A neon sign...on a church?!

Before I catch up on what's been happening in my life, I must tell about this amazing sign. On my way to or from my day care job, I pass this church. This isn't an ordinary church, though. This church has a neon sign attached to the front. Yes, neon. Like a bar sign. But this sign says, "Jesus Saves." It just cracks me up every time. It is really cool, but so weird. The part that gets me most is that this church is in a little Mayberry-like town, literally like two blocks of a town. And then there's this neon sign. And to top it off, my friend David, the pastor, used to live in the parsonage of this church! haha! What a world! I took a picture of the sign with my *new phone* and will post a picture whenever I figure out how to get it from my phone to the computer.

After quite a long hiatus, here is a bit of an update on my life:

My friends Sandy and David have done it again. They have a Hungarian friend that happens to live about a block away from them, and they introduced me. Her name is Noémi. She's about my friend Katrin's age and is so nice. Her and her husband have a little girl a little less than a year old named Havela (I think that's how you spell it). Anyway, she actually grew up in Sweden because they moved there when she was about four and then moved to the U.S. when she was 17. But she speaks Hungarian fluently...as well as Swedish and English. Her mom (anya in Hungarian) called while I was visiting and they spoke in Hungarian. It was crazy! I got "igen" which means "yes." The rest was...well, Hungarian to me. It was really cool to talk to her, though...in English, and she taught me a few things I didn't know before. And...she has tons of cousins that live just outside of Budapest, so she is going to get in touch with some to show me around some time while I'm there. How cool! That shall be great fun. I'm racking up a nice little list of contacts, too. As mentioned previously, I finally got a new cell phone. Yes, shocking! It's a Samsung Juke...it plays music! Ooooh! (And currently, Josh Groban serenades me whenever anyone calls!) And I actually have reception! The 15th was my apu's (dad in Hungarian) birthday, so we went out to eat and to see my older sister. That's when we all got new phones. We also went to Build-a-Bear. My dad is so ridiculous sometimes. It just cracks me up. His 40th birthday a few years back we spent at Build-a-Bear...by his request! And the frog he built then has four hearts in it, which he constantly reminds us of. He is such a little kid. This time, we got him a dog (we are still looking for a new dog for him...a real one, that is). For some reason, my parents decided to give me a birthday gift super early (my birthday isn't until Sept. 8th...but I will be away). It was a little orange bear with candy corn all over it. For those unaware, I love candy corn. Not sure why, I just do. The bear was kind of a little joke but is super cute, and they put a lot into finding it. So I stuffed it with dad. We had a lot of fun. That same day, I also took my laptop in because it was freaking out. The result: they sent it away for 2-3 weeks! Oh, well, it doesn't really matter because I don't need it for a few weeks anyway...plus the guy at the Geek Squad was really cute. What can I say...I can't help it, I like the geeks. Hopefully they don't do anything like replace the hard drive without telling me like they did last time. Although, I wouldn't mind a whole new computer. I was smart this time and backed up my documents, so all should be okay. Alright, moving on. A few days later, my little sister and I were riding bikes on my day off, and needless to say, I smacked the pavement and now have a pretty good bruise on my chin and a somewhat lame left arm. It sucks. And I'm left-handed. I am not exactly sure what I did to it, but it hurts and is pretty useless. I can pretty much use my hand, so I don't have to type one-handed anymore, but that's about the extent of it's function. Let's just say, at work, my wimpy arm is inhibiting my ability to lift boxes and chase/catch kids around. This sucks. But it could be far worse, so I am thankful for that. Other than that, our entertainment around here has been watching Ace of Cakes on the FoodNetwork...those cakes are crazy amazing!...and watching my very pregnant older sisters belly move...we put a music player on her tummy the one night she was visiting, and Baby Xander (that's going to be my nephew's name) danced around. It was so funny. (Note: When we played opera is when he moved around the most! hehe! Hopefully, he was moving from excitement.) Well, I suppose that is about it for now. I shall add more if I think of it.

Moving to Ecuador

No, not me. Last night, I met some wonderful people who will be. It is a missionary family who visited a nearby church where my sister attends their youth group. Actually, it is my friends Sandy and David's church (the latter happening to be the pastor). I was visiting with Sandy, and we ended up walking over to the sanctuary where Paul Nordland, the father in the family, was speaking to the kids about their lives, what they did as missionaries, and how they would soon be moving to Ecuador to be missionaries there. It was incredible to hear what he had to say. I caught only the second half of his presentation, but I was certainly amazed by God's presence in their lives. He said that when they decided to become missionaries each of them had to downsize to three bins (I'm guessing each one the size of a Rubbermaid container)! And two of them are in storage! My goodness! And I freak out about trying to pack for four months in Europe in two suitcases. But, you know, this family had to have been some of the happiest people I have ever met. When youth group was finished, I waited for my sister. As we left, I wished Paul the best of luck in their endeavors. They still have lengthy paperwork to complete for their visas and will be thrown into a culture that speaks another language. I told him I knew how the paperwork can be exhausting and stressful and how trying to interpret things you don't understand can be extremely frustrating. We got to talking about my trip to Hungary. As soon as I answered I'd being studying music, he instantly replied with Kodály, and that his wife, Karyn, had studied Kodály at the Hartt School in Connecticut. What a small world! We spoke for a short while more, and as we parted he said they'd keep me in their prayers and asked to send them an email or two to tell them how life in Hungary was, and they'd let me know how Ecuador life was going. He said they'd keep me in their prayers. Check out their blog: Nordlands in Ecuador. I think I really needed to meet these people last night. It was God's impeccable timing. They reminded me how blessed I was. That the greatness I do/have done is truly God's greatness, not mine. And that God was watching out for me...and is especially there when I am stressing or freaking out about one thing and worrying about another. Oh, and on the subject of missionaries, my mom met this lady in her Lupus support group (my mom has Lupus) whose friend has been a missionary in Hungary for the past five years. She lives about two hours from where I'll be and has invited me over for a weekend. I think I will take her up on that offer sometime. It be a neat experience to visit the site where she works.