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!

Hospitality -- what does that mean?

Lou & I have been running the Hospitality House in Kaiserslautern for over a year now. In the past year, we have been asked "What is a Hospitality House"? We have described it as a "home away from home", a "safe place for folks to explore Christianity", a "place where folks can come and fellowship and study the Bible", etc. But, I have been meditating on the meaning of being hospitable.

As part of my devotions, I read Our Daily Bread, published by Radio Bible Class in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Not too long ago, there was a day devote to "Pursuing Hospitality". As I reflected on the Romans passage and the I Peter passage dealing with hospitality, I found myself wondering if I'm truly hospitable.

The author, David McCasland, was stated that "hospitality is a hallmark of Christian living...and is commanded for every follower of Jesus as an expression of love." But what does that truly mean? Is hospitality just opening up my home and welcoming people? Is it being friendly to those who enter my home?

Mr. McCasland showed me that the Greek word for hospitality means "love of strangers". God is calling us to pursue relationships with people in need. But, who is in need? In our ministry, Lou & I practice hospitality by spending time with military personnel and their families. Some of them are married with children, some are married with no kids, some are single. They all come for various backgrounds, different upbringings, women & men, Hispanics, African Americans and Caucasians -- all enter our home. Yet, how do they leave?

For us, our hearts desire is that people feel welcomed, loved, supported and treated as family. Our hope is that our home and ministry will allow them to connect with other people, experience the love of Jesus and their needs - whether physical, emotional or spiritual - are met. And leave being a friend and no longer a stranger.

Serving our German Neighbors

Last weekend, we had an opportunity to serve our German neighbors. We received a phone call informing us that a local vineyard owner had been killed in a freak tractor accident. His wife had no way of harvesting the grapes in time to make the deadline to create the wine. This is her livelihood and if the vineyard wasn't harvested timely, she would not have any income for the next year.

We teamed with the Spangdahlem hospitality house and took about 20 folks to this vineyard. We picked grapes for a couple of hours and enjoyed a nice lunch. We finished the afternoon picking more grapes. We worked along side about 20 other German folks. Some were her neighbors, some were professional "grape pickers" that were donating their day to her, some were her family. Vido - the man that was our point of contact - kept telling us that the Germans were shocked to see Americans giving up their day to help with a woman they didn't even know.

We worked along side them all day. A couple of them spoke English, so during the lunch time, we sat together and got to know one another a little more. The widow made us a lovely meal. We were initially told to bring a sack lunch; but she was so touched by the generosity, she cooked for us all. We ate at the top of a hill within the vineyard. We learned that her husband would eat lunch there every day and rest inside the Chapel. She told us that it was a special memory for her and it touched her that we all were able to see something that was special to her husband.

We hope by serving just for a few hours at this vineyard that people could see something different about us. We didn't do it for the thanks we received, for the yummy food and wine we enjoyed, but hopefully to touch a widow's heart and to help support her in a tangible way. We hope she experienced a bit of Jesus' deep, deep love for her through our service.

First Year

We can't believe it has been almost a month since we've blogged!! It has been a very busy summer: Cadence Conference in Wisconsin, Mission trip to Hungary, Cathy's parents 50th wedding anniversary, friends visiting, excursions with folks, and other various ministry opportunities. It has been a fun summer.

What's even more crazy is that we have been in Germany for over a year now. We arrived on 11 August 2009 and had our first ministry event on Labor Day last year. In our first year, we have learned so many things.

First, we are enjoying the relationships that we are developing with our German neighbors, our Chapel colleagues, and the wonderful folks that hang out in our home. We have walked along side folks through some fun and exciting things: promotions, new babies, getting married. We have supported people through some difficult challenges: break ups with boy/girl friends, problems with supervisors, moving and leaving people, teenage drama, deaths in families. Through each of these situations, we have grown as individuals and as a couple.

Second, this year has shown us how much we have taken things for granted. There is so much that is different here and, although it has been an exciting year, it also has been a year of loss and grief. We do miss the States and some of the comforts of home. We miss our daughter & families, our friends, our church, reading road signs in English, being able to navigate with a map and not needing a GPS, and so many other things.

This year has stretched us in our marriage almost more than any other year. We are realizing that we are madly in love with each other, and cannot imagine doing life without one another. Yet, we also have realized that we still have unique personalities and talents that we have been taking for granted. We are learning to cherish those differences - even though they sometimes drive us nuts - we are being reminded how important it is to respect how we are created. We are truly good for one another and are grateful for that!

We must confess we do enjoy our jobs and the perks that living in Europe brings with it. We have experienced travel to several towns and cities close to Kaiserslautern: Trier, Heidelberg, Worms, Baden Baden, Stuttgart. We have explored a little of Europe in this first year: Venice, Paris, Switzerland. We have been on two mission trips in Hungary, Cambodia/Thailand. It has been a whirlwind year!

So, as we get ready to celebrate our first year anniversary this weekend, we are wonder what is in store for us as we move into our second year of life and ministry in Germany.