Sardinia, Italy

Last week we had the opportunity to fly to Sardinia for 5 days. Sardinia is an island off the west coast of Italy. It has been inhabited forever, I think. There were pieces and parts of cities, buildings, and graves from the "BC Era" all the way up to its modern union with Italy. It was absolutely rugged and beautiful everywhere. We went with the intention not to plan too much sight-seeing and just hang out together. Since the island is pretty sleepy and God's creation is everywhere, it was easy to enjoy it. We ate clams, prawns, shrimp, and mussels, pizza, and gelato a couple times. We spent a couple days wandering the beaches, even though the water was cold. It was great fun for the boys to run in the shallow water and play with their little trucks and throw rocks and sand in the water. We saw hundreds of flamingos in a lagoon nearby our B&B. We also spent 1 day in the city of Cagliari and saw some first century Roman structures, but most everything in the city was closed until summer tourist season.

Our Bed & Breakfast was cozy and the food was good. Made-to-order coffee beverages were a nice touch, too, and we enjoyed a morning cappuccino each day! There was an open yard and the boys played soccer and ran around, and we enjoyed picnics in the evening in the outdoor kitchen area of the B&B. It was hard for the boys to adjust to sleeping together in the same twin bed, so we were all a little sleep deprived after a couple days. So it was a very good thing we hadn't planned much!

Here's a few photos of our trip to Italy - which may be our last ever....who knows?!

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Ich bin ein Berliner

We had the opportunity to go to Berlin a couple weeks ago. We spent about 3 days in and around the city. We were blessed to meet and to stay with new friends who are missionaries to college and university students in the city. They welcomed us, fed us, and we enjoyed wonderful encouraging conversations getting to know one another and recognizing the work of God in each other's lives.

In case you didn't realize, a Berliner is a jelly-donut but also a way to say you are a citizen of the city of Berlin. So we enjoyed a good little chat about that word while we were there. Nathaniel is always interested in puns and funny words. President Kennedy spoke the famous words "Ich bin ein [I am a] Berliner..." when he visited the city.

While in Berlin, we went for several hours to the Legoland in the newly built Potsdamerplatz. (Nathaniel thought he was in heaven!) We also saw the typical historic tourist sites: remains of the Berlin Wall, the Reichstag building with the grand glass dome, Gendamerplatz, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (this also has a new glass prism-like structure built around the bombed original church), the Brandenburg Gate, and the Rittersport Chocolate factory/museum. Berlin is a well-restored city. What hasn't been restored was torn down and replaced by lots of shiny glass modern architecture. It was uncommonly sunny during the days while we were there. It was hard to imagine that it was ever a cold, grey, communist, war-torn city, as it is so carefully and beautifully built up.

We certainly enjoyed our time in Berlin and the boys have been asking and pretending with various vehicles to drive back to Berlin again!

Beautiful Bavaria

For the last 8 days we've been in Bavaria. Tom attended a medical conference at a hotel there, and the little guys and I just enjoyed the mountains and swimming pool at the hotel. The boys and I swam every day. We took a cable car up to a mountain peak and enjoyed the view from the top. We "hiked" every day, too. A hike with a 2 and 4 year old is more like a wander-back-and-forth, but at least we enjoyed our surroundings and could praise our God for His fantastic creation. The fall colors were nearly done, but there were a few trees still hanging onto their leaves. Together we contemplated the amazing possibilities about the ways God created mountains (were the rocks like play-do in his big strong hands or did He draw it with His finger and then it took on shape and form??). We enjoyed our time together. One day when Daddy was out of his classes earlier in the afternoon we took a fast ride down the mountain side on a rodelbahn (alpine slide). It was an exciting rush!

After the conference was finished for Tom, we went to stay at a farm near Berchtesgaden for a couple days. The boys enjoyed petting the cats and goats and maneuvering the toy tractors and trailers. We wandered around the barns, observed the cows, checked out the tractors and came to the conclusion that farming is a LOT of work! We also enjoyed the boat ride in the Königsee and a hike up and around peaks at the other end.

Enjoy the photos from our recent Bavarian adventures!

Luther Sites

We had the opportunity a couple weeks ago to visit Eisenach and Erfurt. These cities are about 2 hours northeast of here, in the former East Germany. The cities look different (eastern Germany is still poorer and less built up than west) and language is a little different dialect, too. We stayed at a nice little B & B and stretched our German skills over breakfast small talk. Nathaniel enjoyed trying out a few new German phrases he's learning at Kindergarten. He likes to travel to new places and especially likes staying in hotels. He's got the travel-bug =)

These are cities where much of Martin Luther's life and ministry occurred. We read and re-learned about his powerful ministry here in Germany. It was a rainy day, but we hiked up the big hills all over the town anyway. The leaves were bright and splendid. We visited the Wartburg castle where Luther hid away and translated the bible - and where he supposedly threw the inkpot at the devil. We enjoyed the castle tour. The castle has been beautifully kept up. There are many different eras of building and decoration and preferences of the Dukes and Duchesses who have resided over the course of the last 900 years! We saw Luther's childhood home (which is now a museum). We attended a music festival/church service on Sunday morning while in Erfurt and enjoyed some nice choral and organ music at the Thomas Kirche and played on the playground outside the church. We ate some good schnitzel, delicious soup, and during our journey we stopped to let the kids play at McDonalds. (yes, even in east Germany...)

We're in Africa...

We are still far, far away in Africa. I just wanted to plead for your prayers that we will finish well. That Nathaniel will calm down and be less angry and behave better. That we will stay safe on the road. That our team will continue to seek unity. That the children and teens we will speak to this weekend at the youth events will see and know God as their salvation...

Grandpa Denny & Grandma Sue's Visit

For about 10 days, we enjoyed a visit from Tom's parents from March 7-17th. Here's a little overview of our days together, but there are lots more stories to tell and pictures to share! We enjoyed a few days here at the house, a game night, and driving to nearby castles in Heidelberg, Bensheim, and Heddesheim along the "Berg Strasse". We ate lots of good food (both out and about and at home). Nathaniel and Josiah enjoyed many stories and sing-alongs with Grandma.

We had the opportunity to host Tom's 1996 foreign exchange host family in our home for an afternoon of dining and getting to know one another. They live in Hamburg, but were down this way visiting relatives and we were overjoyed to have them stop by here, too! Finally the parents who had sent their young sons over the ocean to live with another family were joined to meet! There were lots of stories and sharing of photos.

We journeyed to the Alps in Bavaria for a couple days, too. While in Bavaria, we were all once again impressed by the marvelous mountains, the Alps are never disappointing, and Grandpa and Grandma were full of oohs and ahhhs! It was fun to sit in the hot-tub at the hotel at the foot of the Zugspitz with snowflakes falling on our noses and eyelashes. We tried some tasty local cheese and beer (made by Monks at the Ettal monastery). We visited the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart. All the men and boys were giddy about the cars and trucks (J & N got to sit and play around in a garbage truck and bus!).

We enjoyed a wonderful 10 days together. We were blessed with joy and fellowship and great evening discussions.

Long Time, No Updates...

Sorry it has been awhile. We've moved! We are still at the same APO address, but a different German house address. Tom was selected to be promoted to Major (way to go!) and we had the opportunity to move to a bigger house that has a yard! We jumped on that chance and have been busy packing, moving, rearranging and so on. Now we are settled, but it took about a month for the phone company to hook our phone and internet. So we've been "webless" and (gasp!) we've survived to tell about it.

The boys have been busy digging and riding their little bikes and trikes all over the lawn. I am looking forward to the coming of spring and planting some flowers and vegetables in our space, too. Spring is slowing appearing in little places where bulbs are sprouting and it is encouraging.

Grandpa Denny and Grandma Sue made the big flight over the ocean and visited us here for the last 10 days. It was a wonderful time of talking and enjoying beauty here in Germany. The kids loved their visit and Josiah has asked me several times "Where Grandpa Denny? Where Daddy?" It is quiet today here; it feels kind of lonely to put away the extra bedding and eat the leftovers from our time together with such wonderful guests.

We really do enjoy visitors - so please come on over. We now have an extra bedroom and an extra bed!! Hooray!

Photos of our house and our European adventures with the Grandparents will soon follow. But I do have to get to work around here, too, and the kids are especially needy today. I suppose they are kind of let-down after all the attention and fun of the last weeks.

Adventures in Europe

My family came to visit us for 8 days. It was great. We enjoyed many awesome sites in and around Germany. We were able to stay in someone else's home that could accommodate all 10 of us. Which sure was convenient! We visited the Speyer Christmas Market & Cathedral, Munich sites, Dachau concentration camp, Prague sites, Nuernberg castle & cathedrals, and the lovely Heidelberg castle. We even enjoyed cooking a few meals together, opening gifts, playing card games, and spent an evening in prayer together.

Josiah and Nathaniel enjoyed the attention, the wrestling and joking, Tom and I enjoyed the extra hands, and we all enjoyed lots of yummy food and drinks. Yes, Germany is a great place to host family. Something yummy is around every neighborhood corner!

God is so good. He provided safe travels for everyone, and He has blessed us with a God-honoring, Christ-following family, and He provided a great big house to live in temporarily. Please enjoy the photos of our European family adventures.

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.

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.