The Children of Thomas

The Children of Thomas

Marc selected to the IBM Corporate Service Corps program

About a year ago I was browsing the IBM internal web page – actually looking for international opportunities during one of those times reminiscing about our overseas experiences. I came across this IBM program: IBM Corporate Service Corps. In summary – it is the “Peace Core” version with a corporate spin. It is a very selective program, but one I wanted to apply for and see what would happen. Six months later I was packing for Aswan, Egypt.

IBM selects a global team (on our team of 13, I am one of three US citizens – both of the other two were actually born in South America, the others are from around the world) and places that team within an emerging market. We work on social projects in cooperation with the Government and other established NGOs. We are primarily focusing on Agriculture and Nutrition programs.

I am very excited to work with this team in performing tasks that will have a direct impact to the community that we are working in. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to partake in this project.

Below is some additional information about the IBM CSC Project.


How does a company develop leaders who have the skills needed for a globally integrated, smarter planet?

IBM's answer: the Corporate Service Corps. The Corporate Service Corps (CSC) exposes high performance IBM employees to the 21st century context for doing business --- emerging markets, global teaming, diverse cultures, working outside the traditional office, and increased societal expectations for more responsible and sustainable business practices. CSC participants perform community-driven economic development projects in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, working at the intersection of business, technology and society.
For more information, please visit:
https://www-146.ibm.com/corporateservicecorps/

Bringing Back the Blog…

It has been a few years since we have been regular contributors to the Sheppard’s Field Journal blog. The original intent was to track our journeys as we lived in Sofia, Bulgaria to share with friends and family. Since our return to the states, it has been fun to go back and read our past adventures and relive the stories we had posted.

I now have the great opportunity to head back overseas though an international leadership development program with IBM. I will be living and working in Aswan, Egypt for 4 weeks and then Lisa plans to come over and join me, where we will then spend some time in Europe.

Please feel free to follow our new adventures here…

Anya Hale Sheppard

Anya Hale Sheppard graced us with her presence on Monday, August 3^rd at 11:39 AM. She is lovingly welcomed by her Big Brother, Andrew and her Big Sister, Adison.

Anya weighed 7.5 lbs and was 20 inches long. Our pediatrician said she is in perfect health.

Mom is doing great. To prove her exceptional birthing skills, Lisa delivered Anya after just two pushes – wow.

Anya’s name means “Gracious” – we do feel she is God’s gracious gift to us. We do nothing in this life to deserve these miracles God entrusts us with – but we are ever

so thankful for the opportunity to partake in the lives of His gracious gifts.

Hale is a family name, following in our own

family tradition of giving our children

family middle names. Hale is my great-grandmothers maiden name, on my (Marc’s) mother’s side. This is an English name with the meaning of “Hero.” So, Anya will be our Gracious Hero.

Thank you for all of your love, prayers and support. We will be displaying pictures soon and we look forward to personally introducing you to Anya.

Drew's First Soccer Game

Here are some pictures of Drew's first soccer game. And so the years of sporting events begins...

Drew's First Soccer Game

Drew's 4rd Birthday Party - KC

Drew had a wonderful time at his Dinosaur Dig Birthday Party with his friends.

Canada Fishing Trip

I went on a Fly-In Fishing trip to Canada with my my dad and two bothers, along with two more family friends. I am not a big fisherman, but had a great time getting away, being in nature and spending some time with family. Here are a few pictures:

Crazy Hairs!

New Year Update

You know you have had a busy year when you sit down to prepare your taxes and you are asked to check all the boxes of major life changing events for the year – and you check all the boxes. Moved from a foreign country, had a baby, found a new job, bought a new house. Not your typical year!

We have been State-side for 8 months and are just now starting to feel like we are getting settled. Many of you are aware of our time in Bulgaria – we were there for 18 months and just came home in June. We had a wonderful experience, filled with good, bad and strange events – but experiences we hope to learn from for a lifetime. We often reflect on our friends and experiences we had in Bulgaria – they greatly impacted our lives and they gave us memories we will not soon forget. We cannot summarize our journey in one letter – but we would love the opportunity to share with you if you have interest.

In August we welcomed our beautiful baby girl – Adison Jean. She is our little “Markovche” (little Marc.) We now realize how spoiled we were with Drew. Not that Adison is a “bad” baby – she just requires a little more attention. However she is showing great signs of improvement lately as she is now showing great interest in her toys and giving mom a bit more rest at night.

Adison is now sitting up by herself and eating stage two foods – she loves the Gerber Puffies. She is also very vocal – a lot of noise comes out, but you can’t really understand what she is saying – a lot like her mother. ;-)

Drew is resilient - bouncing from place to place until we arrived in our new home. When we moved in he asked if we could live there “forever!” He now has a lot of new friends and many new influences – some good, some not so good – so now the “fun” part of parenting begins! Drew is excited to get a new bike and start playing in his new big yard. He is also excited to start pre-school this coming fall – what a big boy he has become.

Marc is back with IBM at Sprint. He has a similar project management position, but is now on a smaller team, whom he really enjoys working with. We are still trying to figure out what God has in store for us in regards to our future profession – but for now He has given us our place.

Lisa’s workload has increase as a full time mom of two, along with managing the home. As time will allow she hopes to get involved with some design projects on the side to keep her connected to her profession and serve as a creative outlet. Drew and Adison remain her top priority and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

We were blessed with a wonderful new home this last fall in lovely Overland Park, KS. Yes it is suburbia – but a nice resting place with many wonderful amenities and a great place to raise little ones. We always have an open guest room for our friends – please come see us.

We are looking forward to the coming of Spring – warm weather, bike rides and meeting new neighbors. We feel extremely blessed with the opportunity to re-establish our family’s foundation – as we work to nourish our family and prepare to live out God’s great adventure for our lives.

October 2007 Update

“The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm…” Nahum 1:3b



A friend shared this verse with us and we find it very fitting for our situation. I can’t say we are facing any Storms – but our life right now very much feels like a “Whirlwind.” And just like the storms of life, we are very comforted to know that the Lord’s ways are with us in the middle of this whirlwind.



It has been awhile since we have touched base with a lot of you – and a lot has transpired over the past few weeks. As most of you may recall, we returned from Bulgaria in June, spent some time in Illinois, moved into a missions house in Iowa in July, welcomed the arrival of Adison in August and I started a new (old) job in September, back in Kansas City and started house hunting. See what we mean about a “whirlwind?”



Adison has been a pure joy and growing like a weed. She has continued to keep the long black hair and dark brown eyes. She has begun to smile and coo as she studies the faces of those in front of her. Drew still enjoys being a big brother – letting others know this is “his baby.” We have not yet witnessed much jealousy, however he is very vocal that he does not like “crying babies” – including his!



My job: I was on a two year leave of absence with IBM at Sprint in Kansas City for our term in Bulgaria. Returning to IBM/Sprint was always an option, just not at the top of my preferences. I talked with a lot of people about different job opportunities from ministry positions to corporate positions. I sent out a lot of resumes and had a number of interviews – most of all – we prayed hard. We have been praying for the past year that the Lord would lead us to where He wanted us, to the job that He had for me, to the city He wanted us to serve. We were very excited to see where the Lord would lead.



We felt the Lord speak when we went to Bulgaria, so we had expectations that He would “speak” again in similar fashion. As time went on – no jobs “spoke” to me. I didn’t really feel the Lord “speak” to me either. A wise mentor of ours shared this advice with us over a year ago: “Continue to walk the path the Lord has set out for you, but be willing to deviate from the path if the Lord were to call you off.” For the past year we have followed that advice. We knew we had IBM to return to, but were ready, and almost expecting the Lord to pull us off that path.



As we have continued down our path, the return to IBM/Sprint is the path the Lord has sustained. Not just sustained, but has lined it with some nice blessings as well. I am returning to Sprint with a similar position, but more customer facing (a good thing). It is with and old manager/friend of mine who is very flexible with my schedule. We have the great blessing of staying with new friends (friends of friends) who are adopting a baby in Guatemala and living in Guatemala – thus their house in KC is open for us to stay in. Okay – maybe the Lord does speak and I’m just not a good listener.



The transition back to the corporate world has been difficult. I find myself putting a lot of time and effort into tasks that at the end of the day seam to not have much significant value. Many have had to remind me that my ministry continues in the people I meet and the fact that the Lord did not send us to Bulgaria to just “return” to our old life. We return renewed, we return with a new outlook and a new desire to serve. (Easier said than done, I’m finding)



Between living part time in Des Moines and Kansas City and starting a new job – we also need to find a new home. This too provides its own number of challenges. My biggest concern is for our little guy – Drew. Many times he asks “What home are we going to?” – the mission home, the “peoples” home, papa and Jejes, Granddad and Nanas – which home? My little boy does not have a home right now and that tears me up.



God will provide – He always does. We need to be faithful and patient. We are tired and we are longing for a place to call home. We will persevere because God is our God and the four of us are together and healthy. We also have all of you. You and your prayers have been such a blessing to us.



We would appreciate your continued prayers and we hope to share good news soon about a new home.



We love you all.



Love,

The Sheps – Marc, Lisa, Drew and Adison.

Bulgaria Entering the EU

This is a Bulgarian Made video on their take on Bulgaria entering the EU.

Free Hugs - Bulgaria

You may have heard of this "Free Hug" campaign. Young people travel the world and walk cities with signs that read "Free Hugs" in their native languages. Here is their experiment in Bulgaria...

Fourth of July Sunset

Introducing: Adison Jean

Introducing:

Adison Jean Sheppard

August 6.2007 at 12:47 pm
8 pounds 1 ounce And 21 inches long

Every good and perfect gift is from above… James 1:17

We would like introduce you to Drew's little sister - Adison Jean.

Mom and baby are doing great!

Lisa labored for 3 1/2 hours and pushed for 30 min - she did Awesome!

Adison came in at 8 lb 1oz (3674 grams for our European friends) and 21 inches (53.3cm) long.

Adison's middle name came from her grandmothers - the late Dorthy "Jean" Sheppard - Marc's grandmother, the late Wilma "Jean" Moeckl - Lisa's grandmother and Betty "Jean" (Jeannie DeHart) Moeckl - Drew and Adison's grandmother.

Some Bulgarian names were in the running for middle names or even an additional fourth name, such as: Sofia, Nadeshda and my favorite - Marcova. In the end we decided to avoid some future teasing and stayed with the family names - we think the name fits.

We know we are so blessed and we are very greatful!

Thank you so much for your prayers - each and everyone has been answered.

Drew's 3rd Birthday Party

Pictures from two (2) of Drew’s Birthday Parties – one in Decatur and one in Des Moines.

Can we say “Spoiled!”

I guess since everyone here missed his partly last year in Bulgaria, so it must be okay to have two parties this year? We just can’t let him think this will be an every year occurrence.

Andrew turned 3 on July 2nd.

Bye-Bye Bull-gera (VIDEO)

Drew - saying his "good-byes" aboard a plane from Bulgaria, to Rome and then home to America.

A Grandson’s Remembrance

“… And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Romans 5:2-4

Perseverance – that is a great word to describe my grandmother. A woman of few words – yet preached the message of “love” throughout the actions of her life.

Grandma past away Tuesday June 3rd, 2007 at the age of 91. She lived a good long life and she will be deeply missed.

Growing up the only girl of seven younger bothers – becoming their mother at the age of 13 when her own mother passed away with complications from childbirth – grandma lead a challenging life from the beginning. Through the great depression and many life challenges – grandma persevered.

Grandma would have never complained and would have considered herself blessed as she later married my grandpa and had two beautiful children: one girl and one boy – she would have described them as the perfect family. A God honoring family, who grew to serve the Lord and exemplify that same love that she demonstrated.

And those summer vacations at Grandma and Grandpa’s. Fishing with grandpa and coming home to fry the fog legs with grandma. Well… maybe grandpa did the frying, but the baking – those pumpkin pies – that was all grandma.

Unfortunately grandma had to bookend her life on a bit of a down note, as she had to persevere though the last 14 years alone, as grandpa had gone on to be with the Lord. Grandma had to move to a nursing home and her short-term memory started to fail – but she persevered – many would have quit.

I returned home from Bulgaria to see my grandma a few days before she passed. She had recently fallen and was in the hospital. When I first visited, mom asked grandma who I was? After a few dazed blinks – her eyes lit up and a smile came to her face as she said “It’s Marc!”

We chatted just a bit and I went to kiss her on the head and I said “Goodbye grandma, I love you.” She looked right at me and said “I love you too!” Those were the last words I heard my grandmother say – how blessed am I!

July Update

Wow – what a crazy, adventurous, exhausting and joyous past few weeks we had in July. To summarize our first 5 weeks home: we said goodbye to our friends in Bulgaria, visited Rome, got hit by a motorcycle, debriefed in Michigan, reunited with family, traveled 15 hrs each way in an RV to Amarillo, TX, buried my grandmother, celebrated Drew’s 3rd birthday, moved to Des Moines and are now setting up a new temporary home. And I thought we were coming home to “relax”?

Although we have been very busy, as you can see, we are all doing very well and we have really enjoyed reuniting with friends and family. God has continued to prove Himself faithful as he has protected us through our travels and has kept us healthy through all of these transitions.

On a sad and happy note, my grandmother of 91 years of age, past away a day after we arrived back from Amarillo. It was not unexpected as grandma had lived a long, challenging and good life and her body and mind knew it was time to go “home.” I am saddened she is gone, but rejoicing that she will experience the joys of eternal life with her Lord and family.

Drew has done remarkably well as he has had to make a number of transitions in a short amount of time – leaving his “life-long” friends in Bulgaria, making new friends in Decatur, IL and now moving onto Des Moines. He is doing great – but we appreciate your continued prayers for him.

Lisa’s belly is nice and plump, but she is as beautiful as ever. We could go any day now. We just had a doctor’s appointment in Des Moines and all is well. We also toured the brand new maternity wing of Mercy Hospital – the baby will definitely arrive in style!

We have arrived in Des Moines, where after visiting the grandparents for a few days, we moved into the church’s mission house. The house is a very nice 3br ranch that sits on 3 acres of land (which I don’t have to mow, praise God). Many members of the church have worked very hard to get the house ready for us – we are very grateful for their sacrifice for us and the greater work of God’s mission.

It has been great catching up with fiends and family – we have even had a few take some road trips to come see us. We are very blessed to have the friends and family we do.

Providential End

Our departure from Europe came with a traumatic end. We had just lived the last 18 months in Bulgaria – a country that does not value safety standards. We have many traffic and construction stories to illustrate this point. Yet by God’s grace we were always safe and healthy. We were blessed to travel Eastern Europe and only have positive stories to share. Not until the last two hours on European soil did we experience the scariest moment of our journey.

On our way home from Bulgaria we “decompressed” during a four day stop-over in Rome, Italy. We had a wonderful and relaxing time in Rome and started our journey home early Sunday morning on June 10^th. It was 5:00am and we had just got out of the taxi at the airport. Drew was asleep and I just placed him in his stroller and set it to the side. I pulled out our two large bags and set them near the stroller. Lisa was gathering her things and moving over toward Drew and the luggage as I started to pay the taxi driver. As I was pulling money out of my wallet I heard a high pitch whine coming from a distance behind me. All of a sudden the taxi cab driver’s eyes became as large as eggs as he started to yell. I turned to see a motorcycle weaving, loosing control, and then laying down his bike as he crashed into my family.

The motorcycle hit Lisa, the bags and the stroller. The stroller, with Drew inside, was jettisoned into a nearby car and then into the concrete embankment. I took off in a dead sprint to the stroller. For a split second I experienced every parent’s worst nightmare. Approaching the stroller I saw Drew fall out of the stroller to the ground – but to my relief he was crying. All I knew at that point is that if he was crying – my nightmare had not come true. I picked him up, checked his body and all seemed okay. As all this was going on I heard screams in the background “My baby, my baby” – so my attention quickly shifted to Lisa. Lisa has been hit in the lower leg, however she always kept her balance and never hit the ground, nor was her belly (baby girl) ever impacted in any way. Her screams had been for Drew and not because of any trauma she had experienced.

Once the damage was surveyed – besides shaken up nerves and emotions – Drew did not have a scratch and Lisa only a bruise on her leg. Paramedics checked out Drew, Lisa and baby girl - all were well. The emotions of the morning finally caught up with Lisa and I – but through prayers and tears of thanksgiving we have been able to move on. Your prayers were heard and answered – thank you for your role in intercession for my family!

Rome

On our trip home from Bulgaria we were blessed with the opportunity to visit Rome, Italy. We had a wonderful time, with exception to a near fatal incident I write more about later - but besides that - it was a nice time to "decompress" and reflect on our time in Bulgaria. Below are some pictures we took when we visited the Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum, the Forum, Vatican City, St. Peters basilica and the small village of Ostia Antica.

Drew says Good-bye

The last evening before leaving Sofia we had dinner with our team and Drew was able to say good-bye to his friends. Pictured are Austin, David and Steven (the boys) with Laurn, Erin and Cathrine as they all play in the rain. Drew will miss many of his wonderful friends! (Drew and his friend Jacob is below)

Drew sings his Cubbies Song

Drew sings his Awanas Cubbies Song

Jesus Loves Me

Drew singing "Jesus Loves Me" at the Sofia International Babtist Church on Awana Sunday.

Reflections on Istanbul, Turkey

Last week Lisa, Drew and I took a trip to Istanbul, Turkey. It was a 9 hour bus ride from Sofia. The trip had three purposes for us – one we needed to be out of Bulgaria for 5 more days to allow our 90 day tourist visa to take us to our end date of June 6th. We were also able to visit and stay with some of our new friends living in Istanbul – they have 4 kids and Drew loved his time with them. We were also blessed to see our good friends, Chris and Holy Justice from Kansas City, who were there at the same time, visiting their brother Scott, who is a journalist living in Istanbul. It was a great long weekend and a blessing to see one more unique part of this side of the world.

Istanbul was very different than what we had expected. I don’t know if it was better or worse than expected – just different. For some reason in my mind I expected Turkey to be more like a middle-eastern Arab country – given their strong Islamic culture. However the parts of Istanbul I saw reminded me very much of Eastern Europe. They actually had more in terms of shops and restaurants than Sofia does, but it still had more of a European feel, than I had expected. The stark differences being a Mosque on every other corner and the large number of people. Istanbul is a city of over 16 million people – and there were people everywhere. As an example - we went out to a popular square on a Friday night and when we came home at 1:00AM the streets were still packed with cars.


We spent a day seeing the sights of Istanbul – highlighting the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. They were nice, yet it made me wonder how a Christian stronghold – St. Paul’s original mission field, Turkey being home of the 7 churches, the previous Christian capital named Constantinople – is now, in relatively a short period of time, a Muslim mini Mecca, with 98% of the population being Muslim. The multiple spires in the air over the city are a constant reminder of that fact.

I have become more interested in the events occuring in Turkey, give we now live so close, as Bulgaria is a neighboring country. We have become very aware of the instability there. Just a month ago three believers (one German and two Turkish men) were brutally murder in Malatya, Turkey. (for more information, Google: Tilman Geske - the German who was killed.)

Two days ago a bomb exploded in a mall in the capital of Ankara killing six and injuring over one hundred people. Political elections are about to happen and everyone is concerned. Tens of thousands march in protest against the ruling party.

So I admit, my experience was not that of your average tourist. We still enjoyed the trip and had a great time with all our friends. I guess you could say my perspective is changing - which could be a good or bad thing... I'm still working that out.

Bulgarian Spring Photos

Randam pictures taken this spring in Bulgaria

Thessaloniki Pictures

We know this is a bit late to post to the blog as we actually went on this trip back in early March. However I just found this cool new feture of Picasa Web Albums to display slide shows - so here it goes...
(PS - to read about the trip we mentioned it in the March update)

Spring Update

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter holiday with your families. Once again we have been so impressed with how the Bulgarians celebrate Easter. Based in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, everyone greets each other with “Christ Has Risen,” answered by “He has Risen Indeed!” There are even a few billboards in Sofia that say “Christ Has Risen” – never mind they are right next to billboards of naked girls selling something. Unfortunately, it is an accurate picture of the culture - stooped in traditions with little personal relevance.

Celebrating birthdays and major holidays now for a second time in Bulgaria has been a reminder to how long we have been here and how far we have come in “adjusting.” We have greatly enjoyed our time here. We have learned a lot and we are hopeful that we have been able to give back to our new Bulgarian friends.

Our time here is now short – about 6 weeks remaining. Like always, things seem to get pushed to the end and now I find myself very busy. I am preparing my second year’s assessment of UTF’s business practices and will present them to the director and the board. I have been busy transitioning items to the UTF Staff – the Alumni Program is now in capable hands, we have a communication plan in pace and the job descriptions have been finalized. I have also been busy evaluation and implementing some standard Project Management procedures for SEND International.

The need is still great as UTF continues to pursue the “Campus for Tomorrow.” If you have followed my reports, you will know they have come across a number of “glitches” in trying to build new facilities. UTF is now making some headway as we have received the new revised cost estimate of the new building and are pursuing financial options. Please keep UTF in your prayers as they continue on this journey.

Lisa’s belly continues to grow and Drew is still not convinced that a “baby” is in there. I suggested that maybe mommy got hungry and ate a soccer ball – but he didn’t fall for that one either. When I ask him why mommy’s belly is so big, he promptly replies “it is not big!” to his mothers delight. He does know he is having a sister, but for now the baby lives at the Dr.’s office on the TV screen. He has also said that he will get his sister when we go to America. So, we’ll go with that, for now.

Mom and baby girl are doing very well. Please continue to keep them in your prayers as we have a very busy two months ahead of us. Lisa is packing, we have a trip to Turkey planned in May and the first week of June we head for home, with a few days stop-over in Rome. Quite a bit for a 7 month pregnant lady. We will spend a week in Detroit MI with our mission agency and then spend the remainder of June in Decatur. After the 4^th of July holiday we will move onto Des Moines where we will temporarily settle down to await the arrival of our new little one around the 3rd of August. Please continue to pray with us as we continue to lean on the Lord as He guides and directs us through this new transition.

With sincere love and gratitude,

Marc, Lisa and Drew

SEND Women’s retreat in Spain

I was very privileged to turn 32 in Spain this year. I attended the SEND women’s conference in Madrid, Spain March 22-26. Wow! It was incredible. I have never felt so spoiled in my life. The retreat is held for all SEND women in Europe once every 3 years. It was the perfect balance of teaching, sight seeing, shopping and getting to experience the culture of Spain. We stayed in a quaint hotel next to the university in Alcala (picture at left,) a suburb about 30 mins outside of Madrid. I was especially grateful for the beauty of Spain in contrast to the drab of Sofia. I have always loved and appreciated great architecture and culture and more so since coming to Sofia.

The theme of the retreat was “Transition,” it was as if it was chosen just for me. We had a wonderful speaker, Louise Wempel, who has been a SEND missionary for many years. She gave a wonderful illustration of an egg, carrots and coffee beans. In the illustration each is boiled. After the pressure of the “transition,” each is compared, the carrots turn to mush, the egg gets hard on the inside but the coffee beans, instead of changing, they change the water and make it better and we were left with the question of which we will allow Christ to create in us.

I could gush on and on about Spain. It included breakfast in bed one day, seeing the sights, gift baskets, great teaching and meeting/catching up with other women in other areas of the world. I spent my 32^nd birthday at a bull fight! I don’t think I’ll ever attend another as it was a bit gory, but makes for a good story. Another interesting tidbit, Alcala is also the home of 90+ stork pairs so we saw many of the birds flying around the city and building their very large nests.

It was a great experience and I learned a lot. It was especially a treat to come home to “my boys” with Drew carrying flowers and jumping up and down to see me.

Much love- Lisa

Pinewood Derby Scars Childhood

Okay I readily admit that I may need professional help with this. I swore I would never become one of those dads who lives via his children, you know… the ones who make fools of themselves at 3 year old soccer games or the ones who push there kids into doing something they don’t want to do, only to try to make up for their parent's own inadequacies. I am very sorry to report that I may have strayed close to that line.

The Awanas (Drew’s Awana Bible school program) was having a “Pinewood Derby Grand Prix.” From the moment I heard, something from deep within, from long, long ago suffaced.

If you are not failure with the Pinewood Derby – it’s a race where kids – usually in cub scouts or groups like Awanas – are given a pinewood block and 4 wheels. It is up to the kids to cut, shape, paint and prepare their “race car” for race day. I did this long ago back when I was 6 or 7 – and I got smoked! I still have scars of those painful memories.

So being a good parent – I couldn’t let Drew get “smoked.” Of course with Drew only being 2 ½ - he would need some help. So he told me he wanted a blue car that looked like one of the cars from the movie “Cars.” So that is what I helped him build. Okay… that is what I built for him.

Of course I got on the internet and found all the tricks of the trade. Drew was not going to feel like a “looser” like I did (ok – maybe I’m exaggerating a bit?) So we built him a car, a nice car. Drew really liked the car and off to the races we went.

I must admit – I was pretty proud of Drew’s car. I had the car maxed on weight and I was pretty sure we had a good shot placing if not winning. This race included all ages of the whole Awannas program, pre-school to 5^th grade, 50-60 some kids total. It would be no easy feat, but we were up for it. (I say we, but I’m not even sure Drew knew what was going on).

So they ran multiple heats of 4 with the top two moving on to race again. About half way through they call for Drew’s car “Charlie” – he named it, don’t ask how. I took Drew to grab his car off the table and hand it to the guys starting the race.

And then the moment of truth. They lifted the gate and the cars took off. They zoomed down the track and the blue car won!

Unfortunately it was not our blue car, ours, Charlie, came in third. His night was done and so was mine. My heart sank with disappointment and I quickly looked for Drew to see if the sadness was more than his little heart could bear. Then I found him… he was off running and playing and laughing with all the girls – he was having a blast with all the kids – he could care less about a stupid car race. But what about me, what about my investment, what about my dreams? All gone in 4.78 seconds.

The races when on as I sulked over my cold hot dog and potato salad. They eventually found a winner and I was relieved – as we could finally get out of there and go home. We just had to sit tough the self loathing trophy ceremony. They handed trophies to the top three finishers – but then I noticed three more trophies sitting on the table. They then announced for the first time, to my knowledge, that there would be 3 trophies given for car design.

Fist the “Third place trophy” went to a little girl who must have had a father wishing for the boy he never had. The “Second place” went to a little boy who very much resembled one of the judges. And then… like a voice from heaven… “Charlie – First Place for Design!” Everyone exploded in applause for me – I mean Drew. The kids ushered Drew up front to garnish his prize, my heart filled with joy and all was right with the world once again.

And then… the cold chill of reality and embracement covered me. For everyone in the room knew that a 2 ½ year old undoubtedly did not build that car. Then it hit me – I had become “that dad.” The dad who could not let kids be kids but had to prove something from his own youth.

We still got “smoked” but we looked good doing it!

Okay – maybe I went a bit overboard for theatrical sake – but in all seriousness we had a great time. I liked building a car for Drew that he seamed to enjoy. Yes, maybe I did a bit too much and I did feel a bit guiltily for winning first place for design. But I did swear / promise Drew that next year it is all him. I just know that little guy better acquire some skills – because he has got some big shoes to fill!

Chestita Baba Marta

Around the first of March every year, Bulgarians present to thier relatives and friends martenitsas - a double red and white tassel or ribbon - to bring health and happiness. On the first day of March, people in Bulgaria put the martenitsa-s on their clothes or wrists and wish each other health and happiness with "Chestita baba Marta" - (in English, "Happy Grandma Marta"). "Marta" comes from the word for March (Mart) in Bulgarian.

This is an ancient Bulgarian (pagan) tradition (nobody really knows how old, but most probably it's more than a thousand years old) and symbolizes the end of the cold winter and the coming of the spring.

Martenitsa-s are supposed to be worn until the person sees the first stork - representing the coming of spring. Then martenitsa-s are then tied to a blooming tree. The red and white colours symbolize the snow and the blood that come from old stories where a stork brings blessings for health to small children. The giving of the martenitsa makes you feel that Spring is coming very soon.

The lack of "real" winter and viewing of storks raises some difficulties in implementing this tradition nowadays, as most storks dont come to the city. However the Bulgarians are still celebrating and very fond of the 1st of March - in the traditional and "modern" way at the same time.

(information taken from: http://www.b-info.com/places/Bulgaria/BabaMarta/ )

March Update

Happy Spring! We do love this time of year. We are hoping for a pleasant spring as we feel we may have escaped winter. We have only had a few days of below freezing temperatures and no snow here in Sofia. Quite a contradiction to what you have all experienced in the States and the weather that first welcomed us to Sofia. We are certainly not complaining… it has been a nice winter.

We have become very busy and do not see things slowing down. Our mission team held their winter retreat in a nearby ski village of Borovets over a weekend in mid February. It was a great time of bonding as a team and Drew and I had a great time sledding in the snow.

I spent a week of February in Wroclaw, Poland attending a “Finance and Fundraising” seminar for theological institutions. I attended with my good friend, Tony Lalev, whom is the UTF Director. We received a lot of great information for the school and had a wonderful time in the city of Wroclaw.

Lisa, Drew and I had to make a last minute “run for the border” as our one year visas expired and we needed a border stamp for a 90 day tourist visa to complete our stay. We turned the trek into a nice weekend getaway to Thessaloniki, Greece, which is only an hour on the other side of the border. We had a wonderful time, enjoying beautiful weather, great seafood and Starbucks coffee!

Lisa is packing her bags now for a SEND women’s retreat in Madrid, Spain. The women of South Central Europe are gathering for a time of fellowship and discipleship, March 22-26. Please pray for Lisa’s travel along with the little one she holds. Don’t forget Drew and me as well – as we will be ‘bachelors’ for four days.

Lisa’s belly continues to grow as we anticipate the arrival of our new baby girl. Yes – a girl – please start praying for me now! Lisa is doing very well as she has moved out of the first trimester and is now half way through at 20 weeks. The doctor performed a 3D ultrasound last week and both mom and baby are very healthy.

Time is becoming short as we have less than 3 months here in Bulgaria. I am working closely with the staff here at UTF to transition / train many of the nationals on what I have been working on. I plan to continue to assist Tony and the UTF team by consulting from abroad. With modern technology – I will only be a “skype” call away.

Many have asked what our plans are when we return. Our long range plans are still in the Lord’s hands, but for now we are planning on arriving home by June 15^th. We plan on spending a few weeks in Decatur and then sometime in July moving onto Des Moines where we will temporarily settle down to await the arrival of our the new little one the first of August. I will be researching employment opportunities when home. (Picture to the Right: Drew's cousins, Christian (12 mo.) and Anna (18 mo.))

Please continue to pray with us as we lean on the Lord as He guides and directs us through this new and exciting transition.

With sincere love and gratitude,

Marc, Lisa and Drew Sheppard

Pregnancy Journal- Half way there!

Here we are at halfway through the pregnancy 20 weeks- (pictured at 19 weeks of 40.) We are starting the “belly picts” the same week as with Drew. I am feeling a lot better which is great and enjoying the in-between period before getting to the “beached whale” state.

We just had the appointment for the 3-D/diagnostic ultrasound last Wednesday and received the news that it’s a girl! It was different finding out after waiting it out with Drew. I was pretty convinced it was a girl before the ultrasound as this time we only had a girl’s name picked out (with Drew, we didn’t have a girl’s name until 2 weeks before the due date,) and I was sicker. If we were living in the states, I don’t think we would have found out, but here they do an ultrasound every appointment and I was afraid they’d slip and tell me without Marc being there. Marc (probably wisely) wished to know as we will be going through a lot of transition right before baby is born and this will help in planning a bit.

We think Drew will make a great big brother- we’ll be finding out soon enough. Drew is still convinced it’s not a boy OR girl- “just a baby.” He is also quite adamant that the baby is NOT in mommy’s tummy (when asked where it is then, he says, “I don’t know” or at the ultrasound, he pointed to the screen and said, “It’s right there.”) I’m looking forward to watching Marc with a girl after getting the pleasure of watching him be such a great dad to Drew. I’m already convinced she’ll be “daddy’s little girl” and am excited to watch that relationship grow! We are getting excited to come home and look forward to sharing the birth of our new little one with you soon after our arrival!

Much love- Lisa