70 Not Enough, 1498 Too Many

All it really took was about forty-eight minutes of waiting ...waiting ...waiting in a friend's van parked outside Building 322, Vehicle Processing Center.  Sitting alongside my eldest with her toes pointed up toward the windshield and calves resting on the dashboard soaking in the shy-sun-rays, I came to the conclusion that 70 days is not enough.  In 70 days she will be sitting alongside her father (probably in the same position) as they make the trek to college, and in 70 days the lights begin to fade on one scene and the action comes up on an entirely different stage.

With the shipment of our van, today marks the beginning of the end of our time here in Lupburg, Germany.

The next weeks will be filled with purging, sorting, locating the last PlayMobil sword and helmet, preparing for packers.  In the not-so-distant future, most of our earthly belongings will be swathed in brown paper, stuffed into boxes, and sardine-packed into crates lining the back of some big trucks.  

Destination: Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas.

This evening's dinner conversation included a bit of travel-time-trivia, and this is when I realized that 1,498 miles will separate one family member from the other six.  Too Many Miles.  In the next months, I will become even more thankful for "smart" phones, Skype, and Southwest Airlines.

The benediction words ring through my busy-ness and overwhelm my discontent with numbers of days and number of miles...

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Celebrating Micaiah

An excerpt from Dad's message to Micaiah, 
celebrating her 18th birthday last December ...

We have spent the last 10 years attempting to provide a culture within our home that encourages the pursuit of wisdom.  The classes that have challenged you and the work that has sometimes pushed you to tears was for the purpose of pushing you towards wisdom.  But as Solomon teaches us, wisdom is a gift.  The biggest mistake we can make is thinking that if we gain enough wisdom we will always have the answers.  But Solomon, in Ecclesiastes, tells us that most of what happens to us is inexplicable, incomprehensible and out of control.  Everything is a gift from God.  Trying to understand what God will do is utter foolishness.  All we can hope to do is know this and love Him, trust Him.   So we will follow Solomon’s advice to eat, drink, and be joyful, and we will do it together because He has given us this time.  Our past is full of wonderful memories, and I am confident what He has in store in the unknown future is even better.  But why worry about that now?  This is the day we have been given.   

It happens that fast!

Rachel Micaiah Lopez

FABulous Evening

May ... another time of remembrance.  For many years the days on the May calendar filled with field days, spring sports, awards ceremonies, Mother's Day, banquets, final exams, Commencement ceremony, graduation parties, yearbook signings and locker clean-out days, final grades due, and then Memorial Day - another time of remembrance.

While this May's calendar will be filled with different types of events, it will still be full of times to remember.

One such time ... our Commencement Celebration.  

After months of planning, coordinating, and scheduling, the night had finally arrived, and everyone donned some fancy clothes and remembered their dancing shoes as well.  Across the fields to the next village and up the hill to the Parsberg Castle, we took a few moments to digitally record all the family's finery before we commenced.

Upon entering the banquet hall, we were able to enjoy the fruit of our afternoon labors -- many thanks to all the hands who volunteered with the set-up of tables and chairs, with the washing of dishes and the precise placing of flatware, with the untangling of decorations - it was a gusty afternoon!, and so much more.

Congratulations to Emi Patterson and Micaiah Lopez

The evening was filled with feasting family-style, musical performances by students from our homeschool community, heartfelt speeches delivered by proud fathers and by their lovely soon-to-be-graduating daughters, memory-packed slideshows, singing ...

and dancing!

a FABulous evening

Another blessing lavished upon our family while here in Bavaria is the wonderful community of fellow believers that God has provided ... family while we are far from our own.  And within this community, our children have had the privilege of developing friendships with a great group of young men and women.What an incredible evening of celebrating with our family here in Germany!