We have a VISA!!!

Wonder of wonders, Miracle of Miracles!!! Our little girl has her VISA!

Christiana went with our agent today to apply for a temporary permit which would allow us to travel to the United States over Christmas. Instead, when they approached the desk, the agent told them Susanna Jane's application had finally been APPROVED!
Phil thinks it's because Susanna Jane was there in person - who can refuse a visa to this cute face?

Christiana was able to finalize all of the details & complete the formalities for Susanna Jane's residency card. We can't pick it up until January, but PRAISE GOD for granting us this very important document.

Thank you for all of your prayers for us over these many months!

Susanna Jane turns ONE!

Hard to believe that this "Baby B" is a year old today! We love you, Susanna Jane - it's a joy to have you in our lives. 

Round 3 (or 4? or 7?) for Susanna Jane's Visa

We really do have the best intentions to blog on a more regular basis. There are at least 10 blog posts we've started over the last 6 months which have never been published. There's nothing like a good VISA crisis to get us writing again. If you're tired of reading about our VISA woes, imagine how tired we are of dealing with them!

Christiana received a call this morning from our VISA agent, informing her that the office has once again denied Susanna Jane a long-term residency permit. Considering that we submitted the exact same documents for Susanna Jane which we used for our applications, and given the fact that we now have our long-term permits in hand, there is absolutely no reason that our daughter shouldn't also be granted a permit, but here we go again.

We've been given a 30 day extension to provide them with proof of service with RCE (again), proof of comprehensive medical insurance (again) and a copy of Susanna Jane's insurance card (again).

If, at the end of this next round of documents, they still refuse to grant our daughter her residency permit, then we'll have to hire a lawyer and begin a lengthy & costly appeal process. We have already spent more than double what we had budgeted for this process, and we really cannot afford to have this drag out any longer.

WE NEED YOUR CONTINUED PRAYERS, for many aspects of our service in Prague, and especially now as we continue to do battle at the VISA office. Thanks for standing with us.

A Big Week for Susanna Jane

Our little girl is now six months old! She's a busy little girl, who is always on the move, even in her sleep. We had a good six-month check-up this week, and we're now starting solid foods. Below are a few pictures of the big event.

Sitting up like a big girl - we like the chair!

First bite of solid foods...

Mom! What is this?!? Are you trying to poison me?

 Fortunately her disgust was short-lived, and she now enjoys a variety of pumpkin, squash, carrot & pear.

We're so thankful for this precious little girl!

Susanna Jane Brande - 6 months old

Before We Even Ask

Our sweet baby girl - who is TWO months old! - is suffering from reflux. While it's not considered severe enough for medication, it's troublesome enough to have caused us a few sleepless nights, and several uncomfortable afternoons.

Susanna Jane Brande - two months old

When we packed our container with baby gear, we thought we had all the infant essentials we could need. But with the onset of reflux, I was kicking myself for not having included a recliner or bouncy seat - any sort of place where I might secure her in a more upright position. I can't remember if I ever voiced these longings aloud, but I certainly thought about it.

Just before we classes resumed this week, one of our colleagues called Phil to say he was bringing over some old baby toys for us to use. The domafon rang, and Phil went down to collect our gifts. When he walked in the door, my eyes filled with tears - in his hands was a bouncy seat!

Another reminder that God is providing not only for our needs, but also for the needs of our baby girl, even before we ask.

Susanna Jane enjoying her new bouncy seat.

Relief from reflux at last.

Christmas...from a new father's perspective

     Christmas is definitely nothing new for me.  I've been celebrating it for 39 years now.  But this year everything seems new.  I guess having a baby will do that.  Mostly I've been thinking about the incarnation for the past couple weeks.  John tells us that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and Paul tells us in Philippians tells us that Jesus gave up everything to take the form of man.  Again these are not new Scriptures to me.  I've always known that Jesus was born as a baby and had to grow up in the normal human fashion. But now I am seeing this with new eyes...the eyes of a father.
     As I watch my daughter, I am so enthralled by everything she does (ok, maybe not the screaming). I can sit and stare at her for hours, watching every facial movement and hand movement.  And even when she isn't moving, I still marvel at the fact that she has been given to us to raise.  She is completely helpless. She can only sleep, poop, and cry on her own.  For everything else she is dependent on us.
     Now, I think about the fact that God -- the omniscient, all-powerful Creator of the universe -- came to us, not as a mighty king or a battle-ready warrior, but as a utterly helpless baby.  Jesus (the Word of God) couldn't even communicate with his parents other than crying and smiling.  He couldn't do anything but sleep, cry and poop on his own.  The Savior of the world was utterly dependent on his human parents to eat and live.  And being born as a baby meant that he had to learn everything, like walking and talking and reading and writing.  Mind. Blown!  Maybe I should just stop there and let you think about that for a while.  I should, but I won't because I have a few more thoughts.
    W
atching my daughter also brings lots of questions: Was Jesus really "the perfect child" that we sing about in our Christmas songs? Did he ever fight sleep? Did he get upset when Mary and Joseph left him in the donkey stroller too long? Did he ever get sick? Did he keep his parents up at all hours of the night? We feel overwhelmed with the responsibility of taking care of our human daughter. What must the pressure have been like for Mary and Joseph knowing they were raising the Son of God? I don't have the answers but I suspect that everything that we consider "normal" for babies, Jesus experienced.  If that doesn't amaze you, nothing will.  Especially those of you who are parents.

Merry Christmas from a new father.... And from all of the Brande family

One Week Old

Yesterday was Susanna's original due date. We were very glad to spend the day with her at home, and not in the hospital!

Napping with Daddy

To celebrate her first week, we all bundled up and made our first family outing - to the market & back.

Dressed extra warmly for her first outing.

Mommy is very happy the stroller fits into the elevator!

We received this duck as a shower gift, and we decided we'd take Susanna's picture with it as she grows. It may be awhile before she's as big as the ducky!

Susanna Jane Brande - one week old

Coming Home

Thursday morning around 10:30, I called Christiana to find out what the doctors had decided and was very excited to find out that she and Susanna had been given the "all-clear" to go home.  So I scrambled and in about an hour, wrote out lesson plans for all the classes that needed to be covered Thurs afternoon and Friday.  Around 12:30, some friends from school  -- who had offered their car -- picked me up at the apartment, and we drove to the hospital.  When I got there, I learned that all the paperwork was done and everyone was ready to come home.  So we packed Susanna in her snow suit that was 3 sizes too big, put her in the car seat and headed home.  We were all very thankful to be home, especially Christiana! After sleeping on a hard hospital bed for 4 nights, our bed was the perfect way to catch up on rest.  And praise the Lord, Susanna slept almost 5 hours her first night home.  What a joy to have our family together in our own apartment!

Brande New Baby

We are excited to announce the arrival of our daughter, Susanna Jane Brande, on November 10, 2013.

She arrived at 11:22 am, Prague time, and weighed 5.3 lbs, measuring 18.5 inches. Christiana labored at home, and we arrived at the hospital barely an hour before she was born. We were blessed to have excellent nurses and a doctor who spoke English.

Because she is so small, Susanna had to spend her first day in an incubator, which has been very hard on Christiana, but she's now with her mommy, and we're praying she'll be coming home very soon.

Thank you for the many prayers you have prayed for Baby B's safe arrival.We can't wait to have Susanna Jane home with us!

A Quick Break

This weekend is our school's fall break and a Czech Holiday (Independent Czechoslovak State Day to honor the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918). We have Monday and Tuesday off from school and had originally thought of going to Berlin. We realized, though, that with Baby coming, there is still much to do to get our apartment ready for her. So we decided to go explore a Czech castle instead. Some of our friends at school recommended Karlstein Castle built by and for Charles IV. http://www.hradkarlstejn.cz/home1/

Sat morning we got up early and took a 30 minute train ride out of the city.  The morning was foggy and grey but we went anyway, hoping the sun would show itself.  When we got to the town, we had to hike 2 km to the castle.  We took our time and enjoyed time together and the beauty of the morning.  We got there just in time for a tour of the main castle.  And when we came out, an hour later, the sun was shining and the fog was gone.  And we were able to get many pictures of the beautiful countryside.  (More pictures are available on our facebook pages)

We spent the afternoon walking back down the mountain, visiting a wax museum, and enjoying a lovely lunch.  At the bottom, we meandered around for a while until we found our little hotel situated on the river.  The hotel even came with a camel, a pig, donkeys, and ducks.  We only stayed one night and returned to Prague this morning.  It was a short get-away, but one that we needed.  Perhaps when Baby B is older, we will go exploring more castles.  Until then, we will finish getting everything ready for her arrival.  Please pray that she will come soon and that the delivery will be smooth and uneventful.

What a Week!

We've been in the Czech Republic exactly one week. In this time we have:

• Celebrated at a colleague's birthday party
• Purchased sim cards & activated our phones
• Attended an international worship service
• Looked at apartments
• Acquainted ourselves with the tram network
• Registered our visas with the foreign police
• Looked at apartments
• Visited our new OB and received a clean bill of health for mommy & Baby B
• Signed more documents for the shipping company to deliver our container
• Looked at apartments
• Started orientation at CISP
• FOUND an apartment
• Checked out the metro system
• Investigated a thrift store
• Registered ourselves for "Open Cards" (the Prague transportation cards which will also double as library cards)
• Signed the rental contract for our new home
• Celebrated our first week in Prague with a date night, and somehow ended up on the wrong tram home

The biggest praises this week are for the very encouraging doctor's appointment, and the location of our new home! While this apartment did not come "fully equipped" as we had hoped it might (it's missing a refrigerator and it doesn't have a washing machine), it is a very good-sized apartment, and it's only a ten-minute walk from school. It's also one of the only buildings we looked at which allowed a stroller to roll right in off the street - no two flights of stairs before we even reached the elevator. 

Even though it doesn't have a single stick of furniture in it yet, we're moving in TOMORROW, and we appreciate continued prayer for the safe & hassle-free delivery of our container. It's supposed to be here next week - we'll see whether that materializes or not.

This Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

We were given the gift of a photo shoot before we left Missouri. This picture pretty much sums up our summer. (Photo credit - Holly Hyde & Posy Creative)

I Cannot Say "Thank You" Enough

We've been tremendously blessed to have had two baby showers before we leave for Prague. Friends back in Florida and now in Missouri have gathered to congratulate us and to celebrate Baby B's eventual arrival. We have been blessed with large gifts like a pack-n-play (which made it on to our shipping container before it departed!) all the way down to bibs & spoons, and our daughter has received so many darling clothes that we may have to pack a separate suitcase just for her outfits.

This evening, as Phil & I again looked through the assortment of gifts & cards we've received, it struck me that every single stitch of clothing we'll put on our baby girl will be something which has been provided by someone else. Even the occasional sleepers we've purchased for her were made possible because of donations which have been given to support us (and our soon-to-be-family).

I don't think I fully appreciated the fact that "My God shall supply all of my needs" now extends to the needs of this precious baby we're so anxious to meet in November. Everything - from her diapers to her onesies to her snowsuits to her teething gel - will be provided through the support we receive while on the mission field.

As I prepare to send out more thank you cards & prayer letters, I really don't feel that the words I put on paper will ever be enough to express my gratitude to the friends & family who have given so much. I am grateful today for the love that was "showered" on us in the form of baby clothes and books; I'll be grateful tomorrow as I try to pack all of this love into our duffle bags; I'll be tremendously grateful 3-and-a-half months from now, as I wrap Baby B in the beautifully hand-made blankets & booties we received.
I will never be able to say "Thank You" enough.

Yes, We Are Expecting

It's been a busy week. We sent out our latest newsletter by e-mail and the USPS. We mailed some more requests for support. We finally dispatched our visa applications. Somehow, we forgot to post about our most exciting development - we're expecting!

Since this has raised as many questions as it has congratulations, here are some of the FAQs & Answers:

When are you due?

Baby B's ETA is November 16, 2013. 

Do you know what you're having?

Not yet, but we'll find out sometime in June. Yes, we'll tell you the gender. We need to know how to pack!

What will you name him/her?

We have no idea at this point. We might not know until November. We both take names pretty seriously, so this is something we'll be mulling over for quite some time. We probably won't reveal the name until the birth. 

How are you feeling? 
Phil's great; Christiana's green. There is no such thing as "morning sickness" around here - nausea lasts all day, and frequently through the night. Some days are better than others; some foods help and others don't. We're hopeful this will pass as we end the first trimester, but if it doesn't, we'll roll with it.

What will this do to your plans to move to Prague?

Right now, not a thing. If all continues to go well, Baby B will be born there after we arrive.

As we've researched maternity & child care in Prague, we really like what we're learning. The Czech Republic has some of the best birth statistics in the world (even stronger than the US.) One of our future colleagues at CISP had her first child in Prague, and she's been incredibly helpful as we've been making plans. We've already made connections with a doctor there (who speaks English!) and we're prayerful that we'll be able to register in our maternity hospital of choice.

What will this do to your plans for ministry?
Phil will still teach English & Bible at CISP; Christiana will continue to serve RCE (though she obviously won't be traveling this fall) as staff care & recruitment coordinator. Naturally we will have to adjust our schedules/levels of involvement once we have a baby, but we'll take those as they come. 

Does this mean you'll have to increase your budget?
Our estimates were made with the hopes of starting a family. We didn't know if we'd be adding Brandes by birth or through adoption, but we knew we wanted our home to include children.

Are your parents/families excited?
OH.MY.WORD, that's the understatement of the year! It's hard to gauge who had the better reaction, Christiana's mom, or Phil's dad. Baby B will be the first grandchild/niece-or-nephew on both sides, so yes, everyone is very excited.

What do you need most?

PRAYER! Please pray for health & safety for Christiana & Baby B. Pray for us to have wisdom as we continue to make plans as a family. Pray that we'll be able to register in our maternity hospital of choice. Pray for us to have patience as we deal with (more!) document demands. 

We appreciate all of the encouraging notes, e-mails, phone calls & texts we've been receiving. Thank you for sharing in our joy!