The Belgium 6

More Fun at the Stockshow!!

2010-01-29T01:38:00.001+01:00

Denver Stockshow

2010-01-29T01:25:00.003+01:00

We went with our local homeschool group! It was lots of fun! That was the gentlest Llama ever! We heard on the news that a lady was looking to get a llama and if it was a girl they would call it Dolly Llama and a boy it would be Barak O'llama

Settling In

2010-01-29T00:57:00.003+01:00

That's exactly what we're doing! Life is getting much more routine. Beginning the day with homeschooling and job hunting, and ending the day with family devotions and more job hunting!

So as you figured out, I am still jobless. It is a rough economy out there, we had no idea just how rough until it was time for me to find a job.

Priority #1 is providing for my family. Of course, outside of living for Christ and all that entails!

Heather is doing a fantastic job with the kiddos. Josiah, Aubrie and Makinna are LOVING school and learning so much! Elijah is growing like a weed, crawling is a piece of cake for him now. He pulls himself up to standing and balances with one hand. The BIG kids still can't get enough of him, and he must feel like a treasured prince!

We've spoken and/or met with at least 10 churches since returning. When we speak we share about life on the mission field, the need to evangelize where God has put us, and future service for our family here in Denver.

I have started seminary and I'm really enjoying it!

We located many great ministries to serve alongside here in Denver.

We're taking extra-curricular things slowly! No one is doing any sports. But the kids are doing piano lessons with their Mimi! Who just happens to be a wonderful music teacher! They are doing really well!

Thank you for checking up on us.

Feel free to drop us a line anytime! We love to get updates on you, as well!

What's One TO DO?

2009-11-13T07:47:00.003+01:00

Soooooo
You arrive at Chick fil a on kid's eat free night, only to discover if your child is in costume they get a surprise...

Traveling to the US

2009-11-13T07:31:00.001+01:00

Arrival Photos

2009-11-13T06:57:00.002+01:00

Here we are arriving in Denver with 18 suitcases, 9 backpacks, a stroller, car seat and 4 children after traveling for 19 hours!

It was 4AM Belgium time, and we're still smiling!!!

Finishing Strong

2009-11-12T05:59:00.002+01:00

Hey guys,
Well it's that time. Time to head back to life in the States.
Thoughts...

Our time in Belgium was...
1. Sweet
2. Challenging
3. Expensive :D,
4. Life Changing
5. Eye Opening
6. Deep Breathing
7. Magnifique (Magnificent)
8. Difficile (Difficult at times)
9. Priority Changing
10.Impossible without the Lord and you praying, encouraging and supporting our ministry

What Did We Learn?
1. Perseverance
2. Availability
3. Hospitality
4. Readiness
5. Prioritizing
6. Organizing
7. Go Getting
8. Listening
9. Studying
10.Contextualizing (conforming)

What's Next?
1. Searching
2. Waiting
3. Listening
4. Looking
5. Outreaching
6. Local Missions
7. Raising Ministry Partners
8. Studying (seminary)
9. Homeschooling
10.Remembering and praying for Belgium

Psalm 96
"Oh sing to the Lord a new song
sing to the Lord, all the earth!
Sing to the Lord, bless His name;
tell of His salvation from day to day.
Declare His glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples!
For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!"

Praise the Lord with us over the fact that He is working throughout the earth bringing people to Himself! Praise the Lord for the remnant of believers in Belgium! Pray for them as they continue to live life and proclaim their faith to those around them, and pray for the Ms that are still there proclaiming Him to the nations. Pray for the folks we had the pleasure to get to know and share life with. Pray that those who know Him will continue to grow deeply in love with the Father, and for those who do not pray that those blinders will be removed and the reality of their desperate need of the Father's grace will be impossible to ignore. They are each precious to us and we want to see them again on earth and in eternity! Pray for revival and an outpouring of God's grace on the lost in Western Europe!

Bible Study

2009-09-28T19:31:00.004+02:00

Bible Study challenges everyone that applies themselves. We went from one family on week one to two the next week and every other week (3 families if you count us! ;D). Each week better than the last. God really blessed and deepened the relationships and conversations as everyone opened up and shared with the group sharing joys and struggles. Here are some photos of the lovely folks who've been coming! And the world's GREATEST babysitters!!! Simona and Cathy!

10 year Wedding Anniversary

2009-08-31T21:38:00.003+02:00

Boy Meets Girl
Boy Proposes
Girl says, "Yes."
Boy and Girl are very blessed!

Happy Anniversary!
10 years STRONG and getting STRONGER...
...due to a daily dependence on our GREAT GOD!!

I Gotta New Doo

2009-08-31T21:34:00.002+02:00

LOOK at me now!! Aubriana is growing up on us!

Gorgeous Summer Night

2009-08-31T21:23:00.002+02:00

Tonight is the last night of summer break! We just finished reading several books one was "The Cat and the Hat," and I found this picture in our camera from 3 nights ago. It was too cute not to include! They remind me of the boy and girl in the book looking out the window wondering what they should do.
It's so nice now that we don't have to worry that Makinna is too small for the space in between the balcony and the ledge, what a blessing! They can sit out there and just enjoy a gorgeous summer night among the beautiful row houses in Belgium. The 3 amigos, together, as it should be!

Wimbledon July 1, 2009

2009-07-30T09:10:00.008+02:00

It was Gentlemen's Day at Wimbledon

We saw Roger Federer play a little, Novak Djokivic, Leyton Hewitt, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, James Blake, Marty Fish, and Tommy Haas play tennis quite a bit. We saw an entire doubles match on Court 3 to start this memorable day. Then we headed for Center court to see if they might have relief from the sun, and they happened to have nice wooden benches and a flat screen to watch the game play instead of enduring the heat of Henmin Hill. Brian & Josiah were invited to fill seats by a guard (probably b/c Josiah is so cute!), and that continued to happen throughout the rest of the day. We took turns with the family and caught a set here and there of the matches on Court no 1 and Centre Court Wimbledon! The kids did beautifully and had a FANTASTIC day, they each got a nap too!

Tracy Austin spotted Elijah in the vestibule under Centre Court and started chatting with Brian about him, just after Boris Becker walked right passed them.

We woke up at 5:05AM and queued at 6:45AM for our grounds passes. We left the ground at 8:45PM to make our trek back across London.

Here are some pictures from the day.

Our Belgian Summer '09

2009-07-26T08:54:00.003+02:00

In this country of Socialism, workers are given 5 weeks vacation per year. This provides difficulties for missionaries. It is joked that all of Europe goes on vacation in August. There is definitely truth to that statement, the place pretty much shuts down. We have found this year our friends have gotten the jump on that by leaving in July.
Even with that looming over our summer, the Lord has provided work for us. We had the pleasure of spending a day at the beach with a contact friend of ours. Our apartment is an hour and 15 minutes from the beach, that was our second time out there. It was a great day, getting away from our local setting provided a unique opportunity for deeper conversations.
We ourselves took a cheap quick 2 day trip to London, staying with missionaries. Pray for the work there, there is much to do, as in Belgium. It was an amazing time. We hope to get some pictures up soon.
We also had the joy of hosting our second visitor, a mature teen from our home church, came and stayed with us for 2 weeks. We had no idea how much we had longed to show someone from back home our lives here. It was such a joy to have the fellowship and an American seeing Belgium with fresh eyes living with us.
We had been praying that the Lord might provide a steady summer schedule, and He has. We have had 2 parties, had many people over, have been able to lend a hand to those leaving by watching their children and being there to give them a meal as they are heading out the door, teaching Bible story time for a VBS, preparing to lead a couple's Bible study, being apart of the summer program at our local French church, sharing Christ with people we met sometimes in strange places (subway, metro stops), and having several rendezvous with our other contacts.
We have been praying for the Lord's direction for our future, since before we arrived on the field. We were given a two year term with the option of extending for a third. The option of a third is no longer available. Our sending organization has been hit by the negative economy. We have been given October 15th as our re-entry date. We'll be heading back to Denver, where we have a home. We are trusting the Lord to lead Brian to the right job. No matter what, we feel we'll head home changed. Now we feel better equipped and challenged and excited to do what we are all called to do as Believers- share life and our lives in Christ with all those around us. Part of us is happy to return to the States and another big part is sad to leave our ministry friends and lives here, even in that the Lord has been providing. Just this week, we have been able to hook up another M with a friend of ours for continuing the relationship. What a blessing!! There is no need for sadness, the work will continue and God's plan for redemption and salvation will be done in hearts here and throughout the world!
Pray that as we come into the last 3 months of ministry here, that we would be and do all that the Lord has for us; not missing one opportunity! Also be praying for all of us, we have become Belgian in many ways. Re-entry could be especially difficult for the children, only Josiah really remembers life in the states. There will be many many things that will be much different about our daily lives, not the least of which is the lack of Brian's presence. Having Brian around although occupied with ministry and study much of the time, has been a blessing for our children, that most American families never get to experience. We are super grateful for the impact that has had on our family and parenting. It was terrific, in order to do a family ministry, much of it required that we be together. Pray that the children (and perhaps mostly- Heather) do not feel that loss too strongly.
We are just so grateful that you have been along on this journey with us. We apologize for not keeping you as up-to-date perhaps, as we would have liked. There have been so many joys and trials in the last 2 years. We are just so grateful for your faithfulness to pray with and for us through all of those! It was not unnoticed and unappreciated!

Pizza in the Park

2009-06-26T15:50:00.003+02:00

What do you get when you invite 3 families to a pizza party in the park? Answer- a simple get together and a way to share life with others! These are the same families that we had over at the end of last month, and it was such a great success we wanted to get another one in before they head out for vacation! So on a Wednesday late afternoon, with a bright Gorgeous Belgian day, we headed to the park. We grabbed pizzas which each family helped pay for and everyone brought blankets and sodas. We had a great time! It was terrific! Brian had some great conversations with the men again and Heather as well with the ladies. We have all their vacation schedules written down so we know who we can get together with and when they will be back home throughout the summer.

A family from Josiah's class has invited us over for a little end of school get together in their home tomorrow. Pray all goes well, and we'll be sensitive and alert for opportunities to listen, learn, and share! We have asked you to pray for them before. The wife is fully French speaking Belge and the husband is Greek, and speaks perfect French. They have 3 children the youngest is in Josiah's class. We've known them since nearly day one and had many many conversations and have formed a good friendship in our home and other places. This is our first invite to their home with an actual date and time! YEAH!! Ok so we are a excited about it!

As of today, the big kids are finished with this school year! HORRAY! Josiah and Aubriana will both be continuing on to the next grade level. Aubriana had a mini-graduation yesterday and Josiah had one today. It was interesting in Josiah's graduation ceremony, they would call each child up and speak briefly to them, loud enough for all too hear. Some children were told great job, yet, others were told you'll be held back and retaking 1st grade. We are definitely not in Kansas anymore. I don't believe that would happen in the states.

Makinna has a final performance on Monday at the local government auditorium. Her class is performing at the 6th grade graduation ceremony! Should be cute!

Now it's onto our summer schedule for family ministry. Keep us in your prayers as our time here is winding down. We are dedicated to striving to live and share the gospel each moment we have remaining. Pray that we can have the energy to do just that. Also please pray that Elijah will sleep a full night as regularly as possible, obviously we both have more energy after a good night of sleep.

Fill us in on you! Details are wonderful!

Brian's 39th Birthday Card

2009-06-09T23:09:00.000+02:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Team Picnic Gent, Belgium June 6

2009-06-09T22:05:00.002+02:00

Make a Smilebox invite

Having a great time of fellowship together on a lovely Belgian Saturday a little gray and windy, but Beautiful nonetheless!

Family trip to IKEA

2009-05-24T17:33:00.005+02:00

Ok so we aren't your ordinary family, but neither are we in an ordinary place! In IKEA yesterday we found tiny stuffed rats for children, and the price caught our attention. Only 1 euro! We had resisted the mild urge last time we saw them, but the thought of our mother's faces when they heard that we had given our children toy rats was just too BIG to resist this time! Thus each child received a rat. Later we had a great time with baby Elijah and those tiny rats! He didn't seem to mind! What a trooper!

Also in IKEA yesterday, we were looking for the comforters and she asked the workers where the jelly/jam is for the bed. The word for comforter and jelly is very close in fact it is just one letter different! The funny part is they knew what she was talking about, and sent us to the right place! Hummm...I wonder if that happens often?

As we walked away Heather said, "Oh no, I just asked them where is the jelly/jam for the bed!" Ok so Heather just had a baby and she is on sleep deprivation soooo her French isn't quite up to par, but new baby aside, it wasn't the first and won't be the last faux pas we make in Belgium with this great new language!!! It was just too fun not to share! Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself!

Ministry Update & a New Picture

2009-05-17T12:01:00.009+02:00

Here's a quick update of what the Lord has been doing in Brussels with the Zee family. He is beginning a parenting Bible study. A young couple new to the faith are very interested in knowing how to parent in a godly way, and how to use each moment to train their children. We are using the Bible and the book Shepherding a Child's Heart. Brian is able to meet with the husband even as Heather is recovering at home with Elijah. Pray that we will be able to meet regularly and encourage them on their journey and that others might join in. We know that we don't have all the answers on parenting, but we do know the one who does and where we can draw encouragement!

One of the moms from our mom's group, that you have been praying for is studying her Bible and is more interested in the things of God than ever before. Pray that she will continue and that the Lord will open her eyes to His goodness and grace and her desperate need of Him. Also pray that her dedicated catholic husband would come to a true relationship with the Savior, through this process. We have had several spiritual conversations with them both, pray that this couple could become a light to their children, in their work places, and this dark area.

Brian has had a relationship with a "Derek" for this past 15 months. They have had a many spiritual conversations. In their most recent conversation Brian shared the gospel with him. He holds to Buddism and cathoicism mixed. Pray that His heart would be open to the source of Salvation, Christ the Lord, and for many more opportunities for Brian to share life and truth with him.

With a baby less than 2 weeks old, we could not leave you without a giving you a new picture of him! He's precious! Somedays he sleeps well and others not so well, but for sure we are all in love! The big 3 are still doing great with him, so far, we aren't seeing much by way of jealousy. Please pray that this continues as his "Newness" is bound to wear off!

Elijah's arrival has brought many guests to our home, pray that we can get a schedule for feeding amidst the people wanting to see him. We are so thankful that people are excited to meet him, even as this deepens our relationships with them.

Elijah

2009-05-12T22:38:00.001+02:00

More pictures of Elijah and Family

2009-05-12T21:53:00.002+02:00

Mommy of four on Mother's Day

All 6 of us on a beautiful day in Western Europe

Elijah Thomas Zebarth

2009-05-09T16:58:00.005+02:00

There has to be at least one embarrassing picture for the little guy

Our doctor who delivered Elijah- Really really young- just met her a few minutes before delivery

Our little boy arrived slowly, but safely! After 14 hours of labor (only 6.5 were intense!) we welcomed Elijah Thomas to our family. He came in 5 days early weighing 7lbs 12oz and 19.75 inches long with lots of dark brown hair and blue eyes (probably will turn brown or hazel). He looks like one of ours, but which one can't exactly say. Heather thinks he looks like Brian and Aubrie, Brian thinks he has Heather's mouth and chin. Who knows? Time will tell, we suppose. What we do know is that his arrival is precious and we are so Grateful to our Lord for the beauty of His glorious creation! The first few hours of his life were spent praising our great God and in rededicating ourselves to the task of godly parenting through the Word and daily pursuit of Him in our lives individually and together for God's glory.

Something Fun for you

2009-04-13T00:00:00.004+02:00

Check out our new videos posted today on www.youtube.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9j0Zw1S3KM This one is from Good Friday '09

Look up famillebelge and they should be there for the viewing! They are kinda funny and kinda cute and kinda silly!
We are going to try to put more up soon! Enjoy

The Lord is blessing and we are busy meeting with all our friends here in Belgium.
Please pray for our friend Andrea as she will be traveling to the states for the first time this week.

We have been asking the Lord to provide for our needs with this new baby and so far He keeps surpassing our requests!
We hope you all have an AMAZING Resurrection Day! We read the story in French tonight to the kids for our devotion time and with a few exceptions the children understood and were able to follow along. The kids love sharing the Good Friday/Easter story. Pray they'll have times to share it here! They have one more week of Spring Break. We have a 3 day conference. Pray they will do well for their babysitters and enjoy their last big break until June 30th.

Baby Elijah is doing good. We are 36 weeks completed! Whew! One more week and we'll be full-term! Pray for a safe easy delivery, and for Brian as he handles the house, three children, having a wife and child in the hospital, and finds a way and time to come visit us often. The kids are very excited about their new sibling. They each have a new special love for every baby we see, especially the tiny ones. Josiah is now saving all this clothes for Elijah to use and his toys and books. It's pretty cute!

More planned FUN

2009-04-06T22:31:00.002+02:00

So in our last post we told you about how our ministry is really just on fire, and we are just trying to keep up with all God is bringing our way.
One quick story, we ended up with a piece of the child's toy after our get together on Saturday night. So today we headed over to bring the part back, and invited them to go to the park with us. They said, "Yes, we'll meet you there" So off we went American football and European football in hand to our local park. At the park we start tossing the football as a family and a French Belgian man "Jean" approaches us and starts talking with Brian. They have a great initial conversation.
Then our friend arrives with their two kids, and he starts playing catch too. From there Brian and Benoire have a great conversation of relationship building. What a blessing! And the kids had a fantastic time together ta boot!
Thank you for praying for the Lord to allow us to be here to walk in this distant land forming friendships, sharing Christ and seeing hearts soften to the Gospel. Pray that as we have interactions like these that the Lord will give us the words to say and that He will open their hearts and draw them to Himself.

Greatness of the "Unplanned"

2009-04-05T16:27:00.006+02:00

Saturday, we had planned for a young family to come over for dinner and conversation. After our morning team meeting, Heather was met outside by our French Belgian neighbor who was waiting for her. They chatted for a few minutes and "Sarah" invited us over for gouter (French for a light afternoon snack). She let her know about our company and she let us know if we had any other time free on the weekend to walk around the corner, knock on their door and let them know.
Well, Heather went inside and found out the son of our planned guests was sick, and they weren't going to be able to make it. We went to "Sarah" and "Benoire's" and organized a rendezvous for later that afternoon. We had a great time with our neighbors. Their daughter began at Makinna's new school one month before Makinna. They are in the same grade- 0 maternelle! It's such a cute little tiny group of school children 2.5- 3 years old. The children played together beautifully. They have an older son nearly 5, and Aubrie and Josiah really enjoyed playing with him. They even have a little backyard, so the kids loved that! Grass! Wow! It was wonderful. It all us a perfect opportunity to connect with this couple that are usually sooo busy. They both work very full-time jobs. It was definitely a gift from the Father. Sarah is taking a week off work next week, so we are planning a get together again with our children during that time.
We are just so blessed how the Lord provided a fantastic opportunity to outreach and get to know our neighbors to build relationships, even as another outreach opportunity appeared to be a bust. Isn't that just like our great and sovereign God? It brings to mind Proverbs 16:9 where it says, "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his path." No matter how we plan things out, it's God who has the final say and truly directs us- what a relief and blessing that is to enjoy and reap the benefits of knowing and loving Him and watching His constant provision!
Our schedule is so full these days with parents and families, and even young married couples and singles wanting to get together with us. It is such a joy to watch how the Lord fills it up for us. He is just bringing the people to us constantly. It is as though, we are just watching Him at work. We know He is blessing our efforts to be out, available and in constant contact with the lost. We have formed so many relationships over the last year and it's blessing now to not be the ones driving the relationships to see these people contacting us and seeking us out and asking us questions about our walk with the Father. What a joy! Thank you for praying. We are so encouraged by every comment and email we receive from you.

Pictures from Rome

2009-03-15T22:46:00.003+01:00

View from the top of the Spanish Steps at Sunset
Pictures from the Roman Forum
The picture of the circle is inside the vatican

Our trip to Rome

2009-03-15T22:04:00.007+01:00

Just Amazing
We feel very blessed to have been able to visit such an amazing historic city in World and Biblical history!

The first seven pictures are from inside Vatican City
One of which is an panoramic picture from the dome of St. Peter's Basilica- not a simple climb 323 windy narrow steps
The 8th is outside the Pantheon
The rest are of the Coliseum
Accept a one of a beautiful church near the Pantheon
This whole city is full of beautiful old churches and ancient ruins. The city has been rebuilt seven times. It's just amazing!

St Patrick's Party

2009-03-15T21:11:00.002+01:00

Yesterday we held a St Patty's outreach party in our apartment with three families from Josiah's class in school that we have gotten to know over the past year. It was a great time. We shared the "True" story of Saint Patrick, and none of them know his story. We even shared a little 10 minute movie segment about St. Patrick. They enjoyed that, Heather and one of the French Belgian ladies did the translating. We had many spiritual conversations with these families while they were here. It turned out wonderfully. Thank you for keeping our family and our ministry in your prayers. We wouldn't be here without your faithful prayers and encouragement. Pray for more interactions with these and all the other people that we have developed relationships with. We have many other outreach get togethers on the horizon.

Return Rejoicing

2009-02-27T21:50:00.002+01:00

We had another quick 4 day adventure and returned to Belgium late Saturday night, not quite a week ago. As we returned, we were so excited about the ministries God has going for us on the horizon. We have been blessed by several of our relationships at the children's school and in our little French speaking community. Through this we have been given by God a group of moms that continue to amaze us by wanting to meet. This past week (although it was a holiday from school)the moms wanted to meet. So we met at our home and walked to a nearby park, which by God's perfect design truly ended up being the ONLY day this week that would have worked for being at a park. In typical Belgian fashion it rained every other day, but, of course, the Lord took care of that, and held back the rain while we were together for over 2.5 hours. We had three moms come with there children. It was a fantastic time. The children played and got to know one another, because they are all in different grades at school. While the moms had a neat chance to talk. Heather was able to share more of "God's story" than ever before with these moms. It was just such an encouraging time. One lady in particular seems quite interested to know what it is that makes Heather such a mom of "peace and joy." She wasn't afraid to ask her either, and Heather couldn't wait to tell her. It isn't from anything inside her, but a gift from God. So be praying for this mommy. She is a mother of four young children though her second died shortly afterbirth due to a abnormal developement. Pray that this relationship will continue and that there will be more and more opportunities to share Christ with her, so she can know true healing and true joy and peace.
She has already set a date for Heather to be able to come to her home for an all day visit. She let Heather know on Wednesday that she is hoping that her husband will want to be more open to a new relationship, so our two families can could get together. In the past, we have invited her family over for dinner and games and she has very graciously declined. On Wednesday, she let Heather know that she is hoping that her husband will be less tired from work and will be more open to a new relationship so our families can get together. This too is answer to prayer, she has never opened up this much before.
Tomorrow night we will be meeting with another family from the kid's school. They are having us over for dinner. The kids will be going and spending time with their three kids. This is all possible in God's sovereign hand. He has allowed us use of a van three days a month. Neither of these couples live near public transit or near our home, so we are able to use the gift of this vehicle to have outreach into the homes of these two families. We are praying that as we enter their homes we can see more of their lives and they will be more comfortable and open to conversations about our Savior. This is one of the moms from our mom's group and we have had them in our home for dinner. We are really looking forward to spending time with them tomorrow. Pray that our time will be blessed!
We love you so much and are so thankful that you have been on this journey with us. Just knowing that you are out there lifting us up has brought through the tough days. Probably when you didn't even know they were tough days. Thank you so much. Maybe someday you might know just how much your prayers and encouragement have meant to us, all of us.

Beautiful Reflections

2009-02-15T15:44:00.006+01:00

There's nothing like time in God's Word, prayer and time with the saints to renew your love and joy in the Father. Our training time in Germany provided just that for us. We returned home on a spiritual high. We ask you to continue to pray for us as we seek to live our lives to the Glory of God and to see His name be Glorified among the people of Brussels, Belgium, and that we will not fall prey to any lies of the evil one that would seek to rob our joy and contentment in who the Lord made us to be.
We left last week for a 3 day trip to Ireland and Scotland. We found unbelieveable airfare prices and great deals on lodging, as well. With our vacation days expiring at the end of this month and the birth of a baby on the horizon, there was no time like the present to leave the country. We flew into Dublin, spent a bulk of the first day there. We saw Trinity College and shopped on Graffton street (yes, mom, we bought t-shirts for the kiddos!). We managed to listen to an Irish quartet playing on the street and they were fantastic! The harmony was terrific!
Then it was back in the airplane for a quick puddle jump to Edinburgh, Scotland. We took a double decker bus to our hotel and went out that night for a quick shopping trip. There was a WALMART near our hotel. Amazingly, we didn't find much we needed or wanted. I guess this is part of accepting your new culture and adapting. We have learned to live with what we can find in Belgium with a few exceptions like peanut butter- a major necessity in our home! :0).
The following day we slept in, ate a free breakfast and headed to the Edinburgh Castle, that was originally built in the 11th century. Aubriana's favorite part was when we saw the Crown jewels of Scotland (which are more valuable than the crown jewels of England!). Josiah loved all the life-like scenes of battles. Makinna was hungry and cold, and not really thrilled with the whole thing too much!
We walked the royal mile, saw some gorgeous churches, and went to John Knox's House/Museum before heading to the airport for a return to Dublin. In Dublin, we rented a car, headed North to Newry, then West to Galway. Stayed the night in a great hotel. We headed to the coast and followed a whindy road and saw a gorgeous coastline and beautiful Ireland countryside. Then we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher. Some would say this is the most beautiful part of Ireland. We certainly thought it was breathtaking. We ate fresh cod and chips, and headed back to Dublin for our last night, and out the following morning on an 8AM flight to Belgium. Ok so it wasn't a vacation of much relaxation, but it was wonderful to see another part of Western Europe. We loved the accents of the people we were blessed to meet along the way and beauty we found on our travels. We serve a God of enormous creativity! Hope you enjoy a few of the pictures from our travels!

We're in Germany at a training conference

2009-01-26T23:31:00.002+01:00

It's going great, and we are being reminded of so many great things that will help us in our mission and ministry here. We hope to share some of those with you in the future.
The kids are being blessed by the volunteer children's team that is here teaching them. It has been a wonderful time of refreshment. We are heading home in a couple days. Pray that we would continue to learn all that God has for us, and that all of us "M"s would stay healthy. There is big flu bug going around.

Fun slide show of our trip to Paris

2009-01-17T21:09:00.001+01:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Music Class - Outreach

2009-01-10T17:46:00.002+01:00

We put Heather's mom, Karen, to work! She and Heather are music teachers, so we held a free music/dance/rhythm class in French and posted signs up all over town. Brian got to use his break dancing skills and the kids loved it! We had 4 kids attend besides our 3! It was a great time! My friend from the kid's school came and helped us with translating for the kids! Her English isn't great, neither is our French...we were a great team.

Grand Place Brussels Belgium

2009-01-10T14:45:00.002+01:00

It was great to have our first visitor.

You show them around your city and gain a new insight on just how great it is to live here in Western Europe where the history is so rich and the buildings so amazing! Seems surprising that you could take it for granted, but what don't we take for granted as humans!?! Come and see for yourselves!

The Most Famous Statue in Belgium

2009-01-10T14:39:00.004+01:00

Mimi wasn't so impressed with our most famous statue! We think it's cute!! You have to see it at least once!

Dec 26 Grand Place Brussels Winter Light Show

2009-01-10T14:24:00.003+01:00

The two story train ride back to Brussels after Brugge! We hit the Grand Place's Music and Light show after! Check out that hat hair!

Brugge Belgium Dec 26

2009-01-10T14:14:00.002+01:00

You can't visit Belgium without having a WORLD famous Belgian Waffle. What a better way than with strawberries and whip cream on top!!

Christmas Morning '08

2009-01-10T14:05:00.002+01:00

Christmas Morning '08

Our nightly family Advent time leading to Christmas

2008-12-29T17:20:00.002+01:00

December 7- Aubriana's Birthday

2008-12-29T16:58:00.001+01:00

Merry Christmas- Our first overseas!

2008-12-18T22:47:00.002+01:00

Aubriana's birthday party was a success we had three fathers come and Brian was able to spend time with them. Two of the fathers stayed for the entire party, which was great. The following day Aubriana stomach flu resurged and she has been very ill this whole week until today! She went to school on the last full day before their Christmas break.

Sooo there is Big news on the Zebarth home front. Baby #4 is a BOY! So we'll have a tie. Two boys and two precious girls sandwiched in between! What a better way to protect those girls, a loving daddy and two brothers on both ends!! I am pretty sure they'll never be allowed to date! :)

So if you have any name ideas, feel free to send them our way. I'll be half way on Monday, SHOCKING! It goes fast!! Won't be long until we are a family of 6! Woe!! Reality check, we have many friends with 5, 6 and 7 kids- all beautiful blessings. At this point many of you are wondering how we feel about having more, we have to say, we just don't know for sure. We certainly feel that God should have a HUGE say in that, but at the same time it seems like 4 children is a great number - the number I wanted before we said I will!

Our first mommy meeting was a great success! We had two moms and their children come to play. Then due to Aubriana's stomach flu this week, we had to cancel. Tonight at the children's school we were able to visit with all of those moms and others. It looks like they are interested in continuing to meet after the holidays. One of the mommies that isn't leaving town wants to get together over the holidays. YEAH!

We also have some neat ideas in the works for advertizing English/French Bible Studies and conversation groups in our home! Also we are planning a free music class for children and/or parents over the Christmas break. Please pray for the right people to read our advertizements and to attend and form relationships!

Still MORE Pics from Holland

2008-11-27T22:15:00.002+01:00

Just a few more cool Pictures from our weekend in Holland!
This city is gorgeous! We loved all the water ways throughout. We walked a HUGE chunk of it!!!

More Pictures from Amsterdam!!

2008-11-27T22:04:00.003+01:00

THE HIDING PLACE
The kids are in the entrance used by the Jews and resistance workers who were in hiding for 2 full days and nights, after Corrie, her sister Betty and father were captured and taken to prison, then consentration camps. They were sent, because the nazis found 100 ration cards hidden in the house. They never did discover the hiding place, so the 6 adults hiding there at the time, were safe! PRAISE GOD! Corrie Ten Boom is a Christian, not a jew, and still chose to help and risked her life! It saddens us that so many Dutch and Belgians don't even know anything about her, even many Christians here don't know her story.

Then there is a picture of Brian and Heather in the hiding place, and a picture of the Ten Boom Jewelry store!!!

Stay tunned more pictures to come!

Finally- Pictures from Amsterdam!!!

2008-11-27T21:49:00.003+01:00

Our BIG night on the town! We found a beautifully lit area, and it was really gorgeous. We also saw an outdoor ice skating rink. It was such a romantic setting, but alas with 3 little ones with us, there was no ice skating for us this time.

The Dutch really go all out with Christmas. The timing of our trip coincided with the arrival of Sinter Claus in Amsterdam. He arrives on a boat and rides the boat throughout town and declares all the children "Good!" So they can all receive his presents on December 6th. The 25th is much more a day spent with family, and even in Belgium this is true. The 6th is a BIG day for the children's presents. Unfortunately Aubriana's birthday is the 7th, so we'll only do one present per child on the 6th and then a normal Christmas when all the gifts from family in the states arrive! YEAH!!!

These pictures are from outside The HardRock Cafe Amsterdam. We aren't sure if this is the first Hardrock cafe or not, we were told it was somewhere over here. It was really fun to order in English and just to be waited on!! Shockingly the prices weren't bad! Heather got a big salad with chicken strips, and RANCH dressing, and a BIG glass of ICED tea - non existent in Belgium- soooo goood and it was REFILLABLE- NO way!!! YUMMM!! The kids got chicken tenders and fries with barbaque sauce!! Brian had a BBQ brisket sandwich, which he loved! It was just a fun night!

Then there's the picture with Aubriana in front of all the wooden shoes of Holland! She loved them. We didn't buy any. They are just soooo stinking HEAVY- Too heavy to mail- that's for sure, but we did pick up a few of the miniture kind- which are FUN!!

Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T13:17:00.002+01:00

Amsterdam was such a great time for our family. It was a great change of scenery, and fun to see a new culture. We had a fantastic time, and even had the chance shared Christ with people on the local trains. Touring Corrie Ten Boom's home was a highlight, climbing into the hiding place and seeing the sign in the window that was to warn of Nazis, it was just like being there 60 almost 70 years ago. Then we went to Anne Frank's house, which was an experience. We even managed to go to Hard Rock Cafe, and Burger King (neither exist in Belgium) while there fun little reminders of home. Man, was that Whopper GOOD!!! Plus, food prices were FANTASTIC compared with Belgium, half price, even when eating out. What an unexpected blessing!!!

We jumped right back into ministry in Brussels, when we returned, which was terrific. One of the mom's from the kid's school that Heather and Brian have been getting to know and praying for is interested in starting a weekly get together time. We are planning to get this off the ground, Lord willing. But it looks like we'll be able to take turns hosting this small group. So this is a fantastic opportunity to have real time with these ladies. Pray that this might turn into an opportunity to share and live Christ with these ladies, as well as becoming a whole family thing with their husbands and children joining in.

After that great news, this past Monday we got devistating news. The daughter of our boss was killed in a house fire in Mississippi. A few hours later, it was discovered that she was murdered, by two acquaintences. Super Super Sad!! We tell you so that you can pray, and just know that all of us "Ms" are feeling this deeply with Ron and Renee, and it's not an easy time. The perpetrators have been put in custody and are having a quick trial. Her husband, Kenneth, is struggling with all of this. Pray for him, her sister, Karen, and all of the family and all of her friends. She was a well loved, respected, out-going 2nd grade public school teacher. Ron is going to be speaking at her memorial service on Sunday which is sure to be super difficult for him. Please lift him up, and all those that come. Pray that the Lord would work in the hearts of those present and draw them to themselves.

The rest of our team will be having a Thanksgiving meal together tomorrow night, orginally thought to be a time of great celebrating together will be significantly altered now. Pray that we can still rejoice for all of the many, many blessing the Lord has given to all of us this past year and throughout our lives.

In his 1863 Thanksgivng Day Proclamation speech, Abraham Lincoln said,

"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God...
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens."

This Thanksgiving, may none of us forget where these many blessings come, and may our hearts be turned to praise again!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Blessings

2008-11-11T19:41:00.002+01:00

We had the privilege of hosting our neighbors for a meal, and it was a great time. We had spiritual conversations. We feel confident they are lovers of Jesus, we are excited by this and are ready to excite them about telling others the Good News they know.

Just today, Julia, one of our new neighbors downstairs (the Belgian one) came up and hung out with us for awhile. This was a great thing, and we are excited about it. Hopefully there will be many many more opportunities to share life and our true joy with them. Huge praise she said our children aren't disturbing them at all. She was very concerned that she and her roommates were disturbing us, we've only heard them a couple times, and it never was a bother. What a blessing!

Travel plans, if everyone is well, we'll be heading out on Friday night and returning Sunday, taking a train ride to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. We'll be staying with fellow "M"s up there (they have 3 little ones like us- what a blessing). Their boy is named Jesiah, so close to Josiah. It's really fun. Lord willing, we are going to go to Corrie Ten Boom's house and the watch shop in Haarlem. We are very excited for our first overnight stay outside of Belgium. If you would pray for our safety and a time of resting and enjoying the beauty of a new country.

We had some set backs physically this week, Heather's cheek was swollen like John McCain, and it throbbed. Come to find out she the sinus infection she has caused a severe ear infection, that was causing all the oral/jaw pain. Now the antibiotics are kicking in, and things are on the mend, but she is still without a voice.

New Neighbors = New Ministry Opportunities

2008-11-01T09:24:00.004+01:00

Last Saturday, we were blessed to have new neighbors move in below us. We'd been praying for them for awhile, and it was nice to meet them. We live in a very small apartment building with only 4 apartments, and row houses all around us. Who becomes your neighbor can be an exciting opportunity for ministry. We have three new college girls (close to Heather's age) move in below us. The kids had a great time at the market buying flowers for them, we ended up deciding on yellow daisies. The ladies only speak French, which is terrific; we were praying for French neighbors. Brian got to meet one of the girl's father and brother, he is hoping to see more of them. The brother has a young family, which could be tremendous if the Lord will's it.
Praise - Brian's French is coming along. Just this past week, we were having some work done on the outside of our apartment, and Brian met one of the men, and was speaking with him each day as they saw each other. Pray for continued growth in French in his ability to understand and speak the language.
Fun Praise- Josiah has mastered the art of tying shoes!! It wasn't necessary, yet, b/c only his cleats have ties. But we knew it was time he learned. Now he's a tying machine!
Heather had another rendezvous with a friend over ice cream on a nice day last week. It was a great time to hang out with her, get to know her further and practice French. Prayer for "Patty," and her family to come to Christ.
There is also another person God has been laying on both Brian and Heather's heart. She is a very talkative and open mommy "Andrea" from the kid's school. We both feel she is open to the things of God, and Heather has had some telling conversations with her. It sounds like she thinks she is a "Christian," but when pressed she thinks all Belgians are Christians too. Pray that she would stay open when the true gospel is presented further, and that the Lord would bring her into new life in Him and take the blindness from her eyes and her husband, "Mark" as well.
Prayer requests-
#1 - All of us have a yucky cold right now! Not FUN, but could be a lot worse! Aubriana and mommy have had this the longest, and daddy is just starting to get it. It's not fun, and we've gone through our share of kleenex!
#2 - The weather is getting colder, and the folks tend to get a little colder too. People are far less talkative, when it's gray, windy and cold outside. Pray that the relationships we have already built will be able to flourish over cups of hot chocolate, tea and coffee, and that the Lord will find ways to provide us with new relationships that can thrive in the winter months.

House Worship

2008-10-13T12:22:00.003+02:00

House worship is normally a small gathering of believers meeting in a home to praise and worship the Lord together. Yesterday, because Makinna and mommy were still feeling yucky with this cold, we skipped our trip to our village church we normally attend and had house worship.
We sang Christmas songs to start things off (because you can never start too early learning the words to those when you are only 2, 4, & 6 years old!) After those we did some hymns and other chorus. Then I taught them to story of Zachariah, Elizabeth and John (the Baptist). As I was teaching them all about him and who he was and about his job as herald for Jesus I was struck anew with the realization that is what we are here, as well. We are out of our comfort zone, we look kinda funny (we don't wear scarfs when its over 65 degrees), we eat funny foods (we cook our hamburger meat and don't eat it raw, we love pb & j and we don't eat horse), and we difinitely sound funny (with our American accents). We are kinda like little Johns. We are here calling these people out of darkness into light, calling them to the Savior.
Even when things are tough and little girls are telling Aubrie that they won't be her friend, and I see that it hurts her. We can remember that this world is not our home, we aren't here to make friends we are here to make disciples. Praise God that it is He who does the saving. Sometimes, we just have to be willing to open our mouths and speak the joy He has given us.
It was an encouragement to me, and hope it might be to you, as well.

Laptop problems

2008-10-13T12:18:00.002+02:00

Prayer request- our laptop isn't working very well. Pray that with Gateway tech support we can fix any gliches. Much of our communication in our jobs and back home is done via the computer. We had heard that the average life of a computer overseas is 8 months, well, we are just at that mark. Pray if this can be resolved that insurance will cover the cost of new one.

Praise all things look well for Brian to return tonight. We've missed him, but the Lord was gracious and we had a sweet time together. The kids were great, and patient with me!

We all have dentist appointments next week, so pray those go well.

Heather is needing to have her upper wisdom teeth removed, pray that can be done safely while she is pregnant. They are causing her much jaw pain.

Thank you guys.

True Story

2008-10-10T21:41:00.007+02:00

At dinner a couple nights ago, I had made something that apparently looked unedible- Zebarth children's typical response to this is "ewww.. I am not hungry.. It looks yucky." After a moment of reminding them that they will survive and must eat it, and occassionally resorting to the old parental standby there are many children that have no food to eat... They reluctantly partake. It was at such a moment that Makinna (our newly turned 2 year old) blurted out "C'est bon, Mamon!!" French for, "It's Good, Mommy!" After Brian, Josiah, Aubrie and I recovered from a huge laughing spell, Makinna then said, "Merci!" Tooo cute for words. It was one of those times you really wish you would have been recording the crazy and sometimes silly times we have around the dinner table. We know these times are fleeting as the years really do fly by, but we hope to remember some of these little things, and never forget to cherish each and every moment we are given. How are we living? Are we sharing what means to the most to us with those around us? Are you?

Brian's heading to Spain

2008-10-09T11:49:00.003+02:00

The men of our region are having a special time of refreshing, bonding, and hearing from the Lord. Brian left this morning (Thursday) and returns home late Monday night. Please keep all of the men in your prayers. This is the first time for Brian and Heather to be apart for more than 2 nights, and first time to be apart at all after the birth of Makinna. Pray for the kids and Heather as they try to continue life as usual, but without daddy to help. Heather has a yucky sinus infection and is still nauseous pretty much all day. So pray for God to grant her much strength to keep up with the kids, ministry and house work. Pray that this time in Spain will be a great time of refreshing for Brian, and that the weather will be much warmer than is currently forecast. We love you all, and so appreciate your joy at our new addition! You never quite know how others will respond when it is your 4th blessing. It won't be long until the first trimester is over, and hopefully with it the nausea will end.

The JOKES on US

2008-09-29T09:19:00.004+02:00

Well, back on August 7th we told you of our new arrival- our little dryer. We thought we'd be cute and make you think it was a new baby. Well, it seems God thought that was a good idea, and He made that happen. Yup, we are pregnant. Heather is due May 11 and is 8 weeks along. So morning/all day sickness is still pretty tough. We plan to find out the sex this time. We didn't know with the 1st and 3rd, and we will know for the 2nd and 4th. Kinda fun! We are excited! We wanted our family and friends to rejoice with us, and they have sooo thank you. Just another proof that lovers of Jesus know who gives life and who opens and closes the womb, and that we have the best family and friends ever! Thanks for your encouragement. The kids know and are very excited for a new baby coming! Josiah still remembers seeing Makinna right after she was born in the hospital. We have found a hospital we like. Our insurance will cover the expenses. The baby will still be American (just born overseas). It involves a little more paperwork, but it's no big deal, and happens all the time over here. Hope you guys all have a super sweet day!

Divine Appointment

2008-09-20T18:38:00.005+02:00

After the short day of school on Wednesday, Heather picked up the kids, and went to our little local grocery store. Heather grabbed a little cart, and noticed a little elderly lady walking in behind them. She offered her cart to the lady. The lady then told her that she has retinal eye problems, and can't see very well. Heather offered to help her find things in the store, no big deal, we were in no hurry. Part of our reason in going to this market is to be out in our little community for just such opportunities, to have interactions and to meet people. After we found the few things on her list, she stumped me. She asked for something, and I had no idea where to find it. We found a worker, and she explained to him that I was helping her. She then asked me if I am Christian. What a shock in a dark place such as this. I said, "Yes!" She said, "I am too, and I knew you must be to help me with your little ones here with you." What a gift Elisabeth was to me, I gave her my name and phone number written VERY large and dark in her notebook. Hopefully, she will call me whenever she needs anything. I let her know we live really closeby, and would love to help her. I am not sure if Miss Elisabeth was sent by God to the market at that time just to encourage me, but she most certainly touched my heart. What a sweet lesson that God is at work here, and has been at work here! There are believers and those that truly love and Follow the Savior! Rejoice with us of this sweet discovery of a fellow believer and lover of Jesus!

A New Picture of Our Family taken only a week ago!

2008-09-19T17:19:00.003+02:00

This Little Light of Mine

2008-09-11T21:48:00.003+02:00

A Thursday like most others turned out to be a little more special. A fellow classmate of Brian, was interested to know his thoughts on religion. Through that conversation Brian was able to share the Gospel of God's saving grace for sinners. It was such an exciting experience, God uses these little things to keep us revved up, and looking for any and every opportunity to speak of Him. It's awesome to see how even in language school, God has divine appointments laid out there for us.

Since the new school year has begun for Josiah and Aubrie, Heather has met so many people in just traveling back and forth to the kids school, and interacting with moms and dads at pick up and drop off times. Our list of friendships and relationships are really growing, and we give God the praise for that.

Thank you so much to those of you that are sharing your lives filled with love for Christ with the lost around you. You are our heros. Those of you who live each day declaring to this world the truths of the Living God. That is what this life is for. It is what God has us here for to bring Him glory with our lives in every area of our lives, and to display that glory for all to see!! We want to encourage you, as you do so often for us, to live who you are and what you believe each day!

Grandparents are super Special gifts to parents and grandchildren

2008-09-07T19:56:00.000+02:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

First Day in a Full Year of French School

2008-09-03T10:18:00.007+02:00

#1 Two Big Kids on the tram to their Big first day!
#3 -Then the fun walk by the woods down this road and to the right is the kid's school. Josiah is in primary school and Aubrie in kindergarten.
#4-There is a picture of Josiah's new classroom, now he has chosen a diffirent seat the one by the window -ahead of him on the 2nd row in this picture. Josiah had it all held together emotionally until he watched us walk away out his window! It's never easy to start a new school year, it's especially tough when the people you are being left with speak a language you don't speak, and that you occassionally understand. Day two the teacher moved a boy next to Josiah in his own words Josiah said, "So I can look at his paper to see what I am suppose to do!" Fun to think the teacher is giving my child permission to cheat! Josiah is a good student and loves to learn! We are praying that the French will come in fast and furious so he can keep up on his own!
#5-The picture of the two girls getting a little bit more loving before Aubrie's class starts! Ahhh so cute!
#6-Then there's Aubrie enjoying a puzzle in her new room, she did great at her goodbye.

#7-Even though she looks a little less than thrilled in her picture with her teacher.

One Cool Day

2008-08-28T18:43:00.004+02:00

This past Monday, Heather and the three kiddos headed to our local swimming pool. While there, Makinna made a friend with an adorable little Belgian girl. In the process, Heather got to meet her mom and her aunt. After chatting for awhile, Heather learned that the aunt lives very near us, and is a city council member. They invited Heather to take a Thai food making class with them on Tuesday nights. Heather is looking into that opportunity. It was a terrific first meeting of these ladies.

Then as the kids and mommy walked home, we said Bonjour to a mommy and her young ones (it looked like they had been shopping in our little city center). As we walked on together, Heather showed them our home, and invited her to stop by anytime. We chatted awhile longer, and she let us know which park she generally heads too. It was just a really neat day! Thank you, Lord for every bright day when somedays seem so dark! You are so good to encourage our souls with new contacts and relationships.

New School Year Around the Corner

2008-08-28T18:09:00.005+02:00

Josiah and Aubrie are nearly all set to begin a full year of Belgian school. They will be continueing at the same school they went to for 4 months last school year. Aubriana will be in what Belgian's call "3rd maternelle" (kindergarten), and Josiah will be in the 1st grade. Josiah will be learning to read and write in French- believe you me that is no easy task!! If you guys think of us this week, be praying for us as we prepare the children for re-entering school.

1) Pray that they would make great choices in their friendships.
2) That they would be lights for the Lord in their schools
3) That just the fact that they attend a public school would provide us with many more opportunities to make friends and share the gospel with Belgians.
4) Pray for their teachers.

Brian is speaking more and more French and understanding more and more. He is in a very intensive course, right now. The best part is he's doing great. Please pray that he would continue to develope his ears for hearing French and understanding the speakers, as well as, being able to have a conversation in French.

Heather is still studying French on her own nearly everyday. Pray that as she studies she would be able to deepen her understanding of the grammar, and as she is out in our village (on foot, tram, bus or metro) that she would find and enter into French conversations with all those she runs into. Heather is eager to reconnect with all the mommies she met and began relationships with last school year.

Prayer for Brian and Heather:
1) Pray that as we walk along the way that the Lord would lead us to all of those where He is at work or soon will be. This is our hearts desire for our time in Brussels.
2) That our family life would be a cause for others to want to seek Him.

9 Years Strong! 13 Fantastic Related Strangers!

2008-08-23T23:01:00.004+02:00

This past Thursday was our 9th wedding anniversary! We celebrated tonight with a nice long walk and little date night at an italian restaurant. We had a great time and just enjoyed being together.

Before that we were at a cluster meeting in Spa, Belgium. The whole family had a great time of refreshing, renewal, and learning.

While there, there was a super special unexpected treat that came in the form of 13 strangers from all over Arkansas. Each one arrived after 24 hours of travel to come teach our children for one amazing week. They came smiling and hugging (like only southern women can! There were two southern men in the team, as well, and they were great huggers too!) Each one that came was so precious to every child in attendance. They ate with us, they watched the kids by monitoring the halls WAY after they should have demanded to be off duty. I don't know many people with such a giving, loving spirit as these 13. Instead of rushing off on fun little excursions to Germany or France during evening diner or lunch meals, they chose to hang out with and bless us (a bunch of English language fellowship starved missionaries)! What a gift to our family and our cluster! They really really went way beyond our expectations! It was hard to see them go this morning, but we are thrilled to hear about what God is doing through them in all of their churches in Arkansas!

The Battle of the Bulge, Brugge, the Beaches & a 1st time in France

2008-08-16T22:55:00.006+02:00

The men had a day out to see Belgian WWII military sites which include Bastogne (the location of the Battle of the Bulge).
check out all the places we went. http://remembermuseum.com & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malmedy_massacre

The Henri-Chapele cemetery http://www.henrichapelle.com

Then the ladies had a day in Brugge, Belgium. It was super COOL! We can't wait to go together as a family.

Brugge is famous for handmade lace! Incredible! And it is also famous for it's canals that run throughout the city, and is known as little Venice. The old churches and architechture of the city buildings and homes are amazing!

Then we took a family day trip to Dunkerque (Dunkirk- in English) on the Northern coast of France, just across the water from Dover, England. Which is the site of the largest successful military evacuation in history. We had great weather until we got ready to go out and play in it. So as one of these pictures shows, we had a great time, but it was cold and started to rain 15 minutes into our time on the beach. That's one way to be able to get the kids to happily leave the beach and head to a WWII museum. While there Brian had a neat conversation with a German WWII vet. That was most definitely a first. The conversation was spotty with the friendly gentleman. He spoke in French, English and a little German. Brian was able to share the gospel with him, that was exciting. We had a fun time, and hope to return.

This is fun, but man are we cold!! Brrr!!!

Rain Rain go away, but keep bringing the gorgeous rainbows

2008-08-08T09:26:00.003+02:00

Yesterday was a dark rainy day, and the kids and mommy organized the toy box! Not the funnest job, but it is so nice now. Most everything has a specific place! It stopped raining around 9PM and then there was one of the most beautiful rainbows, actually there were two. The sun didn't set for another hour, so it was an absolutely gorgeous night!

Aubriana played beauty shop with mommy's hair! Here is her masterpiece! Too bad you can see the back, it had nearly every "Pretty" (hair thingy) we own in it! This past 3 weeks with the kids reminds me what an amazing joy and gift it is to be a mommy! We have been practicing french and getting into the community and meeting new people, and have just been really enjoying doing it together!

Pretty soon we'll be heading to our French Benelux Cluster conference in Spa, Belgium. After that there'll be one more week and it's back to school for the BIG two!

Celebrate w/ Us Our New Addition!!!

2008-08-07T16:57:00.008+02:00

The Lord has provided for the 5 of us soooo well, and now he is adding to our home!! What a joy this new arrival will bring!! Every new arrival is to be celebrated when you are sooo far from home! We realize some might not think this is the best time or place for a new one, but we couldn't be happier! No more long days of waiting for our clothes to dry. That's right, our new arrival will be a dryer! Is that Awesome!?! Sorry about the play on words! No new babies on the horizon, but the Lord may bless us again some day! We are sure loving the 3 He has already blessed us so much with, and would welcome more when and if that is in His divine plan for our family! Back to what we are celebrating now, the past 6 months without a dryer have been a fun change from the American way of life (and I actually mean a fun change). It was kinda like stepping back in time, but when you are given one far be it from us to want to fight a new addition to our home that will make things easier!! Plus it was given to us, and you can't beat that! Don't get me wrong we are still going to hang our clothes out to dry most of the time when we can, electricity is super expensive here. We we actually aren't changing our habits too much. We've had it for a week now, and used it once to dry half a load. It sure will be nice to have when the weather is not nice, and drying laundry in the house will take up to 48 hours again. Gone are those days! What a sweet gift to our family from a gracious all loving God. We hadn't asked for one either, which just is another reminder to me to know that He is looking out for our needs/wants better than we possibly could! Phil 4:13 "My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
Rejoice with us!!!

There's our new gift on the left behind the fan, and our two drying racks out on our balcony! When it's nice the clothes have been drying so quickly! Which is fantastic!

New to us and raring to go!

Happy Birthday to Heather

2008-07-22T18:11:00.009+02:00

The Birthday Girl

Go HAWKEYES!!! Aubrie showing off Gma Iowa's birthday package!

Go Hawkeyes! Aubrie showing off Grandma Iowa's birthday package!

Everyone pitches in to make pictures to send home to all the grandmas!
This Josiah showing off his picture of our home in Belgium and a stain glass cross he made for Mimi!

Here's Big juicy Kiss to all our family and friends!!

Love you!!!

One Happy 6 Year Old Birthday BOY!!

2008-07-19T22:39:00.005+02:00

Mimi sent the girls something to open too! Which they loved! Kinna's getting so BIG! And Aubrie's so stinkin' sweet!

Josiah did it! Today was his BIG Day!!!

This is his BEST buddy, Sammy, from French school! We were so glad he could come! Josiah's new buddy Noah and his sisters came too. They played musical chairs, and bean bag toss (with a couple beanie babies- no bean bags-they didn't care-whew!)! The theme was a combo of Dinosaurs and Peter Pan (the only plates and table cloth birthday decorations I could find for a boy!)! It worked and they all loved it! As is a family tradition, daddy prayed over Josiah a birthday prayer and blessing. It was a GREAT day!

Josiah has two very newly loose teeth on the bottom in the center! Josiah's pretty excited about that! Eating all those apples is really starting to pay off!!

Thank you to all of you for all the love and sweet birthday gifts and wishes! It was truly a very special day for him!

Little Opportunities & Victories & New Pictures

2008-07-15T11:39:00.006+02:00

YEAH! Heather's finished! It took a lot of hardwork, studying and prayer to pass her final with higher than an 80%. The Lord was gracious, and all is completed now. Brian, on the other hand has at least a couple more months of full-time language school. Please continue to lift him up, as he applies himself to get a firm grip on this pretty, yet, tough language.

Josiah and Aubriana are excited to have time with mommy to do missionary work during the day. They have been being little missionaries at school, until now. Josiah made a big easter egg at school and put crosses and an empty tomb on it, and explained through those pictures to his friends the real reason for Easter. His teacher saw it as well, and it was obvious what he had drawn.

Makinna told her teachers that Jesus died on the cross and rose again 3 days later, and mommy got to translate it into French for her. Her teacher seemed surprised that she would know those things. Each of these may seem small, but we are excited to see the Father using the children here on the field to plant seeds and open doors for ministry.
Josiah and Nikita- complete with the Belgian uniform - a rain jacket!!

Josiah and Jeremy a couple of Josiah's french-speaking friends from school

Aubriana and her teacher at her class party!

Heather and her good friend, Laurence

Laurence's children on the slide with Makinna at 8Pm at night- Did we mention the sunsets have been AMAZING. They happen at 10:30-11PM. It's beautiful!

Strep Throat, High Fever, and Nausea- ok-

2008-07-08T15:59:00.005+02:00

So it hasn't been our best week ever healthwise, but hey who said this would be easy!! Heather's symptoms of strep showed up after school on Monday with high fever and chills all over. She missed school on Tuesday and Thursday (when Brian finally got her to the doctor). Out of a 10 day course she had to missed 2 already, that's 20%. Pray that we will all be healthy for this week of school, which could very possibly be Heather's last in full-time language study! She is both excited and sad about this. Being finished means we are able to focus on full-time ministry, but with learning French going so easily for her she wants to continue until she's fluent. If not this term, maybe next! Being finished with full-time language school doesn't mean she can't take other classes, just not full-time. The kids and Heather will be able to spend the rest of the summer getting Brian up to snuff in French, and finding ministry opportunities, and picking up on relationships that have already begun with the intent of sharing Christ.

The kids have been enjoying their stages. Last week they attended a swimming stage which was great for both of them. This week they are both attending a tennis stage. Can anyone say mixed doubles!!!!???!!! If you know of the Bryan brothers they are a super good pair of tennis champions in doubles, and they are also brothers. Who knows maybe we could have the Zebarth sisters or the Zee siblings!?! But for right now it's super cute to watch them "Play." The raquets seem so big, and the kids so small. Makinna wants to play too, so we get out there as a family du temps en temps (from time to time-in french), and have fun!

So the BIG request this week is for both Heather and Brian to pass their finals on Friday. Heather's class this fortnight is basically new french grammar non-stop. Now she knows seven verb tenses in French and can speak them, when needed. Some are definitely easier than others, but it's fun to learn them for her. She is one of those weirdos that likes English grammar, which helps her a lot! There is just so much to memorize everyday, and so little energy to study all that is needed to keep up with a three week course squished into two weeks. Pray for energy and strength of body, mind and spirit.

Josiah's 6th b-day is the 19th and Heather's is the 22nd. We are having a little birthday party for Josiah, on the 19th. Pray for a good time for all that attend!

New Phase

2008-06-30T14:51:00.002+02:00

We have all left our former schools behind.

Josiah and Aubrie finished really well, and got glowing reports from their teachers. Josiah was permitted to move to first grade in September which is a big deal. Many French speaking Belgian kids get held back at this stage, especially boys with summer birthdays. But he did fine! YEAH- Thank you, Lord!! Aubriana is also moving up into the 3rd maternelle class, basically kindergarten.

Last week was super busy with it being the kids final week of school. We had a mini graduation thing one morning, then a big afternoon/evening celebration, and another night we had parent/teacher conferences - completely in French. We understood the 2 teachers and they understood us! Which was a gift and a blessing! All those provided such neat opportunities to for us to spend time getting to know the other parents. It was a GREAT week for ministry here in Belgique!

Brian and Heather have moved to a new language school. It was a good first day for both of us. It is a big change with new teachers, our last teachers were Belgian, this school has French teachers (from France) which have a different teaching style and different accents. School is an hour and half longer each day, which may not seem like much, but it is. Heather's teacher speaks really really quickly, and Heather is coming down with something.

This week is bringing new changes for the kiddos too. Makinna is in creche longer each day, Josiah and Aubrie are attending a swimming camp all day.

Four Months and Going Strong

2008-06-19T08:46:00.004+02:00

It has been a QUICK four months here in Belgium. There are so many things to do each day that time is flying by. It's just about time for the kids summer break. In Belgium kids go to school Sept 1 to June 30, but they have some good breaks mixed in there. Brian and Heather are going to continue language school. We have a final Friday, in which they interact with you about everything you've learned in French thus far - WHEW. Please keep clairity of thought, and the ability to recall all that we've learning in your prayers.
After that, we are heading to back to school for the summer. Heather is nearly finished. These last few things we are learning are tricky and require lots of memorizing and practicing. Hopefully, with the Lord's help she be able to spend a huge BULK of the summer with the kids doing ministry!! Meanwhile Brian will continue at language school.
If you would continue to life up our relationships with fellow parents, teachers, and school friends that would be a blessing to us. We have several relationships building at the moment which gives us great joy in the hope of sharing Christ with them.
We had a Belgian family over for lunch on Sunday- a first for us!!! They ate lunch and hung out with us for 6 hours, they would have stayed longed but they had to run to an appointment. We love the Belgian since of people being important, and sharing a meal as being something to be savored- even if the meal is just so-so spaghetti and meatballs. All in all, it was a wonderful time of fellowship with other believers. We chatted mostly in French. Heather shared her testimony in French for the first time. Sophie seemed to know what she was talking about, so whew! It was just a great day and a great opportunity for learning about Belgians, learning more French, and just spending time with friends. However after they left - we were sad to see them leave- after that though both of us were TOAST! Our brains were fried extra crispy!!! You don't realize at the time, but speaking in another language is very tough mental work. Until, of course, you are fluent, which neither of us are close to that mark! Praise God for a great day and great friends and the opportunity to be here in Bruxelles.
One more thing for those of you that have known Brian for awhile. We had a couple mormon missionaries come to our door the other day. You guessed it... Brian has already set up a rendevous to chat with them about the True gospel. Be praying for that as well.
We love you guys so much. Keep sending us updates and prayer requests. We spend time lifting those up to our sovereignly gracious Lord on your behalf.

A Sunday Night Bike Ride

2008-06-12T18:54:00.003+02:00

A BEAUTIFUL Belgian Night for a family bike ride. We were given 2 kids bikes, and bought ours for a steal. We are so thankful. What fun we had!

This biking stuff is HARD work, running is MUCH easier! Josiah LOVES LOVES LOVES to RUN!!! Daddy and mommy ran track so we guess it's just in his blood! So after a biking awhile, he ditched the bike and ran laps around this parking lot. At one point, Daddy ran with him, and Josiah kept him on his toes! Children most definitely are blessings from the Lord! Please keep them in your prayers. They are nearly finished this year of school. Their French is beginning to come along like mommy's and daddy's. What a fun language to learn! The Belgian's are a neat people. They are very family oriented. Many of the Belgian homes have a family dinner each night. These days, Americans could stand to learn a lot from them. We are so excited to have started sharing our lives and our joy with them, and the reasons for that joy with them. Pray that as this school year winds down that we will be given more and more opportunities to share Christ and develop friendships.

Pictures You Have To See

2008-06-12T18:12:00.007+02:00

Makinna and her friends from her "School!"

Happy Birthday, Makinna

June 5th -we had a little birthday party at home

Makinna and her "Amis" (on her birthday) at her little daycare called the Petite Schroumps- the little Smurfs

Heather wasn't even allowed to watch the Smurfs and now our baby is one- Go figure! : ) Fun side note- The Smurfs were created by a Belgian!

Daddy and Makinna at their birthday party(there are just a few more candles on daddy's cake : )!

Our family has found a great French tv show for all of us. It's called "La Maison De Mickey." We all really like it. It's only 22 minutes, and it's for little kids. Mickey looks at us, and asks us questions in French. We reply, help solve dilemnas, count with him, or whatever he needs or asks. It would be embarrassing for anyone to watch us, I am sure, but it is really fun. That's why their cakes are Mickey and Minnie. We've been told this show exists in English too, It's called "Mickey's Clubhouse." Check it out sometime, then you'll know our level of French! He He!! Wait a second maybe you shouldn't find it! Ha Ha!

Kisses and Guests for Dinner

2008-06-11T14:29:00.002+02:00

After 3.5 months in Belgium, we can say each Sunday we attend "Our" little protestant church here in Bruxelles has been an encouragement to us. In the beginning it was mostly an encouragement to work harder, so we could all five understand more than just a few of the words we were hearing each week. After awhile, we began to receive a kiss on the cheek from fellow attendies we were beginning to know. It was wonderful. We felt/feel so loved and accepted. It's great to have somewhere to go in Belgium (where less than 2% of the population are Christians) and to be able to share a common bond of a deep love for Christ.
We didn't know before we arrived that in Belgian culture a single kiss on the check is only given to people you know well and/or love. We thought even strangers shared kisses. This is not the case. So to begin to receive kisses was such a BIG deal for us.
A young family from church is coming over this Sunday for lunch. They are Belgian, but speak pretty good English also. They are willing to allow us to butcher French, and not resort back to English when we speak with them (unless absolutely necessary). Which in such a well educated area is a BIG deal. They are a sweet couple, and we look forward to fellowshiping over a meal with them. Keep the preparations for this in your prayers, as well as our time together. May we be an encouragement to them spiritually, as well as, any other ways.

Makinna's 2 and Brian's 38

2008-06-10T22:59:00.003+02:00

The weather has been pretty wonderful! Today was absolutely gorgeous!!! Wish you all could have been here with us! Language school is going full throttle! We are learning so much, but there is sooo much more to learn. Keep our comprehension and retention in your prayers. Makinna is speaking French words and phrases, and lots of English sentences all the time. It's so fun to watch her learn and grow from a baby into a little girl. She had a wonderful birthday. Thank you so much to all of you that sent birthday wishes for her.
In the past week and a half Brian experienced a jump in age and a jump in acquiring the French language. Language learning isn't usually a steady slope, and now we are really beginning to see all of his hours of hard work paying off. His teachers even noticed his recent, rapid progress. Maybe wisdom really does come with age! He certainly has more of that than ever! : )
It was really fun celebrating with them both this past week. We even managed to give Aubriana a little 4 and a half birthday too. She's the only one that doesn't have a June or July birthday, and it's nice for her to join the rest of us with a little celebration in summer.
The Lord has given us many opportunities to make new friendships, and we've even had the joy of sharing the story of Jesus, and how to know and be changed by Him. We are keeping in touch with those we've shared with. They are some of the folks we had been asking you to pray for. Thank you for doing just that. We are so thankful that the Lord has you here with us through your faithfulness to pray for the people of Belgium, and for our family.

New pics added from our trip to Liege in the post: Life for the Zees

2008-05-31T13:45:00.001+02:00

As Promised Brian from High School & Now

2008-05-23T16:33:00.004+02:00

20 Years Later

Before and After
(That's the Atomium in Brussels)

Brian's High School Reunion

2008-05-21T22:46:00.013+02:00

East High Alumni coordinators are busy with BIG preparations for the class of 1988's 20 year high school reunion this summer. Brian won't be able to make it. So we wanted to give his old friends a couple resent family pics to fill in the 20 year gap.

Enjoy!

Brian married Heather in 1999. Now they have three little ones 5 and under.
Josiah, Aubriana and Makinna
These pics were taken just before we left the states in February '08.

Check back, Heather's working on getting a high school picture of me to post. That should be embarrassing.

If you are checking out this blog to see what I look like now, and what I am up to, feel free to read on. I'd love for you find out what my life is about, and why I am in Belgium. Leave me a comment, and I'll write ya back.

Life for the Zees

2008-05-19T14:15:00.005+02:00

Inside the Cathedral

It's amazing what babies can sleep through! Man, was that a lot of stairs! But the view was worth everyone of them! Liege is gorgeous!

Josiah and Aubrie on the bus ride back to the train station. It had been a wonderful day of exploring in this new area of the world! We must have walked at least 10 miles throughout the day.

We are so blessed to be here on this side of the world. We are learning this new beautiful language, and learning more each day about the culture here. Brian and Heather still know much more than the children, but Josiah has taken on a French trait when he speaks. It's really cute to hear Josiah doing it, ok he has no idea that he is even doing it, but it's adorable. One of these days we know they are going to blow right past us, with the greatest French accents. It's going to be wonderful! For now, however, it is fun for us to be the teachers of our little eager French students.

We have found a little French speaking protestant church that serves a HUGE area of Belgium. We really enjoy going, and yesterday they had a potluck lunch. It was very different than one in the states. They don't rush anything, even a potluck. After the main course, of whatever everyone brought, there was a long delay in setting out the desserts, to give lots of time for fellowship. This is something that is so enjoyable here. Meals aren't rushed, and conversation are lingered over. Going to this church is wonderful for broadening our French vocabulary, and our ability to hold a spiritual conversation. Of course, we are NOT learning words such as "Christian, cross, Christ, believe, repent, sin, resurrection, and passover" in our French class.

Another huge blessing, we have been invited over to a REAL Belgian home for lunch next Sunday (dimanchi prochain) by a family from the church. Be praying for our French brains, ears, and mouths to be working really well.

We had an opportunity to gain much more insight into Belgians and their history this last Monday. They had a holiday, boy, do we love the way the Belgians take seriously their holidays. Our language coach and team leader came up with a great idea that we should take a trip to Liege, the 3rd largest city in Belgium. While there we had the opportunity to go inside a church (St Paul's Cathedral) that was built in the 12 century. It was Gorgeous and SOOO old!!! Later, we climbed up over 350 stairs that overlook the city of Liege, at the top there once was an army fort to protect the city, now it has been turned into a modern hospital. At the top, we met a neat young couple, soon to be engaged, and chatted with them extensively. The young man gave Brian his email address, and he has already been in contact with him. Be praying for this relationship. We chatted about all facets of Belgian life and religion (he is an agnostic), and their views on Americans, American politics, and their upcoming engagement/wedding. It was really eye opening. We'll post some pictures of our day in Liege soon. We learned this week you can travel by car across this entire country over it's longest points in 2.5 hours. AMAZING! Heather's from Texas, which takes 12 hours to drive across.

Thank you so much for your prayers for our family. We are still stuggling to stay healthy. Makinna had a BAD rash all over her last week, and now both girls have runny noses. Brian and Heather have yucky throats. Keep our relationships with all our new friends here in the forefront of your minds. We only have one and a half months left of school for the children, before the 2 month summer break. Pray that the relationships that have been forming with fellow parents would deepen, and lead to opportunities to hang out together over the break, and most importantly to share the gospel with them. A sweet Romanian lady in our French class *Nita is lonely here away from her family and friends. We are reaching out to her, and have made a good connection. She loves kids, a great thing in our case. Alas, our current French class ends this Friday, although we'll be continue with the next course, she will not. We won't be seeing her everyday. So pray that our relationship continues with *Nita and we are able to meet her husband and share Christ with them. That is the same for the single male atheist in our class Brian has had great interactions with him about the gospel. Pray that those would continue although he isn't continuing his French next month.

We love and appreciate you all. We look forward to each and every update, letter, email, and phone call you send our way, so keep them coming. We are looking forward to celebrating Makinna's 2nd & Brian's 3_? birthdays at the beginning of June the 6th and 9th respectively. We want to make their first birthdays overseas special. We are looking into the practices of Belgians to celebrate birthdays, and we are going to try to incoporate some of those into our own celebration.

A Sweet Mother's Day in Belgium

2008-05-11T22:58:00.006+02:00

Aubriana and Josiah showing off Aubrie's Mother's Day frame she made at school! Super sweet! The best part- they really love each othter that much! Being a mommy is such a joy and priviledge!! Thank you, Lord for this opportunity!

A Fortnight of FIRSTS!

2008-05-05T21:11:00.003+02:00

Well, some of which you already know about from previous posts, like our first final exams, our first school fair/program/fund raiser, but there have been more wonderful first we have yet to tell you about.

FIRST of all, we had our FIRST day to hit 70 degrees, and then after that a few not so lovely ones, and then this past nearly a week, has been nothing short of GORGEOUS!! It truly has. Blue skies, ok not completely, but it just has the pretty clouds, light and fluffy. Heather even got her first little sunburn of the year!!! YEAH! Rejoice with us this is a BIG deal in Belgium! Note to self, visitors will love the weather in late April and early May!

Our next FIRST was a BIG one, we had our FIRST train ride, and it was our FIRST time to leave Brussels period. We took a 30 minute ride to a nearby town (in the farm lands) called Neufvilles. It was a beautiful ride with lots of lush green grass and beaucoup des cows and animals. New missionary friends of ours invited us down for the night and day. It was WONDERFUL! The family we were with were excellent hosts. The children got to run in a BIG backyard and play in the sand box. They had sooo much fun. When they did come in they ate and ate, b/c they had been playing so hard, and were having so much fun. Their little boy goes to full immersion French school also, so the kids were able to practice French with each other. Makinna had a wonderful time with their daughter who is only 10 days younger than she is. (Can you believe June 5th Makinna will be 2?) It really was LOVELY to leave the BIG city on a grand adventure, and to spend time with other Christian's on a similar mission!

We had our FIRST Belgian Labor Day holiday. It was this past Thursday, and since it's on a Thursday most of the Belgian's take Friday off, as well. Why not!?! So no school, no shopping, and no working for two work days. WONDERFUL! Belgians know how to take a break, Americans could stand to learn from them on this. It is VERY VERY rare to see a store open on Sunday period. If you do it's probably a quickie mart not a big store. I am telling you finding these open is even difficult to find. It's refreshing.

Brian received his FIRST real Belgian kiss (on the cheek) from a male friend at our French church. He let Brian know that they are good friends so "Beezoos" (French/Belgian one cheek kisses) will be carried out from now on. It's really is neat, but we are all still getting use to it. Strangers don't normally do it to one another, so it's nice and an answer to prayer, to be being accepted. Heather's natural tendency is to hug someone, and Brian's is to shake hands. They think either of those are strange. Heather hugged a teenager girl at church after a beezoo, and the girl seemed like she wasn't quite sure how to hug back. Cultures are FUNNY things. You wonder how we can be so similar, yet, so different, at the same time.

Rejoice with us and praise our Father for His wonderful provisions for us!!! He is truly a carrying and loving Father! Thank you so much for praying for us as we adapt. Please continue to lift up Josiah, Aubriana, and Makinna as they adjust to full immersion French school/daycare. It's tough at times, since they understand so little. We have started doing French language classes with them at home. They are loving it, and picking it up quickly. Thus far the "Big two" can write fille, garcon, ecole, and lundi (girl, boy, school, and Monday-which isn't captalized in French-interesting!)

Josiah asked Heather to teach him how to write in cursive (or should I say, "Swirly"-as Aubriana calls it!). He is doing wonderfully, and after one lesson (his FIRST) he could write his name nearly perfectly, the transition from "O" to "S" is tricky, but the rest is amazingly good. Someday we would love to find an art class for him, to attend, he truly has a natural God-given talent for it.

Please keep lifting up your praises and prayers to the Lord on our behalf and for all those serving Him throughout the world! We are so blessed to be here in Belgium to tell others of His great GRACE and FORGIVENESS. May you be blessed. Don't forget to give us your requests, as well. We lift you up before the throne of grace!

Request- please pray that we would recieve our first phone and electricity/gas bill soon. They bill you every other month for the 2 months, but it has been more than that. We'd like them to arrive, so we can know how much we need to put aside each month to cover them. Pray, as always, that we would be good stewards of all He has given and continues to give to us.

The Fair Was SOOO CUTE- Aubrie was a ...

2008-04-29T20:38:00.009+02:00

...Blue Recycling Trash Bag full of plastic bottles. Josiah was in a cute outfit (black t-shirt with black tights) with white bones painted on it. They sang and danced and had fun. Josiah was really hamming it up, and Aubrie was much more shy. It was really fun to watch the whole school participate. The theme of the day was recycling, which is a HUGE thing here! You are required to recycle, and to separate your recycled items in different colored bags. Hence Aubrie's blue trash bag costume.

These are pictures of our favorite park on a BEAUTIFUL Belgian day. It's 3 blocks from our home. It's super FUN even for mom and dad! These spinny things are so fun! This park even has a fenced in turf soccer field with goals, and a puppy poop poop box. Ewww! Belgians love their dogs. We love their dogs too, they are great conversation starters.

WATCH out World! Bumper Cars are still on the road here in Belgium!!!

Hard to Believe It's Been Two Months ALREADY

2008-04-25T16:09:00.002+02:00

We've successfully completed the beginner level of French, and Monday we begin our next class. We learned sooooo much. We had a BIG final exam today. It was oral, listening/reading comprehension, and written in three parts. It was pretty stressful for both of us. After it was finished we got a hearty handshake from our teacher, and he said we did VERY Good! It seems we've been pounding in question words, prepositions, sentence structure, and verbs upon verbs, and it's actually suprising so much of it stuck in our brains. Thank you for your prayers in this reguard. If you could continue to lift this up, we know it only gets more difficult from here. We'll be getting into much tougher grammer, and not many people LOVE English grammer let alone grammer in a new language.

Over and over we have had really neat opportunities to meet some special Belgians the Lord has put in our paths. We had another playdate with the mommy from school Damian*. She and Heather chatted about foods they cook for their families, what they do for fun, and what their neighborhood is like. It was a successful meeting for sure.

There is another mommy from school that is Malaysian. She has been very friendly. She speaks very good English. In speaking about that, she let me know that she learned English in her Methodist preschool in Malaysia. So I asked her is she was a Christian, "No!" came her sharp reply. I think she realized how abrupt her answer was, and she softened it with, but I am ok with it. So keep her in your prayers. Let's call her Kafina*.

Zuran* our student teacher gave us her information. She wants to get together, and meet our children. We are going to jump on that, and we'll get back to you on that opportunity. Remember she is muslim from Pakastan. Super cool. We have already seen pictures of her dad, Mohammed, sister, and cousin. It neat how much deeper you get in language school, in someways out of necessity to aid in the learning process.

Tomorrow the BIG kids have a BIG deal at school. It's called the Fancy Fair. They'll be performing with their classes on the BIG stage in the Gym. It should be really fun, and a GREAT opportunity to meet other parents and build relationships all in the path of sharing Christ with them. We'll be sure to post some pictures of it.

Download SKYPE and we can chat over the computer and see each other. It's WONDERFUL. We ended up dropping Vonage. We have a great overseas plan with the phone company here that is even cheaper than Vonage. Get SKYPE downloaded, get your web cams hooked up and let's talk. It's really fun and wonderful for the kids. Have a WONDERFUL weekend. Bon Weekend.

Special Request & More Answers to Prayer

2008-04-17T13:31:00.005+02:00

In language school, we have had a student teacher sitting in with us. She is Pakastani, and has a Muslim family. Her name is Zuran* (changed). She will be finished at our school on Monday. She has opened up to Heather. She asked if they could exchange email addresses, and keep in touch. What a gift. So now, we are asking the saints to pray that Heather will be given opportunities to build a relationship with her, that will lead to/be saturated with the Gospel.

Many of you have been praying that our money will stretch, well it has. The Lord has seen fit to bless us again. As we wrote on a previous blog, our family loves eating at Pizza Hut (which is near our home). The cost was quite high, but now they are giving coupons for Buy One Get One free pizzas. Now with a coupon, our family can get the pizza to go, and eat for less than 17 Euros (around $22). Thanks for praying. We are sure to some this may seem insignificant, but when you are far from familiar things, small things like using a coupon seems WONDERFUL! We look forward to trying out a coupon soon!

Another answer to your lifting us up, the mother of Aubriana's classmate, has contacted us to get together again. We'll let you know how this goes. You may call her Damian (a female name here). Thank you so much for partnering with us.

Our prayer for each of you Jude 2- "May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you." Keep your personal stories and prayer requests coming. We are lifting you up.

The Frills, The Skills, & the Thrills

2008-04-09T16:52:00.009+02:00

Makinna turns 22 months!!

The view from the front door of our building. What a cool reminder each day that we aren't in the US any more. It's so cool!

The Zee bunch on our living room balcony.
Ours apartment is on the third floor of this brown brick building. 1st level is garages, the 2nd is the apt. of a really nice family from Indonesia, then ours, above that there are two smaller flats for a couple different single ladies. It is a great building, and a great apartment. We are so thankful that the Lord provided us such a fine home.

The tram tracks go right in front of our home. You can see the yellow and gray trams in other pictures from a previous post. The sounds of the trams put us to sleep at night. We aren't sure how we'll sleep when we get back to the US without them.

On a mini prayer walk through our neighborhood, we noticed just how neat the old row homes are. Many of the streets in this town are paved with bricks, which adds so much character. As we walked, we thanked the Lord for having us here, and prayed for the thousands of people living in those homes. That one day they would cry out to Jesus to change their hearts and follow Him, and become themselves missionaries with their friends and families. Here are some pictures of our apartment and neighborhood. You can join us in praying for our area called Stockel in the commune of Woluwe St. Pierre in Brussels, Belgium.

Language school is going well. We are learning more each day, it would be very hard not to with only two students : ) . New French verbs and phrases fill our days, which are allowing us to make more and more sentences. The tough part is getting the correct spelling for all those words, phrases, and sentences. French has a lot of silent letters, and many that are only spoken if the following word begins with a vowel. So many rules and so many acceptions, but it's still very fun. Thank you for all your words of encouragement to us, and all your prayers for us. We simply could not be here without God's grace daily. He is so Good!

A BIG BIG DEAL HAPPENED today!!! Makinna Renee did #2 on the toilet!!!!! YEAH!!! You've never seen a party, like a party when a child does this for the first time! Perhaps you've been apart of one of these celebrations. They are so fun. What a joy to watch your little ones grow up! Here are some new pictures of our BIG 22 month old whose starting to make real strides toward being potty trained!

It's raining... what can you do with three little ones, buy a used slide for really cheap and bring the outdoors in. Makinna LOVES this slide. It is wonderful! The kids have a blast, getting the wiggles out, and daddy and mommy can study!

One Week of French Language Under Our Belts...WHEW!

2008-04-04T16:56:00.004+02:00

Well, just when you think learning this new language in your 30s was going to be all fun and games, the pace picks up and you start getting lots of Homework!!! So far, we are both treading water and even splashing around a little. We love our teacher. We are the only students in the class. 2:1 Now that is a GREAT student to teacher ratio. This great ratio means you can't hide! So if you don't "Get" something it's VERY obvious and the prof. won't move on until you get it. Which is GREAT! If we were in a larger class, we would possibly be left in the dust by people who are already multi-lingual without fully comprehending all that we are being taught each day. Unlike college, this is the same class all day (half day) everyday. Then you go home and put in 3, 4 or 5 more hours of French on your own. Yes, we have been faithful to do that (Mrs. Sarah - our language coach: ). We have so many assignments, all for our benefit. We get the kids to bed, clean up, and get to work on language acquisition. It has made for some really long days. Heather got pink eye like the girls, but didn't miss any school. It just made for yucky nights of sleep for her. Big Praise she is improving!

Updates- The Mommy we were suppose to have a playdate with today, canceled. Sad, but we'll keep pursuing a relationship with the family, as the Lord gives us opportunities.

-The children are vastly improved, praise the Lord for that. They'll be returning to school on Monday, and Makinna will be beginning baby preschool on Monday, as well. We found a Mini Creche that will take her. It is a daycare with 15 or less children, which is great. It's in a SUPER narrow house (row house). The top floor is for naps, and the bottom floor is for playing, eating, crafts, etc... They even have a small brick backyard for the children to play in on nicer days. That is a real luxury in Brussels. We are very greatful, that the Lord showed it to us (we found it on one of our walks). We are so thankful that they had a spot open for Makinna. We must have contacted 15 that were full. The real blessing is that she will be the one closest to home. She is near the middle of the "Big Two" and mommy and daddy. We can go grab her easily, if we needed to. Thank you all so much for your furvent prayers in this reguard. The Lord keeps answering your prayers. With those results we will continue to tell you all of our needs and prayer requests! : )

Monday should be an interesting morning. They haven't decided who will get dropped off first. One thing they do know is who will be to school last- mommy and daddy, of course!

Please keep lifting us up that we will have LOTS of dedicated time in God's Word and Prayer as a family and individually. We would like to be able to have individual time with each of our 3 children. We want them to know that they are a HUGE priority for them, and that taking care of them is not just another one of our assignments. Also that Brian and Heather will get time alone, away from studying French. It is possible to be working and learning together all day, and not really have connected on a heart level. By God's sweet grace, we are a loving couple and family. We are doing really well adjusting, thus far.

We really enjoy this new world we live in. We long to know the language well enough to share where our true joy comes from. We long to tell it to ALL the Belgians. Who said you have to have small goals, that was Josiah's goal when we got here. He told us just today, "You know somethings funny, there's a girl in my class that wears a cross necklace, maybe she knows about Jesus!" Brian explained, that would be wonderful, but as Josiah already knew, that many people like wearing crosses, and sadly don't have hearts that are changed by Jesus. Josiah knows he can use the fact that she wears a cross, as a way of mentioning the cross. He can mention why it is important to the world, and why it should be important to her. Pray that he'll get this opportunity! What a JOY that would be! We'll definitely update when it does. This will take him grasping the French language enough to communicate all of these deep things with this girl.

Things we are getting use to: There are too many to mention these are a few-

1) Riding the metro, trams and buses, instead of in cars We are both LOVING the weight loss this affords! Who knew walking miles each day would cause you to shed pounds. It seems as though I have heard that before! Hummm...

2) We love stores that have professionally babysat play places for your children that are 3 and up. Can anyone say, IKEA? Super cool! But unfortunately, IKEA is Far away from our home, and we've only been there twice. Heather really likes going, Brian really doesn't, but isn't that pretty much how shopping goes anyway!?!?

3) Buying warm unpasteurized milk in a one liter cartons, and only putting it in the fridge when you want to drink it. It's great! Our fridge is 1/4 the size of apt. fridges in the states, and you don't have a Big ole gallon of milk (which would NOT fit period- well maybe laying on it's size) taking all the room. A HUGE plus, you don't have to buy it nearly as often. You buy in bulk, and put it in your cabinet to use whenever you need it. It's actually very cool! It doesn't taste too different, and thank the Lord, all three of our children will drink it!

A Couple things we haven't quite gotten use to YET:

1) Paying 4 euros for 3.5 ounces of coffee with NO refills and no frills (caramel, whip cream etc.) Consider the price here the next time you bemone your total when you check out at Starbucks. You are actually getting a FANTASTIC deal by European standards! I am soooo not kidding about the amount of coffee you get. Brian says it is good coffee, but we've only had it once. We are way too cheap for that, when you can make a BIG mug for free at home with canned whip cream ta boot why blow the Euros?

2) Paying 30 Euros ($50 US dollars once it hit our bank in the states) for Pizza Hut- We got one pizza (Pepperoni Med size), one appetizer, and 3 drinks (you can't get free water in this country period). Going there is a very rare treat, but it tastes SOOO good!!! Just like home! If you come we'd be happy to take you there!

We truly are loving it here. The more people we meet, and have conversations with, the more we know this is exactly where the Lord has us for such a time as this for His purposes and plans to bring the gospel to this dark place.

Beautiful Day in Bruxelles- Zees go out to the Grand Plaza

2008-04-03T14:41:00.003+02:00

We went on a mission to see what many Belgians do on Sundays when the rest of the city is closed for business. We briefly met some friendly Waloonians (French speaking- Belgians), and nice couple from France. Now that we have a little better idea of the geography of the area, next time we head down there, we'll be going on a prayer walk. That's where we'll be praying, and asking the Lord to provide people for us to speak to about Himself and His Son.

Pics from Our Journey to the Doctor

2008-03-31T19:51:00.004+02:00

One week of ecole (school) brings more than an education, those of you that are doctors, nurses or mommies know what this is.... New Germs and Illnesses. Well, we got our share of those, all three of the kids got their first Belgian cold, two out of the three got Pink eye (both girls) and one ear infection (Aubriana). So off to the doctor we went. 58 Euros later, we got two perscriptions, and headed home in the rain. Here are some pics of our journey and Makinna's ouchie eyes. Several things about the timing of the day were a blessing. As I made the doctor appointment that morning for 5PM that night, Aubriana's ear was fine. But as we traveled to the doctor, Aubriana's ear began to pound. I knew what that meant, and told her soon the doctor could help her. It was a blessing, b/c the pharmacies would still be open when we were done with the doctor. She wouldn't even have to have one night with the ear infection without having medicine to take to help with the pain. Thank you, Lord, for your constant provision for us. By His tender mercies all the children are vastly improved, and feeling MUCH better. Thank you, Jesus.

Formal Language School Begins for Brian and Heather

2008-03-31T08:07:00.004+02:00

Off we GO!!!

We are off on a new adventure today, excited and eager to get learning this pretty language.

Here are some pics we took this weekend of the Tram that we take daily and the scenery at the Grand Plaza.

The view from our tram stop look back towards our apt bldg. it would be up on the left on the last possible bldg in this picture.

Our First Play Date

2008-03-27T21:59:00.004+01:00

Was a BIG success! We met at a neighborhood swimming pool that has a little kiddie pool and one big slide- "Two bah donn" (Heather's phonics for the French pronounciation of slide). New word we picked up today, among others!

Heather had a relaxing time hanging out in the kiddie pool with the mama and all the kids. Then we, of course, took our turns going down the big slide. It was lots of fun. As the mom was heading out, she asked if we wanted to do this again next Friday, so awesome! Another answer to prayer! Keep that meeting in mind for your prayers for our family.

Well, tomorrow (which is just two hours away) will mark one month from our departure from Denver! It's hard to believe that can be possible, the time has flown by. We have been very busy getting settled here in Bruxelles. We do miss our family, but the Lord has been very gracious in this reguard. We now have high speed internet, and a home phone with long distance calls to the country of our choice (can you say, "The United States"). Our children are young enough that they aren't down or upset missing their friends. They are just excited to be here where the weather is so different, they can eat lots of Frites (French fries), and Belgian waffles. Each day at school they gain a little bit more understanding of the French language. It'll take time, and patience.

Funny story. Swimming is a required class for Josiah and Aubriana (super cool), and the parents are allowed to watch. Of course, we were there with all the other young doting parents. That is how we met our playdate mom. Anyway, a half hour after the class started one of the children's teachers began saying something to the children. They all began getting out, except our children who were playing, splashing, giggling, and walking in the other direction. It cracked us up, to see our little disobedient ones, who had no clue that they were being naughty! Finally Josiah turned around, and realized we gotta go!! Oops! I guess we need to work on understanding the French words "It's time to go!"

With that it's time for me to go! It's getting late in ... Belgium (not too far from Denmark)! See ya later. Thanks for the prayers. We can feel them and see the results, which is super exciting! We'll post more pictures soon.

Does God Answer Prayer?

2008-03-26T22:38:00.002+01:00

Yes, He does!
Can you believe the mother I told you about in a previous blog, emailed me. I got an email in French and wasn't sure who it was or what it was about for a few seconds. Then it came to me, she wrote! Wow! That is awesome! So tomorrow we are off to our first playdate in Belgium and it's with real French speaking native Belgians. YEAH!!! God is so good! She has a daughter Josiah's age, a son a little bit older, a baby boy Kinna's age and one more I haven't met.
Keep our time together in your prayers. I know it'll be busy with 7 kids there, but pray that we will have an opportunity to have a deep conversation, as deep as is possible with my very limited French and her very limited English. It should be GREAT fun!!! I am always up for an adventure and usually up for a challenge!!! I'm always up for this sort of challenge!! I love people, and I am so excited to get to know someone from this culture! Pray that we will connect and form a friendship that will lead to the sharing of our lives and most importantly my faith (the Gospel). And that she will embrace it and humbly come before the cross.
Hopefully, I'll be able to take a few pics, and download them soon of our time together on our first official Belgian playdate.

Celebrate Jesus at Easter

2008-03-23T18:03:00.006+01:00

We had the priviledge of attending church this morning at an English speaking International church. It was nice to worship in our heart language on such a special day. At home, we have enjoyed a special celebration complete with the Easter story by using the resurrection eggs Grandma sent to the kids. A BIG Thank you to all our grandparents for all our great Easter packages-they were all wonderful and really added to our holy day!! The rest of our celebration included listening to Keith Green's "Easter Song," lots of other Easter hymns, and making Resurrection cookies (you read several portions of scripture while making them, the passages tell the story of Jesus death and resurrection) the kids open up the sealed oven in the morning and discover the cookies are empty just like Jesus' tomb! Super cool! Praise God, Jesus is ALIVE!!

A beautiful day to open up our sliding window and enjoy the great outdoors, at least for a little while!

Easter Fun and Divine Encounters

2008-03-23T16:38:00.005+01:00

The kids and the Easter Bunny at a Spring Fling where they got to decorate a cupcake, make puppets out of brown bags, jump in a bouncy castle, and have a fun indoor egg hunt. They had a great time, until it was Makinna's turn to be with the bunny alone. Every kid has to have at least one picture like this with a strange person dressed in a costume! Right!?!

HAPPY EASTER! We have a great time visiting a French speaking church last week on Palm Sunday. It was cool to hear a sermon entirely in French and worship in French, as well. The children attended Sunday school, and their teachers told us they were sooo quite, I quickly informed her that won't last long! : )

We have had some really neat encounters with Belgians. We have begun making friends with a family in Aubriana's class. The mom would like to get together on the 2 week vacation (which begins tomorrow). Please pray that this would happen this coming week. We begin formal French language classes March 31st. We've arranged for a neat Christian Chinese college student to keep the children that week while we are in classes. Pray that the Belgian mom will contact us (we didn't dare ask her for her information, yet, we were already pushing the unwritten rules of conduct). Pray that we'll be able to get together during the first week of vacation, the second week will be much more difficult. She also has a little one Makinna's age and two older ones, all are under 9. We are excited to have met, and that we were able to initiate such a great conversation. We were able to get a lot deeper in a 30 minute conversation than most Belgians are willing to go after knowing someone for months or years, which is a definite answer to prayer. So keep those furvent prayers coming!

We also exchanged email and phone numbers with a neat Congolese (a college student whose family is from the Congo, although she was born and raised here). We will call her Sasha, she is very excited to practice English with us, and we had a good time practicing French with her. We look forward to having her over for games and coffee. She works near where we will be going to language school. We hope to "Run" into her often, Lord willing! Please keep this relationship in your prayers, we feel we should be able to share Christ with her quickly. Pray that she will have ears to hear!

It's No Wonder!!!

2008-03-23T15:37:00.012+01:00

Makinna coloring at our kids table (aka. end table -just the right size for the little chairs)! The kids LOVE to craft - it's wonderful! We were given the chairs, toy box, and a little cabinet from the mission organization Operation Mobilization. Sooo nice!!! What a blessing for our family!

Brian working hard in our office (located in our awesome Multipurpose room)!

Heather in our Library provided by Ikea (Missionaries favorite place to shop for interior decorating, second only to thrift stores)!

After writing and posting the pictures on our last blog, I got to thinking about it. It's no wonder the people here often wear the same clothes for a week at a time. It saves on Euros spent washing them and hours and hours spent waiting for them to dry!

One more interesting thing is the bathrooms in our apartment. We have three, well technically in one of those we just have a toilet and a tiny sink. Then right next to it is a room with a tub, toilet and sink, then right next to this room is a room with a shower and sink. Although it is strange that they are all right next to each other, we actually really like this arrangement. You can have shower, while someone else takes a bath, and someone else uses the toilet! Now that is a GREAT thing for multitasking with a family of five!

Fun Quirks of our Apt in Brussels - You Just Don't See in the States

2008-03-20T13:18:00.003+01:00

No TV no problem, the kids just watch the washing machine spin the clothes around and around in the kitchen!!! Ahhh the good Old days!!

Our sweet girls by our dryer in the living room/dining room/office/hang out place! There's one really good way to make sure you stay on top of doing the laundry everyday - You're high tech dryer only holds one load of clothes and it takes 48-72 hours to hang dry a load completely in this very humid wet climate!

Josiah displaying a great ministry tool for "M's." This is why "M's" have to get out and meet people while shopping each day - the fridge is less than a forth of the size of our fridge in the states - let's not even talk about the freezer size!!! It's AMAZING! We went from a huge fridge/freezer and a giant storage freezer in our garage in Denver to one that is barely bigger than 12" x 12" x 12." It's GREAT! Hard to believe, but people live this way in a such a High tech modern society! Space is limited and costs sooooo much, hence the small appliances found in (to us random places throughout the house). We are actually super blessed to have our own washing machine, many Belgians don't have one.

Elementary School Begins for Josiah & Aubrie

2008-03-17T14:12:00.007+01:00

Here we go!! We're on our way to our FIRST day in Belgian School!

Makinna was not thrilled to be left behind with Mommy and Daddy

Josiah and his teacher, Madam Josiane

Aubriana and her teacher Madam Terrez

Heather was able to check on them at lunch, and they were together and doing well. Keep them in prayer as they adjust to this new language and routine. All things new can be difficult! We were blessed to hear from a fellow parent that Aubriana got an especially sweet teacher. That is an answer to prayer! Thank you, Lord, for being so good and GREAT!

Mommy and Daddy did good saying, "Good bye." But we are ready for 3PM when we can pick them up and ride the tram back home! : )

Days to remember...

2008-03-16T14:23:00.002+01:00

...Friday our family went in search of a pack in play (aka. Play Pen), but to no avail. We did manage to purchase a used little stroller. We could only bring one stroller from the states, so we brought the beast (which has been wonderful). It has many many miles on it already! We needed a little one for getting on and off public transit during peak times.
Public transit is very up close and personal at those times. Belgians don't understand our need for personal space in these times, so taking a big American double stroller is just not possible. They jump in front of you in line, as you try to board the Tram. These otherwise, reserved orderly people throw all that out and put on an every man for himself mentality. It's intense to say the least. We try to avoid those times if at all possible, but it looks like the children (Aubriana and Josiah) will be attending school about 1.5 miles away. We'll be taking the Tram to get them to and from school, each morning and afternoon. Pray for us to be able to get on and off each day with relative EASE!
The children will be beginning full-immersion French school tomorrow. They are very excited. Josiah and Aubriana will be able to see each other often during the day, which should be very helpful and comforting for both of them. We have met their teachers, and we've seen their classrooms, which are very neat, inviting and large. We are praying for their teachers. J and A can't wait to share Christ with their new friends. Their teachers do not speak much English, but the Maternelle has a teacher that is almost fluent in English, and she is a wonderful laison for us. We'll keep you posted as the children come home with stories of their first few days of school. Thank you for praying for them.
We do not, yet know how Makinna will be cared for while we are in language school. Please pray that the Lord will provide a perfect fit for her. Thankfully she will only need to be cared for 3-5 hours a day.

Arrival in the Belgium Airport!

2008-03-16T14:05:00.003+01:00

Brian giving Heather a knowing look from the row in front of the rest of the family on our LONG flight over the sea!

We made it! WHEW! What a journey, and what a MASSIVE amount of luggage! The Incredible shirts made keeping track of the kids easier! The Lord was VERY Gracious, as He always is!

A few more Pics of our time visiting Denver

2008-03-16T13:46:00.002+01:00

Treble relaxing on the couch!

Mimi and Aubrie

Makinna's first haircut!
By our wonderful family hairstylist, Heather!

More Special People & Pictures

2008-03-12T19:25:00.005+01:00

Tia and Heather

Tia is a sweet friend, one Heather will sorely miss!

From Top to Bottom:
Aubriana
Jacob
Josiah
Jarod

We love these guys and the WHOLE Combs family!

2008-03-06T22:13:00.001+01:00

The Bernard and Zebarth Children from the top right moving counterclockwise- Beau, Josiah, Micah (girl), Barrett, Makinna and Aubriana

The whole gang adults from the right (Mimi- Karen Austin, Heather, Tia, and Brian) at Adventure in Odessey Land at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs Such a FUN place!!

COUSINS are sooo FUN!!! Josiah and Aubrie made a Fionn and Aodhan Sandwich! YUMMM!!!

Finally PICTURES we figured it out...

2008-03-06T21:52:00.006+01:00

Here's Josiah being give a tickle from Karen's (Heather's mom) dog, Treble! We all love Treble! Treble is half bassett hound and half beagle which makes him, a bagel (an honest to goodness breed these days)! All we know is he is really cute, fun, and smart! Poor Makinna is ruined for life, every dog she sees is "Treble!" She can't get enough of him.

Grandma and Grandpa we love you!!! We are so glad they were able to come out and visit us during our last few weeks in Denver. We got lots of hugs and fun times with them. Anytime the kids get messy faces they say, "You have grandpa Iowas mustache!" Then they try to see who can make the best one! It's really cute.

This is Mimi. Aka Karen Austin, Mom, Momma

We love her sooooo much! The kids sure loved that Mimi lived with us for 3 years. We/they'll have lots of great memories of those years, Josiah and Aubrie took piano, trumpet and violin lessons from her. Actually Makinna kinda did too! She a GREAT teacher!

OK well, I can't figure out how to import the new pics...

2008-03-05T21:37:00.003+01:00

... of us at the airport!!! Boy are they something to see. Picture 21 suicases on one cart, four back packs, a two person stroller loaded down, and three ADORABLE Children wearing incredible (the cartoon movie) t-shirts (so if they happened to get lost someone could remember seeing them)! One of these days, We hope to get those posted for you. You'll love them! Next time you travel remember IT could be worse!!!
Thus far, we have accomplished sooo much each day. Next week SHOULD be a little easier! On the agenda for the past 5 days since we arrived, we had to get Brian registered with the Belgian government here, buy groceries, look at and decide on our apartment, go to a closing type thing for renting our apartment - which took a LONG time, go do another walk through on our apartment, get a Belgian bank account (which requires an appointment), get furniture for our empty apartment, get food for the apartment, find schools to check out for the kids, check for deals on phone service here, find out how to get around town (without a CAR- interesting to say the least), we met with our regional language consulant and our finance consultant, and lots more. BELIEVE Me in a country where you truly feel good accomplishing one thing a day, this has been an incredible past 5 days! Some of you thought that our first week might be kinda slow! It has been running nearly every minute. Tomorrow with the help of our team leader and his wife (which have been with us nearly every moment - helping us tremendously and wonderfully to accomplish ALLL of the things on our HUGE to do list) we are going to be arranging our apartment (setting up the beds etc...) to be moving in, in a day/s. We'll be without email for awhile up to a month or more, while we get the details figured out for installation with the phone company. Please keep praying and emailing us. You have no idea how encouraging that is for us!! We'll be finding places around town where we can check email in the meantime.
They would really like us to have the older two children in school beginning Monday the 17th. SCARY!!! It's hard to give them up. Please pray for wisdom in our choice of school. We need one close to our home - ie NO car and lots of cold, wet, rainy weather! Please also pray that the teachers the children receive will be wonderful patient people of PEACE!!! We also need to find a good nanny for Makinna while we are in language school. We are expected to start language school at the end of March/beginning of April. We would like some down time to site see, and of course, we would love to be able to do that all together before the children begin school for 8 plus hours a day, the school year doesn't end until the end of June! UGG!!! Please pray that as our time together becomes much more precious that we would make the VERY most of what time we do have together even on school days!
Please also always keep language acquisition high on your list. We need it for ourselves as we seek to share Christ here in French, and especially for our chilren in a full immersion situation beginning soon!
Once we get internet in our home, we SHOULD be able to get our Vonage going! Lord willing!!!
Pray for Heather's mom, Karen. Feel free to give her a call or letter of encouragement. It's our old home phone number and address. It's difficult being apart from her after she lived with us for 3 years. She is very dear to us and our children, as you all are. We love you, and are interested in you and your lives. Keep us up to date on you so we know how to best pray for you! All our love, The Zebarths (Brian, Heather, Josiah, Aubriana, and Makinna)