March 12, 2007
I just came back from a PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) Retreat and it’s a bit hard to express everything that happened to me there … but here goes.
First thing I noticed was the attitudes of some of the people from Stuttgart (this was a combined retreat since we don’t have many people in Garmisch). The one woman I noticed the most was always saying that the Lord had just told her to say this or do that. It had been a while since I had heard anyone say that and it had me wishing for that kind of security in the Lord.
Then there was the speaker, Amy Stephens. She was so obviously happy and excited to share what God had laid on her heart. I felt drawn to her and so did others because someone else told me that it had never been so easy to fall in love with someone, as it was with her.
The first two sessions she spoke of many thing that I took in, but didn’t really fully understand until the third session.
There was also something that happened before she spoke the third time, which really made me receptive to hear and believe what God was saying to me. It was right before she was going to speak on Saturday night and we were told by Shannon to hug ten people. I went around and huged about five people before I saw Amy sitting on the floor in the back, so I went to hug her. After hugging her she said that she had noticed me this weekend and had wanted to talk to me and get to know me.
I don’t remember any woman ever saying that to me, and here was this beautiful woman who wanted to get to know me even though there were at least 59 other people here that she could say that to. It made me feel special. It made me feel wanted.
And then she went on to talk about many things but the thing that hit me was when she talked about trusting him completely and letting him take care of us. I thought, ‘I can and should do that.’ But then I thought, ‘Why should he do the things I ask of him. What am I to him but a lowly sinner.’ Then I thought of what she had been telling us about how God loves us and that we are his workmanship (Eph 2:10). And she kept talking about how many women have a hard time accepting that God accepts us and loves us the way we are.
So, God loves me, how does that mean that he’s going to do these things for me? But I had put God in a box. I had made him smaller than he was. I had forgotten that this was the same God that raised people from the dead and made Peter walk on water. What were my small problems to him?
There were many other things that she had spoken about over the last few sessions that just broke on me like waves. It was like someone had tripped a line of dominoes and everything that she had been speaking about over the last two sessions seemed to fall into place. There were many things that I had heard all of my life but had never really understood. Like why we don’t have to worry … because we need to let God choose our path and show us every step of the way … we don’t have to figure it out ourselves.
Much of this seems so banal as I write it down like this, but it was like a shockwave to me at the time. I started crying and didn’t really stop for almost two hours.
These are some of the things that came out of this:
What I know is that God loves me the way I am and I can give all my burdens to him. I know that I need to ask him EVERY DAY what he wants me to do … for everything. What I know is that he will help me and he does have a plan … even if it isn’t my own plan. What I know is that I want to be really happy in the Lord like these people were and that I can’t do this on my own — I need his help.
The enormity of all this is slowly dawning on me. I also know that some things in my life have to change for this to work. I know that it will not be easy. I pray that he give me the hunger to go to him every day. I know that it would be so easy to slip back into the life that I have been living. I know that sometimes I won’t hear his voice when I should and I pray that he’ll send me a reminder to stop and listen and go to His Word to get the advice I need.
I also know that I want this for the people in my life, especially my family. I know this sounds like I’m preaching to the choir, since I know that they have prayed for me a long time and I’m sure that has gotten me through things I wouldn’t have gotten through without their love and support. But … I know that I have never seen people as joyous and carefree in the Lord, as I have seen this weekend. I know that worries about earthly things has robbed some of the joy the Lord wants to give to my family. I want them to have this joy, just like I want this joy.
I hope to allow all of you to see my struggle and hear of my joy as I learn about my God and Savior. I don’t want to be like the man in the Sistine Chapel who couldn’t care less about God reaching out for him … I want to be the one that reaches for God. Please pray for me to continue on search for him and for his truth.
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March 5, 2007
Here’s a scrap book page that I recently made of A’s lost teeth. I’ve been getting into digital scrapbooking lately. It’s really quite fun.
I always liked the idea of doing paper scrappbooking before but never had the patience to sit down with all of the junk I’ve got, lay it all out and figure out what goes where — well, I actually did a few pages here and there when A was a baby — but it was hard to lay it out and then put it all away again.
I did digital scrapping before but I never had the money to buy the really expensive software or the expensive digital sets so what I did was pretty sorry (at least it seemed that way to me).
Last year I got it into my head to make digital photo books online and I was quite pleased with the results. Unfortunately, it’s not cheap and I was still looking for something that could record some of the everyday stuff without spending a fortune.
At Christmas I was impressed by how my sister has kept up with her daughter’s life by digital scrapping and I determined that I would give digital scrapping another try … so I went out and bought a book.
This worked for a little while … I made a few pages for friends of ours that were going away. I thought they were OK but I still wasn’t satisfied.
But then I found ScrapGirls.com.
If you are looking for some cheap (or even free!) tutorials and graphics to use in scrapping, this is the place! They send out a newsletter 5 days a week with 2 freebies and lots of info and ideas so you don’t even have to buy anything if you don’t want to.
And this is good for me. I have a tendancy to get excited in the beginning but then forget about it in a little while but these guys won’t let you.
Anyway, this is a page I made with their products and I love it. Great papers and embellishments for a great price.
Enought of the advertisement. I just hope to be able to show you all some more the the pages I’ve done.
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February 22, 2007
Here I am, after almost seven month, breaking the silence. Not that I meant to be silent, but it was just hard to write with everything else going on in my life.
Many things have happened in those months, one of them was that my writing contract expired mid-Dec. Since then, the powers that be have no chosen to renew it or hire anyone else. I don’t know why they’ve done this — they have yet to even contact me whatsoever. But, the upshot of this is that I’ve got much more time on my hands.
So, I’m trying to get organized (it only took me a month and a half of being out of work) and do some of the things I should have or meant to be doing before. One of them is writing in my blog. Some of the others are keeping a regular exercise schedule, sticking to a better diet, keeping up with the housework and going to a Bible study.
For those of you not in my family, here are some of the things that have been going on in my life in the last seven months.
– My daughter started Kindergarten, unfortunately we also found out that she may have ADHD. We’re now going to a Dr. who specializes in this and working out what we can do to help her.
– A. turned 5.
– We took our first family trip to Berlin in Oct. J. had been there up until about 6 months before the wall fell so this was a quite different Berlin than the one that he had known.
– We also went home for two weeks over the holidays to catch up with our families and spend lots of money on books and buying clothes for A. It was also very good for A. to meet many of her cousins and reconnect with the family that she already remembers. Now she wants to go back to the States and live near Grammy and Pop Pops.
– We also had a Valentine’s Tea Party for A. the Sunday before Valentine’s day. She loves them and it’s a great way for her to connect to her friends that she doesn’t see outside of school or church.
Many other little things happened but things are moving along. J. still does a lot of business trips — the most recent ones have been to Armenia and Albainia — not exactly the best tourist destinations but he got me some nice gifts.
On everyday stuff, this year had been a no snow year in Garmisch and it is beautiful but still very odd. But I’m not complaining because it’s allowed me to run more than any other winter here.
I’m hoping to keep everyone updated from now on — at least until I start working again — then we’ll see.
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July 24, 2006
“One moment of patience may ward off great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life.” Chinese proberb
Just something to think about.
I know that I’m impatient sometimes and this could be useful in my life.
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July 21, 2006
Just wanted to let you all know that I’m still here. Yes, it’s been since Feb. that I’ve written regularly and life is just moving on so quickly.
As an update for any of you who don’t keep in contact with me any other way, I’ve still got my same job (writing for the Citizen newspaper in Stuttgart). Although I am really not very busy at my job, it still is a kind of deterrent for me to get on the computer and write a blog. One of the reasons I decided to write a blog was to keep up my writing skills for when I got a job … so now I’ve got one and writing about my daily life isn’t as fun any more. BUT … that doesn’t mean that I’m going to give it up forever. I just can’t promise to be a daily writer.
As far as J. and A. are concerned, J. is still at his job but hoping but not expecting a promotion. We’ll see how that goes.
News about A. is more exciting. We registered her for kindergarten and this will be a big change in our lives. She’s also grown about an inch and a half and none of her old clothes fit her. So, since we’re not in the states to get the hand-me-downs we got before, we’re really in for a huge shopping trip before she starts school. She’s still in ballet, but the teacher moved it to Thur. at 3 instead of Mon. at 5, so it’s harder to get her there on my ever changing schedule. We hate to spend the money when she’s can’t make it all the time.
Other than that, our lives are pretty good. The weather in Germany is horribly hot, which is unusual (especially since it rained so much last summer). We’re hoping it’s not one of those, “get an air conditioner or die” summers, cause we’ll be in trouble!
We are also planning on coming home this Christmas so we’re trying to get our plane tickets now. The problem is finding the best price. Just when you think you’ve found a rock bottom price, you find out it’s a price without tax or any of those additional fees — and I’m just about to pull my hair out. But we’ll get there, no matter if we have to pay a premium or not.
That’s about all for now … I’ll try to keep you updated at a decent interval from now on!
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June 23, 2006
Actually, this is the travel story that I wrote for one of the military recreation and travel magazines. I guess getting paid for it made it worth writing. I’ll add photos in the next few days.
The term “travel hot spot” might not spring to mind when you think of Croatia, but the city of Dubrovnik in southern Croatia has become just that. Set against a coastline of beautifully stark mountains and quaint fishing villages, Dubrovnik is the jewel in the Croatian crown.
Originally named Ragusa, this city was the chief rival to Venice in the 15th and 16th centuries. The thick walls and heavy fortifications of the Old Town stand as a reminder of how important this port was as a gateway to the southern Adriatic. Today it still stands as a gateway through which the discerning traveler can get a glimpse of, as the Croatian tourism promotion puts it, the Mediterranean as it once was.
That glimpse begins the moment you walk through one of the walled Old Town’s gates. The Old Town is strictly pedestrian – no cars and very few bicycles. Most houses line narrow alleyways of stairs leading up from the main street called Stradun. The building styles and materials of everything you see are the same as centuries ago. Even the doorways have the unique “na koljeno” shape. The combined door and counter helped shopkeepers handing goods over the window sill while keeping the door closed.
The fountains for washing yourself before you enter the town still work and the Franciscan monastery continues to run a pharmacy dating from the 14th century (where you can buy their own brand of scented hand cream or children’s honey flavored cough drops shaped like a sugar cubes). Old is mixed with the new so fluidly you can get money from an ATM so you can sip cappuccinos while watching the fishermen bring their boats into the port just like they did centuries ago.
The Old Town is small, so it won’t take long to see the major sites within the walls, but the walls themselves are considered to be one of the most interesting and best parts of Dubrovnik. At two or three places along the wall, you can buy a ticket to walk on the top of the wall itself (keep your ticket handy to show that you paid at these different booths). This complex structure, one of the most beautiful and strongest fortifications in the Europe, gives visitors an expansive view of the surrounding area as well as the red rooftops of the town’s buildings. For those who like art, history and religious relics, there are tours of the monasteries and churches in town as well as the Rector’s and Sponza palaces. Enterprising visitors can find a tour guide to take them to most of these places and explain their significance.
It’s easy to find good places to eat after sightseeing, but as in most tourist locations you pay a premium to eat in the Old Town. Sometimes it’s better to eat outside the walled city. Those interested in a traditional seafood meal should visit the seafood restaurant next to the harbor outside the old town gate to the right of the Rector’s Palace. Inside this quaint restaurant you can eat some of the best simple seafood dishes served in traditional pots, and prices are downright cheap.
There are many other things to do outside of the city walls. Southeast of the Old Town is a tourist zone called Ploce, which features hotels and beaches. To the west is Lapad, with its sports facilities, hotels, beaches and walking trails. To the northwest is the Gruz port and Gruz.
Some of the most visited places are the beautiful islands that can be seen from almost anywhere along the Croatian coastline. The one closest to Dubrovnik is called Lokrum where you can walk through a ruined fort or overgrown botanical gardens that have lush tropical plants, swim in the small lake or just enjoy the beauty of it all.
There are many ways to get to Dubrovnik. Croatia is a popular destination for German tourists, so getting a flight straight to Dubrovnik from Germany isn’t a problem. Check out this site
http://www.croatiatraveller.com/southern_dalmatia/Dubrovnik/GettingtoDubrovnik.htm for more information. This site also has information on getting there by bus or ferry. Unfortunately, there is no direct train connection to Dubrovnik, but if you’re willing to take a bus or ferry for a few hours from another city, you should be able to get there most of the way by train. My family and I took a ferry from Italy to Split and I thought it was a very nice way to see some of the Croatian coastline while driving the rest of the way to Dubrovnik.
For more information on Dubrovnik visit these sites: http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/14474.html — yes, it’s a weather site, but if click on Meet Locals you will find hundreds of tips from people who have actually been there, not just the tourist agencies; http://web.tzdubrovnik.hr/ — a good place to find out events happening there; and http://www.travelersdigest.com/dubrovnik.htm – a site that can link you to other Dubrovnik sites.
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April 19, 2006
I’m finally getting around to telling the rest of the story.
After getting off the boat in Split, we followed the signs out of town and toward Dubrovnik. I’m assuming it was one of the more popular destinations since there were signs for it everywhere.
On the map I had, there was only one main road that lead down the coast to Dubrovnik. I say “main” road, but it definitely was not a highway. Unlike the autobahns and autostratas we drove on in Germany, Austria and Italy, this road wound slowly down the coast passing through small fishing towns and villages, which, most of the time, never allowed you to go faster than 30 to 50 MPH (or 50 to 80 KPH). But, for the most part, we didn’t mind.
The villages were quaint and many times beautiful. Most of them had a least a few brightly colored boats bobbing in the water. I’m sure it would be even nicer in the summer.
Something that was impressive was the rolling hills that went all the way down to the water. I call them hills because they weren’t what we call mountains around here, but for the sake of giving you a real idea of what they looked like, they weren’t really rolling either.
They really looked like mounds of rocks. Almost as if it was the gravel pit of some very large giant. It wasn’t until you got close that you actually saw that there was dirt between the very large rocks, since from far away (and this being the end of winter) sometimes you could hardly see anything on them but some occasional scrubs. And many times the rocks weren’t smooth looking like what I was used to, but kind of angular and sticking far out of the hill — as if someone had just cut them out and thrown them there. Even the hills that were covered with green, were covered with low bushes and not tall tree like you see here in Germany. It was just very different.
I can’t, of course, forget the little part of Bosnia we had to go through on the way there. Since it is the only part of Bosnia on the coast, it was packed with houses, hotels and stores, just like any resort town would be.
And with the mention of Bosnia, I also need to mention that it didn’t take long for us to spot the houses and buildings that had been bombed or destroyed because of the fighting in these countries. We later found out that the Old Town of Dubrovnik had been damaged quite a bit, but you could also see how much work they were doing to put it back the way it was.
So, on this winding road, we finally reached Dubrovnik. It took us a little while to find out where we were staying, but once we did it was wonderful. Since this was a business trip for J., we were staying in the Hilton, right next to the Old Town which was quite picturesque. The room wasn’t bad either.
The room had a sitting area and they had put a rolling bed in for A. which didn’t block the flow of the room. Both of the beds had wonderfully soft feather comforters and pillows. We had three floor to ceiling windows that all lead out to a balcony with a wonderful view. It was much more luxurious than we had hoped for.
Since we got to the room a little before 1 p.m., and we hadn’t had much sleep the night before on the boat, we all crashed for an hour or two before wandering down for a meal in the hotel.
And here I’m going to stop again. The thing is, I like to put all the photos in and not miss the good ones or leave something out of the story, but doing that take a large amount of time on my part and that’s why I took so long in between posts, because I knew it would take a long time. Sorry about that!
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March 29, 2006
This is going to be a multiple part post, partly because there’s a lot to say and partly because I don’t have enough time or patience to do all the photo stuff in one sitting.
First, I’ll tell you about the trip there. Since we didn’t take a plane it took about a day and a half to get there. As I said before, we “drove” there. I have drove in quotes because part of the trip was on a ferry crossing from Italy to Croatia, so we obviously didn’t drive over the water. Since the trip required us to get to certain places at certain times, I was a bit wary about the whole driving thing and getting where we needed to be on time. Since we’ve been in Europe, traffic jams, bad route directions and potty breaks (as well as stopping because the girl threw up from motion sickness) have been a bit of problem as far as slowing us down and making the trips take longer. Since this was a work trip as well as a trip into a new country (Croatia) it made me a little nervous.
As we left Germany (which was pretty quickly) and headed through Austria, at first the snow was even more prevalent (as seen in this photo with the snow on the logs), but as we crossed into Italy and the mountains turned into hills, we left the snow behind and headed toward warmer weather and ancient castles.
We needed to get to the Ancona harbor and check-in with the boat by 7 p.m. and we weren’t sure how long it would take us to get there. Luckily, it wasn’t hard to find the harbor or the car ferry signs (although it was a bit hard to figure out which exact place we were to go to) and we got there with about 45 minutes to spare.
Of course, the whole process was odd. After we checked in, they said we needed to go to passport control but when we got there, it was closed, so we thought there was some other place to go and started looking around. As it turned out, the place was closed, but opened two hours before the ship sailed which was also the latest you could check in.
Anyway, we figured it out and got back into our car to drive it on the ferry. It was amazing to see how large the ship was and all of the trucks that were loaded onto the ship (backwards!) while we waited our turn.
Getting onto the ship, we found our cabin which, because of our lateness in signing up, was supposed to be one of the most expensive. It turned out to be three bunks with about a foot and a half between them and a little bathroom with a teeny shower. We really wondered what the cheaper ones were like.
Wondering around the ship before it sailed (at 9 p.m.) we found out that nothing opened until it sailed. The biggest thing on the ship, other than the restaurants, was the duty free shops (thus the waiting until it sailed part).
So, we set about getting the girl ready for bed, but by the time she was all tucked in, the intercome was going on about the safety rules and we were leaving the harbor. The girl, of course, had to watch, so that set her sleep time back another half hour or so. As it was, it was probably about 10:30 by the time she settled down for the night.
As you can imagine, a thin mattress and pillow in a chilly rocking cabin didn’t make for a great night’s sleep. But I’m sure we all managed a few hours before my alarm went off at 5:45 a.m.
Here’s a picture out of our cabin window in the morning. Since there were a lot of islands right off the coast of Spilt (Croatia), where we docked, we were going pretty slow before we got there.
The had told us that breakfast was free with the room and it started at 6 a.m. Around that time someone came and knocked on the door (I guess they don’t want anyone sleeping in a holding them up).
A. didn’t want to get up so I started dressing her while she lay — thinking that at least I could have her dressed enough to carry to the car. Well, she woke pretty quickly then and we were in the restaurant having our meager “buffet” breakfast of bread, hard boiled eggs, European lunch meat and cheese. It was at least enough to keep us going for a while.
As it turned out, there had been quite a few trucks parked behind our car and it took a while for us to even see our car out of the door to the car deck. To the left is a photo of us getting into our car to get it off the boat. On the right, below, is a photo of the outside of the boat with some cars waiting to get on.
But we finally got our car off the ship and wound our way out of Split toward Dubrovnik.
Tomorrow: Pt. 2 The drive and the city of Dubrovnik.
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March 6, 2006
J. and I saw the movie Nanny McPhee this evening.
Don’t be so surprised, they now have English movies in the small theater in town. From what I hear, they used to have almost only English movies in the theater, but 9/11 happened and then there was a new owner and they stopped all together. These last few weeks have been a trial run and if enough people come to the movies, they’ll keep them. So, in the interest of continuing movies, we’re trying to go to them whenever possible.
Actually, since this movie was at 5:30, it still caused a bit of a problem for us, timewise, but we managed.
So the movie … well, if you don’t already know, it’s about a family with seven children who have recently lost their mother. Unfortunately, these children are as beastly as they come.
When the movie starts, nanny number 17 is running out of the house after being there for only a little over three days. When the father goes back to the agency to hire another nanny, they close their doors and send him away.
Fortunatly for him, Nanny McPhee is nearby and makes her presence known a few times before showing up at the door. From then on, McPhee controls the house and strange things happen to the children when they disobey her.
McPhee is a kind of strange mix between Mary Poppins and a humorous Harry Potter witch — the children, of course, being the Muggles in the latter case.
Although some people thought this was a children’s film, I think only older children would really understand it and then they might feel uncomfortable if they had ever been bad. I wouldn’t take A. to it at her age and probably not until she was 8 or so. But since I’ve never raised a child older than she is now, I can never be sure of myself on this.
In the end, I enjoyed it. It was lighthearted fun and fairly interesting. But I do have to say that I would like to figure out the reason for some of the strange things that happened — not the least of which is the reason for the alteration of McPhee’s appearance. Oh well, I guess they are some of life’s unanswerable questions.
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March 2, 2006
“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”
— Virginia Woolf
It’s very interesting that the last two daily thoughts have been something relating to my life at this time. The way this one relates is that tonight I took a one night cooking class. My first one ever!
Actually, it was more of a showing and eating class, but who would quibble with such a small thing?
The important thing was that it was an Asian cooking class with a Korean teacher. Right up my alley. Both J. and I have had an incredible hankering for Korean food, especially since it’s hard to find a Korean restaurant here or even in Munich.
So, I learned how to make kimbap (literally translated dried seaweed and rice) but most everyone else called it sushi. It’s actually the Korean version of sushi rolls (without the fish) and I like it better. I also learned how to cut the meat for bulgogi. Which is a Korean style of marinating sliced meat and then grilling it. We also learned how to roll spring rolls, but I don’t consider those Korean or plan on making them very often.
After she showed us those things and had a few people try out the techniques, we ate the same kinds of food we were making but most of it was stuff she had cooked previously. It was great and I stuffed myself to the gills.
The funny thing about these recipes that she give us and the stuff she showed us is that it was so easy. When I was in Korea I it just all seemed so hard and the recipes were so badly translated into English that I never cooked any of this stuff. Not to mention that it was so cheap to eat out, that I had no reason to cook any of the stuff.
Now I will try to cook some of this stuff and slake this need we have to eat all things Korean. For those of you who know what kind of cook I am, you know I’m going to need all the luck I can get.
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