Hi! Another week has passed by, and I am here to tell you what happened. I hope you were looking forward to hearing from me! Let’s get started!

It was quite a busy week! Monday started with some office work but we left earlier to go to the beach. Skip and Donna took me to Huntington Beach! So it was finally my first time swimming in Lake Erie. Most of the people there thought that the water was cold but I thought that it was hot! We, Central and Eastern European people are just made differently! Everybody here is shocked that I enjoy taking cold showers and sometimes in the winter go swimming in the ice cold lake, river or dam. Anyways it was a gorgeous day! Sun was shining and the sky was clear! When we came back home we had dinner and I had a little bit of time to prepare to go out again. It was church council Monday. We met in the church and talked about things regarding the church. At the beginning pastor Eric said a prayer, read Bible, and led us in devotion on this passage. I was happy to be part of it and see how the church council in Brooklyn work. Currently, Garth is the church council president so he led the whole meeting.

Pastor Eric and I started Tuesday as usual by getting coffee at Duck Rabbit and talking about Bible lessons for the upcoming Sunday. The gospel text that we were thinking about was very well-known Jesus’s parable of the sower. I really enjoy discussing Bible passages with pastor Eric and I always look forward to Tuesday morning. And I also love Duck Rabbit because they do real coffee and not just this American coffee that everyone here drinks. So I can get my good double espresso! After that Jeff, the organist, came to pick me up because I was scheduled to spend some time with him. We have a wonderful time talking during lunch and then we went to see Cleveland’s aquarium. It was great! I saw so many animals that I have never seen before! The thing that I enjoyed the most was the shark tank. You could walk inside a tunnel that led through the tank. It was amazing! After we walked through the whole aquarium we still had some time left so we went to Cleveland’s art museum. The museum was so beautiful, huge and it was completely free! I enjoy going to art museums because there is just so much to do. I thought of my brother, he would definitely enjoy that. We spent there several hours. Jeff loves art and back when he lived in Paris he used to go to Louvre every Sunday (because Sundays were free in Louvre at that time). After that, Jeff drove me back to Hammond’s house. But it wasn’t too long before I left again! As I mentioned last week. Donna was looking for a new car. This day we went to buy it! She bought a 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee. It’s a nice car but way too big for what I am used to. Every time a get out of it I just keep falling out! 😀 Since we were close to The Brew Kettle where Skip works we went there to celebrate buying a new car with dinner and a good beer.

Wednesday was more focused on office work. I got to practice more songs that we sing with kids in Redeemer as well as a hymn that I was singing on Sunday. I also tried to start writing my article for the church’s newsletter but it ended up more on thinking than writing. On Wednesday we also visit one elderly church member Gloria. It was a nice visit.

On Thursday we went to Redeemer as always to do the program with the kids. We had fewer kids than last week due to bad weather but it made my day. I will tell you something about it at the end. I was doing music with the kids. I had prepared new songs and we had a great time! In the afternoon I did my laundry but it took me like 5 hours to do it! I am not used to dryers so I didn’t really know how long it should be in. And also I did my laundry in 3 loads. Okay, maybe sometimes I forgot to check how my clothes are doing because I was watching the crime series CSI: NY. 😀 Afterwards I finally wrote my newsletter article. During the whole week, Wimbledon was happening. The biggest tennis tournament. On Thursday morning before we left for Redeemer I watched the women’s semifinals in which played our Czech player Markéta Vondroušová. And she did win and advance to the finals! I was very happy for her!

Friday was more of a slow day. We did office work in the morning and also went to do some other things outside. We went to get lunch at Texas Road House. I had a steak and it was delicious! For the whole afternoon, I read a book. Next Wednesday we are doing book study so I needed to start reading this book. We are reading the book Have a little faith by Mitch Albon. I will tell you something about this book next week, so make sure you are reading the next post! I read a lot that day.

As the weekend started I knew that it will be really busy. But I enjoy being busy. I have more energy when I am doing things than when I am just relaxing all day. In the morning there was the women’s Wimbledon finals happening and guess what the Czech player Markéta Vondroušová did win it! I was really happy since I was following her Wimbledon journey and watching her matches. It was a great achievement! At 10 AM we had our first band practice. We formed a band to play at Carnival for Christ at the end of August. Carnival for Christ is an event hosted by the church for everyone who wants to come! In the band, we have 2 acoustic guitars, electric guitar, a bass, and a harmonica for some songs. Then of course singers. I will sing and play guitar. I enjoyed the practice and I am looking forward to playing more! Right after band practice, pastor Eric and I went to do a funeral. It was Millie’s funeral (I told you about her in my last post). There were about 50 people. I read a Bible text, pastor did a sermon and then we had lunch together with Millie’s family. For me, funerals are always emotional no matter how well did I knew the person. In the evening I went for dinner with the whole Karkosiak family. There was John and his wife Carolyn and their 3 children Katie, Andrew and John. Also, Katie’s boyfriend Andrew joined us. We had great food and listen to great jazz performed by Andrew, playing guitar, and his friends, playing saxophone and bass. I am really glad that Andy is also playing in our church band because he is really such a good musician! I had a great time!

On Sunday we went to church as usual. I did a song at the begging (this week I did a song called We Come To The Hungry Feast) and the liturgy during the service. We had snacks after the church prepared this time by NSS (National Slovak Society). I also received an NSS shirt. Right after the service I went with Skipp, Donna, and her mom Elen on a little trip south to Cadiz. It was a 2 hours ride. The reason for the trip was to visit a Bison ranch and also meet Donna’s daughter Anna and her boyfriend Dunkin who live there. I need to be honest. I was pretty scared by the bisons! They are huge! But it was really nice experience! Dunkin’s dad is the owner of the ranch. Afterward, we went to get an ice cream in Deersville. It was absolutely delicious! Best ice cream I’ve had in a long time! And on our way from Bison Ranch to Deersville I got to drive with Anna in her “real” Jeep! And in the summer she is riding without her doors and I absolutely loved it! I am not the biggest fan of air conditioning so this was something exactly for me! It was really a nice day!

I promised you that I will tell you something about our time at Redeemer. I realized that sometimes we don’t appreciate small blessings. When I did music with kids I only did it 2 times with only 4 kids that day but seeing them enjoying it absolutely made my day. The first 2 kids were a little girl and an autistic boy. They had so much fun and were smiling all the time that I could not do anything different but smile as well. Especially the autistic boy was so excited about it! The next 2 kids were brothers. Firstly one came and at first glance, he didn’t seem to be interested in singing or listening. I talked a bit with him and they played a song. He was so excited about it that he run off, brought his younger brother, and told me to play the song again for him. Then we play some other songs and these boys were really happy about it! I realized that even though we didn’t have so many kids, we had these small blessings that made me really happy. Sometimes we are looking only for the BIG blessing and we don’t notice the small ones. Think about that today. What were some small blessings that you maybe didn’t notice in your last week?

Have a blessed week! I will be here at the same place, at the same time (I probably can not guarantee that :D) next week!