Life with the Hillmans

Our Beautiful Belle

2009-01-19T02:08:00.004+02:00

Here are some of the pictures we recently had made of Izzy. She's beautiful, but also super serious. She just did not want to smile this day.

This is me and Iz with my best friend Lisa. It was so good to spend some time with her.

Love you, Lis.

The last month

2008-10-16T20:52:00.005+03:00

At a Roma wedding in Berkovitsa.

Jackie, Ashleigh, Danielle and me enjoying some quality time together. Oh how I miss you guys already.

Someone got this pic during worship time of us.

Isabelle's first trip to the beach. Pretty cool that its in Greece.

Isabelle, Eleanor and John

Picking grapes at our landlords vineyard.

Eleanor ate so many grapes her whole mouth was purple. We thought for sure she was going to be sick, but she never did.

The last month has been a whirlwind. Exactly one month ago today our wonderful friends Kevin and Danielle Foster arrived along with their two kids to spend time with us for a couple weeks. They hung out with us at our new home in Velingrad and got to experience a little bit of our daily lives. Then we all came to Sofia to prepare for NMSI's triennial retreat which was hosted in Bulgaria and Greece this year. We spent two weeks worshipping, attending workshops, praying, and fellowshipping with over 200 missionaries serving around the world. It was an incredible blessing. We got to catch up with so many friends who we love and miss. Now we are back in Sofia getting some stuff done (like doctor's appointments, team meetings, etc.) before heading back to Velingrad to begin really diving into relationship building and surveying the region for what things are really needed and how we can best make God's love known. Despite all three of us having a cold during the retreat, we are feeling mentally refreshed from the retreat. Isabelle changed so much in the last month. She is 5 mos. today. She now chews on her feet, laughs out loud all the time, rolls over every time I lay her down, reaches for everything, and watches everyone just taking it all in. She makes us laugh and smile all the time these days, even though getting her to nap is twice as hard now that she rolls over and is curious about everything going on around her. She's beautiful and such a happy baby.

New Life in Velingrad

2008-09-03T20:55:00.002+03:00

Well we are finally here living in Velingrad. We are going on three weeks in our new home and already we have met so many new people and learned so much. Our apartment is the first floor of a three story home and the owners live above us with a guest house on the third floor. They have truly made us feel like part of the family -- loving on Isabelle, inviting us to meals and letting us be part of their birthday celebrations. They also have already taught us so many new words and helped us find our way around Velingrad. We've also met with one of the Pastors and his family in the area as well as with a girl named April who has been serving here for three years with the Peace corp. During the coming months we plan to find all the local churches and pastors as well as any active NGOs. The more we interact with people the more we see the spiritual realities around us. This city is surrounded by Roma villages and Turkic Muslim villages. And the people are very much divided. Being from a generation in the states that considers discrimination of another race as something unacceptable and of the past, it has been eye opening and at times shocking to hear how these different people groups living in the same region interact with one another. Some believers are worshiping among the Bulgarians and the Roma, but unity is something far from being accomplished. Also the number of Muslim people in this area becomes more and more of a burden on our hearts everyday. Right now we are realizing more and more how far we have to go with language, but I think moving at a much faster pace as we feel more of a longing to truly communicate love and truth to those around us. Enjoy the pictures. Isabelle is growing like crazy and starting to giggle and smile all the time.

Rolly Polly

2008-08-06T18:30:00.004+03:00

Isabelle rolled over for the first time yesterday. It came out of nowhere. Everything changes now, right? So in this video she had a little bit of a bonk and we were great parents and cheered her on. Don't worry she was happy afterwards. Watch and enjoy.

Family visit and some new pics

2008-08-03T14:54:00.003+03:00

The guys waiting on the ladies shopping in Bansko.

"Oh Dad, another hat."

"Look at what I've done since you guys left." Isabelle is now always chewing on that hand and stays up pretty well if we prop her up in the corner.

More new stuff. Oh Isabelle really likes her cube.

And we had a couple cold days at the end of July. Old jacket is too small and she's got a little growing to do for this one yet, but it worked.

Family Fun.

We can all be super heroes with a little imagination.

6 weeks tomorrow

2008-06-26T10:34:00.004+03:00

Wow! Isabelle is growing growing. She now weighs over 8 1/2 pounds. She's starting to really pay attention now when you talk to her and occasionally she smiles back. Also she has started scooting all around in her bed. I will lay her one direction and when I come back in when she wakes up her head is facing the side of the crib instead of the top. Some days though she really doesn't like to sleep during the day, but it has been getting better. She was averaging a 5 to 6 hour stretch of sleep in the night but she hasn't made it past 3 1/2 in about 4 or 5 nights. I think she is in a growth spurt. Gabe and I are adjusting more and more to parenthood. We bought a team van two weeks ago which has made things much easier for us. Now we are able to go places with Isabelle and I can get out of the house more. Plus it has been great for all kinds of ministry stuff already like driving the interns, airport pickups, trips to Velingrad, etc. Enjoy the pics of our little princess.

She's staring at herself in the mirror here. We love her new play mat. And she seems more interested in it everyday.

I love this picture. She's so much more alert these days.

Look at Me!

2008-06-10T17:13:00.002+03:00

Isabelle was hungry in this first clip, but Mommy was in the shower. Sorry Baby, you woke up too soon. The second clip is just a proud Dad with Izzy in the morning.

Isabelle in the morning

2008-06-10T11:48:00.001+03:00

Such a sweet girl

2008-06-01T19:04:00.001+03:00

Sweet Dreams

Look at my little ballerina and those beautiful ballet fingers! She likes to sleep with her hands over her head. It doesn't matter how tight I tuck her arms into the blanket, she gets them out.

Wearing Daddy's shirt

2008-06-01T19:00:00.003+03:00

Just lounging. Sometimes I think she is already a Florida girl.

On a little walk about

Izzy, that is quite the bed head you have.

Sometimes in the morning Me and Mom sit hear and sing songs and stretch our arms and learn new things. But in this picture, we're just chilling out.

HIc-ups

2008-05-23T17:43:00.002+03:00

She's Here!!

2008-05-23T16:01:00.005+03:00

Isabelle Grace arrived Friday, May 16 at 3:20pm. She weighed 6 lbs. 6 oz. and was 19.5 inches long. Of course we think she is the most beautiful baby ever. She's sleeping well and looking more angelic everyday.

Practice Video

2008-05-12T16:06:00.003+03:00

Just trying to learn how to post video on our blog for after Isabelle comes. This is a short clip of part of the apartment that we hope to rent in Velingrad.

Thanks Michelle for the fun baby shower!

2008-04-26T17:29:00.005+03:00

Michelle and I with the lovely table before it was devoured.

Michelle preparing for the party, me trying to help but really just trying to get a snack, and Maria our good friend who was the first to arrive.

All the ladies had to cut yarn in the length they thought would be the same size as my belly and then they all got to test their measurement. The closest one got a prize. This is our neighbor, who already loves Isabelle and always talks about how she can't wait for her to arrive.

The ladies trying to decide who got the closest. Daniella, the one with her arm up won the game. But a little secret -- after the part Gabe take a try and he was perfect. He knew from always putting his arms around my big belly.

Opening gifts.

Eleven women came to the party. (One left early and is not pictured.) It was super fun, b/c most of them had never been to a baby shower before and really enjoyed the American tradition. In Bulgaria it is customary to buy a gift for the baby after he or she is born, and many believe it is bad luck to buy something before. But most of these women are believers and recognized that this is superstition.

Michelle, Donna and I after the food had been devoured. The mix of Bulgarian and American style snacks was a big success.

The Belly

2008-04-16T12:31:00.003+03:00

I can't believe I have more growing to do. I suppose every pregnant woman feels that way when the end gets nearer. Only five more weeks to go. We can't wait.

A place for Miss Isabelle

2008-04-16T12:19:00.004+03:00

So we had some panels laying around from our wardrobe that would never stay on the back of it. And we wanted to separate the spare bedroom, so we could have a nice place for Isabelle and still use part of it for our dresser and laundry area. A couple weeks ago I woke up with an idea.

I painted and stenciled and Gabe hung them up.

I actually didn't use the drill at all, but Gabe thinks it cool when I use the power tools.

We hung flower decorations on the panels and bought the rug on our recent

adventure to Velingrad.

It came together beautifully. We plan to use the little bin for a bed for one week until our pack and play arrives with the summer interns. We are waiting to buy a wooden crib until we move to Velingrad. Don't worry we are going to cover it and put some blankets down in it. She will be cozy. We also would like to buy a rocking chair to add to the room. We almost all ready for her to come.

One Big Adventure

2008-04-14T20:26:00.007+03:00

Everyone is happy and excited for our big excursion with the rental car.

If we only knew how big.

Crippled and Preggo had to stop for a stretch.

Beware of falling rock! They really mean it hear. The road looked like this for a couple of hours. And we actually went over one of the stones and it hit the under panel of the car creating a large dent and causing a great grinding noise in the gears. Good thing we got insurance on the car.

Then it began to snow as we went up higher in the mountains.

Then it kept snowing, and our little rental car could go no more.

We had to stop in this little village and stay in a guest house. The man who owned the house was nice enough to track down some snow boots for us.

The next morning we woke up to the sun shining over this beautiful mountain lake. The snow was melting, but the roads still wouldn't be cleared for several hours.

We decided to go for it after the roads had melted some, but of course with our city tires we got stuck after about a mile and a half.

Then later, we really got stuck, and had to dig the car out with hands and a crutch.

We finally made it safe and sound to Velingrad, but discovered that our favorite pizza place was closed for renovation and our contacts would not have apartments to show us until the following week. We made up for it by enjoying the beautiful, now warm, sunny day and drinking some fun drinks at a nice cafe. We needed something relaxing.

And in the end we got to explore some neighboring villages and find the Gypsy village and Turkic village that we had visited two summers before.

This was one crazy trip, but overall we had a good time and our team grew closer from it all. We experienced Bulgaria in a whole new way. If you want to check out more photos of the entire trip check out our teammates site www.michelleinbulgaria.shutterfly.com/action/ and click on "Crazy Roadtrip". Also Gabe, Donna and Michelle will be returning to Velingrad this week to view some apartments. Our friend called the day we returned to Sofia to say they now had found apartments to show us. Funny how things work out.

Can I get much bigger?

2008-03-18T12:23:00.005+02:00

Isabelle is growing at a crazy rate these days. She is now rapidly approaching my ribs and yesterday, I think she was stretching to see if she could push them out of the way. My ribs were a little sore, but I think it might be only the beginning. Gabe pretty much says "Wow your so big" every time he looks at me lately. I know to take it as a compliment though, and I am always happy knowing that she is growing as she should. As you can see Gabe enjoys taking pictures of my belly and of course he didn't want to be left out either. I think I'm winning in the belly growth contest.

A little behind

2008-03-05T15:58:00.009+02:00

Well these pictures are from about a month ago, but I still wanted to share. Some of them are from our last trip to Velingrad and the ones with the ladies cooking are from Berkovitza. One of the Roma women taught us how to make the traditional Bulgarian pastry "Bonitza". Yum Yum.

Two women teaching us about Bonitza, our teammates Donna and Michelle, and our language teacher, Mariya, and obviously me.

Learning to make Bonitza.

Bonitza ready for the oven and adorable Danny anxious to be a part of the process.

Gabe giving his first message in Bulgarian. He did great. This is the church in Berkovitza.

Anybody else gotta go?

A little coffee

Randomness in Velingrad

Gabe's Surgery

2008-03-05T14:41:00.003+02:00

Yep, so Gabe finally had his ACL surgery. Tomorrow marks two weeks since his operation. He is doing well and getting stronger everyday, but still has a ways to go on crutches and with a large brace. If all continues well though, he should be in shape for wrestling with Isabelle in plenty of time.

Randomness

2008-02-12T17:20:00.000+02:00

Here are just some random photos from the past several weeks. The one of us in the funny clothing is from the Bulgarian dance lessons that were included in Gabe's recent intensive language course. They let me attend a couple lessons and at the end we got to dress up in some traditional Bulgarian clothing. The woman in the pic with us is the dance instructor. Also one belly picture is from today and the other is from about a week and a half ago. Enjoy. Hope you can laugh along with us.

Its been forever, I know

2008-02-12T17:13:00.000+02:00

Yep so I know, it has been forever since I've posted anything new on our blog. These pictures are from my birthday party almost a month ago. We had a great time with food, charades, dancing, and singing. It was a great cultural experience and good language practice. I felt very loved. We had friends from church, my language helper, our teammates and some fellow language students from the school Gabe was attending all in our apartment -- 14 people to be exact.

There's no stopping us now!

2008-01-14T12:48:00.000+02:00

Isabelle and I are really growing now. I feel like my belly gets bigger everyday. My weight keeps rising as well. I know this is a good thing, but it does come with annoying backaches, increased clumsiness, and more and more daydreaming about becoming a mom. I find myself already loving her so much. Every time she kicks I think about how much I want to take good care of her. Only 4 months left to go, which just seems crazy. I will be 22 weeks along by Thursday. Wow!

She's on the Move

2008-01-04T19:44:00.000+02:00

So I think we have decided on a name for the baby girl on the way -- Isabelle Grace. Gabe wants to call her Izzy, but I'm not sure that will be my nickname of choice. Also, she has started moving around quite a bit. Gabe has been able to feel her kick twice. We will have another doctor's appointment in the next couple of weeks to see how much she has grown and make sure it still looks like a girl moving around in there. We've started thinking about baby stuff, and may begin our hunt for things like a crib and such soon. It should be an interesting Bulgarian adventure. My belly is starting to show more and I will try to take some new pictures and post them soon.

Fun in the Snow

2008-01-04T19:32:00.001+02:00

So it happened. We got a dumping of snow. There is about 20 inches of snow on the ground now, and I've been really thankful that I decided to go ahead and buy those boots a month ago. Of course we had to have a little fun in the snow, but now it is so cold that hanging out outdoors is not so appealing. It is currently 10 degrees outside. BBBRRR!

Its A ........

2007-12-26T11:37:00.001+02:00

Merry Christmas surprise!! Its a girl. We had our appointment last Thursday and everything looks great. We saw her entire skeleton, her face, brain, heart, liver, everything. She is growing into a beautiful little girl. We were both shocked that it was a girl. We thought for sure it would be a boy, but we are super excited about a girl.

Street Sightings

2007-12-26T11:33:00.001+02:00

Gabe, you can take him any day.

Baby stretching his or her limbs

2007-12-04T17:00:00.000+02:00

So I think my belly grew sometime in the last 24 hours. Baby hit a growth spurt.

A team visit to Istanbul with Phil

2007-12-02T11:45:00.000+02:00

A woman weaving a rug by hand.

Inside the Haggai Sofia -- This mosque was originally a Christian cathedral and was the largest building of its time when Christianity was the major religion of Constantinople. Some of the Christian art has been revealed from under the Muslim covering.

Visiting Berkovitza

2007-12-02T11:38:00.001+02:00

Don't worry, it only looks like Gabe is going against doctor's orders about his knee.

Visiting a local monastery with Phil, who came for a visit, and members of the church in Berkovitza.

Winter begins in Sofia

2007-12-02T11:31:00.000+02:00

Is it fall or is it winter?

Outside Saint Alexander Nevski Orthodox Church

Baby Hillman looking cuter everyday

2007-11-07T19:26:00.001+02:00

We got to see the baby move this time. It was awesome. And the doctor officially said our due date is May 23. She also said everything looks good and healthy.

A visit to our future place of ministry, Velingrad

2007-11-04T13:29:00.000+02:00

Teammates clowing around.
Velingrad in the valley
The girls in front of a lovely Bulgarian home.
Donna, Michelle and I in front of a horse and cow field
A view of the city.
On the hillside.

Our team managed to get bus tickets there, reserve two hotel rooms, eat and explore the town, and get back to Sofia all on our own -- no translators invited. We felt quite accomplished and happy to get out of the city for a little exploring. We simply reacquainted ourselves with the town and learned the system for getting there and back. We had a very good time and enjoyed the beauty of the fall. If you would like to check out more pictures of our excursion checkout our teammates site at www.michelleinbulgaria.shutterfly.com.

So exactly how many grams are in a pound?

2007-11-04T13:22:00.000+02:00

So last Sunday was one of those funny days of missionary mishaps. First we awoke for church to soon discover that it was daylight savings day in Bulgaria, so we could have slept an hour longer. Then our team travelled to church and discovered that for some unknown reason, no one was there and the doors were locked. (We still don't know why.) So we of course decided to make the best of it and go eat Chinese. Well due to language miscommunication and American ignorance of not really knowing exactly how much 600 grams of fried noodles or spicy chicken is, we ended up with enough food to feed atleast five more people. Yes we were laughed at and received numerous funny looks, but we were able to laugh at ourselves as well.

Baby is Growing

2007-10-21T21:04:00.000+03:00

We had our second doctors appointment and everything is still looking good. I am 9 weeks along now and still feeling nauseous, but mostly just in the evening. Napping has become a new pastime as well.

Team BulgariaHope

2007-10-15T16:45:00.000+03:00

This weekend we visited Berkovitza and visited with Roma families from our inviting church. They were super welcoming and took us on an excursion in the mountains. Here is us with our teammates, Michelle and Donna. The fall leaves were beautiful.

We stopped at this mountain hostel to warm up with some tea and we found this sign rather funny. Be sure not to eat the turtles. Take note of the fork and spoon making it clear for even those of us who can't read Bulgarian yet.

SURPRISE!!! We're expecting.

2007-10-12T16:01:00.000+03:00

It's true. We're expecting a baby in just over 7 months. The baby should arrive around May 22nd. So far I am healthy and the baby looks good. We will keep you posted.

New furniture and getting a handle on life.

2007-09-28T18:04:00.000+03:00

2007-09-28T17:55:00.001+03:00

Well we are now wired with the internet in our apartment, so maybe it won't be a month between blog updates from now on. We are still adjusting to life here is Bulgaria. Our language learning is growing everyday, but still there is so much to learn. We are starting to hear words on the street that we recognize, and we are feeling more confident about going out and about. We've even eaten at a couple restaurants and figured out the menus and ordered all on our own. Still we stumble along. Today we went to pay our water bill and they wouldn't take it. The lady said something to us and pointed at the balance. We assumed she wouldn't take it b/c we didn't have exact change, but come to find out it was because the water company owes us money. We have a credit. How silly we must have seemed trying to pay for a bill that said we were getting money back.

Our teammate Donna arrived two weeks ago and our other teammate, Michelle, will arrive on Tuesday. We will all be learning Bulgarian for the next several months and trying to develop as a team. It will be exciting to see what the Lord has in store for us.

Well thats all for now. We'll keep posting pictures when we have something interesting to share. The pictures are more interesting anyway right?

Blessings to you all.

We finally have chairs in our apartment.

2007-09-28T17:52:00.000+03:00

Our first meal in our new apartment.

2007-09-28T17:49:00.000+03:00

One week in Bulgaria

2007-09-02T16:54:00.000+03:00

We have now been in Sofia for one week. Thus far we have been trying to set up our new apartment while living in the apartment of a previous missionary and finding our way through the city. We hope to move into our new place very soon, after we purchase a bed. We start language school this week which is exciting. We both are ready to know more. It has been interesting playing charades everywhere we go.

We made our first big purchase last week; we bought a couch. In fact it was the first piece of furniture that we have ever purchased together. It is bright orange and has a pull out sleeper and a storage area. I will try to post a picture the next time we make a trip there. So the funny thing about this couch is what happened when it was delivered. We decided to not have the couch delivered up to our apartment on the fifith floor but rather just to the entrance of our building. We saved about $50 this way. We thought no big deal, we will take it up the elevator. Well wouldn't you know it, the elevator quit working just when the couch arrived. Gabe and I ended up hauling the two large couch pieces up five flights of stairs. (91 steps to be exact.) We were quite a site as our apartment neighbors began going out for the day and squeezing by us in the hall. We did it though, and I must say that I feel considerably stronger today.

We are learning more and more everyday about Bulgaria and the Bulgarian language. We are feeling well, even when we feel moments of culture shock. Thankfully at this point they are just moments.

Clava na Boga. Glory to God.

Love, the Hillmans

God's Many Blessings

2007-08-17T22:27:00.001+03:00

Well we leave for Bulgaria in five days and the Lord continues to show his faithfulness. We have received our visas and we are now 100% funded. We both seem to be more and more ready to go. Everything has fallen into place allowing us to simply rest in the Lord as we look ahead to our landing in Sofia. Can you believe it? It is finally time to go! -- Melissa