lets hear it for the girls....

lucy and miss jessamyn

i am so euro

Feeding Freenzy!

Today we had brunch again with Emily, Radek, and little Anna Lee. They invited us over for food and fun. Clark is smitten with Anna Lee and he likes to make flirty faces with her. She on the other hand likes him to chase her. They are quite a pair and have become fast friends!
Emily and Radek are friends of friends of friends. Emily is American and Radek is Czech and they just moved back from the States where the have been living for a couple of years. Our families enjoy one another and I hope we will have many more brunches in our future!

Thursday Fun

Many Thursday mornings I wonder what the kids and I will do for our morning adventure, and this week we headed over to Bohemian Bagel - a restaurant that has a small play area and serves yummy breakfast food all day. It is also one of the only places where you can get a bottomless Diet Coke! We joined our friends Emily and her two children Alex and newborn Georgia, Jessamyn brave soul with no little ones, and Emily and her little one Anna Lee. Clark and Lucy were in heaven!

Date Night!

This week we had the pleasure of dining with Carrie and Mathias. They run two hostels (Sir Toby's and Miss Sophies) here in town and are getting ready to open a third. They are people of great character and amazing gifts. Years ago when Phil and I met Mathias, he was talking about why he loves what he does and he said something a little bit like this....that he has an opportunity to meet the physical needs of travelers by providing a place for them, and then from that outpouring, hopefully emotional and spiritual needs will be met as well. Chris runs the Pub at Sir Tobys where night after night he gets to engage with travelers and just love on them a little bit.

Seven Years of Plenty

Shanna and I celebrated a big milestone on Monday - seven years of marriage! We went to our new favorite restaurant, a French place called Brasserie M. We think the M stands for "Mighty good meat," because that's what we get every time. It's been a great seven years!

I'm Lovin' It

As a Davis boy, Clark has inherited some sort of McDonald's gene that makes him predisposed towards flat, greasy burgers. His first sampling of one today sent his taste buds into overdrive. (Keep in mind that Lucy has never had one and refuses to try)

Swimming

Whenever I ask Lucy what she wants to do... Her response is always "we could go to the pool!" She is a girl after her my heart and LOVES the water. She would swim for hours. We have an indoor pool that we have been frequenting during the cold winter months.

Friends!

Here are two ladies I love spending time with - Sunny and Jessica. They both work with Project Antioch which is part of the Church of God. Sunny is a woman who I am always drawn to. She is sensitive, loving, and loves to talk about heart issues (and so do I). She makes me laugh and is becoming a dear friend to me here. Jessica, or Miss Red as she is referred to in our house, (because of her amazing red hair) is also a blessing to me on many levels. She too is becoming a great friend and is very inspiring with her artistic ability and love for the Lord. She also babysits for us at times and ministers to us by caring for our little ones so well. (Clark has a huge crush on her, his eyes twinkle when he sees her!) Both of these ladies have been transformed by God and I have so much to learn from them. I am so grateful for them. On a side note Lucy took this picture at Lydia's birthday party completely unassisted!

Party Time!

Today we were invited to not only one but two birthday parties! Yeah Parties!! The first one we went to was for one of Lucy's classmates Miyu. And then it was party time at our friend Lydia's house for her birthday. Lucy and Clark had so much fun playing, eating cake and just hanging with buddies!

smile

I guess we can take one more....

Budding Photographer

Lucy at the age of 3 has shown great potential in the photographic arts. Here are two photos from one of her recent shoots.

Clark and his buddies!

Clark hosted his first international playgroup this week... here he is with two of his new friends Anna Lee (1/2 CZ and 1/2 American) and Bruno (1/2/ French and 1/2 Hungarian). Our time included lots of cookies, lots of running and lots of kisses.... good times!

IWAP

Once a month I attend the International Womens Association of Prague. It is a non profit organization that helps promote friendship, and to help acquaint ladies with the local culture by organizing various activities and raising funds for charity. It is a cross between the Jr. League and Calendar Girls (the movie) . About 200 ladies from literly all over the world come for a morning a socializing and a general meeting which usually inculdes a speaker. I have met some really amazing women here and love the socializing time.

Snow and Hot Chocolate

We had fun in the snow this week. Lucy and Clark love to play outside and throw snowballs!

Then it was in doors to warm up with a cup of hot chocolate and marshmellows imported from the states!

It doesn't get much better then this!

Out to Lunch

Today I got to do one of my favorite things with one of my my favorite people. Have lunch with one of my dearest friends here in Prague, Jessamyn. She is an ex-cop from Washington state and moved to Prague with here boyfriend Mr. Dave. We always have great conversations and tons and tons of laughter!

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

I have received lots of phone calls, emails and questions inquiring about how my time was while Phil was away... first let me paint a picture for you - Phil, an amazing companion, was in Kenya for a team leaders retreat for 10 days (did you catch that - 10 days). I (Shanna) was left with two small and feisty little people (Lucy and Clark), in a foreign country (which is slowly becoming not so foreign), freezing temps (the coldest they have been in 50 years!) and sickness that attacked us. I could stop right there and demand lots and lots of sympathy.... but amazingly God met me and exceeded my expectations.

My prayer request was that I would not just survive but that I would thrive during that time... and by Gods grace I did. The first couple of days were very hard, I was lonely and very tired and sickness was at its height. I didn't think that I would make it. God gave me super human ability, I continued to remain tired but it all just clicked and it turned out being lots of fun. We had some play dates (Owen and Laura were our 4 o'clock play and dinner buddies), we rode all forms of transportation (which is no easy feat), everyone including me was dressed everyday and showered, and at the end of the day Go Fish and Snap were our games of choice. There were lots of laughs and some very sweet moments with the little peeps. I even got to have dinner with a couple of friends. I feel so empowered by the Lord that I was able to do this even under hard circumstances and it makes me appreciate my normal day to day so much more.

Thank you for all of your prayers and encouragement, phone calls, e-mails and drop bys... I needed you more then you will ever really know!
shanna

Suck in that belly

Getting ready to strut the runways of Prague fashion shows is our very own L. Clark Davis. He's sporting some blue cotton tights with cool knee patches. That's hot!

Crashing the Costume Party

Our upstairs neighbors Rita and Ben invited us to their son Adam's preschool's party at the mall play area. Got all that? Basically it was a chance for Lucy to wear her ballerina outfit again and work out some aggression with plastic car road-rage. Good times!









Check out Rita as the clown - adult costumes were optional. We opted out. Rita is going to be part of the new playgroup (see below), with her other son Bruno.

Saturday brunch

More friends of friends! While Phil was in Kenya, Emily and her daughter Anna Lee came over to hang out with Shanna one day. Emily lived in Charlotte for awhile (actually working at a restaurant just down the street from our old house), and she heard of us from one of her friends. She and her Czech husband Radek recently moved back to Prague.

They came over for Saturday morning brunch - we had a great time with them, and Clark and Anna Lee got along fabulously. Anna Lee is the first little girl who seems to be able to handle Clark's hyper antics and personal-space invasion.

Lucy took this picture while they were at our house. We'll be seeing a lot more of them, as Emily and Anna Lee are joining a new playgroup that Shanna and Laura are starting!

New Atlanta friends

One of our neighbors in Charlotte introduced us to her niece Heather before we left for Prague. She and her husband Brian, along with some of their friends, come to Prague every year through Priority Associates - a ministry of Campus Crusade. They let us know they were going to be in town over the weekend, so we had them over for dinner.

Shanna fixed her now-famous enchiladas, and we had a great time getting to know these guys. We had fun just laughing and hearing each others' stories. We hope to see them again in Prague soon.

Kenya pics

So I finally got my disposable camera's pictures developed. Here are two: the infamous monkeys (one guy found one sitting on his bed after he left his door open for a few minutes), and the plane I rode from Nairobi to Malindi. It was very Indiana Jones of me.

Big Blue

May I have a taxi please?

Lucy picked up her play-phone the other day and had a "conversation" that went like this...

"Yes, may I have a taxi please?... Nad Petruskou... Vinohrady... Yes... Bye"

That is basically word-for-word what we say when we need a taxi to pick us up. Nad Petruskou is our street, and Vinohrady (Vineyard) is our neighborhood. Didn't know she knew either of those.

Welcome Home Daddy

Lucy made a beautiful blue cake for Daddy's arrival home from Africa. It was yummy! She and Mommy also made signs for Daddy to read. We're all glad that he's back home in cold, snowy Prague.

Monkeys in Malindi

My week in Kenya is coming to a close – I’m leaving tonight for Nairobi where I spend the night, and then fly back home to Prague on Thursday. It’s been a fantastic trip – I have really enjoyed getting to know the other World Harvest Mission team leaders and their families.

While Shanna has struggled through bitter cold temperatures and sicknesses for her, Lucy, AND Clark, I have “suffered” through high humidity (I'd forgotten what that was), all-day meetings, and keeping monkeys off my hotel room patio. It certainly has been a busy week, but I can’t complain – there’s nowhere else I’d rather have January meetings than here in Malindi, Kenya.

The goal of our week was to re-develop the WHM mission and vision statements. We spent lots of time hearing from each team about their ministries, praises, and prayer needs. We prayed long and hard for each team (including Prague), and with all the stories we heard, we came up with new statements. They need to be finalized and approved, but we all felt really good about them, and it gives us more direction and focus on our individual teams.

We did also get to enjoy the weather and surroundings and spent lots of time talking to each other, brainstorming ideas over meals, and simply laughing a lot.

It’s been great, but I am definitely looking forward to getting home tomorrow and seeing Shanna and the kids! I’ve missed them so much and can’t believe how long it’s been. Thanks to everyone for your prayers, phone calls, and emails to Shanna while I was gone!

Phil