I have nothing to do...but I want to entertain my sick sis in law

this is for you hallie

Baby Got Back...

Haha.
I am in Jackson, for those of you who may not know.
Jet lag is not cool.
I woke up at 3:30 the past two days, but woke up at 7 today (thanks Peggy).
It is really really good to be here. I have missed everyone so so much.

I find myself talking about Ecki and Nadine and the kids a lot, so sorry ahead of time, but they are kinda important to me :).

My flight back was good. It went by faster than the way there, I felt. I sat next to a lady who was a German Jew during World War 2, and had been saved in Switzerland when she was a little girl. I was amazed and honored to talk to her.
When we finally got to Memphis the airplane circled for a while because of thunderstorms, so we ended up landing in Little Rock to refuel, and then head back and try to land in Memphis again. That would have been alright, but poor Peggy and Cindy had to wait for me THREE hours. That ain't right.

I slept on a couch my first night back, and the next day the Atkins offered to let me stay at their house until I found a place to live. That is such a BLESSING. I love the Atkins, and I'm so glad to get to spend some more time with them...PLUS I'm within walking distance of a bunch of friends! Therefore, my car being in Kansas City is not the biggest, most ugly, hairy deal.

My cell phone is dead, so if you needs or wants something: e-mail.
alicecalvery@gmail.com

and I don't think I'm going to be updating this anymore. Just call me, or let's get coffee.
Love you.
Peace of Christ.

This is how we do it...

Hey.
Well. I am in Amsterdam right now.
Quite a different world from my no tv, no internet, no conversation, all Christian, really relaxing wonderworld.
If you were wondering, Amsterdam is really really sad and real.
On the train ride from Bremerhaven to Amsterdam, I just felt this different attitude surround me. Maybe it was because the air in my second train was humid and a huge black beetle had somehow crawled up my leg without me noticing.

It was really just strange to go from one train full of middle aged, fanny packed couples that were hiking across the German countryside, to droves and droves of dreadlocked, stinky kids that just want to enjoy life. There was maybe one person on the train to Amsterdam over 30.

Just so you know, I am not alone here. I met up with my friend Sonja. She was one of my Young Life girls, and now works with a Christian hostel ministry called the Shelter. Basically, she and 30 other young folks work at two different hostels in Amsterdam and try to share their faith with the people that are staying there. Every night they have "Bible Discussions" and try to initiate conversations. It was a hard transtion coming to such a spiritually different place, but it has been so encouraging seeing all these people, my age, living different lives even while they are surrounded by so many distracting things. I really believe that God sent me here to learn from these people.

Today, I actually went with a lady who is staying at one of the hostels to Haarlem and toured Corrie Ten Booms house. We had some good times! I knew she was a believer, and from New York, and a classical music singer, but I found out later that she was a double major, economics and music, at Harvard. I was glad that I found that out later, because I would have been really intimidated beforehand. It was really fun to hang out with her, though, even though we were different. We were both really glad to have a traveling buddy.

Amsterdam is a really beautiful town. Lots of canals, and beautiful old buildings that lean over the water. It's a really great town to visit, if you ever get the chance.

I need to go.
I can't wait to see you all again.
Peace of Christ.
Alice

PICTURES!!!

Ecki likes curry sauce. That is Elia by his side.

The front of the new house (now without many of those bushes and without the car seat)


Behind the wonderful house.


The massive back yard with the hangy mat and the kids and the relaxing and the beauty.


I had to wear this wonderful outfit in the rain to my Deutsch for foreigners class.

In the middle:

Hey friends.

I breathe a deep sigh of relief as I begin this post. It feels so good to know that I can continue to communicate with you. Praise the Lord for the highly controversial blessings of the internet.

I'll just begin with the most important things and move my way down.
Or over. Or whatever.
We are done moving things from point A to point B. We are at the "Fix up the old flat, and try to avoid going insane from unpacking boxes" phase. This is much better than the "Moving and organizing only God knows what and try not going insane from not having anything handy" phase, which we just got through.
I think the most subtle beauty of this whole time has been the reality of it. Everyone has been at their worst. But we are still able to love. For me, it's particularly beautiful, because I have been grafted in to this family, and there is nothing but Christ that makes this work. Atleast, that's what I'm thinking, and needing to be much more thankful for. It's NOT comfortable...but neither are high heels, and those things make women look much more beautiful...so must reality.
Haha. I'm just rambling. That's dangerous. Forgive me. I thought I'd share some of my reality with you all.

 

Another big thing is my Deutsch for Foreigners class! Ecki and Nadine's friend Iris did some research and found that this class was a short bike ride away and met three times a week for two and a half hours. The class had begun just one day before I found out about it. To live in such a small town, it really is unheard of that a class would be so close. ON TOP OF THAT! when I got there the teacher sat me next to a girl from Romania named Violeta and she could speak English very well. I HAVE A FRIEND!!!!! YAY!!! She is 20 years old and came to Germany to live with her boyfriend who flies helicopters here. (??) She didn't know anyone for 3 months while she's been here, except her boyfriend. She says she spends a lot of time watching tv, cleaning, talking on the internet, taking walks. But now we can chat. As Jenny would say "Sounds like an opportunity to share Christ." Pray for this friendship. I have been able to share my faith with her a little bit, but I pray that she and I will have a conversation. She is a really sweet girl. She speaks 4 languages (Romanian, English, French and Spanish) and now she's working on Deutsch. She loves kids, so I'm trying to set up a way for her to come over and meet the boys. Anyways. Simply having a friend is a huge answer to prayer, and so yay to Jesus.


My time here is over halfway done, and things have been bittersweet lately. Last week Ecki and I were sick, and that gave me some time to just reflect on what a blessing it is to be here with the B-mosers. Usually I'm running around Jackson like a chicken with my head cut off...but here I'm with the same people day in and day out. I go to my room, I go to the kitchen, I take a bike ride. Simple. There is not a lot to distract me, except flies from the garden (is it ok to enjoy the death of flies? I do.) No phone. No car. It is a good life. I took the boys to the playground the other day, and while they were on the teeter totter (Noah vs. Samy and Elia) they just laughed and laughed. I thought Elia might accidentally stop breathing. Noah would do some silent movie worthy comedy, trying to make his little brothers think it was incredibly hard for him to make his side of the teeter totter go down. He would rub his hands together and scrunch his face and push down with all his might, and fall down. Then, when he'd finally just sit on the other side and make them fly into their air, they would scream and laugh all together with such delight. No worries in the world. I am going to miss these boys. They are so great. I wish you all could see them.
Then, that night, I had the great joy of sitting with Ecki and Nadine over ice cream and just chatting with them. They have been so patient with me. I feel so blessed to have a family here. Once again, I think about these things, and need to be much more thankful than I am.

Ecki and I have been watching this documentary called "They Sold their Souls for Rock and Roll" and it is very interesting. I'm not sure if I agree with everything they are trying to communicate, but they are basically pointing out the huge emphasis music has on people and what musicians are really communicating about Satan that we may not know. For instance, I had no idea that Led Zeppelin, one of my favorite bands, was so influenced by Satanist Aleister Crowley. I assumed Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, and Marilyn Manson would be on this video...but some of the musicians were just really heartbreaking for me. It has been great that Ecki has such a love for music like me, because not a lot of people would be so passionate about discussing a sound Biblical view on what music should be and what it should not be. We watched this 10 hour documentary (yeah. We watched in 2 hour increments...don't worry) and I felt much more convicted about some of the music I have been listening to with ease. I would really like to talk more about this, but I won't use this avenue. If anyone wants to discuss this, I would really like to.

 

Ok. Well that's enough for today. I will be going to Hamburg next weekend to spend some time with Nadine's dad and step mom. I have been praying about this for a month now. Please pray that it goes well and that I would not fear men, but God. And that I would have fun!

Love you all.  Peace of Christ to you!

 

UPDATE: (within an update)
I am in Hamburg writing this now...I meant to send this post, but it did not post. 
So, I just wanted to add a few things very quickly. 
1) Ecki and Nadine and I had a really special evening the other night. First, Ecki and Nadine had a board meeting for the Seamen's Christian Friend Society (SCFS) at the house, and it was very encouraging for them to look back on the year and see all the ways the Lord has provided for them. It was really great to hear about how God has been taking the weak and little things we have and making them into great and beautiful things. After the meeting, we, as a family, took a walk around the countryside. It is really beautiful here. We stopped to watch two young horses frollick through a field on our way back. Then when we got back, Ecki and Nadine and I got to spend some time in the word and even took communion together. I share this to say that God has continually blessed us with unity. I came here feeling guaranteed of service and sightseeing...but God keeps blessing me with deepened relationships in the Lord.

 

2) I found out that I LOVE TO WORK IN THE GARDEN! Yes. Pulling up weeds is so satisfying. I hope that everyone gets to do it once in their life. Wowee. 
We have a great garden here. I would post pictures...but once again, I am unable. 
I miss you all, but I am so happy here.

Love you.
Alice

 

A Teaser...

Hi friends!

I just wanted to tell you all that we are (mostly) MOVED IN!
YAY!
It has been a crazy past couple of weeks, and we still have a lot of work to do...
Infact, I am sitting on the floor of what once was Ecki's office writing this post right now.

Next post I will inform you all about:

my German for Foreigners class!
the ins and outs of the move!

 

and I will include PICTURES!!!

Don't forget the Beards, if you know them!

They are moving soon. Be a helper and inform them that you want to help out however they might need it.
They might need meals,

box packers,

box and big stuff movers,

kid watchers

and lots of other things.

They did not tell me to put this on here...so I might be wrong. You should try atleast.

Love you all!!

You can leave comments on here now!

Thanks to Nic Pfost, I can update my blog and receive comments by e-mail.

Peace of Christ, friends!

Alice

Ju Ju bees and a kiss from my sister!...

Stardate 678600929864986191...or thereabouts.
Sorry to leave out the commas.
It is 22:13, or for those of you who don't habla en army time...10:13. P.M. It is dark out and my body is tired from a long day.

This past week and a half has been incredible. I mean that in a
"We have not stopped working our tails off for almost 10 days straight" way. And the work is not over.

Let me embellish...
It is moving time for the Breitenmosers. They purchased this BEAUTIFUL home about 15 minutes drive north of where they are living currently. It has the typical flat-top-A shaped roof of many houses I've seen here. The floors are wood. The living room is huge. All the boys have their own rooms. Ecki has an office downstairs. There are winding steps that take you upstairs. AND if you don't want to be inside the house, you can go to either their front yard, or their back yard. They are both huge, garden filled, winding path filled, singing bird filled. If it weren't for all the painting, scraping, etc, we would have to consider whether life could be any better. The boys are usually running around in the back yard laughing (they stay outside ALL day long).
Nadine is amazing, and somehow makes lunch and dinner for us while we're there with a burner and a cooler. She wouldn't brag about the meals, so I will: She is making us warm lunches everyday, when we should be having sandwiches.... Now I'll stop, because if she read this, her head might get big. Hahaha.

Ecki has been spending nights there to fix all my painting mistakes :).
Just kidding. But it really has been a tough week for the family. It's felt non-stop. We work all day at the new house and then come home to a chaotic mess (that we actually cleaned up today, so we could show potential buyers the house).
Getting this move over with will be muchly enjoyed.

There is joy in this though. It's fun to work alongside with people. It bonds you together.
Also, last week I got the great pleasure of meeting Nadine's father. He is a kind, gentle, humorous man. He doted on his grandsons, built cabinets for their rooms (wow) and even brought me a bike to use while I am in Germany. He fixed it up himself.

Speaking of bike riding. That has been one of my favorite things to do in my spare time since I've gotten that bike. The country roads here are beautiful. There are particular roads that are made for bike riders only, and you can go for miles and only see villages in the distance, wind mills, bull frogs and cows. The weather here has been so nice that riding my bike, feeling the wind and swallowing bugs has been perfect.

(I don't really enjoy swallowing bugs...that much...)

Today, even, I rode to a park here. It has this well-groomed rose garden with little coves with benches tucked in them. The roses haven't bloomed yet...but it's still lovely.

It has been really interesting to not have anyone but the B-mosers to hang out with.
While I love spending time with them...it's really wierd to only have the internet or a book, or a bike ride, or the guitar to occupy my time. Usually I call a friend, or get in my car and drive wherever I want...
But I'm secluded by my lack of friends, transportation, and inability to speak German.
I'm not trying to use this blog as a place to dump all my emotions publically, but just to be honest, it can get really sad sometimes.
It is so humbling to be the only person in a room who can't understand what's being said week after week. Or to not feel like you can go too far because you're not sure if anyone will be able to direct you if you get lost.
In a lot of ways it's freeing, though.
One, I am doing a lot of things I never would have made time to do . I finally figured out how to record music on my computer. I ride my bike. I climbed a tree.
Two, I can do things and not worry about whether or not people are talking about me. Who cares? Sticks and stones, baby!

But the family and I have been doing some stuff that I imagined would happen while I was here. This Sunday, we all piled into the minivan and went to Hamburg (about a 2 hour drive). First we went to the world famous fish market. It's known for it's rambunctious salespeople. They'll offer fish at a low price and then keep on throwing in stuff to get people to come to their booths "We'll give you this salmon, and this eel with a box of ju ju bees and a kiss from my sister!"
Like that.
Then, we watched a marathon for a little while. No joke, we saw almost 50,000 people run by. Samy was really cute yelling encouragement to the runners as they went by. It got more cute when we walked off and he was yelling encouragement to everyone we saw. "Super! trash guys!!!"

I am afraid this post is getting too long.
I hope you all are well.
It's good to hear from you.
For those of you I have not e-mailed back yet, I am sorry! I will get to you!

Remember to give Pookie some love on his blog www.bdenker.blogspot.com
and e-mail me at alicecalvery@gmail.com
I love you all

Peace of Christ.