What a way to start a week of vacation!

It has been an enjoyable week with my family, but it didn't start out that way. My parents (Cathy) - Chuck & Pudge Collins - along with my two aunts, Penny & Mertie arrived for a vacation in Germany. We were excited to show them some sights in Germany, as we continued to run our ministry. On Monday, we woke up to my dad washing the kitchen floor. When asked to explain why he was washing the kitchen floor, he stated "I'm cleaning up your mother's blood." What?!!?

As the story unfolded, we learned that Pudge fell down the stairs. She cut her foot and was extremely bruised. All this started around 4:00 a.m., I had arose at 6:15 a.m. It's amazing all the stuff that was going on while I was sleeping. We convinced my mom to go to ER, because we were pretty sure she needed stitches.

What I have learned is that it is true - It's much harder to watch someone you love go through pain that to go through the pain yourself. We were at Landstuhl - where most of our military personnel are cared for if wounded in combat - waiting to see the doctor. My mom was truly hoping that she would get a pass on the stitches.

Needless to say, the doctor agreed with the rest of the family. The hardest part was washing out the wound and getting the foot numb. It was really hard for me to see my mom so uncomfortable and in pain. Fortunately, she only brused up her legs and received five (5) stitches. We were grateful nothing was broken or fratured.

This little "trip" cost us a delayed start on our sight-seeing; but Pudge has been a trooper all week. She is a little slower than normal, but we have been enjoying many spiritual, historical and fun sights.

Favorite Night of the Week

We truly enjoy our Sunday nights! We host two different studies. On the first and third Sunday's of the month, we are studying The Sacred Marriage, by Gary Thomas. We have 8 couples that are involved in this study. On the second and fourth Sunday's of the month, we are facilitating The Truth Project. We have about 20 folks involved in this study.

What we love about our Sundays is that we have a great time of discussion and learning, followed by a yummy meal and then dessert and fellowship. We get to connect at a deeper level with the folks that attend these studies. We get to love on our kiddos more. We have so many little ones that have grabbed our hearts: Kaden & Noah, Adde & Micah, Meadow, DJ, Joy, Greta, and so many more.

The folks that participate get more opportunity to get to know one another and develop some strong Christian friendships. Plus we have fun!

It is amazing the type of conversations that happen over a game of Rummy Kube, Hearts, or Telephone Pictionary. Where else can you go from having a discussion about Intelligent Design and then enjoy a game of Spoons? Only at the Rozmiarek's on Sunday nights!

Cadence Family

Once a year, the Cadence Adult ministries gets together for a Staff conference. All of the European House Directors and Womens Ministry Personnel spend time hanging out, studying God's word, and relaxing.

The format is usually the same...we travel on Monday, start our first session on Monday night. We have sessions every morning and evening, with the afternoons open for rest and spending time together. We head back to reality on Friday. Sounds kind of mundane, doesn't it?!

But it is so much more than that! It is amazing to us how many quality people we work with side-by-side. Men & women of integrity and they possess a deep love for our military. At times, we are surprised that we are part of this team -- the people of Cadence are Godly folks and sometimes we feel that we have so much to learn! We are grateful that our leadership team and peers are very patient with us! :-)

The conference is a very special time for us. No one else - besides another Cadence worker - understands the crazy schedule, the demands of ministry, the sacrifice of our families. It's great to get ideas from one another. It's nice to play together and have time with our Cadence colleagues. It is a wonderful reminder that what we do for a living is fulfilling, and challenging; but we wouldn't have it any other way!

Pink Eye...what has it taught me?

I woke up on Friday morning feeling like I had fallen asleep with my contacts still in my eyes, especially in my right eye. When I discovered that my contacts were indeed in their case, I thought that maybe I had scratched my eye somehow. I spent the rest of the day dealing with a watering eye and it becoming very sensitive to light.

When I woke up on Saturday morning, I discovered I couldn't open my right eye. It was swollen shut. Lou suggested that I call the doctor. As you know we live in Germany now and things are much different here. I said "It's Saturday, there is no way the doctor is going to be in." Well, we called and Dr. Schmith himself answered the phone. I told him what was going on and he said to come on in the office. [It turns out he lives right about his office so he had a short commute.] He determined that I have pink eye. Gave me some drops, told me to rest and that it would take 3-5 days to get over.

I have discovered I'm quite a wimp when it comes to my health. I have been so fortunate to have good health. When I get mildly sick, I become very wimpy and complain a lot. As I was dealing with the fact that I couldn't see well, I was reminded that this is a VERY temporary thing. A inconvience of maybe 5 days! I began to think about my friends and family who have had to deal with much worse health issues and their attitude has been a true inspiration.

We have a dear colleague who has been fighting brain cancer for over a year. Lou has a professor whose wife has struggled with chronic illness most of their marriage. Our daughter has rheumatoid arthritis and has since she was almost 2. Yet, she doesn't let it slow her down much. We have a nephew who has partial blindness in one of his eyes. He is nine years old and has been dealing with this all of his life; I have clouded vision for two days and I am nothing but a whining mess. I have been convicted by the fact that I am quite a weak vessel. A mild thing like pink eye and I found myself full of self-pity. What is wrong with me!

As I have reflected on my friends and family these past few days, I have prayed for them. God has reminded me that I have a blessed life. Yes, it's had its ups and downs, but I'm blessed. I know our Cadence friends have struggled with the whys of her cancer; but we have seen them be honest with their emotions, rely on God and I have learned much from them this past year. They have been a true inspiration to me and many others.

I am very thankful that God has given me good health. I soon will enter my 50's, I hope that He will continue to bless me with good health. More importantly, may He continue to work on my character. I know there will be other things that I will walk through as I continue this journey of life. I want to be able to handle whatever crosses my path with honest emotions, with grace and strength. I know within a few days I will be able to see out of my eye, but I hope that I will see the bigger picture of what God has in store for me.

A Joyful Christmas Season!

We have made it through another holiday season. It was a great time. We had fun serving at the Miskolc Orphanage. The kids taught us Silent Night in Hungarian; we make ornaments and cookies; we decorated the tree and opened up gifts. For some of these kids, this was the first Christmas gift that they ever received!

We followed our trip with a busy Christmas weekend and we might add snowy! Unfortunately, we had so much snow and ice that our Christmas Eve service was cancelled. It's the first time since we have been married that we have not been able to worship and celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas Eve.

We spent Christmas morning with the singles in our ministry. Folks came over for pancakes & presents. We opened presents, ate pancakes & other yummy breakfast fixins! We watched - what we were told would soon to be a Christmas classic - Elf. [Yet we still think It's a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street are still the winners!]

We ended our day with a traditional Christmas dinner with about 60 folks. Turkey, ham and all the yummy sides and desserts were available for people to enjoy.

We enjoyed a fun time with our Cadence colleagues. We had a party a few days after Christmas. We spent time playing games, eating some amazing food and enjoy the company. We had people from Cadence House ministries, along with Cadence Student ministires. Can you tell which people might be associated with youth? Needless to say, we had a great Christmas season! Despite Bailey's desire to nap after all of the activity; we feel blessed to have so many dear friends here in Germany!

Remembering Chris

Today is December 6, 2010 -- this date might mean something to you. It might be a celebration of your wedding anniversary. It might mean a birthday -- yours or a loved one. But, to me and my family it means something very different. 13 years ago, my (Cathy) youngest brother, Chris stepped from this early life into his eternal life in heaven.


I am grateful that the Lord is healing my heart from the day-to-day ache and grief I felt 13 years ago. I still miss my brother immensely. I think of him every day. But, I'm grateful that - for the most part - when I remember Chris, it brings joy to my heart. Not too say, I still don't struggle with grief & sadness from time to time, but I'm thankful that my heart is healing from this tragedy.

I am also thankful that I have the confidence that I will see him again some day. Because of the relationship that we both have with Jesus, I know when I pass from this life to my eternal life, I will embrace my brother once again. What a comfort! God provides reminders to me on a regular basis, his life didn't end 13 years ago...just his time on earth. I can't wait for that reunion!

Chris was a good man, a loyal friend, a deep thinker and a laughter maker. He touched many peoples lives -- in many different ways. He was deeply admired by those that knew him. He was deeply loved and is greatly missed. I trust that we all have allowed God to touch our hearts with peace, comfort and healing. So when we think of Chris, we can smile and anticipate the joy we will have one day when we see him again.

A brief update

It's been a while since we have blogged and a lot is going on! We have experienced some fun things in the past month; but now we are entering into the busy Christmas season. We will have a busy month with ministry, studies, events and celebrating the birth of Jesus! We thought we better get you caught up before we lose another month.

We are grateful for the special memories that we are developing here. We are also challenged by the things that come our way where we feel totally in over our heads: helping with broken marriages, talking to a young woman who doesn't know if she believes in God, dealing with troubled teens, the list goes on & on. It can be very overwhelming! We appreciate your love, prayers & support!

Over Halloween weekend, we went to London with some of our Cadence collagues and friends. We explored London, enjoyed fish & chips, ate Chipotle (first one in Europe), took in a couple of plays and watch the Bronco-49er game. It was a fun weekend - despite the Bronco loss! We enjoyed sweet conversations with our friends, a nice time of worship & study and toured London in primarily sunny weather!

We had a special treat and connected with John & Megan Paasonen. John was involved in the 20 something ministry we supported while living in Colorado Springs. He lives now in London and recently got married. It was a pleasure having dinner with him & his bride, Megan.

In November, Lou stayed in Germany and held down the fort with Bailey. Cathy was able to return to Colorado for a few weeks. She surprised her sister for her 45th birthday. She was also able to celebrate with her brother for his 48th birthday. She spent time with all of our family, friends and some supporters. It was a good trip!

Now we are entering into the Christmas season. We are returning to Hungry to facilitate a Christmas party for the kids at the Miskolc orphanage. Many of you sponsored "orphans"...we are so grateful. Each child will be getting a few presents to unwrap. We had one special family send a new coat, hats & gloves for EACH child. We are going to bake cookes, play games and share the love of Christ. We are excited to see how God continues to unite our hearts with these kids.

We trust that you & your family will have a joyous Christmas season. We'll be in touch again soon!