Happy Easter

Catching up seems to be my middle name for the past few weeks... April is December all over again for me! EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR!
I shall start with this weekend past and move backwards until my documentation is complete!

Friday I remembered Elder Basha mentioning that stores are closed for 3 days and the country shuts down at Christmas and Easter and the missionaries eat at McDonald's for 3 days because nothing else is open. I was thankful he mentioned that one day! I am more thankful that I was listening. I am most thankful that I remembered that at the most opportune time... Friday afternoon. So I loaded my grocery bags and headed out for Tesco.
I had Easter baskets to make, fill and food to prepare for our invitations to Easter Sunday brunch and Easter Monday dinner.

But when I got to Tesco, this is what the produce section looked like. The dairy coolers were nearly in the same condition... NAKED! Bare naked like a hurricane warning siren had just alerted me that I wouldn't be eating for another month and so I should stock up! But everyone else beat me to the produce isle. So I had to settel for frozen produce... First time for everything. I am certain I will not forget this lesson next time I hear the words, "everything shuts down for 3 days..."!



I went to Real, another grocer in town, and found much more food stocking the shelves... and we partook. I also found basket goodies... Not cute baskets, just baskets, rubber flowers, bunnies galore, eggs o plenty, chocolate everywhere, and real feather covered styrophome chicks that were to die for! I invisioned a date with these Easter essentials and my glue gun. What else would you do with rubber flowers? I had been feeling badly that I didn't bring plastic eggs for my children and that they were not going to get their cute little baskets from home. Huge Easter egg hunt is my middle name... and it wasn't going to happen this year.
#1) No plastic eggs in Poland. Well, that isn't true... There are some in the store but they already have toys in them and they are American toys which means that each egg is 3zt.
#2) All the eggs here are Kinder eggs which are chocolate with toys in the middle but you wouldn't hide 500 Kinder eggs unless you had more money than sence, though I did pick up 32 of those Kinder eggs for our egg hunt at the Gladun's on Sunday.

Grandpa and Grandma Mecham sent a plastic egg full of jelly beans and dried fruit. We nearly wept at the sight of such a gift... the plastic eggs and jelly beans. We were beyond grateful for their kindness.


Saturday we colored eggs from an egg coloring kit that the South's gifted us last week while Mr. Mecham was in England. It was nice to have since I'm not quite certain what it was that I purchased in way of Easter egg dye at the store. The kids had a blast.

We opted to forego new Easter Sunday clothing this year, since we knew that the members in our branch would not be able to purchase new clothing. Sometimes it is so uncool to have new things when others around you are just trying to survive.

However, we pulled out some colorful clothes and ties and we fit in fine with the other springy Easter church going folks around here. I loved that Nate and the missionaries looked like Easter eggs with their ties! It was awesome!

After church we were invited to the Gladun's for Easter brunch. The Easter tradition in Poland is that the women go to 6:00 a.m. mass and they take with them their food in a basket. The priest blesses their food and then they go home to prepare the food. The men wake up and go to 8:00 church and then come home for an Easter brunch feast! The food is traditional; soups, meats and salads and cakes galore... It is a day reserved for family gathering and celebration (so you can imagine the honor of an invite to celebrate with another family)... then in the evening the family goes back to church together.

Beata cooked for days preparing for Easter brunch, which is traditionally eaten aroudn 11:00 a.m. But our church starts at 11. So we didn't eat until 3.

We were joined by Beata's nephew, Macek,

and the missionaries in Lublin, Elders Kennedy and Mikolyski.

Then we hunted the Kinder eggs in the frozen yard.
Nate had noticed that the tire was getting low when we pulled into the driveway of our dinner appointment. He checked it during the hunt to find it deflating quickly. Insert reminder... EVERYTHING IS CLOSED!

But Czarek had a friend whom he pulled a favor from. We pulled in to the tire change driveway and out came the old style jack, pumped up the car, changed the tire which had a nail in it, paid the 50zt... all the while Bailey is announcing that we shouldn't be doing this on Sunday. Which she is right, but we had a flat tire. And wouldn't you know it, when we started that car up to leave the gas line had been broken from that old style jack. We were leaking gasoline all over the driveway. It was happy. We hurried home anyway in hopes that miraculously the fuel line would scab over like road rash does. But it didn't.

Monday, today, I went outside and smelled a whiff of gasoline. It was as if I had it on my own clothing and I called for Mr. Mecham who confirmed that not only was that gasoline but that our fuel line did not scab over and that it had drained our full tank of fuel all over the ground. And so our Easter weekend almost comes to an end... Do not take your tire to be fixed by favors on Easter Sunday. The rav went to the repair yard via tow truck.

Meanwhile, Easter Monday is "wet day"! A national holiday dedicated to throwing water on single women. Leading up to the holiday there were more squirt guns in the stores than there were easter baskets. So you can imagine that water fight that took place in the yard. The kids were freezing... but it didn't stop them!

Jacek and Kuba Boguta

Bailey and Agata
We called a cab after that. The Boguta's invited us over for Monday Easter dinner. It is tradition to share a meal with friends on Monday. We ate much the same food. Then we ate pizza. Then we drank home made juice. Then we ate cake. Then we ate. Then we ate. Then we ate. Then Bailey made beads with Bailey. Then Kuba showed us the cosmos with his scope. Then we watched movies of Agata's trip to Russia. Then we stacked the dishes to the ceiling. Then we looked at Ewa's pictures to Kroasia (now on my bucket list). Then Andrzaj took us home because you remember that our car is in the fix shop with a gas leak.
Good weekend. Mr. Mecham got off work! The first Holiday he has been gifted to celebrate in Poland. Because nothing was open, he couldn't go to work. It has it's perks!


It is a month of birthdays for the Mechams...
Happy Birthday on the 8th to Mattie and Bracken.
Happy Birthday to Braige on the 9th.
These are a few of our favorites around here! We wished ourselves in Utah today... but it didn't happen!

Warsaw and Willinow Palace

On March 16 Bailey was invited to a slumber birthday party at the Armstrongs. Grace is the only person Bailey claims as a friend in Poland. The Armstrongs are more like friends we've known since pre-existance times... they felt like family from the second we met them. This being the case, we didn't feel like we could keep Bailey from such a celebration so we drove her to Warsaw.
Although Warsaw is one of the closer major cities to us in Poland, it isn't around the corner... So we planned a weekend out of it! While Bailey was slumbering at the birthday bash, we were at Europe's biggest mall. President Nielson calls it, "The great and Spacious". Indeed it is.

This mall is enormous! Every store you can think of...

But we weren't really there to shop. Mr. Mecham promised good food and a movie. We ate at the food court and watched "Mirror Mirror" which was the only movie not dubbed into Polish. We were loving it!

Movie got out late... And as we were leaving the parking garage we ran into Stalin's tower... all lit up and looking powerful... Just as Stalin wanted.

We really Hate driving in Warsaw. It is estimated to have the worst traffic in ALL of Europe! One day I drove around for 2 hours just trying to get 2 miles. It is so frusterating! But on that enchanted night... we found the roads pleasant! If you drive around Poland after 9:00 p.m. there aren't many cars on the road and it is not only easy to get around, but also you see things that typically you miss in the confustion of traffica. It WAS AWESOME!

The next Morning we picked up Bailey from the Armstrong's at 10:00 a.m. sharp. Andy Armstrong works for the United States embassey. He has a really cool job! Embassey housing is AWESOME! But most of all, it was really fun to see them again. Bailey had a blast, which we knew she would! With only 3 hours drive to home, we had the day to blow...
so we went to Willinow Palace in down town Warsaw. It was breath taking! Willinow wasn't bombed at the end of WWII... so it is in prestine condition!

The outside grounds had the royal stalls for the animals and a nice treasure wagon which they pulled...



The detail on the Palace was impeccable and most ornate. I have to admit, I was wooed, not only by the color choice (yellow is my favorite color) but also by the detail work in every nook and craney. No expenses spared.

When we started the tour we entered from the side and immediately went down lots of stairs... There we began with the Royal carriage of King John... and his wife had a separate carriage. Being Royal didn't always have it's perks or else the carriage would have been big enough for the kind and queen to shnuggle as they rode through the town!


While the boys found the gun room pretty fascinating,



I thought the dish hutch, which was really a room, was pretty darn fancey!

and we all loved the family photo gallary. The are is stunning!

Like I said earlier... While being born as a mortal royal definately had its perks, it wasn't always the most awesome: All the royals had their own bed chamber. Who would keep them warm at night? Who would they talk to while trying to sleep? Very sad indeed... I wonder if they thought so too?


In the princesses parlor hung the only picture I have seen with somebody smiling in it. I mean one. and. only! in all the art, in all the palaces, museums, etc... NOBODY smiles for pictures in these days, you know! And so I was drawn to that photograph. It made me believe that the Willinow princess was my favorite royal! Afterall, she liked smiling people!

Here is the baby sized room (Princess bed chamber). It was my favorite of all the bed chambers I have seen.

Here is the mommy sized room (queen bed chamber).


And this is the papa sized king bed chamber. The Royal bedding made with oriental silks and over priced fabrics. It was magnificant! The ceiling skipped right over crown molding and went to sculptures of unicorns, cherubs and 3D gardens where that ceiling and wall met. These royals knew how to build a royal bed chamber... I'll tell you what!


For whatever reason, I am always fascinated to see the royal bathing quarters. What isn't fun about that?! I don't know what they did in there other than bath, but there were lavish benches to lay on, velvet carpet rugs and chandeleirs.

I must admit though, my very favorite part was the outer gardens and the stair case leading down to the river front. I love gardens... and this one took it to a new level for me. Definately a Royal breath taker... I am taking notes for the eternitites...just in case!

It was a fun weekend. We came home tired which is always a good sign.

Happy Birthday today to my seester-in-law, Chrysteil, who happens to be my fav s-i-l on my side of the fam!

Tomorrow is Coley's birthday. In celebration of his 8 years in mortality we took another little trip... this time to Krakow. Oh wow! I will say this, FUNNEST 8th birthday I've ever been to. More on that later.

Familiy night in Lublin

When we came back to Poland after Christmas we decided there was NEVER going to be a dull moment. We vowed to stay busy... There is much to see and do here on this side of the planet...

The members in Lublin hadn't caught on to Family Home Evening. They didn't really understand it's point. So President Mecham introduced this concept last Monday and instituted monthly branch FHE here in Lublin. It was a HIT!

This FHE was focusing on goals. After understanding the importance of goals, we set our own branch goals for this year.
1) Progress personally in the gospel. Thank Heaven the church already instituted programs for this purpose: Personal Progress for all the sisters ages 12- death. Duty to God for all the priesthood ages 12- death. Faith in God for all the primary children. The members are soooo excited!
2) Read the Book of Mormon! Daily study of this book will change lives! The members in Lublin are reading it!
3) Go to the temple. Our temple is in Frieberg, Germany. Our branch will be attending that together in November. That is going to be lots of personal and branch work... There will be many attending for the first time. We are really excited!

With the introduction of each of these goals there was an action item activity which took place... after all, a goal with no action is just vanishing thought.
somehow I missed the photos of the "night crawler" portion of this activity. It was awesome though.
1)night crawler activity was a huge pan of gummy bears and worms in chocolate pudding. Each team nominated a representative who was instructed to find as many worms as they could only using their mouth. Elder Kennedy killed Mariusz at this! I think mariusz like the American pudding more than he cared about the gummy worms.
The point was that as we set goals there will be many deterants and most of them will be good. But if we want to achieve that goal we must only go for the best things that will help us do that. The bears didn't count for points... only the worms.
2) finding hidden mini safety pins in a pile of rice is harder than it looks...

Beata and Marlena battled for the treasure's in the rice. Marlena won by a landslide!
The point was that searching the scriptures for its treasures will bless our lives.

3) Lemons are sour! If you squeeze 1/4 of a lemon you won't have enough lemon juice to make a picher of lemonade. But if you squeeze and sqeeze, little by little you will have enough!

Marlena begged for another turn at this one... She loves lemons! So McKay gave up his spot as the lemon juice sucker to her while Fidel was her fierce aponent. The rules were to suck juice out of the each lemon wedge and spit it in the cup. 3 MINUTES!!! Whomever had the most juice at the end won!
The point was that little by little, if we keep working on the goal we will achieve that goal... Our goal, of course, is going to that temple in Germany!

On another note:
Last night we hosted a missionary discussion at our house! Pawo was introduces to the church while living in England a few months ago. He moved back to Poland to be closer to home in January and looked up the missionaries to continue his investigations of the church. He is getting baptized in April. Sabastian is Marlena's 13 year old son. He is investigating the church also. His introduction came through his faithful mother. Last night Sabastian accepted the invitation to be baptized in April. Cole will be 8 next week. He will also be baptized when grandparents arrive to this part of the world... That will be 3 baptisms in Lublin this year. In the past 2 1/2 years there has only been 1 baptism here. We are soooooo EXCITED!

In the NEWS:
We are moving to England in July! The dome here is finising up early and Mr. Mecham will just have to travel a bit to finish up closing negotiations. Mr. Potter, whom he works with, is BEYOND capable to do the rest. I think even the Potters will get to go early on a new assignment! We are going to miss Poland and our friends. It is a bitter sweet feeling to think about moving to England. We just fell in love with POland... and so we know that in time we will feel the same about England...
When we told Marlena (last night) that we were moving she said, "President, at family night you told us we would ALL be in the temple together this year". Then she stared at Mr. Mecham like her statement was a question... until he answered, "then I guess Becky and I will meet you in Germany this November". Knowing that I get to see our Polish friends again in November will make moving a little easier! If you were hoping to come put your feet under our Polish table you better make plans sooner than later...

Our obsession to create life:
The children have found out just how inviting it is to create new life... on dragonvale. Their breeding caves are always occupied. It's a good time.

I can not describe the excitement around here when a new dragon is hatched! Never a dull moment!

Sunrise

Not going to lie... when the sun doesn't come up, I am not a happy camper! So you can imagine that there were some depressing days around the winter solstice in Poland when the sun didn't really ever come up but rather it got light ish around 7:30 a.m. and then was mid night black by 3:00 p.m. Infact, when Elder Plumb tried to prepare me (months before) for the lack of sun during the winter It didn't even process in my brain. But it was processing during winter... It was dark!
You can also imagine our delight when on December 17 our family was driving to Warsaw to go to Arizona for Christmas and the sky got light... and then we hopped a plane to the United States and that plane followed the sun across the globe with our air plane. It gave us a day without night... 24 hours of sun. I was healed!
Upon our return from the United States, the days in Poland are getting longer which means more sun... And wouldn't you know it, this very morning the sun came up while I was taking Mr. Mecham to the train station... and It was beautiful!
The sun light stays around much longer these days. I didn't realize how much I loved that ball of fire until it was gone.
I love sun! I love it's warmth. I love that it makes things bright which is simultanious with happy in my mind. Happy can exist without sun... but sun can not exist without happy! I will never take Sunshine for granted again. I can't tell you the joy I feel with a simple sunrise!


On another note, Today is Marja's birthday.
One of the great things about marrying Mr. Mecham was the inheritance of his awesome family! Marja is one of my very favorite people on this earth... she is one of Nate's younger seester. I first met Marja after I had been dating Mr. Mecham for a few months. We were in American Fork visiting his family. I was sitting on the Mecham's front porch with Merillee and Nate when Marja came home from a date to the gym... she was dropped off down the street by her long haired muffin who had a BIG black truck. Marja was full of allergies that day and pinched her nose the entire visit. Marja and Merille made me laugh as hard as Shellie and Tamara Hawkins used to. If there was any question that MR. Mecham was cool, it had been answered. With sisters like this he was cool! haha... I had to stay.
After legally making Marja my sister, I found that she just got better! I will forever and ever be thankful to know her, to call her a friend and to be legally tied to her family now and through the eternitites.
A few years ago she made the long journey from Utah to Arizona for spring break. It will go down in my book as the best spring break I ever had. Her boys and my boys are like peanut butter and jelly. They just go together.
When we are in Utah, Marja and Co. love to entertain and create memories with us. My children still and forever will talk about the good times they have with Uncle Curt, Aunt Marja and the boys. We are thankful.
So today, in celebration of her mortality, I post 10 of the reasons I am certain that this world is a better place just because of her existance. Only 10? There are a million...

10) Marja has endurance. She pushes through. A few summers ago we ran Ragnar de sol together... it was so fun... Her endurance for running those hills without a hint of weakness is just like she is with trial in her life. She endurs well.

9) She is responsible. I've tried to talk her out of doing her scout calling, taking jello salad to her ward cook outs and watching over the neighborhood... but when she said she would she vowed to keep her word on every. little. detail. I want her on my side.

8) Marja is Loyal. She is loyal to her family. She would die for her awesome husband and sweet boys. She will defend her family to the enth degree.

7) She is fun! Oh BOY HOWDY... Marja is fun! I LOVE that she can think of something fun to do, or nothing at all and still have a good time. Some of the funnest times we've had during out summer breaks in Utah are with Marja. Oh... and funny! Funny is fun. She has an amazing sence of humor. (refer back to first time I met her.)

6) Marja is level headed. While some people are either fun or responsible, or level headed, she seems to do it all. Marja can take a situation and make heads or tails out of it and make the best and right decision EVERy. Single. Time. She doesn't make emotional decisions. I like that. It is quite the remarkable quality. I am envious.

5) She is so stinken cute! Though some would not say it matters, I think it does. People judge on what they see... and we all know that what we see is often the face of what is going on inside. Marja takes care of herself. She keeps a relationship with her Heavenly Father. She brings honor to her parents and family. She takes time for her health. She makes and leaves a good impression on others. She is radient!

4) Marja is clean. Everything has its place in her home. Everything! Her carpet does not know dirt. I do not understand this. While most peoplel eat dinner and then clean up, she cleans behind herself... Honestly! One night while we were at her house Cole decided to puke all over the hall. Marja woke me up to help him in the bathroom while she cleaned up the puke. It was disgustingly everywhere! By the time pulled his head out of the toilet, the mess was clean. I setteled Cole back into his bed with a bowl close by and found Marja sitting on the couch staring at the wall. It was still middle of the night... but she had cleaned up the floor and walls and already started the laundry... and now she was trying not to puke herself. She is a Mary Poppins type.

3)In true Mecham fashion, Marja is hard working! There are those that run cirlces around their peers... they seem to get everything done with time to spare... this is Marja. She is the first one up and the last one to bed. Her peaches are all canned, her jam is made, her laundry is washed, dried, folded and put away, the nutritious meals are created, served and cleaned up before digestion even sets in. The sheets are clean, the towls are fresh, the tile shines; even the grout, the carpet looks new, the walls and baseboards are dust free, the yard is impeccable, the car is clean inside and out, the kids are taxied to and fro, she watched their games, the church assignments fulfilled, the pictures taken, the vacations planned, the parties thrown, moving her brother and sister-in-law in and out of grandma's basement and on and on and on... I am exhausted... but she is still working.

2) There is something to be said for a good wife and an incredible mother. While everyone on the planet aspires to be a good wife, some arent! But Marja is. In great part all the above mentions make her a great wife. But I think that because she has the ability to always focus on good, stay optimistic through life's trials, and that she puts forth 100% into her relationship, always loving Mr. Damon makes her a good wife. When mom duties call, Marja does not shy. She is available for teaching opportunities, a great cheerleader, a busy taxi driver, a kind nurse, she sponsors the "friends come to our house" idea and above all else, her boys know they are safe and loved. I believe that when Braige and Brogan talk about their mother, their hearts are full and thankful to have the one they have. One day they will find themselves all grown up and probably moved on... NEVER will one replace the love they have for their fearless and devoted mother.

1) Marja is humble. In fact, if she were to read this, I think she would be embarassed. She likes to quietly go through life, serving, doing good, having fun, struggling, loving, whatever it is... without drawing attention to herself. She must have a clear understanding of who she is. Whatever it is, She is humble.

There are a million other sweet things about Marja Liisa that could be mentioned. The list is really quite lengthy. This is a small start on her character. She blesses life in general. I am ever thankful for her presence in my life. I hope and wish for Marja the best birthday yet, full of wonderful people, great memories and a year full of pleasant surprises!
Happy Birthday Marja Lissa... Hope it is great!

A leave of absence

I took a leave of absense. I went home where it was Oh soooo sweet! Here is the run down in a nut shell... I will try to get the necessary info included without boring detail.

Christmas in Arizon, with Sunshine was the goal! We hit the goal. It was amazing!
But what started as a 3 week vacation for Christmas break, ended up being 2 1/2 months of doctor visits bliss and we in a sick way, we loved every minute of it! A lot can happen in that time:

McKay visited LOTS of doctors, had bone scans, x-rays and lots of lab work.
McKay found out he needed nothing more than physical therapy.
Mckay found that he has an arch in his foot with in-sol orthotics. Bless them!
McKay and Kate became seriously good friends! She rubbed his fasia, taught him stretchy "go fish" and helped McKay find his mobility again!

We love Kate!

I Had a biopsy for cancer. It was negative. Thank you!
I awarded myself the bronzed uterus award for having to go through that. Don't ask.
Totally un-related but still equally fun... visited the cardiologist who reminded me the the mitral valve isn't closing properly, causing minor enlargement in the upper heart chamber and assured me that as scary as that sounded that I was fine. ALL RIGHTY THEN... sounds normal.

Bailey is a bonafid teenager!

soaked in a LOT of Arizona sun. It put the biggest smile EVER on my face!

I rammed into a suicidal garbage can that jumped infront of my moving vehicle which happened to be my parent's car... and barely cracked the passenger side light costing me only $250.00. WHAT THE HECK?!!! Stupid garbage can! (FYI: That was 1/2 the price is should have cost me... thanks to dear friends whom we soooo love for his kindness!)

cleaned Grampsydoodle's garage.

Went on date night every Friday night with my seester... Dinner and a movie. It was like clock work... I loved it!

Marci introduced me to juicing. I have never felt so good in my life!


Taught mum about pinterest... and she is going for a world record... but I have to say, while I only pin and dream of doing the things I see, she actually gets off pinterest long enough to cook or create that which she pins.


(grampsydoodle and the wee ones in their bird shirts at the air port)

Then we hopped a plane one day, (Which we almost missed and then almost missed our connecter flight too... good times) and came back to Poland to live happily with our dear old papa Nate... and we...

Went to Polish Conferance. It was so cool!



Elder Christopherson came. I found out that Nate is related to that apostle and it was fun to talk to him about it. His wife is awesome!


While there we were able to see all our friends from all over Poland, and the sweet missionaries whom we sooooooo love! It was WAAAAAy fun!


Jake Armstrong, mcKay and Cole

Bailey and Grace Armstrong
The kids stayed at the Armstrongs over night and had a BLAST!


I met my cousin, Siostra Ence, who is serving here in Warsaw... Then I came home and called her parents. Siostra Ence's great-grandfather and my grandmother are siblings.

Mr. Mecham hired a tutor who is a professor at the Medical University in Lublin to tutor our children in home school. Bless his heart... Joanna got the kids all caught up in school and is looking forward to field trips all over the area with them.

Today is "Woman's day" in Poland. So whatever that is... Happy day. Maczek brought me tulips. What a guy!

Life is good. We are happy and healthy now and couldn't be more thankful to be here with good old papa Nate! I sure do miss that old grampsydoodle dandy and mummy... and my sweet seesters and cutest nephews and little Ellie buns... and my fun friends. But life is good. We are enjoying the journey!

I love these boys

I get a HUGE MUNGO kick out of these boys!
I love that they are buddies.
I love that they are kind.
I love that they share their toys, their clothes and sometimes a bed.
I love that when I come down in the morning there is an entire table full of empty chairs and they are still sharing a the same space.
It makes me smile.


Funny comment of the night award goes to Cole... again...

Nate: "Cole, Come do the Neti pot. We have to get rid of your cold."
Cole: "I don't want to."
Nate: "Well come any way."
Cole: "Why do we have agency?"

And then he found out that sometimes in the Mecham house your agency gets robbed from you... and so he did the neti against his will...

Cole upon completion of the neti pot: "I feel like a new man!"

It snowed... It really finally snowed!

It finally snowed! Finally! It was starting to feel like an overdue pregnancy! Infact, it was EXACTLY like that! Some of us couldn't wait to see the snow fall for the first time. To feel its coldness and roll it up together to form snowballs! We couldn't wait for the white washed night sky and ground to look the same only divided by the grey space that seperated it which would inevitably be speckaled with giant white snowflakes! It was all perfect in our minds!
We waited. We checked the weather station no less than 97 times a day to see what the weather man might prophesy... but NOTHING! Then... it happened. It was 10:00 p.m. and the sky was speckled beautifully... and wouldn't you know it, the little Mecham's were bundled up and out on the front lawn like it was noon. They watched the snow cover the ground and the very second they felt like it was covered enough,

A little snowman appeared...
and it took up all the snow in the whole yard.
But it sure was fun!
And tomorrow it has been predicted that snow will fly again. WE CAN't WAIT!

Święty Mikołaj Wigilia

It is Santa Clause Eve here in Poland. Tonight St. Nicholas will make his way to all the good boys and girls and leave them a stocking of either treats or coal depending on how good they have been this year... and a gift in their shoe or under their pillow.

SHEESH! It all makes sense now! Santa Clause comes earlier in the month to Poland because we are really close to the North Pole... and Santa doesn't actually travel the world over in one night. HA~!
The kids think that means that if we go to Arizona for Christmas then they can cash in on Christmas twice this year!
Silly kids... Santa is smarter than that! We don't even have a tree or stockings here... So I he will either pass us up or he will stop because he feels sorry for us. :) We will see.

Happy St. Nicholas Eve

School makes McKay sick... But Dr. Emilia makes us better.

McKay is really sick. Like three weeks ago we found a private school who would teach our children even though they are not fluent in Polish. McKay went for one hour the first day, he went for four hours the 2nd day and then he got sick. He had a cold. The School won't let you in the doors if you are sick AT ALL! So he was home for the next few days. Then on MOnday of the next week he felt a little better. But Tuesday all the kids realized that they were sickly and couldn't go. They were home until Friday. That is when the other kids got better and Mr. McKay took a turn for the worse... but sadly I didn't believe him because I know how much McKay loves to go to school! NOT! So I sent them all Friday and I was home for one hour when the phone rang. It was McKay. He was too sick to be at school. He came home and went to bed. By Sunday he was laboring to breath. Sweet Emilia came over. She is our beloved neighbor who happens to be an Internal Medicine Doc. She came. She listened. She diagnosed. She prescripted. She ordered, "no school for atleast 3 days." She went home. Thorough as can be... and ever so kind. McKay smiled. He says the best part of being sick is that he can say, "I told you I was sick and you didn't believe me". And he reminds me every day.
INSERT GUILT HERE: I believe in the mum who sides with her cubs... and defends them to the end! I also believe in the mum who challenges her wee ones to do hard things and goes to great length to make certain of their success. I can't decide if I crossed the line... I should have been the mum who came home and smooched little McKay, put on the movies, and began making a pot of soup. But I wasn't. I thought he was faking. And so I tried to be stern. I am bad at that. Oh well. This time it bit me in the buttocks.
McKay got worse as the week went on. He couldn't breathe. Mr. Mecham blew up our nebulizer with the wrong size of transformer. Emilia came back over and listened again. She said, "we need to go the hospital now, okay?" And next thing you know, McKay and I were off to the hospital just barely passing Mr. Mecham and the other kidlets as they came home from Polish classes.

The hospital was like walking into a WARP ZONE... but atleast we were with somebody we trusted and who spoke the language well! Both dr. and Polish.



When we came to Poland it was required of us to have medical insurance to get a legal VISA. But when we got to the hospital they didn't believe us that our insurance was legit. They wouldn't have treated us if Emilia wasn't fighting for us. Doctors in this country get in BIG trouble from the government for treating patients without legit insurance... and they charge the Doctor for all the medical costs of the patient that they treated if they don't check insurance first. CRAZY! needless to say, registering at the front desk was interesting.
The concrete walls, the steel doors and the old style beds on antique training wheels gave us the creeps... McKay said the Elder Plumb told him there were "zombies" working in the hospital! I assured him that wasn't the case but that it just looked scary... like the Gas chamber we visited at the Majdanek death camp! Then Dr. Africa called us in.
ZOMBIE!



and he listened to McKay's chest and agreed that he was very sick and needed a lung x-ray to rule out pneumonia. Indeed the long scary halls made us afraid. I was worried about the zombies behind the metal doors. It was like a bomb shelter. And then behind the 3 foot thick concrete wall I saw the x-ray machine... and I felt so much better. UP TO DATE! And sweet Emilia was right there with us.
Back to Zombie Africa Dr... And wouldn't you know he said an "injection of steroids" was needed. And he had Zombie Polish nurse preparing the meds...
She was so nasty that sweet Emilia had to get after her. Dr. Emilia told zombie polish nurse that perhaps she needed to "get a new job. Perhaps one she won't be working with children and where she could grump around all day and it wouldn't matter". Then that zombie nurse put in the injection side ways into McKay's buttocks and took her time shooting in that medication. Too bad McKay is so tuff and it didn't matter that she sucked at giving shots. And when the fear finally hit McKay and tears began to come, sweet Emilia petitioned the zombie Africa Doc to give a new nebulizer rather than 10 more shots like this! And a quiet tear rolled off her cheeks as she saw how upset McKay was. But she got us out of 10 days of steroid shots. She became McKay's favorite person right then and there!
We made friends with that zombie Africa Doc. He liked McKay. He even shook his hand and then said, "Now you can tell all your friends you shook hands with a black man." To that I replied, "yea... well there are tonz of black folk where we come from and so it just makes us feel at home". Dr. Africa turned out to not be a zombie even though he looks like one.
Then a trip to the APTEKA...at mid-night... where we picked up one nebulizer, two antibiotics which we mix ourselves (and is awesome since the directions are in Polish), probiotics, 2 different vitamins, more cough stuff, one inhalor steroid, one resuce inhalor and a partirge in a pear tree. And Emilia was with us the whole time.



Did I say that her name is sacred in our home yet? Emilia... sweetest doctor of all time. we love her.

looks like McKay will get to miss school all week! :) Lucky dog.
Mckay slept like a baby.

p.s. Just because the medication and care is cheaper here in Poland because they have socialized medicine, it doesn't mean that it is better. And so today I am thankful that the U.S of A. is still not practicing socialized medicine... and I will fight to my death to keep it that way.

On another note:
happy birthday on Nov. 28 to Kaden and Kams. Sure love you.

Coley watched "the village" today. He is upstairs singing "I AM A CHILD OF GOD" in an effort to get that scary movie out of his head... and It is really super cute. I'm going to smooch his face off right now and lay by him since he is obviously scared to death.