friends.

to celebrate our "last" day of summer [before semester work begins], my friends Andrew and Miriam hosted a barbecue yesterday!

about 12 of us enjoyed a feast of meats, salads, bread, apfelschörle, birne-melisse wellness getränk, and homemade banana bread and s'mores. so lecker.

afterwards with our coffee and tea we had a great time of prayer for the upcoming semester. it's such a blessing to be part of the Body of Christ, and especially to have friends like these! i love you guys. :) i also was awed by how the Lord put the exact same things on each of our hearts- twice i was going to pray about a specific thing, and someone else did it! sabine said the same thing happened to her. how cool that our God loves to bless us as we seek His face together!

here's a few pictures of the girls. [the boys were busy at the grill. go figure.]

love!

bini and miri!

the kathas!

dear deutschland.

It's been awful fun over here. Everyone is excited to see each other again.. our little "family" here is such a blessing!

Basically I've been hanging out with friends [and working on staying awake] for the past two days.

This weekend I head to Austria! Salzburg on Saturday, then head out Sunday to the Castle in Milstatt for the Missions Conference all week.

hooray!

And, if you haven't seen them yet, or noticed Jessica's blog, you should definitely check out 

The Official Madden Wedding Pictures at maddenwedding.michaelspotts.com. :)

p.s. Excellent German Find of the Week: they sell kefir here. amazing.

p.s.s. ich habe gelernt zu schalten! 

i made it.

i've safely arrived in Germany. thanks for all your prayers. the flight was thankfully quite uneventful, and my dear friends were there to pick me up. i am quite tired but can't really sleep, hungry but can't really eat, and i think rather dehydrated. but i'm here, hooray!

tonight is worship night at cc siegen. then sleep.

i'm thankful.

blessing.

Once upon a time, perhaps a year or two ago, I had a slight desire. It was for something that was very handy, and shiny, and nice. Yet it was not necessary, and I found that I had lived all my life [until that point of realizing my desire] without it; therefore I decided that I ought to be able to get along quite nicely without it. Besides, I couldn't really afford it.

Time went on. I applied my hand to the proverbial plow, and earned an honest living. Yet I still found little justification for making the aforementioned purchase; it was still desirable, yet remained unnecessary and rather frivolous. Such an amount could do much greater good elsewhere. No sleep was lost over this decision.

Fast forward to this evening. Following a nice family dinner and my brother's birthday celebration, I spy a certain young nephew of mine running toward me with a small, shiny object in his hand. He drops it at or around my feet, and I stoop to pick it up. My mind tells me that he should not have this sort of shiny object, then moves to bewilderment as to where such an object might have been procured by his 20-month-old hand; meanwhile, my mouth is asking him the same sort of question. Next I see my name on the screen, and hear a voice telling me, "It's yours, Annie!" 

My mind at this point is thinking several things, such as "I don't have one," "Whose is this?," and "It's not my birthday, it's Tyler's!"

After a few such seconds of such perplexity, the realization sunk in.

I almost cried.

My three brothers, plus Mary and Bryce, pitched in together to get me the very thing I supposed I would never have.

Currently feeling: grateful, undeserving, blessed, amazed, and still somewhat bewildered.

Thanks family. I love you.

And so, the Lord reminded me in a very tangible way of a particular promise in His Word which I read this very morning:

Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. -Psalm 37:4

For in so doing, we shall all live happily [and contentedly] ever after.

The End.

stop! stop!

And when these things begin to come to pass,

then look up, and lift up your heads; 

For your redemption draweth nigh.

Luke 21:28

nur eine woche!

That's right, folks. Only one week until I depart my homeland once again to the land of my sojourn for yet another five-month adventure. Practically speaking, this world is the land of my sojourn, and as such I am a stranger and a pilgrim therein. I was speaking the other day with a fellowhearted sojourner [although we'd only just been introduced] upon this very subject, and we took great joy in the fact that, at any place on this green earth, God can work in us, love through us. And so, after these eight weeks in this little bit of prairie, I'm off again to the woodland hills of Germany. I grandly anticipate these forthcoming months and the ensuing chapters of Storyland which they shall write. May I be found a willing servant, wise steward, and faithful witness.

I've been thinking today about life. It seems as though friends are being married left and right, and to all accounts my summer last year was continually ringing with wedded bliss. And yet, despite the glory of such momentous occasions, there are also funerals. Greg Laurie's son, Christopher, passed away last Thursday, and just this Sunday, the youth pastor at a local church, with whom I was acquainted and whom many of my friends knew well, was killed in a car accident. Both of these young men have so quickly [and paradoxically] passed from Death to Life and seen the face of their dear Savior, and for this we rejoice! Yet it's a vivid lesson on the brevity of life. "So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom." [Psalm 90:12]

Among other sundry matters, I've lately been devouring a delicious bit of literature by L.M. Montgomery. Although the dear old films mayn't speak its name, I am greatly enjoying Anne of the Island, which, as you may well guess, is part of the well-beloved succession of Anne books, beginning with its namesake, Anne of Green Gables. I suppose this has really no impact on life or eternity whatsoever, but I'm always up for a wordy bit of fun. Many of the escapades treasured within this story are featured in the second film based on the series, Anne of Avonlea. Of course, the book remains much superior to the film and carries the theme more truly and rather differently, but both are highly recommendable and enjoyably pleasant, if for nothing more than a splendid lesson in vocabulary.

oh boy.

photo credit: tyler johnson

excerpts.

Quotes taken from An Old-Fashioned Girl, by Louisa May Alcott, written 1870.

[Perhaps, upon reading, you shall come to sympathize with me in fondness for this book, and enjoy its timeless wisdom and insight. -a.]

"Fashionable"

p. 12- That night she saw one of the new spectacles which have lately become the rage, and run for hundreds of nights, dazzling, exciting, and demoralizing the spectator by every allurement French ingenuity can invent, and American prodigality execute. Never mind what its name was, it was very gorgeous, very vulgar, and very fashionable; so, of course, it was much admired, and everyone went to see it.

"Rich"

p. 34- ...But he was a busy man, so intent on getting rich that he had no time to enjoy what he already possessed.

"Simplicity"

p. 42- "...The old fashion of simplicity is best for all of us. I don't want my Polly to be loved for her clothes, but for herself. The least of us have some influence in this big world; and perhaps my little girl can do some good by showing others that a contented heart and a happy face are better ornaments than any Paris can give her." -Mother.

"Young Men"

p. 171- Young men often often laugh at the sensible girls whom they secretly respect, and affect to admire the silly ones whom they secretly despise, because earnestness, intelligence, and womanly dignity are not the fashion.

"Sincerity"

p. 172- "Well, whatever you do, Will, don't have a great, costly church that takes so much money to build and support it that you have nothing to give away. I like the plain, old-fashioned churches, built for use, not show, where people met for hearty praying and preaching, and where everybody made their own music instead of listening to opera singers, as we do now. I don't care if the old churches were bare and cold, and the seats hard, there was real piety in them, and the sincerity of it was felt in the lives of the people. I don't want a religion that I put away with my Sunday clothes, and don't take out till the day comes round again; I want something to see and feel and live by day by day, and I hope you'll be one of the true ministers, who can teach by precept and example, how to get and keep it." -Polly. [emphasis mine]

"Service"

p. 172- "I am glad to give my best and brightest son to the service of God. I shall let my boys follow the guide that is in them, and only ask of them to use their gifts conscientiously, and be honest, useful men." -Father.

"Popularity"

p. 230- "My children, beware of popularity; it is a delusion and a snare; it puffeth up the heart of man, and especially of woman; it blindeth the eyes to faults; it exalteth unduly the humble powers of the victim; it is apt to be capricious, and just as one gets to liking the taste of this intoxicating draught, it suddenly faileth, and one is left gasping like a fish out of water," and Kate emphasized her speech by spearing a sardine with a penknife, and eating it with a groan. -Kate King, authoress.

update.

time is winding down at an uncanny [defined as strange or mysterious] pace. i've been home since june 11th, and now my departure date is a mere 2 weeks away!

home has been amazing. it's been incredibly busy, but i've been blessed with a great job and lots of hours, and lots of time with my family. we all went on vacation to northern wisconsin/minnesota in early july, and i've been able to attend many of my little [i refer to age, not size] brothers' soccer games, coached by my dad. this past weekend they won the district championship, so we're going to state on friday! 2 years ago their team placed second in the state tournament in a double overtime match. so this weekend should be exciting.

as noted in the previous post, i attended the Madden wedding in Appleton, Wisconsin, last weekend. it was a wonderful time, despite an almost 9-hour drive in each direction by myself. i noticed a trend in myself that after about 7 hours in a car by myself, intense boredom sets in, which generally results in some form of photographic adventure whilst zipping along the road at a good 70-mph clip. my time in wisconsin was a huge blessing; i was able to hang out with some other bible college grads from all over the Lower 48, meet a few new friends from wisconsin, and celebrate a very joyous occasion of a couple soon to be on their way to Anchorage, Alaska. most of you know Peter and Jessica, so i'm sure you echo my excitement on their behalf!

yesterday was basically my first day off at home [meaning no work, day-long projects, or long car rides] since i arrived, and it was amazing! i rode a bike to the library, and picked up my annually-read favourite book. it's Louisa May Alcott's "An Old-Fashioned Girl," and it's quite the most enjoyable and recommendable piece of literature i've ever devoured.

i spent a while yesterday posting pictures online from the past few months; you can view them on my picasa if you'd like.

tomorrow my friend jessica is coming over with her brother and sister-in-law and we're going to make Thai food! pineapple curry, here we come.

to those of you in germany, i'll see you in 2 weeks! i arrive the 6th of august. to those of you elsewhere, you're in my thoughts and prayers! may the Lord draw each of us ever nearer to His precious side. He is so good- He continues to bless my heart and blow me away with His grace. the epistle of 1 John has been speaking depths to my heart lately. all about Life, and walking in Love, and the Fellowship we have in Christ! oh so rich! i love the Living-and-Activeness of the Word.

Bis bald, und Gott segne euch!

annie.

three cheers for the Maddens!

this weekend, my dear friend Jessica Reid married her sweetheart Peter, and they are now The Maddens.

it was lovely!