Ten Years!

Tomorrow marks a very special day in the Bliss family.  Ten years ago tomorrow, Sasha and I stood in front of about 200 of our closest friends and family and vowed to have and to hold each other in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, for better or for worse, until death do us part.

After ten years, I can say that we have had times when we have been richer and times when we have been poorer.  We have had time of great health, and times of unbearable sickness.  We have had very good times, and we have had very bad times.  Through it all, she has been there with me, and I have been there with her.  We have remained faithful to each other and we continue to love each other deeply.  

Shortly after we got married, some co-workers told me that my feelings for Sasha would change over time.  That I would abandon my ideal view of marriage once I had some “experience.”  That I would learn, as they had, that giving up on marriage is good; healthy even.  They told me that I would soon learn how it is more important to pursue my own dreams than to give up on my desires for the betterment of my wife.

Indeed this is sadly the case for many couples, and it happens when marriage is all about what it does for me. If the purpose of marriage was to make me happy then I would have given up on it years ago.  Not that I am not happy in my marriage, but like all marriages there are good times and bad times.  Yet, a marriage is not about what I can get, but about what I give to the woman I love.  What I am willing to freely give up for Sasha is a sign of my love for her.  In the Bible, the church is described as the bride of Christ.  Jesus (the "groom") freely gave up his life for us (His "bride").  In doing so, He showed just how much he loves us.  I have not given up my life for anyone yet, and I probably never will.  A very small percentage of people ever die so that someone else can live despite what we read in books and see on movies.  Yet in Sasha, I have found someone worth dying for, and that makes life worth living.

Showing love is not just buying flowers.  It is not just doing the dishes so that your wife can relax after the kids go to bed.  It is not just a romantic night out.  Love is a decision that Sasha and I make every day.  It is a choice to give of ourselves so that we can both be better for it.  It is not a decision we always make perfectly.  Hardly a day goes by when Sasha and I do not step on each other’s emotional toes.  Sometimes we make big mistakes, and really hurt each other.  Yet, daily we make the decision to live for the betterment of our mate.  To give of ourselves so that together we can become something greater.

When you live for yourself you become a black hole of emotion.  Everything is about what makes you happy and what gives you pleasure.  As a result you give very little happiness and pleasure to anyone else.  Little joy comes from you because your life is about pulling happiness in.  If you live such a life, you will find little joy in it, and if you live such a marriage you will find at best misery, and at worst divorce.

When you live to give for others benefit you shine joy like a lighthouse on a dark night.  When you are married to someone who lives for you and if you in turn live for them, your light becomes like a bright star that illumines and warms all who come near you.

That is why our marriage has stood the test of time while so many of our friends have given up.  We believe in something greater than ourselves, and we live for others.  In the end, we have found great enjoyment from our marriage, and learned what it means to love in ways we never knew before.

It is true.  My feelings toward Sasha are not what they were 10 years ago.  Experience has indeed changed how I feel.  My love for her has grown.  It is stronger now than it has ever been.  I cannot imagine what my life would be without her in it.  I could not live without loving her.

I love you Sasha!  It has been a great adventure these past ten years.  Ten down, a lifetime to go!

Test Results

The test went great!  I got a 6, which is the highest grade possible in the Bulgarian system.  This made me quite happy.  I am now a certified A1 Bulgarian speaker.

The school is currently setting up the next course which will hopefully begin a couple weeks from now and get me up to level A2 in a few months.

Thanks for your prayers!

Test Time

Wednesday I finish up my level-one Bulgarian course with a test.  My teacher has no doubt that I will pass as she says that we are already working on material well into the second level, but I would appreciate your prayers anyway.
We spent most of our lesson time today in conversation.  It was good practice, and my teacher was quite encouraging by commenting on how well I spoke.  Yet she never let up on me, and constantly corrected every mistake I made.  At one point I added a Bulgarian ending to a Polish word.  My teacher told me with a smile to "Stop making up words."
Knowing Polish has been a big help in learning Bulgarian, but from time to time it has caused some linguistic interference.  Still, I am much better off coming at Bulgarian already having two languages under my belt.
Thanks for your prayers.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Serdika

The former name of the city of Sofia was "Serdika."  Translated into English it would be, "Middle."  This was a very good name for the city.  It is in the middle of a large valley, so when you stand on the mountains and look at it, it is literally in the middle.  It was also in the middle of the route from the east to the west.  Rome lies to the west and Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) is in the east.  To travel from one to the other by land would take you through the "Middle."
Sofia remains in the middle even today.  Bulgaria borders a Middle-Eastern country (Turkey) and it is part of the European Union.  It is between two worlds.  It is in the middle.  It is a poorer European country, yet it is still connected to Europe economically through its E.U. membership.  It is in the middle.
The middle continues to be a good description for this city, and even for this country.

Beautiful View

For those of you who don't know, I grew up in the beautiful St. Croix Valley in Minnesota.  For most of my childhood I lived in a small city called Bayport.  As you drive into Bayport from the south up Minnesota Highway 95 you come to a bend in the road, and as you round the bend you see the river valley stretched out before you in what is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful views in the world.  It is a view that used to give me the feeling that I am almost home.  I never thought I would ever find a view that gave me the same feeling.

Recently I was driving back to Sofia from a trip out of town.  It was a beautiful sunny day, and I was enjoying the drive through the mountain passes along the Bulgarian expressway.  As I approached the Sofia Valley I drove around a curve in the road, and laid out before me was the entire valley.  It was so clear that I could see all the way across to the mountains on the other side.  As I looked down at the houses, factories, and fields, I could not help but feel like I was almost home.  It has been years since I have had that feeling.  It was a beautiful view, and it was good to be on my way home.

Up the Mountain

I recently got back into a running regiment.  I have been running for about the past two years now, but every time I transition from one home to another it throws off my grove.  It took a bit longer this time, but I am finally back.

There is a lot of construction in our neighborhood, so I have to be careful.  I have also discovered that there are a lot more stray dogs that I once thought.  On on run I found myself running head on into a pack of about 7 or 8 strays in the middle of the road.  The leader looked directly at me.  I knew he was trying to figure out if I was going to feed him or threaten his turf.  I stared him down and kept running straight at him.  I was a bit concerned that he might give the order to attack, but I knew that from his vantage point there was a 215 pound animal of some sort running at him at charging speed in black and white (because dogs see everything in black and white).  He and his crew quickly beat feet and scattered into the surrounding bushes and rubble.

Though I don't mind the dogs too much, I decided to take a different route today just in case they figure out that 7 or 8 dogs is a match for one unarmed man no matter what his size.  I decided that rather than running into the city, I would try to run out of it.  We have a huge dormant volcano just south of the city, and our house is located on the lower part of the slope.  If I start running toward the edge of the city (which is several kilometers away) I run up hill and toward nature.  I have not made it yet, but I am hoping that the day will come when I can find the southern edge of Sofia and run myself out of town.

Mr. Pizza

Last week we ordered our first home delivered pizza since moving to Sofia.  We found a local pizza place online.  The following is written on the main page of the website in English.  We have not altered anything:

Mr. Pizza is the good gentleman
who takes care of your belly.

Hello to all of you, connoisseurs of true
gastronomical perfections. Every
self-respecting person is striving
to satiate the demands and fancies of their belly.
When you eat, you're not
just satiating your hunger.
You are taking care of yourself,
you are bringing unparalleled joy and
giving your respect to the most natural
of human needs. The need for food
and pleasure. Mr Pizza knows that each
'detail' of the 'eating' ritual is of
a great importance. And that's why
he has created a fairytale oasis, 
where you can indulge in your
culinary passions, uninterrupted by
any outside factors. The gastronomical
art is a supreme form of self-expression
and of giving respect to the whole of
humanity, as well as to each 'consumer'
personally. Our 'kitchen gurus' know how to turn
the various foodstuffs into a
masterpiece fit for your stomach.


After reading that, we had to try their pizza.


Our bellies were indeed satisfied.

Here are a few pictures of this amazing pizza :)

We also got to try these yummy cookies from a cute little shop called "100 grama sladki" (100 gr. cookies)"
Lots of good eats in Bulgaria.  Come try them!