It’s a quiet season for us, and we’re enjoying it. A mid-way break of sorts, between our previous season and the next; we aren’t rushing into our next steps, but going slow and soaking up some serious rest after the last ten years or so of craziness. However, we still need to keep you updated on some things, and would especially appreciate prayer over some big needs and changes.
Coffee Break 2019
First, we are still hosting retreats for pastors and their wives, and just last weekend Norbert was down in Szeged with eight pastors from Serbia for what they’re now calling ‘Coffee Break’ – a retreat that feels like one long coffee break, a relaxed time of fellowship with no schedule for some guys who are otherwise going, going, going. It was once again a blessed time with the guys leaving refreshed and recharged. One big area of prayer is that the awesome little Bed & Breakfast, on its own horse farm sort of location with a lake and near the Tisza River, is being sold. The men have been meeting there since 2013, we found it because our daughter used to ride horses there. It felt remote and removed while also being a short bus or car ride from the city center for meals and that much-needed coffee. So please pray as we begin a new location search process.
And then, speaking of selling property – our house in Lakewood, Colorado is getting spruced up as we speak and will be listed and on the market to sell by mid-May. Please pray for those new owners, that they would find our home quickly and that the sale will go smooth. We are praying too for a family who will love our home and the neighborhood as much as we did. For us it is a step in a process toward living fully in Hungary, and we’re excited and curious to see this process move forward. We are slowly inching toward a home with a garden in Szeged.
Our next retreats aren’t until the fall, two are in the planning stages, both for Pastor’s Wives and both after our next visit to the US from mid-September to mid-October for our oldest son Josiah’s wedding and our granddaughter’s 3rd birthday. It seems we just left CA after our daughter’s wedding, and here, summer is fast approaching and then the 2nd wedding within a year for our family – wow! Our kids are growing up and making their own ways and we’re so proud of them. It gives us comfort knowing Josiah with his Julia and Anna with her Shiloh are living near each other and seem to enjoy spending time together when their busy schedules allow it. Joshua remains here in Europe, somewhat near us, as an intern at a Calvary Chapel church in Norwich, England until July. It’s exciting times for all our young adult kids as they figure and make steps towards their futures, prayer is always needed and helpful.
We’ve loved being back home in Budapest, in our mostly Empty Nest with Norbert’s mom until summer and our two pooches for always. It has also been a very timely return for us, to be nearby as Norbi’s mom has had health issues – she had surgery a few weeks ago and had two cysts removed off her thyroid and we are now waiting on the biopsy results before the next step in treatment begins. Her lymph nodes are still swollen and cancer is probable, though it has been caught early and we are all hopeful and at peace. Our ‘original’ plan had not been to return until summer, but then Anna’s wedding released us sooner and it’s cool to see that we were needed here, exactly when we arrived. We saw God’s hand all over our crazy season back in the US, in being near our two kids there as they both met their new and future spouses, and we have great trust that God will continue to guide as we look ahead to possibilities here in Hungary. But for now, we’re savoring some slow days and the chance to catch our breath and catch up on years’ worth of ‘around the house projects’ that were all sort of put off during our season of ‘surviving’ through the past hard years. Rachel has even unpacked her inherited fine china set that had been packed away since our 2011 move! But behind and through all this resting, waiting and preparing season we’re being mindful of how we could be used by God in the future, and intentional with some steps – and we’d so love your prayers behind us in this season. We’ll keep you updated as things become more clear.
waiting…
lakatosfamily 