Ummmm

Well, after being gone for so long, and having so many incredible things to tell everyone on this blog, it's kind of hard to think of interesting things to write. I could tell you all my everyday little occurrences......but they really aren't that exciting. I could try to jazz them up, but even then......boring. Like today, for example, I woke up early. My sister brought my niece over. Then I was down at my parents before 8:30. I started working at 9 and worked until 3:30. Then I drove home, quickly picked up the apartment, then drove to the airport to pick up my roommate. Then I walked to Franklin and back. I decided I wanted to bake something so I made a small batch of cookies. I decided Becky could take them to work with her tomorrow. Then I burned the entire batch because I was talking with Becky.......and now I am sitting in my big chair, writing on this blog. I guess things are only as exciting as you make them. There are a few fun things that happened in the in between time, but nothing as exciting as singing on the streets of downtown Bad Godesburg for money. I'm not complaining, I got a lot accomplished today, but it isn't that exciting to talk about. I'll try to update this blog every once in a while though. I do want everyone to stay connected into my life, even if it is boring.
I've been having a good time being back in Yakima. It's great to see everyone and to get back to my day to day life. It is so exciting to look at my closet every morning. It gets a little hard to live out of a backpack for a whole summer. Every time I opened my bag I was hoping to spot a shirt I hadn't seen in a while, but time after time the same 4 shirts were residing in my backpack.....it gets unfortunate after awhile. I had a great time this summer though, even if I did get tired of my clothes. It was totally worth not having much luggage. Having a small bag was really nice, you could take it with you everywhere.
Europe is great, I think everyone should go! I think the great thing about Europe is not the sight seeing, or the beautiful architecture. It's not seeing things you've never seen before, or traveling around. The incredible thing about Europe was getting to meet and get to know our church family there. Getting to hear their stories, being a part of their lives. My favorite part about Europe wasn't the teaching, or the fun, crazy, middle of the night walks with Annie(even though those were great), my favorite part was seeing, experiencing, encouraging, and being encouraged by the body of Christ. Being loved and embraced by the different church bodies was encouraging and also a good challenge. I think that I have learned so much about hospitality, and cheerful openness. It isn't an inconvenience to serve others, it is an opportunity. I hope that I take up the opportunity every time it presents itself.

Home Again!

The best thing about going away, is coming home. I loved being overseas and I have SO many great stories about Europe, but coming home has been really great. I was getting pretty homesick being away for so long and now it feels great to be home. I finally got some good sleep last night. I think the jet lag is wearing off! Praise God. I am so thankful for all my wonderful friends and family, nothing makes you feel more loved then going away for a few months. Well, thank God for such an amazing trip and life experiences.

I'm Coming Home

Ok, well I will be leaving Bonn for Dusseldorf tonight around 7 pm, then tomorrow morning at 7 am my flight leaves. I'll be back in Yakima at 7 pm Wednesday night. I can't wait to see you all. Please Pray for my safe travel.

Germany, France, Switzerland, and the BFA

Well, I had an amazing weekend with the Howe's. It was like getting a taste of home. We had a good time seeing things all around the area. The Black forest is beautiful, and the area is spectacular. We walked across the border into France, and then we drove into Basel, Switzerland. Basel is also beautiful. The old city has some very cool buildings. We had a wonderful time walking around. We also drove up to the top of a mountain, and then climbed a lookout tower. The view was breathtaking. I couldn't believe how far you could see. I am so glad I went down there and spent the weekend with them. It was wonderful to just get out and see more of Germany. It was definitely different from the city. The small villages were exactly what you would expect, and some of the buildings are so old. The dorm building that the Howe's live in is older then our country....now that is weird to think about. The villages were very quaint and very cute. The Black forest Academy is very cool. It is hard to imagine what it's like when there are kids everywhere, but it was definitely fun to see the school and to hear about how things work. I thank God for such an eventful weekend, and I'm so glad I was able to go.
Please Pray for Jane and Ray as they will be traveling back to the States tomorrow. We are going to drive them to the airport at 5:30, which is aproximately 5 hours from now.....so I'm going to go to bed.

Germany!

"How Great Thou Art" is such an amazing hymn. I am listening to a live performance of it right now, and no matter how you sing that song, the lyrics are really good. Thought I would share that with you all......Well, only one more week until I come home. I'm really excited to get back and to see everyone. Having so much downtime has made me miss home quite badly. I'm doing much better this week compared to last. I'll be leaving Bonn/Pech on Friday to go to Schliengen, Germany to visit Calvin and Joan Howe. They are a couple from Westside Baptist that have been living in Germany, at the Blackforest Academy, as dorm parents for the past few years. I'm really excited to go and see them, and also to be on a real adventure by myself. I'm a little nervous, but totally ready. I'll be with the Howe's until Sunday afternoon, and then I am coming back to Bonn. My flight leaves out of Dusseldorf Wednesday morning at 7 am and I land in Yakima at 7 pm. I can't believe how quickly the summer has passed, and I'm totally looking forward to being home.

Occupying our time.

So we are hanging out in Bonn now. Everyone is a little low on cash, so we are trying to find things to do that don't cost anything. We had been talking about using our singing for a few days now, and today we finally did it. We sang in two different spots in Bad Godesburg. We had a sign that said "Berlin or Bust" and Ray's hat out front. Ray played a bucket which gave us a beat, and we sang 7 or 8 songs over and over. People loved it! You wont believe how much money we made singing about a total of an hour and 15 mins. 48 Euro's! That is a ton of money. We are all proud of ourselves, and we are looking forward to future singing in Bonn and other outlying communities. That was our fun for the day. I'll keep you updated if we do any other crazy fun things.