'Have a Good Slide Into the New Year'

That is what we say in German (Einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!) to wish someone a good start in the New Year - have a good slide into it! So we pray that you all have a great slide into a blessed and rewarding new year!

After almost a full day of traveling - we finally arrived in Murrieta, California! Thanks for your prayers as the flights went relatively well. We made all the connections, even with delays because of weather, planes being overloaded, etc. We knew someone was praying for us! It was only hard with the 2 younger ones - Zachie and Dariah. They are just not used to sitting for 11 hours on an airplane, running to the next plane and sitting another 5 hours! Talk about boredom!

But here we are in sunny SoCal. I went for a jog yesterday morning at 8.00 and was able to go out in shorts, T-Shirt and sweatshirt only. Kinda like that - but know I shouldn't get used to it since it's around freezing back in Freiburg!

Anyways, wishing you all a great slide (just don't break anything) into 2008 and that it will be a year where God truly blesses and challenges you and that you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ!

PS - we had our first Mexican food already - carne asada burritos w/ really hot salsa. With tortilla chips and dip on the side! Thank God for Mexican food! And for Rosa's Cantina!

'Have a Good Slide Into the New Year'

That is what we say in German (Einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!) to wish someone a good start in the New Year - have a good slide into it! So we pray that you all have a great slide into a blessed and rewarding new year!

After almost a full day of traveling - we finally arrived in Murrieta, California! Thanks for your prayers as the flights went relatively well. We made all the connections, even with delays because of weather, planes being overloaded, etc. We knew someone was praying for us! It was only hard with the 2 younger ones - Zachie and Dariah. They are just not used to sitting for 11 hours on an airplane, running to the next plane and sitting another 5 hours! Talk about boredom!

But here we are in sunny SoCal. I went for a jog yesterday morning at 8.00 and was able to go out in shorts, T-Shirt and sweatshirt only. Kinda like that - but know I shouldn't get used to it since it's around freezing back in Freiburg!

Anyways, wishing you all a great slide (just don't break anything) into 2008 and that it will be a year where God truly blesses and challenges you and that you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ!

PS - we had our first Mexican food already - carne asada burritos w/ really hot salsa. With tortilla chips and dip on the side! Thank God for Mexican food! And for Rosa's Cantina!

We're leaving on a jet plane...

...don't know when we'll be back again. Well I do know when, but not until the end of January. We are flying to California this afternoon. Please pray for the flights, that the kids will be kept busy and not get fussy. It will be about 24-26hours of traveling by the time we reach Murrieta. The girls are still stuffy and coughing, especially Dariah, please pray her ears won't bother her.
So those of you in SoCal see you very soon! And everyone here we'll be back before you know it!!

We're leaving on a jet plane...

...don't know when we'll be back again. Well I do know when, but not until the end of January. We are flying to California this afternoon. Please pray for the flights, that the kids will be kept busy and not get fussy. It will be about 24-26hours of traveling by the time we reach Murrieta. The girls are still stuffy and coughing, especially Dariah, please pray her ears won't bother her.
So those of you in SoCal see you very soon! And everyone here we'll be back before you know it!!

Please Pray

Over the last 2-3 weeks, we have gone through a lot of sicknesses that has just bogged us down. First we had a bout of stomach flu - although it was only Taliah and Zachariah. Then the kids got chickenpox a couple weeks ago - Jesaiah first, then Becks' niece visiting from Australia, then Taliah and lastly Zachie (and he was even immunized already!). In between all that Taliah got another bout of stomach flu. Then Becks' sister got a major flu and she was out of commission for 3 days (she and her daughter had to postpone their flight back to Oz for 5 days because of the chickenpox and flu).

Now the two younger kids - Zachie and Dariah have had fevers for 3 days now, then Taliah joined in on the fun so Becks took them to the emergency room/urgent care. Taliah and Dariah have upper respiratory infections. Not wanting to be the only one left out on all this, I joined them with bronchitus (we think) for the last 4 days. All this during the busy Christmas season, getting ready for furlough (we fly in 2 days!!!) and entertaining visitors. Oh well, that's life right?

Thanks for praying! We are looking forward to getting to the USA and just having some downtime for a few days before things speed up again.

Please Pray

Over the last 2-3 weeks, we have gone through a lot of sicknesses that has just bogged us down. First we had a bout of stomach flu - although it was only Taliah and Zachariah. Then the kids got chickenpox a couple weeks ago - Jesaiah first, then Becks' niece visiting from Australia, then Taliah and lastly Zachie (and he was even immunized already!). In between all that Taliah got another bout of stomach flu. Then Becks' sister got a major flu and she was out of commission for 3 days (she and her daughter had to postpone their flight back to Oz for 5 days because of the chickenpox and flu).

Now the two younger kids - Zachie and Dariah have had fevers for 3 days now, then Taliah joined in on the fun so Becks took them to the emergency room/urgent care. Taliah and Dariah have upper respiratory infections. Not wanting to be the only one left out on all this, I joined them with bronchitus (we think) for the last 4 days. All this during the busy Christmas season, getting ready for furlough (we fly in 2 days!!!) and entertaining visitors. Oh well, that's life right?

Thanks for praying! We are looking forward to getting to the USA and just having some downtime for a few days before things speed up again.

Thanksgiving

I know, Thanksgiving is long past, but if I don't say something now I never will....since Christmas is only a week away!
I can't believe how fast time flies! Anyhoo...I'm rambling again.

We had a great Thanksgiving again this year. It is so much fun to celebrate with our friends here and share with them why we celebrate. Finding all the ingredients has gotten easier. 10 years ago we couldn't get all the stuff, but now we can, so we can have a completely traditional dinner!

We had 22 adults and 10 kids this year, so we had dinner in our youth cafe at church because we wouldn't have all fit here at home. I had a ton of help!! I would not have been able to prepare for that number of people with out it! A friend from Heidelberg was here and she helped out alot through out the week. And another friend from church was here the day before and helped with all the pies and stuffing and everything. And others made things to bring, I am just responsible for the 'American' things.

We are so blessed here by the people God has placed around us to be our friends (and phamily). We have so much to be thankful for and it was awesome to share the time with our friends. It was a great night of fellowship. Thanks to all those who helped make it possible, you are great!!

Thanksgiving

I know, Thanksgiving is long past, but if I don't say something now I never will....since Christmas is only a week away!
I can't believe how fast time flies! Anyhoo...I'm rambling again.

We had a great Thanksgiving again this year. It is so much fun to celebrate with our friends here and share with them why we celebrate. Finding all the ingredients has gotten easier. 10 years ago we couldn't get all the stuff, but now we can, so we can have a completely traditional dinner!

We had 22 adults and 10 kids this year, so we had dinner in our youth cafe at church because we wouldn't have all fit here at home. I had a ton of help!! I would not have been able to prepare for that number of people with out it! A friend from Heidelberg was here and she helped out alot through out the week. And another friend from church was here the day before and helped with all the pies and stuffing and everything. And others made things to bring, I am just responsible for the 'American' things.

We are so blessed here by the people God has placed around us to be our friends (and phamily). We have so much to be thankful for and it was awesome to share the time with our friends. It was a great night of fellowship. Thanks to all those who helped make it possible, you are great!!

Random pics

Here a few pictures for a start.

As Arnie Would Say - I'll Be Back!

We are back online! Well, kinda. I still have to get the wireless network set up but at least we can log in and check email and such.

Looking back, it has been kinda cool to be 'offline' - we have been without internet for about 3 weeks - count them, 21 long days! And it wasn't so bad at all. Made me think of how addicted we are to being 'always-on'. I wonder how much time we spend/waste online each day? Sure there are things we need to do online - emails, banking, business, work, etc. But how much time is just leisure, just surfing? What would we normally do with that time instead? I read somewhere (probably online ;-) ) that there is a growing number of people, mostly teens who are truly addicted to the internet - online games, chatting, emails, MySpace, etc. Over 10-12 hours a day online, actively doing something is normal for them! WOW! My laptop is normally connected constantly, but I am often away from it, or not doing anything that requires the internet. But 10-12 hours...nope.

In any case, we are somewhat back on, even though it will take a few more days to get everything set back up. We'll post more later. Or maybe we won't and just get offline again. NOT!

ps - how many hours a day are you actively doing something online? Anyone care to time yourself and see?

We're Back!!!!

We are finally back online at home, not wireless yet, but at this point we'll take what we can get!
So much has happened in these past 2 (or is it 3?) weeks since we've been off-line....I don't even know where to begin!! Don't worry though, I'll pick a place and just jump in ; ).
Just a quick run-down...

Nov 17 - Evening in Heidelberg looking at pictures from our outreaches with others from the trips.

Nov 17 -24- A friend from Heidelberg rode home with me and stayed a week with us. We had a great time with her.

Nov. 22, Thanksgiving - we celebrated with about 19 other adults at our church cafe with a total of ten kids. It was a great time...pictures later :).

Nov 24 - Auntie Eva was down from Hamburg for the weekend so she came over to visit and give Zachy his birthday present.

Nov. 25 - pre-birthday party for Zachy (again), before auntie Simi flew off to Oz with her Ozzie hubby

Nov. 28 - My parents arrived from Ok.

Nov. 29 - Zachariah turned 3. And Davey and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary! We didn't do anything, we are waiting until we are in SoCal, then we will celebrate in some way.

Nov 30 - My sister and niece arrived from Oz, very tired but very excited! Zachy got more birthday presents! And he's not done yet! He still has one more Auntie, who's been busier than we are, she's coming today, and then he will be done with his birthday ; ).

Dec 1-3 - Visitors from SoCal here for the weekend. We were able to have a little bit of a visit with our missions pastor and another of the guys from Murrieta, as the traveled around Germany and Switzerland visiting the missionaries out here. We really enjoyed the time with them, even though it was short and we are looking forward to seeing them again in a couple of weeks!

Dec 2 - Auntie Lia and her hubby were here to visit in the afternoon after church. They wanted to see us and bring the kids their Christmas presents before they took off for India for 4 weeks of vacation!

Dec 3 - Jesaiah got the chicken pox! He was home from school all week. He was a trooper though! No scratching or picking and never complained, even when he had stay home when I and the other kids went places with Grandma and Pappa and auntie Kim. (please pray that my girls and my niece don't get it! They would be breaking out just as my sister has to go back to Oz, and we to the States!! Zachy is immunized, so he should be ok.)

Dec 4 - Celebrated Christmas with my Family. Big dinner, presents the whole 9 yards!

Dec 5 - Went to Heidelberg with the my family. Davey stayed home with Dariah and Jesaiah.

Dec 10 - Put my parents on a train to Frankfurt airport at 12:15am arriving in the airport at 3:30 am. Where they waited until 6am to check in. They got as far as Chicago...the flight to Tulsa was cancelled due to an ice storm. They were able to get out the next day around noon, just before bad weather hit Chicago.

Dec 11 - My sister and her daughter took off for England for three days. I'll pick them up tomorrow night.

and here are things yet to come....

Dec 19 - My sister heads back to Oz.

Dec 24-26 Christmas!

Dec 28 - We are headed for sunny SoCal!!! (and boy am I ready for some sun! It has rained every day since my sister arrived! Quite a shock for her, coming from summer!)


Whew! Like I said, there has been a LOT going on. I will try to get some pictures up of some of the things, and write a bit more detail, over the next couple of days! Thanks for being patient, it was so hard not being able to update the blog or check in with others for so long!

It has been really nice though having my family here! It is awesome that we were able to all get together here, of all places. The weather has been pretty mild for winter, which was really great for my sister and niece, other wise they would have completely frozen! It will be cooling down the next few days (highs near or below freezing), but hopefully we will get some snow here in town then. We drove up into the Black Forest on Saturday so my niece could see snow. There wasn't alot where we were, but it was enough to build a snowman (with a few leaves and twigs mixed in the snow) and throw a few snowballs! It was fun.

So that's a quick up-date of what we've been up to since falling off the face of the earth! Come to think of it, I probably wouldn't have been posting too much even if we hadn't been off line!!
Anyway there are many pictures to come...stay tuned!

Becks

Random pics

Here a few pictures for a start.

As Arnie Would Say - I'll Be Back!

We are back online! Well, kinda. I still have to get the wireless network set up but at least we can log in and check email and such.

Looking back, it has been kinda cool to be 'offline' - we have been without internet for about 3 weeks - count them, 21 long days! And it wasn't so bad at all. Made me think of how addicted we are to being 'always-on'. I wonder how much time we spend/waste online each day? Sure there are things we need to do online - emails, banking, business, work, etc. But how much time is just leisure, just surfing? What would we normally do with that time instead? I read somewhere (probably online ;-) ) that there is a growing number of people, mostly teens who are truly addicted to the internet - online games, chatting, emails, MySpace, etc. Over 10-12 hours a day online, actively doing something is normal for them! WOW! My laptop is normally connected constantly, but I am often away from it, or not doing anything that requires the internet. But 10-12 hours...nope.

In any case, we are somewhat back on, even though it will take a few more days to get everything set back up. We'll post more later. Or maybe we won't and just get offline again. NOT!

ps - how many hours a day are you actively doing something online? Anyone care to time yourself and see?

We're Back!!!!

We are finally back online at home, not wireless yet, but at this point we'll take what we can get!
So much has happened in these past 2 (or is it 3?) weeks since we've been off-line....I don't even know where to begin!! Don't worry though, I'll pick a place and just jump in ; ).
Just a quick run-down...

Nov 17 - Evening in Heidelberg looking at pictures from our outreaches with others from the trips.

Nov 17 -24- A friend from Heidelberg rode home with me and stayed a week with us. We had a great time with her.

Nov. 22, Thanksgiving - we celebrated with about 19 other adults at our church cafe with a total of ten kids. It was a great time...pictures later :).

Nov 24 - Auntie Eva was down from Hamburg for the weekend so she came over to visit and give Zachy his birthday present.

Nov. 25 - pre-birthday party for Zachy (again), before auntie Simi flew off to Oz with her Ozzie hubby

Nov. 28 - My parents arrived from Ok.

Nov. 29 - Zachariah turned 3. And Davey and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary! We didn't do anything, we are waiting until we are in SoCal, then we will celebrate in some way.

Nov 30 - My sister and niece arrived from Oz, very tired but very excited! Zachy got more birthday presents! And he's not done yet! He still has one more Auntie, who's been busier than we are, she's coming today, and then he will be done with his birthday ; ).

Dec 1-3 - Visitors from SoCal here for the weekend. We were able to have a little bit of a visit with our missions pastor and another of the guys from Murrieta, as the traveled around Germany and Switzerland visiting the missionaries out here. We really enjoyed the time with them, even though it was short and we are looking forward to seeing them again in a couple of weeks!

Dec 2 - Auntie Lia and her hubby were here to visit in the afternoon after church. They wanted to see us and bring the kids their Christmas presents before they took off for India for 4 weeks of vacation!

Dec 3 - Jesaiah got the chicken pox! He was home from school all week. He was a trooper though! No scratching or picking and never complained, even when he had stay home when I and the other kids went places with Grandma and Pappa and auntie Kim. (please pray that my girls and my niece don't get it! They would be breaking out just as my sister has to go back to Oz, and we to the States!! Zachy is immunized, so he should be ok.)

Dec 4 - Celebrated Christmas with my Family. Big dinner, presents the whole 9 yards!

Dec 5 - Went to Heidelberg with the my family. Davey stayed home with Dariah and Jesaiah.

Dec 10 - Put my parents on a train to Frankfurt airport at 12:15am arriving in the airport at 3:30 am. Where they waited until 6am to check in. They got as far as Chicago...the flight to Tulsa was cancelled due to an ice storm. They were able to get out the next day around noon, just before bad weather hit Chicago.

Dec 11 - My sister and her daughter took off for England for three days. I'll pick them up tomorrow night.

and here are things yet to come....

Dec 19 - My sister heads back to Oz.

Dec 24-26 Christmas!

Dec 28 - We are headed for sunny SoCal!!! (and boy am I ready for some sun! It has rained every day since my sister arrived! Quite a shock for her, coming from summer!)


Whew! Like I said, there has been a LOT going on. I will try to get some pictures up of some of the things, and write a bit more detail, over the next couple of days! Thanks for being patient, it was so hard not being able to update the blog or check in with others for so long!

It has been really nice though having my family here! It is awesome that we were able to all get together here, of all places. The weather has been pretty mild for winter, which was really great for my sister and niece, other wise they would have completely frozen! It will be cooling down the next few days (highs near or below freezing), but hopefully we will get some snow here in town then. We drove up into the Black Forest on Saturday so my niece could see snow. There wasn't alot where we were, but it was enough to build a snowman (with a few leaves and twigs mixed in the snow) and throw a few snowballs! It was fun.

So that's a quick up-date of what we've been up to since falling off the face of the earth! Come to think of it, I probably wouldn't have been posting too much even if we hadn't been off line!!
Anyway there are many pictures to come...stay tuned!

Becks