worry in the quiet. And if you have had a deep conversation with me, you hear me talk about the same things over and over again: my kids, their education in a 2nd language, our health, etc. This past summer and fall have held the hardest in the worrying department. I follow a blog called "Confessions of a Homeschooler" If you homeschool your kids, please check out this site! It's got some great ideas and free printables :) In her printable section she has a list of "SuperMom vs. Abiding Mom". I printed this out several months ago, but just five days ago I started looking at it. I committed to do one characteristic a day with the corresponding Bible verse as part of my time with God. The first one really hit me. Super Mom does. Abiding Mom is. The corresponding Bible verse? Psalm 46:10: Cease striving and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted among all peoples (that includes the Irby home!) I realized I am striving way too hard. I spent countless hours researching the internet on how to do homeschool. I work really hard to create an environment where they can best learn. I try really hard to get my ideas up so others can see and hopefully benefit. And none of that is bad. In fact, it's all good. But it's just too much. Too much striving. All the while, I'm doing it worrying if it will be good enough. Worrying if I'm doing enough. And even when I create or the kids create something really great, I still want more. So. That's a thing I'm trusting with God now. Cease striving. Know He is God. He will be exalted in this home! I chose to live in the here and now, for we don't know how many nows we will have. I will not be afraid of the future nor carry the weight of the past.

The second: words. Lately under stress, I have muttered (okay, shouted) some careless words around the house. "How many times have I told you! come on...hurry up! don't you understand Mommy is tired too?! stop it, I'm busy!" I could go on and on...
I have been following another blog I highly recommend for encouraging us in life. Ann at A Holy Experience has recently written a post about the impact of words. I would encourage you to visit her blog and go to that post. There are two posts and both are very well worth the read (as are all of her posts!) Basically she sums it up in one phrase. "Only speak words that make souls stronger." Ouch. Have I made their little souls stronger by the end of the day? When we get in bed and turn off the lights, is my husband's soul stronger than the day before? I'm realizing that the words I speak carry a lot of weight. Out of the heart the mouth speaks.

I share all this to ask for prayer for me in these areas. I don't ever claim to have it all together. In fact, I probably will finish this post and carry on with my day still struggling. We will all struggle. But the difference is that God promises He will walk with us.

I leave you with this:

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice, let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. Finally , brothers, whatever is true, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heart and seen in me--practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. " ---Philippians 4:4-9

Christmas

2011-01-03T07:10:00.000-08:00

If you would like to see pictures, you can go to my Facebook page and see!

We went to Jahorina mountain (site of the 1984 winter Olympics) and stayed in a cabin. We went with our teammates, the Trousdales and Jacksons. With 5 small children in the snowy mountains, we were pretty excited that Israel and Elijah would enjoy a fun-filled Christmas.

When we got to the cabin, it was a lot smaller than we thought. My initial thought was "if we survive this as a team, we can survive anything" But the guys moved around furniture, and we figured out how to have a small area for the kids to play and a place to put our small Christmas tree. The kids decorated ornaments for the tree. We woke up to a White Christmas. Jonathan began the morning reading the Christmas story from the Bible, and we opened the presents under the tree and in the stockings. We went sledding and drank homemade hot cocoa (thanks to Hersheys!)

More fun memories:
playing games (spades, Apples to Apples, Settlers of Catan), sledding in the deep snow!, making a huge snowman, eating snow ice cream, Christmas ham!, egg nog, children playing by the light of the Christmas tree, pancakes and eggs Christmas morning....

Definitely a tradition I want to continue!

New Year's was a harder time for us...3 of us caught a bad cold. Just Israel remained free of coughs and runny nose. I fell asleep for the big celebration.
But New Year's day was good...we joined some friends for lunch and enjoyed their company most of the day.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year, everyone!

Week of Christmas

2010-12-30T08:52:00.000-08:00

Hello all! I wanted to share with you some activities we did the last week of Advent. In the next post (I promise it will be up soon!) I will share what we did for Christmas...it was so much fun!

Kristie gave me several snowflake stickers. We made some crafts, but with the leftovers, we sorted. It was a little more complicated for the kids than I wished, but maybe it would work next year when they are older?

I got this idea from Counting Coconuts, one of my favorite education blogs. My friend Merima made me a tree out of felt, put buttons on it and cut out the ornaments out of felt. The kids match the color of ornament to the color button. This was one of Elijah's favorites.

I cut out some paper trees for the kids to decorate with some cute little Christmas stickers

Then the kids (well, Israel...Elijah didn't want to) stringed beads in a candy cane pattern on a pipe cleaner. Israel really enjoyed this activity.

December twenty third was Israel's ballet recital. The room was so crowded, but Josh managed to get a few shots:

After the recital, Josh got a picture of Israel with her friends Sara and Ada:

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY 2011 TO YOU!

Advent time...

2010-12-20T07:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, here is a real post about our advent time with PICTURES!

This first one is making glitter light holders to symbolize Jesus as the Light of the World:

Israel with Shannon and her candle holder

Elijah putting on the glue

Baby Kristijan (Merima's baby)

Decorating Gingerbread cookies with "Baka" (Kristie)

A Montessori Activity...taken from the blog One Hook Wonder. They take straw from the bowl with tweezers and put them in the cut open toilet paper roll. then they put the clothes pin baby Jesus in it :) They both enjoyed this activity.

Israel playing with the Christmas Lapbook (You can make one Here):

This was a fun activity. We read the story : The Legend of the Poinsetta by Tomie DePaola

The story is about a little girl in Mexico who because of her mother's illness can't make the gift she wanted for the baby Jesus in the manger at the church. The night of the Christmas Eve service, she meets an old woman who tells her she can bring any gift to the baby Jesus, it doesn't have to be something fancy. Just something from your heart. The little girl sees a large group of weeds so she pulls them and places them at the altar. The weeds turn into poinsettias. We made these cute little ornaments to teach the kids that giving the gift from the heart is what matters to God. We took the white paper and crumpled it, then said the poem "What can I give Him poor as I am? If I were a shepherd I would give a lamb. If I were a wise man, I would do my part. What can I give Him? I'll give Him my heart" We crumpled the paper to symbolize that even though our gifts before God look like weeds, He takes it and turns it into something beautiful. Do you like the final outcome? :)

Here's an idea I picked up from Counting Coconuts Christmas tree decorating! It was a hit :)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Elijah Dancing After Sledding

2010-12-19T22:52:00.000-08:00

A look back...recorded about a year ago but I still laugh every time i see it!

Christmas Week at Irby Road

2010-12-19T04:52:00.001-08:00

Hello all!
It has been a busy time here at Irby Road, but we wanted to update you with what is going on:

-- Thursday night we had the privilege of leading the Carol Sing for the British Embassy. It was a beautiful service in the beautiful Franciscan church near our home. We led the congregation in several familiar carols and some children did some readings in between. Afterwards we went to the Ambassador's home for mince pie and mulled wine, then to dinner with our team at a local restaurant. It was really nice. The Ambassador who is leaving this year said he will give our name to the next Ambassador so we can be on for next year. We talked a long time with his wife, who is so nice. They also want to get together with us to talk about the Miss Irby project.

--Saturday Josh spent the day skiing with some of our team mates and some guy students. They almost didn't make it up the hill the snow was so bad! I spent the day inside with the kids while flakes as big as nickels fell from the sky. It was so cool to this Georgia girl. The kids and I started a new Christmas Lapbook which we finished today. We didn't get to go out in the snow because Elijah has developed a pretty bad cough and cold.

--Today I stayed home from church with Elijah. We want him well for Christmas. On Friday we will go to a cabin at Jahorina, one of the Olympic mountains here. We expect lots of snow! The Trousdales and Jacksons will join us there.

If you think of it please pray for the Jacksons' kids (Nolen, age 4 months has a respiratory infection and Ella, age 2 has the flu) and please pray for Tyler Trousdale, age 2 who has the same cold as Elijah.

Thanks and Merry Christmas!!!
taylor

The Young Hero and the Horrible Giant...as told by Eiljah

2010-12-14T11:44:00.000-08:00

We love The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones. Elijah loves David and Goliath, so he wanted to share this story with you. Enjoy!

Christmas Poetry

2010-12-14T02:59:00.000-08:00

One of our favorite Christmas activities this season...enjoy and feel free to use it!

I have to give credit where credit is due. I got this idea from www.mymontessorijourney.com and this poem from www.countingcoconuts.com Check out these blogs for some great ideas!

Fun at the FARM!

2010-12-11T10:00:00.001-08:00

Today was I think the most fun day we have ever had! After a couple of days where snow has fallen, we went with our friend Mirza to his family farm. They own several acres of land on a mountain and they farm buckwheat and other organic food. How fun! First we went on a long walk to find the perfect tree. We cut down a pretty little Christmas tree and took turns sledding down the road. Then we came back to the house and drank some hot cocoa with whipped cream. After that we made a long hike into the woods to find a field perfect for sledding! A very large hill proved to be just what we needed. It was so much fun.

Later, we made our way into the house for a special lunch prepared by the kitchen staff of Mirza's farm. Tea, crepe and cheese pie and crepes with honey.

Lastly, we made a quick trip to OBI (think home depot) and bought some Christmas decorations.

My only regret is that we didn't bring our camera!

Goodbye Shannon, Hello Jacksons and SNOW!

2010-12-10T05:51:00.001-08:00

So Shannon and I joked around about how when she leaves the snow would come. No one would have thought that 2 mornings of no jacket weather (that's right! it felt like spring!) meant a night full of snow and still more to come! As I type this I look out my window and see a winter wonderland. I love living in a country so beautiful that it can look pretty any time of year.

On Tuesday morning, Shannon and I got up really early (hello 4am!) and I drove her to the airport. It was sad saying goodbye to her as she has become another part of our family. The kids miss her a lot. We are now having different ladies come to babysit. But our kids miss Shannon terribly!

The sadness was accompanied by joy as we welcomed some more teammates: Ben and Rachel and their 2 children Ella and Nolen to Sarajevo. 4 years we have waited to have everyone together. And now the Jacksons, Trousdales and us are finally together. It was fun this morning at staff time to be all together looking out over the snow covered city.

Last night I joined the STINT girls and some wonderful students at their house as we decorated gingerbread cookies and had yummy apple cider. I just love Christmas!

Israel's Christmas Song

2010-11-28T14:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight Israel and Josh (and Elijah too) were jammin' after our family devotion time on Advent. This girl is ROCKIN'! Check out her video of FREE-STYLE (yes , she is making this all up as she goes).

We are Thankful.

2010-11-24T23:23:00.000-08:00

(Photo Credit ESL Cast)

"What are you thankful for?" This is often a question we ask each other every Thanksgiving. Usually I answer the same : My family, my friends, my home, etc. But this year is a bit different. In light of our recent loss, my perspective has changed. I would like to share with you some things we are thankful for here at Irby Road:

When I first realized we were loosing our baby, I was angry. "Why did You tease me, God? Letting me see the heart strongly beating like this only to take him five days later?"

A sweet whisper from the Holy Spirit: "Some women never get to see their sweet angels alive"

So. I'm thankful that we got to see our Little One living. I truly am. To see that sweet heart beating away, even if it would only beat five more days is a gift.

When I realized I was actually nine weeks along, I was angry because after looking at the picture in my pregnancy book I realized he looked more like a baby than an alien. That upset me. Then God spoke to me again, "You got to hold him two more weeks than you thought." Oh thank you, God. I am thankful.

I am reading The Redemption Series by Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley right now. There is a quote in the chapter I read last week...she is quoting the First John and then she goes on to explain it: "'Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.' God always wins. And He is always greater." Isn't that amazing?! Satan can never win. Not even in death. God is always the champion.

We are thankful that we as a family feel closer. We appreciate each other more and Josh and I see how each of our children is a miracle. Even Little One.

I'm thankful that because of this experience, I feel connected with so many women who I would have never shared a connection. This week at ballet, I sat with three moms who had gone through the same thing. Our conversation was deep. I am thankful.

A dear friend Hilarie Jones shared this verse with us: "The Lord gives you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places..." (Is. 45:3) We are thankful for the treasures we are learning and the hidden riches we are receiving in these hidden places we would otherwise never go. Especially this next one...

Israel committed to following Jesus. So read more about this see the post "God uses Little One, part 1." What an amazing thing to be thankful for!

I'm thankful for what God is doing in and through me.

We are thankful for our church family here. Their demonstration of love on Sunday was incredible.

We are thankful for all you who showed and continue to show love to our family. Your prayers and notes of encouragement have helped carry us.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

What are you thankful for?

The Church Becomes our Family

2010-11-21T06:39:00.001-08:00

This morning was difficult. A week ago, we were looking forward to letting our church know that we were expecting a new baby. We heard the heart, we were in the clear. But this morning, our sweet pastor Slavko asked Josh to share about our difficult week.

Our church was full of tears, and I was grateful my friend Debbie from Bible study was next to me. I could cry on her shoulder and she could cry on mine (she was one of the few who knew). It's good to know we are not the only ones mourning. Little One had a profound impact on other people too.

Josh shared in such a beautiful way the journey where God is leading us. He shared about Israel's decision for Christ and the whole church prayed for us. I felt the enemy shaken...he just can't win. God has the victory. Jesus is the hero. And the church became our family today.

Our team also had a sweet time on Friday morning in prayer and worship. We sang out past our tears a song Josh and his brother Seth wrote just a few years ago "We believe You are good...we believe You are good..." I'm so thankful God placed such wonderful people around us. He is good. He cannot be anything contrary. We stand on that promise. We have no other choice.

God uses Little One, pt. 1

2010-11-19T11:46:00.000-08:00

Last night Israel, Elijah and Josh went to a birthday party. On the way Israel began talking about Little One. They had a conversation about Heaven and about how everyone who trusts in God gets to be with Him forever. Josh asked Israel if she knew how to trust in God.

"We go to church, so we trust in God."

"Not everyone who goes to church trusts in God."

"We read the Bible, so we trust in God."

"Reading the Bible does not mean we trust in God."

The conversation shifted quickly to the brightly dancing lights on the mosque outside the car window as Yesterday was Bajram, a Muslim holiday here.

"But what are the beautiful lights for, Daddy?"

"Bajram"

"What is Bajram?"

"Bajram is where they sacrifice a lamb to remember that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, but God gave him a lamb to sacrifice instead. But we don't sacrifice a lambs anymore because Jesus said He is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world."

Then they talked about the holidays we celebrate to honor Christ: Christmas for His birth, Easter for His resurrection and one day we will celebrate Him coming back...and everyone who trusts in Him will be with Him forever.

That brought the conversation back to trusting God.

"First it's about recognizing that we do bad things. Remember when you were mean to Mommy today?"

"Yes, Satan whispers to us and says 'Yeah, be mean to Mommy!'"

"Yeah and too many times we listen and do what he says. But that's why Jesus died on the cross so He could forgive us for all the wrong things we do. Trusting in God is saying 'I'm tired of being the boss of my life. God, will You be the boss of my life?'"

(Insert confused question) "Tired of being the boss of my life?" (Israel enjoys her role as first born girl and being bossy)

"Yeah, when we're the boss we always mess things up, but God never messes things up when He's the boss. And that's what is really means to trust in God."

"So does Jesus whisper in our ears (insert whisper voice) 'Trust in Me. Trust in Me.'"

"Yes, He does. And what He wants us to do is to pray to Him and ask Him to forgive us and be the boss of our life."

"Can we pray that right now?"

Josh wanted to stall so that we could all be together when she prayed. He also wanted to make sure she understood everything so he asked her to say everything back to him again. She did.

When they got home it had been over 2 hours later. Josh had Israel explain it all to me. She got it. She understood the Gospel. Then she asked if she could pray that right then. Never did Josh ask if she wanted to pray. It was her initiative. And it was the most precious prayer.

Today Israel was a different child. When she was frustrated and disobeying, it was obvious she was working things out with the Lord. During her disobedience I asked her, "Israel, who is the boss of your life?" She replied, "I want God to be the boss of my life, Mommy. I'm sorry. Please forgive me." It's the transformation God offers us through the cross. And He is changing our four and a half year old girl. And He is changing us. We are grateful.

And Little One rejoices too. Yes, sweetheart. Your life has dignity. Your life has purpose. And your big sister will join you in Heaven because God used you. We love you.

We are thankful and rejoicing that God would bring this about during such a difficult part of our journey; that God would use our Little One to help our Big One give her life to Jesus.

A difficult Path

2010-11-16T05:26:00.000-08:00

We had a very eventful weekend. I wanted to write all about our fun adventured in Doboj, a city a few hours away where we spent time with a Bosnian family to be immersed in language., but unfortunately that post will either not be written or will need to be postponed. Because on the car ride home from Doboj, I began to bleed and not feel well. You see up until Sunday night, I was carrying our 3rd child. we were only 7 weeks along, but after hearing a very healthy heartbeat and seeing a beautifully developing child on the ultrasound just Wednesday, we had started to tell more people than just our close friends and family. The most difficult people we had to tell about the miscarriage were Israel and Elijah. They had been so excited. But they are taking it well.

This has been a traumatic experience as I'm sure it is for anyone who has to deal with this. This baby was a real human being. We were looking forward to holding him. To smelling his sweet smell. To kissing his baby cheeks. To dressing him up and decorating his nursery. We will kiss and play and sing in Heaven...but until then, we wait.

I'm still processing all that happened. All we are learning, individually and as a family. But I know God has made us stronger through this loss, and my children seem more precious to me than ever.

If you think of it, please pray for us as a family. We are praising God for Shannon, who has been wonderfully taking care of the children when I need to lay down and grieve a bit. She also cleaned our house yesterday. My dear friend Mirela came with me to the doctor yesterday to translate. Sweet friends from my Bible study and Ashley on our team have brought or offered to bring meals. We feel surrounded by God's family all over the world.

We are rejoicing in a new day, that the hardest day is now over. Our baby is no longer in pain. Thank you for your prayers.

A new post...

2010-10-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

I can give a brief recap of happenings at Irby road the last few months:

Shannon has made her way into our family and sure does fit nicely. It's hard to believe she will only be with us a little over a month more. We are trying not to think about it! She has been such a big help and the kids really love her.

Josh has met with the pastors in the country about possibilities for his book "Meeting Miss Irby" hopefully going to be released next September. He's meeting with the national CCC Staff team about possibilities. We are really excited about this project.

The kids are enjoying homeschool. We are doing "My Father's World" kindergarten. Elijah sits in and participates in calendar time, song time, story time and as Israel does her work (she is learning to read!) Elijah colors in his Spiderman coloring book. While the kids do their "work" we are enjoying playing the CD "25 Classical Favorites". I have a plan to one day focus on a composer of the week (we did that once with Mozart) but right now it's too much.

Israel continues to excel in ballet. Her teacher came out of the classroom and got my attention to make sure Israel showed me how she was able to put her feet in 5th position. She was so proud of her and said she is "Fantastic and Excellent". Of course, we agree.

Elijah continues to pursue his dreams of actually being Spiderman. He turned 3 in October and had a Spiderman/superhero birthday party joining up with Tyler Trousdale (they share a birthday) who turned 2. Elijah loves Tyler. He calls him "TyTy" and "My Buddy". It's going to be fun to watch these boys grow up together.

We had a Halloween party last night at a friend's house. It was fun. Israel was a Flamenco dancer and Elijah was a pirate.

Last of all: I need to know if these updates are being read. Not many comments are posted, and if this is not an accurate way of notifying people, please let me know and I can find a different way to let people know what's going on. Thanks!

Our time in Croatia

2010-09-19T23:52:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Just a quick update. We returned from our annual national conference in Croatia. Josh went a few days early and then Shannon, the kids and I drove up on Wednesday. Unfortunately, I forgot our passports when we were about 1 1/2 hours out of Sarajevo so I had to drive back to get them. Praise God Shannon was with us! I don't think I could have done it without her!

We spent the night in Zagreb with some friends and then made the 3 hour trip the next day following the Trousdales up there. The conference was great. The kids enjoyed time with Shannon and Tyler Trousdale while we enjoyed the sessions. Josh and I led worship and listened to some great talks about the Gospel from a professor at a nearby seminary.

On our way back home we stopped in a small Bosnian town, Doboj, to have dinner with a Bosnian family we met on the beach. They have 2 kids, a boy and a girl who our kids get along great with. We stayed at their place for 3 hours, speaking only in Bosnian. It was really fun. We plan to stop by their place each time we go to Zagreb or along that route, as their house is pretty much on the way.

Shannon rode back with the Trousdales because they had a more comfortable place to sit in their car (we didn't think Shannon would enjoy being squished between 2 carseats and behind 2 tall people!) but their car broke down in Zagreb and so they are still there, hopefully to return today. Please pray for their safe travels.

thanks everyone for praying for us! we love you guys!

Shannon's here, more busy weeks!

2010-09-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Just another quick update:

Shannon is here! Shannon will live with us for 3 months. She raised support to come here and simply serve us. And our kids love her! Usually the kids will throw fits when we leave for language study, but now they jump for joy when they find out Shannon will babysit! She is such a blessing to have in the home. We went together with our STINT team to Vrelo Bosne (a beautiful park in Sarajevo) and played frisbee. Israel and Elijah learned how to climb trees last Saturday at Anni's birthday party, so they were practicing that and they tried their best to throw and catch the frisbee :)

The Trousdales arrive today! Please pray for Jonathan, Ashley and Tyler as the adjust.

Croatia next week! We will attend our conferences for Croatia/Bosnia staff. Josh will leave Monday for the campus days conference and then Shannon, the kids and I will join him on Thursday for the staff conference. Shannon will work child care. Please pray for us as we travel and for God to move in our lives at the conference.

We have started Kindergarten for Israel. Please pray for both of us as we work on this! It's fun, but also has its challenges.

Thank you for your prayers!

Busy week ahead...

2010-08-28T05:05:00.001-07:00

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...

2010-08-17T22:07:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-08-11T04:45:00.001-07:00

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....

2010-08-04T14:35:00.001-07:00

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

We Made It

2010-07-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

Thank you everyone for praying for us ! After a 2 day journey (we stayed in Copenhagen overnight because of our late flight) we made it. We are home! We are so happy to be back in Sarajevo seeing our friends and speaking Bosnian. You can pray for us as we resettle: that we find a good preschool for the kids, that our language comes back and we can start classes soon, and for adjustment for the kids. Thank you!

Overdue update!

2010-07-10T06:06:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

First of all, thank you for being patient with us as we haven't updated in a while. Life has been busy, as I'm sure all of your lives have been. Where did we leave off...

1. Thank you for praying for our friends the Jacksons. Anne is doing better, although still suffering the effects of a brain injury. You can follow her recovery here: www.caringbridge.org/visit/annejackson

2. We packed up in Bosnia and came back to Atlanta for a month. We had a great time seeing family and friends but of course it was so short we didn't get everyone in we wanted to. :( You guys who we didn't see...come over to Bosnia!

3. Currently we are finishing our time in Ft. Collins, Colorado for our training with our team. It has been very beneficial and we are enjoying life at a slower pace. My (Taylor) parents arrive today and will attend the parent sessions later this week.

4. We return to Bosnia in about a week! Please pray for our transitions and stress level as leaving is always hard, but we are really looking forward to being home! Thanks guys!

5. Josh continues to work on his book about Miss Irby and Irby Road. (Josh's distant cousin came to Sarajevo 150 years ago and became a national hero because of her humanitarian work) Please pray as he will start working with a writing coach once we return to Sarajevo.

Thanks everyone for your prayers!

Oh, and if you would like to give financially, please visit:

give.ccci.org and type in our names. Thanks!

Please pray for our friends the Jacksons

2010-04-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

We are doing well here in Sarajevo. Our friends who live in Turkey came for a visit, so we are having fun with them. They may stay here a while due to the volcano cloud!

Just a quick update to please pray for our sweet friends, Eric and Kathryn Jackson and their family. Kathryn and the kids were in a very bad car accident last week and their sweet 5 year old daughter, Anne, is in ICU. Check out the caring bridge site and pray! Anne is such an awesome kid, we want to support this family as much as we can!!! And prayer is the best way to do it .

www.caringbridge.com/visit/annejackson

thanks, guys!

Easter Weekend

2010-04-04T05:21:00.000-07:00

We are enjoying our Easter weekend, although missing you all at home. Quick rundown what's going on at Irby Road...

Good Friday: We got to play some "Jesus Music" (as our friend Armin, the boss of the pub, calls it) at the British Pub here. It was great. Armin loves the Jesus music :) haha. It was wonderful, for 3 hours we played worship songs, CCM and everything.

Saturday: We had a great time with our dear friend Dzenana and her family at her nephew's 1st birthday party. It was so much fun. Israel and Elijah had their own fun playing with the other kids and eating lots and lots of dried meat. (I think this has replaced chocolate for them!)

Today: Kids woke up to gift bags with Easter loot. We celebrate not with the Easter Bunny, but saying that because Jesus rose from the dead, there are many blessings He gives us. So we have Easter blessings in the bags. It was great fun teaching the kids that when someone says "He is Risen!" They reply "He is Risen indeed!" Josh preached at church today and now we are preparing our Easter feast with friends Todd, Karen and Bethany and baby Josh to play and have an Easter Egg Hunt. Should be fun.

Have a great Easter! He has risen! He has risen indeed!

All Well...Now for Passover

2010-03-27T22:49:00.000-07:00

Israel is well, and our church is celebrating Passover tonight. We are happy to celebrate with them, esp. because we used to do it every year as an Irby family at Josh's parents' house. I'm making chocolate macaroons for it this afternoon, I think I'll ask Israel to help me.

Israel and Josh had a pretty cool talk last night. She disobeyed last night (after Josh asked her to get ready for her bath) so Josh had to have a "talk" with her in her room about listening vs. talking back. After a very long talk (and a bit of discipline) she ran right out, butt naked and ready for a bath! She said, "I'm sorry Mommy for not doing what Daddy asked, but now I'm ready for my bath." I forgave her and she got in the tub. After about 5 minutes of playing, she (on her own) put all the toys back in the toy bag, lifted the plug, and got out of the tub. Ran in her room and grabbed a diaper, and got ready for bed by herself. She cleaned her room and asked for her Gummies (vitamins) so I gave them to her. Last week, I accidentally gave her 4 (she usually gets 3) and we had a big talk because she lied about getting 4, saying she only got 3. (she was hiding the 4th one behind her back saying she didn't have 4) But last night I gave her 4 by mistake again and she said "Mommy, I got 4, here's one back!"

She quickly got into bed and Josh read her a Princess story. She asked why there is always a bad person in the Princess stories. Josh explained to her it's because in life there is always an opposition, but who wins in the end? The good. Then he explained the Gospel to her, how Jesus always wins in the end. It was a good end to the evening. We think something clicked for her tonight.

The Princess is Sick.

2010-03-26T05:40:00.001-07:00

Israel woke up at 5 this morning throwing up. If you have known us a while you know that makes me nervous, as last time she threw up she ended up in the hospital. Please pray for her and for me as I get sick when I see, smell or hear the stuff.
thanks!

FINALLY an update

2010-03-13T00:59:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone, bet you are wondering what's going on at Irby Road!? Here's a quick update:

My parents and sister came after Christmas. We had a great time together playing Cards late into the night.

We went to Spain in January for a conference. We spent a few days in Barcelona for vacation. It was great to go to the Aquarium and run around in the parks. Then at the conference in Nerja we got to be on a worship team with Seth and Laura (Josh's brother and sister in law). They live in IN and are on staff with Keynote, CCC's music ministry. It was really fun to be with them (and to see Laura pregnant! She's expecting their 2nd baby, a boy, in April!) . The kids had their own conference. A church from the US sent a children's ministry team and did a full out VBS. At the end, the kids could recite Eph. 2:10! They also provided free babysitting when needed. It was wonderful.

ZAGREB: We spent a few days in Zagreb, Croatia for a day of celebration with all the staff from Croatia and Bosnia. We got to stay with our national directors, Brooke and Karen Butler who we always enjoy being with!

VALENTINE'S: We had a Valentine's party for Israel and Elijah's friend. A few MK's came and some of Israel's Bosnian friends from ballet. It was wonderful! (see my FB for pictures)

MOVING: We moved to a new house! We LOVE our new place. It is so comfortable for our family and quiet and beautiful.

SNOW. We have had so much snow dumped on Sarajevo in Feb. and March! We are excited to see spring come. But we have had fun sledding on the Olympic mountain and outside our home! And making snowmen :)

DIANE: My dear friend Diane Thiel came for a visit last week! Diane's been a friend of mine (and a mentor) since college. 4 years ago, her husband was killed in a car accident when a man who was recklessly driving ran into him. 1 1/2 years ago she stood before this man and forgave him because of the forgiveness Christ has shown her in her life. She got to share this story in many different venues around our city. It was amazing to see God use this powerful testimony in the lives of so many people. Having her in our home and showing her our city was so much fun!!!

LANGUAGE: We all still are working on language. We took Israel out of preschool for now since she was really missing Elijah. She still is taking ballet and doing a great job...meeting lots of new friends and is really happy there. Our babysitter Merima is speaking only Bosnian with the kids now, and teaching Israel some great life skills like baking homemade bread and crepes and cleaning. Elijah is working on his basketball! He can shoot and make the basket now!

COMING TO THE US: We come back to the States May 7 and will be in Atlanta for 4 weeks. Then we are going to Ft. Collins Colorado for 6 weeks for a training. Please pray for us for this time. We need to raise more support. We also need to borrow a car and 2 car seats so if you know of anyone who can help with this, let us know!

FROM ISRAEL: vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvbnmm,,

///////////j877777766rrh

FROM ELIJAH:nnnnzpmmtaxcvbnm,....

We love you all and thank you for your support and prayers!

taylor

A Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T23:21:00.000-08:00

I will try to post pictures and videos soon, but wanted to update blog for Christmas. Israel, Kristie and I made special Christmas sugar cookies and sent them to Israel's preschool to share with the kids. All the kids and the teachers gave Israel special Christmas cards. That was really special.

On Christmas morning, Israel and Elijah enjoyed opening their gifts, favorites being a kitchen set for Israel and a bongo drum set and guitar for Elijah. We ate Pumkpin pancakes for breakfast and then did Advent Calendar. Our friends came over...we had 2 from our STINT team (Chad and Rhesia) and a family Todd, Karen and their 2 little ones Bethany and Josh. I made a Christmas dinner and Karen brought some food to contribute. Rhesia brought a juice from St. Vincent where she is from. The chicken wasn't done in time so we just ate sides. Todd made a Happy Birthday Jesus cake and we sang to him and the kids blew out the candles. We Skyped all day with family. We took an evening walk through Bascarsija. We put the kids to bed and then Josh and I watched Elf. It was still funny, but not nearly as funny without other people.

I really missed the States yesterday, but there was something special about just being together as a family, especially in the morning when we did Advent...Josh read Jesus' birth story, crucifixion, resurrection, and coming back stories from our awesome Children's Bible (The Big Picture Story Bible.) That was probably my favorite part of the day.

My family is coming on Monday, excited about that! Merry Christmas everyone!

Protector of Truth?

2009-12-22T14:04:00.000-08:00

So ever since Elijah was born I prayed that he would be a great protector of truth since his name means "My God is Jehovah" and his middle name (William) means "Protector". I think he's living up to his name. He is constantly wanting to read the Bible, and Josh quizzes him on Bible stories...He remembers all the details and LOVES to read Bible stories.

I'm so thankful for my little boy. If you haven't already, you really need to watch the video of him dancing. It's the top video on the left side of our blog. It will make you smile and probably laugh.

SNOW!

2009-12-19T12:58:00.000-08:00

We have so much snow right now. Check out the new videos we posted. we took the kids sledding today with our friends Irma and Djordje, they had a great time. We will post more videos when we download them to Youtube.

After sledding we went to a Christmas bazzaar where we tasted 100% Apple Juice (no water added) and I bought a bottle. We had lunch at an Italian place. Then went home for a nap.

Tonight we attended the Couch's annual Christmas party. Sang Christmas songs and ate lots of goodies. We had a great time. I think the cutest thing was watching Israel and Elijah play with Esther's 2 little boys, Henry and Julian. They were so sweet together. Then during the Christmas singing, Israel sang "Away In a Manger" for everyone. Last year at Janelle's party she sang it for everyone too. I think this is becoming a tradition!

We enjoyed a car ride home with Tom and Kristie, and now the kids are very quietly sleeping. They were worn out from the busy day!

Enjoy the videos!

Christmas Team party

2009-12-11T06:44:00.000-08:00

Here's our team (minus Ceca) by our Christmas tree!

We had a great Christmas party last night. We did a "Secret Santa" gift exchange and had a wonderful meal. Griffin made chicken stuffed with zucchini and I made salad. Andrew made mashed potatoes, Chad made brownies, Rhesia brought feta cheese for the salad and Ice cream. We also celebrated Rhesia's birthday. Griffin put together a book of letters from her closest friends and family. Israel stayed up late and ate an entire chocolate Santa Claus.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-06T10:36:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone. Sorry for the long break between posts! We had a lovely thanksgiving with our friends, the Brents who live in Split, Croatia. First, we went to Mostar and stayed at the Bible School there. We met with several pastors and the leader of the Bible school and his family. The kids enjoyed playing in their AWESOME playroom.

Then we loved celebrating Thanksgiving with the Brents. Josh met the Brents his 2nd STINT year in Split 10 years ago. They have 3 little girls so our kids were in Heaven. Our dinner was just like American Thanksgiving dinner. I got to make my Nannie's sweet potato casserole and Griffin's chocolate cake. Another family joined us with 3 little boys, so we had a house full of children (8!)

Baking with Baka

2009-11-05T00:07:00.000-08:00

Kristie ("Baka" as our kids call her) came over and we baked for the bake sale. Yummy! The most fun part was having the kids put sprinkles on the cupcakes at the end. Fun!

The zoo for Elijah's birthday

2009-11-01T06:10:00.000-08:00

An Ostrich (no, that's not with a zoom, we were actually this close!)
Mommy with the birthday boy

sweet siblings in the garden.
We love the zoo! Happy #2, Elijah!
We took Elijah to the zoo for his birthday (I know, an old post) but we want to show you some pictures.

WE BOUGHT A CAR!!!!!!!

2009-10-29T11:06:00.001-07:00

It's official. We bought our car today. We won't be able to drive it until later this week (international registration issues) but we are so happy to finally own a car. It's a silver grey minivanish type car. It's called an Opel Zafira. It has 10 airbags and it is just a really good car. Josh took it with the dealer today to the Opel dealer and got a check up. All looks good, we just need to buy some new tires before winter hits hard. The dealer came down 400 marks so we could use that to get new tires, really nice.

Thank you for all your prayers on this! We are so excited! Take a look at the car.

Didn't get a car but...

2009-10-29T00:17:00.000-07:00

Drove 7 hours yesterday with our national staff Zeljko. We had a great time with him, and saw some beautiful countryside. The car in Hercegovina was not what we thought it would be, so we didn't buy it. But I wouldn't say it was a waste of time. The leaves looked absolutely beautiful as they are changing for Fall. And we got to spend time with Zeljko, which was fun and we got to speak Bosnian as well.

We saw a car on Tuesday here in Bosnia that we think we are going to buy. Pray for Josh and Zeljko as they meet with the car dealer today and we might get it today or sometime this week! Thanks everyone...

Getting a car...

2009-10-27T14:35:00.001-07:00

Please say a quick prayer for us tomorrow as we travel to Hercegovnia (about 3 hour drive) to maybe buy a car. We looked at a car here in Sarajevo today and liked it. Pray for wisdom as we make a decision. Thanks!

Sweet Katie Angel

2009-10-22T10:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, a sweet little girl Katie Seaman, age 11 went to Heaven after battling a brain tumor. She was dear friends with Josh's little sister Melea and was so sweet. We had the privilege of knowing Katie for only a few months, but her life really impacted ours. Please pray for Melea and the Seaman family during this time.

Singing at church

2009-10-18T12:39:00.000-07:00

Today was another first for us. Josh and I lead the worship at our church today in Bosnian! We had sort of informally led it our first Sunday, but this week we actually had worship practice. My keyboard arrived in our shipment, and we keep it at the church because we have no room to put it in our apartment. It's great though. Our worship leader said that he was praying hard for a keyboard. He was actually saving up to buy a cheap one, but now we brought ours. He said he's glad he has ears because if he didn't his smile would wrap around his whole head! Haha. Ivan is funny.

It was a beautiful morning. Worship preceded a very encouraging sermon by an Englishman (reminds me of home...we miss you ChristChurch!) Then tonight we had a date night. Went to a great cafe and got some yummy cheesecake with a beautiful view of the city.

Hope everyone is having a great Sunday!

My Oasis

2009-10-15T07:13:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of my Bible study on Tuesday afternoons. I call it my Oasis because I usually come to this group terribly stressed and discouraged, and leave full. They are all women who serve here in BiH. Some have been here as long as me, others as much as 16 years. Serving with different organizations, having children, having none, single, married....I love these women. We are studying Beth Moore's Esther study. Loving it.

Thank you for praying!!! Quick answer!

2009-10-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

I was SO overwhelmed with the response...so many people prayed for Israel! To give you an update: today was the best Vrtic day YET! She went RIGHT in, smiles, and didn't cry the entire time!

It has to be so overwhelming: you are 3, don't understand the language and don't know anyone. Then there's cultural differences as well...

We had our first snow the other day. And it is SO cold now. Praise GOD for our women's Bible study...a lady in the study let me get some of her garage sale items...we got snow pants for Elijah and a snow coat! We got Israel a nice warm winter coat! We got mittens for Israel! And a fellow laborer here gave Israel an umbrella for her very own. Now all we need is mittens and a hat for Elijah. I have no idea where to buy them that small...another adventure. But Izzy is set. We found her some snow pants really cheap too. One thing that has been challenging here is the cost of things...they are so expensive. But God is providing for us. I'm so thankful for these winter clothes. We are so blessed.

thanks for keeping in touch!

Pray for Izzy

2009-10-13T02:26:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

To those who love my little girl. Please pray for her regarding her preschool. It is a great preschool. But she still cries every day. It's really hard to leave her. This morning she was in hysterics. Please pray for her to settle in quickly and love her school and learn Bosnian. Thank you.

Elijah's Birthday Party

2009-10-11T07:24:00.000-07:00

Elijah putting a spot on the dog
Skyping with Nana and Aunt Lou Lou
Play Dough
Baka playing balloon with Anje and Israel
Notice the pretty sign

Josh reading "The Remarkable Farkle McBride" to the kids
The doggie birthday cake I made!

Elijah turns two tomorrow (Monday). We had his birthday party yesterday (Saturday) in his room. We had a great time. His guests included Nathan, Joy, Rhesia, and Chad from our STINT team, "Baka" Kristie (our grandmother here in Bosnia) and her daughter Tamra (an adopted Aunt for the kids), Anje (the little 2 1/2 year old girl whose grandparents live downstairs) and her grandmother Medita. We had a great time. Some games we played: I drew a huge dalmatian puppy and cut out some spots and the kids (and Chad) took turns putting spots on the puppy, we played with playdough, we ate "dog food" (really cocoa puffs) from a dog bowl. I read them "Red, Stop! Green, Go! Dog party book" We had pretzels and Napolitanke for snacks, as well as Cedevita (think Kool Aid) for drink and water. Nana and Aunt Lou Lou skyped in for the party, which was great! So thankful for technology...don't know what people did back in the day!

It was fun having everyone join us. Josh and I made a huge sign that says "Sretan Rodendan" (Happy Birthday). We sang the Rabbit Song and Going on a Bear Hunt. Everyone loved the cake. Elijah got a Grover doll (and Izzy got an Abby Cadabby doll). He also got some new trucks, a puzzle, some chocolate, Cars DVD , Ice Age DVD, and some new house shoes. We had a great time!

Thumbelina

2009-10-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

We had a great time last night...Israel, her friend Sarah and mom Lejla and I all went to the National Theater's production of "Thumbelina" (Palcica in Bosnian). Neither Lejla or Sarah speak English, so it was a Bosnian adventure. The girls had a great time and the production was truly beautiful. I got in for free (don't know how that happened!) and sat on the 2nd row. Loved it and Sarah and Lejla came over last night after the show to play for about 30 minutes. Had fun!

Israel and Elijah's Prvi Dan...Izzy: Vrtic, Elijah: childcare

2009-10-05T21:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (Monday) was Israel's first day of Vrtic (pronounced "VER-teech"). We left and she agreed to do three things: not to cry when I leave, smile at one person, and learn one new Bosnian word. I left and she wasn't crying, so that is a good thing! I dropped Elijah off with Merima, our babysitter. While they were there (Elijah from 8-11, Izzy from 8-12) I studied Bosnian then went grocery shopping. I picked up Elijah and he was so happy. He kept saying "Had...fun...Merima" over and over and over again...all the way to Israel's school. Israel was crying when I got there, but her teacher said she had only been crying for about 15 minutes. I asked her if she had learned a new Bosnian word. Israel said, "yes...I learned LIST. It means leaf!" That is true, and I am happy. It's a sweet little school and I hope Israel will be happy there.

The highlight of the day was Ballet class. The previous night we had gone to a park and ran into one of her ballet classmates, Sarah. Izzy and Sarah played the entire time and were instant friends. When we arrived at Ballet, Sarah's mom Lejla said that Sarah had been asking "where's Izzy?" Both Sarah and Lejla only speak Bosnian. We were praying for friends who don't speak English so it will force us to talk! As soon as Israel entered her class, she got a huge smile on her face and ran to Sarah. The two were inseparable and Israel had a smile on her face the entire hour! What an answer to prayer! Tonight, Sarah, Lejla, Israel and I are going to the National Theater to see the ballet's production of "Palcica" (Thumbelina). We are excited!

Thank you all for praying for us. Pray for more good days like yesterday!

Hilarious Post...a must read

2009-10-04T07:13:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was cold and rainy so we decided to go to the indoor pool. So we hopped a tram and arrived at the Olympic pool. We changed into our pool clothes and as we were about to get in, a man who works there told Josh that we all needed swimming caps that that it was mandatory for Josh to wear a Speedo. So I left to buy everyone swimming caps. Josh just sat on the bench while we swam. Until the guy came back with one of HIS Speedos to let Josh borrow!!! It was a TINY Speedo, and of course it would have been awkward for Josh to reject his generosity, so Josh went to the bathroom, washed that speedo out with the hottest water he could, and returned to the pool in a swimming cap and a tiny Speedo! It was SO SO SO funny. If only I had the camera. However, Josh said he wouldn't have let me post a picture. In his words, "the world doesn't need another reason to vomit."

On another note, we helped lead worship at church this morning. And "we" being our entire family. Israel on a shaker, Elijah on a drum. Very fun.

We don't have to move!

2009-10-01T02:32:00.001-07:00

Praise God. We met with our landlord yesterday morning and he said that he will not pay the taxes. So we were on the lookout for another place. But we were praying that God would do the impossible. That Dino would call us back and say he would pay half of his taxes, and we would pay the rest. He called this morning. He had misunderstood us yesterday morning. He is paying for half, so we can stay! Thank you ALL for praying!

We found a Preschool!

2009-09-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

We have officially found a preschool for Israel! It's called "Vrtic Sunce" (that means "Kindergarten Sunshine") and it is absolutely beautiful. It faces a massive park and has windows all along the walls, letting in lots of natural light. Israel's classroom has a loft with lots of "girly" toys. When we visited, she liked to play up there and used her imagination. The teacher is nice. Her name is Amra and she speaks both Bosnian and English, which is helpful. Israel's health tests will come in on Thursday afternoon, I'll turn them in to the Vrtic (pronounced "VER-teach" on Friday and then she will start Monday! She'll start at 3 days a week and go from 8am until 12pm. She'll have breakfast there. There will be a lot of time where she will be able to play outside in the beautiful park. She will learn songs, her numbers, her letters and more. And, most importantly, she will make friends. There are 2 children in the school (which only has about 30 children) who speak English. We can walk to the school or take a bus. Elijah will not go to Vrtic yet, but he will start play dates with Merima, our awesome babysitter, who will teach him lots of Bosnian words and speak to him a lot in Bosnian while I take my Bosnian language classes in the mornings. It's a wonderful set up. Thank you all who prayed for us during this process. We felt truly led and we are hopeful for a wonderful first year of school.

Getting Izzy into Preschool

2009-09-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

So we are trying to get Israel into preschool here, but it's so complicated! So today, we tried to get some things done. We went to the medical offices (30 minute walk away) with Merima (our God-send!) and tried to get all the medical stuff taken care of. I found out then that I have to take her to ANOTHER doctor on the OTHER side of town, get her breathing test, get a stool sample (and carry it back to the medical office!), then RETURN to the office (with the stool sample) as well as her birth certificate, passport, and some more paperwork we have to fill out. Oh yeah, and her immunization records. Which of course I didn't have. So I had to call her doctor and get her to scan it and email it to me. UUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHH.

Tomorrow we are going to the doctor to get Israel's breathing test. Then back to medical office.

We checked out a couple of preschools. I'll keep you updated. They were all different from one another. Please pray for us to find the right one for us.

Also, Israel started ballet tonight. She goes 2 times a week. The studio is right around the corner from our house, which is cool. She did well...the first part she started crying and said she didn't want to take ballet. But by the end, she was participating and was so proud of herself.

Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Merima and Homeschool

2009-09-22T00:39:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, quick update here. It's good to be back home in Sarajevo. We love being home!

Some quick pictures: Israel and Elijah with Merima, their sweet babysitter and our dear friend. We love this sweet woman and are so grateful to have her in our lives. She made these heart pillows for us by hand.

The other picture is Israel and Elijah after our homeschool play dough time. We made a "B" out of play dough.

We will be looking for Israel's preschool in the next day or so. Please keep that in your thoughts!

To Croatia, back to Sarajevo...

2009-09-21T06:54:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone, I'll try to give you a brief update of our last week. We went to Croatia for a few days for a conference with our organization here. Tuesday morning, we woke up and got ready to go. After Izzy ran down the stairs after Josh, I chased her, I fell down the stairs, she was disciplined, we all got in the rental car (a VW Golf 6) and drove the 5 hour drive to Split. On the way there, Izzy said "there is something I miss really bad about America...my room and my nana and grandy". That's when it started...my tears started falling...are our children going to grow up okay without having what they had? A yard? Sweet neighbors? A pink room for Izzy? (She and Elijah share a room) Grandparents close by? Good solid teaching on Sunday morning? Then, a song came on our CD player in the car. It's from "Sing Over Me" (all you parents out there, get it...it's the best lullaby CD)...Here are some lyrics:

When it's dark and it's cold and I can't feel my soul, You are still good.

When the world has gone grey and the rain's here to stay You are still good.

With every breath I take in, I'll tell You I'm grateful again.

And the storm it may swell even then it is well

And You are good

So how can I thank You, what can I bring?

What can this poor man lay at the feet of a king?

So I'll sing you this love song, It's all that I have

To tell you I'm grateful for holding my life in Your hands.

I couldn't stop crying and every time I hear that song I cry now.

Then, we got to Split and stayed with the Brents. They have 3 little girls and Izzy and their youngest Claire who is 6 played forever with girly things. Claire and Ana share a pink room so Izzy thought that was great. Elijah had a good time too. But I got a fever, then passed out almost! I laid down and then we left for Porec the next morning, although my stomach was killing me and I cried a lot on the way there.

We got to Porec for our conference 5 hours later. I got in touch with some other moms there who have been serving in Croatia for a while. Karen, Jane and Lynn were amazing. They all met with me individually and shared with me their experiences. I told them about my homesickness and they talked me through it. They said it is normal and I will get through it. Through talking with them, we have decided it is best for me to put Izzy in Vrtic (preschool) this year and Elijah in it next year. It will be best for them for learning language and making friends.

The conference was great, although my stomach hurt the entire time and I had to take naps every day. I'm feeling better now. Not 100%, but much better.

So now we are back in Sarajevo. We got back last night. Izzy said how much she LOVES being back in Bosnia. She LOVES her new Bosnia home. That made me feel better. And Wednesday I will check out a Vrtic nearby. Today and tomorrow is Bajram (our city celebrates this, it is the end of Ramadan)...so most of the Vrtics are closed until Wednesday. We'll see and I'll let you know what happens! I can't believe I'm sending my baby to preschool! This is a challenge for me, the homeschool freak, but also exciting!

Accountable Kids

2009-09-14T02:40:00.000-07:00

We just started this new program with Israel. It's called Accountable Kids. You can check it out online at www.accountablekids.com It's a board with several pegs: start, finish, ticket, date, and chores. The cards on the left (start peg) are the tasks Israel must complete in a day. They are sorted by color, so the yellow ones are the ones she must do in the morning. So every morning, Israel looks at the chart and sees she needs to make her bed, so she makes her bed and then flips over the card to the finish peg. Then she sees she needs to take her vitamins, etc...then she brushes her teeth, combs her hair, dresses herself, eats breakfast, and reads her Bible. It's been a great thing for all of us. If she completes all her morning tasks, she gets a ticket, redeemable for a priveledge later on. (TV, playground, etc.) If she disobeys in the day, she gets a ticket taken away. And if she is able to make it a day without loosing a ticket, she gets a star on her date card...10 stars equals a special date with Daddy wherever she wants to go and do whatever she wants to do.

Israel is so funny

2009-09-13T13:17:00.000-07:00

Here's the quote from the week:

Me: Let's eat lunch on our patio today. it's such a nice day.

Israel: No, there are too many bees out there (there were a lot of bees that day, as well as some birds that come often).

Me: Okay, we don't have to eat outside today.

Israel: Yeah, Mom. I'm afraid of the birds AND the bees!

Me: (trying to hide my laughter!)

The life of the Irbys in Sarajevo

2009-09-12T23:38:00.000-07:00

We created this blog so people back in the States (and around the world) can keep up with our family. Check back for updates and pictures soon!