the end is near

I really, really dislike packing. If you haven’t been around my blog during travel before, this will show you just how much I hate it. Sigh.

I think I actually did pretty well this time. I’m blogging after I packed, rather than during, which is an improvement. The only breaks I took were running stuff downstairs as I came across it in my room and going down again to check in for my flight. Not setting any records, but it took me less than 6 hours, so I say that’s pretty good. My carry-on is very heavy, and my suitcase is currently underweight, but we’ll see how long that lasts. I hate having to bounce things between both bags to try and even it out and make sure everything fits in the restrictions. Also – gummi bears are heavy!!

So, my time here draws to a close. I finished the four videos yesterday and got them on DVD, and have started the interminable process of uploading them to youtube. Tonight is the last ministry night I will get to see. Yesterday, Debbie took me out so I could eat döner for lunch. So yummy! I try all the different Turkish and Greek places I come across in the States, hoping for something similar, and while they get close, there's just nothing quite the same. It was delicious.

On Monday, a group of us went to Trier for sight seeing and/or shopping. Cari and I had fun walking around H&M, Karstadt, Galleria Kaufhof, and the Body Shop. I got the last of the chocolates and gummis that I need to bring home, and we also enjoyed some deeeelicious ice cream. It just doesn't come that fun at home!

It's been a good trip. Not as much snow as could have been hoped for, but at least I got some, and got to take pictures. I got to go on trips, I got to sleep in, I got to spend time with Brad and Debbie, make new friends, visit with old friends, and fulfill my contract. :) I got to wear scarves and gloves and hats and boots and jackets and coats and not feel silly. I got to speak German a bit, to walk on cobblestone streets and see lovely cathedrals and eat spaghetti eis. I went to a bakery and got käsebrötchen, and ate them with Bresso. I got to eat my favorite little stuffed peppers. I saw soldiers come home from war, and friends' new babies. Es hat viel Spaß gemacht. :)

Tomorrow morning, we leave dark and early - 5:30 am. After about 25 hours of travel time, I will arrive home in the desert! Excited to come back home, see family and friends and a certain kitten, to go back to work and to start my last semester of actual classes.

Reflections on Silvester

It's a little weird to see January 1, 2012 above the posting, no? 2012 already???

I'll admit, last New Year's seems very long ago. I was still in the apartment with Ashley, I hadn't started back at ASU yet, and I don't even really remember what I did. This year, I spent my second New Year's Eve at the Festaburg setting off fireworks. Germans know how to do it, man. It's especially cool as we're all in these little hilltop towns, so you can look over and see the other villages setting off theirs. They don't have nearly as many restrictions here on what you can and cannot set off, and some of them are big. We had sparklers for the kids earlier in the evening, but we had a bunch of big-kid rockets to set off at midnight. The Americans down the street had an arsenal that sent clouds of smoke billowing up the street to envelope us in the sulfurous scent. The German family just above us on the hill had some very large fireworks, one of which accidentally got set off sideways, shooting past us to explode a few feet above the ground in a fortunately unoccupied patch of grass. Yikes.

Lots of fireworks from all around. The church bells from the next town were going off, people were screaming and shouting, lots of bangs and booms and pops and sizzles from all the different rockets and fountains and roman candles and firecrackers. It was a very noisy celebration to bring in the new year, and SO much fun.


This year has been Last year was a good one. I have made some of the best friends I could ever ask for, and we have laughed and lived and loved and cried and enjoyed and played and learned and grown and had so much fun. They are there for me when I need them, willing to pray or to listen or to help out. I can't imagine life without them anymore, and I MISS them something fierce, being away for the holidays. They make school worth going to. :)

Here's to 2012! This year, I will (hopefully) graduate from college, at last. December 2012, I'm coming for you! I will also turn 24 - eek! Who knows what else it will hold? Maybe I'll get a house. Maybe I'll finally find a new church to plug into. Maybe I'll find a teaching job. Maybe I'll have someone to kiss next New Year's at the stroke of midnight. For now, I can hope and dream and pray. Happy New Year!

The 3 Days of Christmas

Whew. That took a long time to upload - especially since I had to do it twice (darn internet failures). The silver lining is that the scarf I'm knitting for my sister more than doubled in length during the wait time. Hope you enjoy a glimpse of what Christmas was like here overseas!

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve!

Santa has already done well tonight - he brought in an extra large return of soldiers. We didn't make it to the actual ceremony, but apparently Santa himself led them through the doors into formation in the Hall of Champions. What more could anyone ask for but the return of a hero just in time for Christmas? There are still many, many more downrange, so as you enjoy time with your families tonight, say a prayer for those whose family is far away and fighting, waiting to come home at last.

My Christmas Eve was lovely, starting with banana cinnamon pancakes in the morning, my favorite Christmas reading at breakfast, a hike to the castle in the cold and sunshine, and an afternoon of warm fire, winning at nertz, and naps. We then went to a Christmas Eve service at the chapel which I shall refrain from describing, then people came back to the house for bread and soup, a simple dinner in reminder of the humble birth of our Savior.

It doesn't really feel like Christmas. I know that the trappings and trimmings and traditions are not what the holiday is about, but they're nice, and it's different without them. I miss my family, far away in various places of the US of A. This is only my 2nd Christmas without them, and it's a little bit sad, even though I love being in Germany and celebrating at the Festaburg. Makes me feel even more for those who are off serving their country, and for the families they've left behind who are wishing they were home.

stille nacht

I'm a city girl - born and raised in Phoenix, 6th largest city in the nation.

I'm in a village so small it has...nothing. Not a stoplight. Not a stop sign. Not a church, a bakery, or a school. It has houses, a cemetery, and a volunteer fire station.

I went out to walk Sam tonight. It's warmed up to 46 degrees (weird to get warmer after the sun goes down) so I was out in just a sweater and scarf. The snow has all melted, alas, but the streets were shining gold in the lamplight, wet with the rain. It glistened off the grass as we walked to the end of town. I stopped at the curve in the road and looked out. I could see the other little hilltop villages in the distance, windows gleaming warm through the night. Where the forest lay in between was complete, unbroken blackness, a gaping hole in the landscape where anything could lurk. Above, the sky was low and cloudy, and a faint smell of woodsmoke hung in the air, along with the rich aroma of wet soil.

The silence was heady as I stood and listened. No cars or trains, no dogs barking or tvs blaring, no crickets. The world echoed with stillness. You can't find that silence in the city, but out here, it's everywhere, soaking the darkness in it's deep quiet. Ahead, through a gap in the clouds, one star shared it's cold, blue light, twinkling in the black.

Moments of peace like that are rare, where the world stops and you breathe in and can only think of how great is the Creator, because the beauty of His creation drowns out everything with it's silent rejoicing.

Life at the House

If you see my facebook, you'll be aware that we have had snow. Lots of snow! I woke up to a world of white (think Amy Grant's Christmas to Remember) and as soon as I was out of bed I was running around taking pictures. I went out with Brad to walk Sam, and we walked up to the end of the village. Everything is just so picturesque, especially with the fresh snow blanketing everything. I asked Brad if he ever felt like he was living in a postcard. He said that on trips to Rothenburg and similar places, he felt more like he lives in Disneyland for free. It's a fairly accurate description. :)


Yesterday I went shopping with Debbie at a German market (Globus is the closest Germany comes to Wal-Mart), and I picked out a few of my favorite things, including pepperoncinis stuffed with goat cheese and some Bresso. I covet a German grocery store at home, simply for the vast variety of meats and cheeses and jogurts they have! I'm sad that it's now illegal to bring home any kind of meat, but believe me I will be laden with chocolate and cheese and other deliciousnesses. If you want something specific, let me know!

Sunrise happens here about 8:30/9 am, and it's dark again by 4:30, which really is messing with my brain. By 9pm, I'm exhausted, which I put up to a combination of leftover jet-lag and sheer internal clock confusion by the early darkness. In the morning, I enjoy my tea with Brad and Debbie before we split off to our separate occupations. Debbie's not been feeling well, so today has turned into a very quiet one. I've been working on the videos, which are coming along quite nicely. It's weird to have been elevated from slave to intern and now to contractor, perhaps the highest level achievable in this house. Contractors get all kinds of perks, hee hee.

I am loving the snow. People were rather aghast that I had never before shoveled snow, so I seized the opportunity to do so this morning, and Brad obliged by narrating a video about it, thinking his filming was a fair trade for my shoveling.

The chill outside really makes my room seem even more delightfully warm by contrast. I also love the new wood-burning stoves that have been added since my last visit, one in each living room. We sat around last night, Brad knitting a scarf, me writing a letter, Debbie chatting on the phone, listening to Christmas music.


I am loving being here, even if it is cold. Still holding out for a White Christmas. Love and miss all of you at home! And eine froliche Geburstag für Matt!

Rothenburg & Würzburg Christmas Markets

Hello! I decided to do a vlog, for several reasons that you don't really care about it. However, I was exhausted, between jet-lag and a long weekend trip, so I only went with one take. Please to forgive any errors or oddities. I say umm a lot. Enjoy!