Just Sayin'

I absolute have to get this one off my chest.

After class, most days, I walk from our building into the downtown area to catch my tram home. It's usually a nice walk with a classmate or two. Today, I arrived at what's called Jakominioplatz (Jakomini Square) which is the main hub for all the city buses and trams. While waiting for my bus, I hear a little boy yelling. I find him, about 2.5 years old, holding his mother's hand while loudly screaming "no" and other such little kid tantrum phrases. He stops yelling and out of NO where turns and kicks his big brother. The big brother is then yelled at. The little guy then turns and KICKS his big sister! I kid you not, the mother's response was, "Did he just kick you?" The daughter confirmed and then NOTHING happened next. Okay, so maybe she doesn't believe in disciplining her child in public (whether she speaks, spanks, or uses time outs, waiting till she arrived home would be absolutely unproductive in disciplining this child. He was WAY too young to remember for so long that he did something inappropriate, much less WHAT he did.). Alright, so that tram comes... at this point, I've been standing about a yard away, just watching and praying, "Lord, what do YOU see with this family?" He shows me his heart and his love for them. The tram arrives and on I go... this woman sits the youngest boy in the seat in front of me and stands at his side. The boy is staring out the window most of the way, but still yelling quite a bit. The mother gave the boy candy to keep him quiet for the bulk of the ride. So he finishes his candy and then, what does he do? HE SUCKS ON THE TRAM WINDOW FRAME! Seriously? I gag... a few times... and begin to contemplate getting off the tram 5 stops early and waiting for the next one, just then he stopped said sucking. THEN what do you think happened? HE LICKED THE WINDOW! I don't just mean one swipe, licked. I'm talking, his tongue licking the window and leaving shapes with his spit, sort of LICKING THE WINDOW! And the mother? Said nothing. Did nothing. And me? Gagging again. Seriously.

I'm not judging the mother. I refuse to do that. I'm not going to call him a "bad kid" because I don't believe in such a thing and I especially don't believe in saying such a thing. ALL I'm saying is... I'm just sayin'.

wow, I'm busy

My new semester means a lot less time/energy for blogging.

On Mondays and Tuesdays, I'm leaving the house around 5:30am and I get home at 5:30pm the earliest. I try not to plan anything especially for Monday afternoons, but sometimes that simply isn't possible. Then Wednesdays I "only" have class now, which is great and makes for a lighter day. Thursdays I leave at 9:45am and get home at 9:45pm. It's not such a tough, long day though...since I end it with House Group. Friday's are from 9:00am until 2:30ish, and then of course whatever's goin on Friday night. Which, lately, has consisted of watching a movie that requires no real thinking. I don't say this in a query for pity, I say it as an excuse for the lack of updating. So, here's a run down (in brief) of what was and is to come...

Beginning of March- Advanced School topic- Leadership. AMAZING (as you read).
Mid-march- Julia had a concert and the following weekend, her mom took us to Appassionata. Also AMAZING. It's a horse show that is simply mind blowing if you have any sort of appreciation for horses and the arts. If I remember by the time I'm done writing, I'll upload a video or pic.
End of March- Steve Espamer is back in Austria and he brought a handful of people with him. He actually came at the beginning of the month, but the highlights I have are form the end. They joined our house group last week- it was simply fun. and AMAZING. Well, it was alright. :-) Steve talked about The Lion King-which i do NOT have the mental stamina tonight to help you understand what he really shared. Friday night I watched Open Season 2 with Julia. I have watched this movie SO many times since it arrived. I guess I'll get it out of my system a bit before I switch my computer back to playing the European DVD format. AND, Sunday was a Parschlug service. Parschlug, in case you forgot, is a small village in upper Styria where Julia's family lives. It's about an hours from Graz. They have a great (and large) house group up there and every so often, we have a Sunday service there. It's always somehow a special time. I love Parschlug and I love Parschlugers and I love Parschlug services (Hi Steve!).

And now for the things to come:
April 1: my German class is going to Wien for the day! hoooray for field trips! and double hooray for getting to have lunch with Hannes!
April 2: Teresa's birthday!
April 3-6: Worship rehearsal in Zagreb!
April 6-9: some time during that week I will go back down to Wolfsberg with Steve and his team!
April 10-11: I am staying in Parschlug (because I love Parschlugers!).
April 11: Tent of David worship service
April 12: Easter! Rather- Passah Feast! yum yum yum and lots of great spiritual food to go with it!
April 17: Trip to Wolfsberg again! Woohooo! This time, probably with some of the House Group!
April 29-May 4: Travel to Zagreb, conference in Sarajevo, then traveling back from Zagreb.
May 5: My birthday and DORIS COMES BACK FROM DEUTSCHLAND!
May 14: CLE ARRIVES!

Turn a glass of water into something beautiful. | tapdc.org

Turn a glass of water into something beautiful. | tapdc.org

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Spring Is Coming!

Updates updates updates.....

Let me think......

Spring is coming... I can feel it. I can see it. Ahhh.... how I am longing for warmer weather again. I don't dislike winter, but I REALLY like spring. :-)

A new semester has begun (three weeks ago). My new German class is hard. Seriously. Hard. I am blessed to have a handful of former classmates in the same class with me again. Being together provides us each with a touch more confidence. I really like all my new colleagues, too. We're already having a lot of fun together- everyone struggles and everyone laughs through the struggling. The class meets everyday and on Wednesday's we have a different teacher than the other days of the week. This guy is so funny. When he was learning our names, he had no guesses in pronouncing mine. Of course, I probably wouldn't have either for the first time when it is mixed within all the Slavic names. After clarifying my name, he smiled and stated in German, "That's really very American sounding!" What better reply could I have than, "Well, I'm really very American!" :-) He calls me "Cree-Amerikaner" or "Cree-Indianer". The other teacher is good, too. However, the teaching method is a struggle for me. I guess in a couple of weeks I'll adjust better.

We had another Advanced School a couple weekends ago and it was amazing. The topic was leadership. I've taken a number of leadership courses and even have helped design some leadership development programs, so I was looking forward to the topic. The presentation was beautiful. I know what you're thinking- "how can a school on leadership be beautiful?" First, you should know that BLAST Ministries is really a family. Franz and a brother, Randy, from Texas did most of the teaching and American Steve (now living in Slovenia) did a couple sessions. The opening session was the "Ghandi Session" as I like to call it. "You have to be the change you want to see in the world." was the true gist of the introduction. The remaining sessions, though, were incredible. Our teachers were vulnerable as they shared their hearts- their successes and their failures -with us. This school had me processing so much the entire duration. The spiritual aspects of leadership were so directly addressed as well as the character of a leader. I can't do justice in explaining the weekend to you. If you're interested in the teaching, I can send you an mp3 CD for $20. Actually, if you are at all interested in any of our topics, I can send you the CD's for $20. Recent topics include- Kingdom Relationships, Kingdom Finances, How to Find the Right Partner, Kingdom Marriage, and now Kingdom Leadership. There are also a variety of teachings on Spiritual Warfare, Spiritual Gifts, Discipling and Spiritual Fathering, The Church that Jesus Builds, Tent of David... and so on. Comment or email me if you have any questions or requests. Jason- I'm still working on getting a better list together for you but this should give you a groundwork.

Things to come-
April 1: Class trip to Vienna.
April 3-6: Worship rehearsals in Zagreb.
April 29-May 4: Women's conference in Sarajevo (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE BE PRAYING FOR MY PROTECTION AS I GO INTO THIS CONFERENCE!).
May 5: My birthday.
May 13-June 3: Clearthur comes to visit.
July 22ish: Mandy comes to visit.

Movie Reviews

This week I went to see Yes Man with some friends.
Jim Carrey = great. As always, his performance is top notch. This isn't the typical "stupid humor" sort of JC movie... though it will keep you laughing. For those of us Nebraskans, it's especially a film for you. While the lead acting is grand, the writing is terrible. The movie itself was disappointing- the story line failed to succeed in my expectations. If you want a good, pointless laugh, then this movie is for you.

A movie I thought was all around well done-
Open Season 2. Thank you Jason and Denisha for sending me this movie. This is just downright entertaining. The story line is creative and the characterization is superb. The voice-actors were very well selected and had me convinced. A German speaking dachshund is the perfect flair (a special ounce of credit goes here for my current living situation) to accent a spastic deer and his colorable best friend grizzly coming against a prissy mini-poodle named Fifi. Kids or no kids, you will find this movie appropriate and simply, funny.

some entertainment

Tim Hawkins is a Christian comedian and... well.. he's great. Check out these testimonials and his website for more TH info. I've included two fun videos that I think you'll enjoy.

Since I know many of you are Chick-Fil-A fans, you'll enjoy this.

Happy Friday, everyone!

and on commercialization...

Rainy/Snowy Day Activity Poll

What's your favorite rainy day activity?  

I suppose, since many of you are having snowy days this week, I will practice my politically correctness and rephrase my question.....

What's your favorite inclement-weather-day activity?  This is assuming it is too terrible to be outside.

I love snuggling up with a salty snack and a hot mug of caramel-nut or mint coffee and watching a good movie.  

This poll reminds me of snow days at UNL.  When I lived in Abel, snow days were warmly embraced.  During my 3rd-5th years, I lived in what was known as the "freshmen party" dorm.  We had quite a few snow days in the winters of my 4th and 5th years.  We made the best out of these days.  I lived in this building with a number of friends.  Most of us "upper-levels" moved there on purpose for the ministry possibilities and we intentionally lived on the same floor.  I remember my 4th year was especially pressing academically.  My friend and floor mate, Jeff, and I enrolled together in some of the Universities most difficult biology classes.  With this being a major factor, Jeff and I spent nearly all of our free time studying together (we never would have made it without each other).  On these snow days, he and I really couldn't afford the luxury of having a lazy day.  So we would move our study materials into one of the lounges on the floor and we'd work while the others watched a movie. These days were the blessing we all hoped for.  These were the days with enough study time that Jeff and I could take a break from memorizing the skeletal system of the skull or the nervous system and work on assignments for our other classes.  Our group was really a little family, especially on these days.  We'd work together, take study breaks and play games, go eat together, and get back to work together.  

I am grateful for good friends with a good taste in coffee.  We never had bad coffee when we studied together in Abel Hall.  That's for sure.  Even when the faces changed in my 5th year, quality coffee and tea remained important priorities.  MMmmm......I miss good, fresh ground coffee.

So what do you do when you're stuck indoors?