Russ and Diane Kraines

Friday, April 14, 2017

Springtime - travels and home

Here are some images from Diane's recent sojourn in Asia and a few from the beauty that is spring in Germany.

Home from the travels

Sunday, September 4, 2016

September 2016

Busy times since our return from the States


A visit from the Risseeuws - great time!

A visit from the inimitable Sam Lee! Former student and future doctor.

We were able to slip in a visit to Austria for some hiking - 4 hours away.

Austrian trail signs

2100 meters!

Diane's sister treated us to a weekend in Lake Como, Italy again, four hours away (without traffic).

Varrena

Diane returned to a "mini-summit" of European and Eurasian leaders of TeachBeyond held in the village next to our town.

Diane giving her presentation on Informal Education

Leaders from Portugal, France, UK, Belarus, Moldova, Spain, Hungary, Serbia, ,,,

And now the students are back!

The Class of 2017 - Russ' gang

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Summer 2016

we had a great five weeks in the States with family first- and then with friends

and can share some great news: daughters Samantha, Amanda and Hannah are expecting! Here's a great photo of all three daughters- and Carl too!

Some photos from this summer's English Camps so far

and another from here in Germany

and two more

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Grad for the class of 2016

Another year "done & dusted" and the photos to prove it:

Bibles & book gifts for the Seniors on Senior Sunday

Our Senior Sunday speaker and his BFA son who translated

If you hear me preach this summer you'll hear about AJ.

Another satisfied "customer"

Star Wars fans - talking like Yoda.

Congratulations BFA Class of 2016!

One of these will be at Gordon College with our son Carl.


No, not losers, but the sign of a previous dorm

Always mixed, way mixed emotions on BFA Grad day.

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Three more weeks and then it's back to the States for about six weeks. We'll start by spending a week with our daughters (and their families) on a lake in Maine - we used to do that every summer and this will be the first time in eighteen years to do so again. That'll be something only now we'll have to watch out for the grandkids in the lake.

One more week of classes, a few days of exams, grad procedures and celebrations and a week of post school year service at BFA are what's left for Russ. Diane will continue her work as she grows into her new position of Director of Informal Education for TeachBeyond.

We'll be doing the 5 Sundays, 5 speaking/visiting engagements tour of RI & CT and, as always, welcome the chance to catch up with many folks.

It has been a mostly beautiful spring here and we get good opportunities to walk and talk in these beautiful hills. Here's a few photos:

Cherry Blossoms and goodness to come!

Floral forest floor covering

View from one of our favorite walks

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Out with the old year, in with the new

It was a gorgeous Fall here at the southern edge of the Black Forest. Temps stayed quite comfortable and the winter rains held pretty much off until the passing of Christmas.

Fall colors with a canola field in the foreground and vineyards up the hill

In late October our school attended Basel, Switzerland's annual Fall festival as is our custom (20 minutes from BFA) - always a treat!

Hanging out by Europe's tallest portable Ferris wheel

Ran into Daniel - former student and one of Carl's best buddies

The refugee crisis has met with mixed feelings. Germany has welcomed many and our local communities are doing their share to help these displaced people. But not all agree. Our town was chosen as a place to trot out some anti-refugee activism. The pictures below show the crowd of locals who were gathered to outshout (with voices, trumpets, vuvuzelas, etc.) the anti-refugee group plus the gathering at the local Lutheran church to pray through this and support refugees. It made us proud to see our town take a loving stand.

We were able to host a dinner with some old and new friends from Belarus who were in the area checking out TeachBeyond's schools. Diane has sent many teams for English Camps their way.

Delicious dinner spiced with some lovely Slavic accents!

The Christmas season has its share of markets to visit. We went to one in Ribeauville, France (45 minutes away) and visited with a guy who we've come to call a friend. His shop sells tablecloths and he always offers us a cup of coffee. Come to see us and we'll make sure you meet Jean.

Jean, dealing with a customer and wearing his festival wild boar hat

We, after living here for 8 years, decided to take a drive to Bern, Switzerland (1.5 hours away). We had a free day over Christmas break and enjoyed getting to know a new (to us) and beautiful city.