Poland - Day 8

Today was a pretty realaxing day for the most part. We woke up and figured we might get out, but by the time Paul got back from his Berlin trip it was early afternoon. We decided to take some walks today and just talk and pray about what we have seen, digest some of the information and really just take some time to discuss our direction and leading of the spirit.

We really need to take some extra time when we get home to pray and probably do some fasting (me - not cheryl) to pray for confirmation and leading for the decision we want to make.

Tomorrow we will be taking off to see some prices for vehicles (vans) and also spend some time souvenir shopping as we have not done any of that so far in this trip. Tomorrow night we expect to have some more downtime and just sit, pray, and talk over all of the things we have seen and been presented with over the past 5 months of "discovery".

Praying for all of you at home -- especially the Stewart family and Wes's continued progress and recovery from this rare syndrome.

More tomorrow and our last post on Saturday -- we are going to attempt to get standby on an earlier flight to Phoenix out of Philadelphia on Sunday so we can get in earlier and get a good nights rest.

Blessings to all of you,

Gabe & Cheryl

Poland - Day 7

We woke up this morning to some sad news that Karens father in the S.F. Area was not doing well and paul had to return to Poznan to make sure she got off to the airport in Berlin and home for this sobering news. So, we had a choice --

1) Stay with the Hackers and catch a train to Krakow, then find accomodations in Krakow and then finding and buying tickets for the train back to Poznan.

2) Go back with Paul and stick around Poznan and spend more time with him and the other team members in Poznan.

So we decided since Cheryl had been experiencing some contractions (Braxton -- but still an issue) and our Polish is severly lacking -- we went with option 2...

So we had to forego the Majdanek death camp in Lublin and Krakow -- maybe just a way of the Lord saying we will have to come back...

We spent about 5 hours in the car heading back to Poznan from Lublin and then arrived to have some dinner and then watch some movies with the kids as Paul took Karen to berlin and then would drive back the next day.

No pics as nothing really happened except a bunch of sitting in a car in the Polish countryside.

Pray for Karen and her father and the family left behind here in Poland as they are without their wife and mother for 2 weeks.

Thanks again for all of your prayers -- we are so grateful to have such a great support group at home and abroad..

Gabe & Cheryl

Poland - Day 6

Today we awoke to another Polish breakfast (Cheese, Bread, and Meat Slices). We then drove off to see the King's Palace where Waldek wanted to allow us to enjoy the gardens and the Museum that were there.

The Museum was closed so we just walked around and enjoyed the gardens and the grounds of the Palace. Many different monuments were along the paths and a nice lake that surrounded the area. We walked around the grounds for over 2 hours and then headed back to the flat buying flowers on the way for Alicia and Ewa. Euguniez And Alicia had made Gwumptkie for us and it was so very good (just like Babka) used to make in Lake Havasu. It was a nice time discussing politics, plans, and other family history.

Once finished -- Waldek took us to the central train station to meet with Paul and Randy to have dinner and then drive to Lublin for a visit to the language school the next year. We are dinner with a business consultant from Warsaw and enjoyed eating some light dinner with him and Randy and Paul. We then left the train station and traveled to Lublin over the course of about 2 1/2 hours. We enjoyed getting to know Randy on the way and understanding what he does for WV and explained what we were considering. We arrived @ 10:30pm went right to bed since the family was already sleeping. Tomorrow is the language school and Mydonek (A concentration camp specifically designed to do nothing except exterminate people during the Nazi reign).

Gabe & Cheryl

Poland - Day 5

We woke up to Snow !!!! it was a light covering but enough to make things look really pretty outside. We got ready and Waldek and Ewa arrived with fresh polish bread and a traditional Polish breakfast (cheese, bread, and meat slices). We then headed off to the Warsaw Uprising Museum where we engaged in about 2-3 hours of watching, listening, and reading about the entire chronology of the invasion, destruction, and uprising within Warsaw during WWII. We sincerely enjoyed our time there and spent many wonderful conversation from our host Waldek and his extensive knowledge of Polish and WWII history.

We then were off to Alicia & Euguniez's home where we got to finally meet Alexander (Waldek & Ewa's 3 year old son). They again were so very welcoming and hospitable that it really means a great deal more than they could ever imagine to us. We ate another traditional lunch with meat, cheese and salad. and then were presented with the most enjoyable Beef Stroganoff and some wonderful apple cake and desserts. we again had good conversation about the family, the Polish history we viewed earlier in the day and it was all possible thanks to the great translation by Waldek and Ewa. Since Alexander was not feeling so well, waldek took Cheryl and I to visit the old town square and the old part of Warsaw. We visited St. John's Cathedral, its tombs of famous Polish inhabitants, and then off to view downtown squares, parliment buildings, embassy's and other sights to see from the car as it had become dark and into the evening.

We ate dinner tonight at a Greek restuarant not far from the flat where we enjoyed a seafood plate and some pita bread for dinner. It was quite tasty and was so fun to again have such great conversation about life, adventures, trips, family, and happenings within the world.

We arrived back at the flat and had some Polish speciality water that Waldek insisted I try and we sat and again had more conversation and fellowship amongst our new developing relationship. We concluded the night at about 12:30am. Tomorrow is a lunch with Euguniez and Alicia again and 1 more sight in Warsaw (The Kings Palace) before meeting Paul and Randy for a trip to Lublin.

More to come....Thank you all for your prayers as we are here.

Gabe & Cheryl

Poland - Day 4

Today we were up and ready and packed by 9:30am for church and then the trip to Warsaw. Service was a real treat (although it is very hard to participate in worship when you don't speak the language....so we just did our best and praised our Lord along with the congregation. Worship went on for about 45 minutes and then some announcements and a chance for us to give a short testimony of why we were there. Paul ushered us out at about 12:15 as the sermon was going longer than normal and he did not want us to be late for Waldek & Ewa who met us in the Lobby of the Sheraton @ 12:30pm.

After we packed Waldeks trunk full of our luggage (and we left 2 in Poznan not to overwhlem them) we dorve about 2 1/2 hours and stopped along the way at a Mcdonalds and had lunch together. we had some very nice conversation in the car and got to know them much better both professionally and personally.

After lunch we arrived in Plock (pronounced as P-wutzk). We visited the graves of Stanislaw Cybulski and his wife as well as the grave of Edmund Cybulski (Ewa's grandfather). It was freezing as the wind was high and the temperature was below freezing -- so it was a very cold afternoon. From there we headed in Warsaw where we stopped at Waldek's flat and dropped of our bags for a short rest and then off to dinner. We had a very nice dinner at a Polish restuarant where we dined on grilled sheeps cheese, wonderful Pierogie's, pork, meat, and vegetables as well. It was quite the nice evening as we shared and enjoyed each others company.

We headed back to the falt and to our surprise they gave us the use of their flat and drove to another flat they owned in another area about 5 minutes away. The hospitality of our family was overwhelming and so very very gracious of them.

Tomorrow we will be hanging out with them again and do some sight seeing as well as lunch over at Alicia's and Eugueniez home. So much looking forward to it...More tomorrow.

Gabe & Cheryl

Day 3 - Poland

Paul picked us up this morning and we headed out to the oldest Cathedral in Poland. It was erected in 965A.D. and it was rebuilt 2 times due to war. Very beautiful on the outside and inside and had a crypt with past kings that ruled over the areas years ago. After that we drive by the most common style living quarters in Poland which are the old communist apartment buildings. He mentioned that some are falling apart due to the tack welding coming apart on the corners of the building where only 1 piece of metal is holding the concrete slabs together (very scary).

We came back to Haenze's home where we had lunch and where we played with their dog Chica and enjoyed a game or 2 of their Wii....We had a nice time. @ around 3:30pm we were off to the Mitt's home for dinner and fellowship where we shared our story of getting here and our vision of Ministry. They made us feel very much at home as we were able to just relax sit back and enjoy each others company as their hospitality was overwhelming.

That was Day 3 -- tomorrow we head to Church and then to Warsaw with Waldek & Ewa.

Gabe & Cheryl

Day 2 - Poland

Day 2 was interesting, fun, and oh yeah -- we got fined!!!!

Started the day yesterday after getting a little more sleep and went back to the old town square to get some food at the only open place. In Poland nobody really eats breakfast accept at home...no restuarants are open until around 11am or later. So, we found a pub/pizzeria that was open and we ate some lunch. After that we headed back to the Hotel and grabbed jackets for heading to a Castle (Kornik). The Sheraton staff was very helpful for finding out how we were supposed to get to the Bus station where we could grab a local bus to the Castle.

So, we jumped on the tram - punched our tickets, and then off we went to the bus station. On the tram we found ourselves being inspected for tickets. So I popped out our tickets that I had stamped and I had double stamped a ticket that I suppose I had used last night -- well, that's not good and its a problem - even though I had spare blank tickets not stamped. So I was told I had to pay a fine for the 1 invalid ticket (100 Zloty - About $42 USD) -- OUCH -- and no grace...oh well I made the mistake so we paid and went on our way. Got to the Bus station and we found the bus, paid the driver, and off to Kornik we went. It had many rooms in the museum part and swords, maces, chain mail, daggers, etc... It was very interesting. Here are some of the photos from the trip. After the Museum we headed back to the Gardens and had a really nice walk around taking in the scenery (even though it was around 32 degrees).

Found our way back on the bus to Poznan and it started to Snow. it was Sunny but a front of snow clouds moved in and it began....It was great (here is the picture to prove it) and it did not last long as it cleared up but it was a great way to experience the day...Off to Dinner @ a local Polish restuarant over close to the Haenze's home and afterwards some great fellowship and sharing. we are really enjoying our time here and can't wait for each new day and how God reveals himself to us while we are here. Lots of commonalities, lots of opportunity, and lots of fun. More to come later.

Blessings,

Gabe & Cheryl

Poland - Day 1

Well We arrived successfully to a group welcoming. The Mitts and the Haenze's all met us at the airport after 28 hours of travel and we are now ready for Day 2 of our trip. Day 1 was a great combination of sites and time with a wonderful family here in Poznan.

We visited the Poznan City Square and had a great time walking arouns (albiet a little Chilly). Then ain the afternoon Tucker and Meredith Boone and their children (Paisley, bethany, & Alsel) all welcomed us into their home for a wonderful time of fellowship, sharing and encouragement. We thank you all for your prayers while we are on this journey and cannot wait to write more as the days progress. Here are some pictures of day 1. Today we are off to see a Castle if we can figure out how to get there.....more later.

Blessings,

Gabe & Cheryl

Travel, Tennis, and Timing

Here we are again....getting ready for our final "discovery trip". We are excited and we are ever more in prayer for clear and unified direction for our future. As we mentioned before we will meeting with a couple who serve from Intouch Missions on the 1st day we arrive and then we will be hooking up with the GEM missionary for the following 10 days in Poland and others along the way from Worldventure and various other organizations to get a good "partnering" view of what is going on in Eastern Europe and how we fit in.

The girls as always are excited to have Nana taking care of them while we are gone. She is so good to us and such a blessing in our lives. We are so thankful for her presence here and her selflessness in assisting us during this process we are going through. We could not do this without God's provision through her.

I will be signing Alexxis & Natalie up for Tennis this weekend -- and they are excited...we spent some $$ and got them some basic rackets at Walmart and they will start there 8 weeks of lessons just after spring break finishes at the end of March. I pray they grab onto it and really enjoy the game as I do -- but as long as they are having fun -- so am I. We really enjoyed watching the Austrailan open these past few weeks as the matches would play in the evening for us... We were all routing for James Blake, and he did marvelously however others prevailed and we will have to route for him again come Roland Garros and Wimbledon this summer.

Timing is everything and we all know that the Lord's timing is perfect. The little man growing inside of Cheryl has fluid in the kidneys according to all the ultrasounds that the Dr. has ordered for Cheryl and they are watching it as it should clear up by birth -- but they are watching none the less. We are praying of course for health and and easy delivery for Cheryl and pray we can decide on a name by the end of this little ones "cooking".

If you read this Blog -- please pray for our Friends the McCamey's -- Jerry, Angie, and Kyle. Angie has been diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer and the Doctors removed it however nothing is ever guaranteed. We ask for you to interceed on their behalf with our father for his healing, and his comfort for each of them as they walk through this valley together. Here is their blog if you wish to know more and pray more specifically. http://mccamey.blogspot.com/

Well take care and we will report more from Poland....

God can do all things. MARK 10:27