Unexpected Visitor

Sunday at church as I was listening to the message on work ethic out of Titus a slight movement distracted me. At first I thought perhaps it was a cockroach (as it's the season and they seem to be invading everywhere), but once my eyes focused to the far corner of the gym I saw that it was a lizard slowly making it's way from behind the speakers and towards the front row of seats. When it reached the bright orange extension cord it paused for quite a while and I imagined it contemplating the words it was hearing.

Well, by now several people were distracted with really odd looks on their faces... so odd that the speaker was wondering if it was their message! Nope... we were just all waiting to see where this guy would go and if it would catch a few people by surprise that they let our a shriek. That didn't happen, thank goodness. After a few minutes the guy set out on his way again, but not before a friend got this picture to document the event. ;)

Vaca-Daze "Jumping Beans" & Rich Brownies

What a novelty it was to post several blogs in a row... so much so that I'd toyed with the thought of doing one a day for the full year.... but then that was the luxury of the holiday season and some additional and, I might add, MUCH needed vacation days... aka vacadays. As you can see by the 1 week gap in blogs... reality has obviously settled in! =)

It's now Friday and I've been back in the bean-counting-office for the week. It was really hard in the beginning but the pressure of the work to get done didn't allow me too much time in the vaca-DAZE. Now at the end of the week the DAZE is almost behind me and I have a large sense of accomplishment for what I was able to get done this week: car serviced, 2 sets of books completed and turned in, meetings, several reports and information submitted to requesters, follow-up on several jumping beans (aka... challenges/issues that need resolution but that are elusive for various reasons...) and much much more.

The highlights for my week, though, were three conversations that happened in the pause of the work day and over a cup of coffee and a brownie. Three different connections with three very different people... but conversations that were as full and rich as the brownies we shared. So while it's good that I was able to get so much "work" done, it's the connections with people that make it all worth while and give me a sense of completeness to this week.

Another really cool thing that will be wrapping up this week is the music practice tonight for Sunday's service at the International Church. Those practices are always fun, musically challenging yet also rich and sweet like a brownie, always full of great connection time with some really quality people and always with joy lifting up voice and instruments in praise to our Creator. Can you tell how much I look forward to these days? Honestly, I do. Break's over, though, so back to some more bean-counting and chasing after jumping beans. =)

Image credit: http://axisofstevil.com/answers.htm

Happy September

This is a happy picture: the balloons swirling everywhere in various colors, the wide-open mouth of surprise, delighted flapping arms and wind-tossed hair. I see so much of myself in this picture right now.... but it's more like, "Look at all those things I've got in the air with arms flapping trying to catch hold of them!" Happy September!

Well, OK, it's not so bleak as that. ;) Though it is a good representation of the mix of fun and stress that has been my life for the last three months. The "blog-balloon" was just one of the "delights" that I let fly away in favor of the many other things that have taken priority.

The work balloons: When I got back from the US I had just over two weeks to not only catch up on 2 months of bookkeeping and to prepare for fiscal year-end and the splitting up of the books into two autonomous sets... I had to pack up and move the office. With the move to a new place comes all the little details that aren't so big in themselves, but simply suck your time away like a quickly deflating balloon.

Happy September, though, in that I'm caught up, moved, set-up (mostly), completed with the bookkeeping gymnastics and can finally hunker down and get back to "normal" and re-frying some beans (aka. bookkeeping).

There have been many other balloons swirling around in my life these past few months, some stressful, some sad, but also some joyful and pure delight. Now that some of the extra-swirly balloons from summer have been let go (aka. finished tasks/responsibilities), the picture for me is becoming once more a happy one instead of a stressful one. That is the mix that I see in that picture above entitled, "Среќен Септембри!" (Happy September!)

*******

And just in case I haven't already hacked this analogy to death, there is one more that the picture evokes, and it's related to the weather and seasons:

With September came the turning of leaves, the chilly breezes while the hint of summer heat inexplicably remains in the air, the sweet smell of roasting peppers and the SHOCK of the weather changing from Summer to Fall in a DAY (one Saturday afternoon it was 100+, by that evening it was 50 and hasn't really gotten above 80 since)....

The days of summer floating away like those colorful balloons..... Happy September!

OK enough with with analogies! lol. Frankly, I'm glad it's September with the busyness of summer behind me and the cool and more "normal" days of Fall ahead of me. =)

No Comment

No sooner were the words "I'm a bookkeeper for..." out of my mouth when she interrupted me with, "Oh! Do you have a blog??"

"Uh, yes. A Bookkeepers Balkan Update," I responded, question and surprise punctuating my voice.

"Ha! My husband and I just found your blog while looking for information on the Balkans!" she explained excitedly.

I sat a little dumbfounded and (to be honest) just a bit creeped out. I knew it was bound to happen one of these days, but was totally unprepared to meet someone in person who first met me through this blog. lol. This little interaction was followed with a fun discussion of life and culture here in the Balkans. They're a lovely couple and I'm looking forward to getting to know them over the weeks and months to come. (And if you're reading this: so nice to have met you!) =)

This was a relevent reminder that people do read this blog and reinforces the chosen focus I have for it: to simply share about life and culture here in the Balkans from an expat's viewpoint and always with respect. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy reading about the Balkans as much as I enjoy living in it! =)

Worship Without Words

The soft tones of the piano and the smooth voice of the violin blended in exquisite harmony and followed in measure by guitar, voices, eyes and even a few hands lifted heavenward. Yet out of my mouth came not one sound... still my heart was full as I stood in His presence and worshipped without words.

One of the most frustrating things about being so sick for so long with asthma, cough, infection, etc... was the loss of my voice. Last Monday a colleague called me on the phone and it took me three tries to get any kind of sound to my voice just to vocalize a scratchy, weak and practically whispered "hello". Today at church my voice was still hoarse and scratchy, yet I could talk... though it wasn't pretty. Singing, however, was simply out of the question. And for someone who loves to sing, especially songs for her King, it's, well, words fail to adequately describe the emotion... the disappointment... the discouragement...

Yet this morning was a very good lesson for me as I simply mouthed the words and, even more importantly, pondered them in my heart... and was still before Him. Voice and song are not the only instruments used in worship, though I confess it's my tendency to lean on singing as a primary form of it. Worship's true instrument, though, is really in many ways rather an attitude of heart that is not limited to song, but carries through every moment of the day, through our actions and interactions, through the very the details of life... through living each day such a life that brings honor and glory to the One who holds our heart... it also comes in the quietness and just being still in His presence, knowing that He is God. For me this morning I guess you could say that it took losing my voice to truly find it.

Flurry of Christmas Preparations

This is my living room right now. My assemble-by-numbers tree is up and decorated as is my apartment. All the other "clutter" though is from preparations for the Christmas Eve service.

The garland on the coffee table will be dressed up with the ribbons and/or pearly garland (hanging on chair) for the Advent candles. For the Advent table I was thinking of using that green/white poinsettia table cloth, but not sure if it will blend or clash... Oh, yes, speaking of poinsettias, we can finally get them here and so thought it would be a nice, simple and cheery Christmas decoration. =)

In the yellow bag is about 10 meters of garland that will hang on one of the crossbars in the school gym. The stack of ribbon on the coffee table and pearly garland will also be used to beautify that garland.... only I'm not so good at those kinds of decorations, which is why I'm glad there are others who offered to help decorate! =) Then there is the question of whether to assemble first and then hang it.... or arrive with all the pieces and assemble it there just hours before the program... oh, yes, and in between practices?

Speaking of practice.... the music on the keyboard is calling me to practice.... no, I don't play for services (yet...) though I did use this keyboard to work out the guitar notes referenced in "Late Nights & Key Signatures." Actually, I'm using the keyboard right now to help me with the vocal warm up, scales, etc. Especially needed for songs like "O Holy Night" which we did yesterday... oui... I don't like sounding operatic, but that's the only way I could hit that high note! Good thing there's only a balcony above me otherwise I think I'd drive my neighbors crazy with practices. "La la la LA LA la la...."

Thank you for your prayers for the Christmas Eve service, which will be at 9AM California time. =)

Late Nights & Key Signatures

So, if there is an F# in the key signature of a Christmas Carol, what key is the music in? and how do you find and label the guitar chords? Oh how I wish I'd not quit piano when I was 10 (and that I'd kept my music minor in college)!

We're getting ready for our Christmas Eve service in the international church and I've been busy tracking down the music for the songs we'll be singing. Thanks to a team from Rome, NY, I have a "Living Hymns" hymnal that has all the sheet music, though without the chords for guitar. Sooo....last night I stayed up really late.. er, ok, until the early AM today, trying to rectify that. :)

The first thing I did was take the next lesson in the crash course in chord progression that I've been learning on the fly this past year and figured out what key the song was in based on the number of sharps or flats (aka "accidentals.") in the key signature. Then I proceeded to plunk out the song on the keyboard, trying to figure out what chord should be played in accompaniment.

When you don't know what you're doing it's harder than you think!! Especially when most carol's are done in the relative-minor key so that there are some interesting chord combinations! "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" were especially challenging as a result of those combinations. Understanding that music was based in mathmatics helped me, though, in figuring all that out. :)

I'll be bringing my attempt at figuring out the chords to practice tomorrow night and we'll discover fairly quickly how well I did when the guitar and piano play together. Sound nice? Score! Off-tone? Back to the keyboard! (or better yet find someone who knows a lot more about music than I do! lol).

Notes from a Sunday

Today was a day off of sorts for me. Basically I'd had the week off from singing on worship team. I did, however, do the clicker this morning for the overhead slides and I must say "hats off!" to all those that do this each Sunday. It's hard to sing and click at the same time. Kinda like walking, chewing gum, patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time--especially on a Mac because if you click just a second too long the "One Note" advances to the end and then there's the quick clicking forward to get back onto the right slide. Then there was the one point where the slide wouldn't advance at all! Have I mentioned recently that I'm not a Mac-fan? ;) The wonderful thing, though, is the graciousness of the congregation. :) If they knew the song they kept singing with boldness and those who didn't waited patiently for me to get the Mac to respond.

After service a couple gal colleages and I went to the city center for lunch, one was down visiting from Kosovo and so it was nice to catch up with her. We ended up eating at a fun place on the center square called "Dal Fufu." Yes, that really is it's name. Great pizza, pasta, meat and potatoes dishes. :) Afterwards we went to a new coffee place that is the closest thing we have to a Starbuck's... my carmel macchiato was amazing. They even had Nutter Butters, Oreo cookies and Snapple... though very expensive. Still, not something we can normally find here. Later we found our way to my apartment and chatted some more before parting ways as the waning sunlight brought the day to a close.

Skopje, by the way, has some of the most spectacular sunsets that I have ever seen in my life. Today's was no exception. The only odd thing was that it was happening at 4pm! But that's early compared to a month from now when it'll be dark by 3:15. Anyways, the picture up top is from this evening that was especially beautiful.

It's now well into dusk and a sliver moon is beginning to set above Mt. Vodno. An end to another lovely day here in the Balkans.

A Haunted House, Church and Fellowship

This Sunday, after an extra hour of sleep (yipee!), we arrived to find the school where we meet bedecked with a scarecrow and several school childrens' uniquely carved pumpkins. Saturday night had been the schools annual Fall Festival and inside the gym the left-overs from the haunted house needed to be cleared before we could set up for service. No worries because we had several extra helping hands thanks to the "fall back" time change! :)

As usual worship practice was full of last-minute tweaking, laughter over silly little things, vocal warm-ups, guitar tuning, sound-checks and proofing of slides on "One Note." Even with the necessary detail that is "practice", it was an especially nice practice as it seemed this Sunday we got past the logistics more quickly than usual and entered purely into worship, focusing on the One for Whom we sang.

Come beginning of service, the gym that had been a haunted house the night before was transformed into a hallowed house as we prayed, worshipped through song and received a message on Jesus' resurrection and faith. As summer is now fading into memory the seats are fuller each week as expats from all over find there way here, finding a church home. After service the fellowship, laughter and deep and light conversation continues next door in the schools cafeteria that is more like a delightfully quaint cafe.


In breaks between my own conversations I simply took in the sights of candid moments:

• two ladies engaged in light conversation about their week and how their children are doing
• three little girls sitting around a small table, legs swinging in joy as they sipped their milk or juice and mused little girl musings
• a little munchkin perched on the bar (coffee) totally amused by the barrista making silly faces for her
• the box of homemade ginger-snaps disappearing with each blink of the eye
• discussions and planning for the weeks homegroup meetings: when, where and open invite to new attendees
• a ladies easy laughter a something her husband said
• two men in deep discussion of theological import
• a proud father holding his little baby who squeals in pure delight in his daddy
• the group of adults crowded around the counter ordering macciato's, cappuccino's or "sour water" (aka. bubbly mineral water)
• children scampering around and through the adults legs, playing in the school yard or on the schools Foosball table
• people from literally all over the world drinking coffee, eating cookies and enjoying one another's company and fellowship, forging friendships

Little by little the groups disbursed to head home, to other points of ministry, or to continue the conversations over lunch. For myself I walked out with a couple friends to the main street where we mused about the detour down the road and if it was for the motorcycle race and yes we'll see you at class. Bidding them farewell I decided to enjoy the day and walk home rather than hailing a taxi. Just around the corner I ran into one of the people from church who invited me to join their family for a скара lunch (aka. grilled meat... something Macedonia does awesomely). What a lovely time we had talking about all sorts of things (including a little cheer for Liverpool's win over Chelsey)!

Several full and delightful hours later when I set out for home, it was darker than I'd expected for 5:30pm, but then again a time-change will do that. The streets were quiet and colored with fall leaves, the night air a bit chilly... but my heart was full. Yesterday was a great day. A day that started with church in what had been haunted house the night before, and ended with full and candid fellowship moments.

Worship Practice

Last night we has worship practice for the International Church. It's so neat how everyone works as part of the team, even trying new things... like the gal who tried the drums on a song and as a result we all encouraged her that she should play on Sunday! What a great group of people and we have so much fun together. Especially lots of laughs as we started singing the wrong verse to a song or forgot a transition or missed an entry or ending.

Wednesdays are practice, so it's exactly that. There's a lot of detail involved in working out flow, transitions, what instruments to use, rhythm to play and what harmonies work best. Yet amazingly, there comes that moment when all the details seem to fade away and we simply play and sing our best for the Audience of One. Truly preparing ourselves for Sunday in the best of ways. :) Then as practice time closes we gather together to pray, for one another as well as for the congregation and for Sunday.

After practice, it's not uncommon for a couple, several or even all of us to head out for coffee (or ice cream as it's summer time). We just enjoy each others company and inevitably as we fellowship together we encourage one another in our lives and in our walk of faith. We also enjoy a lot of laughter together. Last night one of the gals and I we went to Stella's and enjoyed some yummy dessert while having great conversation and amusement over the fish in the fish-tank.

Please remember us in your prayers as we practice on Wednesday's and as we lead the congregation on Sundays. Thank you so much!

Improvising

So we were singing the last song of the service and it was the time when the offering usually happens... Only the offering baskets were nowhere to be found!

The ushers looked at me and gestured their absence... Those in the front rows were looking under chairs and gesturing there was nothing. I scanned the congregation looking to see if anyone was wearing a hat, but since it was a warm day none were. Then Leonie, singing next to me, pointed out the frisbee sitting under one of the front row seats...

All this confusion and questioning happened in seconds... though it seemed much longer than that. Then I made the decision to improvise and to use the frisbee as the offering "plate." Yes, the chuckles slipped out as I grabbed the frisbee and gave it to the ushers. Honestly, it was also quite amusing to witness peoples humored reactions to the substitute plate, but in the end it was all good. :)