New Life

It's been 4 weeks today that I've got a new life in my house I have the privilege to take care of. A bad thing is I didn't have those 9 months one usually has to prepare for a new child but only 8 weeks. The good thing about it is, I don't have to change diapers.

If I would write down all the miracles that I experienced since my 15 year old niece called me late June to ask if she could move in with me from Elizabethtown, Kentucky USA and finish school here in Germany I probably could publish a book.
And although it is an overwhelming blessing, I am still working full time and time is not only flying but dashing. And since I get up at 4:30 in the morning, go to work at 6 a.m and get home to be busy with listening to what my kid has to tell me about her school day and prepare for the next day (I better don't mention all the paper work I had to take care of so that she has a good health insurance and so on), I could go to bed at 9 p.m. every evening.

I will see if I will find time to write down some of the unbelievable things our Heavenly Father blessed us with. Even the best planning would fade away compared to how precisely things and people were at the right time at the right place we never had even thought of!

But for now: Good night world, sleep well!

coincidence?

Quite a while ago, at least two years, a dear friend shared a short clip that showed her and some others singing a song a capella in a church. I loved it! I am not very familiar with contemporary Christian music - I do know "the Christian songs of old" much better -  so I didn't recognize it. Beside this, I was so "into" that song, that I forgot to ask my friend what kind of song it was.
Last year another friend showed me a totally different far-away-from-church song but a special part of the tune reminded me of that first said song.

Yesterday evening I played with my smart phone and the "tune-in" app that comes with all kinds of radio stations, local and internet and I clicked the category "religious" and picked one station without thinking about it. It was WGTS 91.9 FM. I listened to it all evening and started it right away when I got up this morning.

While I was taking a shower I couldn't hear the sound of the music that was still playing in my bedroom and so, suddenly this very tune that I had almost forgotten came back to my mind. I also remembered 3 words of what I thought must be the chorus.
When I got back to my room, the music was still on and I thought, well, this tune sounds familiar! I checked the RDS and exactly those 3 words I just had remembered were on there. VOICE OF TRUTH... if I had known it was from "Casting Crowns"...  I still can't believe, that it was playing on an internet radio station from the US right when I remembered it after such a long time!

I searched for it in youtube and found it - and reading the lyrics it was just getting better because it describes exactly how I felt during the last weeks!



Checking the song out more and more I realized that it is also soundtrack to one of my favorite movies, "Facing the Giants".

I love that song!!! With my Lord, I can face the giants and I don't care anymore if they are laughing back at me or not... for His Glory!

time management

This morning I was a little bit concerned about some stuff I have to do and I am so busy that I don't know when to do all of it. Some of it is kind of urgent already.
So - as I ever do - I prayed about that issue, very early in the morning today and again (more like a litte cry of "HELP") maybe 30 minutes ago.

Five minutes ago someone totally strange called me and asked according to one issue if he could help. I still can't believe it! How could this person know? Well, he actually didn't know, but God knew!

One urgent thing off the desk now! God IS great!!!

Hospital Mission

Friday two weeks ago, something cracked in my right knee just when I took the second of four small stairs getting to my appartment after work. It was such a bad pain that I couldn't walk the whole weekend, so I stayed 2 and a half days on my sofa. The following Monday I went to the doctor, got the knee x-rayed and they said it looks that much damaged that they can not tell me what the actual problem is.
As this story is nothing new to me (it happens again and again since years on different joints like ellbows, wrist joints and since one year on my finger joints as well) I "knew" that some cartilage must have broken off, blocking my knee. The doctor and I agreed to have an arthroscopy for more details, which was last week Tuesday (my facebook friends already know).

I was put into a two-bed bedroom Monday (17th) but stayed there alone as no other patient came in until Thursday. So the new patient and I spend only almost one day and a night together because I could leave the hospital yesterday morning. My roommate, Frau Seifert, is about my mom's age and very friendly. I don't know why but I strongly felt all the time to share the gospel with her but somehow I didn't find a way to start a conversation like that and so I just prayed for her and for the right moment. But yesterday morning the nurses came pretty early to pick her up for her surgery and we actually had not really much time to say good bye to each other. Then my mom came to pick me up and give me a ride home. Before I went I at least left something to read (how to find God) on her bed table but I felt like this was not enough anyway...
In the afternoon, when I was taking a shower at home, I suddenly thought of her and prayed that if we wouldn't meet again I'd really love to meet her eventually in heaven.

This morning I woke up, I don't know exactly, but it must have been around four o'clock. I felt extremly bad at all not to mention that something was wrong with my knee! I've never had that kind of pain before (I am so much used to some sort of pain that I normally know what the matter is without seeing the doctor). But this one was new to me! About 60 horrible minutes passed when I finally decided to call my mom. She said, well, I think I should take you back to the clinic, someone should be there to help you although it is Saturday.
NO!, I cried. Wasn't it Klara who left a note on my facebook saying "for I am the LORD, who heals you" (Exodus 15:26)??? I do NOT need another doctor again!!!
After a while I gave up, closed my eyes and saw me going back to the clinic, where they would say something like "Bummer! too bad you have to come back, but you can have the same bed in the same room as no one else came in yesterday because it's weekend." When I saw this picture in my had, being back in the same room, talking to my roommate again, the pain in my knee was GONE like someone had switched it off! Just as it never had been there before!
I said to my mom, "Mom, the pain is SUDDENLY gone. I NEED to go back to the clinic and talk to the lady!!! God want's me to be there and there was no other way to make me go again."

So I waited for a proper time to get up, took the bus and went back to the hospital to visit with Frau Seifert. She was pretty surprised to see me again ("my" bed was de facto not taken!) and we had such a good talk! She told me she got married at the age of 19, lost her husband because of cancer when she was 23 and later her daughter at the age of 9 because of an accident! She kind of believes in God and hopes to see her relatives again some day but she's not saved. As she doesn't come from this area her (second) husband will only visit her at the weekend and so I promised her to come back Monday afternoon when I left after almost an hour. Please help me pray for Mrs. Seifert she'll find the truth!

a new Daisy - story

It was in the middle of December last year when I decided to have two weeks off from work end of January/first week of February. One of the reasons was that I thought I could bring Daisy to the vet during that time and have her spayed. But that was just a minor issue because I wanted her to be "in heat" at least once before being spayed (it is said that it is better that way for a young female cat's body).
For all those who know me it is needless to say that I prayed about that part at the same time I got those 2 weeks off confirmed at work. So Monday, January 26th - my first day at home - came, and Daisy hadn't shown any signs, you know...
Do you believe me, that the next day, Tuesday evening, before I could even start being just a little nervous about it, Daisy behaved weird, like I've never seen her before. Making strange noises, crawling and creeping over the floor holding her bottom up... and I thought, ok, that's IT.
I called the vet right the next morning to ask if and when I could have an appointment for the surgery for Daisy. The med. secretary told me, "it" had to be over first bevore Daisy could have the surgery.
As I know from a friend "it" can stay for a couple of days (that certain friend had told me his cat had "it" for more than 4 days in a row), so I prayed again... And know what? Daisy was over "it" Thursday morning! I just waited for the whole day, but nothing else happened, so I called the vet Friday morning again and he said I could come Wednesday (yesterday) to have Daisy spayed.
Don't I have a great heavenly father who cares for my lil cat as well as for my schedule?

Daisy is doing pretty fine today, she started jumping up to her favorite places, is just very slow and careful. You can see she tries to avoid pain.

Yesterday later in the afternoon, when she finally relaxed a little bit after the surgery (Romeo in the background)

she wanted to be in my bed (under the blanket) at all costs, so I built up a little nest for her

... and sometimes it takes awhile...

... but it is right in time, always!

Yesterday I told you, how fast God sometimes takes action. This is so encouraging and I am still amazed.
But at the same time something else happened and I needed to be patient.

Earlier this year SP3 for Windows was released and for me it was no question to install it when I got the message. But when the download and the installing was finished and I was asked to restart my PC it didn't boot up! For me this is kind of a worst case scenario because... well, if you know something about PC's, I don't have to explain. And if you don't know it doesn't matter anyway.
I got it fixed somehow but since then my system acted funny and after a while I decided to format the hard drive and recover the system. But now the really worst case came up: I couldn't find my system recovery DVD's (windows xp media center edition)! I think I put them somewhere extra-extra to not lose them and I still have no idea where that special place is, ARGH! I only found the bonus system recovery CD containing some extra programms. Not very helpful.

A couple weeks passed - I had to go to hospital etc. - but in the first days of October I decided again to go in for fixing my PC and I did some online research. I found a place on the hp-sites where I could order a set of the system recovery version that was made for my PC. I think it was October 3rd or something when I placed my order.

After some days I went excitedly to my mailbox every day, waiting for the system DVD set.

After 10 days I was wondering why it didn't come by.

After 20 days I was concerned 'cause there were still no DVD's arriving.

One week ago I thought that very likely something went wrong with my order and I decided to fix my PC using an older version of XP Home I bought maybe 4 years ago.

So last Friday evening I formated the hard drive and installed this old XP Home Edition just to get started and went to bed.
The next morning I got up very early to continue. But as soon as I switched the PC on, nothing worked. Yes, the system software went fine but the sound didn't work, the internet didn't work etc. It took me some time to remember there was one thing I hadn't considered before: this old XP Home version had almost all of the drivers missing I needed for the hardware of my "HP Pavilion Media Center" and I had no idea where and how to get them. Downloading was no suitable alternative, 'cause internet didn't work.

I prayed hard and tried to call a friend a couple times (he never answered the phone) and a service hotline (called this one 2 times!) but they had no idea how to help me. After 4 hours altogether, I prayed again because I felt like all was hopeless now and went to my kitchen to have a snack. While drinking a tea I decided to go downstairs and get my mail.

Could you imagine the expression on my face some minutes later when I came to my mail box and found the HP SYSTEM RECOVERY DVD'S there???

Needless to say that now fixing my PC was a breeze!

And before they make their request I will give an answer, and while they are still making prayer to me, I will give ear. Isa 65:24

Sometimes God acts really fast

So this story doesn't start pleasant but it has an astounding end and so I want to share it. Ok, here comes the aggravating part:
Maybe six weeks ago my cat, Romeo, started to linger in front of my apartment door, clearly showing that he wanted to go out. As I am living in the middle of the city, a big road passing my house plus Romeo has never been out since he was seven weeks old, I do not want him to go out. But then, when he found that "whining" and meowing wouldn't help, he started to pee on the corridor floor every second or third day. So I had the "fun" business to clean a lot and one night I was really desperate about the situation.

Wednesday a week ago (October 22nd) I had a vet's appointment with Romeo because it was time for his annual vaccination. I told him about my stinky problem, too, and the vet had some good suggestions, like having a second litter pan put on the place where the cat used to "pee extra".
Another suggestion was: "You should have another cat, but a young female, to keep him company."

"Sure!" I thought, inwardly rolling my eyes. "Of course! Where should I suddenly get a young female cat from???"

Later in the evening I prayed: "Lord, if you really want me to have another young female cat, you have to bring it to my front door. I have no idea where to get a cat so you have to take care for it if it is your will."
And I didn't think about it any longer.

Three days later. Saturday.
A friend of mine, Miss A. and her husband Mr. T. were celebrating both their birthdays. (In Germany the person who wants to celebrate his/her birthday has to organize the party or whatever by him/herself). And they had asked me to come an join them a couple of weeks ago. We haven't seen each other for a long time for they live in Cologne. I first had promised to go there and stay for the weekend (Oct. 24th-26th) but when I learned that my cat has the problem I told you in the beginning, I didn't want to stay out of the house for 3 days. Plus, I was pretty exhausted because it was the weekend following my first week back at work after an unintended break of 28 weeks. Not to forget I was forced to take the train which would take me 4 hours to get there...
I prayed again and said: "Lord, I don't want to go - I really want to see my friends, but... well, you know... but I feel you want me to go so please, let it be to your glory!" My idea was at least to go and show my friend and her husband the love of God and share the gospel. So I went on Saturday and wanted to go back home at the same day.

When I got there, the first "thing" I saw was my friend's little cat "Daisy"! The lil one was jumping up and down and I couldn't help but shout "how cute is she?!"
And Miss A. said, "YES, she is super cute, but you know, Mr. T. has some allergies and 2 nights ago he could hardly breathe! You should have heard the weird noises when he tried to breathe, I was really concerned about him. And today I was almost crying but I think we are forced to give Daisy away...!
"I could take her, " I said in impulse.

"Are you serious???"

"Well, I don't want to take your cat away, but hear what the vet said 3 days ago... blah blah..."

"Okay, let's go the whole hog: you stay here for the night and tomorrow we will give you a ride home and you can take Daisy with you."

I didn't know what to say and I was not even sure if that was the right thing to do... But then I remembered my prayer which was like "God, if you want, you have to bring a young female cat to my front door" and here was Miss A. offering to bring the cat not only to my front door but also right into my apartment.
It was also ok to stay one night in Cologne 'cause my mom agreed come to my house and take care of Romeo (thanks mom!).

And the miracle went on.


When Romeo and Daisy met the first time they just snuffled and nosed each other. Ok, Romeo, who is not used to have another cat around him, seemed to be nervous first but two days later he tolerated her being close to his blanket..


And two more days later, it was so cute to watch Daisy trying to get closer to Romeo!








Decreasing space between the two cats





























And this is my favorite picture!
By the way:
Saturday, when all the guests were at my friend's house, we had not so much time to talk... But when Miss A. and Mr. T. decided to give me a ride home because of the cat, we had about an hour in the car, a great time to talk... which gave me the opportunity to share some stories about my life with God, that He answeres my prayers and that He loves them, too, and longs for a personal relationship with them!

It was a holy moment.

I love my new "missionary cat", lil 6-months-old Daisy!

Not to forget to mention: I didn't need to clean my floor for some "cat-accident" reason for almost two weeks!

Retreat Experiences

Okay, just a little bit more from the retreat:

Saturday morning (better to say a few hours after we arrived) I woke up, still tired, my head felt like stuffed with cotton balls and - what was really bad - I had a sore throat! Usually that is a signal for the beginning of a bad cold or bronchitis. And I had no vitamins/medicine with me to fight that...
So I got up to take a shower and prayed REALLY hard and asked the Lord to help me - reminding him he's the best physician at all. And, even if that is not really surprising, after breakfast I recognized that all of the sore throat was gone! That filled my heart with joy and thankfullness, futhermore that is almost a week ago and I am still fine!

We had a wonderful time of fellowship - I like it so much when we all sing together! It sounds really great. God also blessed us with wonderful weather, the sun was shining and we could stay outside enjoying spring and the awakening of nature. You can watch pictures here (and a short "bonfire-film" here).

Oh yeah, last but not least - I said yes to the call of the Chemnitzers to organise the next retreat (Fall 2007) and I am so happy that Frances said yes, too! We already could fix the next date, it will be
September 14th - 16th 2007.