Introducing...

Kathryn Piper Davis

We joyfully welcome Piper into the world! She came on Wednesday morning, around 8:36 am Prague time, and weighed in at 3.72 kilos and 50 cm, or 8 lbs. 3 oz. and 20 inches. Piper and Shanna are both doing great.

We had been planning to be induced on Saturday, so we were a little surprised when Shanna woke up in the middle of the night and felt some regular contractions. Laura came over and stayed with Lucy and Clark while we were at the hospital. We got there around 5 am and Piper came at 8:36.

The kids paid their first visit after school yesterday too.

Thank you for all your prayers for this new little one! We're glad she's here!

Burns Night 2008

One (maybe the only) advantage of not yet having a baby was that we were able to go to Burns Night over the weekend. This was our 2nd year and has become one of our favorite events. The Scottish teachers at Riverside put on a fantastic event, celebrating their famed poet Robert Burns. This year was very special because we fielded a whole table of our friends who were brave enough to trust our opinion from last year. There was everything Scottish you could imagine, and our conversation for awhile (at least at the guys' end of the table) was focused on the other 2 Scots we know - William Wallace ("Freedom!") and Sean Connery (Jeopardy skits from SNL).
There was the grand presentation of the haggis, complete with bagpipes... Haggis - what is it, you ask? We were told not to ask and just eat it. Not too bad, especially with the whiskey cream sauce.Then the music - and another special treat for us, as our very own church worship leader Ondra was part of the live band! He leads us faithfully at church every Sunday on guitar, but he's also the fiddle player in this Irish band and the bass player in another ska band. We're talking talented. Just listen...

There was much dancing and revelry, and you won't be surprised to know that Shanna got on the dance floor and got her Scottish groove on with everyone else! That baby is going to come out dancing!

No baby yet...

But we are excited to welcome to Prague - David and Sarah Baker! These guys arrived last week and are currently living at the Syvertsens' until they find a flat of their own. They'll be working with our hostel friends (Syvertsens, Jason, Carrie & Matthias) to start a new hostel in Prague called Mosaic House. You can read more about it on their blog HERE.

We also welcome Michael back to Prague, at least for the next month. Michael worked with another church for awhile and is pursuing coming back to Prague long-term. He's also a great musician and tried to teach me some of his mad guitar skills.

Angels are Singing

Alternate titles:

Our Work Here is Done

Spreading the Good News

Phil's new office

Shanna's new office

Yes, it's true! Starbucks has finally arrived! What began as a vicious rumor almost 3 years ago has become a glorious reality. Shanna and I had our first coffee (Phil) and Frappacino (Shanna) today. There was a little bit of blue sky. The sun was shining through the clouds. The wi-fi was up and running. I almost cried.

I think it's cool that we planted Faith Community Church before Starbucks. I like that we beat the #310 company on the Fortune 500 list.

The Baby Tower

While Shanna got her haircut yesterday, I took the kids to the infamous Prague Radio Tower, the towering monstrosity over Prague that looks like a retro-futuristic Jetsons rocketship about to take off. You can take an elevator about halfway up which has some nice views of the city - and there's a restaurant/cafe where we had some ice cream.

Years ago an artist tried to "soften" up the image of the tower by putting these crawling babies on it. It's now officially creepy looking. Lucy said she hoped Pinky Ruby wasn't going to be that big.

Holding Pattern

Shanna and I find oursevles in a little bit of a "holding pattern" - waiting for Pinky Ruby to come, trying to find activities to do to fill the time while not over-committing ourselves. This weekend we took time to do a couple of fun things. Saturday night our friend Tall Tim was playing one of his basketball games in nearby Podebrady, so we went to go see him. His team pulled out a good win, although it was weird to see Tim around taller people than him. This is a bunch of 12-year-old cheerleaders who were actually really good. Here's Tim (#17) trying to take the charge...

Click To Play

The "pep band" consisted of a guy with a bass drum and another guy with a small horn - headache-inducing stuff, but nonetheless a fun cultural experience.

Sunday morning we took advantage of the unseasonably warmer weather to take bikes to the park, where Clark finally got to try out his new Christmas bike. He did great!

And as for Pinky-Ruby, the doctor told Shanna today that she is "not ready to come out." (Shanna strongly disagrees.) Next appointment: a week from today.

Overdue pics

Making their Davis blog debut is the Dubbeling family, Scott and Holly and their 2 kids - Ashley and Ryan. Scott was my roommate at Duke senior year and a cause for much laughter. His wife Holly is a (get this) UNC grad but still a remarkably nice person. They came through Prague a few weeks ago and I'm finally getting around to posting the pictures.

We also got to see them in Austria while we were at our conference, since they spent several weeks driving around Europe, seeing friends and family, and skiing. It was a great time to see old friends and let our kids laugh and play together.

14.9 minutes of fame left

This week's Prague Post newspaper had a nice article on new communities of faith in Prague. They interviewed us and our friends the Springers. Here's the article: http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2008/01/16/spiritual-groups-gain-in-popularity.php

Who are you, and what have you done with my daughter?

Lucy lost another tooth last week (while we were on our way to Austria), and she got a beautiful haircut yesterday. I'm more and more enamored with my little girl every day!

Pinky-Ruby Countdown

Clark now has his own special chain, counting down the number of days until P-R's due date (now down to 8!) - he makes sure we are all watching him while he takes one paper chain off before bed. He's especially excited to no longer be the baby of the family soon!

OK, one more...

The Team Leaders

Representing the home office in Philadelphia, board members from around the States, and 12 different teams from around the world.

More Mittersill

We just got back into Prague from a great week in Austria. We're slightly delirious but glad to be home after the 7-hour journey (michelin.com said it was supposed to be 5 1/2) We have wonderful memories from this week, mostly revolving around sitting around, listening, and talking to others. Yes, we learned a lot about team leadership during the seminars, but I learned more from hearing the stories - the praises and struggles - from the other team leaders. Here are some other pictures, including a couple from our free day - we spent most of it at nearby Zell am See, getting Lucy and Clark on skis for the first time.

Beautiful Mittersill

We're halfway through our annual team leaders' retreat so far - one of my favorite things we get to do. It's been a great week so far, full of prayer for each other's teams, discussions on team-building, and good fellowship. Scotty Smith, pastor of Christ Community Church in Franklin, TN, has been here and delivering great sermons on Revelation and the eternal perspective we need - a message that is very timely for many teams, especially the Myhres in Uganda. It's such a blessing to have them here after all they've been through with Ebola in the last month. And they're going home via Prague, so they'll get to visit church on Sunday.

And the view here isn't too shabby either...

Team Leaders Conference

We leave tomorrow for our annual Team Leaders Conference with World Harvest Mission. Are we crazy for taking a trip with a 8 1/2 pregnant mom? Probably, but the doctor gave us the thumbs-up to go. And our missionary friends from Africa whom we've been writing about recently - the Myhres - will be there, and they've delivered plenty of babies. And it's in Austria this year, so we can drive!

We're excited to be with the other team leaders for a week of fellowship, meetings, and prayer. We'll try to update while we're there...

Hard-working Tooth Fairy

The last day of 2007 was also the last day for Lucy's full set of teeth - her first tooth fell out after several days of wiggling around. Lucy was lucky enough to have gotten a Tooth Fairy pillow for Christmas, specially made for her by our friend in Richmond, Miss Padgett. Perfect timing! The tooth fairy was quite resourceful and left her an American Eisenhower silver dollar in the money pocket. Lucy is loving showing off her new gap, and she's getting ready for tooth #2 to go any day now.

Fireworks, big and small

New Year's is always a big deal here in Prague. There's already fireworks that are set off all the time anyway, so when a holiday comes around that actually uses fireworks, you can expect lots of celebrating. Wenceslas Sqaure, in the center of the city, is known for being the place to go, as long as you bring your protective riot gear. Here's a picture I took from the Czech news service, showing what it was like...

And here's our slightly smaller version, in our garden at 6:30 pm.

Thank You!

Thank you to all of you who sent Christmas cards and special Christmas packages! It is so fun to get mail and especially photo cards. All of the presents filled our tree and encouraged our hearts. Papa and Yaya spoiled us all! Thank you for all of the special gifts!

ps- Aunt Loretto this is a special shout out to you... Lucy loves her new outfit SO much that I am having a hard time getting it off her... thank you!

Vacation Fun

This Christmas vacation has been so fun for us as a family to just... be. We have had many sock days (where you never really get dressed for the day and just stay in your socks), we have played lots of games, colored, made cookies, played with new Christmas gifts, watched videos and have really just enjoyed some much-needed family time. We have intermittedly seen friends, went to a few birthday parties and have been invited for a couple of playdates and dinners with friends.

One highlight of our dinners out included a night with the Falk family. Connie Falk is one of Lucy's teachers and her family has become dear to us. Connie and Al have three children Andrea (11), Mark (9) and Sara (7) and Lucy and Clark love each of them. They had us over for a very special dinner to celebrate Lucy and Clark's birthdays since they were unable to attend the party. We made homeade pizzas (a Friday night tradition in the Falk home), watched a Veggietale Christmas video, and had special homemade birthday cake. But most of all it was an evening of fun and great company for everyone. When we left (at 10:00pm - we really are on vacation!) Lucy turned to us and said "that was so fun, we made pizza AND had cake!" Thanks Falk's for a perfect evening.