Happy Birthday....then and now.....

My twin sister Sherrie and I just celebrated our 50th Birthday! So I have been doing some reminicing.....I dug out some old albums and here's what I found!

One year old.....

Most recent photo of us together - summer 2005

My most amazing Birthday!

Tim took me to the Swiss Alps for my Birthday and we had the most amazing experience! The weather was perfect! We took four different gondolas to Schilthorn, our final destination. Schilthorn/Piz Gloria was Blofeld's hideout in the James Bond movie "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"

Schilthorn has a revolving restaurant with a spectacular view everywhere you look!

These birds were hilarious...hanging out...waiting for a handout!

On top of the world.....almost

Standing at 9744 ft on my 50th Birthday! What could be better?!

Breathtaking!

At Schilthorn one can get a 360 degree panoramic view of the Swiss Alps and beyond. We could even see into Germany and France - that's how clear it was!!



The famous Eiger(13025 ft), Monch(13448 ft) and Jungfrau(13642 ft)

Thunersee, Switzerland

On our way back home to Germany we spent several hours enjoying a quiet Sunday afternoon - and breathtaking views - on the Thunersee. This is only 1.5 hours from our house! We need to go here more often!

The Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau as seen from Thunersee

Candlelight Dinner

Each year in February BFA hosts an outreach event for our German community. It is known as Candlelight Dinner. Tim and I invited Herr Lindemere, one of BFA's architects to the event this year.

Frau Argast is well known to many at BFA because she used to clean at our elementary school for many years. She is now retired but still participates in BFA events.

The theme for this years' outreach was time travel. Each table was decorated with a unique timepiece.

Candlelight dinner continued....

The program for the evening consisted of a variety of performances depicting different countries during various time periods in history.
Asia - Korean dancers

Italy - Gregorian chant

Austria - Viennese waltz

France - Cosette in Les Mierables

Chinese New Year

Our Korean students celebrated Chinese new year on February 7(this post is a little late!) by making Korean pancakes. These pancakes were very good - made of egg, vegetables, and a spicy dip. Mmm! Mmm!

At noon they shared the pancakes with fellow BFA students. Every one LOVED them!

On Chinese New Year it is a tradition for the Korean young people to honor their elders (grandparents) with a short greeting and a bow. Since our Korean students board at our school, they are far away from their elders. This year they chose the Director of BFA as their elder. Here is a picture of them bowing to Tim. You can see his knees in the bottom right corner. What an honor!! Tim loves these Korean traditions.

Just after the bow, Tim was informed by eager students, that it is ALSO a new years tradition for the family elder to hand out gifts of money to each child. Oops!
Below are Tim and Samuel just after the Chinese new year celebration. Samuel and his wife Haesook are Korean staff members at BFA. Tim happens to be holding a box of Turkish delight, a gift from a parent of one of our students. Have you ever had Turkish delight? It's very very nice.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Tim took me out for dinner tonight and we had fun reminicing about our very first Valentine's Day in 1986. We weren't together for that one. We were 5,000 miles apart! I was living in Germany(working at BFA) and he was completing his last semester at Kent State in Ohio. I still remember having roses delivered to me(from Tim) and the excitement that caused in Storchenblick dorm! Those are very happy memories!

Tim and I decided that we would tell "our story" to my small group on Wednesday night since it was the day before Valentine's. We invited another small group of BFA guys to join us. They seemed quite "engaged" as we told them them how we fell in love; they asked some great questions! Tim encouraged each of them to start praying for their life partner now. He also challenged them to work on making themselves "marriable" by seeking to become men and women of godliness. We encouraged them not to settle for second best but to wait for God's best even if it seems to take awhile(Tim and I weren't married until we were 29). These kids are amazing! We had a great evening together!

Speaking of love......

I was going through some old photos this morning and found these from 1986! They were taken when Tim came to BFA to visit me. We had been corresponding for five (long!) years. Our friendship through letters eventually turned into a budding romance, and then Tim knew that he had to come and see me! So....after five years of not seeing each other, we finally met again! Three months later Tim asked me to marry him. Very romantic, wouldn't you agree?!


Tim proposed to me in the heart of the Swiss Alps while we were both sitting on this particular park bench! He engraved our engagement date on the bench to commemorate the occasion (September 6, 1986)!

The mountain range overlooking our bench! The hills were very much alive that day with the sound of music.....and LOVE!

African Children's Choir

Tonight, I went with friends to hear an African children's choir from Uganda that is currently touring in Europe. They were a delight to see - so full of talent and enthusiasm! Their dancing was amazing but unfortunately it was too difficult(too fast!) to capture on camera. These photos show some of their slower,"calmer" songs!