We are glad to say that the sun is shining! The dark days of winter are quickly disappearing. The sun wakes us up in the morning and we are feeling a bit more energetic. In mid-February we joined a bunch of other folks from LCC and traveled to the nearby city of Šiauliai to visit a pilgrimage site known as the Hill of Crosses. The history of this site is fascinating. Crosses were thought to have been placed here as early as the thirteenth century in defiance of invading forces and has been a place of peaceful resistance of oppression towards Catholicism in Lithuania.
Eventually Lithuania became incorporated into the Soviet Union. Three times the Soviets destroyed the hill and the crosses on it. After each destruction the Lithuanians replaced the crosses in defiance of the Soviets. Visiting Hill of Crosses was amazing - and hard to put into words, so I'll let the photos speak... (of course I'd like to let the photos speak in a larger view but I'm fighting with the blog software and it seems that a larger view is not possible today!)
Behind the Hill of Crosses is a Franciscan Monastery. After Pope John Paul's visit to the Hill he encouraged the building of this monastery. The chapel looks out onto the hill...
The picture is not too clear but the stained glass shows the history of the Franciscan's. Really I made the picture unclear on purpose to encourge folks to come for a visit and see it themselves (hint, hint).
As part of our trip to the Hill of crosses we spent the night in the nearby town of Uzventis. The family of two LCC students own and run this mill converted to a guesthouse. We had a wonderful meal, relaxed in the sauna and cooled off in the pool.
Our hosts at the mill took us to their local Regional Museum. Here you can see Dylan with one of our hosts (a glimpse of what Dylan will be like as a middle aged man I think!)
And, of course, Dylan as himself...
As the sun has returned we have been inspired to get out of the house. So we hopped on a bus, the bus got on a ferry and we headed over to the Curonian Spit. We traveled several kilometers to the quaint town of Juodkrante. We heard about some carvings there called Witch's Hill. We had a fun afternoon exploring.
The slide was lots of fun until Dylan hit the big patch of ice at the bottom - OUCH!
His push-ups are paying off...
Still in love...
So, that's a bit of what we have been up to. We are looking forward to the weather improving and spending more time outside exploring Klaipeda and the surrounding towns and villages.
For now, we are eagerly looking forward to Easter, my birthday and the arrival of friends from the states. My birthday falls on Easter this year and the kids are planning on making lunch (meatball sandwiches) and cake. I can't believe that they are old enough to make me a birthday lunch. It should be special. On April 1, our friends David and Elizabeth are visiting from their home universities to speak at a conference at LCC. We are so excited to have some company and look forward to a week with them. We have plans to travel to the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius (we had quite the time tracking down a rental car for that trip) and we will be going back to the Hill of Crosses (looking forward to seeing it without all of the snow).
We can hardly believe that our first academic year is almost complete. Classes finish at the end of April followed by finals. Our time here has flown by - we have been blessed, challenged, frustrated, inspired, tired, and energized in the past year.
We do have plans for a visit back to the states. We leave Klaipeda on June 11 and return on July 9. We will spend most of our time in PA visiting friends and family but do plan a quick trip to OH in June to visit our church and friends there.
Happy Easter... The Lord is Risen. The Lord is Risen, Indeed!
