interesting things about this place...

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1. a great little Mercedes Benz car that beeps very LOUDLY every time you're about to run into something (the streets are VERY narrow here!)
2. beautiful, colorful flower gardens everywhere (literally, everywhere!)
3. fresh, fresh vegetables
4. when you walk out on your balcony and find your neighbor's sheep staring at you... what great company! =)
5. World Cup fever! even when you didn't plan on being a follower, you become one. =)
6. it's cold enough that people are still using woodstoves... and the smell is amazing!
7. a deep sense of quiet that helps your heart begin to be quiet too...
8. kind German neighbors who speak broken English but invite you into their home for a good, strong cup of "kaffee"
9. when your body is so jet-lagged that you forget about coffee... and then when you have some after 2 days of none, you suddenly REMEMBER the incredible-ness of European coffee! who needs Starbucks?? HA. =)
10. living in a town in a valley... surrounded by the hills of the Black Forest. There are no words.
11. church bells that STILL chime on the hour
12. when your German friend takes you on a tour of his home town and tells you that the buildings are from the 1400's... and you are blown away by the HISTORY of this place.
13. being a neighbor to Riesling wine country... =)
14. "schoko pudding und sahne"--my favorite treat. Could become the death of me!
15. when you're sitting out on the balcony and the sun starts to set... the trees and fields around you literally SPARKLE... and it's so beautiful... you can't take it in... and you wonder, is this a glimpse of eternity?

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1. North American hair straighteners that aren't compatible with the voltage here (so for the next 6 weeks I will be curly!)
2. very expensive water means very short showers.
3. roundabouts every 2 miles means yielding every 2 miles... and if you forget to yield, you run the risk of crashing (I learned that lesson yesterday)
4. leaving summer-like weather on one continent and entering winter-like weather on another continent... and realizing that your suitcase is full of summer clothes!
5. tiny little parking spots... and having to straighten the car 16 times just so that it will fit in them!
6. knowing that the nearest Starbucks is in the next country!!

small things

Small things really aren't that small! OK, wow, I've seen Jesus' kindness in some cool, not-small ways lately.

1. Dolphins! While on vacation in Ocean City with my family over the weekend, I was taking a walk on the beach one evening. It was quiet and I was listening to music, when I decided to sit down in the sand for a moment and take in the stillness. I looked straight ahead at the ocean and thought I saw a thing thrashing around in the waves. At first, I thought someone was drowning, and I was trying to figure out what to do! Then, I realized that I what I was seeing were FINS of DOLPHINS. They started doing their jumping-thing... when they leap straight out of the water and back in! It was incredible... I've NEVER seen dolphins before in Ocean City.
2. Free gum! This might sound dumb, but to me it's not. While at the grocery store today, I almost bought Orbit gum, but I put it down at the last minute and grabbed the Stride blue kind (my favorite). I grabbed two packs... because I go through gum quickly. When I got up to the register, the kind lady said to me, "Oh, did you know that Stride is buy 2, get 1 free?" I didn't know! Then, she went and grabbed me a 3rd pack of gum... for FREE!!
3. Kind people. I leave for Germany in about 5 days... and I've already received invitations from 2 complete strangers to have dinner with them during my first few days there. I'm watching as kind brothers and sisters are reaching out to me and already providing for my first meals overseas. Sometimes I forget that God goes before us and directs our every step... but He does. Oh, He does. I'm quite flabbergasted right now as I'm reflecting on that...
   

trust...

Lately, I've been feeling the Lord directing me to these verses. I think He wants me to sit in the simple power of these words for a while...

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

and He will make straight your paths.

Be not wise in your own eyes;

fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.

It will be healing to your flesh

and refreshment to your bones.

~Proverbs 3:5-8

blinking toe

I went to the park tonight. I was driving home from the park when I felt this THING crawling on my toes. I don't like things crawling on me... so I looked down to see what it was. I couldn't believe what I saw--my toe was BLINKING. Seriously. For a split second, I thought my cell phone had fallen on the floor or something... because my toe was blinking the way my phone does when it has a message. I was so confused... many moments of disequilibrium followed...

Toes are not supposed to blink.

My toe has never blinked before.

What could have happened to make my toe blink?

My toe looks like a cell phone but it is not a cell phone.

Am I in heaven?

Why do I still feel a thing crawling on me?

It was actually quite humorous. When all of my crazy thoughts quieted down, I reached down to my toe... and that's when I realized what was going on. A lightning bug was stuck between two of my toes! Seriously, he was stuck, and he was just blinking away. Every time he blinked, so did my toe. I got him un-stuck and set him free, let him fly out the window.

And then I smiled really big and cracked up. What a funny thing.

the God who fights for me...

I love this...

I was reading the prophet Jeremiah a few weeks ago when I ran across a passage that referred to God as "the Lord Almighty." To be honest, it didn't resonate. There's something too religious about the phrase; it sounds churchy, sanctimonious. The Lawd Almiiiighty. It sounds like something your grandmother would say when you came into her kitchen covered in mud. I found myself curious about what the actual phrase means in Hebrew. Might we have lost something in the translation? So I turned to the front of the version I was using for an explanation. Here is what the editors said:

'Because for most readers today the phrases "the Lord of hosts" and "God of hosts" have little meaning, this version renders them "the Lord Almighty" and "God Almighty." These renderings convey the sense of the Hebrew, namely, "he who is sovereign over all of the 'hosts' (powers) in heaven and on earth, especially over the 'hosts' (armies of Israel)."'

No, they don't. They don't even come close. The Hebrew means "the God of angel armies," "the God of the armies who fight for His people." The God who is at war. Does "Lord Almighty" convey "the God who is at war"? Not to me, it doesn't. Not to anyone I've asked. It sounds like "the God who is up there but still in charge." Powerful, in control. The God of angel armies sounds like the one who would roll up His sleeves, take the sword and shield to break down gates of bronze, and cut through bars of iron to rescue me.
~John Eldredge

It's beginning to mean the world to me that my God is the One who summons His armies to fight for ME and rescue ME. This is all happening beyond the world that I can see, of course, but it encourages my heart so much to know that I am not supposed to fight for myself or come to my own rescue... there is already a very big Someone doing that on my behalf. I think I'm learning how to open my hands and let Him do the fighting... He seems to really want to do that.