FURNITURE SHOPPING

Today is a lazy Saturday in Poznan. My hubby (soulmate) and I are huddled on the sofa wrapped in warm quilts and reading our email and the news. It is cold outside and the snow just does not seem to go away. I am drinking my latte from my new red Starbucks mug. HAPPY!

Anyway, it has just been decided that today we will go and shop for a soft and cozy ottoman to go with our Italian MUST HAVE, HUGE sofa. This sofa is a wrap around dealy with the softest microfiber fabric that feels like suede. I have always been very picky about sofas and this is not one I would normally choose. However, when you lie upon this wonderful piece of furniture you feel like you are floating on a cloud! There is also the added bonus that the fabric is like magic when you clean it and almost anything comes off, and I mean ANYTHING!(no details, but we do have a puppy) We had this sofa cleaned several months ago and it still looks like new, even though we have had it for three years. I love it!

I told you I am considering moving and this new purchase is part of our move. We want hubby to be able to put his feet up at night and something to put computers on, trays etc... So now I am sitting on the sofa dreaming of a HUGE furniture store I know of in town. Torture for hubby, heaven for me!

How is your Saturday morning going?

My trip to Berlin...

Most of you know that my lovely daughter, Viola (her Polish name) visited us over the Christmas holiday. It was so much fun to be together again and she and I spent some great time just chatting and catching up. She has a new boyfriend whom I adore. We learned alot about his family and how my daughter is adjusting to dorm life at school in Idaho.


All too soon her visit came to an end. Today she flew out of Berlin, to Dusseldorf and then on to Chicago. I will miss her so much, and just walking by her room will make me a bit tearful the first few days. However, I am blessed to know that she is making good choices in her life and she has done very well in school. (She had only one B and the rest were A's!!! YAY!)

We decided to take Viola to Germany because the trip to Berlin in the van she usually takes would have left her at the airport for much too long. Instead we rented a nice hotel room and had one last fun night as a family before her departure and even the dog, Ollie, came along! We had a huge European supper in our room. (Deli meat, yummy cheeses, fruit,fresh bread...MMMM!) We watched a show called "Chuck" online and several cake decorating shows (Can't remember the name, but the bakery is in Baltimore). We stayed up late and laughed and had a great time. I fell asleep as we watched the "Chuck" episode, all of us cuddled on the BIG KING SIZE bed, even Ollie. None of us slept very well because she had to be at the airport so early and we were all nervous she would miss it if we overslept.


So, at 7 a.m. I kissed her goodbye. She and her Daddy left for the airport. :( As I write she is somewhere in the air and headed for the USA. I can only pray that she is safe and that God is watching over her. This is something we knew when we committed to Poland would be part of our lives, but it is never easy.

Both of us, feeling a little depressed, decided we needed a pick me up after the drop off. SO we headed to STARBUCKS!!! Yay! There are not any Starbucks in Poland near us yet and so when we go to Germany I am ALWAYS ready to go. We got to the cashier and my hubby said "I want to buy you one of these!", a bright red mug that says Starbucks and Berlin on it! I was so happy. We have traveled to so many countries and I often thought of buying one of these mugs, but had not for fear I would have cupboards FULL of Starbucks mugs. But today it seemed right. I ordered a caramel SAUCE latte, he ordered a vanilla latte and my sweetie and I sipped a great cup of coffee at my all time favorite coffee shop, besides ours. LOVED it!!!!


My diet, the one I started before Christmas, was kind of blown by this cup of coffee. (And by the cheese the night before, and several treats I made while she was here, hahaha!) Tomorrow I wake up to the harsh reality that my baby is indeed gone and that I cannot eat my way through this emotionally trying time. I am hoping my resolve is strengthened before morning arrives. I still have my beautiful Polish daughters who will stand by me, but a part of my heart will be in Idaho with my baby girl.

So there it is...
the good
the bad
the ugly
it's all there, and was a long day.
Goodnight!

I WON A GIVEAWAY

Don't we all read those give aways on blogs and wonder who actually ever wins such things??
Well, I DO! My friend Andrea over at Rural Revival asked for our help in choosing a button for her blog. I never thought she would send a giveaway to Poland but she CHOSE ME!
I LOVE to be picked, don't you?
Anyway, Andrea lives in a great old farmhouse in the country in Canada. It is beautiful. She has her own skating pond (jealous). If I could I would live there. For now I am just happy to hear from her and to read about her life on the farm. Check her blog out...





Thanks Andrea!

Home is where the heart is...

We have been in Poland now three years. We are currently living in a flat two floors above the coffee shop we are building in Poznan. This next year will bring many changes for us. We are hoping to open a third location of "Sweet Surrender Coffee Shops" in Krakow and in Copenhagen, Denmark. This will mean a lot more travel for us.

I have a love/hate relationship with my current apartment. It is lovely in so many ways. The high ceilings with the ornate plaster moldings are beautiful.I love the original wood floors that are 100 years old. I love the painted bead board in our hallways and bathrooms. I love the BIG windows which fill my flat with so much light. I love the terrace outside my kitchen where I grow herbs and geraniums in the summer.


I hate walking three flights of stairs with heavy things like water, and laundry detergent.
I wish I had a dishwasher. I don't like my miniature oven. The big windows which let in the light are over 100 years old and they let in all the cold as well, and all the dirt. We live on a very busy street in the city and so it is very noisy where we are, lots of trams and cars etc.



SOOO...we are moving. We will have an apartment which has a dishwasher, is modern, new and clean. It does have an outdoor space and the oven is regular size. The kitchen is shiny and new, I really love that! There is an elevator and underground parking for the car so we will not have to hunt for a parking space. The only drawback to the new place is the space issue. I am giving up a place that had three bedrooms for a place that has one. The living area is small and our very large MUST have sofa will fit but will not leave room for much more.

It is funny how life changes for us over time. At one time I dreamed of having an apartment in the city, right in the hustle and bustle of life. Original wood floors and bead board with high ornate ceilings would have been frosting on the cake. Today, I long for a quiet place away from the noise where I can find rest. I am trading an historical building for a modern large apartment complex, a new kitchen for an old kitchen, parking for no parking.

Still, in the back of my mind I wonder if I am doing the right thing... what do you think?

Why we started building coffee shops in Europe

My husband and I used to pastor in the USA. Our churches ran anywhere between three and five hundred people. We had staff people who worked with children and music and teens. We had a big house and two cars, a good salary, credit card debt and a life that often seemed overwhelming. Life was full of meetings and retreats and services and events. We started out believing that we could help people find Jesus only to find that the bigger the church the bigger the machine, and fewer people actually came to know Christ.

At some point we both heard God telling us that He had something for us to do. Something bigger and far away. We sold our house, our cars and our stuff. We quit our jobs. We paid off our debt and left our families. We moved to Europe and we started listening to people talk about what was important to them, all over Europe. Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Italy, Kosovo, Poland, Norway,Denmark and Germany. We met new friends and we asked many questions. We tried to figure out why so many young people did not go to church anymore. We prayed about how we could bring them back to a place of worship once again, a place where they really felt loved.

When we moved to Poland we started building our first coffee shops. We have never run coffee shops, but we felt God compelling us that this could be a really different type of place. We could welcome ANYONE. It didnt matter where the came from, we could offer a place to be real and safe. A place to find and discover FAITH.

It is hard to describe how it all happened and what it is like. But I think it was worth it all. This is what Helka thinks: