Eine gute Rutsch ins neues Jahr! (Happy New Year!)
The other night at church, the leader of our Second Sunday Service (in Englisch) waxed eloquently about life when it is cold and grey. Since his message, we have had 2, yes, count them TWO Sunny days here in the Drilaendereck. That is using the same scale that he used in his message . . . the sun was actually visible for a slow five count. He did enlighten us to the mere 5 sunny days since December 1st. That would mean that only a sixth of the time could have been considered as being sunny. The peculiar bit is that above the clouds, it is ALWAYS sunny!
Today we went to France with some friends from church. It was a minor shopping expedition to find out where to buy the best (and pretty cheap, too) cheese and baguette (it was still warm). They also wanted to show us where we could get diesel for our car for about 10 cents cheaper than in Germany. By the time we had gotten to Saint Louie the sunny day was getting somewhat less sunny. As we walked into what could best be described as a "SUPER WalMart on steroids" but without all of the usual WalMart-ness about it, I inserted my bank card into the automatic teller machine conveniently located at the front of the store. I have not seen the card since it disappeared into the slot on the front of the machine.
I spent about 15 minutes on my cell phone in Englisch and German trying to get someone to help me get my card back. I only made two mistakes. I asked, "Do you speak Englisch?" Ich habe gefragt, "Sprechen sie Deutsch?" But I now have 3 customer service numbers written down in my wallet. Going to the local branch of the bank whose name appeared on the automatic teller machine did provide a face to speak to in German, but not much help in retrieving my card.
C'est le vie! what else was there to do? We bought the baguette and cheeses and with only a short detour to see the pedestrain bridge between Germany and France, we returned to Germany. We dropped our friends off and headed straight to the local branch of our bank.
Apparently losing one's German bank card in an automatic teller machine in France is not all that unusual. Our local teller registered no surprise on her face at all when I told her of my adventures just across the Rhein River. She explained that the card would be returned to the Bank's main office and that in a couple of days I would hear from them to come down and once identified as the owner of the card be allowed to take it home with me once more.
So, what's all of this got to do with what is considered to be a sunny day in the Drilaendereck only about 17% of the time . . . not much really. It is with the 100% sunshiney days above the clouds that it really has to do. If we choose to live underneath the pall of the cold and grey then when our bank card gets stuck in the automatic teller machine, or we don't get the _______ (you fill in the blank), or somebody else's actions just get all over us and leave us in a mess then life is going to be cold and grey. On the other hand, living in the midst of God's grace and mercy and seeking to glorify Him results in the very best even when your bank card gets stuck in a French automatic machine!
Please Pray with us for and about our daughter, Mary and our son in law, Staff Sergeant Jimmy Hammond in KOREA. He did a REALLY good job of destroying his right knee playing basketball with his soldiers on new year's eve. He has had the doc in the Troop Medical clinic, an MRI technician and a physical therapist tell him that his dreams of a career in the NBA/NFL are over. He has not been seen by the orthopedic surgeon - yet. There will be at least 3 surgeries to fix him. Mary is pregnant and will have a C-Section at about the end of April. In the mean time she has to take Jimmy to work; to the hospital for regular physical therapy appointments and other appointments in addition to doing all of the household stuff. Our grandkids cannot go to the hospital so they are in need of someone to watch them everytime Mary takes Jimmy to the hospital in Seoul.
Please Pray with us and for us as we are about to go back to formal language training. We should be going to a sprachschule in the local area. The last two months have been a lot of fun practicing our language on a daily basis, but it is time to go back and hit the books.
Please Pray with us for and about our other son in law, SSG E. B. M., as he is coming home on R&R from a large country in SW Asia, even as I am writing this. His unit has been hit pretty hard over the course of the last six months and he is in need of a break.
