It is the eve of a new year

Wow... in a few more hours it will be 2006... So what did I do on the last day of the year 2005? I went to France with my friend Jamie. :-) We drove up to a castle that was closed for security reasons... not sure what that was about....
And then we went into a great little town below it called Reaubville... and had coffee at a little shop, a chocolate croissant at a Chocolatiere... I am probably butchering the spellings of these french places... Oh... I asked the waitress a the coffee shop if she spoke English... but I asked her in German... good grief!

So, after a bit of touristy time.. cameras flashing... we drove back to Kandern. And we had a lovely dinner... Wow... it is sure more fun to cook when a good friend is here to enjoy it with me! And now a bit of down time before going to play card games with some friends. Then I suppose we will actually attempt to see some of the fireworks that are going off all around. And then to sleep...

I am excited... I have the opportunity to lead worship at the church I am attending tomorrow.. New Year's Day. May God get the glory and may my voice hold strong.

Happy New Year!!!!!

Boxing Day/St. Stephen Day

So, today is day 3 of Christmas here in Germany... Now to a girl from America this is a rather odd thing... 3 days for Christmas???? I am used to the commercials on TV raging about how great their after Christmas Sale is going to be. I am used to crazy people getting up at 4 a.m. on the 26th to be the first in line for their favorite store's sale. Crazy people! yes. Mind you, I think I have been part of the crazy people crowd a couple times in my life... but not being a huge fan of shopping malls... I quickly lost any excitment for that tradition.

So, here I am in Germany and it is Boxing Day/St. Stephens Day. I decided to look these up to find out why I get another day off. :-)

From what I could find... Boxing Day originated in the UK and St. Stephens Day originated in Ireland.

Boxing Day (from wikipedia)

There is much dispute over the true origins of Boxing Day, but one common story of the holiday's origins is that servants and tradesmen received Christmas gifts from their employers on the first weekday after Christmas, the day after the family celebrations. These were generally called their "Christmas boxes." Another story is that this is the day that priests broke open the collection boxes and distributed the money to the poor.


And from numerous other websites....

St. Stephens Day is after the first martyr Stephen who was stoned to death.

also from wikipedia:

St Stephen's Day is also a popular day for visiting family members. A popular rhyme, known to many Irish children and sung at each house visited by the mummers goes as follows:

The wren, the wren, the king of all birds,
On St. Stephen's Day was caught in the furze,
Up with the penny and down with the pan,
Give us a penny to bury the wren.

Interesting eh? And it started snowing this evening... lovely big flakes that pile on top of each other and cover everything very quickly. Gorgeous!!!!!

I had a good Christmas and my friend Jamie is coming to visit in a couple days... I am almost giddy with excitement. We will drive to Slovenia to visit some dear friends and I will also get to see my "sister" Bekah. It has been too long Beks!

It feels like home...

So... My flat finally feels like home... maybe because I have things on the walls... I painted a picture to go over my dining room table.. and that helps... So.. here you go photos... :-)

a package!

So, this morning I got up and made my way to the shower. Just as I was about to get in the shower, my doorbell buzzer rang. It kind of shocked me.. you know when you are not expecting something... that kind of shock.

Well, it rang and rang, so I picked up the receiver... no one there. Then it rang and rang again. I finally pushed the button to let whomever it was in... since they seemed so desperate. They came in the front door and then the buzzer rang and rang again... ARGH! I called out.. moment Bitte! threw on a more decent shirt and opened my door... No one was there. WHAT????? I was confused... and then I heard a man down below saying something about ein paket... I said, WAS?" sounds like vas. :-) He said "Package for Melissa Wright."

Good grief! So i go down the three flights of stairs and yes.. indeed a post man was there with a package for me. from my dear friend Amy. I got very excited. He kept exclaiming that I had no socks or shoes on and that I was standing on marble floors... very improper in Europe.

anyway, he spoke pretty good english so everything worked out and i bid him farewell, "Tchuss!" and took the package upstairs.

Oh the wonders that did delight my eyes upon opening said package! 2 People magazines, and a couple cooking magazines, 3 different types of Brownie mix, several packets of hot cider mix, instant jello, instant pudding.... wow.. yeah... and more. and the most wonderful Christmas card from my dear friend!

God is good!

I wonder who has my old number...

So this past week I had the random thought of, "I wonder if T-Mobile gave out my old number yet?" I had the number for about 7 years and so many of you had the number memorized.. it is a little strange to think that it belongs to another person now.

Anyway, an answer to my question came yesterday morning in this email from a friend. I am withholding the friend's name, :-)
***************************************
Okay, so I tried to send you a text message to see if it works, I only
texted:
"Hi, it's me, let me know if this works"
so I just got a phone call from a young-ish sounding guy, saying yeah, you just texted me, but I don't think I know you... He just got his phone yesterday with your old number. I told him that people are probably going to be calling him often, since he has just inherited the "most popular girl in the world"s old cell phone number and he laughed. I told him you had moved overseas, but that there were many people that might call him in the future since you had lots of friends, and were very open with giving out that number.
******************************************

Anyway, it made my day. And I even thought... hmmm.. maybe I should call or text him and tell him thank you for being so nice to my friends. :-)

Office parties...

Well... We had our Agape Office party last night... and I have been sick so I was kind of out of it. I went home at 10p.m.! Crazy...I know. It was, however, really great to see so many people who I have come to know and care about in one room. I could look around the room and know that these are quality people because I have had the privilege of seeing their hearts. Okay, not the literal heart... but the very core of them which drives them to do what God is calling them to do! I sat with the Athletes in Action crew. .(AIA) that group has become a second home to me. Jamie Weatherford... think of it as how your office was to me when I was at MBC. Great people... not that my own office is bad... far from it. I am very blessed. Anyway, enough rambling... here are some photos: Adrienne and I-she is working with AIA for the World Cup (Soccer anyone?)


And here are Brad and Scott-AIA guys. Of course these are not the most flattering of photos but what do you get when Brad takes my camera and starts shooting...


And here, last but certainly not least... is my friend Maria. She is the head of finances for Agape

Where I have been

well... last week... I went from snow to palm trees and sun.... Austria to Southern Italy...












And then to Rome, Italy...yes folks.. that is the coliseum... and that is me standing outside of the coliseum


































And this is the Vatican in the distance... over the swollen river...there are concerns of flooding in central and southern Italy due to the tremendous amounts of rain.