Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Friends from Bosnia

My mom's neighbors are from Bosnia and have been living here for several years. They have three kids, Saandi, age 10, Sanda, age 5, and Amanda, age 4. The kids absolutely LOVE each other! Whenever we pull up the driveway, the kids don't even go in the house and greet Grandma, they just go across the driveway and knock on her neighbors' door to come out and play! They will seriously play for like 5 - 7 hours until it gets dark outside! When they leave the girls have to exchange hugs! These pictures were taken last Sunday, while they were all playing together.
My mom holding Jaren (2 mo.) while Sanda and Amanda
give him some love.
Eden, Amanda & Sanda.
They've become really good friends!
Ollie perfecting the good ol' granny toss!
Ed teaching Kennen, Saandi and Ollie how to play "P-I-G".
My mom has lived next door to them for about seven years now. They are so sweet to my mom! They always bring her fresh tomatoes from their garden and baked goods and things. They have a snowblower and snowblow the driveway for her. They are very considerate people. It's hard to communicate with the parents and especially the grandparents, but a smile is the same in any language. We always say "Hi" to them whenever we see them. One time my oldest brother, Bryan, went fishing with Saandi's Grandpa, Ferhat. He had some funny stories to share with us about Grandpa catching too many fish! They are just so sweet!
About a year or two ago, Fikrit invited us into their home to sit down and talk with their family and his sister and brother-in-law, who spoke English very well. They offered us some refreshments and we talked with them for about an hour. We talked about Bosnia and how the living conditions were over there during the war and before they left. I can't imagine living in a refugee camp and being shot. It was very eye opening for me, here in my own little world. They were very candid with us. We talked about living in Iowa and the differences between the two locations. We talked about our families and about coming over to the United States and having to take the test to become a U.S. Citizen. HOLY COW... I couldn't even answer some of the questions! It was a really special night to talk with them and really come out of my comfort zone.

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