Thursday, June 5th

In the morning we split up into two groups. Half the group went with Clint and helped an elderly lady, who has been a contact of the church for awhile, do some garden work at her home. 

The other half went with me to the laundromat. It was about a 6 minute walk from our hostel so we loaded all the dirty laundry from the group into suitcases and made our way there. It was quite an experience. With a little help from some nice people there, we figured out how the machines worked and how to pay, etc. Of course, I realized after we got there that I left a big bag of change at the hostel. The machines only took change so thankfully I was able to go to the office at the laundromat and exchange some money. There were some frustrating moments but we were able to eventually get everything washed and mostly dried. Some things needed to be hung up to finish drying though. Because it took longer to get things dry, the girls told me to go ahead and get the kids back to the hostel and get ready to go to the church building for lunch. The dryers were not drying very quickly and there was a lunch being prepared for us at the church. I headed that way and met Kerstin and Olaf who were preparig schnitzel for us. Kerstin's daughters and grandson were also there. 

Come to find out, Clint's group missed the bus so they walked back from their gardening and so they were running late too. Eventually everyone made it to lunch and enjoyed some time chatting with everyone. 

The meals that have been provided have been so good and it gives everyone a chance to spend more time with the church members and get to know them better. Encouraging the Christians here is also a really big part of what we are doing here too. 

Kerstin, Janine and me. I love these ladies!

The kids were busy again during the free time with sidewalk chalk. 

In the afternoon, Hans and Christina from Oelsnitz came to have coffee time with us. Thankfully we were able to lay Corbin down for a nap during that. He really needed it! After coffee, Hans shared about his experience with the persecution of Chrisitians during the GDR (German Democratic Republic). His story is inspirational and something amazing to hear. Just to give you a very small example: Hans said that after working in his company for I think 10 years, he received the ability to take his family on a vacation at a company vacation sight that would have been fully paid for by the company. However, because he had been evangelizing and leading others to Christ at work, this was taken away because talking about God was not allowed. Also, during this time, he was continuously doing renovations and building on to their home. Because of the uncertainty of the future and the freedom to worship God openly, he decided when he was renovating to put a Bible in a hole  in the wall that used to have a window and to cover it with plastic with a note inside and then plaster over it in the case that all their Bibles would all be taken away. Can you imagine living in this uncertainty and in fear that you somehow would be punished because of your faith in God? Another sad story is about how his children were also persecuted in school about their faith. One day, his oldest daughter came home in tears. When they asked her why she was crying, she said the teacher made her stand up in front of the class and the teacher told the other students to laugh at her because she believed in the "fairy tales" about the Bible. How heart breaking and difficult this must have been. But because of their continual faith and trust in The Lord, they continued to serve The Lord and thankfully now have the freedom to worship God without fear. 

Clint being silly at coffee

Heidi found an H cookie

Hans spoke in German (middle) and Guido (his son-in-law on the right) translated to English. 

Later blowing bubbles with Daddy. In the background Heidi is playing with Achim. 

Wednesday, June 4th

My little man is ready to go to another school!

One of the church members has a contact that they read in the Bible with. She is a teacher and invited us to her school. Our group split into 3 small groups. One group went outside to play ultimate frisbee. Clint and Corbin went to that. I don't have any photos from that but I heard they all had fun. The EFG (English for Germany) team also went with us and helped out. 

Another group (the Seaman family) went into a classroom of 9th graders and spoke about their experience with homeschooling. In Germany, homeschool is illegal, so they were very interested to hear what it is like and how it works in America. They were very inquisitive and asked many questions about America. 

My group went into a fifth grade class and taught easy kids songs and the kids split up into 4 groups and each one learned one of the songs we taught and then performed it in front of the class. They did a great job!

I taught thus group "I'm a little tea pot". Heidi helped out. 

Erika taught "The Hokey Pokey"

Hannah taught "Father Abraham"

Savanna taught "If You're Happy and You Know It"

I think we all had a very interesting experience there and we invited the students to our activities. 

The kids got to ride on a little carousel at the ice cream cafe. This is the only photo I have because Clint took the others. 

It had warmed up a bit so Clint was sporting his lovely man-pris. ;)

We have been taking public transportation to save money on transportation and it has been pretty easy to get around the city. 

Me with part of the group. 

Tuesday, June 3rd

Tuesday morning we went to Karen Neel's school in a nearby village. Honestly, getting our group to the train station on time in the morning was kind of a miracle. Ha ha.. But we made it! We talked with the 5th grade and 8th grade. We answered some questions they had for us and kind of just told them a little about ourselves. Also, Heidi volunteered to sing a "Frozen" song to both classes so that was pretty great. :)

They also played a game called Take a Hike where you sit in a circle and someone stands in the middle and says, "take a hike if you're wearing red" or any other example. All the people wearing red would get up and try to find a different seat. The last person standing has to come up with something different. (For example, if you're wearing glasses). They had a lot of fun and the students got to practice their English. 

A lot of people thought Heidi was so cute. This group of girls wanted a picture with her. 

After the classes Jevon was playing the music teacher's (Andre) guitar and Heidi and Andre were playing some drums. 

While we were at he school we were able to pass out invitations to the activities we had going on during the week. 

For a little treat we got some ice cream after a long morning at the school. 

Everyone was a fan!

Monday, June 2nd

When we had a meal at the church during the day we sometimes had some time to relax during the downtime before the next thing on our schedule. The kids especially enjoyed theses breaks to play. 

Having fun with sidewalk chalk 

Corbin's masterpiece. 

In the afternoon, we went to a hospice facility where one of the church members works. This is a place where patients can live to be taken care of in their last moments of life. Even though we did not actually see many patients, we sang for a while at the bottom of a stairwell, which led up to the patients' rooms. It was quite touching when we could hear them singing Amazing Grace with us all the way from upstairs. We actually did see 2 or 3 patients that came down. 2 of them sat in the next room and listened. I believe our singing was enjoyed and we hope the love of God touched them through it. 

On the way back to the hostel in the evening, Corbin held on on the bus just like Daddy. 

Sunday, June 1st

June 1st was a great day! It was Clint's birthday and it was filled with good times. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures with my phone and I have no way to upload photos from my camera until I get home. So you will have to wait for those photos. 

First, some church members picked us up at our hostel because on Sundays it's even harder to make it to town by bus. We checked out of our hostel and took all our luggage with us. At 9:30 there was Bible Study. They also have kids classes. Heidi enjoyed it but Corbin was still so tired from the trip and jet lagged that he did not do well at all. Basically the first few days consisted of him screaming and crying and not wanting to do anything we wanted him to. It was very frustrating and draining. Thankfully, a week later he is slowly getting back on schedule and getting back to his normal personality. 

At 10:30 was worship service. Something nice they usually do is they try to translate Bible studies and sermons so that the American visitors can understand. They will at least try to provide a typed translation so that was helpful for the campaigners to follow along. After worship we had potluck and it was so delicious. We had a wonderful time fellowshipping with them all.

After lunch we were driven to the center of town to another youth hostel, where we will stay for the rest of our time in Chemnitz. It is in a great location, which is close to many things and easy to get to the church building and anywhere around town by using the trams and buses. 

In the evening we went to a school gym, where we played volleyball with the church and several visitors. It was a very fun evening. I took the kids outside with me and some other friends to play. We found a sand volleyball court that the kids had a blast digging in and they ran around, played with balls and basically had freedom to just run and play which was especially good for Corbin. :) 

It was a great day of fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Chemnitz!

Germany Campaign 2014: May 29-31

The day came when it was time to leave! We have waited for this day so long! We were excited and nervous at the same time. Clint and I were a bit sleep deprived as well. I think I didn't get in bed until 3:30 a.m. Even then I had a really hard time going to sleep. I had so much on my mind. But thankfully I got a little bit of sleep before I had to be up. 

This is Corbin's excitement before leaving 

In the OKC airport looking at a new Thomas the Train sticker book. 

Heidi with two of our campaigners, Erika and Savanna. 

Corbin's first time to have his own seat. Such a cutie!

Heidi and I are ready to go!

Taking a nap

Our flight from Chicago to Munich. 

Already zoned into the videos. 

Sleepy boy. 

We arrived on Friday night as well as the rest of our group! On Saturday we had a bit of an adventure. We stayed at a hostel on the outskirts of town because the one downtown was booked way in advance on the first two nights. It was a little trek to get to the closest bus stop to get us to the church building but the weather was absolutely beautiful as well as the scenery on our nice walk. 

We have been blessed so much by the church members in Chemnitz. So many of them have volunteered their time to cook amazing meals for us. They have basically planned about one warm meal a day for us. The other meal we are supposed to do on our own by either going to the grocery store or just picking something up somewhere. Of course we had to have Doener Kabob on one of our meals on our own and it was just as delicious as ever. So far through, we have not even had to pay for too many meals ourselves because we have had leftovers from other meals and so we have taken advantage of that good so it doesn't go to a waste. What a blessing that has been. 

On this day, we were going to the church building to have lunch there. We also had a chance to practice some singing and get a quick overview of what our schedule was going to be like while we are here. 

As we were walking, everyone was noticing the giant slugs along the path. Heidi kept saying, "Yuck! Gross!" It was pretty funny. 

One of the positive things about getting to walk more is Corbin can become relaxed and get a nap!

Mother's Day

Every day I am reminded how blessed I am by my beautiful children. They make me smile, melt my heart, and I get lots of laughs from them. Yes, sometimes they frustrate me and make me crazy, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. Today was the perfect example of all of these things combined all in one, but it was an amazing day with my precious family.

Having a 2-year-old can always be interesting. You never know when there will be a melt down or when he just decides he wants to be completely independent and run off by himself. It's definitely never boring. Corbin actually did great at church today. We usually take him to the nursery during the sermon because he just hasn't been able to make it through the entire worship without a melt down, but other than that, he did great in church! We went to lunch afterwards and he was eating so nicely and being so good. I made the mistake of telling him that. I said, "Corbin, you are being such a good boy today! You are doing gr---" and before the sentence was completely out of my mouth, he proceeded to spit his milk out of his mouth intentionally, all over the place.... sometimes you should just enjoy it while it's happening, and say nothing. :)

After we got home, I remembered I wanted to take pictures with the kids before we all changed clothes. We went outside to take a pretty photo. It didn't go very well...

Corbin wanted to play outside, not take pictures

It was extremely windy

Corbin was still not cooperating...

I got a decent one with Heidi...

While Corbin was having a melt down because he wanted to play outside and not take pictures...

We tried again after nap... nope.

Finally... smart phones are amazing inventions, with the reversible camera!

And since I didn't get a good one with both of them, this is from Easter. :)

I love those kiddos, ornery or not. The icing on the cake was when we put them to bed, I got lots of sweet kisses and hugs. As we are leaving Corbin's room, we always tell him we love him and goodnight. As we were leaving, I heard this sweet little voice say, "love you!" Best ending of the day ever!

We Must Come Down From the Mountain Top

I was recently reminded of a song I learned growing up that was sung by the group Acappella called Mountain Top. Here are the lyrics and now the link to the music :)



I love to sing and I love to pray
I worship the Lord most every day
I go to the temple and I just want to stay
To hide from the hustle of the world and its ways

I love to live on a mountain top
And be fellowshipping with the Lord
Love to stand on a mountain top
Because I love to feel my spirit soar
But I must come down from that mountain top
To the people in the valley below
They'll never know that they can go
To the mountain of the Lord

Praising the Father is a good thing to do
I worship the trinity in spirit and truth
But if we worship all of the time
There would be no one to lead the blind

Well I am not saying that worship is wrong
Worship is more than just singing a song
It's all that you say and everything that do
It's letting His spirit live in you

They can go to the mountain of the Lord

Scriptural Reference:

"So Abraham called that place 'The LORD Will Provide'. And to this day it is said, 'On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.'" Genesis 22: 14
"You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance-- the place, O Lord, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, your hands established." Exodus 15: 17

Just a week or so ago I was talking to a friend and they made a comment that made me really think. The comment had to do with going to their child's school for a party but not really talking to any of the parents because they didn't know them. I mentioned I sometimes felt the same way when I was around other people I didn't know and I also had noticed that some of the other parents seemed to know each other. I'm not exactly sure if they already knew each other or had just met through volunteering at the school or what. My friend said they thought maybe several of the parents at their school knew each other through the same church.

Over the last week or so I have thought about that conversation several times and I had to ask myself this question: Am I truly reaching out to others in the community even when I may feel awkward or not know them, or do I keep my life compartmentalized and just live in my bubble of church friends? I'm not saying that is what those parents at school were doing, but for some reason it led me to think about how I would react to others outside my circle. I thought of the song Mountain Top because I know there have been times in my life that I have just wanted to stay on the mountain top and with my own Christian circle of friends. The song is a wonderful reminder of what we are here for. We're here to share the love of Christ with the world! that means I should really look for opportunities to speak with people who may not have a relationship with Christ and try to shine His light in my life wherever I go and whatever I do. I'm always glad to have little reminders about what my task on earth is. I just felt like I wanted to share this experience and hopefully it is a good reminder to others too. 

Care Bears Dancing in My Dreams

Today after school I told Heidi we would be meeting our friends Amanda, Casen, Liam and Haddie at McDonald's to play. She got really excited and said, "Finally, you like it!" She said that because she asks to go there all the time and most of the time we say no because we don't really like to eat there very often. Then she said, "It's like hundred of Care Bears dancing in my dreams!" Ha ha! She is so funny!

Corbin is walking!

We have been waiting for several weeks as Corbin slowly showed signs he would be ready to walk soon. He took his time, like Heidi did, to have the courage to try it on his own. For awhile now, he has even taken 2 or 3 steps at a time, but always went back to crawling after that. Finally, yesterday he was playing with a ball and would stand up, throw the ball, and then walk to it for a few steps before going back to crawling. Then, Larry came home from a meeting and when he walked in, Corbin got excited and walked almost all the way to him! It was very exciting! Here is a little video of how excited Corbin is to be trying this new trick!

Also, a fun fact is that both our kids have taken some of their first steps in the Sullivans' home in Germany! Heidi in Chemnitz, and Corbin in Leipzig. :)