Giving Thanks in Germany

at a cafe in Bad Kissengen, GE - they had some amaaazing hot chocolate here!

I've been playing catch-up the last couple of days, so my apologies for the delay in posting. We didn't have internet (well, for about a million euros. . . okay maybe like 20 euros / $30 per day we could have had internet. . .) in Germany.

Philip and I had a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving with our military family in Germany. Jim & Bea Fishback, our Campus Crusade small group leaders, were speaking at a military family conference. There were about 15 families there including us. It was a mix of US Air Force and Army who were stationed in the UK and Germany. We left London early Thursday morning and returned home on Sunday afternoon. We flew into Frankfurt and then drove with Matt & Jana about 3 hours to the hotel/conference center.


The first evening we all enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner together (okay, a German attempt at one). The hotel staff did a great job with the turkey but not so much on the other goodies, so I ate a lot of turkey and ham for my meal :) After dinner we all watched Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving Special (Jana had downloaded it from itunes and brought it with). I think it may just have to become a Lere family tradition (at least when we have kids it will) - very fun.


Each day we had a session in the morning and evening with a free afternoon. Matt & I sang and Jim & Bea spoke. During our free time we enjoyed venturing out with Matt & Jana and a few other families to take in the Chistmas Markets in Bad Kissengen (the town we were staying at) and another local village. It was magical! I've decided it's a European attempt at a county fair - lots of yummy food, ambiance and lots of fun Christmas decor to buy. I really started to get excited for Christmas!!!!





Christmas Market

It was an incredible time of fellowship. Philip and I are so incredibly grateful for the people the Lord has very strategically placed in our lives this last year. Having an overseas assignment as our first duty station has really been an incredible experience as we have been able to be a part of a comradarie that is unique to military bases overseas - when everyones' family is an ocean away we all become each other's family. It's an incredibly beautiful thing.

Matt & Philip - this pretzel was after the crepe but before the bratwurst, beer and the mulled wine (followed by the 2 mile hike back to the hotel)

We made a cultural observation about German culture during our time there - "they" are meticulous at keeping track of who comes and goes from where. It's not something we think about so much but at times it seems a bit excessive - we even had to swipe in and out of the pool and gym area. Things are to be done a certain way in Germany and you aren't to deviate from the detailed protocol. It was quite intriguing in light of Germany's political history. (history note: I flipped out when I saw a street sign that was definitely NOT politically correct - it was called "Judengassen" now I don't know what "gassen" means but paired with "Juden" it just doesn't sound real pleasant or stir up feelings of goodwill. . . )

Connecting with some Army families who had just reconnected after 15 month deployments made me think about how fortunate Philip and I are. Most AF deployments are 6 months (shorter if you're a pilot). He'll likely have some 12 month deployments (which actually translate to 14 months away when you include training) because his career field deploys with the Army. However, the families we were interacting with have been in very unforgiving deployment cycles with husbands being gone for prolonged periods of time over and over again with very little break in between. It was interesting to observe what was still a very visible reintegration tension. I really felt for the wives - making the sacrifices they had for the last 15 years -- or however long they had been in the military-- (the last 8 in particular have obviously been the most trying) was really taking a toll.