August 2010

Summer in the States

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We are praying for

our remaining time in the States to be both refreshing and encouraging . . .
smooth transitioning for Oliver as we prepare to head back to Germany . . .
our hearts as we prepare to say good-bye . . .
meeting new Ministry Partners . . .
continued need for raising our monthly support . . .
process of filling out German Tax forms and gathering the proper information . . .

We are thankful for

the many “firsts” Oliver has had while being with family. . .
air conditioning . . .
Root Beer . . .
Texas Peaches . . .
meeting our newest niece Lily Kate!

Summer Highlights

We fly back to Germany on August 24th! Our summer has been fun, challenging, tiring, and encouraging. Some highlights of our time have been hearing several sermons in English and understanding every single word, making trips to snow cone stands, visiting family and friends (though we still didn’t get to see everyone we wanted to!), and watching Oliver thrive (and utterly crash too . . . more of a lowlight) in a foreign environment. We also had time to refresh ourselves individually, and as well take extended moments to focus on our marriage.

Changing Reality

Even though we have visited the States a few times since living in Germany, this was our first Furlough of extended time back. The beginning was quite hard for us. We were tired, overwhelmed, sad at times, and sometimes a little disappointed, while also reveling in people and things we missed. We say this not to highlight anything negative about the States, but rather to help you see the difficulties we faced. Cities change, people change, our perspectives change. Maybe we’re normal, maybe we’re not, but it took us a while to pull our hearts away from changes we encountered.

Even in writing this, I am challenged to view my world from a different set of eyes. The Lord is constant amongst all this change we see, His love never falters, and His ways are always good. It is important for us to continually turn our focus back to Him. Will you pray for us in this way? That our eyes will focus on the constant that is the Lord rather than the changes we see around us.

Oliver

Oliver has enjoyed his time in the States. He loves playing outside, splashing in the pool, looking for dogs and cats, spotting birds flying, digging in sand, but most of all he has enjoyed getting loved on by his grandparents. Each one has been able to see him do something for the first time; from different words he says, to blowing kisses, to putting buckets on his head, and many other silly little things. It’s meant a lot to us to have this time, and we think it will help him to better know to whom he is talking when we webcam with family.

Pray for this little guy as we make the transition back to Germany. While coming here was overwhelming for him, we think the transition back could be a little frustrating for him too.

Laugh Out Loud

We thought we left our communication “woes” in Germany for the summer. Twice Thad has been “renamed” at coffee shops. The first time he was dubbed Thula, which just made him shake his head. The second time he was called Tfab, which caused me to laugh embarassingly out loud.

Rock Stars

Several families with young children invited us into their homes throughout the summer. What a joy it is to see these growing families and to have an opportunity to visit over dinner, dessert, or even just play time.

I think for both of us, some of our favorite moments of our time here were walking into these homes. We felt like Rock Stars. “The missionaries are here!!!”--was a phrase we heard many times. “We pray for Oliver”, “My family prays for you every week”, “We have your picture on our bulletin”, “You are ‘my’ missionary at Awanas”, and many other encouragements were given to us by precious young hearts.

Living far away, in another country it sometimes feels like another world, and we both can feel forgotten at times. The encouragements we received from all these kids made us realize we are not a long forgotten friend, but rather a friend who is fortunate enough to walk into these loving homes feeling like a Rock Star.

German Taxes

An update on where we stand with the German Tax and the Social Security Totalization Treaty (as a reminder they are separate situations but both are being handled by the same lawyer in the US and same German Law Firm):

German Taxes: we are in process of filling out the forms (for the 2009 year) provided by a well-known law firm in Frankfurt -- they graciously provided them in English. All US staff in Germany are working to gather the information needed to give to this firm by August 16th. Pray as we do the same. Our situation, at this point, does not seem to require so much additional paper work searching (ie, reciepts, documents, contracts, etc.), but that could easily change. We do not yet know what our obligation amount will be, so please pray for us to not be “shocked” or discouraged by the amount.

Totalization: we do not have a firm update on this yet, but there is a hint of encouragement in that our US lawyer in Campus Crusade has been recently connected with an expert on this specific treaty. So please pray for wisdom of these minds meeting together and working on a positive outcome.

City Life

We were treated to two lovely evenings at the Fort Worth Opera. It was our first time to see an Opera, and we really enjoyed the two we saw. It was also nice to have a date night planned for us, with a baby-sitter (Grandma Kay) set up and all.

This was just one of many instances where we felt cared for. We really appreciate ALL that everyone did for us this summer . . . even if we didn’t get a chance to see you, we know prayers are continually flowing for us.