And once again....

... I am packing!!! I greatly DISlike packing a lot!!! Stuff seems to multiply like rabbits in only a short time and you have to stuff that multiplied stuff in the same space the unmultiplied stuff fitted.... hmpf!!!! Packing to go for a two weeks holiday is delightful, but packing your entire life in a couple of suit cases and boxes: AIN'T no fun!!!!
So here I was, mumbling to myself, wishing I was normal and lived a kind of normal live and sitting infront of my mother's excellent washing mashine (marvelling that this washing mashine actually really washes our clothes clean with a nice fragent smell and WITHOUT ripping little holes in the fabric... and coveting it!!!! Bad girl!!!). But sitting there infront of the washing mashine and waiting for it to finish I truely had such a "God moment". I felt so blessed that I felt guilty!!! Here I was, wondering if our God would provide a cheep washing mashine for us and remebering all those blessings he poured down on us already!!!

1. I have an awesome family, and not only my crazy but wonderful hubby, but also both mine as well as Ben's parents are true believers and have a strong relationship with each other as well as with God. It is a BLESSING, and too often I take it for granted. Looking around, it ISN'T normal though! And our gorgous little kiddo.... he's three blessings in one... most of the time at least ;o)
   
2. We never ever had to experience great physical suffering, hunger, thirst, persecusion, abuse, unjustice or poverty... Yes, we had to face cancer but God was there and most of the time we almost forget that Ben had cancer.
3. God provided for so many of our needs in an awesome way: We own a really nice car (although it is a Frenchy) and maybe other people wouldn't consider it nice, because it isn't the newest, fastest or most sporty car, but it is great for our needs as a family car with quite a lot of space (to transport all our multiplied stuff!!) and everytime I sit in it I marvel at God's goodness and the generosity and help of my parents. But not only the car, God also provided a place for us to stay in. Today we move to Mosbach (it's only 1/2h away from mum and dad's) and we will live in the mill for the next 6 weeks and by that time we will be able to move back into our old flat. Isn't that amazing???

And that's only the latest blessings.... there is NO reason whatsoever to sit infront of the washing mashine and covet it. Yes, we are not rich in an earthly way, there is hardly any savings in our name, but I feel very rich because God takes care of us in such an awesome way. But here guilt kicks in. I think of my brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffereing pain, hunger, injustice, oppression, poverty... how can I sit here and long for a washing mashine??? Isn't there so much more important things to pray for???? But I guess just like we shouldn't compare ourselves with the more fotunate we also shouldn't "compare" ourselves with the less fotunate, but be merciful, generous, hospitable and kind and share the blessings we receive with those lacking. That's an area I still have to learn a lot, but I try :o)

Random thoughts...

... somehow you would expect to miss the ship... wouldn't you??? But I don't miss the Doulos at all, not even a incy wincy tiny bit. Shocking, I know!!!! I do miss some people, especially Ned's little friends Tessa and Sienna but he seems to be happy to be the only little one here... and receiving ALL the attention ALL the time (especially from the grandparents!!!), but I just don't miss the old lady. I guess she just isn't anymore what she used to be. When we left, she was a ghost ship and the only things remaining were the memories of ministry and life. And those memories are good, but the ship is dead, I'm ready to let her rest in peace!!! But I'm also grateful that we were able to experience this dying of a ship, we were able to say good bye to her, which many exDouloids aren't... I guess that's why many people NOT experiencing this "dying process" are eager to preserve her. If I'm honest, I think I prefer being part of a ship being born than a ship dying, although the "birthing process" of Logos Hope took much longer than we all thought, but it was worth it:o)))) It has been a privilege to have experienced both. Well, Doulos: REST IN PEACE and cheers the awesome times we were able to have on board... but thinking about it, it wasn't the ship but GOD who made the time AWESOME!!! Cheers, God!!

Living in Germany and living with the Pipers!!

Growing up we always played a lot of card games in my family, but in many country all card games are considered gambling, especially in Christian circles. Maybe we should ban card games in our family as well... not only because I seem to loose all the time, but also because emotions run quite high and Christian values like "love your neighbor" or "sharing" or "considering others higher than oneself" get thrown out of the window for the time being. Everyone wants to win themselves and is spiteful toward anybody else who dares to win instead of themself (especially Ben, he ALWAYS argues around!!!).... maybe it isn't the typical Christian hobby, but - and despite the fact that I always seem to loose (and unfortunately I'm not a good looser)- we as a family have a lot of fun, laugh a lot and don't harbour bad feelings once the game night is finished.

Those nights ALWAYS start with my mum asking the question: "How does it go again??" And in the end she almost always wins, grrrrr... but as I said, we do NOT harbour grudges:o))) Not only are game night great fun times with lots of laughter and maybe even "mild language" (Du Bloedmann), but they also bond us together as family. Once the cards are packed away we also invite our Christian values to come back in:o)

Another typical German Sunday afternoon activity is the famous Sunday afternoon walk, which, you might have guessed it, is a walk on Sunday afternoons. So Ben, Ned and I headed out into the nasty February cold (why did I complain again about 30C humidity and heat??? Just kidding). My legs felt like ice blocks pretty soon, Ben wore his usual shorts and cloves and Ned carried a compulsory Sunday-afternoon-walk-stick around, cut by dad off course, and didn't seem to be bother whatsoever by the freezing cold... but despite the fact of deep frozen knees on my part, I just LOVE the fact NOT to be in a permanent state of sweating!!! :o)))

One thing we also have to get used to again in Germany are the public toilets: you actually pay to go to the "dunny", although Ben stubbornly refuses to do that and walks straight past the lady who is supposed to keep the toilets clean but is much more interested and busy to watch you actually put some coins in the money box. I on the other hand, as a good German, would feel awkward not to but some money in, even if I'm not very much impressed with the cleanliness of the toilets (because the lady is busy guarding her money box instead of doing her job).

We also discovered another cultural difference between Australia and Germany. Down under tights are for girls only, or for Robin Hood. In Germany it is quite normal to put them on little blokes as well, UNDER the pants of course, so you normally don't see it, but it keeps the legs warm in winter.... but to be honest.. it actually does look quite cute on Ned, especially without pants on top and with the tiger paws, don't you think????? :o))

Well, as you can see, we do enjoy living a "normal" live in Germany for now. If I'm honest, I'm not even feeling sad or downcast because the Doulos is being scrapped (hopefully soon). I do miss you people there, treasure the memories of the times on board and marvel in what amazing ways God used this big piece of metal and rust but I'm more then willing to let the old lady go in peace, because she IS falling apart (if you need proof just go to Ned's old cabin and look at and underneath the carpet, because you can actually lift almost all the carpet tiles off the concrete, which isn't very handy when vacuum cleaning, believe me!!). I can't really put it in words but a fellow ex-Douloi did an excellent job, so if you like you can check out her blog:http://shirleyontheship.blogspot.com/

I should go to bed, that's a wise thing to do!!

Night, night

Buying a car!

Well, we are truely blessed!!!

My mum and dad had some money "left over" from tax return and decided to give us for our birthdays a "new" old car!!!! Presently it is very difficult to get second hand cars in our price category, but after a lot of looking around on my dad's side, today we found one at an Aramean car dealer's shop. Dad had seen a Mazda there which we wanted to check out. But we all didn't feel a "yes" about the Japanese car, but there was this bottle green 10 year old Peugeot station wagon (yes, a little family carrier, but lets face it, soon we are a family of 4). We looked around it, under it in it.... and somehow the Frenchy grew in our affections (NO one in my family EVER had a French car, but well, there has to be a first some time:o)) ). And after a test drive and after Ned sat in the car and didn't want to get out of it again, we decided to go for it. So now we are the proud owers of Frenchy... theoretically at least. Dad did sign a contract, BUT neither have we paid any money nor do we actually possess the car. On Monday Frenchy will have to face the "TÜV", a safety/environmental check that cars need to have every two years, and after that the dealer will call dad so that he can register the car, so that we can drive it officially on the road... YAY!!!! It is also very beneficial to bring along a cute little boy (aka Ned), he managed to "relieve" the dealer from a nice buttered brezel as well as a whole block of chocolate.... and the dealer was very happy to be relieved by such a cute little guy :o)))

We've MADE it... YAY!!!!

Saying "Good Bye" to the old lady and to our friend there was much harder then I actually thought!! People who know the ships also know the thing I call the "hug chain", were people line up to say good bye to you, and people who know me also know that I really don't like the "hug chain" very much and always tried to avoid it, but somehow this time I almost liked it, because it was the last time ever to do this on the Doulos. I got a tiny bit sentimental the last couple of days, despite really wanting to go home. I walked around and looked around me and thought: "It's the last time I'll do this or that on the Doulos". The last time that Ned plays with his little friends outside on the corridor, the last time eating chicken and rice (which was rather a celebration!!!!!), the last time to eat our meal at a wonky and listing table, the last time taking a shower and all the water goes to the opposite side of the drain because the ship has a portside list, the last time that Ned plays on fun deck.... many last times. Some of those last times are rather a "Yessss!!!! Finally the last time!!" but many other were a bit sad last times, but such is live, we always have to move on and forward, living in the here and now instead of the past or the future.

After a 13h dircet flight from 30°C Singapore humidity and heat to -5°C Frankfurt, I stood in the shower at my parents place and thought about the "deep" things of life, e.g. how strange it is to stand under a hot shower and enjoying the hot water and not wanting to get out of the shower because the rest of the room is a bit chilly, compared to standning under a lukewarm shower and actually wanting it to be a cold shower, but the water is as cold as it gets and once you're out of the shower the heat attacks you again. Life is strange!!!
The flight was really good. The plane was half empty so we claimed another row as our "own" which was SUCH a blessing. The six seat were divided like this: 1 seat for Ben, 2 seats for Ned and 3 seats for Becca:o))) Ben always boasts he can sleep anywhere, well, and I can't so i streched out over my 3 seats and got quite a bit of sleep. Ned also sleep something like 8 or 9h, but unfortunately he also gave a 50 min display of his lunge capacity which pleased neither us nor anyone else:o)

So, God has be so extreemly good to us: we had an direct flight, all our baggage got through okay although it was slightly overweight, Ned slept like a champ, Ben and I also got some sleep and arriving on the other side we were not only greated by over-excited (grand)parents but also with SNOW!!!!!YAY!!!!!! I was praying and hoping we would experient some snow (unfortunately it is melting as I write, but still, we had snow!!!). We also had a very restful first night and none of us really has a jetlag, PTL!!!!!

Unfortunetely I can't do an English spell check on this computer and many keys on a German keyboard are in different spots then on the English keyboard, but I hope I haven't mixed up too many "Y"s and "Z"s :o)))

Ramndom things...

well, I'm into it now... here I am again updating the blog again.. this time with funny Ned stories:o)))
Although our little boy plays with dolls and doll strollers at times he still is TRULY a boy!!!!! He just LOVES cars, ropes and balls.... and everything slightly in the shape of a ball will be thrown (as a matter of fact, many other things come flying through the cabin as well). But well, unfortunately EGGS do slightly resemble balls, unfortunately they tent to NOT bounce but rather break, as we discovered..... twice already!!!! :o)
I also know that Ned looks much older than he actually is, he looks older than two but the fact is, he's only 20 months and only turns two in June. Well, we had a bit of a birthday confusion the other day:o))) The other day we walked through the crew mess on our way to the dining room and the engine guys decided spontaneously to sing "Happy Birthday"to Ned. One of Ned's mates, Ryan, heard that and was shocked: "Oh, no!! His little buddy has his birthday!!"So Ryan went out and we got a know at our door some time in the evening and Ryan put a present in my hands. I must have looked rather puzzled.... but we explained everything:o))))!! Still, Ned is the proud owner of a nice, new, red toy sports car, yay!! Thank you Ryan!! :o)) We had a good laugh with him!!!

P.S.

... for all you Xdoulois... I managed to set of the smoke detector with my cooking taday and caused a duty officer, hahahaha!!!!! But the food was really good!!! :o)))) and NOT burned!!