On the move

Here it is finally a picture of our Sarah in motion on her own. She started walking last night and hasn't looked back since. You can really see her teeth in this picture.






This is my favorite picture of her. You can see her pure excitement of this new found freedom. Everything is fair game now for her.






Taking a break from walking but not from her new trick. Sarah likes to play standing up now. All I have to say is Jacob and Anna you better start putting your toys away.

Candlelight dinner

Last night, I took Jacob and Anna to the dress rehersal of the Candlelight dinner. This is BFA's yearly outreach to the German community. Jacob performed a number with other elementary students. Here he is performing to the song "Turkish delight".


Another shot of the entire group. I think it is time for us to upgrade our camera. I am wanting one with a more powerful zoom. It will have to wait another year until we are back in the states for our year furlough. Until then, I am thankful that my computer has an automatic photo adjustment to make up for what my camera lacks.

Jeff and I plan to attend tomorrow night during the dessert and show portion. We are hoping that many attending will be receptive to the message offered by the many talented staff and students at BFA.

RosenMontag

Yesterday was a holiday here in Germany. At least that is what I thought. Yes, technically it is a holiday but only by name and those who have hang overs choose not to go into work. Stores are open which in Germay, that never happens when there is a holiday. The only thing that pointed to a holiday was no garbage pick up. Why do garbage collectors take advantage of all holidays? So, no school on Monday. Instead we found our home with six extra high school boys in the morning. Jeff had his small group over for a sleep over. They started their night with a round of go carting then donners ( Turkish food) for dinner. By the time they arrived at our home it was 9 p.m. and they were ready for a long night of RISK. I made dessert for them and made sure they had enough substance to get them through the night then I went off to bed at midnight. Jeff finally came up at 3 am and told me the game was still going on downstairs. We didn't see our first house guest until about 10:30 the next morning. After a hearty breakfast of waffles they were all on their way back to their various dorms and home work and most likely an afternoon nap.

#1 Fan

On friday night, we went to the last home basketball game of the season. The gym was packed as BFA played against Mannheim. You could feel the excitement in the air. BFA's #1 fan was there to cheer her team on. Sarah loves a crowd and she was in her element. Here she is looking over the BFA girls varsity team as they were warming up at half time. She was trying to give them a high five for a job well done!

She wanted to get closer to her team so she had Jeff take her court side for the better seats. She had fun cheering them on and was happy that they won 50-25. Here she is just after she learned that her team won. She also welcomed the Varsity boys on the court.

On the way home, she talked about this being the best day of her life and what a thrill it was for her to witness her team win. Yes, Sarah is BFA's #1 fan in all of history!

Go Falcons!!

Road blocks

February has proven to be a long month for us spiritually. Normally, it is the coldest and snowiest, of the year. Add to the weather and we also are surrounded by the headonist festival of Fasching. This is simular to Carnival in the states. Every village in our area is decorated with old lundry strung across the main street. Everything is symbolic and dates back to before pre Christian times. The meaning of the laundry is to show that you can live a life of self indulgence in front of your neighbors and then make good with the coming of lent. Every year we hear stories about the wild living that Germans indulge in. The youth in our area dress up as witches and parade around in scary masks with giant bells on their legs. They always congregated in the town center on Sunday mornings. Where they go and what they do we still don't know. All I know is that the state churches have very little youth in their congregations because of many of their lifestyle choices.
Why do I share all of this, because for us living here in Germany, this month is also a major ministry time for BFA. Next week, we will host our 12th annual Candle light dinner. Purposely held in the middle of all this perverse living as a witness to our German neighbors showing that there is another option from their lifestyle. However, we have encountered a roadblock with many neigbors as we invited them to these evenings.
In the past five years, we only have been able to take one couple to this event. Every year we try to invite a neighbor that we have slowly gotten to know. Some of the excuses have been, "Well I would like to go, but my husband won't have anything to do with Church." OR more recently, our neighbor Andreas told us," We went one year, and just as they were sharing about Jesus the ground began to shake. We left right away and went home." That was several years ago and a small earthquake hit during the middle of one of the evenings. The good news is that both evenings are sold out so we know that the Lord has who he wants to attend. Pray for the neighbors around us, many are searching but pride and bad experiences keep them from a releationship with Christ.

Daddy be a horsie

Well, our little Sarah is quickly leaving her baby days behind her and moving into the busy toddler stage. She will be 13 months old in a couple days. She is getting more brave each day and taking more steps. It is only a matter of time until she can become self mobile on her two little feet. This weekend, she asked Jeff for a horsie ride. You can imagine that she has Jeff wrapped around her little finger when ever she uses her little "da da" voice everytime she sees him!




I have been trying to capture her on the move with our camera but everytime I get in the right position she stops and drops to the floor. Here she is by a window this was after the fact of her getting over there on her own but at least I have proof.

Meanwhile, Jacob and Anna are busy reading like crazy for their reading olympics. The prize for the top three readers is a lunch at McDonalds. For the top class it is an ice cream sundae party. I wish it could last longer than three weeks. I like to see this than tv watching or fighting.

Elementary Life

The big news today at BFA elementary school was favorite book character dress up day. Jacob and Anna were very excited to go to school today dressed up as one of their favorite character's. This begins a month long reading competition. Anna dressed up as Annie from the Magic Tree house book series. Jacob wanted to dress up as Luke from Star Wars, but his entire Fourth grade class decided to do a theme and so everyone went as a character from the Lion, Witch and Wardrobe. Jacob went as Edmond.

I went into school later to see Jacob play in a mini recital with other students. I was very suprised at how well he did. I usually get on him to practice but am never in the same room to hear him so I was very proud of how well he preformed. Later in March, he will be performing two numbers during the Music Festival for all of BFA.

Around the corner from the piano room was Anna's classroom. So I popped in there and wished her teacher a happy birthday. The class was making her a cake today. Ms. Sommers dressed up as Laura Ingalls. It almost made me wish that I was in elementary school again- just plain fun!

By the time Sarah and I got home, she was pretty tired. Sarah was ready to dream about the teletubbies.

Small group

Jeff leads a small group of guys every wednesday. There are six Junior class guys that come over to our house every week for a time of prayer and fellowship. Jeff has been going deeper with them by reading through a book called "Wild at Heart"- Discoverying the secret of a man's soul. This has proven to be a great time for them to open up and learn to be true followers of Christ. The parent's of these boys are missionaries serving in Turkey, Russia and Germany.

A day at the Park

Our mild weather has returned. It makes the snow that we had last week seem like a distant memory. With the sun shinning and temps in the low 50's it felt like Spring to us. We decided to go to a nearby park and walk around. I brought some stale bread along for Jacob and Anna to give to the ducks. Once they started feeding them, Jeff saw a sign that said not to feed them because the food causes algae to grow. So that was the end of that fun adventure. I snaped this picture before I told them to stop. If you look above them, you will see Castle Burglin looming overhead. How cool to play in a city park in the shadow of a midevel castle.



Sarah had fun going on the baby swings. Her other favorite activity was to sit in the stroller and look at all the people walking their dogs. She learned how to say "doggie" on our outing because there were so many of them.



Jacob was a good big brother and played with Sarah at the playground. Sarah liked hanging out with him too.

Now the whole time that we were out enjoying the fresh air, Anna wanted nothing else than to eat an ice cream cone. She finally wore us down and Jeff bought everyone one. She chose a blue flavored one. I'm not sure what it was called or what it tasted like, but she was happy none the less.

Superstar

Believe it or not,we are aware of all the hype that American Idol is creating over here in Germany. It is all over the internet and even CNN internation has stories about it. But were you aware that Germany has a contest that is fashioned after American Idol. It is called "Super Star". The format is very simular but I don't think that the fame is as great for the winner as it is in America. On a side note, in Switzerland, they just had their recent final in their version of this singing talent show. The winner this year was a graduate of BFA! Kind of cool! Here is another clip for you to enjoy and see a poor guy who just can't sing. I think you may enjoy his attempt even in a strong German accent. Count this as your culture lesson for today! Before he sings, he is telling the judges that he puts his whole heart into every performance. You be the judge. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaknhSXE08o