We have some wonderful news Yesterday we found a house, not an apartment, or part of a house that was being let, but a Villa We are very excited about it. The small villa is more or less in the center of Tirana. It is just in our price range, has a great out door area for Jonathan to play, a bedroom, nursery for the babies, a guestroom/office, 2 bathrooms (no tub but two showers at least!), a small kitchen dinning room area and a nice covered patio where we can enjoy the cooler summer nights and spring time/autumn days. The owners are very nice people and experienced landlords. We will be inheriting a tortoise with the property… we hope that Londy and he/she/it will get along! Our contract starts on September 1st, so in the meantime we will be looking for the few items of furniture etc. that we will need to make it home and getting it ready to move into.

Regarding Londy, now that we have a house to live in that will accept the dog we will be trying to bring him over in November. There is a problem though… when out walking with Londy, Karen was pulled over and she broke her shoulder This has meant that they will not be able to keep him until Doug comes to pick him up! Londy is currently in a kennel in Bel Air, MA. If anyone can give him temporary housing until November we would appreciate it! Otherwize we may have no option but to adopt him out. I know… you are thinking as I am… who would take a dog that has already broken one persons shoulder?! He is a good dog and as long as you are either a man or a strong and experienced dog handling female you and Londy would do just fine!

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers as we have gone through the house hunting process. We are VERY happy with what we have found and it has a lot of potential as a place where we can entertain friends and develop relationships with those in the surrounding area

You may have been wondering what is going on in the lives of Doug, Jen & Jonathan Mann since we left Peru just over a month ago. As you can imagine, transition is a busy time, and as we don’t have our own home and internet connection yet. Thus, it is hard to get updates on our website!
The short of it is that we are doing great. We are melting in the heat, but we are enjoying exploring our new city and meeting new friends. We immediately liked what we saw as we came into Tirana just over two weeks ago. The contrast between the size of Lima vs Tirana is incredible. We have moved from a city of 10,000 000 people to a country of less than 3 000 000! Doug and I are still marveling that we can drive across the city in less than half an hour! From most points in Tirana it is possible to see the surrounding hills and mountains that ring the small city. The summer heat has produced hanging grape vines and other fruit trees throughout the neighborhood where we are currently living. All of the Albanians that we have come across both inside and outside of the church and the circle of friends that we are entering have been very helpful and friendly. Thankfully there are enough Albanians that speak a little English that it is not too difficult to stop someone on the street and ask for directions or get help in a grocery store.
Our second full week was spent at the Albania District Family Camp in the eastern border of Albania. We spent a great week getting to know around 100 Albanians, enjoying the cool breeze from the nearby lake and experiencing some of our first tastes of Albanian food and culture. It was a great way to start our time here.
Thinking about language, we started lessons this week. Our teacher, Mira, speaks no English so it will be a tough but necessary challenge over the next few weeks to understand what she is saying! She seems so patient and sweet that I am sure we will get on just fine. We are itching to be able to communicate with some of our new friends that don’t speak English. One couple in particular is Rroku and Violetta. We will be living close to them and helping them to start a church out of the cell group that they have already formed. They are a lovely couple with three kids, the youngest of which is a 9 month old who will fall right between Jonathan and our next baby in age. We already have many dreams of what may be to come… I would love to start a weekly outreach ‘Mums and Tots’ group… We met a friend today who would, along with his family, love to engage in the group of believers… However language must come first! We will be having daily lessons for the next year… please pray for us!
The final urgent prayer request is our housing. We are eager to find the right house and move in before we need to leave for the UK at the end of September. We will be in the UK for the birth of the baby and we would love to be able to bring her home to a home!! Our shipment is scheduled to leave Peru today, please pray that it actually leaves as this is the second scheduled departure date that we have received. If it leaves today we should have it before we leave for the UK. We are trying to remain positive and patient and remind ourselves that we were not brought to Albania to be homeless… we just feel a lot of pressure because of ‘Mom’s urge to nest’ and the desire to have a functioning home to come back to after the birth.
Thanks for praying for us and coming alongside us as we make this transition!