Backyard Baptisms

Sunday after chapel the house was filled with soldiers and families gathered to celebrate three baptisms. After a delicious grilled lunch, we put the liner back into the baptismal pit we'd dug last Easter and began our 'bucket brigade' to fill it up with warm water to offset the icy chill of the hose. The sun even came out after a morning of rain. Brad baptized Erika and Spencer Eifler, two of the children of one of the commanders who has been a friend to the House. Chaplain Craven was honored to baptize his assistant Danny. There was cake and volleyball and lots of fellowship afterwards to celebrate these three believers who so publicly demonstrated their faith.

The Present is for Exploding Sodas and Eating

That's what Sara put on the inside of my goodbye-card. It seems like it should be one of those oddly profound kind of statements. :) We had another Super Sunday today, and after lunch it was also prayer time for VBS (which starts tomorrow!) and a goodbye for me.

I cried, I admit. I have grown to love all these people so much. This ministry is all about relationships, which is why I believe it is so wonderful - but also why it is so hard. Everything in Army life is transient; you meet new people all the time and it seems as soon as you manage to build that close relationship, someone leaves - whether because of a deployment, PCSing, ERDing, or, like me, just going home. I really am excited to go home and to start school and start working. But I am going to miss this place so, so very much. All my friends here are so wonderful.

Lisa made me a BEAUTIFUL cake. Sherry gave me a journal, and people signed it and wrote in it. I got a picture from our trip to the Maginot Line that everyone signed. (the people who signed it are not the people in the picture! haha) Sara and Erika made me the sweetest cards :) and gave me mentos! (They know me well.) Kristen even got me my faaaavoritest potatoe chips from the commissary. Everyone prayed for me, wished me well, hugged me goodbye.

I wondered when I came over here if this was the right thing to do with my summer. Throughout the months I've wondered if I've done any good, if I've had any impact on those around me, if I've really done something to further the kingdom of Christ on earth. Today I realized the answer - yes. I have built relationships with people, and in some way touched their hearts, and they have touched mine. I have grown this summer, both personally and in my walk with and understanding of God, and what it is to follow Him. I have learned more than I am able to articulate - and some things I have learned I may not even know yet. But I have grown, and changed, and loved.

As Sara put in my card,
"Goodbyes are not forever,
Goodbyes are not the end.
They only say I miss you
until we meet again."







okay....so, I just now got what she meant by the statement..."the present" didn't mean the present, as in the right now, but as in the mentos....it makes a lot more sense now. I was thinking more symbolically, you know? Like, eat, drink, and be merry - only more fun and laughter with exploding sodas and eating....oh well. I feel awfully silly now.

Apple Pie and VBS

What says summer like those two things? Maybe not necessarily together, but that works too. Anyways, I feel accomplished - yesterday, I baked my very first apple pie! And it was GOOD, too! Under Debbie's expert tutelage, I peeled and chopped apples, rolled out crust, stuffed a pie, and fluted the edges. :) Top it off a few hours later with vanilla ice cream, and yum!!

VBS training and set up has started, too, since Baumholder's VBS (vacation Bible school, for those that have never experienced the fun of this acronym) is next week. For the two days I'm still here, I've volunteered to work with - guess - the pre-schoolers. Among regular duties, I'm doing Chadder's Theater, which is showing them the movie, doing a little science experiment (oh yeah, our theme is Power Lab so we're all a bunch of wacky professors), and reiterating the day's main theme and verse. However, Sherri (the director) asked me on Monday night if I'd be willing to lead the singing and teach the songs, too, since the lady scheduled to do that is still in the States. So, I've spent this last week learning the songs and the motions, and always having one of the 10 stuck in my head on constant repeat. :) I had to teach the main song to all the adult volunteers today, which was weird - in front of kids, no problem! But you have to do these things all different when your audience is older than 10.

So, for the first two days, I'm the first "professor" they see, so I get to kind of MC everything. Welcome, songs, skits (with my wacky scientist friend "Professor Wilma"), and the first mention of the day's theme and verse and story, and prayer. Cool! I'm really kind of excited for this, even though there's a lot of talking to do (I hope I can remember everything I'm supposed to say!) It's gonna be fun!

My Good Deed for the Day

Brad is off on a bike trip, and Debbie went out for lunch with a friend and then to go meet him in Trier, so I have today all to my lonesome. I did my cleaning yesterday, so when PWOC got done this morning, I was in no hurry to go home and sit around, so I decided to hang out with Kristen and Ashley and Jess and her mom. Little did I know where that would land me! We walked on over to the Hall of Champions, where there was a blood drive going on.

I am terrified of needles.

But, somehow, Kristen and Jess talked me into it. I'm O neg, the "good blood," as the lady said. It's really hard to say, "No, I'm too scared of needles," when your friend is looking at you telling you how your blood could save her husband who's deployed to Iraq. So, I got guilted and cajoled into it, and I signed my name, filled out the paperwork, answered all their questions, and braced myself. I thought the finger prick was gonna be nothing, so I was glad no one told me ahead of time that that's the worst part! Got that done with - had high blood pressure, yay nerves. Then I got in my chair and held Jess's hand (she's a wonderful person!) while he stuck me. It didn't take very long at all till I filled up that little bag (ick...) and was on my way again. Poor Kristen was in the chair for probably 20 minutes. Gabe, Kristen's little 5 year old, held my hand as the guy (who had a terrible bedside manner) took the needle back out - he was great. :)

Saying Goodbye . . .again

Friday night we held our farewell for Andy, Jeroham, and Mac. Andy and Jeroham will be deploying, and Mac is finally headed to WTU and has PCS'd to another post in Germany before heading to Fort Bragg. So, all the families (the Eiflers, Lahmons, Stones, Todds, and ourselves) were here Friday night to say goodbye. It felt a little strange to say goodbye, since Andy and Mac were spending the weekend with us, and because the Army is the Army, they all may very likely be here for quite some time yet. But you don't want to miss the chance to say goodbye, and to do it right. We discussed the biblical way to say goodbye, like Jesus does with His disciples at the last supper. Basically, there are four parts: "be good," "see you later," "I love you," and praying together. So we talked and prayed and laughed and said our goodbyes, and generally had a great time, despite the tears.

Saturday PMOC / men of the chapel took a trip to Belgium to see some WWII stuff, I think it was (not having gone, I am unaware of the specifics). Debbie, Mac and I were left to run around and go shopping and enjoy lunch and ice cream in Idar. Jonathan, Brad, and Andy came back and joined us for grilling hamburgers, and we all adjourned to our beds or our computers. Up this morning for chapel, where we learned that "eating a carrot is like walking with Jesus." (It's a long story.) A friend of Brad and Debbie's came for lunch today, as he was in Germany on a business trip, and after lunch Mac and I took Andy back to post and went looking for enough people for a volleyball game, with no success. So, we all took a hike almost to the castle instead, and came home for grilled cheese and leftovers. Then, since he was headed Ktwon way, our visitor took Mac back to his new 'home' (and the word is used ever so loosely), and Brad and Debbie and I cleaned up and retired, getting ready to start the new week.

Birthdays and Busy Times

This week seems really long - maybe just because so much has happened. Duncan and Suzanne got here on Wednesday to take over from Brad and Debbie, who left early this morning to go back to the States for three weeks. Debbie had a birthday, and so did Duncan, so we've had cakes and candles and cards. And lots of small children!!



Mac had surgery this week and is spending his recovery leave on the couch in the basement, working his way through a laaarge stack of movies, with me as his nurse.


The kids - Graeme, Blaire, and Paige - are keeping me busy and entertained. They are SO much fun, and it's so nice to be living with little kids again! Friday night Bible study I had Gabe and Josh, too, and was very glad that the weather allowed us to play on the swings and slides out in the backyard, because they were crazy. Fortunately, that wore them out, so when it started raining we went in and watched a movie and they all but fell asleep on the couch.


Today we took a hike up to the castle, and I had us take only one wrong turn. The hike seemed a lot longer than normal, for some reason, and when we finally got up to the top we all sank down around the rim and ate our pincic lunch on top of the castle. When we got back, almost everyone fell asleep - the chairs and couches upstairs and down were full of napping people. Since we woke up and ate dinner, we've been playing cards and dice and legos and army men. I have to say it's kind of fascinating to watch soldiers playing with army men...