a day to sightsee

So yesterday I had the pleasure of taking a day to sightsee. Grace, who has been on STINT in Rome this past year, was up to visit me this weekend. She and Brad and I went on a train ride on Saturday so she could see Freiburg and Titisee and we could all see Schluchsee. Here are some photos of the day. :-)
this is what happens when you hand a man a camera... he takes photos when you are not expecting it! and Brad has the longer arm so we could all get a self portrait with the beautiful Schluchsee behind us. and here we have Titisee... I have posted photos of this place from the winter... it is amazing in the summer too! I went in the water up to my ankles and it was actually warm water! Beautiful!!!

The rest of the Italy story

Well, here it is about 2 weeks since I returned from Italia and I have not finished the story.. so sorry!
And I keep trying to post photos with this.. but alas.. no such luck. Sorry...

So.. we arrived in Verona on Saturday and went for a tour of the city with Rick Steves on Sunday. We saw it all...
the whale bone that will only fall if someone walks under it who has never lied. It is still up there in case you were all wondering.
We saw the house of Juliet... only we all know that she is not a real person. but apparently all the tourists find it very fascinating...
And we saw the Arena.. it is pretty much fully intact and they have broadway productions and various musicians come and play there during the summer.

Tuesday Louisa and i went to Lake Garda to go swimming... 2 hours after leaving the hotel we arrived. The Lady told us that the last bus to get back to our train station would depart at 1520. No problem. We had 3 hours to lay in the sun and swim too! Only thing is... I went to put on my suit and realized I had left it at the hotel. bleh. I still enjoyed the sun. And when it was time to leave... we waited for the bus...and the bus drive told us that his bus did not go to the train station... after much discussion and the help of a nice man.. Felice... we discovered that the bus actually went all the way back to Verona.. cheaper and faster than the train would have been. That was nice. So we got back to the hotel, changed and went to meet Kristin in Verona... where we had dinner in the Piazza Bra and listened to Eric Clapton playing live in the Arena... it was amazing!

Wednesday we all three went up to Gardaland... Italy's number 1 amusement park. it was loads of fun on water rides and roller coasters. Good day

Then it was back to pack up... Kristin went back to Portland the next morning... and Louisa and I went back to Rome... had an adventure getting to our hotel and another great person to help s get back into the city from our hotel. We got to meet up with the remaining STINTers in Rome. That was really great since I began this year getting to know them.

And then it was back to Kandern... Ah... .Kandern... so lovely, so refreshing... Yes. I skipped many stories... you'll just have to ask me about the hotel mix ups, our last dinner. Italy winning the final game of the World Cup. The cab driver who spoke German. The guys we met at the Verona train station. The smells of the train to Rome. The adventure in finding our Rome Hotel... yeah... it was an adventuresome week.

When God directs.

So, I am not sharing the rest of the Italy story in this post cause I have something really cool to share.

Last night some family friends from oh so long ago... came through town. I love the Anderson family. They we coming through Kandern on their way back up to where Jon lives as he is in the AirForce. There are three more kids in the family.

Julie and I were really good friends when we were younger and I love that God keeps bringing her into my life.



They arrived last night and we went to dinner at the local Greek restaurant and then had ice cream at the local Eis Caffe and then I took them for a mini tour of Kandern. Really.. the whole family are refreshing people. Each in a different way.

This morning we all went running and I have been trying to figure out a path that people keep telling me about... it is supposed to end up in the next town over after you go through the forrest and I have yet to figure it out.. many attempts... :-)

Anyway... as we were jogging along, Klarice the mother, asks me some questions and then she wanted to pray for our families.. so we are praying .. she is praying. I was marveling at the faith of this woman! She prays over any and everything. taking it straight to God and she immediately thanks God for the answers!

So she says amen and we come up to a fork in the road. I sugggsted that we could take the path to the left or we could return from whcnce we came. She said, "let's take the other path" so we started up the other path and up in front we saw a dog sitting next to something on the ground.

When we got closer we saw that there was a woman, obviously having fallen from her bike and obviously in a LOT of pain. She asked in German if we had a cell phone and in my German I told her that I did not and asked what happened. She explained a bit and where the pain was. Then Jon, came up with his cell phone so I dialed the woman's husband and she spoke to him about coming to get her.

I asked if we should stay with her and she assured me that it was okay for us to go on... Now Klarice and Julie are both nurses.. but I did not know how to tell the woman that in German.

We headed on and about half way back, John comes running up with his cell phone hands it to me and tells me that the man wants to know where to find his wife. Apparently he had gone out looking but could not find her. And he was, understandably concerned. I did not remember which "weg" she had been on so I convinced him that I would run back to her and then call him again. He seemed reluctant but agreed

So Jon and I take off running a good 1/4 to 1/2 mile back down to where the woman was and everything went well from there.

When Jon and I were climbing back up the hills we came up to a table where Klarice and Dave and Julie were praying for us and the woman.

How amazing is the Lord? He directed our paths to this woman who needed help and had no other way of getting help. And I got to tell the husband that G0d directed us to her.

Please pray with me that she would heal quickly... she could not put any pressure on her left leg without falling down.

Can a holiday be fun AND relaxing?

So I went to Italy this past week for a holiday or a vacation as my fellow American's would call it.

The plan was to fly into Rome, train to venice, spend a day, train to Florence spend a day, train to Naples, rent a car, drive to the resort, rest for several days, train back to Rome and fly home.

What happened....

Louisa and I flew into Rome and took a train to Venice

We met up with my dear friend Kristin and spend an evening and night in Venice. Where we ate dinner that night... there was a HUGE pizza with the words (in dough) Deutschland, Auf Wiedersehn... cause Italy beat Germany the night before in the semi-final round of the World Cup.

Train to Florence

Night in Florence. Thanks to Nicole who let us stay with her and took us on a little tour the next Morning.

Nicole is great fun... a fellow Oregonian. Gotta love it...
Myself, Louisa and Kristin posing at the top of Piazza Michaelangelo.. yes Tracy.. that is where we are. :-) Thought of you.

The next day we took a train to Verona where we were going to stay... lots of confusion with where we had reservations.. ah the joys of Italia... so Verona it was! I like Verona a lot. The hotel did not have any prospects for relaxing by a body of water.. so we headed into Verona on Sunday and did the Rick Steve's tour.. may I reccommend his travel books.. HIGHLY!!!? :-) He is great.

I'll tell the rest of the story in a couple days... :-)

the Fourth Day of July

Yesterday the Agape Office had a party for all those who are in town... including my non American friends who just want to have a BBQ with some American's celebrating freedom. :-)

We had an American flag that once upon a time hung at the American Capitol.

We had a clever cake (delicious too) that was very patriotic

We had a water balloon toss... I was the most soaked...yep. fun times. but it was a really hot day so it actually felt pretty good, Maggie and Marie got wet when Louisa crushed filled water balloons on their backs. Louisa was also my partner for the water balloon toss...sounds suspicious...

Efrem Workman enjoyed his watermelon... if I had a bib to carry my watermelon, I might like to eat watermelon more. It gets so sticky!

And Trent and Saundra Hardy were here to visit for the day as they begin their tour of Europe. It was so good to see them. Even if we did have to watch Germany lose in the World Cup. It was sad really. But wondeful to see Trent and Saundra.

Life

It has been about 2 weeks since I put any deep thoughts on this blog. Not because I have not had deep thoughts... but more because I have had too many deep thoughts to filter through and post. I do not want this blog to be an online journal. Who wants the whole world to read their deepest thoughts? Not me! If you want to know those we need to sit down for coffee and chat for a couple hours. :-)


I thought I would post a couple photos of things that have occured in the past couple weeks, people I am spending time with, and anything else that comes to mind.

1. My friend Bekah is going or is already back in the states. I suddenly feel more alone over here. I have great friends but it is precious that such a dear friend was also in Europe. Beks, I miss you. I look forward to seeing you soon.. if only for a short time.

2. I am going to Italy on Thursday for vacation. I get to meet up with my dear friend Kristin and my new friend Louisa is going with us. I really hope to relax and I pray that all three of us will be refreshed. I also pray for safety. Three pretty girls in Italy... may we be wise. :-)


3. The World Cup is going on and while i mentioned previously that the country of Germany is going crazy.. I also am really into it. I even bought a shirt that says Welcome Home to the World Cup... I think all my time with the Athletes in Action people is rubbing off on me. I have always enjoyed sports... I am hanging out with people who live sports. It is so great! :-)

4. This girl is Anna. She works at Klostermühle, the German speaking Torchbearer school in Germany. She wore here Netherlands shirt one night when we watched them play and lose.. it was sad... they did not play very well. But Anna was great and a great connection. With every new friend I make in Germany I wonder how long I will be here. I also met Natalie there, she thinks I should marry a German man so I must stay here. Hmmm... Anyway, Klostermühle was a wonderful experience. that is where the AIA conferences were held that I got to help with.


Well, maybe that is it for now. Many more thoughts and processings... but that will have to wait for a coffee time.