Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Two days left in Budapest

Well, our Hungarian adventure is almost over and our American adventure will shortly begin. What an adventure it has been!! While there are many things on this trip we have certainly enjoyed, there has also been many things not so enjoyable.

Mom and Dad McManus left this morning and for only 10 days here they sure got a taste of Budapest. Last week we took the subway to the Parliament. After coming out of the station, Thelma realized that their camera was gone! She remembers that someone behind here on the escalator was too close. He stole her camera! So they bought another one about 4 days ago. Well, I'll let Thema tell the rest of this story as she tells it so well.

"Interesting story....as we were going out for pizza, we were kind of smashed into a trolley train car. As we were exiting, Kristin had all six kids in hand and I was following up behind them. Tom and Ron were getting off the other exit. I noticed Kristin and kids moving up ahead....but where was T & R? I looked into the window and saw a commotion. It looked like Tom and Ron were wrestling with a man or two. Then I were grunting and something like...."He's got my camera...my camera.... and then more shoving and pushing and Tom holding the door open and Ron shoving and pushing...in fact there was so much shoving and pushing going on...I thought..."Oh no, not the camera we just bought!" Then I thought...I've got to get on quickly and help fight...then I saw Tom and Ron jump off the train....all the while the kids are safe with Kristin walking to Pizza Hut. I saw Tom and Ron were O.K. but did he have the camera? Yes, he did....after the two men (R&T) wrestled for it. A man had his hand in the camera case on Ron's belt under a shirt outside of his pants....the young man had the camera...then the action started... YAHOO...we have a camera. After the 1st one being taken, I think that Ron thought "NO WAY...IS ANOTHER CAMERA BEING STOLEN!" However, Ron was willing to step down and let it go if it got very ugly. Actually Tom went back on the train after exiting and held the man's hands while Ron tried to grab the camera...but then Ron had grabbed the guys hands too......This adventure is truly an adventure. The camera was eventually picked up off the floor and they exited as the doors slammed shut. Donna Steenbarger warned us to hold on to our stuff and she was right.When we told Kristin, she felt bad because she missed getting into the foray."

Also, please continue to pray for Gage. This past Saturday, Ron and Thelma took the six kids for a couple hours to give Kristin and I a break. They were out walking in a park and Gage must have turned his head funny and he is in a lot of pain. Gage bent over and started to moan. We got him into the tub to relax his muscles, as well as ice and heat. He was in a lot of pain. He is not doing much better and will be okay. He is very sore in the neck and can hardly turn his head.

Kristin and I just got back from the US Embassy and everything went well. The children will have dual citizenship. This afternoon we will receive the visa's and get back the passports. We will pack tomorrow and fly Thursday. The 3 newest members can't wait to go to America!

God Bless and again thank you for your prayers.
Tom, Kristin and Family

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Nemeth Family Open House May 23rd

Come And Meet The Newest Additions
We will be having an Open House to celebrate our three newest members- Monika Grace, Kira Alexandra, and Drew Laszlo. We are so thankful that God has chosen these three precious children to be part of our family!! Please join us at our house anytime between 1:00 pm and 5:00 pm on Saturday, May 23rd. 1651 Old Thicket Court, Greenwood, IN 46143
Phone: 317-887-2931

Saturday, May 2, 2009

It's official, the children are ours!!

Hi everyone,
Well, we are in our last week here!! We can't wait to get home. We miss family and friends, normalcy, our home, etc. (oh, the kids said our dog Lilly also). This past week we went to get visa photos and ordered passports for the kids. They also had a doctor's visit per the US assembly's requirement. Most importantly, we signed the paperwork making Monika Grace, Kira Alexandra, and Drew Laci Official Nemeth's!!! We are so excited! They are doing very well.

Kristin's parents (my favorite in-laws) came a week ago. They're only 5-10 minutes up the road and we've had a great time together with them. They've sure gotten a taste of Budapest in a short time. We are very thankful and grateful to have their support and help with this adoption.

Last Monday we took a boat tour on the Duna (Danube in English) River. What a beautiful city from the river we saw and the history we learned behind the city was amazing. We settled on Margaret Island we enjoyed the open grassy area and the kids played.

Cooking here has been a real challenge. We can't read what things are so we are hoping we buy the right thing and put in the right amount. Many things are not found here in the grocery stores that we take for granted in America. For example, for the first few weeks we thought we were buying ground beef when we were actually buying ground lamb. Of course, no one in the grocery store speaks English. All their spaghetti is made with egg noodles, you can't find any peanut butter here. This is a "green" country - no paper plates, cups, etc. here at all. One thing that is difficult to find here is Mexican food. Well, last week we found Iguana Mexican restaurant only two blocks from the US Embassy. AND it was GOOD!! The weather has continued to be great here- low to mid 70's just about every day.

It's interesting that when we first got here it was the off season and no one spoke English. Now that the weather is warmer and Spring is here, I'm noticing a few English speaking tourists. What little Hungarian I know, I learned from my family when I was little. But I noticed that some of the words I used back then with my family are different and not used today in Budapest. The language has certainly changed slightly over the last few decades.

Well, Thursday we will be arriving home in Indianapolis late afternoon.
God Bless and thank you for all your prayers and support. God is praised for this adoption as HE and HE ONLY made this possible. We look forward to serving HIM as a family of eight and how HE will use each one of us in the years to come.

In Christ, Tom