Have a Very Merry Christmas!

Hi there,

12/12/12 12:12:12

Yesterday my dad surprised me with the greatest gift, he bought tickets to visit us! He is coming for a month in March. My mom will come in July (also for a month). Unfortunately because of their work schedule, they cannot come at the same time. But I am sure we will have a lot of fun with both of them. Most importantly Amy will be able to see them and play with them. Although she does see them through skype, it is not the same. So we are very happy they can come. Hopefully we will be able to go visit our friends and family in Hungary in 2014. We will see. 

We also had the opportunity to redo our bathroom floor. A lady from church was kind enough to offer her help, so Dave (Chris' dad), Chris, and Elaine (the lady from church) redid the whole bathroom floor in only 3 days! I wish I took pictures of the whole process (at one point we could clearly see our basement from our bathroom through a huge hole), but I only have pictures of the almost finished and finished floor. Oh well... : ) It looks very nice now! Also, Dave got us a brand new vanity! 

End result

Amy and I were invited to a play date. We had 6 moms and 5 girls. It was a lot of fun! The moms also exchanged cookies. I came home with tons of yummy cookies. I really like spending time with church people outside of church. We are very blessed to be part of this church. The more we get to know the people there, the more we see how much they love the Lord. 

I am done with school for this year! Yay! Although my break is not going to be long (next semester starts on January 7), I will most definitely enjoy every day of it! : ) I have 7 more classes and I am done for good. I love BBC, but I cannot wait to be done. 

Chris has 9 days off now. Although he was busy redoing the bathroom floor this past 3 days, it is nice to have him home, and to be able to wake up next to him. I wish he had more vacation, but we are very thankful for his job and that he can be home around noon after work.  

I love the Christmas season. For us, Christmas is not about the tree, decoration, or even the presents. Although these are great things, and being together with our family and friends is very important, Christmas reminds us of the hope we have in Christ. Jesus Christ came to earth, died for our sins, and rose from the dead. He offers us eternal life, all we have to do is accept it. I was 15 when I first heard this good news, also knows as the Gospel, and I accepted it. It was the best decision I have ever made. Even more important than saying yes to Chris. I encourage you to talk to someone who is a Christian--if you are not--and ask him why he believes in God, and if you are, I encourage you to share with others the hope you have in Christ.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Giving Thanks

Hi there,

Today is Thanksgiving, and although we are always thankful for what God has blessed us with, it is a good day to share it with you all! God has never stopped providing for us. We don't only have what we need, we have so much more than that!

First of all, we are thankful that we can be His children. We don't want to imagine what our lives would be without Him. The more I learn about God, the more I am in awe of Him. We have the privilege and honor to serve the Almighty God! 

I am thankful that we are free to read the Bible, go to church, and practice our faith. I realize that it is a blessing by itself!

We are also thankful to be married to each other. After two and a half years Chris still says "Thank you for marrying me" everyday. We are very grateful that we can share our lives with each other and spend the rest of our lives together. It is an adventure and an exciting one of those! 

Amy is going to turn 2 in a couple of months. We are very thankful for her. She truly is a blessing from God and a joy to be around. She is very active (and that is an understatement), talkative, and smart. I have no idea how she has so much energy, though she sure eats good. : ) She is our little sunshine.

We are also thankful for our amazing families and awesome friends. We thank you for your love, care, and support! We know that we would not be here today without you. God blessed us with truly great people, and we are thankful for all of them!

A huge praise we have is our new church family. Words cannot describe how blessed we are to be part of Cornerstone Bible Church. The families at church have helped us in so many ways and cared for us. This church family is a great representation of Jesus' body. The best thing about it is that this is natural to them. They do not boast in their own achievements but do everything to the glory of God. We are honored to know them!

Audrey (Amy's friend from church)
and Amy

In 2010 we got married, in 2011 we had Amy and moved to the States, in 2012 we bought a house, bought a car, and I started to finish my degree. It is not hard to remember all these things and to be thankful for them. Although not every blessing might be as obvious as these, we should not forget that God is blessing us daily! It is so easy to take things for granted (such as our health, the fact that we have a place to call home, friends, food on the table, etc.). Be thankful for the everyday things!

We are thankful for you! It is so good to know that our friends from all over the world are able to "see" what's going on in our lives. Thank you!

Have a blessed thanksgiving!

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever." Psalm 107:1

Rebeka Has Arrived!

Hi there,

Rebeka Szanyi

I guess I should start with the biggest news of all, my friend, Regina (who took me to Word of Life where I got saved) gave birth to her first child on October 23rd. Both she and her daughter (Rebeka) are doing very well. I cannot wait to see them! Meanwhile, the facebook pictures of her will have to do.

WTHI moved into the new building so everyone is very happy there. : ) I heard a lot of compliments on the new HD system and its quality. Last Friday we went to pick Chris up from work and he told me to go in and look around but Amy just fell asleep in the car so I didn't want to wake her up. Maybe next time! In any case, it looks very nice from the outside! : )

Amy started to talk. What this means is that she would "talk" and say one or two real words in her sentences. Something like "habalu milk flo no no daba cereal." It is the cutest thing! I am convinced she knows what she is saying because she can repeat what she said if I ask her to. Also, she can say (in Hungarian) and point to 13 body parts already (hair, eye, nose, ear, mouth, neck, shoulder, chest, tummy, bellybutton, hand, leg, knee). She repeats after us every word we teach her, even if she doesn't know what it means. She understands most of our instructions and is very obedient. We are truly blessed to have her! She knows a lot of words and finally tries to put them together! I cannot wait for her to start to talk in sentences!

Totally unrelated, her wall is almost done (see picture). 

I finished another 2 classes and started my last Session this year. I have 4 more weeks to go and will be done for 2012. After this year I will have 7 more classes before I can graduate. This year I had 10 classes (30 credits). As much as I love BBC (Baptist Bible College), I cannot wait to graduate. : ) I think Amy feels the same way. : )

We had the opportunity to have a free photo shooting session at Sears. We don't have the pictures yet, but they turned out pretty good!

Thank you for reading our update! God bless!

We Are Never Bored

Hi there,

We had a good month! I keep a journal since Chris asked me to marry him (September 20, 2009). Everyday I write in it. Well, I actually skipped a year (exactly 365 days) when I was pregnant with Amy and a few months after she was born, but in any case, I have a journal of 2+ years. That's over 730 days. It is so good to go back and see how my life changed to "our life." God has blessed us tremendously. We have a daughter (who is turning two in a few months), awesome families, great friends, a beautiful house, a car, Chris has a job, and I can do school. And most importantly, we have a loving Father who has never let us down. I think we are doing pretty good! : ) I couldn't ask for more (other than a dozen more kids of course...)!

BBC (Baptist Bible College) keeps me busy. I love this school and I have learned so much through my classes. I love to be able to discuss different subjects with my classmates. I made a friend, Heather, who is an incredible young lady. I am very thankful for her. It is neat how others can encourage me and I can encourage them even though we live so far away. I enjoy online school so far and I am already half-way through!

The more I study the Bible, the more I see how awesome God is. He never stops to amaze me. We server a mighty God!

Chris and I love our new church. We've only been there for a couple of months now, but it feels like family already. We had the privilege to have lunch with a couple of families and Amy and I were invited to a play-date, too! God truly blessed us with this church family!

A month ago I started to attend a weekly College Bible Study a church member of ours holds. I love it! We studied Philemon and Ruth so far. Wow! I don't know how many times I read those books already, but there's always something new or a very needed reminder. Ruth was known in the city as the woman of excellence (Ruth 3:11). There is a lot I can learn from her. : )

WTHI (the TV station where Chris works at) will move into their new building this weekend. Everyone is very excited! Chris said that the building is beautiful inside (I can tell it is beautiful from the outside, too)! Recently he told me how happy he is that he works from 3 am to noon because he can have lunch with us everyday and see Amy for many hours before she needs to go to sleep. Since Amy's bedtime is at 7, he would only see her for an hour or less if he had the "normal hours." So we are very thankful to God for his hours as well.

We go visit Karen and Dave every other week, and Karen comes to see us sometimes during the week, too. A few weeks ago Dave took all three of us boating. It was Amy's first time and she loved it. So did we! The lake was gorgeous, the weather was awesome and we had a good time! I am so thankful for my in-laws and my sister! I am also very thankful for my family back in Hungary. I am able to talk with my parents a couple of times every week.

Click on it if you want to see it in big

I redecorated Amy's wall. Since Amy is a big Elmo fan, I thought I will do something educational and still fun for her. Well, she loves it. : )

Well, a lot more happened this month, but I am sure this war more than enough to read. : ) Thank you for reading our posts. We really appreciate each one of you!

God bless!

James family

1st Anniversary of Being Indiana Residents

Hi there,

It's been a year since we moved here. Sometimes it feels like it's been only a few months, other times it feels like it's been years. I still remember the day we got here. It takes about 24 hours to travel from Budapest to Indy (house to house). It was Amy's first plan trip (outside of my belly). I must say it is harder to travel with a baby outside of your belly, even though you don't have to carry her all the time. : )

Although Amy was very good the whole time (I am seriously amazed at how well she behaved for all those hours!), it was still very tiring. We got to Dave's and Karen's house around midnight. We were at church the next day. : ) I felt at home right away, and never changed since then.

So much has happened this year! I am very thankful to God for all the blessings He poured on us.  

Amy went through the biggest change, of course. It amazes me how fast kids grow and learn. She grew so much this year (even her hair!).
She is an amazing baby. We keep telling others how blessed we are with her. She loves to learn, she says new words almost everyday. The newest addition to her vocab is "Becky." She realizes she can say her aunt's name a few days ago, so everyday she spends a few minutes practicing it. It is the cutest thing ever! 

The TV station Chris works at will move to a new building very soon. Everyone is excited about it, the new building is much nicer than the old one. I am still amazed at how well Chris handles getting up at 2:30 am and sleeping so little. He is my superman. : ) His birthday was on August 21, and we celebrated with an Oreo cake. It was very yummy!

We play a lot with Amy, go to the park, playground, or just out somewhere. I spend a lot of time studying this semester, but I try to do it after 7 pm, when Amy and Chris goes to sleep. Usually I am done by midnight and when I fall asleep, Chris gets up. : ) Amy decided to get up at 6 instead of 7 these days. I try to explain to her how much better 7 o'clock is, but she doesn't seem to care too much. Which reminds me, I don't need an alarm clock since she was born. She is nice enough to make sure I am awake quite early each morning. I will have to thank her for that sometime. It saved us a lot of alarm clock batteries. : )

This weekend was the Opening Weekend at the Word of Life Hungary Bible School. Unfortunately we couldn't be there, so we did the second best thing and watched it online. My very dear friend from Poland is an intern there this year and her husband is a Bible school student. The opening weekend brought back many good memories. We were there last year this time to celebrate with the new students. This is the first year in 7 years that we are not there at the Opening Weekend. How I wish sometimes that there are 2 of me. I would send the other me to Hungary. : )

Have a good and blessed day! : )

Our Busy, Busy Life

A few days after my last post Réka and Owen (Word of Life BI graduates) came to visit us. We haven't seen them for so many years, and were very glad to have the chance to see them again. Since Timi and Randall (also WOL BI graduates) were in Indy that time, and they decided to come, too. Karen and Becky came as well, so we had a little WOL Hungary reunion.

Timi and Randall have 2 children, Gracie (2 years old) and David (7 months old). Amy and Gracie had a good time playing together, last time they did that was back in Hungary right before we left for the States. Timi and Randall invited us over to their place and Amy was the exact same age David is now. Time flies by so fast! I honestly can't believe it has been a year since we left Hungary.

Playing with Gracie

Although they couldn't stay for long, it was awesome to be able to talk to them again. We love all of them very much. I was reminded once more how I would love to live in a huge house with other families. I love having people over and am just so thankful for the opportunity we had.

We started to go to Cornerstone Bible Church here in Terre Haute (http://www.cbcth.org/). It is a very small church with a lot of kids (about 35-40 adults attend church each Sunday). We love it there! They have a new pastor, and we really like him and his wife. Their first child was born a week ago. Cornerstone Bible Church supports the Weavers, Dave preached there before, the church's previous pastor taught at Word of Life Hungary, and I could go on with the list of connections we have to that church.

Although it was a very tough decision to leave our church in Paris, IL, we believe that it was the right choice. Paris is too far away to meet with the members of the church on a daily basis. So even though we love our church in Paris, we wanted to be more involved with our church. That's why we decided to find a church in our town.

An interesting fact about Cornerstone is that their worship band has drum, electric guitar, bass guitar, and 3 brass instruments. It is quite an experience to listen to them. They are very good! Also, most (if not all) of the  younger kids are girls.

They have a lot of girls under the age of 6. Amy loves to play with them, she fit in right away. We cannot wait to get to know the church members better. They are all so friendly and caring.

I had the opportunity to meet Dave's parents for the first time. Dave's sister came to visit us as well. We had a great time together! Although I communicated with them through the phone and via e-mail before, I was very happy that I could finally meet them in person. We love them so much! : )

I have been cooking everyday since we moved into our new home. I cook at least once a day. I couldn't believe how much cheaper it is if I cook. I was convinced that it is much more expansive, but I was totally wrong. I love cooking, and since Chris is home by 12:10pm everyday, he eats with us, too.

Finally the weather got cooler, so we were able to go out with Amy everyday. There is a playground very close to our house, and Amy loves the slide and the swing there. Chris had his vacation this week, so we spent all day together everyday this week. It was so much fun! He took us to "National Night Out," and we really enjoyed it. He took me to Long John Silver's the other day (I have never been to one before). We had a great week!

Amy had her first dental check-up (she didn't really enjoy it) but the dentist said that she is doing good, and has all the teeth she should. We also had a doctor's appointment the other day and she is 34 inches (according to them, I think she is only 32 inches) and 22.9 lbs. She is developing well, and does everything she should at this age. She started to learn new words everyday, so she knows more than 40 words now. I love to see how fast she is learning. It is amazing! Her favorite body part is her bellybutton, but she also knows where her legs are, arms are, belly is, head is, eyes are, ears are, mouth is, and nose is. I am not sure anymore if she knows more English words or Hungarian, and if she understands English better or Hungarian.

Another big news is that Dave's new book is available now! If you would like to check it out (or read about it) click here.  Click here if you are interested in buying the book, or here if you would like to buy the kindle version. Berean Call published it, and I can promise you, you will not regret having it. Chris and I had the privilege to follow the process of the book being written and then being published, and I must say, God put everything in place so that this book could be published in record time. I am sure He will use this book in the lives of many.

We are really thankful for you and for your friendship. We cannot emphasize enough that we would love to hear from you! We are always so encouraged by those who update us on their lives.

 God bless you all!

House #3 or House #5

Hi there,

Wow. I guess that says it all. We moved into our new house 3 weeks ago, and we cannot be more happy. 

I finished this semester last Friday (July 13), and I never before wished to be done with school this much. It was the hardest semester so far, and I was/am ready for a break. : )

For my Astronomy class, I had to look through a good telescope. Uncle Kevin was kind enough to let me use his awesome 8" telescope. I took quite a few pictures through his telescope, if anyone is interested, you can click here to save the folder to your computer. I love Saturn, but the Moon that night was truly amazing. Thank you again, Kevin, for letting me use your telescope!

So back to the house. We love it! The moving didn't take us longer than 3-4 hours (including loading the truck and unloading it). A friend of Chris' from the TV channel, Matt, helped us move. I unpacked everything the same day except the clothes. Those needed to wait until the next day.

Chris has his own office (in the basement), Amy her own room and new bed, and she has a whole big "playroom" as well. We are so grateful for this house!

This is our 3rd house we live in by ourselves (we rented 2 in Hungary and now we bought this one), but it is the 5th house we had to unpack our stuff in and pack our stuff again when we left (we lived at my parents house for a little bit before we left for the States, and we lived at Chris' parents' house before we moved into this house). So we are not doing bad!

In 2 years, we got married, had a baby, lived in 3 or 5 (whichever you want to count) houses, bought a car and a house. Chris also got a job meanwhile. Yep, life is happening. : )

This year was the first time Amy or I had the chance to celebrate July 4th. We went to Dave's and Karen's place and had a great meal with Ken (Karen's brother) and Becky. It was a privilege to be able to celebrate July 4th with my family. Thank you, Karen, for inviting us and for the awesome food!

We also had the chance to go pick up Monca, a dear missionary friend from Word of Life Hungary, in Indy and she stayed with us for a week. We were very happy to have her at our place (she was our very first guest). Amy thought they were best friends, so she followed Monca wherever she went (and I mean  WHEREVER...). Since both Monca and I had school work to do, we both studied most of the time she was here, so we didn't get to hang out that much, but I was just so glad that she is here. You know you are poor when a missionary is feeding you... Well, as it turned out, Monca came to feed us : ). She brought a lot of food with her and never took it, she also bought several things while she was here that she never took with herself when she left. So now we have plenty of food : ). Thank you Monca!

She also spent almost all her nights at our church's VBS. She loved it, and each night when she came home at around 11pm, she would tell me how awesome it was. She is on furlough now, if you are interested in supporting her or you just want to see more of what she is doing, click here to see her blog. You will find pictures of Amy and Chris in one of her blog post. 

Amy knows over 20 words (she loves to learn new ones and would repeat almost anything I say). She knows 10 animal sounds (dog, cat, mouse, lion, bird, duck, sheep, owl, cow, fish), and she knows more than 15 signs!

She is truly an amazing baby! We are so happy to have her. She cracks me up so many times. Her favorite thing is to hide now, so she honestly can hide behind objects and stay quiet for so long that I am worried. She is a good hider : ). I think I couldn't find her 3 times so far. But then she has the hiccups and all is solved : ).

Here are some pictures of the house:

The yard... well, we need rain. The garage is in the back.

Bathroom #1. This one has a bath, the other one only has a shower.

Amy's room

Kitchen

Living Room #1

Fireplace in the Living Room

Amy's "play room" (Living room #2)

This room has a humongous window. 

Front

Side

Back