Britt and Isaac auditioned for private music lessons. Isaac guitar, Britt voice. There are not very many slots, so they do auditions to see who they will choose for the lessons. Britt is also trying out for the Volleyball team. Very fun. She is very excited and enthusiastic about it. Isaac will be doing intramural sports every Tues and Thurs, after school, which sounds like lots of fun. And it’s free, so you can’t beat that.

Ted has been busy working at the new GEM building doing manual labor, so obviously he’s not too thrilled, but he’s been a great sport about it, and sounds like he’s doing some good work. They are in desperate need of helpers here to finish off the building, so if you are wanting to take a trip to gorgeous Germany to do some ministry they are looking for teams. Just let us know and we’ll get you in contact right away with the right people.

Faith and I have been hanging out at home trying to work on the workbook her German teacher gave us at the end of the year, so she can somewhat catch up to where the other students are. It is very simple, except that we have to look up almost every word. Which is encouraging because it means once Faith gets a handle on the language she won’t be behind at all with the other students. It’s just a matter of drowning her in a whole new language.

Ted and I begin our second language class on Tues, the 2nd. So we are looking forward to that. Faith will begin the 8th, so she’ll be hanging out with a friend for those 3 days we’re at school. This is the same friend she’ll be going to school with the following week, so that’s great. They won’t be in the same class but they can play during recess time and ride the bus together, hopefully. They get different schedules depending on the class, so I’m not sure how that will work out. But we’ll see.

Anyway, I wanted to send an update, in case you were wondering what we were doing. God is good, and life is coming together. Slowly but surely. Blessings to each of you.

No this isn’t the hotel

Ah, Geeze… that’s really the only thing that can really cover it… actually the only thing that covers it is the name itself, GEM-K conference… Greater Europe Mission Kids (ages 13- when you finish high school) all piled together in a cozy little Hotel in Hungary for five days…

Our scavenger hunt required that we put ourselves into, well, different situations. Yes, we are all piled into a bathtub!

Just another jazzy picture of me and my GEM-K friends on our scavenger hunt…

Ah, Geeze. Last time I wrote to you I was talking about how I had to remember how to breathe in the first place, this time I’m struggling to catch my breath. I’ve been throwing myself into this sea-like culture, enjoying the way that the waves batter against every part of me in a delightfully foreign rhythm. Like a sea sponge I’ve been absorbing the pleasures and challenges God has laid out for me here. However, swimming is hard work. (Despite what some Michael Phelps might make it look like…) Conference was my refresher course with my personal Swim-Trainer, Jesus. And after treading in the deep blue sea it was fun to take a splash in the kiddie pool with all the other GEM-Ks at conference. In Hungary and Austria for five days filled with rather strange adventures and exploits I hung out with some of the most awesome people ever! We pulled crazy stunt after stunt, partied where there wasn’t even a party and laughed our way through each day and into the next. We pranked each other, played really weird games, stormed Vienna, dance until dawn (literally) and (in some ways) refreshed each other so that we might each return to our own unique Olympic-sized pool and continue to tread in the deep and often dangerous waters in our respective places that God has placed us. We all embraced in emotional parting. We had all bonded in astonishing ways. I blinked and now I catch myself wondering if it actually happened. Did I really truly learn to swing dance and didn’t even step on anyone’s toes? (More than five times that is.) Did I really run face-first into that wall that appeared out of nowhere in that glass maze? Did I lie awake all hours of the night playing match maker?

Me and my match-making partner in crime!

Did I really get up in front of that group of teens and perform a practically flawless impression of Larry in the VeggieTales favorite “I Love My Lips?” [ed: see the evidence on Facebook]  Did I honestly seek out Burger King for dinner in the middle of Vienna? Did I really play Ultimate Frisbee with a frozen pigs tongue? Did I… never mind. The answer is yes. Yes, I am one of those blessed things called a MK. We get to have so much fun it should be illegal. And it’s all because my God is looking out for me and loving on my soul in ways I can’t even imagine. He knows how much stress, newness, and down right scariness I can handle. He knows how much fun I can handle… maybe that’s why I had to come home so quick…

He wouldn’t shake my hand…

During our deputation time, I had a chance to share with many people the tremendous impact Devere and Lee Curtiss have had on our lives.  Not only did they recruit us to missions and to Greater Europe Mission, but Devere has been a personal mentor.

Each year, all the missionaries in Greater Europe Mission’s family come together.  It’s a tremendous time where we catch a vision of the impact our organization is having not just in our particular field, but all across the continent.  We swap ideas, plan partnerships, encourage and energize each other for the coming year’s ministry.

In that context, it’s such a delight to get to share my first conference with Devere and Lee.  Devere shared with me that this may be their last conference.  I’m so glad to be here with them.

We love our place it is beautiful and very peaceful. Right now we have 10 days til Ted and Britt venture off to Hungary for GEM’s annual conference while Isaac, Faith and I keep the home fire’s burning. Or should we say the home de-humidifiers running. We do miss the dryness of Colorado that’s for sure. The day after they return Ted and I begin our next round of language school at 9am sharp. Britt and Isaac start their first year at BFA on the 25th. Faith gets to begin second grade in her German school the 8th of September.

God is good. He has provided many things for us and we are learning to be content in all circumstances. Because we had to use nearly all of our settling money on filling our oil tank so we could have hot water and some heat come the winter months, we have had to give up some of the things we’d hoped to be able to replace once we got here. Ted and I are living in a bedroom with our bed and one shrunk (we have no closets here in Germany). So we’re in desperate need of some bedroom furniture, among many other things big and small. We are learning how to do things quite differently everyday.

Our monthly budget is very tight, we knew it would be when we left Connecticut and it has been worth it, just to get here. We haven’t been able to go out and enjoy the area near as much as we’d hoped because gas costs so much, but we do have a gorgeous view. So we spend a lot of time just enjoying each other’s company and the things we already have. Which is what God calls us to do anyway. So we are growing in many ways. Some of us up, all of us in a new language and in spiritual contentment.

We need to raise more funds so that we can purchase clothing for all these growing children, pay for school supplies, fix broken media equipment, replace bedroom furniture, etc. So please join us in prayer as we begin to work on ministry partner development from across the pond. God will provide, we know He will, so we praise His name now and when the answers come later.

click here for the entire thing

The two most common comments we receive on our newsletters are “I love the pictures” and “I always mean to read them, but never get around to it.” That said, this month there are a lot less words and a whole lot more pictures. I hope you’ll let us know what you think.

We’ve been traveling around a tiny bit. We will post pictures soon. There are some castle ruins only 20 minutes away that we took the kids to this last weekend. Then the next day our good friends, the Meyers invited us to follow them up to the tallest waterfall in all of Germany, only an hour away to avoid the 90 degree temperatures. (there is no air conditioning in Germany and the humidity is 80%- 90% all the time.)

The kids are all doing great in their German classes and making friends. Isaac’s been playing fussball during recess with a group of boys from all different nationalities. Britt has been hanging out with several girls from her class, chatting of course. And Faith has been sharing her pretzels with half of her class everyday during snack and then jump-roping for a while. They’re all doing great. However they’re all feeling a little jipped about not getting a full summer’s vacation.

We begin our language school on Monday. That is part of the reason we’ve been so busy trying to get the house all together, cuz once language school starts we won’t have time for anything else. We’re going to have our German neighbors over for dinner soon. They speak excellent English and are willing to also help us out with our German. We’ve been sucked into the excitement of the Euro 2008 tournament. Germany has made it all the way to the finals which are on Sunday. We’re so excited and have something in common with almost everyone we meet on the streets.

We’ve attended one German church where we had headphones with English translation for us. We’ve been bouncing back and forth between English church and German church for the last couple of weeks, trying to find the church God has picked out for us.

Laundry takes 3-4 hours per load here so I’ve been busy doing lots of laundry. Ted’s been changing out light fixtures and getting quite savvy with the electrical wiring. Well, I think dinner is burning…haven’t gotten the hang of Celsius yet. Many blessings to each of you! We are so blessed to be here and can’t wait to see what God has planned for us. Thank you so much for your involvement in our lives and God’s ministry here in Germany.

Will you be in prayer today?  We’re hopefully that tomorrow will be the beginning of a wonderful new comfort, as we can begin to make a home here, and have some more homey space from which to venture forth and try to learn how to live in Germany.  Pray that our things will not have shifted too much and been damaged, that we’ll be able to unload in the allotted two hours, and that no one will be injured.

Thanks so much for your prayers.  They make a world of difference for us.

Can you believe this is 510lbs of luggage?  How about that this doesn’t include our carryons in the trunk of the other car? 

Our first stop was Boston’s Logan International Airport.  You can see the sign above the kid’s heads, but it’s a bit hard to read.  Frankfurt, Germany, 3671 Miles.

Faith was very excited to change some left over birthday money into Euros.

Shortly before we boarded the plane, Faith asked me, “Daddy, is this real?  Because this happens to me all the time, and then I wake up and it wasn’t real.”

This is as real as it gets.  Somewhat the worse for wear after 15 hours of travel, we arrived in Basel, Switzerland, our luggage trailing endlessly off into the horizon…

We looked a lot better the next day after a little bit of rest.

Day two in Germany, after some settling, setting up a bank account, and registering with the town, we took the kids to see the storks in Holzen, a near by village.

One of the most incredible blessings God has provided for us as we arrived here, has been the tremendous support we have received from the Greater Europe Mission staff people.  In this picture, you can see Brandy with Sara Meyer, wife of my supervisor, Jim, admiring the storks.  Because we’re such a large family, the Meyers have been driving us everywhere in two cars, which since we’re running many errands trying to work out school for the kids, navigating the German buerocracy, and get heating oil for our house (which is preventing us from having hot water) the Meyers have been a tremendous help.  Not to mention they’ve been acting as interpreters for us.  But they aren’t the only ones!  Our neighbors down the street, the Bonhams, put us up in their home for several nights, and they and the Meyers have been taking turns feeding us since we got here.

Saturday morning, GemStone Media had our first team building event, as the whole crew traveled to nearby Switzerland to view some Roman ruins.  It was a nice time, allowing the kids to get a sense of Europe’s rich cultural history, and giving us a chance to connect with our new colleagues.

For Isaac and Faith, it was another great excuse to have an ice cream.

In so many ways this is such a surreal experience.  We wake up each morning and look out at the farmer’s fields on the other side of the hill, and the mists make everything hazy and dream like.  I keep having to remind myself this isn’t a dream.  Part of our training was to prepare us for culture shock.  We’re in the tourist phase now, where everything is charming and wonderful.  But lingering our there in the distance are the language barrier, all the little cultural snags we’re just beginning to learn, like always saying hello and good bye, and not calling people you see in the distance.  Little things we don’t think about, but which can be very rude here.

Because I’ve been here on several short trips the last five years, I keep having the same problem Faith had in the airport.  I keep forgetting we’re not leaving in a few days.  This is home now.  It’s an awesome feeling.  After five years of working, it’s finally real.  I can pinch myself and not wake up.  :)  Our God is so incredibly good.

Over the next several months, we have to balance the demands of language school, setting up our household, helping the kids get acclimated, and building working relationships with our team.  Unfortunately, it’s way too easy to make language our bottom priority, but we need to stay focused.  I hope you’ll pray along with us, that God will keep us focused.

Bless you all, and thanks for all the ways you have prayed us here!

Flowers for teachers $10.00

Space bags $30

Shipping boxes to Germany $340

Less than 24 hours until we leave for Germany… Priceless

Because it was Memorial Day, Mystic was reenacting a Memorial Day ceremony from shortly after the civil war, complete with a church service, parade and floating flowers out of the harbor. It was more solemn than I expected, but it was great reminder of what Memorial Day is all about.

She’s so pretty.

Yep. Her too.

Yeah… And her.

What scheme is Isaac plotting here? I see rope… This could be dangerous.

Isaac wrestled a whale while Faith had a snack and Britt nearly became one.

It was a very nice day.