We have a release date!!!

  We finally got travel plans and a release date! July 2nd we will be headed home!  We have a few mixed emotions going on here, as the time is coming closer we realize how hard it's going to be to say good-bye, but then again...it's been almost two years and I have grandchildren to hug, mothering to do and quilting to be done! Probably I will be lost, not knowing what to do with my time, but just sleeping in our own bed sounds pretty good right now!
    The last two weeks we have been busy closing projects and doing a lot of paper work. Actually, Jim is doing the paper work. I am starting to clean out closets, drawers and cupboards. We need to get all our stuff moved to Bosnia by the first week of June in order for our humanitarian replacements to move in to our apartment. So we decided to take a little bit each week as we go back and forth. Good plan right? You would think so, but this business of living between two countries is just confusing. Last week I forgot my walking shoes. I didn't want to buy a new pair so George and I just didn't walk all week! George??? You're right, my husbands name is Jim, but I'm listening to a biography of George Washington on audio and so George and I have a date most every day when I don't forget my shoes!
     We had wonderful Sunday meetings today, I'm actually starting to understand the hymns a little better in Serbian. Just when we are getting ready to come home the light goes on a little. I think that is one thing I'm really looking forward to when we go home. Hearing the hymns being sung in English. That will be nice.


This is the closing for a five rack commercial oven for the Muslim Soup Kitchen here in Banja Luka.
They were so happy to get it,  things will be so much better for the volunteers. Up to this point they have depended on a wood burning stove. The kitchen wasn't wired for the electricity they needed to run the oven so that had to be brought in.





On our way back and forth between countries we see storks, I love to see them nesting and by the middle or end of June we will see the babies poking their little heads up! The residents are very protective of these endangered birds and rightly so, they are beautiful and a sight to see!  Our translator, Predrag, has started and environmental group that received grant money to help build "lifters" to get the nests away from power lines.





The "lifter" brings the nest up off of the power pole, the move can only be done while the birds have migrated to Africa, it's very heavy as you can imagine and has to be done with great care. I think that only one or two a year can be done. This one was done this winter and everyone is rejoicing that the birds didn't seem to care that their nest had been moved.  Isn't it just amazing to see something that big on a power pole?



This is another storks nest down the road a bit. This is in Bosnia, but the storks come to Croatia as well. They tell us that in Croatia the government actually pays the home owner a yearly stipend to not destroy or move the nest. Can you imagine having something that big living on your roof??



This is just a little closer look.

The guy by the green boat lives in the above mentioned nest. I waited for him to fly up to it, but he was NOT cooperative and it started to rain. For some reason Jim thought my bird watching should be over.

This was my last picture before I was led back to the car  to get out of the rain....what did he think? I was going to melt? Really I think he was more worried about the camera getting wet than me melting.
I wanted to count them before I quit, but didn't have time. George and I saw 62 swans the other day on our walk by the river in Croatia,  I could easily become a bird watcher, they just fascinate me.

Our missionaries with our land lord doing yard work. Elder Hansen and Rad

Elder Rad digging up dandelions. His last name really isn't Rad, I just call him that because I can't say his name. I'm a mess, so he graciously told me to call him Rad.

Viktorija giving Elder Hansen a haircut in my kitchen.

Elder Rad cleaning up after his haircut. Okay his real name is,  Radosavljevic.....I'm going to practice and say it right one of these days... Seeing in typed in Latin instead of Cyrillic makes it seem a little easier.

Our water project closing this week. Jim did an interview on T.V. and as soon as we get it translated I will see if one of my kids can post it on face book.

    I think I might turn into a pumpkin soon, so I'd best quit. I just want you to know how much we love the work we do here in Bosnia and Croatia. It's been such an amazing expierence, what a blessing it has been to us to be able to be here. Guess what? I just figured out that after all most two years blogger has finally fixed the spell checker! Yeah! It makes life so much easier!