The view from Budapest » My Family

Christmas Weekend

Tom — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 22:00:30 +0000

We have had a great weekend together celebrating the birth of Jesus. We are so looking forward to Christmas Day tomorrow. It is snowing so we are going to have a White Christmas for sure!

Saturday Night – Church Christmas Program at The Gellert Hotel
Kendall and her friend Janie performed a Flute Duet:

Sunday - Church in the morning. Christmas Adam Celebration at our Office in the Evening

Monday -Ice Skating in the City in the morning

Christmas Eve at our house with Special Guests, Larry & Debby Thompson

Kirby Ann Tud Olvasni!!! (Kirby Ann can read!!!)

Tom — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 16:42:48 +0000

(Written by Valerie) Kirby Ann came home from school the other day and said, ” I can read!” It was a very amazing transformation for her. One day she couldn’t read, the next day she could read anything. Anything in Hungarian that is!!

She has been learning to read in English off and on at home over the last year or so. She has consonants, vowels, most blends, and is working on the harder blends (ou, ow, augh, etc) She can easily sound out words in English when they follow the rules. Fluent reading will come soon, we hope.

Hungarian, however, is perfectly phonetic. That is the ONLY easy thing about the language! Therefore, she realized that if she put the new sounds she learned with the sounding out she could already do, tah dah…she could READ!!!

So today, I bought my little girl her first reading book ever. She loves Bible stories and has always said that she can’t wait to read the Bible. Never would I have guessed that the first Bible Story book she would read to herself would be in Hungarian!

First Day of School 2007

Tom — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 17:09:52 +0000

Here is Kendall, Trent & Reed on their first day of school. It was a big day for Kendall and Reed as Kendall is beginning High School (unbelievable) and Reed is starting middle school. Trent is just cruising along into the 7th grade.

Kirby Ann starts Hungarian 1st grade next Monday so I’m sure there will be lots of news related to that day. First day in school and it will be all in Hungarian. Valerie wont’ have any idea what is going on.

Christmas Eve Skating

Tom — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 10:41:59 +0000

Our annual tradition of ice skating on Christmas Eve wasn’t quite the same since Kirby Ann & Valerie were at the hospital. Kendall, Trent & Reed got to go anyway and were joined by Jessie. I dropped them off before I went to get Valerie & Kirby Ann at the hospital so I made the picture, but I didn’t get to skate. They had a great time and many friends were there with them. It is such a beautiful place to go skating.

Christmas Eve in the Korház (Hospital)

Tom — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 16:23:49 +0000

It wasn’t in the plan, but Valerie, Kirby Ann & I spent Christmas Eve morning in the hospital. We decided that we haven’t had enough medical challenges yet, so we were ready for an adventure. Ha!

Kirby Ann woke up at 2:15am and was having trouble breathing. She was wheezing and coughing and wasn’t doing well at all. Valerie made a quick call to the American Clinic here in Budapest and the doctor said to hurry right over. Thankfully, our good friend Jessie is spending the weekend with us so Valerie & I were able to just jump in the car and go. We were at the doctor’s office by 2:45am and the doctor quickly gave her a steroid and started her on a breathing treatment. The doctor said that it was a bad case of croup (4 out of 6 on the Croup Scale). Kirby Ann starting doing better quickly, but the doctor recommended that we take her to a hospital for more treatment and observation. She also told us that the norm was that she would remain in the hospital until she had a symptom free night. That would mean that she would spend Christmas in the hospital.

We drove to the hospital and arrived around 4am. They checked us in and gave her another breathing treatment. She was doing much better by this time. I left around 5am and Valerie and Kirby Ann fell asleep from 6 to 7. Then, it was a long day of waiting. Thankfully, later in the morning, Valerie begged the doctor to let them leave today. We have a breathing treatment machine at home so we felt sure that we could take care of her. Thankfully, the agreed that she could come home. We didn’t make it home until around 3pm, but we are home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Pray that the croup won’t return. There is still a risk that it will return tonight.

It was our first overnight experience in a Hungarian hospital. It went fairly well. Kirby Ann felt right at home because she is so used to going to Hungarian preschool. The nurses were able to communicate with her in Hungarian and she loved the hot tea and even the food. It’s funny that she felt so comfortable in a place where Valerie & I weren’t quite as relaxed.

Here are a few more pics from the hospital. They were taken with my phone so they aren’t too great.

Christmas Concert

Tom — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 16:49:36 +0000

Last night, Kendall & Trent performed in the ICSB Christmas Concert. It was Trent’s first time to perform on his clarinet. They both did a great job!!! We are so proud of them.

Reed is Back Home

Tom — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 06:14:23 +0000

Saturday morning, I rode the train back to Austria and drove Valerie & Reed home. They were very ready to get back home as the walls of the hotel were closing in on them. The good part is that they stayed right on the main square and there was a Christmas market going on with lots of activity. They took several excursions into to the square although Reed couldn’t make it very long.

Reed is having some pain, but overall he is making progress everyday. It is good to be all back together again.

Reed’s Out! I’m home

Tom — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 06:12:59 +0000

Yesterday morning, Reed was released from the hospital. It was very different than our experiences with hospital discharge in the US. Our experience in the US has been that it takes forever to get out of the hospital. In Austria, as soon as the doctor made the decision at around 7:30am, they started circling like vultures to get Reed’s room. First they came in and wanted to change his sheets. Then, others started wandering by our door and looking in like “Are they still in there?” Someone suggested that we get out and sit in the waiting room across the hall. Reed didn’t like that idea at all as he wasn’t feeling too well. I think we finally got out around 10, but they were hurrying us as fast as they could.

Reed and Valerie checked into a hotel yesterday and will stay for 2-3 days. Reed is feeling much better although he is still in some pain and is pretty week. He was in much better spirits and took a good nap.

Last night, I returned home via train to Budapest. I was supposed to have a 3 hour direct train to Budapest where I didn’t have to make any train changes. My first clue that something was wrong was when the first train that pulled up was a single car “commuter train.” It was going the right direction, but there was no way this car was going all the way to Budapest. Then, it made stops about every 1-2 minutes. Quickly, I realized that I wasn’t in the right place. I arrived at the first major city on my journey and hurried into the train station to make a connection and I missed the connection by 1-2 minutes. I had to wait an hour and 15 minutes before the next train left. Then, I had to change again in another city. I was supposed to arrive in Budapest at 8:30 and I finally pulled in at around 10:45. OUCH! I still have no idea what happened and how I got on the wrong train. It was at the right time and it was going the right direction.

I’ll go back on Friday or Saturday to bring Valerie & Reed home. Hopefully, I’ll get the connections right this tiem.

Here are some pictures of Reed in the hospital. Here he is showing his expertise with the remote for the TV.

This is Reed in the recovery room about 10 minutes after the surgery ended.

Seely’s Medical Saga Continues

Tom — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 18:32:21 +0000

Sometime in the past year two of the three Seely guys have been in the hospital. I had back surgery last year on Dec 6th. Trent had many tests run over the summer for his stomach.

I guess Reed was feeling left out. Therefore, we leave tomorrow for Austria for Reed to have his tonsils removed on Tuesday. He has been battling throat infections for the last several years, but in the past 3-6 months he had many, many infections. The last one took 5 antibiotics to clear up.

We chose to go to Austria because the hospital should be much closer to what Reed is used to in the US. Also, there should be english speaking doctors and nurses which are pretty rare here in Budapest. We will be in the town of Wiener Neustadt, which is about 50km south of Vienna and just across the Hungarian border. It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive for us.

Reed will be in the hosptial for 3-5 days and Valerie will stay with him for the duration. I’m going up just for the procedure on Tuesday and then I’ll take the train home on Tuesday night to take care of the other kids.

Please pray that God would guide the hands of the doctors and that Reed would heal quickly. Also, pray for the 3 kids that we are leaving behind as they all woke up sick this morning and are in different stages of recovery.

Hopefully, the girls won’t try to catch up with the guys in the coming year. We have seen enough doctors offices and hospitals in Europe. We’re ready to get back to touring churches and castles.

Family Training

Tom — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 11:43:36 +0000

Last week was Trent’s 12th birthday. This was his year to have a family birthday party and he chose to go to Vienna for the day. Valerie and I have wanted to take the kids on a train trip ever since we lived here in Budapest, but it has never happened. As we started planning the trip, we decided this was our chance. Only Kendall had been on a train before so the kids were very excited about it. Jessie, our good friend and adopted family member, was along for the trip as well.

The train ride was lots of fun as we ate breakfast on the train, played cards, and just had a great time. Unexpectedly, another family from the kid’s school was on the train as well. The kids had a good time playing with them and the adults enjoyed visiting.

Upon arrival in Vienna, we embarked upon the “Eat your way through Vienna” tour. Here are the details:

First Stop – Vienna Christmas Market – We were excited to find out that we arrived on the first day that the Christmas market was open. The highlight of this was the wonderful Kase kreiners which are sa usages with little bits of cheese inside stuffed in a warm hot-dog like bun. They are totally incredible. We shopped a little bit as well and bought some small gifts for friends.

Second Stop – Starbucks – No trip to Vienna would be complete without the obligitory trip to Starbucks. I enjoyed my overpriced Grande Peppermint Mocha. Other than the fact that it was about 400 degrees in there, it was fun and a good rest.

Third Stop – Shopping Street – We visited a bunch of shops on the shopping street. Trent was able to spend some of his birthday money at Foot Locker on a Nike Bag and some cool shoelaces. Kendall found some treasures at Claire’s accessories.

Fourth Stop – Figlmullers - This is the store with the biggest & best Wienerschitzel in Vienna. We have been here many times and it never disappoints.

Final Stop – Christmas Market at Night – We had to go back to the Christmas Market to see it all lit up. They had the Christmas Tree lighting at 5:30pm so we wanted to see it one more time. Then, we hit the bakery for some incredible treats. I had some Applestrudel that was unbelievable.

We then rode the train back home and arrived around 11pm. Everyone was thoroughly exhausted, but satisfied knowing that we had a great day. As we were walking on the train platform after getting off the train, Reed said, “Dad, that was a great experience!!” That pretty much sums it up for all of us. Great day, Great memories. One of the great treats of living in Europe. People wait their whole lives to visit a great city like Vienna and we can just pop over for the day. What a blessing.