God is spoiling me!

Well, to continue our time in Germany...I've added a couple of more pictures for Kari, Jonathan and Penni.


Isn't she beautiful?



Jesse steps in front of the power point slide

Worshipping in English!

During our time in Germany, we enjoyed most of all-worship each morning in English. Those of you who live in the States probably cannot understand how much we miss that.

Renae sends a kiss of thanks to aunt Kari and uncle Jonathan for her cute outfit

Leaving Germany and heading to Czech Republic for CEE's Ebenezer...

We left Frankfort on Wednesday, and arrived at our hotel in Prague about 2:00 pm. We spent the afternoon in the hotel room, recuperating from the past 3 weeks. Phew!

We had snow flurries off and on, and even some pretty nice snow showers. (I'm guessing, according to the weather reports, that snow showers are snow falls of an inch or more.) It snowed 2 or 3 times, an inch or two each time.

I did not bring my boots with me this trip since I didn't anticipate snow, but I had my fur-lined Crocs so they kept my feet warm and dry.

View from our hotel room

I don't know if I mentioned in the last blog update that Glenn fell sick in Germany after the second day, so I ended up doing the rest of the member care visits by myself. He was totally out of it! He was so sick that we tried to get our plane tickets from Germany to Prague (where we were headed for CEE's Ebenezer) changed so that he could fly home to see a doctor. Unfortunately, our tickets were non-refundable and non-transferable and to buy new tickets were going to be over $700 a piece, so we just decided to fly on to Prague and let him be sick there!!! Needless to say, he spent the first few days in the bed in the hotel, missing all our member care appointments and not getting to eat at all the wonderful Prague restaurants!

Can you see the bag???

I would have a breakfast member care appointment in the hotel restaurant at 7:30 am, then walk to the Prague office that is 20-25 minutes away by foot. I would have another member care appointment at lunch, and I would take the couple out to eat somewhere nearby, and then go back to the office for the rest of the afternoons' meetings. At 5 pm, I usually called Glenn to see what he felt like eating, if anything, and stopped by a small corner market to pick something up. Most of all, he needed water and yogurt (to combat the antibiotic that he was on).

I had to figure out a way to keep his food cold (milk, yogurt and applesauce) so I put them in a strong plastic bag and hung them out the window, tied to the radiator! It kept our food and drinks fresh and chilled, but not frozen! This idea came to us, thanks to our experience in Africa. (Not that we were ever able to hang things out the window to keep them cold, but the "resourcefulness" came from there!!!

Happy 38th birthday to Alvin!

Glenn missed going to Bohemia Bagel to celebrate Alvin's birthday while we were in Prague. Alvin is a twin, but decided when he was 38 that he wasn't going to celebrate any more birthdays and that he was going to remain 38 years old. Each year on Jan. 29 we actually celebrate his brother ALBERT's birthday. Happy Birthday, Albert!

Chit chatting in the hotel lobby

The Ebenezer conference ended on Sunday. Glenn was finally feeling a little better, so we hung around an extra day in Prague for him to be able to take care of some business, and arrived in Budapest on Tuesday. It is so good to be home. We spent 3 nights in our own bed in the past month. When I write things like that previous sentence, I think of my grandfather, Big Jim. He didn't like to sleep anywhere but in his own bed. Well, I'm not like that really, but I sure do enjoy my bed after being gone so long!

Our son Chris received word today that he was accepted into the Master's level program at Seton Hall in New Jersey to become a Physician's Assistant. Guess that means they will be selling their house in Tennessee and moving north sometime this summer. I am so proud of them. They both have given their lives over to the lordship of Jesus Christ and are living to please Him. I have always felt that my main job as a parent was to introduce our children to the love of Jesus Christ, and to teach them to follow after Him in total obedience. I am so very, very proud of them!

Glenn and I are excited about Kari and Jonathan's upcoming visit! They arrive this Saturday and will be with us for 10 whole days! Usually when they come, they only stay for 5 days, so this visit is an extra special one. Hopefully, we will be able to do some of those things that we always plan to do but don't, and not have to say as they are leaving, "Maybe next time when you come we can..." I think we are going to be cultural and visit one of the largest thermal spas in Budapest. Look it up on the internet: Szecheny Thermal Baths. The photos of it often show men playing chess while in the water.

Well, thanks for joining in on our journey! It has been a pretty wild ride these past few months, hasn't it?