Playing catch up

I decided today to pull out some pictures from the last couple weeks or so (maybe a bit older but most of you won't know the difference...) The Swiss say that Basel is the second sunniest city in Switzerland. The number one spot goes to some city in the Italian part of the country. I can testify that we certainly get more days of sunshine here than when I lived in Augsburg. I remember one winter when the newspaper headline read that we had surpassed 100 days of rain - it was truly miserable. I say all that because today was another herrliche Tag (magnificent day) in the Dreiländereck. In the pictures below, you can see how blue the sky can get here - the sun doesn't stay up long, but while it is out, it just makes our hearts sing.


These two pictures are of the Basel Rathaus from the time of the Herbstmesse (Fall festival) in Basel - you know, the one with the swinging chairs of death... This was taken about 16.00 (4:00pm) and you can see how deep the shadows are already. This was when we found the fall flower display in the Rathaus's inner courtyard. We so much love just wandering around (when we have the time) exploring the nooks and crannies of our land.

I'm writing the blog on Saturday this week (I normally shoot for Sunday after church because all of the stores are closed and it is good family time). Well, tomorrow after church we have something a little different going on - we will be attending the football game between FC Basel and FC Zürich. These two teams are bitter rivals being only about an hour apart. Delynn and I haven't yet been to see a football game live, so we wanted to have the experience. The only thing is that the person who got the tickets is from Zürich and I'm not sure that we won't be in their section of the stadium. We don't have any team paraphernalia, so we should be safe. We just may need to be more circumspect when our team scores a goal...

Last month, our school celebrated pajama day. I think it is so cool that in a small school, we can do these crazy theme days: hat day, country spirit day (uh, not country-western but you know, where you are from country), T-shirt day, storybook character day, etc. Anyway, the students really love pajama day although the parents say it actually takes longer to get them ready for school on pajama day then a normal school day - go figure. You can tell by the smiles that these kids really enjoy these special days - well, most of them like having their picture taken too.







As the days get cooler, dropping into the single digits, we thought of making stew for our dinner tonight. We walked to the market this morning to get our veggies. They even had stalk celery! Twenty years ago, when I lived in Augsburg (Wow, was it really 20 years ago...) the only celery available was celery root - it is a big round, whitish root with the consistancy of parsnip but the flavor of celery. Well, we found this stalk celery for our stew and as I was prepping the veggies, we tried it and it is just wonderful - I've said it before and I will say it again, buying fresh from the farmer who grows the stuff is not to be missed. We are so blessed to be able to do that - and it is cheap. We got potatoes, carrots, onions and spinich from one lady for only €2,30 (about $3.00) - amazing. So, if you have a farmer's market, support it!

If, when you think of us, could you please lift up a prayer? Maybe right now as you finish this entry - just a quick little prayer for wisdom and patience as Delynn and I contemplate and seek God's direction for our next steps. We are confident in God's leading but we are both planners by nature, so we sometimes get a little anxious. Thank you.

Love to all our family and friends.