O Tannenbaum

We cut down a tree a couple weeks ago and decorated it together. Nathaniel and Josiah both have little (18 inch) fake trees setup in their room, too. Almost every morning Josiah exclaims "Tree!" as if he has never seen such an exciting sight before. He is a sweet little guy. The boys were soooo helpful with stretching (and trampling on) the lights while we prepared them to hang on the tree in our living room (maybe in the future their help will actually be helpful). When the lights were hung, Nathaniel really was a happy helper with the ornaments. It is wonderful to introduce them to the celebration of our savior who was born on Christmas (they don't remember Christmas ever happening before). Nathaniel requests that we sing Joy to the World over and over. He also has enjoyed listening to the Nutcracker and watching the ballet on a DVD (he dances his favorite moves with Mommy - I get to be Clara, the princess)!

England

Nathaniel and I went to England for a weekend. (Tom was unable to go because his passport is at the Indian Consulate waiting to be granted a visa to enter the country for his missions' trip in January). We enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast with friends who live in Cambridge, and a BIG day out on the town in London. We went to the National Museum, climbed monuments in Trafalgar Square, walked around to see the Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and Big Ben, then we went out to dinner (fish & chips & vinegar, of course), and to a Broadway showing of "Oliver." Nathaniel was a trooper, he seemed to enjoy it all (even the art museum), he claims to like vinegar on his french-fries now, and he even took a nap on our friend's back while touring the city. I was grateful for friends who were willing to carry, play with, and patiently talk with Nathaniel for the whole weekend. It was adventure like no other. The first tour pictures are Nathaniel's photographs and the next several are my photos. He has a different (shorter, somewhat odd) perspective of the sites of London! Enjoy (and come visit to see for yourself if you can)!!

Prayer Request for Aunt Sue & family

My dear Auntie Sue has been through years of battle with colon cancer. On Sunday she died and has gone up to meet with Jesus. Please pray for her family, my family, as we mourn and look to the future without her. We know that our God is sovereign over all things; He gives and He takes away. But death is our enemy yet and Satan still controls this world with his strife, pain, and separation from loved ones. We grieve the loss of our Aunt Sue. Please pray that our family will bind together to love each other and hold each other and help each other. Please pray that God's power and victory would be made known to those who attend the funeral and burial (Wednesday 11/18 and Thursday 11/19). Aunt Sue has many friends, coworkers, and neighbors who do not yet know Jesus Christ. May He be magnified in all these things.

Free Audio Book

John Piper's book "Desiring God" is free this month to download at christianaudio.com. Download it now and read/listen to it soon.

Looking Forward to the Holidays

Hooray! I love Holidays and I'm enjoying being the homemaker who can decorate and host others. We just finished up a fun day with the little construction workers dressed for the Hallelujah Party at the chapel - October 31st. Nathaniel hopped and bopped in the bounce houses until he was totally tuckered out and then went to bed at home so nicely! Yeah, no sweet-induced night-time antics for us.

I've attached a few photos of the little construction workers. Nathaniel called himself "George" all day - I guess he thinks that's the name of a construction worker?!

For Thanksgiving, we booked tickets and a cottage to stay in Cambridge, England for a weekend. I look forward to the fellowship and conversation with the friends we will join there. Not one of them is married or has kids, so I hope they enjoy our conversation and fellowship! They did invite us to join them, though.

For Christmas, I look forward to concerts at church (we have some super instrumentalists on our praise team) and Christmas Eve meditation service. We get to help plan these services, which makes me happy because I love to plan music and learn new songs to praise! And we just pooled together to get 6 airline tickets for all the Katzenbergers to come join us here after Christmas. Now I just have to figure out where to put them all.

You'll be seeing a few new blogs I've been reading, books, wish-lists, and other stuff on the side of this blog as I update for the Holidays and read up about the newest gadgets for kids and ways to host happy Holidays. I "brined" a turkey for the last 2 days and roasted it this morning for the pot-luck at Tom's work. I was pretty pleased with the delicious moist flavor. ("Brining" is really the way to go - just soak the bird in lots of salty water, a few whole herbs of choice, a couple cups of liquor of choice and voila - you've got brine!).

I look forward to trying new recipes and sipping hot mochas with you, if you'll be here, or via Skype. Please give us a call sometime, I'd really love to have your company. We are often busy with weekend travels, but we lack deep friendships, and I still really miss my friends and family and feel loneliness creep in whenever I think of each of you.

Autumn Adventures in the Alps

Please push the play button to enjoy our photos from the hotel and farm we stayed at in Austria. We certainly enjoyed God's creation and our time to relax a little out there.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

What We've Been Up To...

Well, we've been out of town for over a week and now we're home. We enjoyed time in Bavaria at a hotel and conference center while Tom was taking classes, and then we all traveled to Austria. We stayed on a farm in the mountains in Austria and enjoyed it so much. I will put up a bunch of pictures about that soon. I am still trying to catch up on mounds of dirty laundry and grocery shopping.

The weather has become quite chilly and frosty here, so I took some time on Saturday to sew the boys each a fleece "foot sack" to keep them bundled while walking with our stroller. So we have been drinking coffee and tea, doing more indoor activities like painting and taking long fun baths.

Josiah has begun walking (upright) now - all the time. Just 2 days ago, October 17, he realized he could do it so well, and he hasn't stooped down to do his bear-walk since then. I'll miss the little bear-crawl, but he sure likes looking his brother face to face and thinks he's a big boy now! Josiah likes to make animals sounds and announce his activities - such as "sit, sit, sit" and "walk, walk, walk." He certainly acts likes a big boy these days - and he says "no!" quite often, too. Sometimes so sweet and coy and subtle that his rebellion is hardly noticeable, and then other times (especially those involving food) he screams good and loud! He also popped out a few new eye-teeth just this week.

Nathaniel's imagination is too funny. It is as though he can really see what he is talking about and describing to me. Today he is telling me that he is babysitting Blue while Steve is out of town (Blue - the dog character from Blues Clues). He set out bowls for Blue to eat and drink from and held the leash while we walked downstairs. And he has been calling me Ms. Frizzle (the teacher from the Magic School bus books - if only I could take all those cool field trips). He asked me how I got here and if I came in through the pipes to our faucet.

Tom and I are pondering and praying for the future. Please pray for us as we will soon request and decide whether to remain in the army or to be finished. And if we are done in the army, where should we live? How will we know where God wants us to go if the army doesn't just up and plant us somewhere!? Also, Tom is up for a promotion, which may influence a move to a different neighborhood in the next few months. So much to wonder about, and so little control over any of it. We really want to do great things for Jesus Christ's kingdom and are hesitant to "settle down" anywhere until we feel more certain of our role in His kingdom.

Thomas the Tank Engine

Nathaniel received a bunch of trains and tracks from Grandma & Papa for his birthday. He loves them. We've gone to the library and borrowed many train books in the last couple months to help him understand trains and create scenarios in which the trains can work. But I had no idea how much Josiah would love the trains, too! He hums and dances to the "Thomas the Tank Engine" theme song all the time, whenever he sees any train. I think his little songs are hilarious!

What I like about Germany...

...is that Germans celebrate the excitement of common things in life.

There are farm festivals to celebrate farms. There is a festival to celebrate a local small town's fire department. Another to celebrate the local vineyard's harvest. Another to celebrate hot air balloons. Another to celebrate the cattle coming down from their summer pastures in the hills to the barns for the winter months. And almost every town has a Christmas market and festival!

In Germany, it seems, there is a festival celebrating something somewhere every weekend. Often we take weekend walks though various towns, and it is not uncommon to come upon a schnitzel and/or beer selling tent or truck, tables lined up in the lawn somewhere, bands playing and realize we are at a festival! Of course, we are all curious how the firetrucks, the barns, the hot air balloons look on the inside and this is a great opportunity to really check it out and get the inside perspective. We like to join in this kind of family fun. Here are a couple photos from our most recent festivals.

We've been blogged!

Awhile back we had our family photos done by Sarah Mayer. She is my highschool friend and a professional photographer now. If y'all live anywhere near Minneapolis, I'd highly recommend her! Check out her blog!

Nathaniel's Questions

Nathaniel asks all kinds of questions these days. Here's a sampling from the last 3 days of conversations with my little "ponderer".

On eschatology--
N: This is a picture of God riding on the clouds.
Mom: Oh, really? Like the song from church(Days of Elijah)"...behold He comes, riding on the clouds, shining like the sun..."
N: Yes! Can we ride on the clouds with Him?
Mom: Maybe, when we are in heaven with Him we will do many things with God.
N: And we will see Him!
Mom: Yes, and then we can know Him better.
N: And I will sing to Him in the temple!
Mom: Oh yes! We will sing to Him, talk with Him, and praise Him!

On vehicles--
N: What happens if a Land Rover goes in the mud and bumps into another Land Rover and they get all muddy and run into a mountain?
Mom: no answer

On recipes--
N: What happens if I mix mustard and wine and sugar and sauce?
M: I'm not sure, but it sounds pretty yummy to me!

Reminder About God's Grace

As I have been praying about and pondering my role as a mother, this devotional was sent out from African Enterprise. I was encouraged and give glory to God for His great timing in all things. I am so glad that Christ comes to me and does not address me as a failure (I can dish that out to myself well enough), but as His beloved and treasured child. I need to give more of this grace to my children each day, too.

Read and be blessed:

African Enterprise Devotional - "Any Fish?" by Festo Kivengere

The disciples had lost contact with the Man of Calvary, and that loss completely emptied the Resurrection for them, totally frustrating their every effort. They hadn't realized that, in their dark hours that night fishing, He had been with them. He had promised He was going to be with them, but they had forgotten this.

So they saw a Man standing on the beach, but they couldn't recognize Him. He was too distant. This was part of their problem. They had missed the fellowship, the intimacy with the Lord which gave meaning to their ministry, their theology and their experience.

When He is missed, then activities are just activities, dead routines.

He called to them, "Any fish, boys?" It was a Voice calling them back into relationship. He was not addressing them as failures, as people who had messed up their ministry. No, there is familiarity here. He is still at home with them, even in their failure.

I think, as evangelicals, we need to relearn the lessons of grace. Here was His grace meeting their failures, because that was exactly what they needed. They needed a new encounter, a fresh meeting - not with an angel -- but with a Man, One who understands.

Thank You Friends

From my blog entry “Mom to Mom Questions” you may have had the impression that I am quite gloomy. That is not the case, for each day is a new opportunity to improve upon the previous day. I realize I am hard on myself. As my friends remind me, perfection is not something to be claimed on this side of heaven. And God’s mercies are new every morning and I rejoice in that. Thank you.

And Josiah took 3 steps today for the first time! Isn't that a precious reason to rejoice?

You been farming long?

This poster "You been farming long?" used to hang in my Grandpa's house until he passed away last year. I always liked it. Now my boys are wearing overalls and wishing they could play in the dirt all day and drive tractors. Little farmers!












And last weekend we had the chance to visit two different farms. There was a farm festival at one of the locations and lots of farm items on display. The boys (all 3 of them) thoroughly enjoyed themselves...and their happy faces make me happy, too! We saw lots of tractors, pigs, horses, and an egg vending machine (no joke). It is harvest time for many vegetable crops and beautiful here in Germany.

Mom-to-Mom Questions

Once again I am feeling like quite a failure. I wish I could be a good mother who leads with gentleness and a good wife who serves and excites her husband, all for the Lord’s honor and pleasure. But, I cannot seem to accomplish all things at home, at church, and be a godly joyful mother (my most important job right now)!

I am longing for the wisdom of other mothers who love God, love their families, and love to serve His people in the church. If you read this blog sometime and have any insight to any or all of these questions, do share!! And please pray for our family and for me, too!

How do you discipline your children? For what actions do your children receive correction?

Do you use scripture during correction and discipline? What verses? How do you use it? (Out loud? In prayer? During the act of discipline or after during explanation?)

Do you spank? In what context and how do you go about using spanking?

Do you use other methods of correction and discipline? In what context and how do you go about using these methods? Details, please!

How important is it that your children take turns and share toys? Do you verbally facilitate this process or do you let them sort of figure it out (and allow some scuffling and battling)?

Do your children play with or without you? Or do they insist that you play with them or near them? For about how many hours or minutes at a time do your children play independently? What kinds of toys or activities engage them?

Do your children watch TV or play video/computer games? Which shows or games? How many minutes or hours per day?

Do you do daily quiet time with God? How long? When? What do you read?

Do you memorize scripture? How much? How do you get it to “stick”? Which verses?

Do you serve at your church? What do you do? For how many hours per day or per week?

Do you journal or write notes or write lists? About what? For what reason?

How often do you clean your shower & toilet, sweep or vacuum the floors, mop the kitchen, do laundry? How long does it take?

Do you exercise? How often? Where do you do this? Do you get a babysitter or wait for your husband to care for the kids in the evening?

Do you date your husband? Do you have conversations daily that encourage each other and even admonish each other in the Lord?

Do you cook home-made meals? About how many meals per day or week do you all eat together? How many hours would you estimate you spend in each day preparing and cleaning up after your meals?

Our Trip to Minnesota

We arrived home last week from our 3 week journey to and around Minnesota. We enjoyed our family time so much. The boys loved playing with Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Mark and Aunt Tracy. They went swimming with Uncle Mark. Aunty Tracy even showed them the tractor she uses at work (she's so cool)! We went fishing and played with cousins at Lake Vermilion, visited the Como Zoo, and the boys were able to play outside every day. It was nice to have a yard and a basement to send Nathaniel to play in. Both boys celebrated a birthday party in MN, too.

Though it was a difficult and long plane ride, everything went safely. All our luggage and passports and customs details went smoothly. Thanks for your prayers concerning this.

Happy Birthday, Baby!

On August 12, our little Josiah turned ONE!

He's quite the character these days. He "runs" on all 4s. He laughs at Nathaniel and argues with him sometimes, too. He likes to quack and bark. And he loves to eat.

Happy Birthday funny fellow! We love you Josiah!