Tis the season

The race to the finish for the fall semester is in full swing. The seasons, as you can see by the two views of our local castle, have turned and we've entered the long nights and short days of winter. (Payback is in the summer when daylight lasts until after 10 PM).

Sausenberg ruins from the kitchen window (maximum zoom - it's not that close!)

We have celebrated Thanksgiving three times this Fall. Many of our friends here are Canadian and they invite us to theirs in October. We then joined in a week-early celebration with the girls of Wittlingen dormitory where we fill every other week for Resident Assistants as they take their day off. Finally our small group from Black Forest Christian Fellowship got together for (laughably small by U.S. standards) turkeys (at seven pounds we used two) and many of the "fixins".

The photo below was taken at a English class for German adults that Diane had the pleasure of filling in as a teacher one evening. The lesson of the night was cooking Thanksgiving dishes (minus the turkey).

And then there was the social event of the season at BFA - the Christmas Banquet. Here's a shot I snuck of Carl attaching a corsage to his date's wrist. These kids clean up nicely!


It's far from all celebrations here. The students and staff are winding up a concentrated effort at instruction, learning, sports, spiritual disciplines, dorm living, cross-cultural strains, distance from family and loved ones, and so much more that has been going at a steady and busy intensity since the latter days of August. This will be our last full week of instruction before exam week and the exodus of students for Christmas break to four different continents.

Speaking of different continents, we will soon learn who is going where for this coming April's BFA work trips. Lord willing, Diane and I will be leading a team to a southeastern Asian nation to work with students in one or more schools there. Hopefully we'll be able to do some exploratory and planning work for initiatives in Hanoi on our return journey. We will keep posting what we judisciously are able to post.