INTO THE PATIENT WAITING...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX9-ruvMtrE CLICK ON LINK --- Words can't describe how much this song had been so comforting to listen to over the past few weeks and days - probably because it reminds me of how I need to rest in the... joy of what Thou art . To rest in my Father's unconditional love. "Yes, I rest in Thee, Beloved, Know Thy certainty of promise, And have made it mine," speaks so strongly to me of the beauty of Him being the surety I need and the promises He had given all throughout Scripture that I can claim. One promise stuck out to me yesterday in a message Dan V. gave on Sunday morning, " Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you." (Genesis 28:15) I AM my Beloved's and He is Mine - I can stand on the promise (and rest in the promise) that He will be with me wherever I go...He will not leave me stranded anywhere and

Ahhh...hands DOWN , some of the best memories of the whole trip with the Haugrud family across Europe were times around the dinner table. Whether it was at Tim's place eating AAFES Anthony's Pizza (hey, they'll travel with you anywhere!) or enjoying food at the many get-togethers Brian Aimee had at their place or trying out a new restaurant in every city we visited (yes, now we know that Italian's eat everything in courses!). Wiener schnittzel, bratwurst, kaiserschmarrn, zwetschgenroster, real italian ravioli's, nous nougatt croissants...the list goes on! While we were in Vienna (at the oldest zoo in the world which would make it one of the oldest zoo's in Europe...), the Haugrud clan got goulash. Now this isn't the typical American goulash we all know and love. It has meat in it along with a thick sauce and dumplings (egg/flour/salt mixture) - I didn't have the honor of trying this dish, but after watching everyone consume it and constantly talk about

After all of the activity in Fussen - we all packed up in the car to Italy!!! Can you believe that? I always have thought about going to Italy and seeing the watery, winding roads of Venice...and I actually had the opportunity to see it with Tim and his family! Cool : ) In order to get to Italy, we had to meander through the Alps ...here's two pics! VENICE This city is absolutely beautiful! It's a strange city because it's basically built in the water...but it was an important move back in the 12th century because it allowed it to be a powerful water port and trade center of the world. Our main destination that day was to see the Piazza San Marco which was built in the 12th century, along with St. Mark's Basilica (built in 1094) ... it was really neat entering the Piazza and seeing these huge structures surrounding the open space. *The one thing that seperates Venice apart from everything else is its water-based roads...but that is also the one thing that seems to be

Christmas After returning from our journeys up north, we got back to Tim's place and enjoyed Christmas together. It was so nice - though I really missed Christmas with my family and seeing my Grandparents. Christmas Eve we opened presents, we all got fun gifts but the best gift of all was the amazing present Philip gave Tim...a miniature albino buffalo figurine with green eyes. Lemme tell you - this caused Tim to laugh like nothing I have ever seen, he started crying! And all the rest of us were cracking up and red in the face because the gift was so little and silly and yet it brought A LOT of enjoyment to us for the next few days. Next best gift was from Sarah and Delpha to Philip - a furry moose stuffed animal who we named Moosen. He journeyed with us all over Europe - he's quite the world traveler now ; ) Christmas Day was spent at Brian and Aimee Klaeger's home in Eschenbach (i.e. Isengard). We had breakfast with them and other single soldiers who weren't able to

Once I made it past the horrible delays in Amsterdam of 4 hours, I was able to find another flight that got me to Munchin (Munich), Germany around 1300 on Tuesday, December 22nd. We (Tim and I) had to wait for his parents and brother to arrive on their flight (which had been delayed like mine but they had to wait longer in the terrible T2 line as well as find little flights that would eventually get them to Munchin instead of one direct flight) until around 2000. But we made it all safely to Germany : ) WITTENBERG The next day, we embarked on a little adventure to Wittenburg and Berlin. Wittenburg is the famous place where Martin Luther hung the 95 theses and basically gave 95 points where the Catholic church was failing at obeying the Word of God. Tim was explaining to me a few moments ago that the main reason why the 95 theses was tacted upon the door was because the church, at the time, was heavily steeped in something called "sales of indulgences" where the church would s

Where do I begin to describe all that the LORD has been teaching my little heart about Himself? He is such a patient Shepherd and the past two weeks in Europe have given me an even deeper glimpse of how much I need Him and His guidance in every area of my life : ) That is a little tid-bit as to what I am Learning About Him - but perhaps you all would like to see a few pics of the adventures the LORD has put me on in order to bring me to a deeper realization of my need for Him and His help. Yes, I went all the way to Europe! For 2 weeks (and I still have one week left in Europe) I have been traveling all over. From little Zettlitz to the huge Berlin and then driving through the Alps to seeing beautiful Venezia (Venice), Italy. All of this was something the LORD has been bringing about for some time and I have had the priviledge of spending these journeys with a dear friend of mine, Tim Haugrud. Yep...a boy : ) It would take too long to tell the whole story, but all I can say is that the