Language Learning
Xhiljana & Friends
Teacher Shelby
Some scenes from one of the classes Shelby is teaching. She LOVES teaching and it shows.
Scenes from Thanksgiving
Here are the pictures from our Thanksgiving Day in Elbasan Albania.
Xhiljana (Jillian) dressed up warm for a cold walk to school.
Bundled
Each morning, Jillian walks about a 1/2 mile to school with her dad and get's picked up around noon by either her mom or one of her siblings. These walks have been pretty cold and wet the past few days.
Thanksgiving in Albania
"How we thank God for you! Because of you we have great joy as we enter God’s presence" - 1 Thessalonians 3:9
The Shack family was very blessed to host a Thanksgiving dinner with Bani, Zamira, Eklesian & Sajmon Verçani, Julie Shelley, Kerri Nixon and Rose Shero.
We truly are so thankful for each and every one of you. We pray that you are having a blessed Thanksgiving. Our Thanksgiving Day happened to line up perfectly with Albania's Independence Day so it was a holiday for everyone! Praise be to God, for He has done GREAT things!
Late-night Elbasan
Shelby and I took a light night walk after the ever present rain ceased for a bit to capture a few shots of our favorite street, Rruga Egnatia (Ignatian Way).
Altaoma (Great Grandma)
Robbie was very excited to meet his Altaoma (Greatgrandmother) for the first time in the village of Betzenrod, Germany. She will turn 90 years old in a few days!
About to drive our "new" Nissan Patrol onto the overnight ferry to cross the Adriatic and get back home to Albania.
Car Issues
Several years ago, our family was on a road trip when the kids asked us to list off all the cars that we have had - an interesting exercise. We started listing them off, saying how long we had a certain car and why we had to get rid of it (usually because it broke down and wasn't worth repairing). It was somewhat surprising how many cars we went through. Partway through the list, a young Robbie said, "Dad, you've got car issues." :-) "Well, son, when every car you buy has more than 150,000 miles on it, you're gonna have issues."
Robbie and I, along with our friend Bani, trekked to Germany to try to hunt down a cheap used car for our stay in Albania (not a good idea to buy a car in Albania for a host of reasons I won't get into). We were blessed to stay with some of Tanja's German relatives, Simon and Simone Lang. They not only hosted us but were an incredible help with the not-so-simple process of buying a car and getting it registered for export to Albania.
It is safe to say we had "car issues" on this 5-day turned to 2 week adventure. The first car we bought broke down the next day, thankfully, before we set out to return. After many days of trying to get it repaired and failing, we finally got our money back and ended up purchasing the 2002 Nissan Patrol in the picture above. It has been around the block a few times and has a LOT of miles but got us down through Austria, the Alps, to Florence for an overnight stay with my brother, on down to Bari, Italy and onto a ferry and over to Durrës, Albania. We are home with a vehicle! One that should be well made to travel on rough Albania roads. Now we get to engage in the complex process of trying to get a car registered here, hoping and praying for at least a short break from more "car issues".
