Croatia bethel

    We had a relaxing stay at Katas house. She made us fresh crepes In the afternoon with homemade cherry jam. We relaxed by the river and the kids enjoyed a diving board built on the waters edge for jumping in . We drank a beer in a deck above a waterfall , went back and took a nice nap then went fora walk. A perfect day. Where the guest house is located is in the most magical place. We walked past all these brick and stone homes and gawked at their amazing gardens. All the people seemed to be sitting on their porches or watering their roses or doing something outside. This landscape is my favorite , the rolling kind of hills where everything grows. Jimmie wanted so badly to make a new friend here. We saw two of the cutest old ladies catching up on the Croatian gossip on the corner and of course Jimmie had to introduce himself. Anna and Marie didn't speak any English but they were curious about us also and I could tell if only we could speak the same language we would have sat that there all night talking to them. Anna was barely 5 ft tall with glasses a black scarf over her grey hair and beady kind blue eyes. Jim wanted so bad to pick people's brains on the war. The blown up houses were still everywhere even up the street from where we stayed. I personally would not feel comfortable asking about it thinking maybe it's to personal or painful. Jimmie has no reservations he wants the inside story. He would have made a great reporter. 

    That night we looked in the year book of Jehovah's witnesses and read experiences of the brothers and sisters during wartime here. We discovered there is a bethel in Zagreb. It was perfect ally situated in our path so we decided to stop in the next day. 

   The drive was interesting. Jim still obsessed with the war torn houses decides we can drive through Bosnia on the way, it's only 7 more minutes he says. Sounds legit. Long story short I started getting suspicious when the GPS wasn't turned on. You do know where your going right? I can always tell when he's full of it. He does this weird thing with his lip, it gently curls up on one side and his eyes get shifty.   So here we are in the long line crossing the border to Bosnia. We get up there . " can we get our passports stamped?" Oh so the truth comes out! We drive out of our way and wait in a long line so we can get our passports stamped! He asked innocently as if he didn't know better, " you can go to Zagreb this way right? " "no, you need to turn around and go the other way."  So we have been to Bosnia, enough to get a stamp turn around and then wait in the line to have our passports inspected once more. Lets just say we all had an unlimited potty pass for the rest of the road trip. 

    The bethel tour in Zagreb was wonderful. Our little German tour guide spoke great English . For anyone who doesn't know what bethel is its name means house of god. It's a place where bibles and bible literature are made or in this case translated. This is a small bethel with only 64 people living there. There was a very small but really moving video and museum on the history of music in worshipping Jehovah. It was really touching, we all enjoyed it very much. We met many of the workers who were so friendly warm and curious about us. They don't recall anyone from California visiting. The visit was very educational and definitely built appreciation for the world wide work and the all the effort that goes into spiritually feeding people of every language. It takes 4 montages to complete the translation of each watchtower magazine into the creation language. It's only been since 2006 the new world translation was available in the Croatian language , that really surprised me, but in a way I loved knowing it because some people say we get our beliefs because we have " our own bible" our Croatian brothers and sisters share the same faith built on something like the King James Version.  There are only about 5,000 witnesses in Croatia with 5 million population if I remember correctly. Hmmm maybe I need to learn Croatian and go help . The Kingdom Hall had windows and I asked if they build the new ones with no windows like they do in America. The response " no it's not violent here like it is in America yet" interesting I thought. Perception is everything. So many people including myself buy into the illusion we are living I. The most sophisticated safe country in the world. Wrong. Perhaps one of the most violent. We can't hardly send our kids to school or a movie theatre with out a nagging feeling of danger in our gut. Europe is no paradise either yet, but it can sure feel that way at times. Of course the real paradise is on its way , I can't wait!!! 

    Today we are in Venice , it's hot , it's beautiful . Oh this is such a treat , again I'm reminded the best part is that it's a therapy for our family. We have the peace and quiet we need to sort out our issues. We are learning every day and getting better,we are keeping calm and carrying on, in Venice at the moment, which helps. Tristan has came up with an affectionate nick name for cole and calls him bub. He even had started calling me mum instead of mom, and I get the feeling it's meant with affection. There still are blow ups and with the grimes they can be pretty intense but we are learning how to deal with each other and be kind to each other and live love and accept one another with our faults in a way that doesn't leave us feeling like raging lunatics.  I try to impress on the boys, and remind myself, it's more important to be happy than right. Don't assume someone has a wrong motive when they do something, give the benefit if the doubt. And  things like this I'm trying to practice and teach with the absence of outside pressure so that we can bring this home as the ultimate souvenir.