Greetings, friends and family! Happy New Year to you! It’s been a warm winter in Slovakia, but we are finally enjoying our first real snow of the season.
UBI’s fall term was a success. I taught my usual courses, I led the staff and students, and our team continued our wide-reaching humanitarian relief and congregation support work. We were encouraged by the results of our fall fundraising, and we look forward to keeping the momentum going into this new year. As far as the institute is concerned, it was a very good fall.
As far as our family is concerned, however, fall was a bit chaotic.
Broken Bones
At the end of October, Eliana broke her leg. She was hanging maybe a foot and half off the floor, let go, and landed wrong. We took her to the E.R. and learned she had two fractures in her left tibia. She was put into a full leg cast for three weeks.
It was a long three weeks, but she was a very patient patient. She rarely complained, she accepted (then expected) the help she knew she needed, and she quickly learned to get around using one leg.
The break not only complicated our daily life, it also coincided with the Euro-American Family Retreat that we attend in Germany every year. We were thankful to get the cast removed right before the retreat began, but we were surprised to learn that children her age typically have walking problems after a cast experience like that.
At first, her brain seemed to think her cast was still on. For the first several days she refused to try to walk. Then, when she did start to take steps, she walked as if her cast had never been removed. This lasted weeks, and we were getting concerned. However, we’re now seven weeks cast-free how and she’s nearly 100% back to normal. She walks, runs, and jumps freely, but depending on what she’s doing she’ll still turn her foot and hobble a bit. She’s going to round of physical therapy, and the doctor tells us she’ll be just fine.
The Unexpected Expected
A couple of weeks before our trip to Germany, we got news that Katie’s grandmother, Grandma Bunny, was getting worse and was probably entering her last days. Hospice encouraged us not to rush over quite yet because you never know how long a person will hold on, even at the end. We kept to our Germany plans, but we left Slovakia understanding that we might need to fly straight on from there to the U.S. for a funeral.
All of this was developing as I was planning a trip to Ukraine to lead our students in UBI’s winter retreat. We kept running scenarios and counting days, wondering at what point I was supposed to just cancel (either the whole retreat or just my attendance). Eventually it became clear there was no way I could get to Kyiv in time, but I still planned the retreat and passed off the responsibilities to others.
Bunny died while we were in Germany. The news was somehow still a shock. Even when you’re expecting it the moment still feels so unexpected. We were thankful, however, to be surrounded by so many Christian brothers and sisters, and we were touched when a couple from the States we don’t even know offered to cover our tickets. The family of Christ is such a beautiful thing.
The funeral ended up being scheduled for a couple of weeks later, which gave us time to return to Slovakia, have Thanksgiving, get packed, then fly to California. Because of the timing, we decided we’d stay in the U.S. and spend Christmas with family—something we haven’t done in quite a while.
A Special Goodbye
The funeral was difficult but special. We were so thankful to be able to make the trip. Katie’s grandmother was a special woman, and her funeral brought many good people together. I was asked to officiate the services, and as I did I felt truly honored to have married into this wonderful family.
A Christmas for the Family Record Books
Immediately after the funeral, The Sickness began. Not just any sickness, but a stuck-in-bed-all-day, feverish, long-lasting, very contagious, terrible sickness. Katie’s mom came down with it first, and then Ellie got it. Then my dad. Then me. Then my mom. Katie’s sister was sick. Katie’s aunt and uncle got it. Justus came down with it. Multiple people at the church were out because of it. We were all dropping one by one. We held onto hope as long as we could, but in the end we were forced to cancel our weekend trip to Reno to see my family as well as cancel the Christmas Eve celebration with Katie’s. It was yuck.
Amazingly (suspiciously?), Katie never got sick with anything. She somehow survived sick children coughing in her face and on her food for days, and yet she still stayed well. We were all sure this story would end with her getting too sick to travel right before we needed to fly home, but it does not.
Thankfully, our household (Katie’s mom plus our family) was well enough to enjoy Christmas morning together, and we did manage to see a few other people before we flew off on the 28th. But goodness, this Christmas was one for the family record books!
We’ve been back in Slovakia since the 30th. Justus began school Monday, and UBI’s spring semester begins next week. I head right into four weeks of teaching and will also be making a border trip to Ukraine to take care of some documents. The new year has begun and time marches on. But what a fall, what a Christmas...
Thank you all for your encouragement and support. We love you and look forward to hearing from you whenever you have a chance.
Until next time,
Brandon and Katie
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