June 23,2011

We went to the country home about 7 p.m. yesterday.  All of the family (biological and foster) were there and it was wonderful.  When I think of a country home I think of a mansion....NOT!!!!  The home is larger than the apartment but VERY sparse and old and worn.  She has a stove and oven there but it is apartment size.  There is one cabinet in the kitchen.  They light the water heater (wood fire) when they need hot water and turn it off when finished  The floors are like sub flooring with paint.  It appears that it was meant to be a two bedroom with kitchen, dining and living rooms.  However, the dining and living rooms have been converted into bedrooms for the children.  Right now she has five children.  She has had as many as seven.  This woman is a saint and miracle worker.  She receives the equivalent of $160 a month to feed, cloth, medicate, house and educate each child. 
The tradition for this celebration is to eat bread, cheese and beer.....which we did.  They also made shiskabobs, meat pies, cinnamon rolls, and lots of cucumbers, tomatoes and red peppers.  I plan to do the shiskabobs when we get home....they were great..pork marinated in mayo, lemon, salt, pepper and onion.  The food was wonderful.

This is Mama Gertruda's oldest son, Tourlic (I know that is spelled wrong!) and his son, David.  Tourlic cooked the wonderful shiskabobs.

Mama Gertruda's son and daughter-in-law speak fluent English so I kind of knew what was going on  They are very gracious about translating for me.  Notice there is one lawn chair.  All the others are stools.  It does not seem that the lack of fancy lawn furniture interfere with fun!

This is Anita, Tourlic's wife and an English teacher.  She has been my lifesaver.

Another tradition is to have a bonfire and jump over the fire.  I DID NOT try that, but the kids did it a million times....This is Edwards, Gertruda's son who also translates for me.  He and Anita were the only adults who jumped the fire.  The photo of Anita is not very flattering so I left it out!

A is 14, and small for his age.  He has stolen my heart.  He jumped the fire over and over again!

This is L who is staying with us at the apartment.  She got high on this jump!

L and A did a two for one jump!

  Because this is the shortest night of the year, you are suppose to stay up until dawn or you will be lazy all year long.  I stayed up but I am already lazy!  Sunset was about 11:00 p.m. and sunrise about 3:00 a.m.

11pm and still light outside!

Mama Gertruda loaned me her car....an Opal .  I don't think I have seen one of those for a very long time.  It is only about 6 years old so they must still be making them somewhere.  Most cars here are straight shift, and hers is too.  It only took me a minute to remember how to manage that.  S is terrified I will not know how to drive here since it is another country.  As long as she reads the road signs for me I am fine!  We came back to the apartment about 1:00a.m. and brought Lolita, Gertruda's granddaughter, and L.  The girls are all the same age and they stayed up even after sunrise.  They were giggling and painting toe nails and such.

Today we are going back to the country.  One of the foster brothers is A.  He has some issues.  He is hyperactive and has some condition that makes his bones soft and his head large.  He has taken to me and tries to speak English with me.  He was hosted several years ago through New Horizons, but does not want to be adopted.  S asked if we could host him next summer.  If I get a job and start making some money I want to do that.  I understand he can be a handful, but is very loving with me.   Please pray for him.

This morning S sat on my bed (a fold out sofa....where Mama Gertruda sleeps all the time!)....and she said she wanted to go home.  I asked her which home and she said America.  Our hearing is one week from today.  Then the following day we start our journey home.  We spend the night in the Czech Republic.