9.24.2008

Germany, Thanksgiving, and English Teaching

What do Germany, Thanksgiving and English Teaching have to do with one another you ask. Everything. I have decided to stay in Germany for another year and do some more work with the Recovery Program here helping it to get up and running on a good start.

How am I going to stay here legally and financially? As an English Teacher I hope. Last time I was looking for a job here, the only thing keeping me from English teaching was a certificate. Germans love their bureacracy, meaning they love certificates for everything. So I am doing an online course right now to get my TEFL certificate.

What does that have to do with Thanksgiving, Caroline? Because of this decision, my parents are flying me home for thanksgiving. I will be in Texas from Nov 22- Dec 10th! If you would like to meet up while I am at home, please make your reservation ahead of time. :)

Things I plan on doing in Texas:
1) Eating Mexican food every day!
2) Eating barbecue every day!
3) Stocking up on clothing and shoes. Clothes are friggin expensive here.
4) Buying spices for Mexican food.
5) Hugging and kissing my nephews to death. It's got to last for a whole year!
6) Bringing back useless things such as my text books that I thought I would use for online classes
7) Getting all my stuff out of the Fry House and eating at Cups and Crepes!
8) Eating real meat!!
9) Meeting with my dear friends and family!
10)Celebrating my baby sister's 21st birthday!

That is my list for now. Definately has a food theme to it, but you don't understand how boring bread and butter is until you eat it for two of your three meals every day!

If there is anything you want from Germany, give me a holla and I will bring it to you! I am bringing two large suitcases half full so I can load her up for the next year!

Can't wait to see you guys soon!

Love,
Caroline

9.10.2008

A Glimpse of Jesus in Cobbler


These past two months in the land where everything grows so lusciously and abundantly have brought so much joy and worship in my heart. All of nature seems to be proclaiming the glory of God and communicating His goodness. Oh how He lavishes His love upon us!

The weather is not always stable here in Hamburg. In fact you can predict it to be unpredictable and more on the rainy side than anything. A glorious moment, is when the weather is forecast for rain the whole weekend--therefore also cold-- but God decides He wants it to be sunny and warm instead. These moments melt my heart into praise and awe for our Creator.

Speaking of melting, nothing melts more heavenly than a great scoop of vanilla ice cream from the warm oozing yumminess of a cobbler. Making cobbler this summer has soothed me with such southern comforts of home. The reward in the end is indescribable from a long fought journey. There is nothing like going to your own backyard to pick your own fresh berries, but even then nature is wild and puts up a fight. There is this plant by blackberry bushes that is kind of like a stinging nettle, but it stings far worse! This malicious plant always stings me and of course the thorns from the bush itself dig into your clothes, trying to hold you captive as you steal its treasure.

I have come to pin these words about berry picking, blackberries specifically: "Blackberry picking is like fighting nature, demanding that she yields her delicious treasure to me. In the end of my battle, I come out scratched and bleeding, but I find it worth the fight, in that I behold something that brings me much greater joy in the end."

Sitting outside with a bowl of warm homemade cobbler and giant scoop of vanilla ice cream while the sun shines on me and a slight breeze sweeps by is such a God exalting moment for me--it is a moment that says it couldn't get any better than this. I know all is right in the world at that moment--it's a glimpse of Jesus.


How wonderful is God that He would choose to communicate His love to me in something so simple as a fresh summer dessert!