It's not goodbye

Good-byes always make me cry.

                                                                              
and this one was no different......

                                                                     
 but we weren't really saying good-bye, we were saying "iki".....

                                                                             
....which is roughly translated "until we meet again".

Tomorrow I'll tell you about Cork....

MOVING!!!

It's almost time to go! This week has been busy with packing and saying good-byes. I'm so thankful for the church here. All of our friends have been so kind and helpful. They did a very sweet good-bye party for us, complete with touching songs, mocking skits and a beautiful cake.

A surprise choir sang "Pioneer"

Zevile was playing Pastor and Jurate was supposed to be me!

Then it was on to packing boxes and moving furniture

Thank God for friends (and an elevator!)

                                                                             

                                                                            

                                                                                  

                                                                                

                                        

                                                                   

                                                                             

                                                                               
                                         Zevile and Jurate (and Kamila) came to help me clean.

                                                                                   

                                                                                 
                                               ....and tomorrow we fly to Cork! Pray!

Can you read the writing on the wall?

I see a lot of graffiti here in Vilnius. Most of it is stupid.

It's not even attractive.

                                                                             

                                                 
and when they hit the church I get very annoyed!  (No, my husband is not doing the graffiti, he is cleaning it off.)

                                                   
Occasionally it's funny...

                                             
but can you read what they painted here?

                                         
Humble? Now, I can't pretend that I understand what was going on in the mind of the delinquent who decided to write that, but it stopped me in my tracks. Really, I made my husband pull the car over so that I could take a picture.  Made me think of James 4:6..."God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Not a bad thing to remember.

Vilnius

Keith and I went for a walk downtown the other night. Vilnius is such a cool old city, but after living here for 11 years you get so used to it and take all its quirkiness for granted. We had such a great time strolling around and talking about the experiences we've had here.

Gediminas Castle

Cathedral and Bell Tower

We grabbed some coffees from our favorite place "Coffee Inn"                                                             
  

Then proceeded to wander the streets of old town and take in the sights....

                                                                           
Uzupis is a unique section of old town (actually they consider themselves to be their own repuplic and have their own independence day - April Fools Day - and their own constitution which declares such rights as #12 A dog has the right to be a dog. #33 Everyone has the right to cry. and #29 No one can share what they do not possess.)

                                                                         

                                         
You have to cross the river to get to Uzupis and they have the loveliest tradition on the bridges. When a couple here marries they take a key and lock it to the bridge and then throw the key into the river symbolizing that they are now locked together in a permanent union. So the bridges are all covered with padlocks, some old and rusted, some new and shiny.

                                       

                                     
One year on our anniversary we added our lock to the bridge and it's still there!                                                                           

                                                                           

Vilnius has its own charms


unexpected courtyards

exposed stonework

                       

funny statues

flower boxes

                                                                                                                  
It's hard to believe that we're leaving....

So much stuff....

It's funny. I never think that I have a lot, until I try and pack it. Then I realize that I have way too much. I've already down-sized several times in my life. 11 years ago when we were preparing to leave the States I had yard sales and gave away so many things - I thought that I was truly living lean. A few years ago after my children left home to get married or study I purged again. It felt good to declutter (is that really a word?)  Then last year we moved to a small one bedroom apartment. I thought that I was being ruthless with myself and had gotten rid of all the unnecessary items. But now I'm moving again, and this time it's another international move, where you need to list every item that you are packing. It's forcing me to really think about the items that I'm bringing, and if it is worth it to hold onto them.

All of these items have been sitting in boxes in our garage for the last few weeks - did I miss them? Not so much.

                                                                          
How much do you really need? And how long do you hold unto items that haven't made their way out of boxes in the last 8 years and you're not sure you'll ever use again but somehow they have a claim on you? Like these, ahem, bunnies and cows? Hey, they were cute back in the late 1980'S - and some I loved making, and others were gifts from dear friends, but they don't quite fit in my house style now that it's 2012....

                                                                             
Or what to do with the curtains that I had specially made for our last apartment? They didn't fit on the windows for our current apartment, and I have no idea where we'll be living in Cork. (That will be a post for another day.) So, do I keep them or toss them?

                                                                          
How do you decide? Does stuff have an expiration date?

Pinning

     To tell the truth I avoided Pinterest for quite a long time. While it sounded great - all kinds of eye candy to feast on - my daughter Carly had warned me how many hours could become lost once you log on. But one day when I was in need of some quilt inspiration I decided to check it out. Uh-oh, I was hooked. So many great ideas. Soon I had more plans than I could imagine.

     Now, I am quite a procrastinator. (No lie, when my mother was pregnant with me she had her labor induced on July 2nd, but I wasn't born until the 4th.) I have been interested in starting a blog for quite a while. My husband encouraged me to do it. Carly has been writing a blog, and she pushed me to do it as well. When we made the decision to go to Cork, I figured that it was finally time to jump in, but when to start? Before we move? In the middle of packing up our life? When we get there? I have no idea how long it will even take to get internet.

     Then along came "The Pinterest Challenge". It was just the kick in the rear end that I needed to start my blog. I only have one board on Pinterest - "Quilts in Question" I loved the greys in this quilt.



and I adored the "eat, play, sleep, repeat" description of a baby's life.



     When we began "the purge before the pack" my husband found a box of 6 handkercheifs that someone had given him. Since he's not a handkercheif kind of guy he was going to put them in the give away pile when I remembered my pin. Together with some other grey fabrics from my scrap bag they made a sweet little quilt. I had loved the "eat, play, sleep, repeat" quilt from the moment that I had seen it and had thought that would be a fun detail to add.

                               I played around with the squares, trying to find the right layout.

                                                                              
     I normally wouldn't choose grey for a baby quilt. I'm typically more traditional, but last summer I was making a quilt for a friend who was expecting and she was using grey for her nursery. I made this one and was surprised how much I liked it.

                                                                           
    Thanks so much for hosting this challenge and the opportunity to link up. I can't wait to see all the projects. Linking to Young House Love, Bower Power, Centsational Girl, and Ten June.

For the girl with blueberry eyes

     So, yesterday at the lake I got to pick blueberries. We used to do this all the time as kids growing up on Cape Cod. It was a bit easier there - they grew on high bushes and my knees and back didn't creak back then. I was telling my friends how my siblings and I would struggle to bring home the 8 cups needed for my mom to bake a blueberry pie. The blueberries were abundant, but the problem was keeping them in the bucket and out of our mouths.

     Yesterday my little friend E* came to me, smiled, and asked if I would give her my berries when I'd filled my cup. I, being the sweet, grandmotherly type that I'm aspiring to be, said, "no." But I did tell her that if she gave me her berries that I would bake her some blueberry cupcakes. She didn't, but her mother did. So this morning I was in the kitchen with my old stand-by muffin recipe, happy that I hadn't packed my muffin tins yet. Seriously, this recipe is super easy and never fails. I think that I got it out of an old Yankee magazine cookbook many years ago. Another benefit of this recipe is that you only need 1 cup of fruit.

FRUIT MUFFINS

1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 cup sour cream (regular)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1-3/4 cup all-purpose white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup diced fruit

Preheat oven to 375F (175C). Line muffin pan with cupcake liners or grease well and flour.

In large bowl whisk together sugar, egg, sour cream and oil. Whisk in flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in fruit. Spoon into prepared pan. Bake for 20 - 24 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

E* was happy.

You have to start somewhere....

Hi, this is Kerri in Cork, or rather it's Kerri who will be in Cork 3 weeks from today. Right now I'm still in Vilnius, Lithuania. My husband Keith is the pastor of a church here and we've been missionaries in Vilnius for the last 11 years.

I'm starting this blog to keep friends and family up to date on our lives as we start our latest adventure, pioneering a new church in Cork, Ireland.

We're really excited to go, but leaving sure is hard. We spent today at the lake with friends from church. It was a gorgeous, sunny day - not that common in Lithuania. We enjoyed picking blueberries, turning our hands and mouths purple. We ate too much shashlik (similar to shish kebab) and watermelon, splashed in the lake, and played games, but in the back of my mind was always the thought "this is the last time." I sure am going to miss them!