Summer is in full swing. In some respects life has slowed down with many believers spending the summer in their family homes. In others it has picked up as we have welcomed volunteers and tentmakers and Doug has taken on the sunday services, tuesday and thursday night meetings as Imir and Janette are on holiday for the month of July. We have hosted (and participated) in a field theology class, hosted EUNC faculty meetings and taken a trip to Albania to visit with believers there as well as get medical check ups. The kids continue to grow and develop. Jonny is at summer camp and enjoying spending the mornings with his friend there. Sarah is starting to talk (and tantrum!) and “The Bean” is so far the most active baby I have carried. At just 20 weeks pregnant I can’t sleep for being kicked at night. Hopefully some of these photos will give you the full picture of our summer so far. Click on the individual thumbnails for full pictures and information.

Check back in the next few weeks for another photo update as we continue with more summer fun… District Family Camp, helping the Noble family move into their new home, and possibly even a short “break” in Bulgaria with the Sunburgs )

A picture of the four of us… unfortunately we haven’t been able to get a picture of the 5 of us yet (including Londy, our oldest ‘baby’) as it is quite a challenge to get two babies and a dog to cooperate for photo sessions!

We are all doing OK. Sarah has had an “on and off” cold ever since she was three days old. We are praying that it goes away once and for all before her immunizations at the end of the month. Jonathan has started to pick up Albanian rather quickly! As if conversations with a 2 year old weren’t difficult enough, now he is learning a new language quicker than we are!! We spend much of our time focused on language study and practice in these days. It is quite exhausting although we are starting to feel as though we are progressing.. It is an extremely difficult language to learn, especially compared to Spanish. It is an ancient language and has a similar grammatical structure to Russian even although they are completely unrelated languages. However, little by little we are starting to communicate and be understood. We are thankful that we have another 8 months to concentrate on learning. We are starting to enjoy the community and unity that we are experiencing as part of a team of 3 couples here in Tirana (with 7 kids under 7 years old between us). The new year should bring some exciting challenges and new projects that we will be able to slowly start working on as our language abilities improve.

Sarah Elizabeth Mann was born on Sunday 19th October 2008 at 4.24am in London England. She weighed in at 7lbs 1 ½ oz (3.22 kilos) and measured 20.5 inches long.

Mum and baby Sarah are both doing great… as are Dad and big proud brother Jonathan

Here’s Jen and “The Bean” at 25 weeks pregnant at Nantaskett beach.

We are here in the USA staying with Doug’s folks in the Boston area for some vacation. We left Peru at the beginning of the week with a sad farewell. We left many great friends and our first ‘family home’ but we are left with many great memories.

We move to Albania on the 21st of July. We will initially live in the Beiler’s house (the missionaries currently working in Albania who we will be working with) and we will start to look for our own home. Please pray that God will provide something that will provide a good home for our growing family! Please pray that our shipment will arrive before the birth time of the baby! Please also pray that we find a short term home for our dog Londy, here in the Boston area. We cannot initially take Londy with us, but Doug could return for him at a later date. If we dont find anyone suitable, we do have friends that will adopt him here in the states… but we would obvioulsy like to keep ur family together

Getting back to “The Bean”… all the arrangements have now been made to have the birth in the UK. Our regional and field leadership recommended that we did not have the baby in Albania due to the quality of health care services. So we have arranged to go to Jen’s family home for the month surrounding the birth. It obvioulsy is not ideal to have a baby away from home. Jen would have preferred to have a little Albanian to add to the international family that we are becoming… but it is a blessing that we have the oppertunity to share this special time with Jen’s family…. Jen never imagined that missionary life would permit her mum to be around at the birth of one of her children!!

Well, as you get the chance over the next weeks please pray for our move. We are excited but obviously a little nervous about our new venture!