Belated Thanksgiving Wishes

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I meant to post this last week... oops!

Four Years

Four year ago yesterday, a judge declared us a family of three. William was our son. (we still had the 10 day appeal period ahead of us, so we didn't have custody of him yet...) This precious boy has changed our lives in so many wonderful ways!

Four years ago today, we celebrated Thanksgiving in Berdyansk with our awesome friends the Powell's. This family has had an incredible impact on our lives and the way we see the world. We are thankful for their ministry in Ukraine, and for the way they ministered to us in 2007.

We're approaching the fourth of anniversary of Gotcha Day, the day we began life in a whole new way - as parents. We have much to be thankful for!

Jena, Day 2

Wednesday in Jena...

By the way, have I mentioned how you pronounce the name of this city? For those who aren't familiar with Germany, the J sounds like our Y. Jena is pronounced YEH-nuh.

Anyway, after breakfast, Zack and I decided to set out on our own to do a little exploring.

We walked (hiked) up the hill to Napoleonstein that overlooks Jena. It was a reminder of how out of shape I am, and how Converse are not a wise footwear choice for the type of walking we were doing. I kept slipping on the damp rocks and leaves. But it was fun and in the end, the view was definitely worth it!

We sat up there for a while, enjoying the view and the quiet. Then we started back down. We stopped at a restaurant about half way down and had a coffee. Then we continued on and made our way to campus.

We met up with Thomas and several of the Connexxion students. Again today, we looked for ways to meet new students and tell them about the ministry and/or share the gospel.

After that, Daniel took us up to the top of the JenTower. It provided for more great views, and Daniel pointed out so much.

Then we met up with our friend Conny for shopping and coffee.

After that, Anja cooked a great dinner for us. Then it was time for Connexxion's bowling night! It was a lot of fun and we got to meet more of the Connexxion students and leaders.

Another fun - and busy! - day in Jena...

Is Anybody Out There?

My previous blog post about helping PJ has been viewed more than 30 times. And that doesn't count all the views by people who use blog readers and don't come directly to the site...

So why is the chip-in still at zero?

I know money is tight for so many. But would you be willing to give up Starbucks for a couple of days? Or maybe you could pack your lunch twice next week and put that money towards PJ's Christmas gifts.

Gifts of $5, $10, or any other amount will make a difference! This child has likely been through a lot of trauma in his young life. Let's do what we can - TOGETHER - to make this Christmas special for him! Thanks in advance for your help.

 

A Christmas Wish - need your help!

Our family and a few others have decided to team up and help a foster child this Christmas. Bethany Christian Services in Atlanta does a Christmas Wishes program for Atlanta-area foster children, to help their foster families provide them with gifts.

We've agreed to sponsor a child, but we need help! We are sponsoring P.J., a ten year old boy who likes music, hot wheels, bey blades, and bikes. In addition to his wish list, we also have clothing sizes. (And we also want to make sure he receives his own children's Bible.) We want to make this a very special Christmas for P.J. 
If you would like to make a financial contribution to help with PJ's wish list, click on the Chip In below and donate. Any amount you can provide will help make this a memorable and happy holiday for him!

If you are in the north metro area and would like to purchase a gift for PJ, send me an email (janedove75@yahoo.com) and we can set that up as well!

Please also pray for PJ and his foster family. I'm sure holidays can be especially hard for a child in this situation, so pray that he will be blessed with a great Christmas season.

If you'd like to sponsor a child on your own, visit www.bethany.org/atlanta and click on Christmas Wishes (it should be available later this week)
 

First full day in Jena



Grill Teufel



Still trying to finish sharing about our trip to Europe (a month later - oops!)...

Tuesday morning we woke up and had breakfast with the Koch family. Anja and their younger son, Artur were off to the church for a moms group. Thomas was walking Immanuel (their older son) to school, so we joined him. I love being able to walk everywhere - so nice!

Once we back, three of the student leaders from Connexxion came over for a meeting. Thomas discussed all the things that were planned for the week. This week was the week when all the new students come on campus for registration, orientation, etc. We also had a time of devotion and prayer, and of course, coffee!



Walking around Jena, we found a
matryoshka! We also found a
Russian shop/restaurant in the city!



We set out for campus, and the weather was beautiful. We stopped for our first (of many) bratwurst, and then on to campus.

We spent several hours on campus, in conversation with a number of university students. WE had some great conversations and had the chance to invite a number of people to the week's events (bowling night, end of summer party, trip to Weimar).



Ice creat at Riva - yum!



Zack and I walked around the city for a while, and then met the Koch family for ice cream. Europeans just have a knack for this that Americans don't - it was outstanding!



Zack with Lydia & Jan
(I accidentally left the camera at the
Koch's home, so we had to use the
iPad for a pic)



After talking to the boys on skype, we had dinner with our friends Jan & Lydia. Zack met Jan when he was in Germany two years ago. And Jan and our friend Sven had just been in the states a couple of weeks earlier for a visit. We had an awesome dinner - Lydia is an amazing cook and hostess - and a great evening of conversation. As we got to know this sweet couple a little better, we learned that their story could easily be an award-winning romantic comedy! We are priviledged to have so many sweet friends in different parts of the world!

I Can... I Will

Have you ever thought that mission work is a great thing... for other people?

Yeah, I used to think the same thing. Then God convicted me of the truth that all Christians are to be on mission. Take a look at this quick video from week 1 of our church's missions emphasis - and start praying about how you can go from I CAN to I WILL.

Update on Glen & Sandra

Thanks to those that have been praying for Glen & Sandra. Each is making progress, and it's so good to see God at work!! They both have long roads ahead of them, so continue to lift them up to our Father.

For those that have asked, their children were in the car with them. Thankfully, they were both securely in the car seats, so when the van flipped, they were not hurt at all! Praise God!

Their family has set up a blog and will be posting updates there. Please stop by and let them know you're praying!
http://sandraglen.wordpress.com/

Prayer Request

Prayer warriors, please pray for our friend Glen & his wife Sandra. They were in a terrible car accident on Saturday afternoon and are both in critical condition. Glen suffered severe head and chest trauma. He had to be taken in for emergency surgery last night due to a blood clot in his brain. They were able to remove it and the doctor was pleased with how things looked. Sandra is showing some signs of improvement. She opened her eyes yesterday afternoon, and was beginning to talk some last night.

We are praising God that their kids are fine, and that Glen & Sandra are showing some signs of improvement.

Please pray for this precious family: that Jehovah Rapha, our God who is the Healer and Great Physician, would restore each of them fully and completely.

National Adoption Awareness Month

November is National Adoption Awareness Month. I am not attempting to do a blog post every day this month like I've tried in the past. Instead, I invite you to visit One.27's page on Facebook for daily prayer suggestions and/or ways that you can be a part of adoption, even if you're not adopting!

Visit their page HERE! (When you get to the page, be sure to click the LIKE button so you can see the daily posts throughout the month on your news feed!)

Onward to Deutschland



Standing in front of the {not
original} doors. These newer
doors have the 95 theses
inscribed on them



Back to blogging about our trip to Europe... (I'll talk about our Tennessee weekend later, but it was so great!!)

Monday morning, we got up early and took the tube to Heathrow. We made it to our gate. Our flight was slightly delayed getting going, but once we were in the air it was well under 2 hours and then we were in Berlin. Border control and baggage claim took hardly any time at all.

We were greeted by our good friend Daniel and his buddy Robin. The day before, Daniel had emailed and asked what we'd like to do when we arrived. One option was to visit Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Um, yes please!

For those that don't know, you can read a little about it HERE, but this city could really be called the birth city of the Reformation movement. Martin Luther studied here, was a monk and professor here, nailed his 95 theses on the walls of the Castle Church in the city, preached, lived, and is even buried here (as is Philipp Melanchthon).



Luther & Katharina von Bora
lived here



I really should have written this post yesterday, as Luther nailed the 95 theses on the church doors on October 31, 1517.

What a great opportunity to walk the streets that are straight out of the pages of church history books! And Daniel was an amazing tour guide. He is quite the scholar, and shared so many interesting facts and tidbits with us as we walked around.



Grave of Martin Luther



We stopped at a local döner shop for a late lunch. Then we headed to Jena. We had arrived on German Reunification Day, which is a national holiday. Being a Monday, many had gone out of town for a long weekend. Because of this, traffic on the autobahn was horrendous. You've heard stories of speeding down the autobahn, right? Not this time!

We arrived at the home of our dear friends Thomas and Anja just after 8:00 in the evening. We had a delicious dinner and visited for a while, then headed to bed.