We’ve been very busy since even before Christmas, so this will be a long blog entry. I have to catch up again, you know. >smile<

Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start…

In Germany, we celebrate Advent, which is the month of December, basically, leading up to Christmas. On the Sundays before Christmas, we light candles and eat cookies and drink tea and we have Advents calendars. An Advents calendar keeps track of every day coming to Christmas and for every day, there’s a little treat for the person to whom the calendar belongs. Flo and I have made one for each other these two years. I made one for Flo this year that was certificates for various things. He can redeem them whenever he wants. He made me a bookcase out of paper and every little paper book is hollow and had something in it - a certficate or a chocolate or something like that - small. Except one day, I got the bomb!

You can buy chocolate eggs here that have a plastic container inside and inside the container is a toy, so that’s what I’m unwrapping here.

Then Flo and I went to buy our tree. We went to the man in town again, where we got our tree last year. He’s such a country man; I can barely understand him when he talks, because of his rural accent. He’s very funny and he’s passionate about his trees and as he says, actually, all of his trees are very good trees. We bought one and carried it home.

Of course, the best part is decorating that baby and putting the presents underneath!

Another thing that Germans do on Christmas (Eve) is go to church. Last year was not a great experience for me, in church on Christmas Eve, but this year was much better. Flo and our friend Pavel made some new arrangements for standard Christmas carols and they played with a whole band. We had a drummer, percussionist, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboard, drum loops, extra voice, saxophone and two trumpets (no, this year I wasn’t one of them, but there’s always next year!). They did a really great job making the old melodies fit into something a little more jazz/pop-ish. I think the people really had fun with it, too. We got a lot of really good feedback. The message was very short and nice. It was much better than last year! Here are some photos of the band playing. They’re not super great quality, unfortunately, but at least they’re something.

On the way to our church, there is a house that decorates like crazy for Easter and Christmas. We took a few pictures of this house, so you guys could see. They have a whole village set up under their roof. The houses all light up and they even have a guest book so visitors can write them something nice.

Then we went to my brother and sister-in-law’s for dinner (Mexican night - yummy!) and opened presents with them and my father-in-law and Lea’s family. It’s been really fun since Sebastian and Lea got married - he’s getting all familial and stuff! He used to be the one who was too busy for the family and just didn’t care, but now he’s having fun inviting us over and hanging out, which is really a blessing.

Flo and I did American Christmas on the morning of the 25th. We both had a TON of presents under the tree. We didn’t remember to take as many photos as last year, but we have a few. For the inquiring minds, Flo got a hoody and a couple sweaters, a winter cap, a dress shirt, pajama pants, a watch, a pitcher, a lamp, Clue (the game), James Bond DVDs, a beach towel, a digital multimeter, The Bourne Ultimatum, a nice scarf, some Christmas ornaments, some candles, some socks, a remote control helicopter, some toys… I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff, but that was the bigs, I guess. I got some shirts (one including my very own tie!), legwarmers, swim goggles, socks, a zebra purse, a calendar, a mute for my trumpet so I can practice in the house, some Christmas ornaments, Kung Fu DVDs, a day planner, a spanish novel, a magnetic Santa, a glass holder for a big candle, champagne flutes, a felt tip pen… and on and on, but I’m having mind blank right now. Here are some photos of me and the wreckage.

I also have a short clip of Flo’s helicopter flying. Jeremy and Bonnie may be the only ones interested in seeing that, as they gave it to him, but even if it’s just for them - 2008-01-01.MOV

And that was Christmas. We spent a few days doing nothing (me being sick) and then we went to the circus for New Year’s Eve. In Stuttgart, every year, the Stardust Circus Company comes to town and presents the Weltweihnachtszirkus for December (translated, that’s World Christmas Circus). I’ve heard a lot about it, but never been before, and as Sebastian, Lea, Erich, Benni and Annka were all going, Flo and I thought we’d go, too. It was a bit smaller than I imagined, but they get performers from all over the world to come and do this special circus. Most of them (or many of them?) have won awards in their fields, so you know they must be pretty good. I was a bit disappointed to learn that there wouldn’t be any lions. Apparently animals aren’t the big draw in this case - acrobats are. We saw acrobats atop horses, inside lassos, up in the air, aboard motorcycles and who knows what else. It was all very impressive, though. There were also two clowns - but not the scary kind with blue hair and white faces. These two were more in the style of Buster Keaton, I think. They were really hilarious! And one of them played clarinet a bit and then also the saxophone, which he did a samba thing for, while the other one held maracas and had a veritable pax attack! (Pax attack is an inside joke. You’ll have to ask Jeremy for a definition.) Click on the photo to see more photos - and there are descriptions of all the acts we saw on there, as well.

After the circus, we went to Sebastian and Lea’s, because Lea’s birthday is on January 1st and we had a little birthday party for her at 12:30 in the morning. Actually, what we did first was walk around in the cold and look at fireworks. In Germany, you’re not allowed to set off fireworks at any time except New Years, but at New Years, anyone is allowed to set them off, anywhere. That means, basically, that the whole town has rockets going off non-stop and it gets smokey and smelly and loud and it’s awesome! Then birthday party, then home to bed. Snooze.

So, last but not least, I’ve been inspired to compile a list of all God’s blessings in my life in the last year - 2007. I’ll do it chronologically.

New Years 2007 - Flo and I spent the weekend working at a youth conference. We were invited by a man Flo had met years ago and kept minimal email contact with. He needed a keyboard player and we ended up doing a workshop on the prophetic and meeting a bunch of cool people. It was the first ministry thing God had given us the go on since we got married and moved to Germany. It was an awesome time spiritually and we met David Patton there, who has become a good friend of ours.

January 2007 - While we were at that same conference, we ran into another man Flo had the same sort of email relationship with and his wife is American and they invited us over for breakfast and another new friendship was born - with Pavel and Kira Dimitrov - and, of course, Jaydon, their son, who just loooooves Uncle Flo. These are our first real friends that are “ours” instead of “his” or “hers” and who are also close to us geographically. We’ve gotten really close with them since last year and they are definitely a blessing.

March 2007 - Flo and I started going to CGA, the church of our friends the Dimitrovs. We’s been looking for a church for months and none had really felt like family, but this one does. Since we started, we’ve gotten to know a lot more people and started to get involved a little bit here and there. Mostly, we know the leadership is going in a direction we like and we trust them. We’re excited about our new home.

April 2007 - Flo and I celebrated our first anniversary and while we did that in Austria and had a great time, the blessing is my husband and my marriage. Flo is awesome. He is continually patient with me, merciful to me and supportive of me. He’s fun, funny, exciting, passionate, clever, wise, thoughtful, responsible and so many other things. Our marriage is a safe place, a fun place, a place to learn, to relax, to grow to be myself. I have everything God promised me and will continue to gain more and grow more.

July 2007 - I started my job at Hair Design, working as an assistant in a salon. This job is not without its difficulties, but it truly is a blessing. I don’t have much of a recognized education in Germany and my German wasn’t super when I got this job, etc. etc. etc. There are many reasons I shouldn’t have this job, but I got it and on top of that, my bosses fully support me. They’ve set customers right who didn’t treat me nicely on the phone, they take the time to explain everything in very small words (remember, German is one foreign language, but salon is a whole nother foreign language), they don’t get mad at me and they’re very gracious. My colleagues, as well, are super. I couldn’t ask for a whole lot more.

September 2007 - We traveled to America to see my family, which of course was a blessing in itself, but we also had a surprise opportunity to minister to a group of people that I really care about and we could speak into their lives and it was great.

October 2007 - One of our customers contacted me and asked for English lessons, which I’m now giving her. This is a blessing because I actually get to use some of what I’m trained for, which I don’t use at all in a salon. Plus, she’s really wonderful as a student and as a person. It’s fun, it pays well and God is in it.

December 2007 - Flo and I were asked to start and lead a prophetic team at our church. For the first time in my life, I haven’t tried to make anything happen and have been so content just hanging out with God and learning to know him. It’s always at those kind of times when he sees fit to promote us, isn’t it? The funny thing is, I’d almost rather not take on the responsibility, in a way, and just continue hanging out with him. Now that the big chance comes…

Ongoing - Flo’s family has seen some changes in the past year, with many additions and some mutations, but we’ve watched as the boys really pulled themselves together and we’re somehow closer now than they all were before, despite everything seeming like it should be the opposite. And Flo’s been taking all that change really well, all things considered. God has been very gracious.

- I’ve had a very interesting year emotionally and spiritually and what I can tell you is this: God is good. He’s always good. I’ve had moments of doubt, depression, discouragement, anger, confusion, you name it, I’ve faced it in the last year. Why did I move to Germany? What is God doing with my life? And on and on, but I don’t ask any of those things anymore, because every time I asked, he came with his overwhelming love and comfort and I am learning how to trust him without asking any questions at all, because if you really trust someone, and that someone is really trustworthy, then how and why and when and what if don’t matter at all. God is answering some of the deepest questions of my life and I didn’t even ask him to do it. He’s just good like that.

This entry was posted on Mittwoch, Januar 2nd, 2008 at 1:15 and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.