i have wanted to post something on the site for some time now but we have both been just so busy!!! thomas is now working a part-time job at a school that teaches private english lessons and i am in greek language school full-time. doesn't leave much time for goofing off or blogging:) HA! but, i do have a funny story -- a truely greek story. i sent this story in a note to my neice angela and decided to share it with all of you who are curious about our life here is greece:) HA!!HA!! some things are just, well . . . mindless.

story of the little white dog with the sad eyes:

there is a cute, little white dog who lives in our neighborhood. he has very sad, brown eyes and he looks to be a mix between a "weiner" dog and an english setter getting only the ears and color of the setter and all the rest from the "weiner" genes:)
  anyway, he is always sitting at the front door of our building and when someone tries to open the door he tries to run in. and he often DOES get in. the trouble is that he does not belong to anyone in the building!! he is a stray dog running the streets which is very common in greece. there are stray dogs everywhere and people throw them food so they are even well fed --in fact, FAT!!  
  so i asked someone in our building what the deal was????? i was told that the dog has a girlfriend dog that lives in the building on one of the upper floors:) HA!! i think this is hysterical!! what?? it's like lady and the tramp in real life. how does THAT happen???? the street dog falls in love with some other dog who's out taking a walk with her "master" and follows her and her "master" home only to be snubbed at the door when they go in????  unbelieveable!! a few days later, there is a sign posted outside our building door that says, "please do not let the little white dog in." lol!!!! what??? it turns out that the dog was getting in and somehow finding his little sweetie's door and scratching on it all night. the owners had had enough and it was getting serious now. the thing is, i don't understand how the dog knows whose door to scratch on. the first floor of the building has no apartments -- so did he take the elevator??? or maybe one day he was invited up and so that's how he knows. when i see him in the building, he is always sitting outside of the elevator:) one night about midnight or 1:00 am, he was in the building and down at the front door -- i think he wanted out -- and was just barking and barking with the sound resonating all through the building for at least 1/2 hour.
  in greece there are no dog wardens. they don't care if the entire city is overrun by dogs!! in fact, people who go on vacation leave their dogs outside to fend for themselves when they are gone. i am being totally serious.
  soooo, the other night i am sitting in my quilting room and i hear an ear piercing wail coming from outside. it was about 10:00 pm. it was so loud that i got up, sure that a dog had been hit by a car. i looked out on my balcony to see almost every other balcony captured by people likewise peering into the night thinking the same thing i am thinking -- WHAT is going on???? HA! it turns out that this little white dog is gettin' it on with another dog down on the street corner and everyone is watching with noted concern. lol!! honestly, you couldn't make this up!! so a few nights later, the same thing happens. i send thomas out into the night to see what was really going on and as he is walking down the street toward the high pitched wails, he happens upon this greek woman around the corner who is smoking a cigarette and just watching these two dogs (one being the little white dog with the sad eyes) and says to thomas in greek, with a totally deadpan expression, "zevgarόnoon which means, they're mating," and then returns her gaze to the two mating dogs who sound like they are both being beaten within an inch of their lives:) the question is . . . who is this mysterious woman standing on the street corner watching the mating dogs, and could she be the "master" of the sweetie that the little white dog with the sad eyes is in love with???? and who was the dog that was being mated???? could she be the same one who lives in our building or just another street dog????
 and the saga goes on. thus my title . . . horney dog. you may say, "you need to get a life." and to that i reply, "this IS my life!!" HA! such is greece. you must come visit sometime:) i wish i had a picture of the little white dog with the sad eyes to post with this story but he has been curiously absent the past few days???? hope he hasn't happened upon some demise -- planned or otherwise. 

the fastest and slowest time of my life:) try stuffing 5 children, 7 grandchildren, two parents, a boatload of siblings and their children, extended family, and friends both near and far -- some old and some new into 6 weeks of time. how does one do that???? first one must commit to spontaneous, unplanned, and sometimes eratic activity. and, you must divide and conquor if you ever hope to survive. smile alot even if you suspect impending disaster ahead and never, ever, get into a political or religious discussion with anyone even if you think you can win!! HA! unless of course it is justin my son-in-law:) we mostly agree to disagree but not without the associated "discussion" just to be sure we know exactly what it is that we are agreeing to disagree about:) HA!! i love you justin!! 

sooooo, here in brief is my 6 week marathon of home visiting:

two weddings -- one in the garden (lovely larisa:) and one in the church, with two associated showers, and one rehearsal dinner. lots of lounging at the poolside between all the dashing back and forth, smathered with lots of sunblock 50 spf. and of course lots of eating i.e. greek food (you can leave the country, but in this family, the greek cuisine follows you!!) and food from aaron and candy's kitchen -- really they should start their own cooking show, then there were the tried and true recipes from hilary's kitchen that i don't get to eat in greece, and cake and of course more cake if that wasn't enough. gained 5 pounds at least even though i excercised frenetically on every treadmill i could find, watched old episodes of 24 on aaron and candy's couch while their possessed cat swatted me in the face with her huge clawless paws. HA!! watched some great movies including twilight at twilight at hilary's house complete with a low flying bat who somehow landed in front of their movie screen and couldn't find its way out. two grandchildren learned to ride their bikes, lots of walks in the park and woods including creeking and camping out under the stars as well as several 17 mile bike treks with the grandkids in tow. countless meltdowns including tears and the throwing of ones body to the floor in hopes of changing someone, anyone's mind (no not me, my grandchildren:), and of course there was the visit to the pediatricians office where we soon discovered that michael was unable to find his underware earlier that morning so the normally innocent stripping off of one's clothing down to the underware for the doctor's exam brought on a whole new horror!! and then there was the poison ivy from hell and the body rash i got from my daughter's clothes soap -- who knew?? ending with one trip to the emergency room (no home visit is complete without it) and of course the week of babysitting for michael and megan while hilary went on a short-term mission trip to costa rica (went to grandma mary and jeff's for that one so we could tag team them and still we almost had at least one fatality) ARE WE HAVING FUN YET???? HA!! thomas and kitty (his sister from china) took thomas' two grandsons, bradly and tyler on a one week road trip to visit all the greek relatives and grammy's family far and near. oh, and did i mention the poison ivy ??? we got to see lots of good friends -- some that we hadn't seen for many years. then there were the two sleepovers at the london airport on the way to and from greece, big ben, and the buckingham palace:) and did i mention the poison ivy??? roasting marshmellows out on hilary and justin's back patio, drinking homeade beer from justin's brew, and eating ice cream at both jeni's and graeter's, doing the steps at alum creek dam and palates on candy's living room floor (i do believe i held my own:), and just good fun the whole time.

but now, we are glad to be home even though we started missing everyone as soon as we were on the plane:) we had a great trip but we are ready to dig in again:) while we were home, many people heard about all the things God is doing here in greece through us and because of several large donations i was able to purchase a new long arm quilting machine as well as obtaining the money to purchase a second sewing machine here in greece for piecing quilt tops. these new purchases will help us to efficiently create many beautiful new quilts that we hope will demonstrate the love of Christ in the lives of so many who are living in desperation, bondage, and hopelessness. please continue to pray for our wisdom and discernment, and for protection over us as we continue to serve the Lord by daily striving to be in relationship with Him in hopes that by our lives we will earn the right to be heard as we share the gospel of Christ with a lost and dying world.