assuming nothing crazy happens with my flight, i will be home tomorrow. should be swell.

i need to send out my news letters. its not that i dont appreciate my donors, cuz i really really do. its just that i hate paperwork. and folding and addressing and mailing letters is definately paperwork. but i know its important. and procrastinating isnt going to make it go by any faster.


this winter has kind of been a whrilwind. but a couple highlights from the last month...mostly ministry related.

1. we BOLDly proclaimed the message of Christ in club to over 50 kids that have come through out the semester (we average around 25+ per night)
2. i went to Berlin with some friends and had a blast (ok that one isnt ministry related)
3. we've been bringing tons of our non Jesus lovin friends to church with us (God keeps opening doors)
4. my favorite kids at bitburg high school came to club for the first time this last week (i want them to know Jesus so bad)
5. we have more kids signed up for service project than we took total people last year (we had 10 people last year)
6. ive been to five different christmas markets (its a fun euro thing...like christmas on crack)
7. i had a fun cookie baking day with some friends
8. i rediscovered a love for reading
9. i got four new documentaries in the mail and i'm having documentary filmfest with some of my high school friends this week
10. we had a day of sun this month (i'll take what i can get...even if it was still so cold that the snow didnt melt)

i leave in about a half hour to take some middle school kids to a christmas market in trier and then i'm going to the circus with some friends. life is silly.

i still hate the weather. but it feels lame to complain too much when life is really pretty good.

winter sucks. i want to be home.

i'm going to be slightly vulnerable with you. but not inappropriately so.

things here are really good, were having record numbers of kids coming to club, volunteers are really owning the ministry, i'm really enjoying my friends and my roomie, ive had amazing oppprtunites to travel, i love my mentor, etc etc and life is good.

but...

the weather really gets to me. its storming and cold and should be snowing tomorrow. i havent seen real sun in over a week. its dark till late morning and dark again by five pm, the hours of light are getting shorter and shorter. and even the day time is miserable, its just a gray fog...all the time. and while logically i know things are good, my body is having a hard time believing me. all i want to do is sleep. always. i have to struggle to get out of bed everyday. and i know life is good. really good. its just tough.

so please pray. i dont really know what to ask you to pray for. i would say for sun, but thats just not germanys style...so just pray that God would give me strength and wisdom in dealing with the weather and the darkness here. thanks.

on a happier note, i got to travel to greece with my mentor and her husband to watch some of our friends run the athens marathon. it was pretty incredible. heres a few of my favorite pics.













above is the bema in ancient corinth where paul stood trial.

heres a lot of pictures. because thats what most people want to see.

i feel like ive kind of abandoned the world of blogging. not intentionally...well maybe a little. its just that theres been a lot going on, and so the more days that pass the more i feel overwhelmed by sharing it with you all. on top of that i feel like blogger isnt quite the popular destination that it used to be so i often question if its even worth it to update. but here i am. i thought about writing all the things that are going on but i decided against it. but i want you all to know that life is good. not just good for here, or the best out of a bad situation, but truly good. ive had several nights over the last few weeks while sitting around with friends where i am able to mentally take a step back and just sit there and rejoice in the fact that i am truly happy. i'm well aware of the fact that life isnt about being happy, i think ive been though the worst year of my life this last year so if any one has the right to say that life isnt about being happy its me. but i'm learning more and more what paul was talking about when he spoke about learning to be content in any and every situation. but life is really good, not all the time (this week kind of sucked, ive been writing a final paper), but i've been really blessed, i have an amazing living situation with an awesome roomie, we get along amazingly well and will sit around for hours talking (i got pretend mad at her last night when i looked at my phone and realized it was 4am and were still talking after i told her i was going to bed at 1230). i finally have a mentor, she challenges me, pushes me and is honest with me, its refreshing. i have such a fun group of both chrisitan and non chrisitan friends that come over to our house on an almost nightly basis, to hang out, eat, talk or play ddr (yup, we have ddr...and we are getting rock band). i'm learning that church isnt about what i can get out of it but about gloriflying and praising God so chapel seems to have purpose again. i'm part of a ministry called the hopitality house that i attend on wednesday and friday nights for dinner and a bible study (my mentor and her husband lead it) and i am learning and growing with a group of people that i enjoy spending time with. i'm loving the kids that i have relationships with at all three schools (high school and two middle schools), ive finally gotten to the place where i know enough kids at all three schools that going to lunch is really fun. both our high school and middle school clubs are growing and new kids are coming each week. ive been running the high school club and half the time i'm terrified but its been good to be challenged in that way. i have an amazing team of volunteers that support me and really love jesus and kids. like i said life is good. thats not to say that sometimes things still dont suck...ive had to say bye to two of my best friends in the last week or so because the military has moved them away, i was recently in a kind of intense car accident (i want hurt...just the car), and there are still things about the military that are a constant struggle. but all that pales in significance when i look at the list above of the ways God has blessed me.


wow that is a lot. i'm impressed if you actually read that. ha. i guess i just felt like i needed to explain why i hadnt updated in so long. so there it is. all of it.

so how about some pictures that have been taken since my last post. i really have no intentions of explaining them so ya...here they are.