Marissa's adventures

Let's start at the very beginning

2012-02-09T04:07:00.000-08:00

"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. When you read you being with a-b-c, when you sing you begin with do-ra-me." Or when talking about a trip to the states you begin with family time!

I had quite the adventure in the states-around 6 weeks of it to be exact. And it started out as any good trip should- with LOTS of family time. We did EVERYTHING! basketball games, shopping, puzzles, playing games, eating, laughing, chatting- and wedid it in abundance. I got home while the kids were still in school so right off the bat I got to go see on of Tyler's basketball games. He impressed me with his 18 points and 20 rebounds- NO DOUBT!!:)

I also got together with 3 friends from High school and we had a blast. We felt like we were back in High school-climbing(because she has a ghetto-fabulous car that has broken seats and has to be started with a screw driver!) into Jen's jeep and driving crazy through the streets of Perkasie-YES,that was us!!:) Finally after 2am we decided maybe it was time to call it quits but it was a blast!

Wanda and her crew got in last friday night after rescuingKari from school:) and then the chaos got taken up a few notches! I think we literally spent every waking moment together. I mean there was a 10 minute time at some point over the next 10 days when I went into my room just for a moment of peace and mom came in asking why I was in the room all alone:) Fun times!

Mom decided to go through 1 of the hope chests and clear it out. So she made us each a bag of items that may or may not have been from our actual childhood-there were too many of us to keep straight:) and told us we had to take them or she was throwing them out. Her I am wearing just a few of the items in my bag. Notice the cute hat, booties and extra special cape! I decided maybe they don't actually fit any more. In case you were wondering there was also a old stained onesie-why she kept it I have no idea and how she could have know to whom it might belong is even more mind boggling.

So in my bag was also the brown sweater that is on the monkey below. In the midst of us laughing about everything mom informs me that there were matching ones for her and dad that my grandmother had given them. This was the point when we realized that she really had no idea what belonged to whom because she remembered that they had worn them when they lived in Vermont- where they lived for 2 years right after they got married and LONG before I was born:) But she got the matching sweater and we took a "family portrait"

here we are getting ready for the Christmas eve service- not sure what is going on but we were obviously having fun!

The following week we headed out to Lancaster for a Green Dragon and Shady Maple run!

And for new years we played the amazing game of Quelf and had pretzel's, nuggets, homemade cake pops and so much more!!

So that is the beginning-more to come!

Exchanges

2012-02-06T07:34:00.000-08:00

SO a few years ago I posted this blog

http://marissasadventures.blogspot.com/2009/05/daughter-of-farmer.html

about how I tend to not get rid of things that I think I will be able to fix. Well here I am to verify that sometimes it pays off to hang onto those old things:) A few months back I saw on the Apple sight they were having a recall on the first ipod nanos from 2005. Well I happened to own one of those. It had been a birthday gift from some friends. It was my first ever ipod and I used it all the time until I bought a mac computer a few years later and it came with a free ipod touch. Then it mostly just got used on road trips because it worked with the cheapo device I got at Rice's to play my ipod through the radio. Any how-it was only 2gb and so I was constantly having to change the music/podcasts on it. I am NOT complaining-just setting the story up. So the said ipod was getting recalled. I filled out the appropriate paperwork and waited for an envelope to get sent to my parents house in PA. When I got home for Christmas it was there-waiting for me to put my old ipod in and take to the UPS store. From there they said they would send me a "fixed" one in 4-6 weeks. In the meantime I had looked up online to see if they were going to be sending the SAME ipod back or if it would be updated? The news I read was that they were refurbishing them and sending the same ones back.

So off I set on my 3 1/2 week road trip(more on that later) and when I returned my mom shows me a package and asks if it could possibly be my "new" ipod? She is sure it can't because it is so tiny(and she didn't see the buttons for turning it on). but indeed-my ipod has been upgraded to a 8gb nano-and all because I refuse to get rid of perfectly good "junk"

Here is a photo of my fantastic and new ipod! Yeah for being a Farmer's daughter:)

Day off!

2011-12-06T02:41:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I drove here(whilst passing through belgium and the netherlands)

to shop at this

and enjoy these lights

The day started out gorgeous. Drove to Dusseldorf with the plan of shopping for some Christmas stuff, checking out a city I had never been to before and maybe sitting in a starbucks for a bit:) All was accomplished and though the day ended in a mix of rain/snow it was awesome! There may have been one awkward moment in starbucks when perhaps while reading in Matthew I may have teared up and then caught the eye of someone sitting across from me but I think we all escaped relatively unscathed:) Yeah for German Christmas markets, GPS's and awesome travel soundtracks!

Countdown ON!!

2011-12-03T05:10:00.000-08:00

Can't wait to see these faces and more!!!

16 more days til I arrive in the states!! I am SOOO excited. Pretty much I become a useless mess when it gets this close to seeing my family so it's always a good thing that there on things on my calendar that keep me focused:) Right now I am listening to Christmas music and baking pumpkin bread! I know-you might think it's past pumpkin bread making days- I mean thanksgiving is past BUT I didn't get to make it even once this year so I am making now. PLUS I am still babysitting(have been for almost 2 weeks) and they have an actual stove(as you might guess) and counter space so i was feeling inspired. As a matter of fact- if I had the other ingredients I would consider making Christmas cookies!! But for now- Pumpkin bread it is. So thank you Mrs. Dovan-one of my second grade teachers-for your awesomepumpkin bread recipe- It has literally made it around the world!!

TRADITIONS

So when I arrive in America I have some traditions. Like the fact that my dad picks me up and always has a few of his famous oatmeal raisin cookies for me to eat on the way home. No one else in the family likes or eats them but they are my FAVORITE cookie in the world and the fact that my dad makes them and remembers to bring them to me makes them that much more precious! Then we drive home and mom has usuallyplanned a home cooked meal that includes lima beans-again you may not be interested in them but they are my fav and they are also grown by my dad:) Can you see why my expectations for a husband are so high?:) Now this year when i arrive home Trisha's kids will be out of school already so I will not be able to surprise any of them at school BUT that does mean we will get to go to Chick-Fil-A together at least 5 times in my first week home:) We will also have our annual cookie baking extravaganza!! This involves a FULL day of baking all sorts of cookies and baked goods while listening to Johnny Mathis on the record player. This has been a tradition for as long as I have been alive and I can not listen to Johnny without wishing I was in my mom's kitchen baking cookies! Sadly Wanda and the girls will not be with us this year because Kari doesn't get out of school until the 23rd- REALLY people??? what if people have baking traditions they have to uphold?! BUT there has been word on the Hunsberger street that Devonand Alexis are quite the bakers these days so I think we will be able to fill in the gaps!

I LOVE traditions- they have a way of making me feel at home and I think it's an awesome way to connect and give a sense of community. I love that my nieces and nephews know and love the traditions as much as I do. I love that I get to SHARE them with so many amazing people. I love that my family appreciates the fact that though we may spend most of the year so far apart, when we are together we get to make awesome memories TOGETHER! New traditions are born every year- like homemade frappachino's on new years:) and the Christmas mice:)

What will it be this year?!!! Can't wait to see!

When there is snow- sledding is ALWAYS a must! this is from last years sledding day! Can you guess which one I am?

Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T05:51:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow marks the first in my 35 years that I will not celebrate Thanksgiving Day with a proper turkey and fixings. It's an odd feeling. A mixture of missing the traditions that this day holds along with that odd feeling that this is home now and in this home they do not have the same traditions.

So I will make a list of things that I am thankful for and for 2moro I will be content to say thank you without the amazing food.

a comfy bed to sleep in, a hot shower whenever I want, food in the fridge and cabinets, laughter, good music, relationships, family who are friends as well, friends who are family as well, legs that can walk or run, shoes for various purposes, a car to get around in, God's love and pursuit, the ability to read, joy, iced coffee, airplanes to get me places, memories, pictures that tell stories, love, mercy, internet connection, books that challenge, different cultures, opportunity to cuddle friends babies, peace beyond understanding, selfless people/acts, chick-fil-a, the color orange, life lessons-even the hard ones, wisdom, smiles, wrinkles that show life lived, that God is bigger than my understanding, traditions, that life is new every day, free t-shirts, bathrooms that flush, water from a tap, grace, flowers, fall, sweet tea, a full life, opportunity to share God's love with my friends.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!! I pray that the day is amazing-filled with friends, family, traditions and new memories!

Christmas is coming

2011-11-10T12:37:00.001-08:00

I have already begun to listen to Christmas music-and I LOVE it! There has been this poster circulating the web about how Nordstrom's is not decorating for Christmas until after thanksgiving- a one holiday at a time policy. 7 or 8 years ago I would have held this same philosophy. Especially given that Thanksgiving has ALWAYS been my favorite holiday. I love it because it does not include the stress of picking out the prefect gift AND it involves eating copious amounts of amazingly good food. The problem is that it is a purely North American holiday. They do not celebrate it over here. I have found ways to celebrate every year with a variety of friends but it has never been the same since leaving the states and SO -I welcome an early Christmas with open arms. I welcome the fact that my neighborhood has already put up the Christmas lights over the streets. I welcome the fact that the other night I walked past a restaurant and they had their Christmas tree lit in the window. I welcome the fact that yesterday I met a friend at the only Starbucks in Brussels city and they had red cups, Christmas music playing and Christmas coffee for sale. I welcome the fact that Brussels has begun setting up for the Christmas market. I welcome these things because they do not bring the fear and panic of the crazy Christmas season in the US. Christmas here is more laid back, it's twinkle lights, candles and drinks with friends. It's ice skating on the square and getting churros at the market:) It is more about special moments with special people then about finding and buying a gift someone probably doesn't NEED anyway. And in the midst of it I seem to be able to remember a bit better the reason we celebrate-Jesus birth in a manger. The fact that our all powerful, all knowing, all loving God came in the form of a baby and HUMBLED himself to be born in a manger. He is about relationships- about loving people before they ever love him and so I welcome this celebration with the joy that comes from knowing I have been loved for eternity and that I have received a gift that I can not and need not repay. So for all my North American friends- I will join you in eating amazing food this month but I will ALSO begin celebrating Christmas a little earlier than you:)!

Lately

2011-10-04T08:26:00.000-07:00

It has been a very busy few weeks. I really am not quite sure where september went but I welcome October with open arms. October is, for many reasons, my favorite month. The least of these is that no one looks at me oddly when I wear my varied collection of orange clothing. Another is the introduction of candy corn into everyone's diet. There are just SO many ways to eat those niblets of goodness! I prefer to start at the top-for some reason the white part is my least favorite- and then eat the orange bit and savor the fat yellow bit for last. I have my technique perfected but I would assume there are many other ways to delight in the goodness of candy corn. I also love October for the colors. Everything just looks beautiful this month. The trees start to turn, the forest floor turns orange and golden, there is that brilliant red ivy climbing the sides of buildings. And every once in a while you get that perfect crisp fall day to go for a walk! AHHHH October is here and I love it!

Just because I have not been blogging here it doesn't mean that I have not been up to exciting things.

Several of my friends moved away-and by "away" I mean to australia and california-so about as far away as one could get! Before they left we spent the day at an abbey near Brussels. It is a gorgeous abbey with ivy growing everywhere and Ben kept saying he felt like he was in the Lord of the Rings:) Here are sarah, Julz and I at the abbey.

So everyone talks about the crazy cows we have in Belgium. They look like they are on steroids. So if you haven't seen them before- here is a photo though this guy isn't as muscly as some!

Spent some time on the "Brussels Beach." Each summer they build a "beach" along the canal. Let's just say it's a good thing this is at night because the canal is disgusting and I am not quite sure that the allure of the sand makes it any better but-hey-we went anyways:)

Had a picnic on the grand place-everyone should experience this at least once in their life-or maybe once a week:) But it was fun and there was even a light show at the end of the night!

Then a few weeks ago I went to visit some friends in the UK. They are dear friends that moved from ATL to the UK this summer so I was anxious to visit and see how they were adjusting. We took a few little trips to castles and towns and just hung out a lot.

In York we went into the cathedral and they were having a service. At the end you could go and have one of the pastors pray for you. It was a really moving experience-which I unabashedly took a photo of:)

Here is a picture of the outside of the cathedral.

and Macey and I at starbucks:) Macey was my roomate for about 4 months 6 years ago. Now she is in the 10th grade and is gorgeous and so mature and I was blessed to be able to eat many of her baked goods while I was there:)

I flew to the UK on an airline I had never flown before(flybe). I was a little concerned that it wasn't a real airline when I booked the tickets and I am not saying they were excellent but not awful either. Here is the view out my window as we landed in Manchester. The fact that the wheels were not under the plane but on the wings lets you know how small the plain was:)

Well that's all for now- many more adventures to come!

You know you've been out of the country too long when . . .

2011-09-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

So apparently I have been living outside of the USA for a little too long and no longer remember general holidays actual dates. I tend to remember when the 4th of July(kind of self explanatory) and Christmas are-they keep the same date every year. But those tricky holidays that switch dates every year- well they get me all kinds of confused.

Like yesterday when I was on skype with my mom. It was September 1st and in my head that meant it was labor day- you know- the day where you can no longer wear white? but she mentions something about MONDAY being labor day. . . I tried to play it off but it took me probably a full 30 seconds of going over it in my head to remember that YES indeed labor day is not ALWAYS September 1st but the 1st Monday in September. REALLY- are they just trying to confuse those of us who longer live in America?

can't we make more holidays like 4th of July?- cuz the name really helps me remember the date!

Yes I am still alive!

2011-08-02T15:07:00.000-07:00

I know I have been missing for quite some time but I have many excuses-which include but are not limited to being in france and then the states for a month!

So for this moment I will leave you with a little teaser of my time away.

2 of my sisters came to YoungLife camp with me and I made them go on the giant swing:) They may tell you they hated it but they loved it:) they even willingly went on the Zip line the next day!

We also spent the annual week at the shore-here we are being hardcore!

This was my view in France when I went to YoungLife camp to work! God's handiwork is AMAZING!

Bulgaria Hysteria!

2011-04-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

Just got back from our annual YoungLife service project. We went to Bulgaria this year. From Brussels we took 22 students and 4 adults. It was an absolute blast! I am still exhausted and a little sick but it was all VERY worth it!

Here is the program team of "Bulgaria Hysteria"

One of the murals we painted at the school for kids with disabilities.

Alyssa getting to use the saw!

Emily and I on the work site

The girls on the beach!

The whole Brussels group in front of the other mural.

With some of the kids from the school

Stephen and his posse!

Our awesome Brussels leaders!!

Paul got to come back and be part of Brussels!!

You know your a people pleaser when . . .

2011-04-09T06:02:00.000-07:00

Ok so everyday when I go to the gym I pass one of those blinking signs that has a radar in it and it tells you how fast you are going. Now I have seen many different varieties of these types of radar signs over the years and some are more motivating than others. The ones that just blink your speed-not motivating AT ALL-i can look at my speedometer for that. Then there are the ones that blink your speed and how much the fine$$ would be if they caught you. A little more motivating but still . . who's there to catch me. Well the one I pass on the way home from the gym takes another approach which I find VERY motivating. It flashes your speed and then if you are below 50kmp it gives you a ☺ or a ☹ if you are going over 50mph. Now I am NOT joking when I tell you that every time I go by-if it is on ☹ I slow down to earn my ☺. Sad I know-but so true-way to go radar sign inventor you have figured out how to motivate me to slow down-it's kind of like getting a sticker when you were in kindergarten- ONLY BETTER!!!

happy new year 1319!!

2011-03-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

SO a few weeks back I went to the Bulgarian embassy here in Brussels to get a visa for my friend Said who is coming as one of our leaders on service project. He attempted to come last year but at the last minute(literally 2 days before) we realized that he needed a visa and we did not have enough time to get it. So this year we were on our A game! and got to the task months in advance. It was quite a little adventure. First of all picking up Said on the side of the road:) after trying to find him by the statue only to figure out that there were 2 statues and we were each at different ones! Then finding the front of the embassy and trying to buzz ourselves in. I ended up talking into one of those intercom things and NO ONE was on the other end-yes I looked a little crazy. Then we drove to the back entrance and were greeted by a Bulgarian guy who spoke no French, Flemish, english or persian(all languages that between the 2 of us we could have functioned in) so we proceeded to wait in line only to be told when we got to the front of the line that we needed to fill out a bunch of papers. Problem was that the 1st guy did not speak and of our languages so he could not give us the appropriate paperwork. SO we got out of line and I got right back in line while Said filled out the papers. When we got back to the front of the line the guy was checking Said's answers. He pointed out a mistake- Said had put the wrong year down for his birth year. I looked at him and was like "what! how could you not know your birth year?" and he proceeded to call me out on my ignorance and tell me that in Iran(where he is from) they are on a totally different calendar and thus when he moved here the people who issued his documents had to count backwards to figure out the year that we would use.

So fast forward to this past saturday night when I get a call from Said asking me if I wanted to come with him to a Iranian New Year's celebration. Well regardless of whatever else I had planned the answer was YES!! I would love to ring in the year 1319!!! and eat amazing Iranian food and try my hand at reading and speaking persian! SO Sunday afternoon I joined him and his family at their church for a New Years celebration. I sadly did not take any pictures but it was quite an event! But I wish you a very happy 1319!!

concerts

2011-03-16T13:58:00.001-07:00

It has been the month of concerts. To be honest in the past I have rarely if ever gone to concerts. Most of that came out of the fact that I was not that into music. That's not to say I don't love music-cuz i do! but I didn't really follow the "music scene" and pretty much only knew big names artists that one would hear on the radio all the time. Things have changed in the past year or so. I think I have found my genre of music and therefore have done a bit of research into similar artists. This has also been helped out by the fact that some of my good friend in BXL are VERY into music. So in the past 5-6 weeks I have been to several concerts- some of them more my style and some as a result of friends and students. The first concert was with students-THE SCRIPT-an irish band came through town. I was smart enough to get tickets ahead of time(it sold out early) and went with a few high school students. It was a decent concert- the lead singer was a bit full of himself but I am guessing that a lead singer of a rock band should be a little cocky? The next concert 2 weeks later and more my style- IRON & WINE. I was quite excited about this concert and was actually the one who organized my friends to go. Sad to say it was very disappointing. The music was all changed up and slightly self-indulgent and I walked away feeling like the best part of the evening was going out afterwards. Then the week after that we had our YoungLife fundraiser concert where we had THROW TELEVISION open up for RUE ROYALE. Both amazing bands and quite possibly my favorite concert so far! Monday night was yet another concert- KT TUNSTALL was in town. Fiona got tickets way back when and though I did not know much of her music-let's just say black horse and a cherry tree was probably the only song I DID know- the concert was quite good. She was fun and unassuming and gave a great show. We started out pretty close to the front and since I am somehow taller than most Belgians I had a pretty good view of the entire stage(even the awesome orange drum set!) We ended up in the back after a near fainting scare from Fiona but all in all a good concert

No more concerts for a while but it sure was a fun month!

all in a day

2011-02-21T06:26:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I crack up at my life. For instance- today by 1 PM I had

1-been to french class where of course I spoke french and as much english as I could get my neighbors to speak:)

2-Gone to the car dealership because this morning I wanted to check my oil but the hood would not open. SO I went to the dealership to see what I was doing wrong-YES i did try reading the french manual first but it just said to do what I was trying. The problem was NOT me-but a loose cable so the nice french belgian checked my oil for me:)

3-went to the grocery store where I got to speak the little Flemish I know(thank you and I would like to pay with credit please:))

and then back to my place- yes 3 languages in 1 morning-

only in Belgium where not only can they not choose a language but we also hold the record for longest time without a government! GO BELGIUM!!

Italian adventures

2011-02-01T13:08:00.000-08:00

There are many moments in my life when I step back and have to tell myself- "this is my life!!" Some of those moments are in the best of times and some not:)

As far as best of times go- Since November I have been to Italy not once but TWICE!! ridiculous-I know!! considering I had not been since my "european adventure" of 1999 it is pretty impressive:)

Trip 1-In november I went with my amazing friend Kate who was living in Spain at the time and wanted to visit Rome before she moved back to the states. We stayed in amazing apartment right around the corner from the Colosseum. It was so much fun to walk around Rome and eat lots of pizza and Gelato with one of my dearest friends. We met lots of fun people, heard opera being sung outside the Pantheon, took illegal pictures:), and mastered the art of public transport in Rome-it's impressive believe me:)

a picture in the colosseum looking out towards the Roman Forum-amazing history!

in the Roman forum-I actually learned how to use this type of fountain by watching Eat, Pray, Love- at least i learned something:)

My favorite outfits of the trip- really -do they have to make the Swiss guard look like clowns?

Trip #2- For my birthday back in October my 2 dearest friends in Brussels gave me an amazing gift. They planned an adventure for us to Italy in january-figuring we would need an escape from the dreary belgium weather! We flew to Pisa and then stayed in acute little Tuscan town at the top of a hairpin turn mountain road. We built fires every night and walked around fairly deserted italian villages during the day. These ladies are amazing and I am so blessed to have them in my life. We chatted and chatted, made s'mores in our fireplace at night and ate breakfast on the rooftop terrace.

IN pisa taking the obligatory-"it's gonna fall without me" picture

Fiona, me and Sarah in Pisa

Eating on the rooftop- it was sunny- but COLD!! hey coming from Belgium we will do anything for some sun!

In one of our tuscan villages:)

Thanks ladies for giving me the best present ever-TIME with you in an incredible setting!

more watches

2011-01-11T14:12:00.000-08:00

This one goes back to a blog I posted about 1 1/2 years ago titled "daughter of a farmer" which involved my ingenious fixing of a watch with electrical tape. Well that watch that I was fixing was one of about 4 that I had from my days of living on Hilton Head Island when the Nike outlet was just around the corner and it was cheaper to go get a new watch than get the battery changed. Well each of those watches eventually ran out of battery and was replaced by a clone watch and being the pennsylvania dutch girl that I am I did not throw the unused watches away-i mean they may be useful SOMEday. That means that YES they have moved through 3 different countries! So over the past few years I have replaced the batteries in each of those watches and worn them until they actually broke(I mean seriously friends they are made of plastic-they were bound to eventually break). And when they broke I fixed them with electrical tape for as long as they could be fixed and then and only then did I throw them out-NOOOO!!! i did not throw them out-are you kidding?- I mean someday someone might come up with a way to reattach plastic watch bands to themselves- I put those watches in the medicine cabinet to wait for that day! So back to the watches which hadn't fallen apart, been fixed with electrical tape and then retired to the medicine cabinet. Over Christmas I took the last one home with me in hopes of changing the battery. On my last day there I realized I had not gotten the battery changed so I decided to go to Wal-mart to get a battery. What I forgot to take into account was the fact that I did not have a way of getting the back opened and I did not know what type of battery I needed and at Wal-mart or any other store for that matter they will not change said Nike battery because they cannot guarantee the waterproofness of it afterwards. I mean come on!-I am not going deep sea diving, I just want a watch that works! I will take all responsibility for the lack of waterproof abilities! So I waited at the watch counter for like 10 minutes hoping the person that came would hand me the tools so that I could open it and find the battery number and replace it. The lady comes and was about as helpful as I was when I worked at Wal-Mart for 1 month back in college-in other words she looked at me, said she couldn't change it, she didn't have the tools and there was a place in the mall(20 minutes away) who might change it. Now any other time that would have been my excuse to go to the mall and get Chick-Fil-A but it was my last day in the states and I wanted to avoid the mall. So long story short- I came up with the plan to go to the eye glasses part of the store and borrow one of their eye-glass repair kits that they sell. So I stood in the store and used their handy tool to open the back of my watch only to find that they did not have the correct battery-drats! well wal-mart got an extra 97 cents because I bought that repair kit so I could take it to the rite-aid and buy the correct watch! (and while I was there I found this stuffed "Woody" pillow that my nephew freaked out about when he opened it for his bday- he is a HUGE toy story fan!) So thank you wal-mart for all of your help! Oh yeah- and this being the LAST watch in a long succession of identical watches-it is also the best because the indigo light actually works! way to go out with a bang!

Home

2010-12-12T07:24:00.000-08:00

Above is a picture circa 1980 of my older sister Trisha, my Grandmom and me at Christmas(take note of all the green-the doors,couch and pj's!).

"Home is where the heart is" If that is true then I have many homes. As I get ready to head "home" to the states this week it brings up odd feelings because it is also "home" here in Brussels and to be honest I am "home" in Atlanta as well. It is an odd sensation to say you are going home to a place you have not actually lived in over 10 years and yet it completely feels like home. There is something so great about my time in PA-Family! I have a lot of family all over the world-not biological but people that I would do anything for and who would do anything for me. And yet there is something to be said about people who have literally known you your whole life-all 34+years of it!:)

People that remember this cheesy grin,

Or this great late 70's look!(At least the 70's were almost over by the time I came around-and I didn't get to enjoy the full feathered hair of my sisters-I just got the crooked bangs!)

They know I am not perfect so I can just be me! They know the Marissa who used to walk out of the house with ketchup all over her and not even realize it, who did not shower regularly until probably the 8th grade, who would follow them around like a lost puppy-just wanting to be a part of whatever they were a part of, who played sports all day every day, who always wanted to go places, who acted like she didn't want to be like her big sisters but who really wanted to do everything they did, who yelled at their boyfriends for not treating them right, who was a typical youngest sister! The girl with the crooked bangs, crooked teeth and mismatched clothes.

And so this week as I look forward to going HOME I am looking forward to a lot of things but the biggest one is just BEING with my family and enjoying each other. I am looking forward to the traditions of Christmas-cooking baking while listening to Johnny Mathis, all the kids sleeping on the floor at Grammy and Poppy's on Christmas eve, having breakfast casseroles, opening amazing stockings, going into Philly and so much more!

HOME- it's nice to have a lot of places to call home but for me there's nothing like the original!

PS-the picture above is the show you that the wings have been replaced and we have grown up past the 70's!

Thanksgiving and snow

2010-12-05T06:04:00.000-08:00

Last saturday I celebrated Thanksgiving with my friends here in Brussels. It was a lovely day of cooking in Fiona and rasmus' amazing kitchen(pretty much any kitchen with an oven qualifies as amazing for me these days! but theirs even has a dishwasher!!), listening to Christmas music on their high-tech internet radio gadget, eating way to much food, laughing til our sides hurt(as if the food hadn't made them hurt enough), and then consuming dessert!

Fiona always decorates things so great-last year was a purple, black and white theme but this year it was a much more traditional fall colored them-yeah for the orange!!!

I totally forgot to take any pictures of the main meal but here we are digging into some dessert! I can't tell you how;) but I even managed to get Zielger's apple cider(anyone from PA will know what that is!)

This is some of us trying not to go into a turkey coma whilst sitting on their amazingly large and comfy sofa! We also got some american football on the computers for a little while-I have to say the europeans were not as into that as us americans.

This week has been a week of snow- There was even a snow day on thursday-not for the Belgian schools but the international schools went for it:) My street is scary steep even on the best of days so on snowy days most people are wise enough not to attempt driving up it. That meant that there were not many cars parked on the street and the neighborhood kids have been using it as their sledding hill. It's pretty fun to watch:) and last night they were out there at 12:30 enjoying themselves-I think I may have scared them with my stalking out the window:)

Here was my terrace yesterday-so pretty with all the snow-but at some point last night it got a little warmer and must have rained away the snow. But no worries it is snowing again as I write this!

I kissed the waiter

2010-11-29T10:25:00.001-08:00

So perhaps I have lived in europe too long or perhaps it was just one of those nights but about a week ago my friend hannah was in town. Hannah is a friend i met while working at YoungLife camp in Canada 3 years ago. She had brought kids up for the week and we struck up a friendship. The next summer I again worked at camp and at the end of that time I needed a place to crash for a few days so Hannah let me crash with her in Seattle. I had not seen hannah in over 1 1/2 years but she recently moved to Ireland so we had great plans for visiting each other. Hannah finally came for her first visit to Brussels. It was kind of an insane work week so she was getting dragged around to all my various YoungLife stuff(good thing she's used to that!) The first night she was in town she came with me to basketball tryouts and then we came home to meet my friend fiona for dinner.

We don't often go out to eat but since it was getting late and I didn't have much in the way of creating a meal we decided to walk down to the Italian restaurant on the corner. When Liesl lived here we used to go to Cicio Bella a few times a month but it had been a while since I had been there. The people who work there are all Italian and speak mostly italian with a little french and english thrown in.

when we got there it was pretty empty so they seated us near the bar. we ordered our food and began chatting and enjoying ourselves. Throughout that night we apparently became the entertainment for all the staff:) It began when our waiter twice dropped stuff while he was serving us-first butter and then utensils. Our conversation was also creating a lot of laughter on our part so i think we began to attract attention.

Long story short- as the night went on a particular young and cute italian waiter began a slight flirtation with me. This led to us getting free dessert and drinks. we were having a lovely evening. After being there for several hours we decided it was time to head home. We got up to go and the cute young italian guy and I ended up in an uncomfortable closeness. I wasn't sure what was going on so I kissed him on the cheek and headed out.

I got out the door and looked at hannah and burst out, "i kissed the waiter!" we had a great laugh on the way home- I mean how many times do you get to kiss your young cute italian waiter?:)

Needless to say Hannah wanted to return to the restaurant every night after that!

Birthday reflection

2010-10-21T04:45:00.000-07:00

I don't have a great memory when it comes to things that have happened in my life but my birthday is one day that I can usually remember what I was doing in the past. Last year my mom, dad, wanda and tori were here-my car broke down, we ate at Le Klepto for dinner and I opened my presents at about 11PM! 4 years ago on this day I had just moved to Belgium from Norway-I had been here maybe 3 days and knew about that same amount of people. 5 years ago I was in Norway. 10 years ago I was living in Atlanta-I had just moved there 2 months before. 15 years ago I was a sophomore in college living in a dorm and 20 years ago I was a freshmen in high school. Wow how time flies and how my life has gone in a direction I literally never dreamed of.

As most of you know every Wednesday morning I meet with a group of high school girls who come over to my place for breakfast and a Bible study. This semester we have been going through the book of Esther. Don't know if you know this or not but the name of God is not ever mentioned in the book. So as we began looking at the book we talked about that fact-that even though His name is not mentioned- His hand is all over the story. He was writing Esther's story from the very beginning. Every week we've talked about that fact that God is also writing our story even if we never audibly hear Him speak.

Yesterday morning we were looking at the 6th chapter and here is what hit me-within the first 4 verses you see God's timing perfectly. If you don't remember the story-look it up-it's amazing!! The king "just happens" to be up, he "just happens" to have read to him the story of Mordecai saving his life and Haman "just happens" to be in the hall when he asks. All of these "just happens" are really God's perfect timing and his plan.

My life-I don't foresee a time when my story is literally written down into a book like Esther's but at the same time my story is being written. I can see God's hand in the timing and direction of things. And though my memory often fails to recollect many of the events in my life I love that at least once I year I can look back and be amazed at how God has moved in my life. It is always an amazing reminder to me of His complete faithfulness. Seriously-as much as I loved the traveling even as a kid I NEVER imagined I would be living in another country, doing the most amazing job anyone could ever imagine, getting to know people from around the globe. I never would have imagined how much God has shown me and grown me and blown my mind away with His awesomeness(wow-sorry about all the rhyming!). This morning as I skipped french-oops! and lay in bed I was just reminded how much God has done in my life and the fact that YES at the time it sometimes hurts but looking back it is always amazing. So here's to another awesome year!

Some highlights of the past year: Cooked thanksgiving dinner by myself for 12 people, went snowboarding in the Alps-1st time, first concert in Belgium-Kelly Clarkson, bought a car all in French, Tenerife Spain, ran in a race with my sister-Trisha, learned how to wakeboard, Macedonia-2nd time, Spain-lots of it including Madrid and Barcelona, the shore with my family, working at Crooked Creek Ranch in Colorado, meeting Kate-my sweet friend Amybeth's-new baby girl from China. There are so many more!!!

Birthday celebrations begin

2010-10-19T05:10:00.001-07:00

So Thursday is my birthday-woop woop!!:) My mom and my oldest sister Wanda both sent messages recently that I should be on the lookout for packages from them and that I should let them know when they get here-there's always some concern when crossing an ocean. Well my landlords-who are amazing! usually answer for any packages I get and then they put them on a shelf in the hallway. So for the last few days I have rounded the corner of the stairs anticipating seeing a package. I have gotten a few cards but so far none of the coveted packages. Today there was one there! Now-normally I would rip open the package and open everything in them but this year I have decided(we'll see how long it actually lasts) that I would leave any wrapped presents wrapped until my actual birthday.

This package was from Wanda-now whenever I describe Wanda's gift giving skills I usually talk in terms like, "She is the BEST gift giver ever," or "Wanda picked out the gift because she is the most creative!" so I knew there was going to be something GREAT in the package. I brought it into my apartment and dumped out the contents. Remember-I had decided that if it was wrapped I wouldn't open it but I also know my family and they tend to cram stuff that is not wrapped into packages:)!!! there were some reece's pieces-yum and candy corn-yeah! even a little plastic cockroach-thanks wanda:) but there was one thing especially eye-catching. Inside of a plastic bag there was a chick-fil-a paper bag. You know the kind your amazing chick- fil-a waffle fries and classic sandwich with extra pickles comes in!? I smiled- knowing my family is well aware of my love for chick-fil-a and knowing that they share it. BUT and here's the interesting part- there was something INSIDE the bag. I had a moment of concern-had Wanda really tried to send a chick-fil-a sandwich in the mail???!!- I would love her for it even if I wouldn't eat it so I opened up the bag with some trepidation and when i looked inside I burst out laughing!! There were probably 10 packets of Heinz Ketchup:) Now if you know me as an adult you may not be aware of this BUT my FIRST LOVE was Heinz Ketchup. As a kid I put it on EVERYTHING-and by everything I mean things like but not limited to: steak, lima beans, green beans, potatoes, mashed potatoes, chicken, bread-and pretty much everything else that made it on my plate. And the best part was-after pretty much every meal I had ketchup on my clothes somewhere! My love of ketchup continues to this day but has been partially replaced by my love of salsa AND I am also much better at keeping it off of my clothes! But Wanda remembers the good ole days and for that I say, "Hats off to you wanda, you truly are the BEST gift giver EVER!!"

Here is the bag and one of the packets of ketchup-the rest are getting put away for a rainy day:)

French Class

2010-10-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

So I spend an insane amount of hours each week in French class and you would think that after a year of this I would be able to speak at least a little French-it is not true!

Last year I had an AMAZING teacher-Dominique-

she was lovely in every sense of the word- she was patient, hysterically funny- at least i think so- the fact that I didn't understand a good 70% of what she was saying may have made her funnier.

This year I have a teacher who does not know how to teach. I hate going to class every day and I am holding out because supposedly our regular teacher is on maternity leave and will be back in November-so just 3 more weeks of Brigitte!!

SO my strategy so far is to keep my mouth shut-because not only does Brigitte not know how to teach-she is also not very patient. But sometimes I do get called on and in those cases I hope for the best. Today was a day I could not avoid being called on. SO we were supposed to tell about someone famous. Problem is-we're all from different countries so one person's idea of famous might not be another's. So the first couple of people were speaking of some old French man-still don't know who that was. I decided that when it got close to my turn I needed a bathroom break-in the sincere hope that by the time I got back it would already be past me:) Well I got back just in time- lucky me-and found out they had changed people and now I was to tell about Shakira. Well obviously i know who that is but LITERALLY the ONLY thing I know about her is that she is a singer. And so I told my not so patient teacher that and she told me I could pick anyone. BRAIN FREEZE! I couldn't think of anyone. SO I picked Obama-problem being I know NOTHING about his childhood either. So I decided to make it up:) And said that he had gone to private school-at which point I was corrected by no less that 50% of my class! so then I decided to say he had been the senator for illinois. My teacher said -what?!" I said "illinois" she said "what?" I said the "l'etat illinois" and she said "oh illinois" with a french accent!! Seriously!! since it's an american city you'd think I could at least get that right- but NO!

Viva le francais!!

Autumn is here!

2010-10-03T06:20:00.001-07:00

SO fall has officially fallen on Brussels-there for a while it was a little too early(august) for my taste but now that it's actually October I welcome the gorgeous fall colors, crisp air and opportunity to break out all my amazing fall sweaters that I love so dearly(orange being my favorite color makes fall extra special!) I can also neither confirm or deny the fact that Christmas lights are hanging in my living room and Amy Grant's Christmas Album may have gotten played for just a moment-ooops!

So the fall has been exciting and fun and I have been RUBBISH at taking photos to document it! Friday night was homecoming at ISB so there was football to be played and after a gorgeous fall day it started to pour at the exact moment that the football game began. But of course-as a faithful fan I stayed for almost a full half:) I also had plans to go to a ladies night at my friend Fiona's- we chatted and then watched a Jane Austin film-it doesn't get much more girlie than Jane Austin! Here are some pictures from the football game.

After a FULL day of pouring rain-which had started at the beginning of the football game Friday night and continued the whole way through Saturday-Today the sunshine is out so after a bike ride through the forest this morning I decided to go do a little photo shoot around my part of town. I won't bore you with all the pics but here are a few that show the signs of the season!

summer 2010

2010-08-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

8 weeks, 10 flights and 5 states later I arrived back in Brussels this morning. So what did I do in all that time? My trip started with 36 hours in PA-just enough time to see my family and say hi. Then it was off to Atlanta for both fundraising and visiting some amazing friends-picking blueberries, sewing dresses for girls in Africa, seeing new babies, going out for mexican, eating LOTS of chick-fil-A, chatting for hours. Sadly I was so in the moment that I did not take any pictures. Then it was back to PA for a week with family. Trisha called while I was in ATL and asked me to run in a race with her once I got back to PA. She had never run in a race before and wanted an experienced professional such as myself to run with her:) I will say this about the race- we both started and finished in the same place and Trisha won 2nd place for her age category-me I was just happy to finish in the 100 degree heat.

In case you didn't know-Cow appreciation day came around on July 9th and so the whole family went all out in order to get a free dinner at Chick-fil-a

The next week was spent at the shore enjoying sunshine, playing lots of board and card games, walking on the boardwalk, taking bike rides, eating out and just enjoying being together!

Then it was off to colorado to work at camp for the month with this awesome group of people.

Then onto Tulsa to hang out with some people from Brussels.

so another crazily awesome summer has finished and now another school year is about to begin.

Top 5

2010-06-19T04:52:00.000-07:00

Ok so i thought I'd make a list of top 5 of various things

my TOP 5 Games(for game night)-in no particular order

1-Catch phrase-always a classic and instant noise maker:)

2-Buzzword-my parents got it at Christmas and I fell in love!

3-Ticket to ride-if you don't own it- Buy it!

4-Bananagrams-for the nerd in all of us-there are even several other "fruit" versions including an apple and a pear-my sisters have those but the banana is the best!

5-family- all you need are paper pens and not everyone even needs to speak the same language! bonus! Learned it at camp a few years back and everywhere we've played it everyone loves it!

my TOP 5 summer ice creams

1-MINT CHOCO CHIP- can i put that for all 5?

2-Raspberry blast-from the carousel ice cream shop in Ocean City, NJ-I get it EVERY time! it's black raspberry ice cream with little choco hearts filled with raspberry sauce-yum!

3-Mango Sorbet-does that count? I hope so cuz it's a fav!

4-Black raspberry ice cream with jimmies from Friendly's

5-Peach ice cream- with little flavor burst of actual peach!

My TOP 5 artists (at the moment anyways)

1-The Civil Wars- check them out- amazing voices and awesome people!

2-Brooke Fraser-can't get enough of her Albertine album

3-Kelly Clarkson- always good when working out!

4-Patty Griffin-need I say more?

5-The Weepies-Say I Am You album

my TOP 5 stores to shop in (in America)

1-Old Navy-If you've ever met me you know 85%of my clothes come from here-but it's def hit or miss

2-Kohl's-cuz they have the most amazing sales ever! and I got my $7 converses there!

3-target-cuz who doesn't love one stop shopping in a clean and organized environment?

4-Gap-pretty much the only other store my stuff comes from

5-New York & company-for all my "dress up" needs- which are few and far between:)

Villers Abbey with Emi

2010-06-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

Well . . . a little while back when there was more than one person(me) on staff here in Belgium we used to go to this abbey once a month for some solitude time. We would go out there with our Bibles, journals and Ipods and spend a few solid hours just being alone with God. I used to sit under this MASSIVE tree that stood right in front of the entrance to the former church. It was a great place because even if it rained I didn't get wet(the tree was that massive). I LOVED it. I mean it's great to spend some time every day but every once in a while it is so REFRESHING to spend a chunk of time alone with Christ. Enough time that all the thoughts, worries, things running through my head have time to run and there is still time to actually spend quality time talking to God.

I hadn't been out there since all the staff left. Somehow those types of things get pushed aside when you are the only one here. So today was a gorgeous day and I was trying to think of something I could do outside and the Abbey came to mind. So I called my friend Emi up and asked her if she was free(she graduated last Friday and is pretty free til she starts college in Sept). She said sure so I picked her up and off we went.

Now remember-I had not been there for over a year and even then I wasn't usually the one driving so sure enough I got us a little lost- but as they say-getting there is half the fun! This is what we found on our back way adventure! I so wish I had an artistic bone in my body because I would LOVE to paint the colors in these pics!

Does it not totally look like I photo shopped this? There is no editing to this pic-the day was that perfect!

There were NO cars around so we just pulled over on the cobblestone road!

We ended up getting to the Abbey a little while later and explored the grounds. While we were exploring we ended up going up a bunch of stairs and then walking around for a bit. Instead of going back down the stairs I decided we needed a little more adventure. So in our flip-flops:) we went down this kind of steep hill and climbed over some fallen trees and found our way to the bottom. I don't think Emi knew what an outdoors girl she was until today:)

Here's a picture of the abbey from the hill.

and a pic of the inside of the abbey-you can see how huge it is-that's Emi is at the bottom right.

After we walked around we sat on a bench in the shade and chatted for a bit. It really was a great day!

The Velveteen Rabbit

2010-06-07T12:58:00.000-07:00

You know the story of the Velveteen rabbit becoming "Real."

Today in french class I was talking to a friend about jobs and she said something very revealing. We were discussing different jobs and she said, "well you don't have a REAL job." I looked at her quizzically and thought to myself-I bet that's what a lot of people think about me-even if they would never say it to may face. I mean what's REAL about a 33 year old woman hanging out with teenagers? Even I find it difficult to explain my job to others.

The other day I was sitting at dinner with 3 girls who were about to graduate the next day and a mom. We were discussing college decisions and so on. The girls were sharing why they felt that their college decision was going to affect the rest of their lives and where they might end up because of the name of their school. The mom- interjecting about the importance of getting a good job-shared a story of a family member who ONLY makes $18/hr and considers that a "real job"- I didn't say anything out loud but in my head I was thinking-wow! if I made that much money I would think I was rolling in it:) but obviously what I do does not make much money- so is it not "real" or "good"? The internal processor that I am- this idea of a "real" job rolled around in my head for a while. Is my job not good enough? Not real enough? Not meaningful enough? since I don't make much money. As the conversation continued the mom revealed that though she has a job that makes a lot of money she only gets to see her son maybe 1 or 2 hours a day. It was obvious that she regretted not being able to spend much time with her son. At one point in the conversation the mom looked at me and said "even though you don't make much money you are one of the happiest people I've met."

Where does that happiness come from? How, I a world driven by consumption, can I be happy making so little? It's because I have the most REAL job anyone can imagine. I spend my days with PEOPLE.

We live in a world of disconnectedness. I mean we have all the means to be connected but most of us waste so much time(me included) on our computers or texting on our phones that we are not even present when we are physically with someone. But here's the cool thing for me- In a world of broken relationships my job is to lead people to the One who can restore those relationships. I a world where everyone is disconnected, my job is to connect with people and make sure they feel loved and cared for. I get to spend time with a lost generation. A generation that I often think does not know what REAL relationships are. I get to live life with them, show them what a relationship can look like and introduce them to the most important relationship they'll ever have- their relationship with Christ.

I mean is there anything more REAL than that? That's what REAL, it is eternally real. High tech gadgets are nice, vacations to exotic places are fun, a new car feels good but are they REAL? Do they live and breathe and bring meaning to your life? Maybe having lived in so many different states and countries has made me value things differently. I mean when you move as much as I have in the last 10 years you have to decide what's really important. Sure I take stuff with me when I move-but the reality is that if I had a choice the thing I would bring with me every time is people-I always say- If I could get all the people from my different "worlds" to live in the same place-that would be AWESOME- a little slice of heaven!

So I think I have decided that my job is REAL. It's REAL because Christ is real and eternal and the relationships that I have with people are real because of that.

Here is an excerpt from the book VELVETEEN RABBIT by Margerie Williams that I think describes why I feel REAL today.

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

prom and graduation

2010-06-06T12:29:00.000-07:00

The end of the year also comes with prom

and graduation

End of year

2010-06-06T11:48:00.000-07:00

The end of the school year . . . (Why does it not concern me at all that I STILL think of my year in terms of the school calendar?) . . . comes with a lot of celebration and goodbyes.

We had our last YoungLife leadership of the year. The weather was great so we spent the first part of the night out on my terrace.

There were kids everywhere-we had 20 people there! Then we moved inside and talked from Mark 4 about the different types of seeds-not just in context of believing but also in context of letting Christ speak into different aspects of our lives and how we receive that. It was a great conversation!

One of the best traditions we have is that at the last leadership we pray for our seniors as they leave us and move on to college. Next year our seniors will be in; London, Virginia, North Carolina, California, Belgium, South Carolina and Tennessee. I was struck in that moment how much I LOVE these guys and how much I am going to miss them. God has given me such grace with these seniors. I have known a lot of students over the years but for some reason I feel especially close to this group. Some of them are students I have know for 3 years. Some of them I have know for 1 1/2 years. Some of them have a very strong faith in Christ, some are still exploring what that relationship might look like for them. Some of them had a relationship with Christ before I met them and some of them I have had the privilege of walking alongside of as they began their relationship with Him. I am SO BLESSED to have know each of them. I have never been a parent but I think I got a taste of what it feels like to send a child you love off to their next adventure. As I stood there praying for them, for their relationships at school next year, for critical decisions they would be making in the next few months and years- I was so thankful that I know that though I will not be there with them- Christ will be. They were in His hands long before I met them and He has them in His hands as they head around the globe next year.

I'm baaaack!

2010-05-07T12:42:00.001-07:00

Ok so i tend to blog-stalk my friends on a pretty regular basis. I have a certain patience level for the amount of time in which I expect them to update their blog. That patience level runs out at about a month. That being said- it has been almost 2 months since i have updated my blog. So those who are stalking me-and I'm sure there are many:)- I apologize but i am still alive-no worries

What to say?

There's been a LOT of traveling-I know it sounds exciting and I am still blown away by the places i get to go but REALLY after I had not slept in my own place for 5 1/2 weeks I was ready to be home! And if you know me you know how much I love MY bed and MY pillow(which I take with me most everywhere I go-the pillow not the bed).

So where have I been? Macedonia(for our annual YoungLife Service project), then Tenerife(to recoup from said project) then Madrid-which was just supposed to be a stop over on my way back to Brussels but which turned into quite the adventure when a certain Icelandic volcano decided to erupt!

There's been fun times with friends in Brussels and Spain:

Sarah, Fiona and I at the flea market at Jue de Belle! Who doesn't love a trip down the glass elevator, a walk through the antique shops, haggling for "priceless" objects in french and then a delicious lunch at a flemish restaurant?

And here are Kate and I in Tenerife-who doesn't love sun and the beach with a friend who understands when you fall asleep at 4pm(it was the first night after service project and I had been averaging about 4 hours of sleep a night)?

And here we are just outside of Madrid-Who doesn't love a hiking adventure with a birthday girl who doesn't speak any English and some crazy people from Tennessee?

Here's a video I made of the Service Project to Macedonia. It was an amazing week-and this will give you a glimpse of what we did.

Fear

2010-03-16T07:23:00.000-07:00

"But if we HOPE for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." Romans 8:25

"But perfect LOVE drives out fear." 1 John 4:18

I often find it hard NOT to fear. I fear being alone. I fear rejection. I fear having to change. I fear staying the same. I fear getting hit in my car. I fear being found false. I fear that my life will have no meaning. I fear that I will not be good enough. I fear that I will be forgotten.

Fear, when it gets a grip, holds me captive. It makes it impossible to live life, the kind of life God intended for me. I find that Satan often uses fear to come after me, to make me not trust God. But the truth is-I have NO reason to fear. God is in complete control. Now while that is something my spirit knows so well-my flesh struggles with it a lot. My flesh wants to TAKE control. That is when the fear takes hold- because the reality is- I KNOW i do not have control and that if I did things would not end well. There is this battle between what IS true(that God is over everything and in everything) and what I sometimes believe to be true(that I have control of certain things)

MAC-edonia! 2010

2010-02-28T06:42:00.000-08:00

5 weeks from today we will be in Macedonia for our annual YoungLife service project! We had our chili fundraiser today and in honor of that I made a short video of last years SP(sorry that it is really ghetto but I didn't have a whole lot of time). Just watching this makes me excited for this years trip! I am not only excited about the manual labor we get to do(which in order of my dream jobs comes only behind 1)working for younglife and 2)working at the Chick-fil-a headquarters) but also for the fact that some of the students we are taking will be hearing and talking about Christ for the first time and even those that have heard before get another chance to talk about him! I always come back from the trip amazed at how God has been working in their lives LONG before I ever met them. Just thought I'd give you a taste of fun times to come!

Ski break 2010

2010-02-22T05:54:00.001-08:00

So one year ago I was in a car accident on the way to germany where we were supposed to go Boarding with some students and my arm ended up looking like this after a surgery that involved a plate and 6 screws.

SO this year we decided to give it another try-why not?! BUT instead of driving we flew:) Our flight ended up getting cancelled and then delayed so we sat in the airport for 7 hours-fun times! At least I had packed some games in my carry-on so we played lots of uno, nerts, banana-grams and solitaire. But we got there safely in the end!

So there's something you should know about me- I have only been skiing once-and that ended with me doing a full flip in the air-NOT on purpose! so this was going to be an adventure to be sure. Nathan-our snowboarder in residence(in the white jacket) promised me he would be patient with me. So we went up the first gondola where you put your board on the outside. then Nathan shows me how to strap the board on one foot and we get on the second gondola-the kind where it is open and you have to board off-problem was-they all got on the one in front of me and i was by myself. The thoughts running through my head included- "I am going to die, how do i get off this thing?, what if I can't get off and they have to stop the whole thing?, i wish these other people on here with me spoke english!" So sure enough we get to the top and I fall off and have to duck in order that the chair does not knock me out(thank goodness for helmets) and I crawl over to where the others are cracking up! Nathan then shows me how to strap my other leg into this death machine called a snowboard and I look down the hill. (this is a picture from the bottom)

Now the thoughts running through my head come out my mouth as I ask Nathan if this was really the easiest hill he could have taken me to learn on? of course he answers, "no" and I'm like- then why am I staring down an ice covered cliff? could he not have taken me to the bunny slopes to start with. I guess that what you get when you let a 17 year old guy teach you snowboarding! needless to say it was an interesting journey down and was followed by me going and getting a proper lesson(with me and all the 8 year olds!)

So I boarded for 1 1/2 days and decided that my butt and knees could take it no longer! Really I do not think anyone over the age of 25 should take up snowboarding. But the hot tub was a nice reward after all my hard work:)

I also got my fill of games and was able to shock and awe everyone with my ability to play Buzzword-being old does have it's advantages sometimes:)!

All in all a much more enjoyable trip than last years! and to top it all off- while I was in Germany I got an email from one of my favorite people-Fiona- telling me Kelly Clarkson was coming to Brussles on Sunday night. Now I have NO musical talent and am truly not obsessed with music but I AM obsessed with American Idol and so fell in love with Kelly about 7 years ago(or however long Idol has been on) As a matter of fact I have only been to 3 "real" concerts and they have all involved Kelly:) so of course I jumped on that-thinking- what girl doesn't want to rock out to some female angst?!!

Me, Fi, and Megan at the concert-

funny thing happened when we were there-we got there for the last song of the warm up act and when the lights came up we looked around and saw a seating section in the back(most of the hall was standing room) and Fiona says-look at the losers sitting. And of course I was in TOTAL agreement(I mean you need to be able to rock out to Kelly Clarkson) and I look in the front row and I see Lizzy-one of my awesome YoungLife girls! so of course I SCREAM her name before I have a chance to think I might be embarassing my British friends- oh well-it was fun to see her:) Anyway-Here's Kelly "Doin' her Thang" and you can't see it but we were jumping around with the best of them!!

Obedience

2010-02-11T06:16:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been facing the challenge of wondering what the heck I am doing and why I am doing it? I mean there are days when I get an absolute rush out of doing what I get to do but there are many days when I ask the question-what in the world am I doing? I mean why me? why here? why alone? It’s so easy to look at other people in other places who have teams, spouses, roomates . . . and question what is God doing in, with and through me. Why am I going at this seemingly alone when that is the LAST way I want to go after anything.

What I have been learning is that God is calling me to obedience. He is calling me to be faithful in what He has set before me to do. Though there are days and even weeks when all i want to do is run “home” to the States, or to some other place where life seems easier-I know that God has called me to Brussels to live here and love people here. Every day that is a challenge for me. Every day that involves choosing to do things that go against everything in my flesh.

I was at the gym yesterday (on the stair stepper-oh yeah!) and I was listening to a message. The guy asked the question- if you could choose would you choose to A) have an easy year- one where everything seemed to go your way. You and everyone you loved stayed healthy, you met the man of your dreams and got married, you loved your job, etc. But at the end of that year you were the same person. You hadn’t grown at all in your relationship with Christ. or B) have a year with a lot of challenges, where things didn’t go your way, where you struggled with being alone, with having days where you hate your job but at the end of that year you were closer to God and knew Him in ways you had never thought about-- WHICH would you choose?

In that moment-i chose A. I mean -Haven’t I had enough challenges? Don’t I deserve to be able to come up for a breath without feeling like I just went for a long dive? Isn’t it best for me to be part of a team? I could really use all of that right now. BUT then the reality of that choice set in with me-IS THAT really best for me? or does God have different plans for me. Does He want to use those challenges to CHANGE me and make me more like HIM. Sometimes i am sick of changing. Tired of change-it’s exhausting. I just want some constant in my life. I deserve some constant in my life.

And then I am reminded-God is my constant. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He is just as powerful, just as loving, just as present as He has ever been. And he is calling me to be obedient to HIM. Obedient even when that’s the last thing I want to do. When I can’t even fathom what is going on.

And God promises so much in return

John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

LIFE-that’s what he promises! LIFE! Life beyond what I can imagine or fathom. REAL life-not the “perfect” life I imagine but the life that God gives. The life that comes from knowing him and serving him. Life that is ETERNAL.

WOW-I still have so much to learn but I am grateful that God continues to speak to me and still loves me when i am not so obedient and continues to pursue me with an undying and unconditional LOVE when I turn my back on Him.

Fall fun

2009-12-06T02:36:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is always a little different overseas. For one thing-no one has off on the Thursday or Friday so it is hard to do a meal on the Thursday. SO this year we went with Friday night-that way we did not have to rush or gorging on food! One nice thing about Brussels is that I was able to get everything I needed for a traditional Thanksgiving feast. One problem is that apartment fills us at about 6 and we were planning on 12 AND i do not have a real oven-just a toaster oven so that would make it impossible to cook a turkey! So we had the feast at my friend's Fiona and Rasmus. They have an amazing flat with lots of space and a huge table.

I went over about 12:30 and began the preparations. Fiona had already begun the decorations and they were gorgeous. We spent the afternoon, baking, cooking, chatting, looking at wedding photos! It was a fun afternoon. Then around 6:45 the guests started arriving. It was an interesting mix-of the 12 only 3 were america, and only 1 other had ever had thanksgiving. So it was fun to introduce them to the feast!! By the end everyone could barely move and had begun to sink into their turkey induced comas! here we are at the gorgeous table.

One of my favorite things about europe and Brussels are the Chrsitmas markets. Every year on the first week of advent the markets open up all over. Brussels has a really fun market with an ice skating rink and ferris wheel. So for part of church on Sunday our group decided to go ice skating. Here I am on the crowded rink. They do not have zambonies(not sure how to spell that) so the ice gets REALLY bad which makes it a fun challenge to stay on your feet:)

Here is a picture of the rink with the wheel in the back- and the market stalls are all around the rink. Again- anybody wanna come for a visit?:)

family comes to visita

2009-11-02T04:38:00.000-08:00

Yes!! Mom, Dad, Wanda and Tori came for a 10 day visit this month!! Here they are as I found them when I got to the airport. Do you think they brought enough bags? most of them were for me!!:) I made the limo sign but they were already out when I got there.

We did a lot of traveling while they were here-on Sunday we went to Amsterdam to see Anne Frank's house, the canals and I think their favorite thing was the grocery store where they bought lots of stroop wafels and black licorice!

On Tuesday we went to a little town in Germany called Monschau. The joke the whole time we were there was that we were in Disney World. Euro's even began to be called Disney Dollars:) here we are in a cute little tea place where dad had the best Apple Streudel and we sang a few lines from Sound of Music:)

Friday we went to Paris overnight. The first thing we did upon arriving was to find the most amazing Fallafel place ever!! it was SO good we tried to go back the next day(saturday) but since it was in the Jewish Quarter it was closed. Glad we got it when we did-yummy!

Saturday we walked from the Louvre to the Arch de Triomphe-which has become a kind of tradition for when we go to Paris(isn't it nice to have traditions in Paris!!) Here are Mom and I on top of the Arch with the Eiffel tower in the back.

We also found this amazing cafe- thanks to the rick steeves book that Emi had given us- thanks Emi! We sat there for a while and enjoyed everything from our Croque monsieur's to our amazing ice cream desserts!

We finished off the trip with a day into brussels to get those last minute treats-waffles, frites, chocolates-yummy! here I am outside my apartment.

And now they have all left and my apartment is too quite so it is waiting for the next visitors-any takers??!!

Hen party in de Haan

2009-09-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

So I have lived in Belgium for almost 2 years now but have never been to the coast. I had heard wonderful things about "boardwalks, bikes, shops, sand" but had never experienced it for myself. Well since my dear friend Fiona is getting married in 4 weeks time some of us decided to throw her a "hen party"- what is a hen party? good question- it is the British version of a bachelorette party. Usually you see them walking around town, wearing pink shirts with the soon to be brides picture on it, making her do crazy things. Our hen party was a little more subdued. Fiona had a meeting on Saturday morning so we didn't leave until about 1:30-when we headed to the coast. That Fiona and I in the front and sarah and Christie in the back!

We got there around 3, found a place to park and then hunted down the sand-it didn't take long to find- it was like 1 1/2 blocks away:) we had packed a picnic lunch and so we laid our blankets on the sand and proceeded to dig in. The only problem was that it was a bit windy but that did not stop us from enjoying the gorgeous sunshine!

After we ate we went down to the water and stuck our feet in the water expecting it to be freezing cold- we were pleasantly surprised to find it actually warm!

When our hair was sufficiently wind blown we headed off the beach in search of restrooms and a cafe for a hot drink. We sat in a cafe and Fiona shared the stories of her past relationships(her frogs before the prince). Then we walked a bit more down the boardwalk(not so much "board"walk as cement walk) A kind random Flemish person took out picture.

Sarah- "walk in slow motion so I can get your pciture"

Us- "ok"

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Christie, me and Sarah

before we headed back to my place where we had a wonderful spread of baked goods, cheeses, hummus, chips and drinks! We watched Father of the Bride(very appropriate), opened gifts, and tried to keep Christie awake:) This was probably one of my favorite days in Belgium so far!

Grace and Wyldlife camp

2009-08-22T03:10:00.000-07:00

As I ran/walked this morning in the forest near my flat I felt the worries, excitement, and details of the coming semester wash over me full force. The overwhelming feeling that I got was one of heaviness. The thought of being on staff here ALONE, of having to make ALL of the decisions, of feeling responsible for keeping up SO many relationships, of needing to raise A LOT of money to stay, of NOT being capable of any of the above-that is kind of how my thoughts roamed for a little bit. Then it struck me- where am I putting God in all of this. I am so quick to take responsibility for everything-which some might say is a good thing but in reality I am holding onto things that are not even mine to hold onto. I am taking responsibility for things that God already has under control, for things he wants to take care of for me. This led my thoughts to the word GRACE. In my life it is something I am very free to hand out to others but I am not as willing to accept it. How often do I live outside of grace? not because it is not available but because I CHOOSE to not to accept it. So as I begin another school year in Brussels I am praying to live in the freedom of grace!

In other news:) We went to Wyldlife camp last week and had such a great time. Bonnie, a girl from Atlanta(woot! woot!) came along to check out Younglife in Brussels and to help. Here is our group on dodgeball day-we were in England so we thought it appropriate to be Bobbies:)

Here we are after a water and flour fight the next day- I know it's hard to see but I DO have flour all over me- and all in my ear-it took a while to get it out!

The object of the game here was to put as many clothespins on the guys face as possible-We won!!

Travel, visits, odd and ends

2009-07-30T02:56:00.000-07:00

Yes-it has been a while but you are about to see why- I have been off working, traveling, visiting friends and family and all in all just living the crazy life I tend to live!
So first summer stop was Club Malibu- YoungLife's camp in British Columbia, Canada. It was awesome and here are a few pics of our head leader team. The first is us all smooshed into the "info booth." This is the place where at least one of us had to be for many hours each night in order to keep campers in camp- fun times!! The next is our version of the "family portrait" awkward style:)

After camp it was off the Seattle for a few days. My family was in Chicago for a family reunion so I needed to kill a few days til someone was in PA to pick me up from the airport. I got to hang out with Hannah-who was the hostess with the mostess and can get you around seattle like nobodies business!! Here are pics to prove I was there-first the space needle and then Julio, Hannah and I at Gasworks-cool story- when we had been in town earlier we had seen these people running with amazing race envelopes. And we were like- how cool they must be doing a local amazing race. So then we were out by gasworks later and right after we took this pic of us this team comes running towards us with the same envelopes but they had a different colored bandanas. And they were finishing the race-so we cheered them on!! and then talked to them of course. It was a church group and they had been doing it for like 5 days- all over the seattle area-and we were at the finish-pretty cool!

And what would summer be without a trip to the Shore?!!! So off we went at 6am on the 4th of July for a week of fun at the shore. The sisters got hardcore when the firemen gave us plastic hats-no one's messin' with us!

Here we are waiting outside Luigi's.

And some of us before the fireworks on the beach.

After I got back to Belgium my friend Matt came for a visit and we went off to Ireland to visit our friend Emma- here we are in Northern Ireland-rainy just the way it should be in Ireland!

Here are Matt and I at Giant's Causeway- Emma even told us the Irish tale of how it was created by the Giant Finn McCool! I mean how much better can you get-hearing the tale from an Irish lady, in an Irish accent, at the actual Causeway!

And then some of the reasons why it's great to be in Brussels in the summer. Were were sitting in Leuven and these "trash" costumes started walking around. And they would do crazy things. Like here they are standing in front of this truck so he can not get by. They then proceded to lie down in front of the truck and he ended up backing up and going the other way. Then they would walk up to people and lean on them while they walked and not let them go. One lady sat down and the soda can continued to lean over her shoulder. I don't know if they said anything but they were surely entertaining to those of us whom they weren't bothering! The one I didn't get a picture of was the cigarette butt!

Matt and I were out for a walk one night and we saw this coming down the path. A guy on a bicycle with a sofa hitched on the back and a guy sitting on the sofa. They were not out for a joy ride- but were moving furniture instead- it looked like hard work!(for the guy pedaling at least!)

The first video is from the Brussels Jazz Marathon. This was the stage on the Grand Place. I was sitting there and this lady was getting set up when a fairly drunk guy asked her to sing Amazing Grace and she sang a few bars- who'd have thought- in europe?!

This ones from National day in Brussels- I was with a bunch of friends and we got pitas and were sitting on the Grand Place near these (Again) pretty drunk people when this bagpiper man came by and they asked him to play. Well of course a crowd gathered and we ended up in the middle of them!

This is in Leuven- Matt and I were sitting at a cafe having a tea-you just never know what you're going to get in Belgium!

Daughter of a Farmer

2009-05-04T13:58:00.000-07:00

On more than one occasion I have been told, "you are the smartest person I know." I find this slightly scary- 1-because I don't feel all that intelligent. I mean high school and college were easy for me but that is thanks to a very good memory and NOT anything I ever did and 2-If I am the smartest person they know I think we are all in trouble cuz there's a LOT I don't know.
My friend Janet is one of those people who has been awed and amazed by my knowledge:) on more than one occasion. So one day she asked me why I know so much(mostly about pretty random stuff) and I told her it's because my dad was a farmer. I mean farmers have to know a LOT of stuff. They have to know math-so they can run their business. They have to know all kinds of sciences so they can grow whatever it is they are growing. They have to be historians- so they know when to plant things or do certain things. I think the biggest thing though is they have to be good engineers because something is always breaking down and there isn't money to buy a new one or have someone else fix it.
I think I have inherited this last trait from my parents- this idea that if you can fix it yourself you don't throw it away-even if every other person on the planet would! Take for instance my computer. It is something I use pretty much every day for work. Not that I love the computer-it is just a necessary evil. So my computer has been having problems for about 1 1/2 years now. It is super slow and if you are impatient and hit more than one button at a time it will totally freeze up and requires trying to get it to shut down in order to wait the 10 minutes it will take to reboot! I have had Mike, my bro-in-law, wipe it clean and reinstall everything twice. Then while we were away in Macedonia it decided it had enough and died again. So I set out to make things right and did my own reinstall(luckily I had seen the writing on the wall in March and backed up all my documents!). My boss Paul- has been laughing at me for the past few weeks- telling me to let it die-to take it out back and shoot it if I need to:) But I am confident that it will last at least until I come to the states for the summer!
So the other day I noticed that my watch band was starting to crack(it is made out of this plastic stuff) and i thought- oh no! I love this watch and I don't want to have to buy a new one. Then the little strap thing that you put the band in once it is through the latch ripped off on Saturday. Now most of you would -as Paul says-let that watch die -but NOT me! I went to the hardware store and bought some electrical tape.
So I showed up at the office today with my 2 different colors of electrical tape(the packet came with 3 colors but I didn't think red would go with the orange band). And I asked Paul which color he thought would go best for fixing it-white or black. His response was- what are you using it for? And when I told him my master plan of restoring my orange watchband to mint condition with black electrical tape he just laughed and said- you are the daughter of a farmer:) and I love it-I am and I am proud of it!!

Mack-edonia!!!

2009-04-24T03:01:00.000-07:00

Well the return from Mack-edonia has been a bit crazy- my computer had died in my absence and so I have spent the last few days just trying to get it to do certain things. I have been able to get it somewhat working minus a few things(like sound) but for now it will do. I think this is the 3rd time in the past year it has completely died-what fun!

So Macedonia-amazing, incredible, a blast!!! We left my apartment at 5am on the 11th. Drove to a students house whose parents drove us to the airport. We met everyone there and got on a plane for Sofia, Bulgaria. I pity the poor other people on the plane but we were relatively quiet for the first hour(most sleeping!). Here we are in the Sofia airport grabbing our bags.

Then we loaded a bus. We were told the driving time was between 3-4 hours but because of border crossing it could take up to 7 hours. Little did we know!! The drive was more like 7 hours PLUS boarder crossing. So it ended us taking us 10 hours! The best part was when we entered macedonia. They made us all get out of the bus with ALL of our stuff. We even had to pull our bags off from under the bus. We put them on these tables and then had to stand behind them. Then they brought the drug dogs and went in the bus and under the bus and to every bag! Fun times:) So that took another 2 hours-arrggg. But we finally got to the place we were staying at 1030PM. We slept and the next day just had a fun day. Here is my cabin-Hot Stuff '09!!

Here we are after the "snowball" fight(really stockings filled with flour)

Monday we got to work building a playground, fixing fencing, building benches and painting murals. Here is the yard before our hanywork.

Here we are installing benches. Yes that's me with the level in my hand. Oh the things I have learned to do on these trips!! Anybody want me to build their house?:)

Here we are on the finished product at the end of the week!

Oh yeah- on the 2nd day the camera guy showed up and said he had walked from another work site. There is something you should know- usually our sites are hours away from each other but apparently this year there was a work site within walking distance!! This was exciting new to me:) and not for the kindest of reasons! So this thought comes into my head- we should attack them!! So I put Paul and some of the guys on the task of recon and attack plans. Wednesday they headed over to the other site(in stealth mode of course) to see where the best points of attack were. They divided us up into teams and thursday we set out to attack with water balloons in hand. It was a blast but did get a little foiled when their site leaders freaked out a bit. Here are the girls- amo in hand.

We had translators that traveled with us and were on our site each day. Geri(on the left) was with us last year in Blugaria too so it was fun to see here again. Mikael was new but so much fun. They actually fought over who would get to come with Brussels each day:) YES -we are that much fun:)

So many stories to tell. But they will have to come another time- the sun is shining and it is calling my name!!

Happy days

2009-04-06T06:37:00.000-07:00

Spring is upon us here in Brussels. We had a string of 8 sunny days a few weeks ago and we have had sun 6 out of the last 7 days! There is not much that is cheaper in Belgium than in the US. Flowers is the one thing I have found that is! So 2 weeks ago I treated myself to 10 euros worth of flowers(that's about $13.50) for those not up on the current exchange rates. Here is what I got! 60 roses(5 dozen!!!) 20 red, 20 white and 20 orange. I was so caught up in the thrill of getting them that I didn't realize until I was home that I didn't have any vases! So I played Magyver and used a crock that I had. I had to cut the stems somewhat to get them to fit but here they are. This was before they really opened up so you can just imagine!

Here are a few pics from recent travels. A few weeks back some ladies from Brussels went to London for a few days. Here are a few of us in front of Big Ben and the London Eye. It was such a fun weekend. All the other women had left there husbands and 3 kids(yes all 5 women have the same number of kids). It was so great to just laugh and play. We even went to see wicked and it was SO great! Go see it if you get the chance.

My friend Angie came to visit me for a week so we went to Paris for an overnight trip. Here we are taking our own picture in front of the Louvre.

After church Sunday while we were walking to go get something to eat they were having some kind of remembrance thing so they set the wooden word "l'innovation" on fire. It is always amazing the things you run into around town.

The problem with breaking your arm in Europe!

2009-03-11T06:04:00.000-07:00

I hear people say all the time about how much they love the USA because everything is "easier." And to be honest it is-I mean drive thru's, bulk food shops, stores that are open on Sundays, stores where you can buy more than one type of thing(ie food AND clothing!!)- but to be honest up until now those have been some of the reasons i have loved living in europe. With a broken arm, however, i am missing a few of the "easy" things about the states:

1. Dishwashers- oh the joy of being able to stick those dirty dishes in that machine and let it go after the grime! I was getting so sick of my dishes on Monday that i washed them one handed-try it sometime-its not fun. it took me an hour to wash about 5 bowls, 3 plates and some silverwear. Tuesday night my awesome friend Fiona came and washed my new dirty dishes!! Love you fiona!!

2. Dryers-Haven't had one of those for over 3 years either. wouldn't it be great to throw your clean clothes into a machine and have them come out dry? No- i have been trying to hang them on the rack i have and then once they are dry i cant really fold with one hand so most of my clothes are just in little piles in my closet:) don't look!!

3. Automatic cars-most people in the states have automatic cars so that if you have a broken arm you can still drive with the other one. Not so here in europe-most cars are stick. Which means if one of your arms can't be used you can't really drive-lucky for me Paul has an automatic car so we have swapped for now!

I may add to this list but for now that is all i can handle typing one handed:)!

Garmish adventure/broken bones!!

2009-03-05T03:06:00.000-08:00

ok so most of you know by now that while driving to Garmish, Germany to go snowboarding we were involved in a pretty serious car wreck. Thankfully most of the people involved only had very minor injuries but one of the students, Maria, broke her back and had to have surgery and i broke my wrist and had to have surgery. The whole thing was pretty surreal and i think we are all still processing through it. There were some pretty funny moments in it too-like when Paul thought I was bleeding to death cuz of a pool of "blood" by my feet. We found out later it was some fluid from the car but the look on his face was pretty priceless!! We got to meet a lot of great Germans along the way-and so many spoke english which was super! We had the accident in a little town-Fussen- and then headed to Garmish the next day. They are used to broken bones there since it is a ski resort town so i figured it was a great place to have my surgery. I went in last Sunday and they put in a t-plate and seven screws(at least that's what they told me they were going to do-i never saw the after x-rays).
This is us on the way down-before the accident- at a Burger King stop.

This is the morning after the accident. We only had about 40 miles to get to Garmish but because of traffic it took us about 6 hours!!

That same evening showing off my German cast and the facial scratches from the airbag-that thing was powerful!!

Sunday evening after the surgery. The doctors were trying to hold me captive in the hospital but my wonderful friends came and broke me out so I could go back to the hotel with them. When they did the surgery they put a tube in to drain blood-So yes- I am holding a container of blood in my hand

This is Monday morning-we dropped the rest of the group off at the slopes on the way to the hospital to get my tube taken out and cast on. Just showing off my blood again! Lizzy says-yuk!!

This is my arm today. The "cast" they gave me is just one of those wrist guards you would wear skateboaring so I can take it off which is nice when it itches.

and here's a little closer up.

so there you go. I am typing this one handed so sorry for the lack of details.

Traveled much lately?

2009-02-19T07:49:00.000-08:00

So last weekend the middle school basketball team I help coach played in Bonn, Germany. My boss was also in town from the states so I decided to drive so that I could get back to Brussels earlier. As I was driving I was reminded of a previous road trip to Germany where we were making a joke about how all roads in Germany lead to "Ausfahrt." On that trip we had traveled about 5 hours when one of the people in the car-I won't mention names KATE- was like- yeah they really do- what's up with that? So to let you in on something - the word for EXIT in German is AUSFAHRT- so yes all roads really do lead there:)
Remember how when you were younger and you went on a road trip it was fun to stop at the state lines and get your picture taken with the state sign? You'd think it might be even more exciting to get your picture taken when entering a new country-right?!! well here is a picture of the sign that tells you that you have entered Belgium. Pretty anti-climactic!!!

SO tomorrow I am off the Germany with some students to go snowboarding in the Alps- pretty fun. Since I don't ski or board it should be pretty interesting. I will take lots of pics and try to come back with all my bones in one piece!

Time in Austria

2009-01-23T04:13:00.000-08:00

Yes there are some percs to traveling for work:) For instance- the view out of the front of your hostel! I was in the states for Christmas and new years and then came back to Brussels for about 12 hours before heading off to Austria to help out with a regional conference. We had to be at the airport at 5AM- not nice! then flew to Rome where we had a layover and then flew to Munich where a friend picked us up and we drove the last 2 hours to Mittersill, Austria. I felt like an American tourist for the 1st time in a long time(being in 4 countries in a day!).

I was doing childcare while the region had their meetings. At night we got to hang out with friends and play games like nerts and I even learned some crazy game called the settlers of catane or something. We did have one free day while we were there and so most of us went to the ski slopes- not to skit but to sled down a 14km run! it was awesome. We took the ski lift to the top of the mountain and here's the view!

Then we got on our sleds and tried to get down without killing ourselves. We had a bit of a rough start- several accidents amongst the group-including skiiers being taken out, sleds running off without sledders, and sleds running into innocent Austrian children! But after we got the hang of it we had a blast. it took about an hour to get down the run! It is so fun a bunch of us went back up and did it again after lunch. Here are Ashley and I at the top. Ashley lost her sled the 1st time and had to ride on my sled for a bit- that's when we ran into the poor Austrian/German child who apparently proceeded to curse us out in German-go us:)

all in all a fun trip. Now i am back and settling into Brussels for a another semester at warp speed.

Thanksgiving and beginning of Christmas season

2008-12-02T05:16:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was a blast. We ended up having 12 adults and the Phipps' kids as well. The girls sat at the table and chatted while the guys sat in front of the TV and watched American football-LIVE!! Here we are at the table. We had Great Britain, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and the US represented. The food was all delicious and since we didn't eat until 7PM we had to make sure to fill up quickly before bed! It was my first year being in charge of making most of the main dishes so I was pretty psyched that everything turned out so great. Liesl's apple pie was definitely the prettiest thing we served!

This past weekend was also the first weekend of Advent so the Christmas markets are now open all over Europe. We have a really nice one right here in Brussels so on the way to church Sunday Liesl and i walked through it. Here we are in the Grand Place where they have a large Christmas tree and a manger scene set up.

After church some of us decided to go ice skating- they set up a rink on one of the place's. Last year I watched people several times but never got out there myself so one of the things I wanted to do this year was actually go! It was so much fun- until is started to rain! Here are me and Reka trying not to fall!

the whole gang! We asked one guy to take our pic but he kept falling down so I didn't trust him with my camera:) then one of the workers came over and took the pic for us!

Fiona, Liesl and I!!

Can't wait to explore some of the other Christmas markets around - I will keep you posted!

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T00:50:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy thanksgiving. It is my FAVORITE holiday and I love that by living here in Belgium I get to spend it with people who have never experienced it before. This year I believe we are having 5 thanksgiving newbies! So fun! Mom-you would be proud- I am in charge of the turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin bread and delicious dessert!
Thankful for today: my lovely apartment, Christmas lights, candles that smell like apple pie, a comfy bed that I can fall into, photos, root beer, oven to bake things in, awesome parents who would do anything for me and come across an ocean to see me, sisters who love me even when I don't call, nieces and nephews who are some of the most amazing people in the world, memories, friends who let me stay at their place when I visit, games, sharpie pens, clicky pencils, gloves and hat on a cold day, Johnny Mathis Christmas music, Gram's potato stuffing, heaters, plane tickets, smiles and you-whoever is reading this of course:)
Have a GREAT THANKSGIVING!!

Too early for Christmas music?

2008-11-21T06:11:00.000-08:00

This is the question I have had to ask myself over the past few weeks. Thanksgiving is not yet upon us but the weather is cold and dark and gloomy so what better to lift my spirits than a little Johnny Mathis or Bing Crosby? I have given in to the need for spirit lifting and begun to listen to Christmas music nonstop! It started last week when I had the girls over for breakfast-I put on some Johnny Mathis and it has not stopped. The pinacle was this week when the girls came over for breakfast- I not only played Charlie Brown Christmas music but lit lovely smelly candles on my mantle and pretty white ones in my fake fireplace. Made me just want to bake some cookies and hole up for the day!
So bring on the Christmas music!

new stuff

2008-11-20T14:10:00.000-08:00

So the last few weeks have been busy-it seems like that is a common theme! 2 weeks ago we had our first NEW regional meeting in the Netherlands. Here is a pic of the "hat ladies" from the meeting. We decided that we were going to make a YL Int'l calendar-for recruitment purposes:)-we have a good beginning:)

We love our new region but keep wondering -why, if Portugal is part of our region, do we continue to have meetings in rainy, cold places?
Then last week I went to Germany to help out with a WyldLife weekend camp there. I was REALLY excited. Mostly because it meant getting to see and spend time with some really fun and awesome people! I did program at the camp-I was "Safety Stella" new york accent and all! For those of you that know me well- one of the highlights was that I got yet another YL t-shirt:) Adding to the wardrobe!
This coming week is thanksgiving- and you all know that it my FAVORITE holiday-who doesn't love food and hanging out with family(biological or not) without the pressures of gift buying that Christmas holds. Last year we did a YL team thanksgiving and I was very disappointed to find out that we would not be doing that this year. So we decided to do one with our friends but that is also kind of falling through - so Liesl and I MAY be making a drive down to Munich to join their team thanksgiving- that would be 3 years, 3 thanksgivings, 3 different countries for me:)
In other news- if you have not heard already- My friends and co-worker Liesl is moving back to the states at Christmas. YUK!!!!! It is going to be VERY sad coming back and not having her here but I am trying to avoid thinking about it until it is upon me-not sure if that's what the professionals would recommend but . . . SO the countdown is on-4 weeks!
Other fun news-I got an assignment at Malibu again for this summer- so I will be there the month of June!! Lovin' that!

Dublin and Real Halloween

2008-11-03T04:56:00.001-08:00

Last week the schools here were on break so Liesl and I decided to catch a cheap flight and head to Dublin for a few days. It ended up being quite cold while we were there-we even got a few snowflakes on the 1st morning. Some amazing people- the Spriggs- offered their place to crash in. Rick even picked us up at the airport- they really are amazing!! After we dropped our bags at their place we headed into the city on the train- we got to take a gorgeous scenic train along the coast. One of our goals for the few days was to get a good book and sit in Starbucks and read for a few hours- and boy did we accomplish it! We found this awesome bookstore right near Trinity College and each got a book. Then we went over to Starbucks which was just across the street and got a drink and sat in these oh so comfy chairs for about 5 hours and just chatted and read. Here I am with my drink and my book:)

one of the things we did the second day was go to the Guinness factory where there is a museum tour which shows how they make it. The science that goes into that stuff- Who sat around and came up with it?!!! This is me trying the roasted Barley. Yes I have crazy eyes in this pic!

Liesl also had a goal of buying a genuine Irish sweater which we did and after she bought it we met some new friends outside the store:)

One of the cooler things we came upon was at Christ's Church. We tried to go in and walk around but they priest was outside and he said they were closed to visitors for the day but they would have Evensong at 6 PM. Well it was about 4:45 so we went across the street and got a coffee(me a hot choco cuz I don't drink coffee!) and then went back for the 6:00 service. It was great- all in song and chant and they have been doing a similar service for about 1000 years!! Here is a picture of the outside.

By Friday we were back in Brussels and a friend of ours had a Halloween party. Since trick-or-treating was last week it was just a fun night of games for the kids and chili for the adults. Here are the YL Brussels ladies. Liesl as Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's, Janet as herself, and me as Safety Stella! Pretty fun!

Birthday!

2008-10-25T14:48:00.000-07:00

I celebrated another year of being alive- go me!- on Tuesday. It started out quite early- we had pancakes at ISB which meant a 6AM wake up! It was really fun- they all knew it was my birthday so they sang happy bday and all that good stuff. I was the designated pancake flipper of the day but did not get to eat any cuz we had so many students we ran out of cakes! good problem I guess! Then we went to the office and at lunch Claire, one of the HS students, brought me up a cake she had made! it was delicious! and very thoughtful-it made my day! Then at night a bunch of friends got together for dinner, pot luck, and games. They had asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I said- carrot cake with cream cheese icing and to play games- no one ever plays games over here! It was really fun and funny to see peoples personalities come out- especially those who really don't like games-i didn't think those people existed til I moved over here-but they do! Here are a few pictures from the evenings festivities. Here are Janet, Fiona and I. The party was at Fiona's place.

Everyone chatting whilst standing around scrumptious food!

The spread- including carrot cake, pumpkin bread and spinach artichoke dip- my favorites!! thanks all of you wonderful cooks!

Me after I blew out my candle- take note that everyone has those noise makers you usually have at new years- cuz this was my new year!! it got REALLY loud for a few minutes while everyone went crazy with their noise makers.

Halloween is celebrated at weird times and in different ways over here. There are only a few neighborhoods that even do trick or treating. The way it works is if you live in that neighborhood and you would like to hand out candy you sign up ahead of time so they can put your house on a map they give out. Then if you want to participate by actually going and getting candy you are supposed to drop off a bag of candy at a drop off point the day before. Then those people distribute all the candy to the houses that said they would hand it out. All very interesting. So we went tick or treating Thursday in Overijse. We went with Paul and Janet and their kids as well as about 7 High schoolers. Here are 2 VERY small pics that you can click on to make bigger.

then Friday night one of the schools had their Halloween dance and they asked us to chaperon. We made it a girls night and invited some of our friends along- here are Cassandra, me, Fiona, Celine and Liesl. After the dance they all came back to my place and we ordered pizza and watched "When Harry met Sally." Fun girls night.

Really!! In what reality is this my life?!!

2008-10-19T04:24:00.000-07:00

Seriously! There are so many time I think to myself, "Who would have thought?" So here is the reality of the past few weekends in my life. 2 weekends ago ISB had their homecoming so the teams from Paris came up to play against them Friday and Saturday. I have some dear friends that do YL in Paris- the Usrey's. Since they are AMAZING YL leaders they decided to take the 3 hour drive and come watch their friends play. Bonus for me cuz they got to come and see my apartment, we shared some tea and then after the games we went out to eat! Liesl joined us after the games and we went to Le Klepto(sound a little shady-i know!). We had such a great time and the older lady and gentleman next to us seemed to really enjoy our fun as well:) Here we are after enjoying a nice long dinner together!

Then last weekend it was off to Hungary for a ladies weekend with the all the women who either work for or has a spouse who works for YL in Europe. We stayed in a cute little town called Szentendre which is just outside Budapest. The 3 of us who came from Brussels had a very early start-we met at 5:30 AM to drive to the airport. When we got there and checked in the woman asked us if we would be willing to get bumped because they had overbooked. It would mean we would actually get a direct flight(instead of the layover one we had) and we would get 175 euro. I said yes but turned to Liesl and Janet and cynically said, "yeah but they never actually need you to get bumped-they always just ask." and the lady behind the counter started laughing at me. She told us to go to our regular gate and if they needed us to be bumped they would let us know there. So we were sitting there enjoying some lagging conversation(it was too early) when we hear our names called over the loudspeaker! I started to actually believe that perhaps we would get bumped since they usually only call the people who actually do get bumped. SO we walk up to the counter with smiles on our faces thinking we are about to get a direct flight and 175 euros only to be told they don't need us to get bumped-BUMMER!!! so we had to have a layover in Munich which ended up being like 2 hours longer than it was supposed to be because of fog there. Anyway we got to Budapest 2 hours late but it was well worth it when we stepped outside to GORGEOUS weather!!
Here is a picture of me in one of the little alley streets in Szentendre.

When we went up this alley we smelled something wonderful and found this little stand with a long line. So we paid our 300 whatevers(I don't remember what the money was called) and got this funnel cake like thing that was lovely!! This is my friend Kate pointing out our scrumptious pastry.

There were tons of little churches in the town- they were all really quaint but this one had these beautiful fall leaves out front!

This is just at one of the shops selling painted pottery.

Saturday night we went into town to eat at a Hungarian restaurant. It was really cool. The main room had tons and tons of musical instruments hanging from the ceiling and walls. We were in a smaller rooms that had doors to close it off. Apparently they had been warned that YL women are loud:) Here is my little table. Again I ate with the Usreys(2 weekends in a row!) as well as Kristy. Kristy did a great job of entertaining us with here hysterical stories!

SO that really is my life. Yes I do work in between the many travels:) It still amazes me the places I have gotten to see and experience while I have been here. But I have to say that the best part of last weekend was just being with women who totally "get it." They know exactly what I go through on a daily basis-living in another country and doing ministry. 4 times while we were there we got together and did worship and then our friend Paula talked to us. She challenged us with the question, "Who do you run to?" The last day we all got to celebrate the things God has done in our lives over the past year. It was truly a privilege to sit in a room full of beautiful, wise, Godly women and cry with them and cheer with them over the things God is doing in and around them. What a blessing! It is always good to be reminded of the bigger picture when sitting in the midst of it.

No Leprechaun's!

2008-10-02T10:50:00.001-07:00

So my Ireland adventure was a success. I flew into Shannon where mom and dad and Aunt carol and uncle ed picked me up at the airport. I didn't check any bags so I was out of the airport before actual landing time! Pretty good Ryan air! We wound our way through the Irish countryside- not for the faint of stomach -and got to their "house" around 11:30pm. The next day we headed off to the Cliffs of Moher- it just sounds ominous!! They were gorgeous! Here are just a couple of picks. It was really windy and a few times sprinkled on us but for the most part it was actually quite nice.

Here I am going where I shouldn't:) go figure!!

After the Cliffs we drove along the coast for a few hours just taking in the amazing scenery. I was a little obsessed with the cemeteries- they really do have tons of these Celtic crosses everywhere.

On Tuesday we decided to do the Ring of Kerry but needed a hearty english breakfast to get us going! SO we stopped in this cute little town and ate in a little cafe- really we did not get an english breakfast that morning- just some great scones, bagels, and other breakfast delights.

This is some of the scenery along the ring of Kerry- I took tons of pictures but you get the idea- it's gorgeous!

That night we stopped in Kilarney just to walk around for a bit. This is my favorite store of the night. Great little book store with an upstairs. When I went in books were just crammed everywhere-gotta love it!! When I am old and gray I am going to own a little bookstore in Ireland-decision made!

This is my last day in Ireland. We went to the town of Innis for a little to walk around. This is Dad, Mom and I outside a flower shop.

This is my favorite picture of mom and I. It is in the Bunratty Castle that we went to. They also have an amazing folk park museum where they have brought in homes from all over Ireland. In some of the houses there were actually older women baking bread! Yummy!!

Here's the outside of the Castle.

This was in the Folk park part. They had all these little shops that you could go in and see what they would have been like during different time periods. They also had all of these bike sitting around. They weren't chained or anything. Just propped up against walls and things. To bad the tires were flat or we coulda raced down mainstreet!

So GREAT trip. Makes me want to go back and explore Ireland a bit- and for 35 Euro round trip- Why not?!!!

Heading off to Ireland

2008-09-28T06:39:00.001-07:00

Yes- tonight I leave Belgium and head to Shannon, Ireland!! I am so excited- I mean in what world did I ever think I would be going to Ireland to meet my parents and aunt and uncle-Have Carol and Ed ever even used their passports before?

Before I go I figured I would catch you up on the comings and goings of my life:) Cuz I know you are all waiting with bated breath. Ok so I know I told you all that at the end of the summer I went to Germany for a week to take an apologetics class. Here are a few pictures from that class. Kate, Lyndsey and I outside of our classroom. And then a picture from the last day when we made s'mores. It was really hot and in the middle of the day but we had the supplies so we went for it:)

This is a picture of the little town where we were staying. One day a few of us went on a hike. It was quite fun- we even took "senior pictures" The only one I had on my camera was Kate's- so enjoy her "senior picture:)"

The week after we got back from our class was busy spent getting things organized for a semester of activity. Before we did all of that though our YL team headed out to an abbey. Once a month we try to do a solitude day where we go out and spend a few hours of quiet. It is a great time to really weed through all the things going through my head and have really good time with the Lord. The abbey that we go to is gorgeous. Here are just a few pictures of it.

And finally-we went to a fun concert downtown that same week. Rue Royale is a husband and wife band. Liesl had met them in the states through a good friend of hers and so she was very excited to go see them. So Liesl, Fiona and I went downtown to watch them play at a little bar. They really were great! Here we are at the concert and then a picture of the band.

Well that's all for now- I think that's enough! I will have more news once I get back from Ireland!! Oh yeah- one other fun thing that I do not have pictures of-Friday night one of the International schools had an under the lights football game- pretty fun!!! American football under the lights in Belgium!

Meeting a fellow blogger!

2008-09-17T12:56:00.000-07:00

Crazy story! On Monday I was walking out of the office around 4pm. I had the Boer boys with me and we were ready for a crazy afternoon- we had to go to the Brown's house(where I am staying this week while their parents are out of town) to make sure Nate got in Ok and then take the Boer's home and get Ricky ready for soccer and take him to soccer and then go back to the Brown house. Fun times!! So anyway back to the story- I was walking out of the offices(which are on the ISB campus) and a woman stops me and knows my name. At first I assume she was at church on Sunday-because I stood up and gave and announcement for WyldLife. But then she tells me she recognizes me from my blog! You know how on blogger you can hit the "next blog" button at the top- well she hit that button at some point last year and found my blog. Apparently at the time her family was getting ready to move to Belgium so she kept up with it. And now her family is here!! She said she never thought she would actually meet me but what a small world we live in!! Here is Julie's blog http://thebiasiblog.blogspot.com/ if you wanna check it out. What a fun day!!

Girl's night in Antwerpen

2008-09-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

Ok so these pictures are quite small I know but I stole them from Celine's facebook so I can not help the size. But you can click on them to make them bigger I think- yeah go ahead and try! Friday night me and Liesl took the train to Antwerpen to meet up with Celine. She was done being a doctor for the week and so we thought it would be fun to meet up for dinner and then drive back to Brussels with her. We ended up finding this amazing little restaurant. It was all brick and stained glass. And they had this awesome piano guy playing live music. It was so lovely. We just sat around and chatted for quite a while because the atmosphere was so nice. Then we left there and walked around the place for a bit and went and got a hot chocolate-love that they serve it with a little cookie and piece of chocolate! MMMMmm -come visit and you can have some too- hint hint!!

Rest of August

2008-09-11T01:06:00.001-07:00

I know!! I know!! everyone is telling me I need to update this thing. And as much as I stalk other peoples blog you'd think I would be on top of mine- but alas I am not! Here goes. The summer ended up being so much better than I imagine on my return to Belgium. I really got to know some fun people and enjoy being in Europe. It still amazes me how I would show up to a reseraunt or shop and there would be a sign posted saying they were close for a month- I mean these europeans know how to do it right! It's not all about making all the money you can possibly make- they actually take time to enjoy their lives. Oh yeah- and the Olympics- I mean I am generally obsessed with them so i spent many an hour over at my bosses house watching their cable TV-it was a bit sad having to watch the BBC version because part of what I love is all the back stories on the athletes and they only gave us British back stories. But even they loved Phelps which was fun! Then. . .

From August 15-19 I took 7 boys and 2 high school leaders to Wyldlife camp in Wales. It was a lot of fun-along with a lot of rain and a lot of sheep poo! I don't think I have ever done laundry so fast as when I got back from camp-it all smelled like sheep! Not that the middle school boys even noticed or said anything.

After camp I had a day to sleep-Yeah - and a day to pack before heading off to Germany to take an apolgetics class. It was really fun because 2 friends who live and do ministry in Madrid flew in here and we drove down together. It took us about 7 hours to get there. I hadn't done a road trip by car in a while so it was really fun to be crammed in a car, laughing with great friends. The class was amazing and it was great time with friends. We had some great conversations about why we do the things we do. It really opened my eyes to that fact that I do and think so many things purely based on the culture that I grew up in and not necissarily because that is how it is supposed to be in Christ. Again it amazes me that I get to study these things as part of my job. I will try to post some pics from the week once I get them on my computer.

So things are in full swing here-I will try to update more often!!

Day in Cologne

2008-08-07T08:50:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I decided to take a day trip to Germany. At first I thought I would go to Bonn. We had a basketball game there last year and stayed overnight outside the town and I wanted to explore it a little. But after looking at it I decided that Cologne was just a little closer and possibly a bit more historic so that's where I set off to. I mappy'ed the directions and left around 8:30 AM-knowing it would take 2 hours to get there. I followed the general directions and then signs to "Koln zentrum" and just parked in the first lot I came to. I HATE driving and parking in the city- any city. I didn't have a map or any idea where the public transport was so I just followed some people- hoping the would be heading toward the center too. Sure enough they led me to a metro stop. So I took the metro to the regional train hub- figuring that there would be a tourist info somewhere nearby. See how smart I am becoming in my old age:) Sure enough- as soon as I came out of the metro- there was the wonderful "i" for information! I bought a 20 cent map. Before I went anywhere I checked out the goregous cathedral that was in the main square. Here's a picture of the outside. Just a little history- it is a gothic style cathedral that was built from 1248-1880, yes that means ittook over 600 years to complete. And it was the world's tallest structure until the Washington monument was built- pretty amazing!

Then I wandered off to see what I could find in this city that was founded in the year 38 BC. And wouldn't you know that I found that oldest of all shop- STARBUCK'S- so of course I had to get my frapp since we can't in Belgium.

Then I walked over to the Rhine. When I traveled to Europe back in 99 me and my friends Pam took a boat tour down the Rhine to see some of the amazing castles along there. This time I just took it in from land.

Then I began to walk to some things labeled on my 2o cent map. It said there were some medievil parts of a wall. The map, however, was slightly decieving and I had to walk quite a ways to get there. But it was worth here. He is one of the old city gates. Pretty cool- just sitting there in the middle of a shopping area.

Here is me and the guy i affectionately call "statue man." He was guarding one of the ruins-I think he was kind of a slacker though cuz he looks like he's sleeping!

Here's another gate in another part of the city.

Oh and wouldn't you know- that they make cologne in Cologne. I am sorry but NO I did not buy any- I will have to save that for another trip.

For dinner I went to the Hard Rock- I know -I am a sucker for corporate America but free refills on soda and a real hamburger- REALLY!! It was great- I had brought one of the books I have to read for my class this month so I just relaxed, drank my refills of soda, read, and enjoyed the music!

Towards the end of the day I was a bit hot and my feet were tired so I sat in a park and there was this crazy guy singing. Thought you might enjoy him:)

After all of the exploring I headed back to the Starbucks to use the restroom. I thought I would just head home but then I saw these comfy chairs upstairs and this lovely Jazz music was playing and there were window views of the square. . . so I sat for about 45 minutes and again pulled out my book to read and began to wonder why Brussels has no chill coffee shops where one can just go and listen to jazz and read. Maybe that will be YL's next adventure here- a coffee shop!:) and I don't even drink coffee!!!

Terrace and more exploring

2008-08-06T13:56:00.000-07:00

Ok so in one of my last blogs i mentioned that I had some friends over a few weeks back and we sat on my terrace until pretty late at night. While we were out there they mentioned that I need to get some lights for when it gets dark. Well I do not have any outlets out there so i was trying to figure something out. Well then I went to a friends house last Monday and she gave me a bunch of free stuff(they were moving back to the states). So as i was going through her stuff i saw christmas light-PERFECT I thought!! So I got some nails and hung those lights. But then I needed some cushioning for the chairs- cuz they're a little hard. So i found some and some fun little battery lanterns. So here is the final product. First with the flash.

Then what it really looks like at night- looking back toward my apartment.

Then looking out toward the view.

I must say that last night I spent some time out there reading by my little oil lantern- it is great!
I also said in my last blog that I am trying to explore Brussels and get to know it a little better. Yesterday I did another couple of hours of walking around the city. This time I started in a familiar area- by the Merode metro stop but went in a new direction. I ended up finding this great park not too far from Cinquentanaire. Brussels has so many cute little parks tucked away everywhere.

From there I just kind of headed downhill- not really knowing where that would lead. I ended up walking through this great park of town- a little seedy but it had great little groceries-anything from turkish to carribean to african. So now I know where to go when I want something special. I also found my new favorite window- I mean who wouldn't want to live here!

Eventually after some more exploring I ended up at the beach that they bring into Brussels every summer. Down by the water-not that you would ever go in the water(too nasty)- they bring in truck loads of sand and set up all kinds of food stalls and things for people to do. Here is the "boat" that you can walk through to get in.

And in case you didn't know- Newcomb crosses international boundries- they were playing it here!

So I was pretty tired and hot so I decided to sit by the "beach" and water and grab something to eat at one of the stalls. I got some thai food- a huge take away container full for only 5 euro!! and sat and ate. I have to say the view was a little sad- about every 5 minutes a barge with coal would come down the river. Pretty cool though- they all had a car on the top- which means that people live on them! But it was nice to just be outside in the hazy sunshine:)
So after walking for about 5 hours I headed back home pretty tired but again glad that I spent some time exploring.

Just another day in Brussels

2008-07-29T13:33:00.000-07:00

When I moved to Brussels 9 months ago I jumped head first into YoungLife things. There was so much going on and I didn't really get a chance to get to know this new city moved into. SO one of my goals for the summer here is to get to know the city a little better. For me that means plopping myself at some point in the city and just letting myself get lost for a few hours. Today was my first try. I took the tram and the bus( I had not up to this point taken the bus in Belgium!) and made my way down to a part of the city I don't usually go. I walked around for a few hours just exploring, window shopping, taking pictures, and enjoying the sunshine. Brussels really is a gorgeous city. For me it is important to be able to get around easily in the place where I live and I also want to fall a bit in love with Brussels so it was a really fun day.

I started near Place Flagey and this is a picture looking up one of the streets off the Place. Again- can I say how beautiful this city is? The next picture is just a building like many others that I came across. I love how there are these little traditional brick houses in between stucco ones.

A cool thing I came across was that the Royal Palace was open for the public and it was free. Here is the outside and some of the garden. I was a little disappointed because we didn't have access to any of the private rooms but it was still pretty cool to go in.

Another picture of some cool brick with a cool sign in front- There are so many little alleys with little shops- it would take years to explore but where I found this little shop is near the antiques part of town-pretty fun

Near the end of my exploring- I found this really cool skate park. It was quite a hot day so not too many people where there but it was fun to stop and see some of the tricks. This guy was the best there. I even showed him the picture I took of him since he stopped right near me- gotta make new friends everywhere:)

This next one is by far my favorite shot of the day. I was trying to get this guys feet as he was doing his trick but got a way cool shot of his shadow and his board- if that doesn't rock- you're crazy!!

Tonight I got invited by some friends to join then in one of the city parks for outdoor aerobics. Now I am game for anything once but even i thought- what???? So I met my friends at the park and wouldn't you know- over 300 people are there for aerobics in the park. It was one of the funniest things I have ever been a part of. So we are all standing in this large circle around the instructor- we are maybe 10 people deep around her as she begins to warm us up. It was funny enough at that point because we couldn't really see her so we were guessing what she was doing by what the people in front of us were doing and that was a bit chaotic. Then she has everyone start running around her in a big circle- think trying to make a whirlpool but on grass. Then we switch directions- I mean who taught this lady the hokey pokey and told her it was aerobics. SO after an hour of laying in the dirt(the grass was a bit sporadic) and laughing our heads off- we were done. I mean where else can you get over 300 adults to roll around in the dirt and do the running man and call in exercise- it was GREAT!! and apparently they do it every Tuesday and Thursday in the park- there may have to be a return trip!! This is me doing one of the crazy moves I'm sure.

This is us all circled around the instructor- Rebecca and Katy are in the brown and white shirt there- they had been several times and were the ones to invite us.

Here is a video of us running in circles!! fun times!

Wonderful evening

2008-07-24T15:15:00.000-07:00

I have no picture for this blog and for that I am sorry. But I had such a wonderful night last night that I thought I would share. Liesl- my friend and co-worker was getting in from the Czech and so i invited 2 other friends over to my house for dinner. The weather here has been not so great and it was looking a little sketchy all day. My plan was to grill out on my little terrace and eat out there as well. The rain held off and we feasted on shish-kebabs with meat nad veggies, raw veggies and dip, salad and to drink some sweet tea. MMMMM. Then we went for a walk in the sunshine and came back to my place again. I made smoothies and we again sat on the terrace and just chatted till almost midnight. I have eaten out on my terrace several time but have never sat out there in the dark and just enjoyed the dark blue sky above the trees. It was such a great night. And to have such awesome friends to share it with- i felt very blessed! So if you want-come over and we can sit out on my terrace and sip sweet tea and chat til we fall asleep!!

Back from summer fun!

2008-07-16T02:41:00.001-07:00

Well for some people summer is just beginning but pretty much for me the summer fun has already happened. I went to Malibu Club for what turned out to be 3 weeks instead of 4. I got to catch up with a friend I hadn't seen in 8 or so years while I was home. And I got to hang out with my awesome family and go to the "shore" with them.

So I will start here with Malibu. It was a long treck to get there but so worth it. I flew home to PA on May 29th and got to my house about 5:00 PM. Just enough time to eat a home cooked meal, got to a nephew's basketball game, and repack for my 1 suitcase trip across the states. Who are they kidding? Who only needs one suitcase for a month?!! But I am getting better and better at packing so I did it. So Friday morning I flew from PHL to houston and had a layover. Then flew from Housont to Seattle. There some new friends- Keith and Jenny Dow picked me up so I could spend the night at their house. That is where I found out that my assignment was only 3 weeks. Which is kind of funny cuz I was the only one on the team who didn't know and I was the only one it really mattered for(cuz I was the only one who flew). But that ended up working out just fine!

So saturday we drove the last leg fo the trip- which included crossing the canadian border, a car ferry and a water taxi-pretty fun! We arrived at camp in the afternoon. It was gorgeous!!

So the next three weeks were spent being a head leader there at Malibu Club. The people rocked, my team was amazing and camp was jsut all around the bomb!!!(I know- I am throwing back there with the "bomb") Here are a few pics of the peeps.

This is me and moy awesome roomie for the time there-Dana

This is the whole assignment team for the month- I really fell in love with these people and they are now part of my family- which means they better come visit!!

This is the head leader team- Marshall, Keith, Dana and I. This is who I worked directly with every day. We got to do fun things like break up purple, shine bright lights in peoples eyes, sit in the info booth, talk on radios!! the radios were some of the best:) Everyone wanted to be on the Head leader station- we had some pretty fun times!

So now that I have been to a YL camp for an official assignment- the answer is YES!!- yes, in the near future I would LOVE to work full time at one. It was an amazing experience with an incredible group of people.

AHH yes and then there is the after camp adventures- I will save those for another blog but I will say that my A-Team was generous enough to pay to change my plane ticket and send me home for that final week where I thought I had to be at camp but didn't really. They rock I tell ya!

New haircut and mom and dad visit

2008-05-22T13:21:00.001-07:00

Mom and dad got here last Friday and in the spirit of trying to keep them from jet-lagging I did not let them go to sleep- they call me mean but they will thank me later:) So I took them into Brussels and showed them some of the sights. Here they are in front of the arches-we even went on top and got a cool view of the park.

Then Saturday we drove down near Paris and visited Versailles- pretty amazing place. It's hard to imagine it in its hay-day when it was filled with all kinds of royalty. Here we are in the hall of mirrors.

Sunday we got up and drove into the city. Well not really into but outside of and parked our car and took the metro in. It started pouring moments after getting off the metro and so we decided to go in the Louvre first. We saw the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. Our favorite part was sitting in front of Napolean and being art critics for a few moments- like we were in a movie or something:) When we came out of the Louvre the sun was shining.

That night we went and saw the Eiffel Tower with it's lights on. At the top of each hour there are twinkle lights that go on the tower- it was beautiful. Here are mom and dad in front of the tower.

Tuesday we took off from sightseeing- I had to do some work and mom and dad needed some rest:)!! But Wednesday we started back up again- we went to Brugge- only about 1 hour away. The market was going on when we got there so we bought a chicken and some potatoes and sat by the water and ate with our fingers- how American of us. Then we took the boat tour through the canals and walked around a bit.

Today I sent mom and dad off on the train by themselves. i again had some work to do and some fun stuff to do. One of the fun things was going to the European Parlament to eat lunch. A friend works there and she invited a few of us the come check it out. It was pretty impressive being in a place where world changing decisions are made every day. Here we are sitting in the seats before we got kicked out.

Right after the EP I had a haircut. There was a guy interviewing for a job here. Him and his wife are also going to be working with one of the churches here and that is how I knew about it. So I went and told him that as long as I could pull the front back he could do whatever he wanted with it. SO here is what he came up with- I really like it- its fun and new and no one can say they can't tell I got my hair cut!!!

That's all for now- I think it's enough!

Monday in Paris!!

2008-05-09T04:07:00.001-07:00

So monday's are my day off here in Brussels. Last week my friend Jessica called me up and asked if I would like to go to Paris for the day on Monday. So of course me answer was YES!! I mean really- paris for the day- how gets to do that?!!! SO we headed off around 7:30 AM- it's a 3 hour drive. Here we are in the car on the way down. And some other fun pics of the trip. As you cansee we got to see lots of good stuff and we even met up with a good friend of ours-Tiffany- who lives there.

Oh what fun!

2008-05-09T02:02:00.000-07:00

So it's a crazy time right now-next friday morning I pick up my parents from the aiport. I am SO excited that they are coming. They are going to get to see (and I'm sure spruce up) my place, meet my friends, see what I do over here and even get to travel a bit. Paris, Germany and Amsterdam are on their list- all are withing 3 hours- pretty cool. Not only are they coming but we are trying to wind up the year with YoungLife and WyldLife stuff. I am only here for 2 more weeks before I head back to the states to work at camp!! Which if I haven't told you- I am beyond excited about!!! SO busy busy over here-but lots of fun too.

A few weeks back all the women who work for YoungLife in Europe came here to Brussels for a women's weekend. It was so much fun hanging out and hearing peoples stories. I think all we did all weekend was go from cafe to resaurant and chat. Here's a photo of the group after one of our dinners. Yes 2 random men decided to get in our pictures:)

I have started to get a group of great fun friends here- the sad part is most of them will not be here next year- but that just means I will that many more places to go visit!:) This is our group after a fun day at the flea market!

This is me, Liesl and Nino- he is honestly one of the funniest guys- who knows what he is looking at here but I am sure we were all laughing! Don't me and Liesl look cute though:)!!

Spring may be here!

2008-04-05T02:14:00.000-07:00

So I forgot to tell everyone about our last intern training in London- if you don't know we go 4 times a year to training -2x in London and 2x in munich(and when I say "in" I mean like an hour outside). This training was so much fun- the 2nd year interns had to run club- here Kathy and I are doing announcements for the hearing impaired(really she is saying them and then I am SCREAMING them at the top of my lungs-it was hard to keep a straight face.

This is a pic of some of the amazing ladies I get to do training with-they are so much fun and such encouragement!

This is most of the group outide of Nandos- our favorite portuguese resteraunt.

Last week we went to Bulgaria for our annual service project and it was amazing. I am still recovering from my lack of sleep but lack of sleep pales in comparison to how much fun it was! We got to build a huge playground and picnic table and benches and paint amazing murals. We got 'er done!! Here is Olivia and I right after she finished drilling holes in metal bech legs! Go Olivia!

The students we took were awesome and they invited us out to do karoake with them once we got back to Brussels. So i went to my first Karaoke bar and it was here in Brussels- crazy life i live! It was actually quite fun! Her are Liesl and I singing- "I will survive" by Gloria Gaynor- classic I know!

then a bunch of our group got up and did "Lean on me" since that was a song we did at service project- it was a blast!

Wow my life is crazy and amazing and I am so thankful for it! Yesterday was a gorgeous day in brussels- the sun was out and I had all my doors and windows open! I can not wait for more days like that- so i can use my grill and sit out on my terasse and enjoy the sun! are you jealous yet?!!

Place Wiener & Wyldlife

2008-03-11T06:15:00.000-07:00

I have not put any Wyldlife Photos on here yet because I have not gotten any good ones:) I am usually either in the midst of the chaos or organzing it so I gave my camera to one of the moms last time and got a few pictures. This is the room where we have Club. Behind where all the kids are standing is a little cafe area where we eat before we start. And behind where the camera person is standing is a small stage where we do our skits.

Place Wiener is the square that I live off of. So the other week I took a few pictures of my little part of town. This is the street that I live on- this is the walk up the street that I get to take most every day- not bad huh!? My house is not brick- I am sad- but I am surrounded by the beautiful red brick that is so common here.

this is a picture of my Tram- the 94 tram that is. This is what I take to get to the Metro. I ride about 4 stops on this and then get on the underground metro. I LOVE public transport so that fact that I can pretty much get it right outside my front door thrills me to no end!

This picture is taken from the metro stop and looking toward mt street. My street is just behind the "smart car"-between the white and brick building. That brick building is home to an awesome italian restaraunt called Via Rome- mmm magnific!! The white building is home to the GB which is a small convenience store. This is my friend on Sunday's because it is one of the only things open. The problem is that means it is closed on tuesday's and when I forget that it really stinks!

So I LOVE living where I do- I can walk to restaraunts, the small grocery store, the tram, the bank, the office and pretty much anything else I need.

But it is also nice to have a car!! yeah for wheels finally! I use that to get to the gym and to one of the schools where we do a lot of ministry. It's also nice to be able to go to a real grocery store every once in a while and get everything I need. My station wagon is great! Here is the spectacular mom mobile!

Is February really almost gone?

2008-02-19T06:34:00.000-08:00

I know! I know! it has been a month- but really? How often do the rest of you actually update your blog? That's what I'm talking about!! So i am including a variety of pictures here- starting with my apartment. Here is my living room with my stuff all in it- I have actually rearranged

since taking this picture but you get the idea.

Here's my kitchen- again I have gotten a few more pices of furntire in here(so the micorwave is no longer on the floor-yippee) but you get the idea! Yes- those of you who sent me christmas pictures you have made the refridgerator and those that didn't- there is still time so send em in!

These are some pictures of the fun I have been up to lately. Last month at church I met some great girls from England and the next weekend they invited me and Liesl over to celebrate "fat tuesday" on Sunday. Here are Joanna and Fiona in their kitchen cooking us up some pancakes!! the next picture is from a day trip Liesl, Janet and I took to Amsterdam. We went for a few hours, got to see Ann Frank's house and ate some lunch. It is a beautiful city!

This past weekend the middle school basketball team I help coach went to Bonn, Germany to play against a school there. Here we are hanging out, waiting for our game to start. We won all the games that weekend so it was a lot of fun.

Monday's are our day off here in Brussels. Up to this point I have mostly slept and hung out around home on those days- trying to get things organized. This week I decided to go explore the city a little more. Liesl and I headed across town to the Atomium which was built in 1958 for the world's fair. It's a pretty cool "building" to look at. We did not go in it because I figured mom and dad might want to do that when they come and I wanted to save a little fun for them! But i took some cool pictures. You can go into each one of the "balls" and walk from one to the next-pretty cool! sorry the picture is on it's side but again- you get the idea!

Hope that gives you a small glimpse into the past month. This week is a bit crazy with service projects, club and leadership. It seems that time is at a full out sprint and I am trying to keep up. The days are getting longer which is wonderful and people are starting to come out of hybernation. I can not wait to see what this place looks like in the spring!

ASC 2008

2008-01-21T11:33:00.000-08:00

So every 4 years Young Life has an All Staff Conference-which means that all the staff from around the world get together for a week of fun. There are only 3 places in the US that have hotels big enough for us and lucky for me one of them is in Orlando Florida! So right after my family vacation to Florida they dropped me off at the Marriott World Center in Orlando where I spent the next week hearing amazing YL stories, catching up with friends, relaxing by the pool, and just having an incredible time. YL is awesome for putting this on- we are given the 1st class treatment!

The first 3 days were just International Staff. My favorite part was hearing the stories from around the world. There is so much happening and it's hard not to get caught up in your own little "bubble" and not look outside of it. At the end of those three days we had and afternoon and evening off to do whatever. Since we had some days left on our disney pass Jessica and I decided to go and see how the Magic Kingdom and MGM were doing without us. Here are pictures of us on the the Rock 'n Rollercoaster and in front of Cinderella's castle.

Then all the staff from around the US joined us in Orlando-there were over 3900 of us there-pretty crazy! There were awesome speakers and classes we went to and they brought in lots of fun surprises for us. One of the surprises was a Jars of Clay concert. Here are Jessica, Tiffany and I jammin' at the concert.

Nicole C Mullen was another suprise- she was amazing- nothing like hearing "my reedemer lives" sung live! The last night Jack Hanna was there and brought some craqzy animals out for us-including a python which led to some crazy laughs- wish I could have gotten it on video cuz you can't script what the animals will do!

The last night they also had a really nice dinner for us and we got all decked out. At first I was quite annoyed that we had to get dressed up- it is not my favorite thing. But it ended up being a lot of fun. The African contingent taught us a new song and got us all up and dancing and waving our napkins!

It really was an awesome week- I have not laughed so hard in a long time and it was so much fun to share the whole exprience with all those people.

Disney 07-08

2008-01-17T05:51:00.000-08:00

So for those of you that know or don't- my whole family went to disney just after Christmas. We spent 7 days in the parks- and yes we went all 7! I mean who can get enough of disney?:) The trip started with a 12-which turned into 15-hour drive to Altanta. We spent 2 nights at my friend Dawn's house-she wasn't there which stunk for me but she is the best and let my whole fam crash there anyway- thanks a bunch McDowell's! Then on Saturday the 29th we drove the last 7 hours to florida.
We figured we would start out with the Magic Kingdom- since that is what most people think of when they think of Disney. Here we are on the first morning in front of Cinderella's castle. This picture has the whole family except mike in it- you gotta love having professional photographers in the family:)

We LOVE rides and the kids were at teh perfect age to enjoy them! here we are on a roller coaster in animal kingdom(if you get a closer look at Alexis' face it is hysterical!) and then coming off of Space Mountain-a classic!

Another great thing about disney is getting to meet the characters. Here are Trish and I with Goofy and trish, me, cinderella, wanda and mom- yes we ate with the princesses- it was so fun to see Alexis and Kari's faces when they came over and talked to them.

Now if you have ever been to disney you know there is a lot of time spent waiting in line or wating for parades. Here is the fam waiting for the parade in Animal Kingdom. The picture on the right is what we did to kill time while waiting for the safari-it was a 90 minute wait so we started being outback people looking for the rarest creatures of all(martindell and landis kids) It was hysterical- we are going to watch the video next year!:)

So it was New years while we were there. It rained on and off most of the evening but after much coaxing a few of us made it through and rang in 2008 at the Magic Kingdom! They handed out hats and noise makers and had tons of fireworks behind the castle and all around us-it was a long day but well worth it!

And one final pic of me and tigger-it had been a few years since we saw each other but when we did it was just like old times:)

It was a crazy and fun trip- as it always is when my family gets together. The kids were great and it was fun to experience it through their eyes- they didn't remember when they were there 9 years ago. SO thanks mom and dad for antoher trip of a lifetime! Next Christmas it will have to be Belgium!!!!

Fall craziness

2007-11-24T02:27:00.000-08:00

So i know it has been a while- I have been settling into my new country, job and apartment. Wow- so what are the big things that have happened in the last few weeks? I have officially moved into my new apartment. None of my "stuff" has arrived from Norway so it definately does not feel or look like home but my bed is comfy and the showerhead is on the end of the shower- ask me about that one:)!!
As for Younglife/Wyldlife- things are going really well. There is SO much going on right now. Lots of early mornings and late nights! Wednesday mornings at 7 we have pancakes and Bible study at one of the schools. Thursday mornings at 7 we have another campaigners group at Liesl's apartment. In between that I am trying to get things organized for wyldlife which is going to kick off January 26! Craziness!
I have been able to accomplish a few things in order to feel more settled- I have a bank account, a cell phone, internet is supposed to be coming today(I am using someone else's right now- thank you unknowing neighbor!).
Thursday was thanksgiving- my FAVORITE holiday of the year. And once again I was able to celebrate in another country. We had a big meal and Janet and Paul's house- all the YL crew and some of their local friends who had never been a part of thanksgiving before. They had only seen it on TV so it was so much fun to see them experience it for the first time. Here are the adult sitting around the table. Janet and Paul made the turkey and stuffing and everyone else brought something else. I was in charge of the mashed potatoes but I had to go to Janet and Paul's to make them cuz I do not have any kitchen supplies, not do I have an oven to keep things warm in! It was fun hanging out and cooking with Janet and the final products were great!

This is me and Jessica- she is an intern working with french nationals here- she is so much fun!

After dinner we sat around for a bit and watched Green Bay play the Lions- not a great game but hey- it was live so we'll take it!

Friday after thanksgiving we took about 15 students to a refugee center downtown and we cooked and served the residents a thanksgiving feast. It was really a lot of fun we served them and then we sat and ate with them. The table I sat at had Armenians so we couldn't communicate very well but it was still a great time. Here is a pic of some students and leaders making pretty napkin art!

We also taught them how to make hand turkey's and Native American headbands. Here are some leaders and kids getting into the art. Even some of the adult table really got into it- it was great!

New apartment and halloween

2007-10-31T11:22:00.000-07:00

Ok so as you know I found an apartment that I will be moving into on Nov. 15! It is in a super location. Right near this HUGE( and by huge i mean miles long) forest. and on this little cobblestone street, right near cute restaurants, a 7 minute walk to Liesl's(my friend and co-worker) and maybe 15 minute walk to the office. anyway- I am so excited and God is so good. so here are some pics of the new place. Keep in mind that the furniture is NOT mine- it is the current renters. I went over tonight to figure out some logistical things- like transferring electrical and stuff - so I got to take some pics.

Here is the bathroom and my terasse(beyond excited about that!)

The kitchen and 1/2 of the living/dining room

More views of the living room- the fireplace is not real but it looks awfully cute!

and the bedroom- sorry the pictures not better

So for this week I am staying at Liesl's apartment- which has been great-we had a little adventure on Monday. We were supposed to drive down to Paris just for an overnight. We got up really early to get a jump on it and were on the road by 6:30 AM. We made it about 5 km into France and Liesl's car just died. We were 2 women stranded on the side of the highway with these big semi's blowing past us. So we called everyone we knew but no one could really come get us so we called a towing company. It was POURING down rain and we were all kinds of wet(we were under the hood in the rain trying to figure out what was wrong with the car-like we know anything about cars!) So after we called the towing company we decided to try the car one more time- and it started right up!! so we turned around and headed back into Belgium. We stopped at a gas station and filled the oil(it was crazy low) and the car has been fine ever since. SO we never made it to Paris but I have now been to France for the first time since '99.

Yesterday we went for a walk in the forest near my house and here are a few pics - the leaves here are gorgeous!!

Last week in Overijse(where Janet and Paul live) they had their trick or treating night. We all dressed up and met a few students and had a blast. Here are me, Liesl and Janet- can you guess what we are?

Answer- I am a Black eyed pea, Liesl is mother nature and Janet is one cool mom.
Here is the group of girls

This past Friday night we got to Chaperone a school dance at one of the school's where we do YL. Here's the team being oh so cool!

Here's all of us- Paul, Tebo, Liesl, me and Cassandra- we are all on staff here except Cassandra is one of our awesome volunteers!

Well that's all for now! enjoy

The move to Brussels

2007-10-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

So I am officially moved to Brussels as of Thursday, October 18! It was a whirlwind final week in Norway- getting everything packed up, picked up, saying goodbye, making sure all paperwork was in order, and not getting any sleep!! By my final day in Norway my apartment was completely empty except for some trash and my computer and phone. I spent Wednesday sitting on the floor making phone calls to apartments in Brussels- I have mastered the phrase "par le vu angles?" I have no idea if i spelled that correctly but it means "Do you speak english?" The joys of once again being at square one with a language:) But it was fun to set up some apointments to go look at apartments. Then for my final dinner Kate and Thor took me out for some Komler- a traditional norwegian potato ball meal. Afterwards we walked around town and I got a few pictures of things that would remind me of Norway. Here I am sitting on my floor making calls and me and Kate in front of the Narvesen- my favorite place to get "polse"

I arrived to Brussels Thursday night and Janet and the kids picked me up. The next day we went to a french cafe for lunch- here are the coolest people living in Brussels-Janet, Liesl, Me and Jessica-all Young Life staffers!

Sunday was my birthday-yes I am another year older-the big 31!- and the Phipps were so great- they made sure I felt special on my bday! Even with late notice they got me some great presents- Here is Braden with the blanket they gave me and Brooks with the candle and turbie towel! They even knew my favorite color was orange- check out the candle!!

MMMMMM cake!! imported from the USA- we love BETTY CROCKER!! They improvised a little on the candle- tealights are multi-purpose!

Today after we went apartment hunting- By the way I got a great one- I will move in on Nov 15!! so afterwards me and Liesl went to enjoy the gorgeous fall day and took some pictures in one of the many parks around my new apartment!!

Brussels is gorgeous this fall. And I am LOVING my new team. They are really awesome. I was sitting at the Phipps house last night and we were having a conversation and in the middle of it I was again struck with how blessed I am and how amazing God is to have brought me to this place to be on this team. I am SOOO excited about what is and will happen here. I hope you all will come visit soon!!

Last Hike in Norway

2007-10-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

Of course Norway has many famous hikes and fjords and they love to combine the two. I have hiked Prekistolen 3 times already but there was one other hike/fjord tour I wanted to do and that was Kjerag. A couple of friends of mine called the other day and said that if the weather held out they wanted to hike it on Saturday. I had a lot of stuff to do(like finish packing) but I also really wanted to do this hike and see the famous Kjeragbolten(pictured later) so I said i would go. I have to admit to secretly wanting it to rain so I would get my other stuff done:) but this morning there was no rain so off we went(again secretly I took a book because if it was raining when we arrived-after the 2 hour drive- i was just gonna stay in the car and get some "homework" done) So we set off. Here is a picture of our group before we left. We have 3 Norwegians, an Indian, an Aussie and an American.

So I was told the hike would take approximately 6 hours total and it was 10 km. Well we set off and soon I realized that this was going to take some work- like some rock climbing skills as well as hiking ones- but at least they provided us with some chains to pull ourselves up with.

The hike was nice(a little rainy and foggy) but i think on the way there we went down as much as we went up- which I knew meant a yucky reverse trip! But finally we made it only to find out that it was too foggy to really see anything but here are Gunnar and I at the famous rock. It is basically a boulder that has gotten stuck between 2 of the cliffs.

Now many a crazy Norwegian or in our case Aussie has jumped out on that rock. You may think no big deal- but again the fog is literally couding your view. Let me give you a better picture of what kind of fate you would meet with one small mistep.

Yes- that give you a better picture of what lies beneath that Kjeragbolten-1000 meters of air and then some nice rocks! So needless to say I enjoy my life and have to much to look forward to so i did not jump out there but several in our party did- and I had to look the other way!
Below is a picture of me holding up the cliffs.

And here is the crew at the top- don't we look so refreshed from our supposed 3 hour hike up that took 5!!

Now I have no picture from when we got back to the bottom because it was literally pitch black. We took a little longer than expected and ended up fininshing the hike in the dark- good thing we had some Norwegians with us- they have like inbred GPS or something! Anyway- it was a great way to go out with a bang! Thanks guys!

Bought my plane ticket!

2007-10-11T14:03:00.001-07:00

Ok so it is really official. I have bought my plane ticket to go to brussels. I leave one week from today- October 18th! I really wanted to be in my new country by my birthday and it looks like it is going to happen!! I just have a few things to get wrapped up here. The moving company is supposed to come and get my boxed early next week-God certainly worked that out cuz this morning I got an email from the company I thought was going to do it but they couldn't because as Kjell said, "it is out of season" now what "out of season" means I am not sure but only in Norway would there be a moving "season". Craziness!!! So anyway I called another company and as typical to Norwegian service they never got back to me but I had one more number-given to me by Kjell-the "out of season" guy. And that guy- Espen- is my new hero cuz he said they could do it and they could get my stuff there in the next few weeks! God is so good!! SO now it is just fininshing up the packing and cleaning of the apartment here, saying goodbyes, and filling out visa paperwork for Belgium and off I go!

SO just a refresher for those of you who forgot how cool brussels is- here are Paul, me, Liesl and Michelle(a HS friend) in the silver bullet! Get ready to rock the good times!!

I am moving to Brussels!

2007-10-10T11:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the no pics but I am moving to brussels!! if you really need to see pics of brussels and the peeps there you can look at my brussels blog!:) I am beyond excited! I want to be gone like yesterday! hopefully I will be moved sometime next week but I am not holding my breath-this has been one LONG process so thanks for hanging with me!

YIPPEE!!

Moving???!!!!

2007-10-03T07:38:00.000-07:00

Well I am in the midst of packing and selling all of my wordly goods:) So far my sofa has gone, my dresser has gone, my washing machine has gone, my table has gone and in a few hours my bed will be gone! God is so good that everything is going so quickly but it has left my apartment in a bit of a mess- as the following pictures obviously show.
Here is my living room- the white day bed will be my bed til i leave!

in the absence of a dresser this is the fill in

here are teh boxes I have packed so far- really I do not have much more to pack!

For those of you who have not packed up your house recently- I highly recommend it- as a matter of fact - i have packed my stuff 7 times in the last 7 years- and i still have too much junk- so just imagine those of you who haven't gotten the opportunity to go through your junk!!

munich

2007-09-26T14:45:00.000-07:00

This week it was off to Germany for a little training, some Oktoberfest and some checking out of ministry opportunities. It was a blast! The week started out with sunshine!!! which was in and of itself enough to make it a great week! But beyond that it was just great to hang out with awesome people- you know who you are! and to be a part of community. We spent a lot of hours sitting on our butts-but we did learn a lot and they even let us work in groups some times- my group always chose to work outside- mmm gotta soak up the sun while you can! At night we pretty much had free- dinner out and then hanging out. We got to eat some great German food- schnitzel rocks! Here are some pics of the fun- the first is of me and Anna-who does YL in Madrid. She is a fellow Atlantan and we actually met in ATL this summer! The next is a group of us out to dinner one night-Adam, Me, Sara, Kevin and Luke

After training I also got to check out Oktoberfest. I actually helped out with a Wyldlife scavenger hunt on sat and got a few pics- They sell these heart shaped cookies that say things like-"kiss me" and i don't know what else but so many people were walking around with them hanging around their necks-

I ended up staying quite a while- because of an odd chain of events which i can tell you about in person if you really want to know. Anyway so Monday I got to go on a gorgeous walk down by the water- it reminded me very much of PA in the fall-lots of trees changing colors. And I met with Dave-the regional director and Chris-whose title I am not sure about- i know you told me-sorry Chris. Anyway I spent a few days getting to know the Munich staff and stayed with Chris, Donna, Mac and Madel roberts- who rocked my world with their kindess! Tuesday I went back into the city and went to a museum and then eventaully made my way back towards Oktoberfest and got my pic with some liderhosen clad gents!

All in all another great week! still don't know where in the world I am headed in the next month but am certain that God has it in his hands and can't wait to see where it is!

Brussels rocks!

2007-09-10T09:31:00.000-07:00

The newest adventure in my life was a weekend trip to Brussels, Belgium. What a gorgeous place-true old time Europe! So there were lots of cool things about the weekend- like getting to go downtown to the gorgeous main square and hear a Belgian band play some Indiana Jones music- go figure!:) Here is a picture of the main church in the square. I think this square alone was bigger than the whole downtown area of Stavanger-pretty impressive.

While we were downtown we ate and ate and ate some more but the best thing was an authentic Belgian waffle!! MMMMM it was yummy- you can see I got mine with strawberries, bananas and chocolate! And to my family back home- I did NOT get any on me- I am growing up!! and you can take me out:)

Another cool thing about Belgium were these zapper things they had at the grocery store. This is Janet using the zapper. All you do is zap each item as you put it in your cart and then when you are done it prints up a receipt and you take that to the cashier and pay them- it makes it SOO much faster! Boy those Belgians are smart!

Of course the best thing in Brussels is the Young Life staff there! They are some of the funnest(if that's not a word-oh well) and amazing people I know! Here is Paul with his graveyard of dominoes. And to the right are Janet, Liesl and me.

SO needless to say- it was an awesome weekend with lots of laughter and cool people!

Fun at the beach

2007-09-04T06:43:00.001-07:00

So every summer my whole family-which seems to keep growing- Heads to Ocean City, New Jersey for a week of fun. It is one of the best family traditions we have and even with living in Norway, I try my best to get there. This year there were 16 of us-we added 2 in the last year. We have stayed in the same house for about the last 10 years and as our family grows it seems to shrink but we still love it.

Here is the whole fam

One of the reasons I love ocean city so much is that once we get there we do not get in our cars for the rest of the week. We walk or bike everywhere which is great since we also eat like there's no 2moro! This year we also started a new tradition- bringing the "beach house" to the beach. We got this huge easy up thing that is as big as a carport and every day we pulled it down to the beach and set it up- along with 2 other huge umbrellas- so beware- when the Hunsberger clan arrives get out of our way

here is some of the clan under the "house"

This year we were there when they had a sand sculpting contest and one of the judges was Miss Ocean City so we had to get one of those!

This is me and my sisters watching the fireworks on the beach

frisbee golf rocks

2007-09-03T08:08:00.000-07:00

Lunch out after church on Sunday is a tradition in the states. In Norway, however, most of us can not afford to do that so we try to come up with something else that is fun to do. The crappy weather that Stavanger has been having lately it has been difficult to get out and have fun but Sunday we braved the wind and sometimes rain and tried a new activity. We played FRISBEE GOLF! which is going to be my new favorite thing to do in norway cuz it's free and outdoors! The course was in Sola- about 10 minutes from home. Gunnar had printed out a map- which was great cuz we would never have found the holes otherwise. We set out, amidst some grumbling(it's ok Ellen) and lots of wind.

We didn't have enough frisbees so me and Ellen partnered which was great cuz my frisbee skills are seriously lacking! It ended up being a gorgeous afternoon- we did pick the optimal warmth time-2:30-to set out on our adventure!