Hungary Trip: Day 6

Conference Day 4

Last full day of conference started like the others, with a nice Hungarian breakfast buffet. Very grateful. Very good. Very much missing some good coffee though. The kids ran off to their classes and we dropped Jenova off at the nursery and then met up with Cheryl for Jacob’s

consultation – the primary reason we made this whole trip. Going into this meeting our prayer was this: Lord, let Jacob’s be a clear diagnosis.

Cheryl reminds me, physically, of an Italian lady in our ecumenical group named Raimonda. She asked us some background questions based on her time with him. She did the 3-hour

cognitive diagnostic with him the second day. She was very positive, encouraging and yet honest, encouraging us to help him learn to process information better and to reinforce visual as well as audio input of information. She was able to point us to several good resources and put some practical steps into our hands. It was just what we prayed for – thank you Lord!

Heather and I sat in the bar area afterwards, processing and Cheryl came back over to give us

a last minute thought and pray with us (she had had to run make an announcement in the auditorium).

The main session was very emotional. Dr. Egeler spoke on how we handle life’s disappointments and ‘soul pain.’ The man is a good story teller. He reminded us of the

importance of not shying from pain and suffering as it is in these moments we are closest to our Father, that He is working the most on us and with us.

Lunch was good – we got to know a family heading to Siberia – wow. They talked about the Ukrainian culture, where they are studying language, and how they don’t place a high value on taste in their food. Thank you Lord for sending me to Italy, where perhaps the value placed on taste is TOO high.

After lunch there was an Open House of all the kids’ classrooms where we got to meet their teachers and see the space-themed projects they had been working on all week. I had to skip out on part of it to pick up Haven’s achievement test results (she did great!).

It cracks me up when some of our friends have called this trip a ‘vacation’. Yes, it does require staying in a hotel. Yes, it does mean eating out some. Yes, it does mean seeing a part of Europe we’ve never experienced before. Yes, it does imply spending a lot of time as a family. BUT, this is one of the reasons I love my ‘JOB’. This kind of trip is part of it. But, we are mentally and emotionally exhausted.

We climbed back up to our room and crashed yesterday afternoon. There was nothing scheduled so we rested. Jacob and Haven swam. I took Jenova and Harrison for a walk. We then took the kids to McDonald’s to celebrate (and for a break from summer sausage sandwiches!). Then, as has been the norm, to bed early. Tomorrow is the last day of conference. It ends at lunchtime.