A little September so far...

 Josiah and Mandie hanging out at Laura's surprise birthday party

 Alyssa and Lianna were SUPER excited for Laura to get here

 Surprise!!!

 Jon, a former ICSB student and his wife, Megan at the party

We were so excited and thankful to have Laura here working in the classroom with Lianna. We wanted to show her some love by having a surprise party for her! She was surprised alright!!!! Thanks for praying that God would provide an aide for Lianna.  The girls are doing great in school and we are soooo grateful to our God for hearing our prayers!

It is amazing to see how God brought Mandie here to ICSB too! Mandie is loving being in the different classrooms. She even got to sub for one of the elementary teachers the other day. It is awesome to see how God put Lianna on both Laura and Mandie's heart.  Mandie is doing an awesome job working in different elementary classrooms and is also the general classroom aide in Lianna's prefirst class.  Lianna is actually the only student with two American parents. There are two other kids with one Hungarian and one American parent, a little boy from Korea, a little boy with one American parent and one parent from Belarus, and the rest are Hungarian. There is an aide in Lianna's class that is Hungarian, and is busy doing LOTS of translating this first semester! :) Review all the vocab and short phrases has actually been really great for Lianna's speech development!


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As we were busy unpacking, I unwrapped out sweet picture of The Moody Church from our dear friends before we left.  Our friend, Julie Jones, took this picture and had different people write messages on the back to send us off to the mission field. When we first arrived in 2005, this frame was broken in our suitcase.  We took it to the local "glass guy" in Diosd and he starting ripping off the back where all the messages were written.  Bjorn yelled, "NO!" The poor guy had NO IDEA how much this frame paper meant to us.  AFter replacing the glass, he carefully taped the brown paper back together so that we could read our little messages.  With each move, when we take down this frame we get a little sentimental from the messages, and thank God for the different people that wrote on the back. 

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We are back in the routine of  enjoying  our family walks and stopping to admire our local Diosd neighbor's chickens! :) 

A little August and September...

 Stienstra family breakfast to say goodbyes! So thankful that all for of my (Trisha's) grandparents could be there..including even some of my great aunts and uncles.  Aunt Lucelle is in the middle (age 95) and Aunt Jean on the right! Seriously, we are soooo blessed to have such a rich legacy of a Christian heritage! Praise God!

 My cousin, Brittany, came too! We were soooo glad to have her and my Aunt Michelle! All of Trisha's siblings and neices and nephews were there too. Sadly, I didn't get a picture of everyone...

 Lianna's first day of Kindergarten! She LOVED it!

 Lianna was SUPER excited to see Laura at school! Alyssa was super excited too to go to school. She had to make sure she brought her backpack.

 My little "Spit fire" Alyssa Noelle, got right in there at sat down at the table like she belonged there! I was a afraid I might have a fight to get her out of there, but she was VERY excited to go home and have "school" with Mommy.  Everyday, she reminds me by telling me, "Mommy, right now I  am only 2. But when I am 5, I will be big, big like Lianna and then I get to go to school too!"

 Lianna and Alyssa having fun at our church outreach in the park across the way from our church. They LOVED getting their face painted! We are still finding glitter around here at home...

 Lianna and Alyssa playing with Miss Heidi, one of Lianna's teachers from school.  Heidi is also a dear friend of mine (Trisha).  She and I have been leading our girls' Bible study together for the past 7 years! Yes, a good friend, indeed! :)

Lianna playing at school.  Yes, friends, that is our Lianna Joy...climbing the ladder!!! CLIMBING THE LADDER!!!! ALL BY HERSELF?!??!?! PRAISE GOD! Lianna is playing at school during recess with her new friend, Katie. 

July Days

 Getting ready for the birthday party at Gramma and Grampa Olsen's house

 Aunt Kim came to celebrate Josiah's birthday with us too! :)

 Cousin Sophia and Lianna having fun

                                                            Yum!!!!

                                         Sweet Abraham playing with Lianna!

                               All the cousins hanging out...we missed seeing Kaylen though.....

                                                 Some meals require no shirts.... :)

                                                  1st Hair cut on Josiah's birthday

                                                                Alyssa's first haircut

                                                         Now it is Lianna's turn

 Sophia and Lianna hanging out at vacation Bible school at The Orchard in Barrington

Catching Up With the Olsen family...

 Josiah is our little love bug! He loves to give BIG kisses!

 Here we tried to take a quick picture of the family...we have been trying to get a new picture for a more recent prayer card...we are still working on getting a recent picture where everyone is looking at the camera.  At least here we were close! ;)

 Here is Alyssa playing with Izzi.  Izzi LOVED Alyssa! Alyssa could get her to laugh sooo hard! It was hilarious! Izzi is the daughter of Whitney and Clint Teders (granddaughter of Brad and Kari Mullet). Here is picture of the next generation of friends! :)

 We celebrated our cousin Delaney's first birthday (along with her big sister, Sammi and big brother Connor.) It was the first time we have ever been in the country for the Olsen side cousin's birthdays! It was a blast to celebrate with them!

 Josiah Richard Olsen was dedicated to the Lord at The Moody Church.  It was a very special day.  We are so grateful for our sweet Josiah.  He is such a gift, and continues to teach us to rely on the Lord.

 Here is a picture from Alyssa's hospital stay when she had her colonoscopy.   She was such a trooper.  We are so grateful that the Lord blessed us with good test results.  Praise God, Alyssa is still doing great and has been healed from her bacterial infection in her colon. 

 Here was the beginning of the tests when we had to put in the tube that went through her nose down into her stomach.  It pumped the liquid that she needed to flush out her system.  It was a long night, and couple days, but she was such a good patient. 

 This is a picture of Laura Decker.  She is raising support to be at ICSB serving as Lianna's special need's aide in the classroom, discipling students, and coaching.  She is SUPER excited to be at ICSB, and we are SUPER excited that she is coming! She is an answer to our prayers!  She is raising her support with ReachGlobal. To check out her blog and how you can support here click here www.laurainhungary.weebly.com

 I just had to post this little cutie! :)

Lastly, here is a cute snap shot from a family BBQ. The cousins had lots of fun running through the sprinkler.  Lianna stopped to get a quick hug and kiss from Papa Stienstra.

Oma and Papa Stienstra

So many of us have asked what my parents are doing in Hungary and why they are there...so here is the scoop!

Mom retired in June from her teaching job, and was now available to take a longer trip to Hungary with Dad. They decided to come for the semester. The ESL teacher was going on home assignment and Mom thought she could help out for the semester by covering her classes 4 days week. Dad, was of course excited to go for a longer trip, due to his love for Hungary and all that it entails! Dad wasn't exactly sure what he would do for the semester, but something with KEGY, the EFCA church plant and helping out at ICSB. Of course he would also have to manage his business via the internet while gone. Lastly, let's not forget the their grand kids. They were excited to be by them for a season....

Of course this WHOLE time we were planning on being in Hungary TOGETHER for the semester. Well, we all know that in late July, God confirmed through prayer and leadership, that we needed to stay in the states for this next year. I will never forget sitting in my parents family room, talking with Mom and Dad about how crazy it was that this WHOLE time we thought we would actually be Hungary...our territory...together....and now we were not.

Mom and Dad were faithful to their call and commitments to Hungary and ICSB...and I AM SO GRATEFUL for their witness. Wow...God is using them in AWESOME ways in Hungary, and I am so proud of them. Of course I miss them..we all do, but they are serving exactly where God wanted them.



Dad had NO IDEA that he would be teaching middle school Bible for the semester. Teaching is a new world for him, but he is doing great! Mom has been great encouraging him, which I might add she has ALWAYS been an awesome cheerleader for her husband, and I am thankful for her example to me for that. Mom is doing awesome teaching ESL, and the kids love her too! In fact Mom and Dad took a quick trip to Germany to see my Mom's family and when she returned to her classroom, there was a note written on her chalkboard, "We love you Mrs. Stienstra!"

Yes, I would say that they are very loved.

Mom is also reaching out to the community teaching a local ESL course to our Hungarian neighbors. Rock on, Mom! And Dad is helping out with this class too!

They were even recruited to chaperone the 6th grade Service project and Lock-In! Wow! Can you believe the energy and strength the Lord has given them for all of these new tasks?!?!?

Really, had we been in Hungary this semester, we would have been a distraction for how God is using them in awesome ways. There time in Hungary is quickly coming to a close. They will be back a couple days before Christmas. We are excited that we will get to be with them for the second semester before we head back to Hungary.

Our Little Prayer Warrior Missionaries

Lianna is doing a great job in school and making awesome gains! We are so thankful. I always pray with the girls (and Josiah)as we enter the school parking lot. We pray for Lianna to obey her teachers, do her best, be safe, treat others how she would want to be treated and anything else that Lianna and Alyssa want to pray for.

The last week and half, Lianna has decided to faithfully pray for three of her classmates, Luke, Sophie, and Connor. Lately, as soon as we turn the corner to go into the school parking lot, Lianna immediately starts praying. She never lets me forget now to pray before I drop her off. :)

Last Thursday, I saw two of the moms in the car drop off line. After I dropped off Lianna at school, I saw Sophie's mom and told her that Lianna has been faithfully praying for her everyday as we pull in the parking lot. She looked at me, smiled and put her hand over her heart and said, "That is so sweet!"

As I picked up Lianna from school, God providentially put Connor's mom right in front of me in the car pick up line. As the teacher aides were walking the kids out to their mother's cars, I ran out to tell Connor's mom about Lianna praying for him. I told her that I didn't even know that she could say his name Connor until she started praying for him. She prays for him so much that now even Alyssa prays for him as we pull into the school parking lot! Immediately, she started to tear up and tell me how much she appreciated Lianna praying for him. She went on to tell me that God is hearing Lianna's prayers and answering them. She mentioned that since her son as moved to the afternoon class, he hasn't been doing very well, and they were considering moving him back to the AM class. BUT, just in the last week he has had a TREMENDOUS turn around and is doing VERY well. EVERYDAY, the teachers walk out her son to the car, they say, " I don't know...today he had another REALLY GREAT day! This last week he is doing just AWESOME!"

PRAISE GOD that HE ALONE can prompt even the smallest of hearts to pray for those around us!

PRAISE GOD that HE HEARS our kids' prayers!

PRAISE GOD that we all have a purpose for drawing others to HIMSELF despite what abilities the world may see as disabilites! God CAN and WILL use us all for HIS GLORY!

WOW....PRAISE GOD!