May ... Bear at Work and Play

The close of April was somewhat disheartening as we said "Good-bye" to Mimi, and some in the Lopez home questioned why she had to go back across the pond.  Thankfully, May brought many exciting events to turn the heart toward rejoicing again.  Among them ... a Birthday Celebration and "Take Your Child To Work" Day.  For these two events to take place within the space of a week is almost overwhelming for a soon-to-be-six-year-old boy.  

Bear celebrated his sixth birthday at Playmobil FunPark in Zirndorf, Germany.  Quite the adventure!

While pirate ships and castles and rope ladders offer challenges and plenty of fun, spending the day at work with Dad on Warrior Field may have surpassed the day of play.  Helicopters, snipers, weapons, and obstacle courses - oh my!

A Return To Italy

It has been a long time since we first traveled to Italy (Belle was just 10 weeks old); it has been a long time since I last posted on this blog.  Such a long time that I believe only a few masterful photos may work as an attempt at the heartfelt apology.  And so here is my offering (with all credit going to my husband for the masterful photos):

We traveled to southern Italy and made this 400+ year-old stone home, situated about 20 minutes west of Cassino, our base-camp for the week.  One unique feature (discovered upon arrival):  if you desire heat at night, you must build a fire ... and in the mountains in early April, you desire heat!

Market Day in Sora is quite impressive.  Variety of merchandise, number of vendors, enthusiasm of buyers.  To be honest, for a non-shopper it can be a bit overwhelming.  We have experienced a few markets during our time in Europe, but this is the first time we have seen live animals for sale ... bunnies at a market??  We walked away with photos only!

Ahh, Rome.  It is true.  Rome cannot be "done" in a day.  While this is true, part of us took in as much as we could from atop the ever-popular Hop-On-Hop-Off tour bus.  The younger part of us roamed the roads of Rome on a different day, and Patrick played guide to both parts. 

Palantine Hill, the Colosseum, St. Peter's Basilica, the Tiber River, the Swiss Guard ... and the lesser-known-but-just-as-popular-with-the-five-year-old-boy-crowd Pinocchio Store.  Our Roman Experience.

One day we piled into the van and scaled the heights of some amazing mountains in Abruzzo National Park.

A few days later we turned south and after careening through tiny, narrow, cobbled streets in what looked like third-world-country villages, we ended at Pompeii and wandered through some of those archaeological finds.  As the sun began to set on that day, the Mediterranean called out to us and some had to answer the call with jeans rolled up and shoes tossed aside.

With views like this all around us, we would readily agree with Bear's statement "I could live here."

Faces of Belle

WARNING ... Cute-Baby-Photos-Only ... (and that's "cute" according to our standards!)

This is simply a "make-it-up-to-Mimi-for-not-remembering-to-Skype-with-her-on-her-birthday" type of post.  In case you were warming up your "tsk-tsk" ... I did make the "Birthday Phone Call" AND 4 out of 5 grandchildren did wish Mimi a Happy Birthday.  This was the one who napped right through said birthday call ...


ChocoBelle

says

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Mimi!!

I'm ready for you to come to Germany!"



PS -  I am thankful that our eldest daughter has "the eye" and captures such great expressions!  Thank you, Micaiah.

Christmas 2012

Christmas ... a time of anticipation, expectancy, wild-eyed wonder.  This year a later-than-usual tree-purchase altered our decorating routine a bit, but I must say that it was definitely worth the wait. 

Since Belle is totally enamoured with the tree, we also altered the arrangement and number of ornaments!  Although we hung fewer favorites, there were still some that will always have a special place on our tree.

Dear friends gave us this ornament in 1993,
our first Christmas together.
 

As we fast-forward 19 years, who could have imagined that we would be exploring parts of Europe and capturing some wonderful memories.  Here are a few highlights featured in the 2013 "European Overview" Calendar...

Enjoying the statues around the Liberation Monument, the Castle District, and a vintage VW...
Budapest, Hungary

Noyons, France

 

On the set of "Merlin"
Chateau de Pierrefonds, France

 

Col du Grand Colombier

 

 

Gendarmenmarkt
Berlin, Germany

 

What an Adventure!



As we marvel at the incredible gifts given to us by our Heavenly Father, we want to wish you a Merry Christmas as we celebrate the most extraordinary gift ... the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ! 

Coburg and Luther and Knights, Oh My!

About a month ago, in a late celebration of Reformation Day and to "kick off" the Thankfulness Season, we hopped into the van, drove a mere two hours while the children watched the movie Luther in the back, and beheld this ...

 

 

This is the Coburg Fortress (Veste Coburg) in Bavaria, one of the largest surviving medieval fortresses in Germany. Just a short history lesson ... in 1530, Martin Luther lived in the Veste Coburg for five and half months under the protection of Elector John the Steadfast. He stayed for the duration of the Diet of Augsburg, which he could not attend as an outlaw of the Holy Roman Empire. Philip Melanchthon attended in Luther's place, making history with the drawing up of the Augsburg Confession.

 

Once inside the fortress, the polite-but-somewhat-stern staff members "shepherded" us through numerous rooms, including what was (until just recently) the royal bathroom.  After visiting several different museums in three castle buildings, we entered one of Bear's favorite rooms ... The "Knight" Room.

Thankfully, this was near the end of our tour or we would not have seen (among others) the Lutherstube (Luther Room), where Martin Luther worked on his German translation of the Bible (most of which was done at the Wartburg Castle) and wrote no less than 26 works on Reformation issues. 

Definitely thankful for another incredible opportunity to journey back through HisStory.



Season of Remembrance

With leaves turning golden and red and then falling to be crunched beneath our feet, and with the smell of chimney's first smoke hanging in the air … it is definitely autumn. And as autumn comes, so does the Remembering Season.  

 

 

At the Lopez home we are right in the middle of two Remembering Times. Just ten days ago we gathered around the table for a birthday celebration – a feast extraordinaire with a menu designed by our now-15-year-old son … cheesy bread, homemade pizzas and calzones, caesar salad, and finally chocolate-chip cookie cake with chocolate-chip cookie dough ice cream. While we gorged ourselves on carbs and sugar, we reminisced and laughed with one another as we shared our favorite Isaac memories. Birthdays are great times to remember, to remember the chapters of our story that have been told thus far.

The second Remembering Time will take place in exactly one week. Almost nineteen years ago on a beautiful autumn day in Kansas City, Missouri, the Lopez family had its beginning in an old stone church with a long center aisle. Vows exchanged, communion shared and then a joyous procession into the chapters to come. What an adventure. Only God Almighty, only the Sovereign Lord of all, only our Gracious Heavenly Father could have written a story like this for me, for you, for all of us.

 A few weeks ago at the Kick-off Program of our local PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel), our guest speaker posed this question, “What's Your Story?”   Well, I am going to challenge each of us to ask this question, “What is the story God is telling?”  Consider the Bible.  It is the very Word of God … His Story. He has given us this record of His Story, AND incredibly, He has written us into His Story. Ephesians 1:4 “...just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love...”

Before chapter 1, even before the prologue, He chose us and gave us a bit part in His Story. Our scenes are always changing, but the Author remains the same. Malachi 3:6 “For I am the Lord, I do not change...”

And all throughout His Story, He reminds us of many things … necessary, life-giving things. The word “remember” appears in over 200 places in the Bible. What does He remind us of? *His everlasting love for us *His good and perfect law that gives us boundaries and provides security and protection *His complete sacrifice – Jesus, God in human form, dying an atoning death on cross, and *The consequences of our choices – Obedience brings blessing, Disobedience cursing, and this will lead to our eternal home, either with Him in heaven or separated from Him forever.

Our Father even set aside specific times, formal Remembering Times called Feasts – the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Tabernacles, the Passover and even on a weekly basis – the Sabbath.   Today, we also have those built-in formal Remembering Times – Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, even funerals. These specific times are not only times for us to remember His Story and what He has done for us; these are also times when His Name is to be made known, His glory to be shown to the nations. Think about those twelve stones taken from the Jordan, the stones of remembrance.  We read in Joshua 4, “And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” Again, remember, these times of remembrance are not just for us personally; they are not just for us to share with our children; they are for the glory of God...for making Him known among the nations.

And then there are those informal Remembering Times … times around the dinner table as you discuss and remember the things that happened throughout the day … times of getting to know new friends as you share the previous chapters leading you to this particular time and place … getting together with old friends after long separations as you walk down Memory Lane … even children asking for help on homework assignments – do you really need a common denominator when adding fractions... and then there are treasured family albums bringing their own Remembering Times.

One of Bear's favorite things to do is to pull out his photo album, climb up into my lap, and hear the story behind each picture. Do we come to God's Word the same way? Do we climb up into His lap and turn the page, eager to hear the story behind that snapshot?? My prayer is that our Remembering Times would become more and more frequent. Would we consider each day – would we take time each day to remember The Author and His Story?  Read anew these words from Psalm 145. Picture this snapshot of Our Author:
 

The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works.  The Lord upholds all who fall, And raises up all who are bowed down.  The eyes of all look expectantly to You, And You give them their food in due season.  You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing.  The Lord is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works.
The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them.  The Lord preserves all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.  My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, And all flesh shall bless His holy name Forever and ever.

Berlin & Beyond

Even after almost 21 months in Europe, I am still amazed that I am writing the following sentence.  Last weekend we squeezed in a quick trip to Berlin between school photo shoots with Dad.  A few highlights of that excursion are pictured below ... the Pergamon Museum, Französischer Dom, and Gendarmenmarkt.  So much history packed into two days.  The only disappointment:  in a city of 3.5 million, one should be able to use the GPS and find a Mexican restaurant. 

 

With three weeks of school completed, here is a look at the students of the Lopez Family Homeschool of 2012-13 ...

 

Micaiah, junior year

Isaac, freshman year

Abigail, 7th grade year

Bear, kindergarten year

Belle, in the second half of her second year