What a Week!

Sorry, but this could be long...if you are reading this though, you may not care... :)
Last week my sister got married! I am still struggling to believe it in some ways, but it is incredible and the wedding was really good! I left last Wednesday for a week in Oregon in preparation and celebration of Erin's wedding. It started with surprising the students at Mountain Park at Bannings, and even though I was hoping to get there earlier and surprise them at church, it was still fun to see them all and show up as Mustachio!
The next morning Brynna and I headed to Klamath Falls with my cousin so that we would have as much time with family as possible. The trip was good, and I somehow stayed awake the whole time...actually, thats cuz I had Mountain Dew for the first time in a few months...that stuff is so good! Anyway, everyone arrived on Thursday and we packed in to my parents house in Klamath for a few days of chaos! For those that don't know, I have 3 nephews, and a nephew and niece on the way, so in the next few months the Kroeker family is growing by 3 people (if you count Dave's addition last week of course... :) ) I'm excited for more chaotic times like that!
Friday was all about wedding preparation, and I felt pretty relaxed the whole time! Probably because everyone else was so stressed... :) I tried to help everyone relax, especially my mom and sister, but it may not have helped much... :) Anyway, Saturday was wedding day! The wedding was at 2, so obviously everyone needed to be there 4 hours early, even though it takes me 5 minutes to get ready...but I guess it wasn't about me. :) The pictures all went really well, although a few minutes into it my face was tired of smiling so much! Whoever said it takes more effort to frown than smile is lying... Next up was the wedding itself, and it all went really well! From ushers doing an incredible job, especially my 7 year old nephew Noah, to my cousin Grace running down the aisle without dropping a single flower, to singing with my brothers on stage for probably the first time ever, to my dad giving a tear-jerking give away speech (at least others cried... :) ), to Erin only crying once that I saw, and to yes's and I do's on both sides! Oh and it was only 27 minutes of standing on stage! And I helped my bonus Grandma get to her seat without falling! Yeah, good stuff all around...The reception was good, but we barely had enough time for car decorations and cake eating, but thankfully there was plenty of cake to go around later! Anyway, I am glad everything worked out and it ended up being a great time celebrating Erin and Dave's wedding! Still crazy to realize my little sister is married though... :)
The rest of the week was spent seeing friends from home and Portland, and involved a short-lived giant pass-the-pigs game, and double-date golf game with the Meed's (which I dominated... :) ), a good drive to Portland with my parents, more Kroeker chaos, and a great time thrift-storing with Brynna at the greatest thrift store ever! The only sad thing was the goodbyes I had to say.
The thing that this trip seemed to strongly show me was that I love my family. Sure the kids may go crazy, sure I may get annoyed with my siblings, sure I may not want to sit in the front row at church with my parents (they do that now, and people on stage talk to those in the front row... :) ), but I am so thankful for all of them! The constant encouragement that I have from my parents, whether they are fully comfortable with where I am or not. The ways that I can look up to my brothers as they each are about to have larger families. The ways my nephews like to jump on me with there knees out, even though they are heavier than they used to. The ways that I get to see Erin and Dave start a family of there own. The pictures of all of my extended family that could make it filling up the stage. I could not possibly thank God enough or wish for anything else! I look forward to being with them all, and seeing my new niece and nephew (the only kinds of babies I like... :) ) at Christmas!
The final goodbye was possibly the toughest, but thankfully Brynna and my flight flew out with a couple hours of each other, so we were able to go through security and everything together! Its never easy to say goodbye, but knowing I will see here in just over 2 months is exciting, and here in Hungary nonetheless! :)
The final part of the journey was probably the most stressful. I was hoping to get my temporary residence card, which allows me to be in Hungary for a year as opposed to 3 months, before I left, but it didn't come in time, so I wasn't sure if they were going to let me back in the country. I was there for 3 months and 2 days before, so I didn't know if that would be a problem. After flying to Dallas, then London, I started to get nervous. Thankfully the last flight was only 3.5 hours, but I was praying that I would calm down and trust God. When we landed and I went to turn on my phone I forgot about the pin number in order to use it. I knew the numbers but forgot the order...I had 3 tries and messed up the first 2, then prayed for a few moments and tried again, with my heart beating a bit...if I was stuck and they didn't let me threw, then that was the only chance I had to contact my OM peoples to help. Thankfully the 3rd try worked, and that helped calm me a bit. At immigration I had my papers that showed when I applied for the residence card, and was all ready to explain the situation, when the lady took the card, scanned it and stamped it, then gave it back without asking a thing! It was super nice to get through so easily, and thanks for all of those who prayed! A bonus is that I am getting my card at the post office tomorrow, so I don't have to stress like that ever again! At least not for this year... :)
Anyway, thats all...altogether it was 50+ hours of travel from Erd to Klamath Falls, but in summary, it was worth it in every way! Oh and thankyou to Dawn and Tom (Brynna's parents) for a warm bed and fruit snacks...even though I have eaten most of them already... :)

First Weekend of Baseball

We did it! We survived a busy weekend of baseball, and were even quite successful!
Saturday we had a busy start to the day as it kicked off with a majors game (10-12) and a teeball game, then finished off with 2 Juniors games (13-14). I ended up being able to coach the teeball team (although not really planned... :) ) and it was a ton of fun! Most of the kids had only been to 2 practices in their life, so there knowledge of baseball isn't too high, but they had a lot of fun! Teeball rules are everyone on the team hits once in an inning, unless the other team gets 3 outs...turns out that doesn't really ever happen, although the Red Sox were able to get 2 in one inning! The highlights was watching the smallest guy on the team, Barni, hit an inside the infield homerun! I don't think that he knew what a homerun was or how good the play he made was, but he was grinning and excited as much for the high-5 as anything! Overall the team had fun but ended up losing 35ish to 27ish, but the fun of the kids at that age is they didn't care because they were all smiles at the end! The majors team won with a walkoff and the Juniors team swept there two games and played really well! There are a lot of things to work on, but overall it was a really good first game for most of the players!
Sunday, I went with the division 2 team (Pioneers) to Nagykanizsa to play the Ants. It was about a 2 hour drive down past Lake Balaton, and thankfully the weather was extremely nice and a great day for baseball! The games started rough as we were down 6 after a couple innings, but then the team was able to get going and we ended up tying it up with a big inning! They ended up beating us quite badly after that, but it was fun to have some success and keep it close for a while, and apparently its the top team in D-2 and we had a bunch of new players. Overall it was a fun experience though! I was able to play 3rd, and made a few errors (which I blame on the field, at least a little bit... :) ) but it was a fun first game! The Pirates (seniors 15-16) ended up winning their game yesterday too, so overall it was a good first weekend for Erd baseball!
Now it is back to practice today to work on some of the different areas that the teams struggled in, and work towards this coming weekends games!
Please continue to pray that I get my temporary residence card in the mail today or tomorrow, as it will make traveling much easier!

A Quick Prayer Request

Hey!
I am leaving the country this next Wednesday, but I am still waiting for my residence permit to come through here in Hungary. I will have been here for 3 months on the 15th, and leave on the 17th, so it would make it so much easier to travel and do everything if I get the card before leaving! It would be a huge stress reliever and help traveling to ensure that they don't keep me out of Hungary on my return flight. I'm not worried about getting it, but they aren't known for being on time. Please pray for it to come through by next Tuesday at least, and pray for patience and a lack of stress on my part as I wait for it. Thanks!

Wait...I'm not in Portland but it feels like it!

So, I can't tell you how many times in the last couple weeks I have heard someone tell me, "the weather is not usually like this!" I think it is pretty funny, but in a way it has been quite annoying! We have been stuck in the 30's and 40's with clouds all the time and rain constantly (aka. Portland weather)...which isn't quite baseball weather! We started practice last week, but because of the weather not as many players were showing up. Thankfully we got a little hope today when the sun shined through the clouds, and I even was able to only have 3 layers on while outside painting! Amazing! :)
Anyway, we were able to have a scrimmage game this last Saturday, and it was fun to get out on the field! Although playing center field was a bit cold, especially when the players were hitting the ball towards us...so instead I just starting jumping around and kept my hand in my pocket, the only thing that was too overly cold was my left index finger, since it isn't protected by the warmth of the glove... :) It was pretty funny to see everyone trying to play with coats and sweatshirts on, but I am sure excited about a bit more warmth! Not too much, just 60 would be perfect! I was able to bat 3 times and ended up with a walk and 2 hits! (although both hits were more of errors...but I don't care :) ) I am looking forward to continue playing with the Division 2 Pioneers as the season gets going!
This weekend is the first set of games, and even though we feel underprepared in every way from lack of real practices, I am excited to see what a weekend looks like! I am going to learn to umpire, which I am a little nervous about, but who knows, maybe I will enjoy yelling "out!" Please pray for the team here as we get ready to have chaotic weekends with all ages of kids and adults! Especially be praying for patience and energy, especially with the tee-ball kids that don't know whats going on... :)
Other than baseball we are working at the fields during the mornings to get everything ready, especially the first all dirt infield in Hungarian softball history! It still needs quite a bit of work, but it is exciting to be close! I also just played some indoor soccer at a nearby town with one of the guys that I play basketball with on Wednesday nights, and boy am I exhausted! I forget how much running that takes! It was fun, but I really need to work on my soccer skills...when I am not playing baseball of course! I just don't know if I could find 2 more opposites sports, so it is entertaining for sure! :)
Finally, helping out with the youth group at church has been going well! It is still a struggle sometimes because I just want to talk to the students and see how there lives are going and ask more about them, but language is an obvious barrier! Please pray for patience with that! I am getting a broader vocabulary and more confidence with Hungarian, but I can get frustrated easily with it, so please pray! Probably the highlight of my time at the church was playing Giant Pass the Pigs last week! I lost at the very end (and one got a hole...), but I love seeing peoples faces when they see the pigs and realize how incredibly awesome the game is! :)
Anyway, long update, but thanks for reading it and praying! I couldn't be more thankful! I am excited to continue to see the unique ways that God uses me in my time here, and look forward to updating you all (whoever reads this :) ), on the goings on! Now for a word that means goodbye in a way, but took me a good month to learn...

viszontlátásra!

!