Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas to all our family and friends. The morning broke bright and clear this fine Christmas day with the hoarfrost covering the plants and trees. The view off of our balcony was enchanting.

After a fine breakfast of homemade biscuits, rösti potatoes and apfelmus we enjoyed a quiet morning celebrating the birth of Jesus together. Since our apartment is quite small and we don't have much room for a tree, so we have made due with what we have. Delynn had brought our Christmas stockings that mother Ruth made and the angel was a secret santa gift from a friend at RIA. The holy family wood carving is new this year - we picked it up at the Christmas market in Basel from the carver who makes them. It is a nice piece.

We had such fun opening the wonderful presents our family sent. We savored each one as we traded turns. A Pendleton blanket, a fine pen set, a fleece and turtle neck sweater, movies, Crisco and brown sugar, movies, Chili mix and espresso cups were just a few of the many nice gifts we received. Being here, we are so very thankful that God has given us such wonderful family (and not just because of the presents...)

As we opened each present, we maticulously separated the tape from the packaging, the paper from the plastic and built fine little piles for recycling - it was slightly humorous but is rather second nature by now... We then gathered our little piles and put them aside for a trip to the recycling yard on Saturday.

I must be my parents' son. Dad and Mom Walz picked up a Sodoku book for Delynn's stocking. Well, unbeknownst to them, I had also picked up a Sodoku book for Delynn. My version was in German, naturally while theirs was written in English. Sudoku itself is language neutral. When Delynn pulled them both out of her stocking, I noticed that the back cover graphic looked identical - differing only in language. Further investigation showed that indeed, the books were both created by the same publisher (in England) but with of course, the necessary language changes for the chosen target market. To our relief, the puzzles are indeed different so it was not a wasted effort but an interesting story.

We also made a short video with our Christmas Greeting to all. Unfortunately I have been unsuccessful uploading to the blog - oh bother. I will try again later to see if we can keep the connection long enough to get it to you.

To all we wish a very happy Christmas, a blessed day to all! We love you and miss you.

Winter has arrived

Each season has its own special beauty. Winter officially started yesterday and we woke up this morning to a frosty trip to church. Three and a half hours later as we walked back from the train, I noticed that some of the bushes that had not yet been bathed in sunlight still held on to the frost, so I took a few pictures.

Today we celebrated the Christingle service at ACB - it is a wonderful celebration of the coming of Jesus at Christmas. As part of the service, we were all invited, especially the children, to make a Christingle. It originates in the 18th century in Germany. The Christingle is:

An orange: representing the world;
with a candle inserted: Jesus, the light of the world;
four toothpicks (the four seasons) skewered with raisins or sweets (the fruits of the earth)
and a red ribbon tied around the center: Jesus's blood given for us.

As Rev. Geoff called it: "the good news in the palm of your hand." It was huge fun. There is a picture on Wikipedia.

Peace and joy to all.

Oh, get me to the church on time...

We wanted our friends to know that we have had a last minute change in our holiday plans. Delynn got an unexpected blessing: a year-end bonus from PacifiCorp. So, she will be making a quick trip back to Walla Walla, Washington (yes, it is a real place) for our nephew Chris' wedding. She was not supposed to get a bonus - normally employees have to work until September to qualify. We have surmised that because she "retired" in July that they grandfathered her in. Anyway, we are not about to look a gift horse in the mouth (Hmmm - I haven't tried explaining that saying to our German or Swiss friends...). We found a round trip ticket for an excellent price (considering the price of international flights...) so after much prayer and deliberation we decided to send her. It will be a 4-day dash round-trip (no time for jet lag) but it will be good for her to attend. Unfortunately, due to the timing, Delynn will not have time to see anyone but family and go to the wedding. Bill, Ruth and the sisters are quite excited that she is able to come. I'll be holding down the fort here in Weil a. R, while she is gone. (I have already had a couple of invitations to "hang out" which will keep me occupied). Please keep Delynn in your prayers for a good trip.

Christmas traditions

We just finished our last day of school before the Christmas break. The students were a bit crazy Wednesday in anticipation of Christmas. We had a nice chapel Wednesday morning to tell the Christmas story from Luke and to be grateful to the Lord for our friends and our school. Two families are moving back to the States over the Christmas break, so we said our final farewells after chapel. These are some of the tough moments we go through as a small school because we build a strong sense of community together. We will miss our students immensely. Here is this year's school picture - these are some of the best kids in the world.

We have been preparing for Christmas over the last weeks, trying to keep from accumulating too many things that will just have to stay here. In a odd sort of way, it is actually good that things are so expensive for us here; it keeps us from getting too much stuff. Trips to the Weihnachtsmarkten in Basel, Weil a. R., Lörrach and Gengenbach this year have been festive - Delynn loves the woolen goods; Michael loves the food! In the picture of the Basel Christmas Market, to the left you can just see three little cherubs atop the gold and white striped spires - the one closest is holding a wurst up like a prized offering. They make me smile every time I see them... We decided against getting a tree this year and instead have decorated our apartment with just a few items; Delynn made sure to pack our Christmas stockings which now hang on our wall waiting for the Weihnachtsman to fill with goodies. Did you know that in Germany, they still trim the Christmas trees with candles? We were talking to a German friend at Life group (that's what we call our Bible study groups at ACB) about how dangerous that must be and she said that it never really occurred to her that it might not be safe - her family has done it all of her life and they still do! The tree at school has electric "candles" on it along with student crafted ornaments.

Basel Weihnachtsmarkt - note sausage wielding cherub to left

Here's a better shot of the Wurstengel.

Delynn's thinking: "I could make that..."

We have been busy little social butterflies over the last week, attending several parties for Christmas - our Life group, RIA and Praise group all celebrated the Advent season. We also had a wonderful Carol service last Sunday evening. The service was held in the Pauluskirche up the street from where we normally worship. It is a great stone church with a rather large chandelier in the dome. The choir sat up in the balcony where the organ is situated. The entire service was filled with Advent readings interleaved with the choir and congregants singing familiar carols. With over five-hundred voices reverently and joyously reverberating within the confines of the Pauluskirche, it gave me goosebumps.

Speaking of geese... For Christmas day, we toyed with the idea of having a Mexican Fiesta thanks to a generous care package from the Taylor clan in Vancouver - they even sent festive cups and plates and a pair of maracas to party with! In the end however, we decided that the Fiesta will best be enjoyed with fellow staff members sometime soon and opted instead to try our hand at cooking goose. Well, it's not quite as big as the one from a Christmas Carol (you know: Scrooge and Tiny Tim...), in fact, it is not even a whole bird but just a goose breast (our oven is not that big...) We will let you know how it turns out.

Christmas tree in the courtyard of the Baseler Rathaus

The ribbon festooned Puppenhausmuseum (dollhouse museum)

Delynn and I would like to wish all of our friends and family a very blessed Christmas, or as we say in Germany: Wir wünschen euch ein sehr gesegnete Weihnachten.

So much different; so much the same

Sunday evening is upon us - a weekend packed with days full of activities is coming to a close. Wow, we have so much to share but will need to parcel it out so that the postings are not too long.

We (Germany, Switzerland and various other EU countries) celebrated Sankt Nikolas day was last Thursday. He comes to deliver small presents into childrens shoes: traditionally chocolate (big suprise there...) oranges and nuts. He goes from house to house in towns and villages, reading from a list the good and bad things each child has done. All of the students at RIA left their shoes outside their classrooms (including the teachers and staff) and found a nice gift in the morning! When one pre-schooler found a chocolate Euro coin in his shoe, he proudly stated that he would put the coin in his piggy bank! At Bible study Thursday night, our hosts had small St. Nikolas chocolates for everyone - and it is so impolite to refuse...

The staff and student's at RIA have been preparing for the last month and a half for our Christmas play: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! which we presented to families and friends on Friday evening. Our students did a super job! From the smallest preschool child to our middle school actors, it came off really well. The parents loved it! The play tells the story of a family of unruly children that barge in to take over the roles of a traditional Christmas program but the power of the story of Jesus' birth changes the children and those who see it. Michael played a small part as the Church's pastor, Rev. Hopkins, and was the backstage technician (sound, lights, props, curtains, etc.). Delynn take care of the money end of things and helped serve the hospitality (lots of goodies for the families). The teachers were also surprised by our parent/teacher organization that presented Christmas presents to each staff member. Delynn and I were given gift cards for our favorite Italian restaurant, book stores that have english books, shopping at stores with names you have never heard and a Swiss iTunes card (we can't use iTunes cards from the states because they can only be legally used in the U.S.). Well, by the time we got everything cleaned up and packed off to school, it was way late and Delynn and I had a train to catch Saturday morning to visit our cousins in Bohlsbach.

Aren't they precious! (This is the pre-school, not the staff...)

The Rev. Hopkins outlines the many problems with the pageant to Grace (our good friend Anne)

BTW: like my haircut? Delynn did it...

Here are some pictures from our trip to visit Theo and Elisabeth on Saturday. The two-hour train trip from Weil a. R. to Offenburg on Saturday morning was uneventful (the train back at 9pm was much more boisterous!) We got to enjoy the best schnitzel in the world!! I tell you, my cousin Elisabeth makes the most wonderful schnitzel. I remembered it from our last visit and she showed us her special techniques - the way her family has made it as far back as memory goes. We savored the schnitzel and german potato salad (They just call it potato salad here...) before heading off to the woods - and what beautiful woods they are...

We all four merrily hiked up to the Ritterhof Christbaumhof (a farm that grows and sells Christmas trees) - I think that between Theo and Elisabeth, they must have known over half of the people there! We enjoyed a small smackeral with some of their friends from Bohlsbach who were also there; the farm had Alpenhorns playing, hearty lentil soup, several different types of liverwurst and brats and the local high school selling hand-made items. Delynn and I purchased a small straw star to hang on our front door. As the sun began to set and the tempeatures dropped, we scurried back down to the car and drove to a neighboring town for their quite famous Christmas market (Weinachtsmarkt).

The town of Gengenbach has many original 14th and 15th century town square buildings intact. Theo mentioned that it is often used as a backdrop for period movies. The Weinachtsmarkt was alive with booths, activities and of course food! We walked and ate our way around the market. These pictures give a little feel for our adventuresome day! These pictures would not be possible without Delynn, who dutifully stood and allowed me to use her head as a tripod to steady the camera for long exposures (some as long a 1 second! - that is why the people are so blurry).

Beautiful Fachwerkhäuser (Half-timbered house)

A city tower highlights the festive scene
Delynn, Theo and Elisabeth - what great family!

We want to return to Gengenbach in the spring when we can enjoy the city in daylight! It is so beautiful.

We thought that this Christmas, things would go a little slower since we are staying here in our new home and not returning to the States, but we are so, so wrong. Our schedules here are just as jam-packed full of great celebrations of Jesus' birth as they were last year. We hope we will have the time to think... We also hope that you will greatly enjoy this celebration of the Advent season and that the reality of Jesus coming to earth will fill your Christmas with joy.

Getting into the season of Christ!

This morning, as Delynn and I were getting ready for our day, you will never guess what we heard... A brass band in the Rathausplatz playing Christmas songs. With the windows shut, it was slightly muted, so despite it being 3 degrees (Yup, it's warming up this week!) outside, we opened our windows to let the beautiful strains of music flood into our little home. We heard everything from "Winter Wonderland" and "Joy to the World!" to "Go tell it on the Mountain" and "Gloria, In Excelsis Deo!". It felt rather surreal. This is certainly one of the advantages of living downtown. That really got us going for the morning. We listened to the band play on as we cleaned our apartment and as they finished up for the day, we pulled up iTunes to strike up "Christmas In Velvet". Those of you from Delynn's side will recognize that as one of Derric's many albums. It made us feel close to family as we heard sister Debbie singing - ahhh. All we need is a fireplace and some snow.

The skies have turned a bit cloudy, grey and rainy. This is when the reality of living without a car sets in... Not that we miss the payments, insurance, gas. By the way, at the current exchange rate, gas is about $8.50 a gallon. No, that is not a typo: $8.50/gal - so no whining about that $3.50 gas back in the States, okay? I think this is why there are not many SUVs here - could you imagine filling up one of those monsters? You would need a second mortgage...

The weather being as it is, I haven't had a lot of pictures to share lately. Here is one I took in late October of the Basel Rathaus - we are thinking of using it for a picture to hang on our walls. Our apartment is still pretty bare of accents. We want to do a few things to make this apartment "ours", so maybe some pictures would help... Don't ask me, I'm just a guy...

We are starting to feel a little more connected here - today, when I went to the farmers' market to pick up fresh fruits and veggies, the daughter who works a stall with her mom recognized me and asked if we were from America. She remembered that Delynn had been there the week before and I thanked them for being so nice to her because Delynn is still learning German. We were also recognized at the pharmacy (the owner is familiar with our school). Unfortunately, prescriptions from the States are not the same as here in Germany, so we had some hiccups getting them filled - no worries, just another case of "it's not the same here". We will probably need to see a german physician for the next time, it just makes things less complicated.

We greatly appreciate your ongoing prayers for us, they are very important and keep us connected. We still need a school secretary and that is our biggest concern. It is hardest on Delynn who has to pick up the majority of the tasks. Please keep this in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you. We love and miss you all. Happy December!