Stop....It's Taylor Time

Our new home

2009-09-22T13:15:00.001-07:00

We bought our first house back in August! It is an older home, built in 1925, but it is in great shape and has had a lot of work done to it. The Lord definitely blessed us with a nice house we could afford in a good area.

Since getting the house, I worked with my father-in-law, Charlie, and his buddy John to do some updates on the house. We pulled out a drop ceiling and put up a real ceiling, torn down wallpaper and painted, and have installed a dishwasher. Several people have come by along the way to help with painting and moving stuff in, which is a huge blessing. So it has been busy ever since, and we're still not finished. We have some painting to finish, a ceiling fan to install, wanescating to install in the dining room and crown molding in the master bedroom. It is a work in progress, but we are living in it now and it is really starting to feel like home. Once we get all of the boxes unpacked we will put up some more pics of the house, but for now you can at least see what it looks like from the outside.

Our neighbors are great as well, which is a huge relief. We can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us here and what the adventures will look like. Cooper and Ally seem to be enjoying their first home as well.

More of Cooper

2009-09-22T12:56:00.000-07:00

Here's a collage of Cooper over these last 5 months. It's hard to believe that he's already that old, and yet it seems like he's been around forever at this point. We can't imagine life without him.

Cooper Luka's' Taylor

2009-04-13T02:34:00.000-07:00

This past week has been a very crazy week. Last weekend we found out that we are going back to Marshall University in the Fall and then on Monday Cindy was admitted to the hospital to await Cooper's birth.
It was a very long process for Cindy. She began contractions at 10:00 am on Tuesday but didn't have Cooper until Wednesday. I rode the 9:17 bus back to our apartment that night and was talking with family when Cindy sent a message saying that I needed to come back because they were moving her to the delivery room! I called Karla, a mother of 4 boys who was our translator for the delivery, and she said she could pick me up in about an hour to go back to the hospital.
We arrived to find Cindy pacing around some, ready for Cooper to come on out, but the doctor said it was still going to be a while so we should get some rest. So I slept about 3 hours on the tile floor of the delivery room next door, Karla slept on an extra bed in there, Cindy napped on the delivery table, and even the midwife napped in her desk chair, so we all got some sleep!
Wednesday morning is a blur of helping Cindy through contractions and different doctors coming to check on Cindy. Cindy took four showers throughout the night and morning and had several doses added to her epidural, which sadly wore off as the delivery actually began.
Cooper finally decided it was time to come out at 10:45 that morning amidst a flurry Cindy pushing, a doctor helping push on her belly to push him out and the aid of the vacuum extractor. Cooper weighed 3.9 Kilo (about 8 1/2 lbs) and was 51 cm (20 inches) long. He had gotten a little stuck, but the doctors did a great job getting him out. And now everybody is home after a four day stint in the hospital.
Cooper and Cindy joyfully returned home on Easter Sunday and enjoyed a great Easter lunch at Karla's house. Now comes the fun part of seeing what life actually looks like with a baby!

Isn't he handsome?

We are very grateful that God brought Cindy and Cooper through the delivery safely. We are excited to see where God takes us as a family over these next 20 years!

Reunited and it felt so good!!! by Cindy

2009-02-11T07:06:00.000-08:00

For those of you who were wondering (and I am sure many of you were!), we were reunited with our Ally while were in the US. She was very happy to see us and she got a little upset when we started packing again so soon. She slept in bed with us every night we were at my parents' house. We were sad to leave her again, but it was good to see that she is doing fine and not forgetting us. She is getting spoiled rotten at my parents' house and so she is not suffering while we have to be seperated!

2009-02-11T06:54:00.001-08:00

Here are a few pics from our trip to Spain:

First, I made friends with a nice little stray spanish dog. I lured him over with food and then he let me pet him for a while!

Second, This is most of the people at our conference watching the Presidential Inauguration. Since we were all together when it was being broadcast, we decided to watch it.

After that is a picture of our hotel from the street.

Next is Mikey standing on the balcony off our room. We slept with the door open every night so we could hear the sea. It was really relaxing.

Last is a picture of the walking path and beach near our hotel. Nerja was ridiculously beautiful and I don't really think pictures can capture it fully.

2009-02-11T06:44:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures from our student winter conferece. The top one is a picture of some of the brand new Slovak euro coins. The currency here changed on Jan. 1st from Slovak Crowns to the Euro. So, when we got off our bus at a gas station on the way home from our conference, we were paying in crowns, but getting change back in euros! It was wierd but exciting.

Next is a picture of Stephanie, Justin, and I playing games with some students from Bratislava and Presov. It was a trivia game like Trivial Pursuit, but it was all in Slovak! They helped us translate if we needed it!

Third is a picture of people skating on the frozen lake by our hostel.

Last is a picture of a group of students and staff that went on a hike during our free day at the conference. Mikey went with them, but I was with a group of girls having hot chocolate at a nearby hotel!

The Taylors Travel the World....By Cindy

2009-02-11T06:16:00.001-08:00

January was a very busy month for us. Starting right after Christmas, actually, we began what seemed like an entire month of travelling! First, we had a conference for students called Zimna Salenica (Winter Conference). Several of the staff members from Bratislava spoke to the students about the Gospel and other aspects of the Christian life. We also had some training seminars, praise and worship, plus free time for fellowship. There were students from Kosice, Presov, and Bratislava. We were together from December 28th until the New Year. We were at a hostel in a village in central Slovakia. Slovaks celebrate New Year's with fireworks, so one of our team members Aaron set up a small fireworks display. The entire conference was a lot of fufn and while we were there I got the chance to share with the girls about some topics specific to women. It was the first time I have ever talked in front of a group using a translator! Mikey also got to share with all the students about spending time with God in His Word. Overall, the students really enjoyed our time at Zimna Salenica and so did we. There was a lake right by our hotel and it was completely frozen! People from the town were playing hockey on it and ice skating. We didn't have skates, but we went out and slid around on the ice for fun. None of the Americans on our team had every been on a lake that was frozen, we had only been ice skating at skating rinks in the US. One of the students had his iceskates with him and he let Mikey and some other guys try them out on the ice as well!

After we returned from our student winter conference, we were home in Kosice for about 5 days before leaving for another conference. This one was for all the Campus Crusade staff working in Slovakia. We spent time hearing from the director of Campus Crusade in this area of the world. His wife also shared with us about her experience of being on staff with Campus Crusade in Poland during communism. One of the Slovak staff in Bratislava, Mika, also had her father come and share with us about his experience of living as a Christian in SK under the rule of Communism. His story was heartbreaking and also showed the incredible courage that many Christians had in the former Soviet Union. He also shared with us the ways that he sees the effects of communism still affecting the people of Slovakia now and how we can be aware of that as we try to do ministry here.

We returned to Kosice for about 6 days after our staff conference before heading out again. This time we spent some time planning for the Spring semester and praying for God to work through us here. Mikey and I also went to my doctor during this break and we found out that we are expecting a boy! We were very excited and so were our families and friends when we shared the news with them. Then we headed out again. This time we went to Spain for a conference for STINTers (people who are serving overseas for one or two years with Campus Crusade for Christ). There were teams there from Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, and the NAMEstan area of the world. It was a very encouraging time for our team. We got to worship the Lord in English and to hear from people having similar experiences to our own this year. Although we love being here and feel called to serve the Lord in this way, it can be hard to spend so much time in another culture! This conference was in a town called Nerja right beside the Mediterranean Sea. Our room had a balcony that looked right out over the sea. Although the locals thought it was cold, it was in the 50' s and 60's the whole week! When we left Kosice it had been snowy and cold for weeks, so we thought this was a heat wave! Not to mention the fact that the sun stayed out until 6:30 or 7:00 at night instead of setting at 3:45 as it had been in SK! We really enjoyed our time in Nerja and we learned alot.

After Spain, it was back to the dark and cold again! We spent two days in Budapest, Hungary staying with friends and seeing the city. Mikey and I joined the staff of Campus Crusade with a girl who grew up in Budapest and still lives there now. Her name is Jodi and she spent a whole day showing us around Budapest. It was a lot of fun and we decided we need to go back again when it's warmer!

Then came the really crazy part of our world tour....we boarded a plane on January 27th and made a one week trip to the US for my brother's wedding! It was really fun to see so many family and friends while we were there, but the time change and the short trip was exhausting! We did get to see the incredible Steelers win the Super Bowl while we were home, which was great! Mikey's mom came up from TN to spend time with us as well and of course most of my extended family were in town for the wedding. While we were there we bought and got as presents alot of essential baby stuff to bring back with us! Of course we can get almost any baby thing we need here, but it is much easier to shop for that stuff when you can read the labels! We also registered for all kinds of other baby stuff we will need when we come back!

On February 4th, we finally made it back to Kosice for good! (Although our bags didn't make it for 3 more days!) We were exhausted but happy that we got to see so many people and places. The whole time we were gone, there were no classes at the universities here in SK. They take all of Jan. to study for and take exams from their first semester classes. So, it is actually just this week that classes are starting again! We are excited to see what God is going to do this semester as we try to help the ministry get ready to be run fully by Slovak staff!

2009-01-07T04:27:00.000-08:00

The top picture was our Christmas card picture and the others are of the Christmas market on Hlavna.

2009-01-07T04:21:00.000-08:00

At the top are the three little hams I made for Christmas. They ended up being way too much meat for 7 people, but that's what they get for having a non pig-eater make the ham! Haha....

Next is the girls on our team with their Christmas tree on Christmas morning. Amber (in the back) brought back matching pj's for herself, Steph (left) and Lindsey (right) when she went to the US for a wedding in early December.

The bottom picture is Mikey and I right after we opened our presents at our apartment. We are wearing the crowns from our Christmas poppers. My family always has them at Christmas at my Aunt Beth and Uncle Rich's house, so they sent them over for us to have. Inside they have a crown and some little toy plus some cheesy jokes. I got a whistle and Mikey got a hair scrunchie...I guess he is going to have grow his hair out if he wants to use it.....

Christmas Time in SK! by Cindy

2009-01-07T03:58:00.000-08:00

Christmas wasn't quite the same here in Slovakia, but we had a really fun time experiencing the Holiday season in another country and culture. In early December a Christmas market was set up on Hlvana (the main shopping/walking street in town). It was made up of little wooden "cabins" where people were selling lots of homemade crafts and foods. We had fun exploring the market and finding neat things for ourselves and others! At Tesco (European Wal-Mart type store) we bought a small Christmas tree and a few decorations for it. It was nice to have something to decorate our little apartment with! We also receieved several cute little Christmas decorations from people in the States, so our apartment was festive enough to make us happy!

When Christmas finally came, we had lots of fun and WAY too much food! So...pretty similar to the US! Slovaks have three days of Christmas. They consider the 24th Christmas Day and then the next two days are Christmas as well. They spend Christmas Day celebrating and opening presents at home and going to church. Then on the 25th and 26th they travel to celebrate with extended family. We still celebrated Christmas on the 25th, but we celebrated a little on the 24th as well. One of the girls from our Bible Study, Zsu Zsu, had to stay in Kosice with her dad for the Holidays. Her dad is going through chemotherapy right now and he spends every third week here in Kosice getting his treatment. Unfortunately, his last treatment fell over the holidays and he had to be in the hospital during Christmas. Zsu Zsu studies here in Kosice, so she stayed in her dorm and her mom and brother celebrated Christmas at home. So, on the 24th, she came over for dinner and church with us. We had a traditional Slovak Christmas soup made with mushrooms, sauerkraut, and kilbasa. We also had potato soup for the less adventurous! Then we went to church at the Lutheran Church that we have been attending here. It was fun to celebrate Christ's coming together!

On Christmas Day Mikey and I opened presents here in our apartment early. We had presents for each other and some that had been mailed from friends and family back home. Then our whole team went to the girls' apartment for breakfast and opening the presents we got for each other. We had biscuits and gravy and monkey bread and then started opening presents. We had exchanged names for a secret santa and it was fun to see what everyone got for each other. Then we just kind of lounged around until time to make Christmas dinner. Everyone made a dish or two. I made three little hams (we couldn't find any normal size ones!). Which was weird since I don't eat any pork, but everyone else wanted ham so I made them! They don't have fully cooked hams here like they do in America, so I had to cook them first on the 24th and then glaze them and finish them off on the 25th. Everyone said they were tasty, so I guess they were. It was weird to cook something that I wouldn't taste...haha!

On Christmas night we talked to our families on our Vonage phone and Skype. Mikey's family left the camera on for us to watch people opening presents. His extended family was almost all there, so we got to say hello to lots of people! It was almost like being there. My family was together too and I talked to a lot of them on the phone to say Merry Christmas before they started Christmas dinner.

After Christmas day was over we just kind of relaxed in Kosice until it was time to go to our Winter Conference on the 28th. All in all, we really enjoyed our Christmas and even though we missed being with family we made some good memories here too!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T04:13:00.001-08:00

Since we weren't able to spend Thanksgiving the usual way with family our team decided to travel for it. We went to Prague in the Czech Republic. It was quite an experience getting there. We took a train for eight hours through the night, "sleeping" in one of the sleeper cars. Aaron was the only one who really slept the whole night, but we made it.

Prague is a beautiful city with a rich history and several beautiful cathedrals, which is ironic considering that they are one of the most atheistic countries in the world. It was a great place to be able to relax, sight see and enjoy Thanksgiving. Plus there were several American restaurants in town. We had KFC, which made Aaron very happy, Subway, which made Cindy happy, and then for Thanksgiving we ate at TGIFriday's-not your traditional Thanksgiving food, but it was still great! There was also another restaurant, Bohemia Bagel that we ate breakfast at that had cheddar cheese on their bagel sandwiches, something that you can't get over here, so Cindy and I were very excited. we love cheddar and have missed it.

In Prague there was the Christmas market as well, so it was fun to peruse the shops with goodies and souvenirs. The main Christmas market in Old Town Square opened the day we left so we didn't get to experience it, but we saw the lights and the decorations going up. All-in-all it was a great trip.

Sunday, after we returned to Kosice, we had our real Thanksgiving dinner. Cindy made turkey breast and everyone chipped in to complete the meal. We ate turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, cornbread, green bean casserole, fruit and regular salads, followed by pumpkin pie and ouie-gouie butter cake. It all was delicious! We set up tables and ate like a big family, it was a great night. Then we followed that up by decorating the Christmas tree at the girls' apartment, luckily some of the former STINTers had already bought a tree and ornaments. So it ended up being a great Thanksgiving week with great time with our STINT team family!

Here's one of the Christmas markets and then the Charles Bridge, probably the best known spot in Prague. It was under some reconstruction while we were there so I (Mikey) couldn't get a full picture of the beauty of the bridge.

On the left is the Astronomical Clock, It tells month, day year, time and many other things as well, I can't remember what all our tour guide told us. And on the hour it plays music and the twelve apostles pass by the windows above the clock while a skeleton rings a bell and then the rooster crows before the bells ring the time. It's a very intricate clock. On the right is Old Town Square with the Jan Hus Monument and the Church of Our Lady before Ty'n.

Here's the girls getting ready to decorate the Christmas tree!

Roma

2008-11-08T09:42:00.000-08:00

For All Saints Weekend we found a great deal for a trip to Rome: plane tickets for $50, train tickets for $50, and free hotel rooms thanks to Amber's mom (yay for Susan!). We stayed right in the heart of downtown Rome within walking distance to many famous landmarks, including the Colosseum. It was a quick trip, Thursday through Saturday, but definitely worth it. We had some great gelatto, Italian ice cream, and some great food. We enjoyed a Caprese Salad with fresh buffalo mozeralla as well as lasagna and different pastas.

Vatican City was amazing. Especially as we walked into the Sistine Chapel and saw the amazing work Michelangelo did portraying the greatness of God. I was prepared for the Chapel to be small, so I was amazed at how big it actually was. To see the amount of work he put into this masterpiece is truly amazing. We also went into St. Peter's Basilica as well. Which was huge. Everything about it was larger than life. There were statues of former popes lining the walls, standing at least two stories tall.

Here's Michelangelo's Pieta. Truly an amazing piece of art.

St. Peter's Basilica

Here's Aaron and me wrestling in the Colosseum! We took a guided tour and were amazed at the sheer size and complexity of the Colosseum.

Fall Retreat

2008-11-08T08:56:00.000-08:00

On a cool Friday afternoon we made the trek over to the bus station, piled onto our bus and made the three hour journey to Fall Retreat. You see the group from Bratislava and Kosice to the left. We had a few new faces and many old ones come together for a weekend of spiritual conversations, fun, and fellowship.

Mark Sanders spoke to us about satisfaction. He is on staff with Campus Crusade in Budapest, Hungary, after starting movements in Romania. He worked with Student Venture (Campus Crusade's high school ministry) and therefore had no problem engaging the crowd, even with a translator.

Between Mark's talks we spent time in groups discussing what Mark had said, it was encouraging to see students leading discussion groups in Slovak and hear them sharing their testimonies with others in the groups. It gave us a vision of the indigenous movement of Slovaks we will be leaving empowered to reach this part of the world for Christ after this year.

We also spent some time enjoying the mountains where we were as well. We played some volleyball, some went on a hike, and some of the girls tried to make friends with the sheep who were grazing through the field where our cabin was. I also had my first taste of buchti (boo-kti), which is a dinner of a pastry filled with a dab of jam and then covered in a sauce similar to chocolate milk. So basically every kid's dream of dessert for dinner. It wasn't my favorite but many love it.

2008-11-08T08:46:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of last month Amber, Dara, Aaron, and myself (Mikey) hit the streets of Kosice to participate in the 85th Kosice Peace Marathon. We ran the half-marathon, which is 21 KM or 13.1 miles. It was a great experience as the city came alive cheering on the runners. The team came out to cheer us on complete with signs they had made for each of us. The route ran right in front of our apartment and ended where it began on Hlavna (Main St.). We were definitely tired after that, but it was a great feeling to finish the race, especially as they put a medal around your neck as you cross the finish line. Amber, Aaron, and myself are looking at running another one in Prague in the spring.

Update from Kosice by Cindy

2008-09-23T07:11:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone!

This is Spis (Speesh) Hrad (Castle). It's close by and we took a day trip to see it.

So, it's been awhile since we've written on here. We have been busy with meetings to plan our ministry here and also a few trips. We took a day trip to a nearby castle (ruins really) which was lots of fun! It was definitely not like anything we've ever seen in the States. We also took a four day trip to the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava. We were there for a conference with all the Campus Crusade staff here in SK. (Which currently is our team and a slightly bigger team in Bratislava. Everyone in Bratislava is either a national or they are here long term (at least 3-5 years). Most of the Americans in Bratislava have been here for a long time.)

This week we are trying to settle in to a "normal" schedule, but alas things are still changing. Our team had to change the days and times for our language classes again to fit into the teachers' schedules. It seems like it is pretty set at this point though, so hopefully that will be the last time we have to rearrange our week. This weekend, Mikey is going with some of our staff team and students to a Survivor Camp. They will sleep in cabins and do some obstacle courses and stuff in the woods. AIA (Athletes in Action- another Campus Crusade ministry) staff will be running the camp and we have been advertising it to all the students we have met on the campuses here in Kosice and in Presov. So, you can be praying that a lot of students will come and that it will be a good time of relationship building. I will not be going because it doesn't seem like a very "pregnant friendly" event and also for the past week or so I have been more sick than ever! But, in 2-3 more weeks I will be out of the first trimester and hopefully the sickness will fade away!

Also coming up in our schedule in the annual Peace Marathon here in Kosice. It is on October 5th. Although Mikey didn't have time to train for the full marathon, he is going to be running the half marathon (13 miles). Two of our other teammates, Aaron and Amber, are going to participate as well. I had hoped to run the mini-marathon (3 miles), but things just haven't worked out for that this year! :) I will try to get some good pictures of Mikey running though. Runners come from all over the world to compete in this marathon, including some very talented runners from Kenya. It's a pretty big deal here in Kosice and probably the only time we will see Slovaks yelling in public! I guess that's about all the news from here. Once again I will try to get Mikey to write the next post so that you can hear from him as well. (Although he did put up all the pics of our apartment.)

Cindy

This is where we live

2008-09-04T07:18:00.000-07:00

This is where we live

2008-09-04T06:08:00.000-07:00

We're in Slovakia!

2008-08-23T04:24:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Well this officially our second full day in Slovakia. We have already gotten tram passes and rail passes( with the help of some Slovak friends) and went grocery shopping for the first time. Which was quite the adventure. We went to a smaller grocery store (Potraviny) near our apartment, but the selection was pretty poor and there was absolutely no english in the whole store. We will probably go to Tesco next time. It's much bigger and it is a british owned company, so at least some labels are in English. Today we have been cleaning and sorting in our apartment. Mikey ran out to get lunch and after that we are going to tackle unpacking. It should take too long since we only have clothes and a few other items with us. Next week we will travel to Budapest to go to Ikea to get some more things to make the apartment feel like home! It's really a nice little place though. It's only about 500 sq. feet (maybe less), but it is in pretty good shape. There was a lot of cleaning to do since two single guys lived here last year, but it's almost done. We're not really sure where we will put the baby, but we are thinking a nice cozy basket would work, since he will only be three months old when we leave here. Of course there is lots and lots of time to figure that out! We are anxious to start our Slovak language classes so that we can be a little bit more self sufficient. I know a little bit, I have been surprised by how much has come back to me, but Mikey doesn't know any Slovak at all. So, he's been feeling a little stressed in public. Anyways, I guess that's all the news for now! Maybe I will let Mikey post next so that you can hear from him! Ciao!

Cindy

Hello Hello...by Cindy

2008-04-02T08:18:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! I have to say I did not think that I would ever have a blog, but Mikey and I have decided this will be the best way for people to keep up with us while we are out of the country next year. So...we will try to be good about keeping this up to date and such. Right now we have about 6 weeks left in Lexington before we move out of our apartment on May 15th. Then we will travel around for the summer raising support and taking some classes before we head to Slovakia on August 20th. More updates to follow.....