A Work of His Hands

A bitter sweet moment

2008-05-26T15:12:00.005-06:00

I had a humbling moment at lunch today. Kevin was gone so it was just me and the kids. Kevin told them they could have some of my favorite drink, Schweppes Bitter Lemon, so they were having an unusual treat. (I don't care what the experts say, sugar makes my kids crazy so we don't usually give them pop.) In an unsuspecting moment my dear 6 year old looked at me straight faced and said, "Mom, did they have Bitter Lemon back in the 70's?" My jaw dropped and I stared at him wondering if he was really saying this to me. Yep, it was no joke he had picked up that I was his age in the 70's and was wondering if I got to have this wonderful beverage WAY back then! Homeschooling may not be my thing but this kid is getting a little too good at math.

10 Year Anniversary

2008-05-23T09:07:00.002-06:00

The summer team has arrived!!

2008-05-20T14:08:00.004-06:00

A week ago the summer project arrived in Rijeka! They've already been stepping out in faith, meeting students and building relationships. I've heard they've also been eating a fair amount of Gelato!

Vacation and a visit from Katie & Brenda

2008-05-17T10:04:00.006-06:00

OK...I know it looks like all we do is go to cool places and have fun because it's just easier to write about the fun things, but this time we really did go on vacation. We spent 3 days on the Istria Peninsula between Pula and Rovinj at the end of March. Afterwards we picked up Kevin's Mom and sister and went to Slovenia for 2 nights. It was so refreshing and fun to be with them and to relax after a crazy semester of ministry.

An Easter Visit From The Cooleys

2008-05-17T07:21:00.008-06:00

Also in March we had a very sweet visit from Ralph and Connie Cooley. Ralph was my CCC director at University of Idaho when I was a student. My first overseas ministry experience was a summer project that Ralph and Connie directed when I was a student. That summer project was foundational for cultivating God's heart for the world in my life. Over the years it has been such a privilege to have them as spiritual parents, mentors and dear friends.

They were in Germany meeting their daughter, Angela's fiance's parents. (That has to be terrible grammar, but you get the idea). Actually TODAY, May 17th, is the wedding so it would be easier to say they were meeting their daughters in laws. Though it was quite a drive they jumped in a rental car and made the trek to see us and visit our team. It was a wonderful time of encouragement and fellowship.

One morning we asked Ralph if he would take Caden out for a special time together. God has given Ralph a special gift of evangelism and in explaining the Spirit filled life or a life empowered and directed by God. It's become increasingly apparent this year that at 6 years old Caden knows all the right answers but we're not sure where his heart is. Just because his parents are in ministry and he knows all the stories doesn't guarantee he knows the Lord personally... so this was a great opportunity to reinforce the truth of God's love and forgiveness in his life. It was sweet to watch Caden when he came home with a prized drawing of the Spirit filled life on a piece of paper Ralph had torn out of his daytimer. Later when we asked Caden what the highlight of their visit was he thought for just a second and then replied that it was his time with Ralph at McDonalds. We are so grateful for the love and influence of Ralph on Connie on our whole family.

Connie and I whipped together a small feast to celebrate Easter.

A walk along the water near Lovran, just down the coast from Rijeka

At the Trsat Castle on a rainy day

MSU Spring Break trip and Porn Nation

2008-04-07T08:26:00.007-06:00

Here are some pictures from MARCH!!! I'm only 2 months late. I've decided it's unwise to make any promises to catch up on events here. Stint is proving to be an exciting, adventurous and exhausting ride through another culture. At times it feels like we've finally gotten the hang of living in Croatia and other times it seems we will never figure it out. In general though this has been a refining time of drawing close to the Lord and seeing our desperate need for His grace and strength. The sweet students and our team are making this one of the richest experiences of our lives. So with that short commentary I'll get on with the update. With 2 kids napping, one playing with legos and a hot latte at hand I may even get this posted. =)

These pictures are of the Montana State Spring break team that came in to help us with an outreach called Porn Nation. It was a huge success throughout Croatia with over 400 students attending just in Rijeka. Hrvoje downloaded some footage onto youtube that I will link here: (porn nation in Croatia).

Student Retreat on Solta

2008-03-24T07:42:00.008-06:00

It has been a LONG time since we've updated our blog! The last couple of months have been filled with retreats, visitors and exciting ministry opportunities! We've been energized by all the Lord is doing and exhausted by all the activity. Hopefully in the next few days we can catch up and share all the excitement and maybe some of the challenges too.

First... our student retreat in Solta (sounds kind of like Sholta) which is an Island across from Split. Students from Sarajevo, Zagreb, Split and Rijeka came together to learn more about growing closer to God.

On the ferry with Split in the background. The kids with Jon, Pete, Kevin and Josip.

Josip, Pete and Ivan enjoying the coffee, ambiance and fellowship

While the students and staff enjoyed the conference we enjoyed searching for the beach and things to entertain the kids.

A Dalmation feast prepared in our honor. It was amazing!

Behind Caden is the little fishing village we stayed in while on Solta.

A half hour before we left for the retreat the Lord provided a car for us! Honestly we had given up on finding a car. It was so complicated and tiring to try to find a way to make it work. Just as we had resigned ourselves to the bus and the mile walk to the grocery store a man from church offered to buy a car and rent it to us for the remainder of the time we are living in Croatia. We are so grateful! The Lord has provided and taught us many valuable lessons on depending on Him completely for the most basic needs.

I'm still trying to figure out how to do this but here are a few more pictures I think you can click this link: Solta'>Solta retreat

Rijeka's 1st International Church

2008-02-10T14:24:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had our first "International Church" service. Our stint team got together with another couple who are here in Rijeka with the Josiah Venture ministry for fellowship, worship and teaching from the Word. We also had a children's program. =)

Our guest speaker tonight was John Piper, worship provided by Youtube and the location was our living room. It was a great time and very refreshing since we haven't been to a church service in English since July.

These are our friends Sarah and Stevo Vuletic with their 3 kids Nina, Daci(Dot-see) and Marko. They have been such an encouragement to us during our time here! We share the same heart to see God's love and forgiveness spread through out Croatia and the world. I love their story! The brief version is that Sarah is American, Stevo is Croatian. They met in Germany going to Bible school, lived in America for several years until God called them back to Croatia to do ministry with the youth and college students in Rijeka.

Kids Around the World

2008-01-27T14:19:00.001-07:00

One of the greatest parts of the Eastern Europe Area conference was the kids conference that was going on simultaneously. Laurelglen Bible Church in Bakersfield, CA sent 16 people to plan, organize and run the childrens conference for all the kids ages 3-12. The theme of the conference was Kids Around The World in the 10/40 window. An area between 10-40 degrees latitude where the most unreached people groups live. God deeply ministered to our kids and us through this great team of servants from Laurelglen Bible Church! They were such a gift from the Lord! Our kids were loved and taught how they could make a difference around the world in the lives of children who don't have the opportunity to hear about God's love and forgiveness.

Isabella was too young for the kids conference but she charmed the Hungarian students who volunteered with the 2-3 year olds. Two of the girls above came to Christ through English workshops held in the summer in Hungary.

Tori and I with one of her teachers Amie Hardt. Amie and the other teachers taught all the kids to sign the songs they performed for the parents at the end of the conference.

Caden's Teacher Miss Florence wanted to know if she could take him home in her suitcase. Tempting... but we decided we couldn't due without his mischief and loves.

Caden with Mrs. Rille

Tori and Mia(Petra and Hrvoje's daughter) with Courtney

Here's a sample of the kid's program. Both Caden and Tori are in the front. Caden is on the left side kneeling in front and Tori is on the right side in the light top and pink pants.

Where in the world have the Kneeshaw's been???

2008-01-27T13:38:00.000-07:00

Matt and Jody McComas(partnership coordinators), Pete, Allison, Kevin, Kristi, Kali, Jon, Hrvoje & Petra

We've been in Hungary for 2 weeks of conferences. The first conference was our Mid-year stint conference in Vajta, Hungary where we connected with all the other stint teams in Eastern Europe for a time of refreshment and encouragment. Next we headed to Tihany on Lake Balaton for the Eastern European Area conference that is held every 3 years. This year 1,000 staff came together from Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Bosnia Hercegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and another country I don't think I'm supposed to mention.

Night of praise and prayer at the Area Conference

Translation booths at the Area conference

At our main sessions there were translators for those who didn't speak English. As we listened to the main speaker we could hear people around us with head phones on listening in their own language. During worship it felt like a little glimpse of heaven to hear other believers praising the Lord in many different languages.

In between the conferences we went to Budapest for lunch. It was raining so we didn't get to see much but the kids liked wrestling with the Lions on the Vaci (main walking street).

2007-12-24T02:03:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas

From Croatia!

"This is how God showed His love among us:
He sent His one and only Son into the
world that we might live through Him."
~ I John 4:9

"... that we might live through Him."

Living in Croatia this year has been such an eye opening experience for us, especially as we consider what it really means to "live through Him." Many of the things in our lives, which really are blessings from the Lord, have been stripped away. As we consider some of these things, a car, our house, hobbies and activities that bring us refreshment, God in His grace has shown us how often we try to live through these things and not through Him. We know this is a fine line as all these things really are gifts from His hand, but even these gifts can take our eyes off the One who gives true life so that we might live through Him. May you too, discover the joy of truly living through Him this Christmas season and praise Him for all the amazing gifts He has provided for you, especially the gift of eternal life!

Wishing You A Very Merry Christmas,

Kevin, Kristi, Caden, Victoria & Isabella

Santa's little Elves

2007-12-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

We found this through our friend Melissa's blog. We couldn't resist! Take a break from the Christmas rush and enjoy this. Just click on the link below:

Kneeshaw elfs

Can He Really Be 6 Already?

2007-12-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

Everyone always told us to enjoy these years with our kids because they really fly by ... well, they are right. How did this little guy we brought home from the hospital get to be six years old? What an adventure we have had with him especially when you throw two little sisters into the mix. One of the greatest adventures has been this year in Croatia. How many kids from Montana can say they spent their sixth birthday in Croatia? We all had a great time celebrating his birthday, today! It started with the kids waking up to a Christmas tree that Kristi and I put up while they were sleeping and ended with a big party with some of our friends and teammates. Dinousars seemed to rule the party as they came in the form of books, figurines, puzzles, and even made their way into the cake! That's right, Kristi whipped up a fire breathing dragon cake that brought ear to ear smiles to the kids faces. The fire part was my idea!Sweet cake and even sweeter friends!

Father/son birthday lunch with some of the birthday boy's favorite sea creaters ... squid!

How many six year olds do you know who crave squid?

Stopping long enough to pose for a photo in the midst of a wrapping paper frenzy!

Catching up....

2007-12-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

Be sure and check out the last 3 posts. I'm having a catch up day on blogging. We also added the link to the right of the screen so you can be notified when we put up a new post.

Thanksgiving party!!

2007-12-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

( If you look close you can see the little fingerprints in a few of the pies...oopps!)

I almost forgot to post pictures of our Thanksgiving party which was the same week as the English workshop in Rijeka. Here are a few highlights. We made 15 pies and other goodies to share with our Croatian friends about the meaning of Thanksgiving. We showed a fun video about Thanksgiving too. It's worth checking out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jiLgk-B9v4

Allison with our sweet and courageous friend Marta

A quick visit from Matt and Krista Mikalatos

2007-12-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

We had a fun visit from Matt and Krista Mikalatos this past week. Matt is the Worldwide Student Network Regional director for the Greater Northwest which technically makes him our boss right now. Kevin and I also went through directors training with Matt and Krista 6 1/2 years ago which makes them are dear friends too. It was so encouraging to have them come to sheperd our team and see the ministry first hand. We appreciate there friendship and their leadership in our region. Besides all that they are just plain fun to hang out with!

Allison and I got to drive up to Zagreb to pick them up from the airport. We had some extra time so we went in to the center and just happened to catch the lighting of the Christmas tree! Well atleast Allison caught it....somehow though I was standing right by it I missed it until we had walked about a block away and Allison asked me if I would take her picture with the lights of the Christmas tree in the background. So Allison saw the lighting and I almost did but it was still amazing timing!

English Workshops

2007-12-08T06:33:00.000-07:00

The last 3 weeks have been a whirlwind of ministry and visitors! During the Thanksgiving week while our team from University of Montana were visiting we started our English workshops in Rijeka. These work shops consist of 3 nights of presentations, discussion and relationship building. The topic of this English workshop was The Real You and included discussions on the masks we hide behind.

The following week the team travelled by an overnight ferry down the coast to Split to do the same outreach with the campus ministry there. I'll let Kevin tell a little bit more about the outreaches and students in another post but I thought it would be good to get some pictures up.

Kevin presenting at the English workshop in Split

Kevin(behind the guy in the white shirt) and Allison facilitating discussion

Kevin with Bojan, Zoran and Josip at the Rijeka English workshop. We love these guys!

The Rijeka and Split teams
A shot on the ferry. They left Rijeka at 7pm and arrived in Split at 6:30am!

There's a picture of the ferry

Sweet friends!

2007-11-19T09:03:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been so refreshing! Here are a few pictures of our friends from the UM staff team who are with us this week.

Jessie, Jamie, Stephanie and Kristi at the Russian Ballet

The kids enjoyed watching jetlagged people be silly

Allison, Stephanie, Jessie, Jamie and Kali in the Korzo one chilly night

Jon, Justin, Kevin and Pete got out of town and climbed a nearby mountain.

Special Delivery!!

2007-11-15T04:56:00.001-07:00

Jessie & Justin, Jamie and Stephanie all dressed up for UM's staff hunt during the Fall retreat

In less than 24 hours 4 members from our University of Montana staff team are coming to visit us in Rijeka!!! We can hardly wait! Wednesday night they were at Fuel, UM's weekly meeting, and Thursday morning they will get on a plane to begin the trek to see us. They will bring with them Christmas present from both our families and various things we can't get here like chocolate chips, OTC medicines, marshmallows etc. But mostly they will bring encouragement, refreshment and news from the team and ministry at home. They will link the ministry here with our ministry at UM in a tangible way. They will also get worked like crazy as they are coming during the busiest week of the semester. For 3 nights next week we will do an English workshop called Story of the Soul and then celebrate Thanksgiving with a party for our Croatian friends. I'll be sure to post some real pictures once they get here. I just couldn't resist the opportunity to show them all dressed up. =)

Hopes and Expectations plummet into the Adriatic...

2007-10-24T13:35:00.000-06:00

It had to happen eventually. All the hopes and expectations that I brought along with me to Croatia couldn't stay airborne for long once they flew directly into reality. I've been wrestling with this since we arrived, telling myself to buck up, this is Eastern Europe not "Africa". It's not as hard to live here as some other places. I've been reminding myself that I've longed to be here on stint for years and now I've finally gotten this dream. Somehow in my dreams it was different though. Groceries weren't quite so heavy and I picked the language up quicker. I thought we'd have a car soon after we arrived so I could take the kids on adventures and days of "culture". They would always remember there time in Croatia as positive and would want to be missionaries one day because of it. (OK maybe that one was a little lofty, but it could happen.)

I told Kevin the other day that I'm really quite disappointed with myself. I wasn't going to miss things, only people. It didn't take long for me to realize that everything in me craves comfort and convenience. "If we only had a car... this would be easier." or "if I only had one hour in Walmart...I could find everything I need." These are common phrases that flit through my mind throughout the day. Comfort and Convenience. Is this an American issue or a human issue? Either way it's been a revealing battle for me. What I want is to gladly surrender my comfort and convenience for the greater eternal weight of glory. But first there must be a battle and a dying of my self and wants... even in Eastern Europe where there are so many wonderful things.

There has been freedom in accepting that it's OK to be wrestling through these things. I'm right where I want to be and it's hard but that's OK. There is a great quote from my favorite missionary, Isobel Kuhn, in her book "In the Arena".

"Philippians 3:10 ("That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death." ) is experienced in reverse.

1. We are given a situation where in we chose to act as Christ would, that is, to be like Him in His death.

2. In that choice we shall meet with suffering - but unexpectedly discover deep, sweet fellowship with Him-the fellowship of His sufferings.

3. In that situation His Resurrection power will manifest itself.

4. The end of the whole matter will be that we have come to know Him, oh, so much better."

This encourages me, though suffering seems too strong a term presently. As I wrestle and the Lord reveals the junk in my heart it has also been a time of clinging to Him and remembering His promises. Truly a sweet time of fellowship. The bottom line is ...it's worth it. It's hard but encouraging to be in His grip as He squeezes me and reveals my greater need for His grace and strength.

OK here are a few pictures to lighten this post up a bit.

Our apartment

2007-10-19T15:27:00.000-06:00

I've had some requests for more pictures of our apartment so here they are. Taylor, who was on stint here the past 2 years, found this amazing place for us. It's on the 3rd floor (that's 5 flights or 60 steps) which is only bad when carrying groceries or more than one child. =) It has 3 bedrooms, one of which used to be part of the living room but the landlord added a wall and now we have a school room/office/guest bedroom.

The best part is that it is only minutes away from the rest of our team and about a 10 minute walk from the Korzo.

There is a courtyard in the center of our building.

Bidet Or A Good Reading Chair?

2007-10-18T13:12:00.000-06:00

When we first moved into our apartment I have to admit that the presence of a bidet in our bathroom seemed to be the biggest waist of space, not to mention the great potential it held for a future water fight among the kids. To avoid the later, I quickly decided to ask our landlord to shut off the water to this familiar Eastern European bathroom apparatus. Since then I have joked about filling it with dirt and planting some flowers; that is until last night. I rounded the corner to the bathroom, and found myself filled with the kind of pride that only a father can have in his son when I saw that Caden had discovered an even better use for the bidet. Who would have ever thought that a bidet would make such a good reading chair? Oh, and for those of you who are wondering how Caden's homeschooling is going, well he's reading! =)

Pula

2007-10-17T14:12:00.000-06:00

We ventured over to Pula on the Istria Peninsula on Saturday. The worst part was the 2 1/2 hour bus ride that made everyone sick but Caden. The best part was seeing the coliseum and other Roman ruins that can be found in the city. It was really amazing! We found a train to take us back to Rijeka. =) We won't be getting back on that bus anytime soon!

Welcome Back Party!

2007-10-14T13:40:00.000-06:00

With classes staring up for students here in Rijeka last week, we decided to throw a party! We had 30 students show up and really enjoyed connecting with many of them. They all really seemed to enjoy seeing kids running around and taking part in the party. Up to this point, we have only had singles or young married couples without kids working here in Rijeka. We are so excited to have students back in town and looking forward to many more parties!

To the Beach!

2007-10-10T15:21:00.000-06:00

Can you find Caden in this picture

The students arrived back in Rijeka at the beginning of October! It has been great to start handing out student planners and to connect with students who have either been involved in the past or who met one of the summer project students a couple of months ago.

It's also been really tiring and busy so this weekend I decided it was time to venture out a little bit with the kids. I had been wanting to take them to Kostrena which is only a 15 minute car ride...but we don't have a car so we took a bus, which is always an adventure. It was worth it as you can see from the pictures below. This is the first time the kids had been to "the beach". Most of the seaside here is either a part of the port or so rocky that they have made cement platforms that jet out into the water. We found a little piece of rocky beach where the kids could play. It was probably the last really nice day until Spring. I feel a little bad sharing these pictures because I know many of you who are reading this are looking at snow covered peaks these days. It rains and blows, a cold wind off the sea called the Burra, but the highs here are still in the upper 60's.