Got My Passport!

My new passport arrived in the mail today! It came much sooner than I was expecting, but I'm glad it's here! Just a little tidbit...this passport looks really different from my last one, but in a good way. It has a lot of different pictures depicting true (maybe even olden) American culture and various quotes from people in years past - it's really neat actually!

New Year's Eve! and 'A Taylor Craft'

We had several people over for New Year's Eve, and I didn't have to plan a THING since my husband did all the work! That felt really nice, and stress free. The problem was, so many people that came are going on the Hungarian mission trip too and I just wanted to have a big pow-wow meeting and discuss things about the trip (since we haven't officially done that yet, but we will next week...I think). But I managed to contain myself and play some games, eat too much food, and stay up WAY too late! We all had a lot of fun though.

Oh! Just remembered...I've started "A Taylor Craft" too! I've dabbled in various crafts over the years. So, I thought this is a great time and we have a great purpose to get the ball rolling! 100% of the profits made from the jewelry and various paper crafts will go towards our mission trip. The biggest motivation is to raise money for the Hungarian orphans so they can come to camp! I've started A Taylor Craft Facebook page, and I may start another free webpage, but it's still in the works. So, keep a look out! It's coming soon!

Passports!

Matt's passport hasn't expired yet, but mine has! Oh, the joys of passport renewal. :) Well, it wasn't as bad as I had thought. Several online sites will help with passport renewal, but they will charge a higher rate than going straight to the source -> http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html. I filled out the form online, printed it out, gathered my old passport, marriage license, a current picture of myself, wrote a check, and that should be it! After I mail it in, I should have a new passport within the next couple of months. In plenty of time for our trip (if all goes well). We are getting one step closer!

Hungary 101

We wanted to learn more about Hungary's culture and language, so google it is! Here are a few pages we've been browsing through.

• Learn Oasis Register here for FREE online lessons!
• Magyarora Hungarian pronunciations
• Omniglot Hungarian Alphabet
• Filolog Hungarian Culture and more
• Wikipedia Culture of Hungary
• The Budapest Sun In the news
• The Budapest Times In the news
• You tube Simple expressions
• My Languages Learn Hungarian

Today's the Day!

Today is the day that everyone who wants to go on the trip was to say. After church we had a quick meeting to see who would show, and there were about 15 of us who have confirmed. We need 25, so I'm sure we'll double check to see if there is anyone else who's interested, then we can fill in the remaining spots with some of the college kids who have said they are interested in going too. I have a feeling we'll have a fun, silly group going...some guys (my husband being one of them) cracked some jokes and our associate pastor put his hand to his head and said Oh my goodness! (but in a good way - he was smiling) It's a good group, and we're excited to get started with all of the preparations!

We can begin praying now, but starting on January 8th we are going to start meeting before church to pray for our trip. We'll get together at other times too just to hang out and strengthen the bond between us, also plan for fundraisers and the entire camp itself, which we have total control of. Thank goodness for translators because the Hungarian language is a bit tricky! We would like to learn some basics though.

** A HUGE thank you to the Sunday School class who raised enough money to send 8 more kids to camp! Yea!!! **

A Door Is Open to the Orphans of Hungary - Video

Here is a really neat video and summary of what we might experience during camp next summer.

A Door Is Open to the Orphans of Hungary - Video

Anxious!

The deadline hasn't even come yet, to detemine who is actually going on the trip....I think we are all suposed to say by Christmas time. I am just anxious to find out who is able to go! I want to get together and brainstorm more fundraising ideas, learn some basic Hungarian, etc. Matt just found a neat translator on his iphone. So, he was typing in some phrases like, My name is... and a woman's voice would relay the Hungarian translation. Ahhh...yep, this is going to take a lot of practice and repitition! I replayed the same phrase 10 times and I THINK I might have understood the first word. We can use a translator at the camp, but still, we'd like to know some basics.

*** We did find out that if someone where to give to this mission trip, you may write a check to Hope's Point and in the memo line write Matt & Amanda Taylor/Mission Trip. The donation would be tax deductible, which is a plus! You can mail it to: Hope's Point 1703 S. Miller Ave. Shelbyville, IN 46176. Thank you!

We are kind of excited that we've collected $100 so far - woo hoo! Much more to go, but that's a great start!