Monday, August 12, 2013

Getting Ready to Leave Dallas

 
Hello everyone:-) We will soon be on our way to Deutschland MIssion Berlin. We expect to arrive in Berlin 4Sep13 about 11AM their time - we expect a large body clock adjustment:-)

     We anticipate Fall will be in the air and we also expect we will be wise to buy coats, etc. for the winters there right there in the area, 
    We have been so pleasantly surprised with how so many things 'came together' seemingly on their own!  Once Brigitte and I decided to commit and serve, our youngest daughter Laurie and Cade (husband) decided to accept University of North TX in Ft Worth's invitation to attend Physician Assistant's master's program. This will take 2 yrs of didactic and another year of clinical residency/rotations.
   In the meantime, our oldest daughter, Monica, became engaged, got married 15Jun13 and she and Dan (husband) moved to Maryland on 15Jul13 for him to start a new job.
   Just seeing how wonderfully these things have come together by such very natural means impressed us with the help we are getting from on high.
    It seemed it was similar to deciding to go to the temple - suddenly all sorts fo considerations and 'problems' seemed to pop up and we could not see how we could make ourselves available for perhaps another year.  Nevertheless, we decided to commit and serve and work out the challenges with help from promptings and things that we hoped would 'pop' up in our lives.
    It really seemed to validate that the blessings come after the challenge ot and holding on to faith and confidence in the Lord.  Laurie and Cade's decision, then Monida's enagement, my eyesight suddenly going south, making it difficulty to read, all the work in packaging and getting things to storage and preparing for Laurie, Cade and their 4 children to move into the house---  being superimposed upon each other, resolved somewhat by our moving upstairs so we could have a clearer division of families for activities, selling both cars, health insurance, and a TON of logistical things that suddenly manifested themselves to us.
   Gigi (Brigitte) dug right in.  I did the heavy lifting, and she did the quality packing. I didn't think I would ever get my MAN CAVE cleaned out to where I could ever see the carpet again!  BUT - over weeks and a couple of months of staying at it, the house, man cave, and waist lines look much improved.
   Actually, living upstairs in closer quarters is being a great preparation for the apartment, etc. living we will experience in Germany.
   Gigi is looking forward to meeting cousins and relatives she knows are 'there', but they were all in East Germany and no one has ever met Brigitte.  This will be very interesting:-)
    We hope that both of us speaking German - even if mine is a 'lower German' from Austria - we expect to acclimate very rapidly:-)  Along with acclimation will be German winters which are not for sissies!  We've been spoiled a bit here in Dallas area:-) 
    We plan on using this BLOG as a type of journal of our experiences, and hope some of it may be useful to our family and friends.
    We look to turning our time and efforts over to the Lord and hope to trust Him totally for the new challenges to our comfort zones we feel are inevitable.
    What a wonderful time to be able to serve.  YES INDEED there are problems of aging, but the insights and experiences we have had individually and together give us great confidence and strength to go forward come what may:-)
   Stay tuned as we leave DFW 23Aug13 for Salt Lake City and 3Sep13 SLC to Atlanta to Duesseldorf to Berlin 4Sep13.
We leave with you our best wishes and look forward to a happy reunion at some time and place ---  A fullness and peace and joy be yours:-)