Sankt Martin

Or in English, Saint Martin. He was a soldier hundreds of years ago, that became a Bishop, and one day while riding his horse through the woods in the snow, a poor man with only a sack to wear came to him and asked him for food. Saint Martin, not only shared his bread with him, but also his cloak. Many hundreds of years later in Germany, schools and kindergartens remember him and his good deed.

This does not result in a day off (I know, shocking), but it does consist of some fun festivities, and a good lesson in sharing for the kids.

Sank Martin can be seen in different places in the city through the week, as he makes appearances at the schools and kindergartens, he came to our kids school and kindergarten yesterday.

The funnest part of the evening though, is the Lantern parade (Lanterne zug). The kids make lanterns with their classes and on the evening after Sankt Martin comes to the school, everyone in the neighborhood meets at the park with their lanterns hung on electric light sticks and we walk through the streets singing and following Sankt Martin on his horse. We end up, after a couple kilometers, back at the park where there is a reenactment of the good deed and then the kids all run into the middle of the field to get an apple.

But that is just the beginning, from there we go to the stores, where if you sing a Sank Martin song for them, you get some candy. We could also go door to door, but Karis isn't convinced that we really know what the people do, therefore we should not do it.

This is what we love; this holiday follows right on the heels of Halloween (which isn't celebrated here very much, no love lost by us), but the meaning behind going to ask for candy is that the people are sharing with you the same way Sankt Martin gave to the poor man. We have then added the question for our kids, 'Why did Sankt Martin share?' (Hint: the answer is because God loves the poor, the orphan and the widow and calls us who love Him, as we assume Sank Martin did, to also give to them!)

Its such a great alternative for us to Halloween.

God Bless, and when He does, remember to give it away! Let your light shine!

Summer Fun

(I will add pics to this post in a couple days, I wrote it on the wrong computer, we have no pics on this one.)

*OK, these pics took a couple months, sorry.

Consistancy in correspondance has not always been our strong point, however, we´re getting better.

So, this being the end of the summer and our last post being the beginning of summer, I´ll try to summerize.

The summer started pretty typical for Germany, rainy. This is excellent for the flower boxes on our balcony, but not so fun for the three kids that have no school or kindergarten and Mommy who is sometimes creatively challenged when it comes to rainy sumer days with all the kids at home and the sun doesn´t go down till 11pm. However, we did survive the first week, to the glory of God, and made it to our reward:

We had a week of vacation at Schloss Heroldeck in the Austrian Alps alongside Milstatter See.

Yes, I said a week by a lake in the Alps. The sun came out just in time to greet us in Austria, and it also decided to stay in Millstatt for the week. This was actually the family retreat for CC Herborn. We try to go every year because they always have a great kids program and the cost is great for a family vacation. Edmund and I also get to minister together by helping with the worship, as well as sitting next to eachother in a teaching time, which doesn´t happen every moon cycle. We have a couple other favorite stops every year, the tallest waterfall in Austria (I cannot remeber the name) and My cousin Jack´s beautiful family. We usually only get a couple days with the Lauritsen´s, but it is just as much of a highlight as our week in Austria. Hope to see you guys at Thanksgiving!

After a week at home, we hosted an outreach team from CC Downey. This was a lot of work, but the kind that you like doing! As the team said, `We walked a lot´but it felt so good going to bed each night knowing the day was full of stuff that had weight. Treasures that will not pass away.

The team helped us do a skate outreach in the city for the second year in a row, as well as a kids outreach in the neighborhood near the church for the second year.

Some of the kids in both places remembered us and were excited to see us doing something again. There was a Grandma from one of the skaters that was really touched to see us doing something for these kids and kept asking questions about who we were whay we were doing this. It was good to share with her that we knew that Jesus loves these kids and has a plan for their lives and we are here to show them that He loves them.

One thing that is clear here is that people are scared of cults. I don´t know how many times I heard or heard a team member asked if we were JW´s or Scientologists. Please pray with us that the truth of the Gospel and God´s word would prevail in Dusseldorf.

However, Edmund and I agreed that the ground seemed softer on this outreach. Many more people asking questions and willing to talk. People are searching in these times, please pray to the Lord of the harvest for laborers. We also pray that if the Lord would grant a Harvest to Dusseldorf, or Germany for that manner, that we would be here to see it.

The kids are back in school now, even Ezekiel has started Kindergarten. His summary of his days, Ì cried´. But we know that he secretly likes it because every time I pick him up, he is playing and doesn´t even know I am there.

Karis is in second, Kaleb is in his pre-school year. Times-a-runnin, which makes me think, to what are my days devoted. These thoughts bring me back to Romans: And do this, knowing the time,that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.(13:11) I think I just want to keep laying my head down at night knowing that the day had some weight to it.

May 1

Every May 1st is a holiday.

Before you ask, yes we know, Germany has A Lot of holidays. In some states, people get to stay home from school and work for Mary´s ascension, this is a day we never knew existed, or that anyone celebrated it.

However, May 1st has been a traditonal holiday in other places, including the US ( anyone remember learning about children dancing around the May pole). What is celebrated though, we can´t tell you, only that people go to the forest or somewhere out of the cities to grill and relax.

Calvary Chapel Dusseldorf spent their May 1st together grilling in the garden of the Mendes Reis family. Marcelo and Sylvane have been a part of the church since we started 2 years ago, and they own a garden outside of the city where we all met for food and fun.

Marcelo enjoys the fruit of his labors.

The weather was perfect, the meat tasted great, and after an intense game of boys verses girls soccer, we all sat down to some sweet fellowship.

Please pray for Cornelius. He is a friend of Marcelo and Sylvane that came for the day. He is seeking God, and believes in Jesus, but has no relationship with Him. Anne was able to talk with him for a long time this day. In his own words to Edmund,`Your wife preached to me, but in a good way, sometimes we need to be preached at.` He said he had a lot to think about. Please pray that the Lord would bring an end to his search... `Seek Me and you will find Me when you search for me with your whole heart.`Jeremiah 29:13

We have not made plans yet, but this Sunday will be Pentecost, we get Monday off from school and work, Karis`school gets Tuesday off as well, for good measure. Remember, the tenth commandment, `Do not covet your neighbor...`, or your friends in Germany when they get so many holidays.

We are Celebrating!

We have now been married 10 years! That is something to celebrate.

We have become so keenly aware in these last years that every day is a gift from God, especially every day that we wake up in love with the person next to us.

What is exciting and a little bit scary (in a cling to the Lord sense), is we know that the best, most exciting, and extremely challenging years are yet to come.

10 years...still laughing! (Do we look older?)

Make new Friends...Keep the old...

We have been praying recently for friends for our kids.

Karis always has some one to play with. She talks to any child that she has met or has seen with someone she has met, and has many kids that she likes to play with.

However, that is not the same thing. We have spent some time praying for a friend for our kids that is also a good influence on them.

They met some really cool kids recently (cool in our definition, nice, polite, fun)

We went to the leadership conference in Siegen and they had tons of fun. What was great for us is that Kaleb met Eddi. Eddi is 6 and seems to like to play the same stuff as Kaleb (boy stuff).

There is a catch, Eddi and his sister, who Karis loved to play with, live in Kaiserslautern, about 3 hours drive.

C'est la vie...

We forgot to be specific about where we needed friends for the kids, city and street names.

On the other side, this is another reason we love these conferences, not just for ourselves, but our kids get to meet friends that they look forward to seeing again every year.

The Glory of Spring

Now, we know that those of you born and raised in California think that it gets cold there sometimes. We will not argue with you, but we will say, there is no way that you can know the glory of Spring until experiencing a real winter.

Remember those two weeks or so of gloom and rain that drives most Californians almost to insanity. Now extend that by two to three months for us, more in other parts of the world (God knows our limit). Ok, are you in despair yet for sun and warmth on your face, for a day that begins before 8:30 am and ends after 4:30 pm. Does your winter jacket feel like a straight jacket? By the way, scarves really do keep a person much warmer in the cold, they are not just for fashion.
Do you long to see a color other than grey and search for signs of green on every branch?

Now, try to imagine the first glimpse of the first spring flowers, Daffodils (Ostern Glocken, Easter bells, in German). Bright yellow signs of hope that the deadness of winter is almost gone. Then comes a 'warm day' (above 50 with sun). The there are more flowers, and little buds on the trees. Bright pink and white blooms turning into leaves eventually! Aaahh, sitting outside, with only a sweater on. Renewed energy for the day, hope, plans for the summer, the kids can play outside, for a long time!

Now the prophetic speech that Spring utters to every man. Does it not amaze you the timing of the Passover feast, in Spring. Jesus became the Passover Lamb, fulfilling the feast of the Passover, but He rose again, exemplifying what Spring had been prophesying to men for generations. After the deadness of winter, when one feels that all hope is lost, new life shows itself, hope returns, a future can now be seen. The winter is literally grey, without snow, it is grey. From the color of the sky to the face of the people. The change that spring brings is so dramatic, it can be felt on many levels. However, to us who believe on the resurrected Savior, it should be a vivid reminder of the change God made in our dead grey souls, and the promise of our glorious resurrected future.

"So when this corruptible has put on incorruption,
and this mortal has put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written:
'Death is swallowed up in victory.'
'O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades where is your victory?
The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God who gives us victory throughour Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore,
my beloved brethren,
Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
Knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
1 Corinthians 15:54-58

Major Milestones

We are celebrating 2, yes 2 major milestones in the same month.

The first happened with Kaleb, he learned to ride a bike without training wheels. He got his ultra cool Hot Wheels bike for his birthday last year, but now it has reached ultimate coolness, without training wheels.

The second is very, very special, Ezekiel is toilet trained!!! This happened without much planning and is a very pleasant surprise. Not long after the event, Anne realized she had been changing diapers for 7 years consecutively. Though most habits held that long are hard to change, this one was not.