Our kids all have God parents here in Germany, well Europe at least. People to pray for them and be extended family for them. We don't see our families in America as much as we would like, but God has put people in our lives here who are like family to us.
Taliah's 'auntie' came up from Switzerland with her husband and took the kids to a ski school on Satuday and Sunday. They are very active, outdoors people and wanted to do something with the two older kids so they asked if they could take them skiing. The kids were so excited! This was planned for about a month already and they couldn't wait! The ski resort is about 45 minutes away from our house so they went up for the day on Saturday and half a day on Sunday.
I went up to watch on Sunday but wasn't able to stay because the weather was so bad. It was sleeting and then snowing really hard, I couldn't take Dariah out of the car! Lia stayed with her and I watched the kids go down the hill once and up the rope once and then I went home, very slowly, the roads were pretty slick, but only for a couple of miles then the snow turned back into rain.
The kids did really well and they had a blast. We are so blessed by our families, here and there...I love being part of God's family, no matter where we go we are at home with family! Here are a few of my favorite pictures that 'auntie' lia took.
Aren't they cute?!
Learning to move in the boots...they're heavy!
up the hill
down the hill
your feet turn better when your hands show them which way to go!
Monday, 26 February 2007
skiing
skiing
Our kids all have God parents here in Germany, well Europe at least. People to pray for them and be extended family for them. We don't see our families in America as much as we would like, but God has put people in our lives here who are like family to us.
Taliah's 'auntie' came up from Switzerland with her husband and took the kids to a ski school on Satuday and Sunday. They are very active, outdoors people and wanted to do something with the two older kids so they asked if they could take them skiing. The kids were so excited! This was planned for about a month already and they couldn't wait! The ski resort is about 45 minutes away from our house so they went up for the day on Saturday and half a day on Sunday.
I went up to watch on Sunday but wasn't able to stay because the weather was so bad. It was sleeting and then snowing really hard, I couldn't take Dariah out of the car! Lia stayed with her and I watched the kids go down the hill once and up the rope once and then I went home, very slowly, the roads were pretty slick, but only for a couple of miles then the snow turned back into rain.
The kids did really well and they had a blast. We are so blessed by our families, here and there...I love being part of God's family, no matter where we go we are at home with family! Here are a few of my favorite pictures that 'auntie' lia took.
Aren't they cute?!
Learning to move in the boots...they're heavy!
up the hill
down the hill
your feet turn better when your hands show them which way to go!
Friday, 23 February 2007
Nifty scooter
I had to post this for our fríend Desi...
Nifty scooter
I had to post this for our fríend Desi...
Thursday, 22 February 2007
24h PrayerZone
Couple of weeks ago, we did a 24h prayer watch in the JuCa (youth cafe). We started Sat morning at 8AM and had 1 hour shifts for 24 hours - until 8AM Sun. Each 1-hour shift was then 'manned' by 3-7 people praying (all in all, we had about 100 people from the church come to pray). We had soooooo many prayer requests that 24 hours didn't cover it all!
We had 'prayer stations/corners' with specific 'themes/prayer needs' where you could pray for that need - for example Freiburg, our neighborhoods, families, friends, schools, Uni's, Germany, the body at CCF, our missionaries, needs of the church, people who are suffering w/ illnesses/disease, and so on. It was done in a creative/artsy way that put a new face to prayer - not your typical prayer meeting where everyone sits in a circle and prays.
It went so well, that we have another 24h planned for Spring. And we hope to be able to do a whole weekend (Fri to Sun) in Fall. It was so exciting to see people getting excited about prayer again! And not just at the 24h PrayerZone - but we all got a jumpstart in our personal prayer life also!
For our missionaries
For our city - Freiburg
For the Body at CCF
Alone w/ God & His Word
24h PrayerZone
Couple of weeks ago, we did a 24h prayer watch in the JuCa (youth cafe). We started Sat morning at 8AM and had 1 hour shifts for 24 hours - until 8AM Sun. Each 1-hour shift was then 'manned' by 3-7 people praying (all in all, we had about 100 people from the church come to pray). We had soooooo many prayer requests that 24 hours didn't cover it all!
We had 'prayer stations/corners' with specific 'themes/prayer needs' where you could pray for that need - for example Freiburg, our neighborhoods, families, friends, schools, Uni's, Germany, the body at CCF, our missionaries, needs of the church, people who are suffering w/ illnesses/disease, and so on. It was done in a creative/artsy way that put a new face to prayer - not your typical prayer meeting where everyone sits in a circle and prays.
It went so well, that we have another 24h planned for Spring. And we hope to be able to do a whole weekend (Fri to Sun) in Fall. It was so exciting to see people getting excited about prayer again! And not just at the 24h PrayerZone - but we all got a jumpstart in our personal prayer life also!
For our missionaries
For our city - Freiburg
For the Body at CCF
Alone w/ God & His Word
Friday, 16 February 2007
One-Handed
This one is for you Grandma Jan - no words needed. A picture is worth a thousand words...
Phamily phun
We took the kids out tonight for a special treat. They stayed home from kiga (kindergarten)today and will also stay home on Friday and Monday. They celebrate something called fasching or fastnacht here right now, it is comparable to mardi gras. We choose to keep the kids home during the 3 most 'active' days of the 'party'. It is sort of like halloween too in that everyone dresses up and stuff, but the roots to this party go even farther back and deeper and are very dark. It is a time for people to let their hair down and do what they want, we are talking sins galore! Some people really do see it as a time to do those things they would never dream of doing because it is 'acceptable' during the karnival time. It is really bad.
All that to say we wanted to do something special with the kids since they are 'missing out' on the special things happening at kiga right now. They understand why we don't let them go right now and they are ok with it, they don't complain, so we wanted to do something together as a family.
There is a big indoor play ground in our area that we have wanted to check out for sometime now so we finally did it tonight. And we had a blast! After 5pm it is cheaper so that's when we went and we had 2 hours before they closed, which was plenty, I don't think they would have lasted any longer than that. And was less expensive than eating at McDonalds as a family and way more fun! When we were getting ready to leave Jesaiah said 'this was way better than fasching!' And they thanked God in their bedtime prayers that we were able to go there and have fun together as a family.
Thank you God for our family and the love we share and thank you for you amazing love for us, and that You bless us with fun times together!
Here are some pics from our time there tonight...
Hey how do you make it go!?
Our future race car driver
whee!
King of the mountain
Kinder galaxie
She looks sweet, but that's an air ball gun she's leaning on there! :)
A monkey in his cage!
One-Handed
This one is for you Grandma Jan - no words needed. A picture is worth a thousand words...
Phamily phun
We took the kids out tonight for a special treat. They stayed home from kiga (kindergarten)today and will also stay home on Friday and Monday. They celebrate something called fasching or fastnacht here right now, it is comparable to mardi gras. We choose to keep the kids home during the 3 most 'active' days of the 'party'. It is sort of like halloween too in that everyone dresses up and stuff, but the roots to this party go even farther back and deeper and are very dark. It is a time for people to let their hair down and do what they want, we are talking sins galore! Some people really do see it as a time to do those things they would never dream of doing because it is 'acceptable' during the karnival time. It is really bad.
All that to say we wanted to do something special with the kids since they are 'missing out' on the special things happening at kiga right now. They understand why we don't let them go right now and they are ok with it, they don't complain, so we wanted to do something together as a family.
There is a big indoor play ground in our area that we have wanted to check out for sometime now so we finally did it tonight. And we had a blast! After 5pm it is cheaper so that's when we went and we had 2 hours before they closed, which was plenty, I don't think they would have lasted any longer than that. And was less expensive than eating at McDonalds as a family and way more fun! When we were getting ready to leave Jesaiah said 'this was way better than fasching!' And they thanked God in their bedtime prayers that we were able to go there and have fun together as a family.
Thank you God for our family and the love we share and thank you for you amazing love for us, and that You bless us with fun times together!
Here are some pics from our time there tonight...
Hey how do you make it go!?
Our future race car driver
whee!
King of the mountain
Kinder galaxie
She looks sweet, but that's an air ball gun she's leaning on there! :)
A monkey in his cage!
Thursday, 15 February 2007
Blonds Don't Have it Easy
We almost peed our pants! Sorry Rose or any other blonds out there...
PS - turn up the volume a bit - it's hard to hear. ;-)
Blonds Don't Have it Easy
We almost peed our pants! Sorry Rose or any other blonds out there...
PS - turn up the volume a bit - it's hard to hear. ;-)
Wednesday, 7 February 2007
I can't believe she's 5!!
Taliah turned 5 today. Time flies. When I was younger and people said 'time flies' I thought 'not really'. Or when they said that their kids grow up too fast I didn't see how that could be. But now that I am a mom myself I find myself saying those exact things! People are always telling me to enjoy the time when the kids are small because they grow up so fast, and it is so true. It isn't always easy to enjoy the time when the 3 'big' kids are fighting and the baby is crying or nursing and I feel like I'm living in a circus, but I ask God to help me find the joy in the situations that come, because I want to enjoy my kids and not be stressed out. They will only be this small once and I don't want to miss it!! And I want them to grow up with good memories, memories of family and friends and lots of love! God has entrusted these precious lives into our care for a short time and we want to make the most of that time with God's help, loving, caring and teaching them.
The Birthday girl!
She wanted a 'princess' party so she had a crown and a heart for cakes...because mommy couldn't make a princess one, but she was happy with it anyway.
MMMMMHHHHH!
3 of Taliah's princess friends from church and KiGa
(that's Johanna and Marie on the right mom, the Röhm twins)
