We have arrived home.

We finally landed at the Zürich airport at 1140 today, 30 July. This was almost four hours later than we had expected. When we first boarded the flight in Atlanta, we noted that it was unusually warm. Several mechanics, festooned with screwdrivers and flashlights, made their way to the cockpit and then left. After the clock ticked past our scheduled departure time we were told that our air-conditioning unit was konked out and that we needed to deplane into the relatively cooler airport for our wait. (Thank the Lord, it was cooler...). A part was found, the solution however did not work and a new plane was found for us. Thank goodness that we were in Atlanta - a huge Delta hub, from which a substitute could be found. The new plane had to go through security checks, pre-fight checks and the luggage had to be transloaded. We took off finally about 4 hours later than expected; the actual flight to Zürich was relatively uneventful.

Our friends were waiting for us when we finally touched down. Aubrey, a fellow teacher and her friend Stephanie (both from the Northwest) had arrived about 830 and had to wait with Diana until we finally arrived. Everything turned out well however and we finally got to our little apartment by 1500 (3pm) this afternoon.

As the clock passes 1830 locally, Delynn and I are finishing the last of our unpacking but we are pretty bushed. We will do our level best to keep going until about 8pm or so before turning in.

Love to all; thanks to everyone who made our stay back in the States so memorable. From cars loaned to beds slept in - we have a really special group of people supporting us. But...

It's good to be back home.

Kindergarten Graduation

We had a very special celebration at RIA this week - Kindergarten Graduation! Ms. Hillary graduated six students that eagerly wait for the coming of 1st grade next year. These six students represent six differant countries: England, America, Germany, Poland, Switzerland and Spain - and Ms. Hillary is Canadian, so that's seven. We held the graduation a little early as two of the students are leaving early, one on holiday and one moving to a new city in Switzerland (that would be the American student...) Due to the realities of expat communities living in foreign countries, about half of the kindergarten class will not be returning next year, but will be attending schools in other areas and countries.

This is a reality that has really touched our hearts. Transition; leaving; being the new kid; saying goodbye; saying hello to new families; new country, new language, new everything - that is something that makes these children unique. We have them but for a season, to love, to nurture, to share God's love, before we send them off again to a new place, a new home. Ms. Hillary is in transition also - she will be finishing up the school year just in time to have her first child. She and her husband (he's German, works in Switzerland), are so very excited to begin their family. As Ms. Hillary transitions from teaching to being a full-time mommy, we are also saying goodbye to a great Kindergarten teacher.

At Graduation, the students sang and did motions to one of their favorite songs: "Our God is a Great Big God!". Can you believe that they are all the same age?


The Kindergarten students each designed and made their graduation hats. There is such a huge amount of creativity in the class. They are giving Ms. Hillary a group hug in appreciation for her being their teacher. So sweet!
These two sisters (twins actually) are the pride of my library. They attended RIA for several years before transitioning to a German school. I think I have mentioned before the requirements on attending a German school if you are a resident. Anyway, the sisters' family still has library priviledges as their younger sister still attends RIA and they are voracious readers. They come in after school and check out books as quickly as they can read through them. I think their goal is to read every book in our library... Well, more power to them I say! Oh yeah, I don't think they even realize that I am taking this picture - they get so focused when they read that the world ceases to exist.

Indeed, we are learning here just how priceless each child is. As several of our long-time families are transitioning to other countries, we share many poignant moments as we work hard to say goodbye well. We are learning that time is much shorter than we would like to believe. We must hold on loosely, the students are a gift to teach for a time, only to send them on again - smarter, wiser, kinder, with God's truth in their heart that they are special and hopefully with fond memories of their time at Rhein International Academy.

Love all; serve all. Be generous.

P.S. This will likely be our last post of the year as Delynn and I frantically get ready to finish out the last week of school and get ready for the flight back to the States. We love you and look forward to seeing many of you soon!

Euro 2008 in Basel!

It was so nice of the Swiss to host a major european football tournament to commemorate our birthdays this month. For those of you who may not follow soccer over here (or as they call it: REAL football...) this is the year of the European Masters 2008 tournament (EM 2008) which is being hosted by Switzerland and Austria. Sixteen european national teams are competing for the title. It is a bit unusual (and deeply saddening) to our British friends that England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales ALL failed to make the cut. Switzerland and Austria are both fielding teams but they are not expected to make it into the quarterfinals. We shall see.

Basel is one of the host cities for EM 2008, so Delynn and I ventured over Saturday to get a feel for the city as it prepared for opening day. Basel hosted the very first game - Switzerland vs. the Czech Republic. I read somewhere that 100,000 people were expected to come to the game. The stadium in Basel only holds 42,500, so where do you think the rest of the folks were? Yup, walking up and down the streets with their team colors on. We enjoyed being in the midst of the pre-game festivities because before the first game, everyone is still in the running and can win. The Czech and Swiss fans enjoyed pointing at each other and singing their fight songs (none of which we could understand...) There is a phrase that we heard repeatedly: Hopp Schwiiz! which is a dialect version of Hop Suisse! (Can you hear the difference?) This phrase means "Go Switzerland!" and is the direct equivalent of USA! USA! heard at so many international sporting events.

A sea of red and white. You might notice a couple of Czech fans with red, white and blue national colors.
The normally reserved Swiss get a little crazy for football... Notice the Matterhorn hat - I think it is homemade. Don't you love the umbrellas?

This is the Freiestrasse in Basel, a pedestrian street full of shops and uh, lots of people. They put up the awnings for EM 2008, but they don't keep out the rain. Even though it seems like a lot of people, this is a pretty manageable crowd (unless you get claustrophobic)...

I was never quite sure why the Schweiiz fans would be wearing Viking horned caps. Hmmm. Probably just because men like to think they are vikings. Go figure. Some adventurous person climbed up on the fountain statue and put a Swiss flag in the knight's hand.
Delynn and I were definately not wearing the right colors! Opps, what a cultural faux-pas. It is still a little cool and wet for late spring but we are enjoying every minute of the adventure of living here in our little corner of Germany. Speaking of Germany, they play tonight and are one of the favored teams to take the EM 2008 title. We will be back in the States before the champion is crowned. It is just a little over two weeks until we fly out and we have so much to do. We look forward to seeing as many as possible next month. Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts. We are still looking to find a automobile to borrow if possible while we are back in the Portland-Vancouver area. Please let us know if you have a vehicle for use. It means a lot to us.

We pray for God's rich blessings for all during the coming week. Live generously; Love surprisingly; be a blessing to someone.

Eek! It's June!

It is now officially June - as I flip over the calendar, I realize that we fly in a bit more than three weeks. Yikes! Two and a half weeks of school, an additional couple of days of teacher in-service to close things down for the summer and BAM - we will be on a plane back to PDX. Please pray for our final hectic weeks and for our good-byes. We will be saying farewell to several teachers and families that are transitioning away from RIA this summer. This is a poignant time each year - we have poured our lives into the students and they have flourished in the loving, godly environment here. To know that some will not return in the Fall is tough, but it is part of the path we choose when living and teaching overseas.

Today (Sunday) we had the opportunity to travel up to our sister church in Freiburg. Our vicar (there is something very British about that word...) invited members of ACB to travel up with him to Freiburg as he is giving the message to their congregation. It makes for a long day, but as we have mentioned before, with shops closed on Sundays, a wonderful space is created to enjoy building and watering relationships. In the busyness of our lives back in the States, I recall very few Sundays when we didn't end up going shopping at some point. Not to say that we aren't just as busy here, but somehow we manage to structure our week so that the shopping gets done in six days rather than seven.

Saturday evening we celebrated "International Night" with our school family. Nearly every family was represented. They came bringing foods from their native land, wearing traditional garb (Swedish to Scottish kilts to Indian) and enjoying their students' talents. In reality, at our school, anytime two or more families come together, the event becomes "international"... The showcase of the evening was a play written by our director, Miss Del Rio, which combined three well-known folk tales: Chicken Little, the Bremen Town Musicians and Little Red Riding Hood as they were told in other countries around the world. Michael had the privilege of playing the wolf in a Chinese version of Little Red Riding Hood. Basically it was me in drag with a tale sticking out the back of the flannel nightgown. (Did I mention that it was really hot?) We had a grand time.

Here are the Pre-school and Kindergarten classes singing out with all of their heart!

These three sisters sang a Lebanese mother's song. The girls are Lebanese-American living in Switzerland. They are sweet!

Mr. Walz was playing the part of a Wolf in a Chinese version of Little Red Riding Hood. I also had a gray wig to complete the disguise.

A teacher and student playing a beautiful rendition of "Faithful One"

We are very much looking forward to summer break - to coming back to the NW to catch up with family and friends. But in so many ways, Weil am Rhein has become our home and we are sure to miss it. We wish you all grace and peace in the coming week.

The best laid plans of man... Part 2

We are so proud of our students! As you know, Rhein International Academy is a Christian school, but Christianity is more than just learning from the Bible, it is working the lessons of the Bible and faith out in the real world. So, when the tragedies struck Myanmar and China over the last couple of weeks, it was not terribly surprising (but very heart-warming) when our middle-school students wanted to take action. They came up with the idea of a bake sale. They researched the different groups that have a presence in the countries already. They understood especially the difficulties of getting aid to the people who needed it in Myanmar. They found that World Vision is already in country there and chose it for their proceeds. The students organized publicity, sent out requests for support (i.e. bring in the goodies) and staffed the tables. Different grades helped bake items to sell - we literally involved the entire school in the project.

One of our middle-schools students sells baked goods to her mother (No special discounts here!)

The first-grade class is pictured here with another of our middle-school students. Guess whose parents brought in the sushi? (Let me tell you, the sushi and spring rolls sold out quickly - do you see any spring rolls on the table?)

Another of our middle-school students designed and created this sign in German as we have some foot traffic that walks by the school and we didn't want to leave them out.

I can just see this student saying: "What's it going to take to get you to buy one of my delicious wares today?" (By the way, that 50 cent sign is for 50 Euro-cents - roughly $0.75 US) The students raised over € 200 and 30+ CHF which works out to about $350.00 for the earthquake and cyclone relief. It may not seem like much when there is such deep need, but therein lies the lesson: it is not the amount that counts, but the motivation of the heart. These students are learning to reach out beyond themselves to be the adults and citizens of tomorrow. What a privilege it is to be a part of shaping how they see and affect their (and our) world.

Love all, serve all. Be blessed this coming week!

The best laid plans of man...

We finally have some time to catch everyone up on the blog today due to a series of quite interesting and humorous circumstances. After a fantastic church retreat last weekend, we came back renewed and challenged in several great ways. Delynn and I had a very "European" room arrangement. The retreat center we used caters more often to singles than couples and are quite spartan compared to U.S. standards. Many of the rooms are set with bunk-beds, two small study tables and chairs, armoire and sink with the toilet and shower down the hall. However, the retreat, the fellowship, the movement of God's Spirit in that place was incredible. It was definitely something we needed more than we even realized. But, it left us behind on other commitments, like the blog. Here are a couple of pictures from the retreat - such beauty can bring one to tears.


We traditionally have a talent show during retreat - except for our friend Bryn on guitar (works at one of the local pharmaceuticals in Basel) these are all teachers at RIA. Amy-Jo is signing, Allison is singing, Anne is on violin and yours truly on bongos. I didn't know I had it in me...

Anyway, back to the subject this entry. Today is a holiday in Germany -it is called Fronleichnam or perhaps better known as Corpus Christi in the states. So, federal holiday in Germany means no work, shops are closed, busses and trains on holiday schedule. Okay, good so far. We have a day off school. By the way, this is our last holiday before school ends on 18 June.

Now, in Switzerland, each Kanton or state is either Catholic or Protestant (I know, weird concept in the U.S.). Based on this, it may or may not be a holiday. The question then arises: Are the trains running on a non-holiday or holiday schedule? The city of Basel is its own Kanton (sort of a City-State) and happens to be Protestant (although historically it was Catholic), so our friends who live in Germany (holiday today) and work in Basel (no-holiday today) therefore need to report in to work. Of course, since Basel is "open today", lots of Germans take advantage of the holiday to go shopping. Now, France doesn't celebrate the holiday at all, so it is also "open" (i.e. shops, trains on regular schedule (snicker...), etc.).

Delynn and I had the brilliant idea that we would take advantage of our day off to travel to Mulhouse (roughly pronounced "M00-looze" on French), France. Why? Well, because we have never been there and it's only 30 minutes from the Basel main train station, so why not. Oh, yeah. Did I mention that the SBB (Swiss rail company) is doing construction at a train stop, so our normal train schedules are mixed up for a couple of weeks? Well, okay - there it is. This actually works in our favor today because we can take a train from Weil am Rhein directly to the Swiss Main station without making a transfer at the Basel Badisher Bahnhof (that's the German train station that physically resides in Switzerland). Confused yet?

So. Here we go. We catch the 1038 train from Weil a. Rh. to the Basel Main station. Great. We walk over to the ticket counter and queue up. Delynn holds our spot while I jaunt over to the ATM and get some CHF (Swiss Francs) cause they don't use the € in Switzerland. When our turn comes, we are informed by the nice lady behind the glass that the French Rail are on strike today. Trains may or may not be going at times which may or may not roughly match the train schedule and that said trains are subject to random stops and "pauses" so there is no telling how long a 30-minute trip to Moo-looze will take. Plus, the return trip would be totally random depending on the whims of the French Rail folk. We have dealt with French strikes before, so the best thing we could do was return to Weil and our apartment 90-minutes after we had left on our little adventure. It was not a wasted trip however as we were able to purchase our June rail pass at the station while we were there and we stepped over to the Co-op grocery for something (since stores are closed back home in Germany).

Plus, as a complete bonus, we have a great story to share with all of our family and friends. Now you can see why we love it here!

Love to all.

Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week

It has been another wonderful week here in Germany in so many different ways. The weather has been exceptional. It has been in the mid-20's every day this week. Nice thing about spring here is the low humidity. We have several staff members that hail from the southern states - and they know from humid. With this weather, what we like mostly to do is bask in the warm sunny rays while enjoying (you knew it was coming...) a nice ice cream. Our Canadian friends here had a funny story about being with family on a trip somewhere. During the middle of a conversation about family or politics or Canada, someone piped up: "Did somebody mention something about an ice cream?" and off they went. So now, we have now taken to using that phrase rather often. By telling this story in our blog, I am hoping that the use of this phrase will spread far and wide - it works best of course when not talking about food (So, our family won't be able to use it much...) But, I digress.

It was Teacher and Staff Appreciation week in Germany - I don't know much about these traditions (we never had Software Engineer Appreciation week at Intel...) Our parents lavished us with a special breakfast one day and lunch on another. Our director's Bible Study group took over our cleaning duties on Friday afternoon (I was on downstairs bathrooms, so I REALLY appreciated that). They were all such a blessing to us all. Anyway, on Wednesday, the students brought flowers to their teachers and staff. Wow, what a surprise - I had never gotten flowers before. Each child has a bouquet of flowers - they walk around and present their teachers and the staff with a single flower and soon we were awash in a beautiful flora.

Here are Delynn and I, each at our desks with the beautiful results. Some of the flowers came from the childrens' own gardens, some had notes attached, but each flower was special. I think the students enjoy giving them away as much as we enjoyed receiving them. I think that I win the prize for the biggest bunch! (Please note that the hair is coming in nicely...)

May is also our Cultural Celebration Month at RIA - and boy do we have a lot of cultural to celebrate! We had our students do a take home project: to make a family flag. We then had an assembly where the students shared what their flag means. The vast majority of our families are multi-ethnic - everything from Scottish-Polish to Swiss-German. One family had 4 flags in theirs: Spain (where one child was born), America (younger sibling was born there), China (where the children grew up) and Switzerland (where they currently live). Student after student stood up and presented their diverse, yet seemless integration of cultures. It was a poignant reminder of how far we have come in shrinking this planet on which we live.
Chinese, German, American, French, Scot, Swiss, Polish, Lebanese, Indian, English, Spanish, Columbian - no matter what the nationality, God finds each precious. There is a lot we can learn from children.
Oh, yeah. We got a new chair. Weil am Rhein, the City of Chairs (die Stadt der Stühle) got its most recent edition last month. At a park near the school, the town of Löffingen erected this fine chair - complete with viewing platform! The children underneath were having a game of hide-and-seek at the park.

By the way, this entry is being written on Monday because it is Pfingstmontag (Pentecost Monday) which is a holiday in France, Switzerland and Germany (probably some other places too.) Also, we will be away at a church retreat all next weekend, so the next post will be delayed somewhat. Our church retreat is called "Food for the Journey" - pretty cool when you think about it... Love to all.