Two Weeks of Work at the Stone Quarry ended Today

Derek and Eldon worked hard the past two weeks. In the top picture you can see the entrance to the quarry. Pictures on the grounds there are not allowed, so I took one from down the road a ways. Danielle always came running to our entrance way to greet Derek. She didn't mind all the red dust he was covered with when he got home. The color reminded us very much of the red dirt in South Carolina.

A New School Year

Thursday was the first day of school here in our state. This year Danika officially joined the ranks of school kids. She is very excited about all her classes and books. We are so thankful that the Lord provided for "Miss Amber" to return. After counseling at the second camp, she has now returned to Niedern to teach Danika (1st-English), Dustin (3rd), and Doreen (5th). What a blessing!

Friday, August 31st 2007

Our camera returned with the two campers on Tuesday again. :) Our family table is filling up again, but we will still be missing Bradley for another week. The third camp ends next Friday,and he will get home on Saturday. This past camp had many challenges, but we thank the Lord for 2 young men and 2 young ladies who trusted Christ and others who made decisions of various kinds in their walk with the Lord. Two girls made it clear that they had their own ideas and beliefs that were different from the Bible, and they were not interested in change. So we continue to pray for the Lord to work in hearts through the Word that was given. On these pictures the kids were enjoying the clay projects they molded this week. Danielle is generally happy to play in her play pen several times a day. She has recently taken to sitting and paging through board books while she sits there, or working with her shape ball.

On the Home Front

Sunday we invited the remaining Matthia family and Andrea. We had a nice time of fellowship and enjoyed plum cake (thanks to the boys' picking) and Carol's yummy brownies in the afternoon. Monday morning Carol, all the kids, and I took a trip to the woods. Some time ago while reading, I had told Danika that we would go to the woods during second camp. Well, right outside of our village we have the highest rise in the area (146m !), the Wartberg. Right on top of the hill is an old tower, which we climbed. The wind and the view were beautiful. The fields are empty with yellow stubble or being tilled and fertilized. Some are greening up again. In every direction you can see these modern windmills, and villages dot the country-side in the typical European fashion. The kids climbed it many more times after we had explored the little wooded area around the tower. On the south side of the woods is the entrance to an old bunker. We stepped into it a ways and got a good feeling of what it was like. There are three tunnels that go off to other areas at the back of the bunker, one of which leads to an old broken down building which was also investigated by our excited kids. We enjoyed the beautiful late summer morning a lot. Meanwhile Derek and Eldon had started their two-week summer job at the stone quarry. It was hard dusty work shoveling rock dust all day, but they were chipper when they came home, and did some mowing in the evening. Today was probably a little more difficult, as it has been raining almost the whole day since 6 a.m.. They started at 7 a.m., so are being picked up as I write. Carol and I are taking turns with the driving. (Update after Derek got back: They gave them rain gear before they got too soaked. The people are all nice, and the work was hard, because today the dust was wet and stuck to the shovels, but they kept at it.) On that note I will close. Helene will be joining us for an overnight until church tomorrow evening. The cousin "twins" have been enjoying overnights as well. Only one week of vacation left, but it has been such a nice change of pace. Lots of little projects have been tackled, and I am thankful for the progress and/or catch-up that has been possible.

Spanish News Flash

We are nearing the mid-point of 2nd camp. This morning the kids enjoyed the sunrise and breakfast at the Mediterranean Sea. After the morning service the campers went into Besalu. (Brad included the beautiful old bridge leading over to the old part of town in his last update.) They normally go to town on Sunday afternoon, but it rained steadily that day. The August camp is always cooler and wetter, but still has plenty of sunshine and warm air to enjoy. The bows and arrows continue to be popular during free time. They are under Bradley's supervision. There have been lots of good opportunities for talking to young people. We praise the Lord that two young men came to Kevin on Sunday night after the evening service which Stan preached on John 14:6 and accepted the Lord as their Saviour. Thank you for your continued prayers for this group of young people.

Hot Air Balloon Surprise

Last night we were eating supper when we saw neighbors scurrying past our windows and looking up. We have often had hot air balloons fly over during the summer, so we guessed what might be going on, but glanced out anyway only to see that the sky was filled with balloons to the east. Two blocks to the west we could see balloons filling and taking off. So we scurried over to watch. Our neighbor shared some of his pictures with us. (Our camera is gone at camp again.) We had front row seats for this exciting experience. A few of us are visible behind the neighbor and his son on picture 1. Only Danielle was a little overwhelmed by the huge flame and the loud blowing noise. Later in the evening Vicki K. wrote to ask about the balloons. They live straight east of us, and had had more than 40 fly overhead! We found out later that the 25th European Hot Air Balloon Championships are being held here in Magdeburg this week.

Spain Camp # 2

Stephen K. made this beautiful picture collage for the Camp Support CDs this summer. Yesterday morning at 5 a.m. Kevin's bus pulled out fully loaded once again. Stephen and 6 campers flew on those cheap tickets again (the ones several used last camp already) to make room for more campers on the bus. Kevin and Bradley continued on down to Tübingen, the meeting place with most of the others (around 70). They traveled safely through the night, and were settling in this afternoon already. We appreciate your prayers for the ministry among the teenagers during these next weeks. The men will be gone a total of 23 days this time (Camp 2 and 3 are back-to-back). More importantly though we are burdened for the teens to surrender their hearts to the Lord.

Greenville Glimpses: New Rooms for the School Year

Dalene and Danae moved to their new rooms just four steps across the hall from each other. Here our greeting from home for their new abodes.

Greenville Glimpses: Erik Arrives in Greenville

Kirk sent us these pictures of the welcome committee for Erik. Not everyone was at the airport, because Daddy and Erik were re-routed to Asheville. All of the family gathered for a welcome supper at Kirk and Alex's home! Here Dalene, Danae, and Erik, the three "College Cousins", are sitting together at the beautifully prepared table.

Enjoying God's Gifts along the Path of Duty

I have been trying hard to remember Dr. Bob Sr.'s saying, but I think it amounts to somethings like discovering joy along the path of duty. Thursday Danika and I had just delivered the boys to work, when we caught sight of the Brüggemann's goats. We stopped for a closer look. (I actually always enjoy the drive...it is a time to fellowship with the boys, and often some of the other kids. I am rarely alone for even one of the directions. :)) The goats had sought out the shade, and looked straight back at us. :) Around supper time we picked up the boys. They had been unloading the hay into the loft. We were a sight for sore eyes (and arms):)

Tuesday, August 14th 2007

We had a surprise for us when we broke open one of our eggs for breakfast...two yolks! Danika fixed up her bed extra special this morning. Getting close to Mammendorf (the little village the boys work in) we saw a stork in the field next to the one Derek was to be dropped off in today. Derek on the wagon getting ready to bring in the hay.

Greenville Glimpse: CDC Fun

A day with the children is full of surprises and variety. The girls have loved "their" kids. Today was promotion day, and soon the school year will start and the girls will miss their kids. They will cut back to 15-18 hours a week.

Glimpses of Greenville

Dalene and Danae have been experiencing the record breaking heat wave during the last week: Over 100°F! A number of times this summer the girls have had the special opportunity to babysit at weddings. They babysat children in the social parlor at BJ, in an antique store (!) and at several churches in town. At one of the weddings Dalene asked the little boy of a staff member if he planned on going to BJ some day. This little 3 year-old answered proudly, "I already go to the Bob Jones UnNursery!"

On his Way

Erik, Kevin and Carol's oldest son, left late this afternoon on the train. He met his Grandpa Matthia in Tübingen tonight. Tübingen is in southern Germany. My Daddy spent the past week preaching in Switzerland. Tomorrow they will fly to Greenville, Lord willing. Our loss (and we will miss him) is their gain (Dalene and Danae are so much looking forward to his coming)!

A Varied Day

Danielle and Dustin ready to go. Thursday morning was the regular monthly service in the nursing home. Since we were requested to have the service in the morning, the family rarely goes anymore. It was nice to be able to be there today, due to our summer vacation. Here Kevin is holding Danielle who was enjoying and sharing a sucker. All the kids were given one by one of the workers. There was a very good group of about 20 residents there who heard a clear message, and Kevin had a good opportunity to talk to an MS patient who has in the past been very resistant. Danielle was trying the pots on for size while I fixed dinner. :) Derek got to drive the front loader at work to remove the debris out of the old part of the barn.

Deutsche Würste (German Sausages)

Today while I was paying for our diesel fill-up the two cashiers quoted a German saying to each other, "Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei!" (All things have an end, only the sausage has two.) Doreen helped me get the "Würste" ready for our lunch, today. We grilled them in the oven. They were given to us a couple of weeks ago,and when we defrosted them and took them out of the packaging, they were all still "hooked" together. :) This afternoon while shopping we found a delicious little (by American standards) watermelon at Aldi. Some of you may not know that the Aldi chain originated here in Germany. Here Donia was enjoying her piece. :)

Erik's Graduation Celebration and Farewell

Erik's sisters, Lorraine and Lavonne made these farewell posters last night with spray paint. Erik is leaving for college this coming Saturday afternoon. He will be very missed here. Dalene and Danae, on the other hand, are looking forward to his arrival. We sang ""Happy Graduation" together and then Erik opened up his gifts. The kids had a great time playing after coffee and cake. Here Danika and her cousin Lynette (not visible) hung the dolly clothes on a miniature clothes stand.

Saturday Evening

The boys enjoyed playing basket ball with their cousin Eldon, and Mark, son of the family visiting the Matthia family. Dustin, Doreen and I drove into Magdeburg to clean the church together. As we were leaving town, we had this beautiful sunset behind us. We pulled off a moment to take the picture. As we drove back about an hour later, Doreen sighted a doe in the field on our left. The field looked freshly harvested, so she was clearly visible, at least to the human eye. Between our noise (scaring her off)the dusk and our speed we opted against trying to get her picture.

A Saturday Project

The weather has been beautiful, so to help out with outside seating at Erik's graduation/farewell dinner planned for Sunday, we cleaned up our deck chairs. It was a perfect project right before baths. :)