Welcoming 2024

By New Year's Eve, thankfully, I was well enough to join the family for games and ringing in the new year. We spent a leisure day snacking and playing. We have a tradition of binge watching the Jurassic Park series, so that was playing while we tackled a puzzle, assembled legos, played cribbage, mexican train, and whatever other game someone pulled out.

In the meantime, we had our countdown clock to mark the hours until midnight and provide a small prize to the balloon breaker while increasing the hype of anticipation. We also had our celebratory rootbeer floats--which Jozsef always makes a gargantuan one--and confetti guns to top off the evening when the clock struck midnight.

2024 is here! Praise God for another blessed year!

Fun for the Whole Family

We had planned on having a family fun outing between Christmas and New Year's Eve. A day to just play together--but not the usual games and puzzles that we have at home. We have an arcade not too far from home that has loads of video games--vintage and current, pin ball machines, and a great big stash of board games. It's very family friendly and appropriate for all ages. So we set the date, intent on playing the day and night away as the arcade has come and go privileges which made it easy to go after lunch and come home for dinner before returning for the night shift.

As things go, I got sick right after Christmas and was in bed for a couple of days. By the time our game day arrived, I was still unfit to attend, so I stayed home with the dogs while the others played. Not amazing, but I was glad they were able to go anyway. The gang had a great time.

After dinner, Nikolas and Bethany chose to stay home to make rum balls and watch a movie before calling it a night. John and the rest of them went back for more play time.

Hannah got tired around eleven so John brought her home, but Jozsef stayed out with the other three until just about closing time--1:30! They had such a great time and they were all so happy they were able to make some memories together. Maybe, just maybe, we'll try to go again next year, and maybe I can go too. :-)

Warm Christmas Wishes from Our Home to Yours

Greetings! In this advent season, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderfully blessed New Year! My prayer for you and yours is that you are well, that you know God is good—all the time, and that your souls are secure in our Savior’s hands. Not that every day isn’t The Lord’s, but in the Christmas season, there is an extra emphasis on Jesus as we celebrate His birth and the promise He brought with Him. What began in Bethlehem ended with the fulfillment of God’s plan in Calvary. Hallelujah! Here, in Georgia, we are saying goodbye to the beauty of autumn and embracing the cold that is coming in as we get closer to winter. Life is full here. With four adults and four children in the home there are many dynamics at play. The household is buzzing with activity daily and I don’t think we’d know what to do with ourselves if it was any other way. 😊. Jozsef is plugging away at his seminary program as well as working as a painter. He’s been enjoying learning the trade and developing his skills. He’s also an assistant to a local Youth Pastor—a space of teaching, playing, and leading that he fully enjoys! Nikolas is plumbing his days away and doing quite well. He’s also gained a girlfriend and a longer-term view of life as he gets closer to 21. Though the current economy is challenging both guys in their attempts to move forward in adulthood, they are setting goals and working towards achieving them. Connor and Sonja are in high school. Connor has taken to creating on many levels. He’s developed several chemical concoctions, made rings (nice ones too) out of copper, he’s even made knives and sheaths. To say he’s a hands-on guy would be an understatement! Connor enjoys knowing how things work. Sonja is an artist at her core. She loves creating on a different level. She’s a wonder at drawing and painting. She’s also taught herself to knit and loves to bake. Sonja keeps busy adding beauty to the world and taste to your plate. Riley is in Jr High while Hannah is finishing elementary school. Riley enjoys challenging his Lego building and Bushcraft skills. It’s an interesting spectrum but a fun one. 😊 Riley is a sweetheart with a great sense of humor. He turned 13 this year, entering a new level of growth, and we’re pretty excited about that. Hannah is a budding beauty with a servant’s heart. Nothing pleases her more than to complete an act of service and to be appreciated for it. She’s such a doll! Hannah is also practicing her drawing skills. She’s using both traditional and digital mediums. I’m excited to see what she develops in skill. Kellogg’s Garden Supply is keeping John busy and stretching his skill set. With the frequency of change in our economy, supply chain, and retail environments, there is much to adjust to and to reinvent in his role with the company. Though the job is demanding, John is enjoying puzzle solving and is thankful for his job. On the side, he’s maintaining and improving the house—thankfully, he’s got help. John, Jozsef, and Nikolas used all their skills (and then some) and built a bathroom from scratch this year! It was a major endeavor and quite a blessing. As for me, my “job” is constant yet ever changing. Being wife, mom, teacher, homemaker, and church participant keeps my days and calendar full. I did run a couple of childbirth preparation classes this year—what a blessing! Am I done? I can’t say. I’m just following the path God sets before me. If it was a short season, I say thank you. If there’s more to come, I welcome it. Either way, it’s a gift. 💕 We are so blessed—challenges and all. If you know Jesus, may you rest knowing that’s He’s still writing your story with new mercies every day. If you have yet to meet Jesus and want the security of salvation He offers, I pray that you surrender to Him today. Romans 10: 9-10 if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 💕 May each of us find many blessings to count in 2024. Until Jesus’ Return, Gina and the rest of the Bartok Brood—-John, Jozsef, Nikolas, Connor, Sonja, Riley, & Hannah

Christmas Day

In our house, Christmas Day leisurely begins with egg casserole and the opening of stockings while people ready themselves for group gift opening. After Bethany arrived, breakfast was cleaned up, and drinks were poured, everyone settled into the seating area of their choice for gift opening. One by one, we open a gift--youngest to oldest--so that we can all see who got what and really enjoy the gift. There were many wonderful gifts this year (honestly, that's true every year). Some were thoughtfully purchased while others were lovingly created.

Riley handcrafted a wooden gun, which was much more detailed than the pictures captured, and a wooden face that he gifted to Jozsef and said that the face is one Jozsef makes when he's satisfied. :-)

Sonja took a photo of me and replicated it in colored pencil--she did a fantastic job! Her photo realistic art is on point!

Connor handcarved a trophy for John and I. His hat stack was super well done and impressively realistic. He told us that he gave us the Hat Award for successfully juggling many hats in our parenting roles. :-)

We all very much enjoyed spending the day opening and reviewing our gifts, taking a break for a light lunch, and ending just in time to create dinner. John had plenty of help (truly it takes a team) in crafting a delicious sushi dinner for the lot of us.

We introduced Bethany to poke bowls and thankfully, she liked it. We had a wonderful spread of rolls, bowls, and nigri topped off by sorbet. We contentedly spent the reaminder of the evening lounging together. Christmas had come and gone in a blink! How thankful we are that we get to celebrate Jesus' birth!

Christmas Eve

This Christmas season we had a division we've never experienced before. For much of 2023, we've been in church transition. In the summer, we officially left the church we'd been at for about three years. Jozsef began a paid internship with the Youth Pastor of another church and the children spent the summer doing activites with Jozsef at that church. They had a blast! We already knew a couple of families there and we were getting to know a few more so we stayed on at that church thinking it might make a good new church home. However, by the fall, we had learned more about the church and how it was running and ultimately decided that we needed a different, and smaller environment. We found a great little church and have been working on transitioning into that community. This type of transiiton is tough to make over the holidays as many of regular aspects of the comuunity are off scedule and often on pause. However, the people of this new church have been very welcoming and we look forward to getting more involved with the new year.

The holidays were really nice at the our new location. The Worship Pastor set up an Advent schedule that provided for a different musical presentation each Sunday of Advent. For instance, one Sunday was a Blue Grass Worship while another was the Christmas Choir singing. It was a wonderful display of musical celebration. Jozsef was unable to attend much of the seasonal sessions because as a paid intern, he's tied to a different church. We knew this day may eventually come as his desire is for ministry. We tried to stay with him as long as we could, it was just time to part ways. Hopefully, one day in the future, we'll be in the same church home again, but for now, Jozsef has his primary church and we have ours (Nikolas has decided he prefers the smaller setting that we chose). We'll still have times when we are at Jozsef's church with him. We still very much appreciate the Youth Pastor he works with and we assist with certain activites while the children attend the event. And whenever he can, Jozsef steps aside from his regular and joins us at our little church for a different kind of experice and to be with us. Thus, Christmas Eve was our first split holiday. Jozsef worked the morning service at his church and then joined us in the evening for candlelight service. It was great to have him with us. Jozsef knows people in our little church too, so it was really nice for him to be able to catch up with them as well. Bethany spent the holidays with us also (she's claiming our little church as hers too and attends Sundays with Nikolas) so it was great to have the whole lot of us together. The service was packed and wonderful. The church was nicely decorated and they put out a wonderful finger foods spread for the congregants to enjoy. The worship was heartfelt and put everyone in readiness to celebrate our Savior's birth. We snagged a couple of photos just before the house was packed--truly, there was standing room only--and I"m glad we did because I really didn't get too many photos this holiday season.

After church, we returned to the house for a charcuterie dinner, the saran wrap game, the opening of one gift, and a movie to close out the night.

By then we were happy to turn in in anticipation of Christmas Day.

Sweaters and Golf Balls

Christmas parties abound in December and this year we experienced a party like no other we've attended. The youth group had a tacky Christmas party complete with ugly sweaters, mismatched outfits, and a very special putt putt course customed designed by the youth pastor and his team (Jozsef included).

There were nine golf holes spread throughout the church for the teams to wind their way through, one challenge at a time. The holes were very creatively designed--I wish I had been able to take more photos of them.

John helped man golf holes while I helped in the kitchen--we served breakfast foods to the children as it was a brunch style event.

It was loads of fun and Sonja even managed to get the third best score!

Holiday Happiness

December, being the notoriously busy month that it is, is a time when a little bit of everything pops up--some things are planned, and some are just happy surprises. :-) I'll highlight here some of the smaller, but no less joyful, moments of the month. Nikolas found a vintage sleigh and brought it home for me. He thought I might like it as a decoration--he was right! Sonja helped me to clean it up and retore it and now it sits on our front porch. Sonja did a fabulous job with the lettering!

There's a rig owner in our locale that all out decorates his big rig--he even puts a loud speaker and great Christmas tunes on it--and then spends the while of December spreading Christmas cheer. Sometimes you'll pass it on the road, and sometimes you'll randomly find it parked in a lot somewhere that people can enjoy it. He's known as Chritmas Pete adn he's SO much fun! We look forward to finding him around town every year. This time, Sonja and I were enjoying a sunset when we noticed Pete across the parking lot :-)

Happy mail is a wonderful upside to the Christmas season--so much to appreciate and you never know what will show up! One of the packages we received had dry ice in it. And why is that exciting? Because volcano drinks are made with dry ice! The children had so much fun with these :-)

Shopping in December can be difficult and tedious or a treasure hunt upon you embark while looking for small joys along the way. One of the local grocery stores was helping to set the mood by allowing a cellist to play Christmas tunes for customer enjoyment--what a beautiful treat!

While shopping, we took the time to take in the sights--many areas of beautiful decorations, and some that were just fun. At our church, the Worship Pastor did a full scale string art nativity scene as a backdrop for the season, and one of the department stores had a great photo spot with a giant dinosaur. :-)

Yes, December is crazy busy--but we try to capture as many moments as possible as the month whizzes by. Sometimes, that means jsut stopping in at the small local coffee shop to enjoy a handcrafted delicious piece of art and sit a spell to rest while you catch up with folks you know.

It's a magical season!