My Week in a Nutshell

Faithful readers,
I have not written a worthwhile post in 4 days. Please forgive me. So now I will attempt to catch up before HELEN ARRIVES IN 8 HOURS!!! That's right! Helen is coming to stay the weekend, and I will be picking her up from the airport in 8 hours. Maybe that's why I can't sleep right now.... Hmm. So, here we go. My week in a nutshell.

Monday - Breakfast. English lesson. Lunch. Rode bikes with Wilhelm and Levin 8 km around SchiederSee - score! It was absolutely beautiful. And I was positively sore in limbs I hardly ever use once we were done. Dinner. Bed.

Tuesday - Breakfast. English lesson (which was the story of David and Goliath, told by me, translated by Alwina). Lunch. Badminton with Elias, Lionel, and Alwina. Haven't played that game in YEARS. It was random, and super fun! Dinner. Walk with Alwina and Elias to get ice cream downtown. The couple that owns the ice cream shop travels here from Italy for half of the year, so the ice cream is homemade and superb :)

Wednesday - Breakfast. English lesson (the story of Joseph - Part 1. Because that is a long story!). Lunch. Bumped the volleyball (that's right! They found their volleyball!) in the backyard with Wilhelm, Elias, and Lionel. Highest bump count - 21. Yeah, we're almost to pro level. Dinner. Went to "bed" early because we were going to do so much Thursday. I stayed up playing Angry Birds, Rummikub, and Scrabble on my computer instead of worthwhile things like sleeping and doing devotions. What awful things to neglect.

Thursday - Quick breakfast. Left the house at 8:15 am to drop Levin off at his grandparents' house and drive 3 hours to Bremerhaven. In the car on the way, I played Go Fish, 31 (it's a card game), the ABC sign game, and the "Oma went to Paris, and in her trunk she took..." game with the boys and Alwina, because Wilhelm was driving. When we got to Bremerhaven (FINALLY), we had a picnic lunch in the back of the Duecks' car while it was in the parking garage. I will never forget that. Then, we paid 0,50 E (pretend that's the symbol for euros, please) to go to the WC (bathroom). After all that, we were finally able to reach our destination - the Klimahaus.
For those of you who don't speak German or live in Germany (which would, I think, be all of you), Klimahaus means "climate house." Basically, this man traveled around to 8 different countries all located on the 8 degrees and 34 minutes longitude line (I hope you know what that means, because I don't). In each country, he followed around one family or person to get to know what their life was like. Then, he came to Germany and built this amazing house to show the different climates in the countries and raise awareness of planet conservation. I took over a hundred pictures, but some of them didn't come out very well because it was dark. Anyway, you had to be there and experience it to appreciate it fully. The countries were: Switzerland, Sardinia (a small island off the coast of Italy), Niger, Cameroon, Antarctica, Samoa, Alaska (I know that's not technically a country, but bear with me), and Germany. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip. In order of my favorite "rooms."

So yes. It was very fun! Obviously, I will be posting more pictures on Facebook soon, but that is all I have for right now. Anyway, I have to be up in less than 3 hours, so I should probably try and get some sleep.

More later! :)

PS: Get Your Chips Tartared. (Sorry...it's really late. haha)

PSS: How do you say, "I hate being a night owl, and I just want to go to sleep already!!!!" in German? hahaha You know who you are.

David and Goliath

Today, instead of an English lesson, I told the story of David and Goliath to the children in English. After I finished telling them the story, I said we had a song about David and Goliath in English, but I couldn't remember all the words. Fail :( Then, Alwina got out the music to a song they have about Moses and David in German. They sang the song to me, and this is the second verse. I think that's all the introduction I will give!

Sunday Morning Worship Time

Outside, it's raining. Inside, it's pouring. :)

I woke up this morning and determined to spend time worshiping God in my own private worship service while the Duecks went to church. After they left, I did my personal devotions in 1 Kings to prepare my heart for the sermon. Then I went onto Faith Baptist's website and listened to the sermon Pastor Osborne preached last Sunday morning on revenge. And wow. God started speaking to me.

The biggest impression He left was when Pastor Osborne was talking about David and Saul in 1 Samuel 24. In that chapter, Saul was in the process of chasing after David to kill him, because he was jealous and paranoid. He stopped in a cave to "relieve himself," and while he was in the process of doing so, David and his men were hiding in the back of the cave. David's men told him, "Hey, David, this is the day the Lord has told you about. He has delivered Saul into your hands to do whatever you desire with him." But David knew better! He knew God had made no such promise to David. So he spared his life. But he went up to Saul and cut off a corner of his robe. Right afterwards, the Holy Spirit had convicted David of his sin in cutting of the corner of Saul's robe. But noone else would have blamed David for doing this thing. Only the Holy Spirit, only God. David was SO SENSITIVE to the Holy Spirit, that he was convicted, even over a little sin that noone else would consider to be sin!

How many times have I done that? How many times have I committed so many "small" sins which are not considered sin by the rest of the world, so I didn't even think twice about it? During my last relationship, many of my "friends" put thoughts into my head of hurting my boyfriend as much as he would thoughtlessly hurt me. They said it was good to teach him a lesson. But it is never our place to teach anyone a lesson! Looking back, I can see the ways in which I sinned against God and my ex-boyfriend by being petty and vengeful.

I pray that God will continually show me my small sins and convict me of them. I want to have a heart like David's, that is extremely sensitive to the Lord's leading. I don't want to have a petty and vengeful attitude towards anyone. I also want to be able to speak God's truth in love and encourage others like Jonathan did with his father and David.

This is my prayer today: to surrender all to the Lord. To put on the mind of Christ. To have a heart like David. To live in the presence of the Lord daily.

"All to Thee, Lord, I surrender,
All to Thee I freely give;
I will ever love and trust You,
In Your presence daily live."

Happiness in Hannover :)

Today was a MARVELOUS day!

I woke up at 7:45 and took a shower. Then, at 8:30, Wilhelm drove me to Bad Pyrmont to Cherie Webber's apartment so we could leave for our shopping excursion in Hannover! Before we left her apartment, we had breakfast together. Toast - very nice!

We rode in Bessie (Cherie's car) to the train station in Bad Pyrmont. While we were waiting to procure our train tickets (there was a very old and disgruntled Polish man in front of us who did not know how to work the machine), we started talking to the man behind us who was from France. He told us he was in the process of riding his bike from Hannover to Freiburg - a 7-day, 700 mile trip! How impressive is that?!

Fast forward to the train ride - which was lovely :) The trash can next to our seat kept rattling the whole way, so I contributed my monogrammed kleenex to stifling the noise. It worked. So I left a part of myself on the train today - yay! The train station in Hannover was bustling with activity. There were so many different restaurants and shops to choose from, it was almost overwhelming. We walked out of the train station and down the main street. The first few shops we went into were clothing shops - and they were very expensive. I was not about it. Then, we found a Claire's. And it was all downhill from there... I started spending money left and right. I couldn't stop! I bought a watch (finally! Now I can tell time!) and a scarf (to cover my poor, exposed neck. Really, it was an investment for my health!).

Then we started to feel a little peckish, so we each bought a huge pretzel from a kiosk on the side of the street - what a good choice. After we finished our pretzels, we were thirsty. So naturally, we went to a cafe and ordered some ice cream and drinks (Cherie got a cappucino, and I got a Coca Cola light.)

After we quenched our thirst and satisfied our hunger, we went back on the prowl for cute things to buy. We looked for shoes, but alas, it is as hard for me to find German shoes big enough for my feet as it is to find American shoes big enough for my feet. Sad. We did, however, try on some adorable hats!

The picture you see of me is of my favorite hat :) To see more pictures, you can go to my Facebook album. My purchases today included 2 scarves, 1 ring, 1 pair of earrings, 12 postcards (can't wait to write on them!), and 1 watch. Perfect - and not too heavy to take with me back to the States!

After we were done shopping, we decided to take some pictures of two of the pretty churches in Hannover. We also got some pictures in a flower shop on our way - they have such beautiful flower arrangements here! The second church was my favorite, and as you can see, right when we got to it, a wedding happened to be letting out! So I snuck a picture (of course!)

After that, we got back on the train and headed back to Bad Pyrmont where we had some yummy Chinese for dinner. The scenery wasn't bad either! Pictured below is me and Cherie waiting for the train, and also the view from our table at the Chinese restaurant. Try not to be too jealous ;)

After dinner, Cherie drove me back to the Dueck's house, and here I sit, posting in my blog and staying up much later than I intended. Also, Helen will be here in less than 7 days! Wahoo! And for those of you wondering, the status of my cold is this - my throat still hurts and I am still coughing occasionally, but it is much better than it has been. Praise the Lord! Also, I finished "Emma" last night - what a great book! I recommend it highly to anyone who hasn't ever read it!

So now I will leave you with a verse that I read in my devotions tonight, because God is greatly to be praised!

"God - His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is pure. He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him."
- 2 Samuel 22:31, HCSB

Take refuge in Him :)

PS: Gelatinize Your Card Table.

PSS: It makes me so excited to think that you are growing in your relationship with Him. I pray it continues daily. You know who you are!

Just Another Rainy Day...

That's right, folks. Today was rainy. All day long. I didn't even get to go to the post office to mail my most recent postcards :(

But I did not let that stop me from enjoying my day! Breakfast this morning was of my own creation (thank you VERY much). It consisted of scrambled eggs w/ cheese, bacon, and french toast! The boys LOVED the french toast, and I ate up every bit of the scrambled eggs and bacon they wouldn't touch. I was in heaven. I'm sure Alwina was shocked at how much and how fast I was eating. haha After breakfast, I stripped my bed and put clean sheets on, because today was Friday - the day of cleaning! Duh... The boys' lesson today was not really a lesson at all, BUT we finished our English books "All About Me" today! Videos soon to come :)

Also, today is Wilhelm and Alwina's 11 year anniversary! But all that happened was that he brought her home flowers from work... Germany is definitely different than America in many ways. I asked Wilhelm if he and Alwina ever go out to a nice restaurant for their anniversary or do anything special, and he said they did for their 5th anniversary, but not for many others. Huh.

We played many games today such as "Go Fish" and the German version of "Sorry." I also read some more of "Emma" by Jane Austen. I'm almost done with it, and I love it. Dinner tonight was super-thin pancakes. Once again. Yummy, yummy. Or, as they would say here, "lecker." I miss our nice thick American pancakes, though. After dinner, Alwina and Elias went to church while Wilhelm, Levin, Lionel, and I took a walk down to SchiederSee. Since it rained today, the slug/schnecke count was very high - a record 65! Blech. The walk was much needed. I felt cramped being in the house all day; I was ready for some fresh air and exercise. Who am I right now?! haha

When we got home, I decided to upload some pictures onto my Facebook, because I haven't uploaded in 10 days! Hopefully tonight will be much better as far as sleeping goes. I slept well last night, but that was because of the apple/cinnamon goop I had on me. Also, tomorrow I am planning on going shopping with Sherrie Webber in Hannover all day! I can't wait! Mostly because I won't have to speak slowly in order to get my point across ;) But also because it's shopping! Hello!

More later!

PS: You know what I'm going to say. Get Your Carnations Trimmed.

PSS: Glad we were able to talk today, even if it was for a little bit. Cowboys & Aliens - definitely a must-see movie ;) You know who you are.

Sickness: Day 7.

Obviously, I didn't post last night. Because I haven't been able to sleep very well lately. I keep coughing all night. It's no fun. So I decided to stop staying up so late blogging and Skyping.

Yesterday, I woke up at 11. Ate breakfast with Alwina. The boys were at her mom's house all day, so Alwina and I went grocery shopping by ourselves. It was nice. I didn't talk much, because I still sound like a man, and whenever I talk, I cough. After we were done grocery shopping, we went into town to buy some postcards for me and some school supplies for the boys. We stopped at a bakery/cafe for lunch and I got PIZZA! It was soooooo good :) Last night while Alwina and Wilhelm went to church, I stayed home, watched a movie, and went to bed early. Even though I couldn't fall asleep until about 3 am because of my coughing. Bleh.

Today, we had to be up by 8:30, because we went to Wilhelm's brother's house for breakfast. I was feeling awful, of course, due to lack of sleep. I'm glad I forced myself to go, because Xenia (Wilhelm's brother's wife) was so sweet and nice the whole time :) And they have a daughter named Julia who is an absolute doll! After we left their house, we came home, hung out, ate lunch, and resumed our English lessons (with a new addition - Julian, Alwina's 11-year-old brother). Today we finished learning the furniture around the house. They all drew a map of their house and labeled the furniture inside. After the lesson, we drove to Alwina's parents and I got measured for a skirt that her mom is going to sew me (yay!). Then we (Alwina, her mom, Levin, and myself) went for a walk. It. Was. Splendid. I took lots of pictures (which I'll upload later) and enjoyed myself immensely. Then we picked up Wilhelm from work, came home, had dinner, and Alwina, Levin, and I went for ANOTHER walk. I like going on walks here :) After we got home, we did family devotions (Psalm 17), and now I'm sitting in bed with Alwina's newest homemade remedy on my chest and back. It kinda smells like cinnamon and apples. Mmmm. haha It's just a little weird that it's on my body and not in my tummy...hmmm. We'll see how this ends.

More later!

PS: Hope you're Gesticulating Concerning Telepathy. :)

PSS: I miss our talking already! Wish you weren't so busy with your job right now. You know who you are!

How Great is our God!

Today was a lazy day.

I didn't get to bed until really late, because I Skyped until 1 am my time, and then I was up until 3 am coughing and being congested, so I couldn't sleep. Then, I slept in until 11 am, woke up, and ate breakfast. I read a little bit more in the book I'm currently reading, Emma by Jane Austen, and then fell asleep again. When I woke up the 2nd time, I realized I had missed lunch - homemade lasagna. Made from pork, not beef. Interesting... After I finished eating, I took a shower and SHAVED MY LEGS! Pure bliss! If any men are reading this and thinking "TMI," I'm sorry. haha After my shower, dinner, then Wilhelm took the kids over to Alwina's parent's house to spend the night. And Alwina went to choir practice. So I was at home by myself. I put on really warm clothes, got my MP3 player, and went for a walk. It was INCREDIBLE. I put it on my "Love Revealed" playlist. The first song that came on was "How Great is our God" sung by Bethany Dillon. What a perfect song for the walk :) God was everywhere. In the breeze. The trees. The grass. Even the ridiculous amount of slugs. haha

Just close your eyes for a minute and picture it. You're walking on a path alone. The wind is blowing all around you. The leaves on the trees look like they're laughing or dancing in worship to the King. You're listening to music about the Creator. You feel - LOVED. Embraced. In rapture.

That's what my walk was like. It was incredible. I started praying about my future. Because when I get back to America, I have to go back to work. I was thinking, "I don't really enjoy the work I'm doing right now. I just want to have a job that I love." I was also thinking about meeting my future husband. And then this thought hit me like a ton of bricks - finding an awesome career is not the end-all, be-all of my life. Neither is finishing school. Or finding a husband. Or starting a family. Or, fill-in-the-blank. Nothing I accomplish on this earth is worth worrying about, because it has no real eternal significance. Other than serving Him. In the big things. In the little things. In every day occurrences. In my conversations with others. In my prayer life. Life is an adventure. And we're not experiencing this adventure alone. Because He is right there with us to give us strength and smile down on us or comfort us when we need it. How exciting is that?! How thrilling of a thought!

Lord, thank You for going on a walk with me today. I can't wait until our next one =)