Plumpers and Pumpkins

"The plumper is here!!!" 

Irida burst into the bible study right as we were about to begin. She was out of breath. 

She had messaged me earlier and told me she was going to bring the plumper by today because I had told her about the problem in my shower. She knows a plumper because he lives in her apartment building. 

"I have been knocking downstairs for 10 minutes! What is wrong with you guys??" She said. 

Have I mentioned we have a bullet proof door? I'm serious. There's not even a door knob. You need a key to open it. It's a 3 inch thick metal wall. 

When we first moved here we told the landlord we needed a new door because the old one was paper thin glass. So she got us a bullet proof one from Tirana. Makes perfect sense. 

Anyways, we can't ever hear anyone knocking because the door is so thick. 

Poor plumper. 

The shower doesn't drain. You can imagine taking a shower in a tub that barely drains. Ew. 

After I let the plumper in we continued with our first girls bible study in Pogradec! 

We have been having girls nights every week for a few months and decided now was the time to shift it into a bible study. The girls had even been asking if we were going to do that. 

We are going to go through the book of John. 

Today I did an introduction amidst babbling baby girls, translation pauses, and stick figure drawings. I always use stick figures and pictures to explain the Bible. Teenagers and even adults are really no different than kids when being taught. Everyone likes to be amused. And believe me, my drawings are very amusing. 

We talked about why we should study the Bible. 

We talked about how the Bible is many different stories but it is also one big story of God's plan for humanity. 

We talked about Adam and Eve and Israel and the promised Messiah. 

Every time I explain God's plan of salvation in simple terms I am stuck by its power all over again.  

I am so looking forward to this bible study with these girls. Please pray for this time! That the Lord would cause it to bear fruit, and use it in their lives. 

At the end, everyone stayed and danced to Albanian music for a long time. You hold hands and do the steps in a big circle. 

Then we all went on a xhiro which I have written about before HERE. 

And I was thinking about how everything we did this afternoon, were some of the first things that drew Cory and I to Albania. 

Their hunger for the Word and for Truth. 

Their fun and loud culture where everyone loves to sing and dance. 

Their emphasis on community and friendship. Even if this means walking arm and arm as slow as you possibly can for an hour and just laughing and talking. 

On our xhiro today the girls were teaching me some Albanian. They always get so exasperated at us. They think it is so easy and we are so dumb. Hahahaha...

I explained to them that Albanian actually IS HARD. 

In English a hat, is a hat, is a hat. It's a blue hat. It's the boy's hat. Its the hat that was given to the boy. It's a HAT. One word. 

In Albanian EVERY noun is in at least 10 different forms! Usually more. And I thought it was just the colors...

They also told me my belly is getting SO big. How nice. In America we just go around telling pregnant women how good they look-"Wow! You don't even look pregnant!" In Albania, they tell you you are getting fat. It's meant as a compliment but how am I supposed to take it that way? Oh well. 

Also today....

*Our power went out roughly 42 times. 

"The Almighty" came to fix it. He is called this because of his uncanny ability to ATTEMPT to fix all things. This means he can fix everything and nothing all at the same time. 

I am praying that in the situation he is more Almighty than not. Because, Shiloh's cloth diapers only last so long and I need electricity to do laundry. 

** I decided to make pumpkin puree so I could make pumpkin cookies for the girls bible study. 

If you are looking for a good way to bust open a pumpkin...drop it. 

I started to cut it but didn't have the patience. So I went out on the balcony, lifted it over my head, and dropped it. 

I looked up and 3 men on the next balcony were staring at me. 

They probably would have been staring at me anyways. I was wearing mismatched sweats and had a mess of a pony tail on my head. 

***Shiloh Belle is a wild child. She makes us laugh all day. Here is one of her favorite faces to make. 

****Cramer Baby 2 is 13 weeks and growing (obviously since I keep getting told how much bigger my belly is). 

*****Right now Pogradec is in an uproar. It's 9:30 at night and I'm inside my house but it sounds like I'm in a stadium. There is a qualifying game for the Euro Tournament. Futbol. They are playing Serbia. Albanians and Serbs DO NOT like each other. Majorly because of the events that took place during the Kosovo crisis (which I know little about). People were wrapped in Albanian flags in the street today. Cory is watching the game with some kids at a coffee shop down the road. He just texted me that they may close the game because of the fighting and explosions going on by the stadium in Serbia. 

Well, hopefully Albania wins. And hopefully when they do, they don't wake Shiloh up with their whooping and cheering.