My Interests – 2ndmanswife

Ah Venice! Italy Part 4

Posted on May 10, 2019May 10, 2019 by jenschuyler

After leaving my enchanted Cinque Terre we boarded another train bound for Venice – our last stop of Italy. The train ride was enjoyable, and relaxing. I found myself lost in a story from my downloaded Audible book and looked forward to our next place while pondering and reveling in the memory of the last place. One thing that I hadn’t realized until that day was that Venice is really two places. What I mean is that we went to the Venice train station and planned to put our bags in locker storage for the day until we caught the night train back to Germany. This was at station Venezia Mestre; however, this train station was not the Venice that everyone knows, we needed to board another short train over the water to Venezia Santa Lucia. This would come into play later in the day.

haha, the gondolas are crammed in the canals. However, they are impressive with their steering around each other and the narrow waterways.

As we got off at Santa Lucia and exited the train station, we were immediately swept into the romance of what we all know as Venice! The sounds the sights, the color, the water, the bridges. It was absolutely breathtaking.

Most of the pictures I use on this blog were taken by 2^nd Man – the love of my life, Lynn. If it weren’t for him, we’d have no photos, videos or audio remembrances of our life. He loves to film it for the future, whereas I love to live in the moment and soak it all in. Letting each sight, smell and sound imprint into my brain. I love to try to figure out with words how to describe it. But, by this time, I’ll be honest, my eyes, my nose, ears, brain and heart could scarcely take in anymore! It’s like I’m about to burst and need some iCloud storage for my memories. How do you describe a place like Venice? Well, mostly by photo.

The Grand Canal as the sun goes down

Oh don’t let me sound too romantic. It is a tourist trap, but can it really be a trap if you know what you’re getting into? I mean, ok, yes, we did the American touristy thing and splurged for a gondola ride. But why not?! I mean my one time in Venice – uh yea, I’m gonna do it. And guess what – it was so worth it. Even when you know you’ve paid too much for something, its one of those things that you don’t regret, as you glide through the canals allowing yourself to be entranced by all of the colors and mystery of the architecture of this seemingly floating city. Wondering if people really live here? And what kind of mold problems must they have? But thinking, who cares its super cool and I want to be fooled by this romance. However, we didn’t go all out and pay for the singing gondolier, but somebody else in the canals near us did and we were able to enjoy their splurge. It was magnificent as he sang and the sound was carried by the water throughout the area.

On our gondola ride with our gondolier – James Bond – do you think he made up that name?

As we made our way to the meeting place for this gondola ride, we felt a bit in a panic which made if almost feel movie like. Venice is a labyrinth of canals and alleyways. In this technological age of google maps we found ourselves lost as the towering concrete buildings blocked our signal. We turned one way then another wondering if we’d ever find our way. It was frustrating and awesome all at the same time. Around each turn was another alleyway of little shops and restaurants, which made me wonder how they stay in business if you can never find the same place twice?

We wove our way through the crowd (once we found them) and finally to the meeting place. We had time to spare so we decided it would be good to enjoy some coffee and dessert. My first try at a cannoli in Italy and I was not disappointed I might add. It was fabulous! We did a little bit of shopping in the leather goods shops and bought some bracelets in the venetian glass shops. It really was an enchanted day for which I will let the pictures do most of the talking here.

When we were finished, we finally made our way back through the labyrinth to the train station and back to Venezia Mestre. It was on this short train trip that the conductor came through checking tickets and gave me a stern Italian inquisition. “Why did you not put the right train station on here!” he asked. To which I responded that I put Venice and I thought I was in Venice. Apparently, it was a major no no that I didn’t list both train stations and he let me know that he could fine me right then and there for this infraction, but instead left me with a warning. I was thankful for this as I had read that the Italian train conductors were pretty strict and known for fining people on the spot.

When we made it to Venezia Mestre station, Lynn and I were looking at the departure list and couldn’t find Munich anywhere. We were supposed to be catching the Night jet train to Munich! When we asked at the customer service area the gentleman let me know in a very patronizing tone that it was on the board! “We saw Monaco, but not Munich” I said, to which he replied, “Monaco is Munich!” like duh!! This is where we just shook our head lost in the confusion that is European travel. What we Americans call Munich, the Germans call München, and the Italians call Monaco. (Oh and they also call Monaco – Monaco!) I guess they all come from the root that means Monk. It was founded by Benedictine Monks so who knew!? Well apparently, the unamused rail station manager who thought I was an idiot (roll eyes).

So we finally made it onto the Night Jet. We were all kind of excited at taking this type of train which we hadn’t tried yet. Of course, I didn’t get pictures, but I’m not even sure I could have moved my elbows enough to capture a picture. The five of us squeezed into a room that was about the size of a handicap bathroom stall with walls as thick as the stall dividers. This meant that we could hear everything our neighbors said or in our case every snore they snored. Still, though, we were having fun with the adventure of it all. There were six bunks stacked three to each side. Jarod and I climbed up to the top, the girls took the two middle bunks and Lynn took one of the bottom bunks. Once I wrangled my body up into the bunk there was no more moving for the night for me. The attendant came through and asked if we would like to have breakfast in the morning and we decided that we should since we would have to quickly switch trains in Munich and couldn’t afford to miss our train to Mannheim. Did I mention this was a Saturday night train? Yes, leave it to me to reserve a trip when 2^nd man had to preach the next day leaving no room for error. It seemed like a good plan on paper, but after our trouble getting to Italy, we were left nervous that we might miss something. He told us that they would serve breakfast around 5:30 am so we set our clocks and turned out the lights. Unfortunately we didn’t actually get very much sleep. The train stopped for long periods of time a couple of times in the night, and Lynn and I both were nervous that we were sleeping through our alarms or something. Then we heard the noise of knocking and “Guten morgen!” coming down the hallway. I checked my phone and it was only 4:30am! We were puzzled that they were maybe serving breakfast so early!? When the knock finally came to our door and 2^nd Man opened it was the police! They shone a flashlight in all of our faces and wished us a good day when they didn’t find whoever they were looking for. With sleep alluding us we finally awoke fully and put all the bunks up turning our little bathroom stall back into a seating cabin. When breakfast finally arrived, we had a good laugh as they served each of us two large rolls the size of my fists, butter, and cold coffee. So with the romance of the night jet train travel out the window we were ready to be back in Germany

Ha ha didn’t even notice the spray paint until I posted this. Europe! – what’s with the spray paint?!

And with that, I will leave you as we put this Italy trip to rest and move onward with the adventure…

My Interests, Parenting, Travel, Uncategorized

My New Favorite Place on Earth – Cinque Terre! Italy part 3

Posted on April 30, 2019April 30, 2019 by jenschuyler

When we finally made it onto our train out of Rome I was feeling a bit like a cat in a tub of water. We settled onto the train with some McDonalds comfort food which is saying a lot, since back in the States McDonalds is not on my comfort food radar at all! However, when in Rome…er leaving Rome. Whatever.

Our train took us north through Tuscany. With our limited time we chose to travel over to Cinque Terre along the Italian Riviera coastline instead of Florence. Although we can appreciate fine historical art, our family enjoys more than just this, and as I wrote in my previous post, our son in particular was so over the naked statues everywhere.

Our train did take us through the city of Pisa. We didn’t have time to get off of the train, but caught the slightest glimpse of the tower from the train window and decided as a family that it counted! This was such a relaxing a beautiful train ride! We passed breathtaking vineyard areas with the tall pointy trees

And the olive trees were everywhere. I may have to figure out how to grow one of these beauties back home. This was all on one side of the train, while on the other was the beautiful blue coastline. It was about a two hour train ride through many tunnels into our final destination for the day. We were staying in the town of Manarola in the Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre pronounced (Cheen-kway tehr-ray) is a grouping of five fishing villages that used to only be accessible by boat. They are connected by a trail that many visitors to the area enjoy walking. It is supposed to be one of the best hikes in the world hitting all five villages in one day if one chooses to hike it that way. We weren’t going to be able to do the hike, but that was just as well – it gives me a reason to return. I now consider this one of my favorite places on earth!

view from inside our Air b&b
view from our balcony!

Trekking up up up the hillside

Manarola is literally built into the hillside. There are no vehicles in the town just a main road. The only down part is that it is literally built into the hillside – that means walking up that hill to get to your apartment. But oh that walk was worth it. And beneficial too, as the food was also tremendous.

The first thing we did after getting off of the train is walk through a tunnel in the side of the hill to get into the village. It’s like going through the wardrobe into Narnia people! When you walk out into the sunlight on the other side, it truly feels like you’ve walked into a totally different world. We headed up, up, up, up, up (pant pant) up up up to our apartment to be terrifically rewarded with the view of a lifetime! We gave kudos to our Meggers for picking this stop. She had seen Manarola on a calendar she had in her bedroom and though it would be cool to see. Since this trip, I have now seen this picture all over the internet. I’m not sure how much longer they will be able to keep this village so quaint and awesome, but we’re glad we got here when we did. After all of us taking pics and videos of our place we headed back down stopping at each little curve in the hill to take another picture. The town is still so antiquated and protected that even the shops close at 6:30 or 7:00 so we did stop to buy up all our tchotchkes and t-shirts. Then onward through town, we were headed for the sunset setup to get the famous picture for ourselves. We were not disappointed. The only disappointment someone could even slightly experience here is not being a professional photographer which I am nowhere close sigh!

The tunnel to and from civilization
Manarola at night
City Center

We were finding ourselves hungry and there is a restaurant up on the hill overlooking Manarola. Lynn suggested looking into eating here, but we were pretty sure it may be out of our price range with the location and outside seating and views. Oh how thrilled we were when we found out how affordable it was! Within minutes we found ourselves seated along the coastline overlooking this magical place and enjoying the best food in all of Italy. Seriously, Nessun Duma was awesome! We ate Focaccia bread sandwiches which seems like such a cheap name for such deliciousness in my mouth! We even splurged on dessert since we were intoxicated by the atmosphere.

Doesn’t get any better!!
Nessun Dorma is located on the cliff behind us in this picture

I practically had to drag myself out of here the next morning when it was already time to leave. I’m trying to talk Lynn into us taking a honeymoon whenever our daughters get married and going back to Cinque Terre! I mean, shouldn’t the parents of the bride get a trip too? Ok, so I may have to work on my manipulating skills, but somehow, if the Lord wills it some day, Manarola, I will come back to you.

Ciao for now! Next stop…Venice!

My Interests, Travel, Uncategorized

Roma! Week 6 Part 2

Posted on April 28, 2019 by jenschuyler

Ah Roma! We finally made it to Rome and our first steps out of the train station felt much like being in New York’s Grand Central Station. People were everywhere hustling and bustling through the station and out onto the streets. Once we got our bearings and located our Air B&B hosts location on our Google map we started trekking through the streets with our rolling carryon luggage in tow. We realized on our first train trip that we could bring more than just a backpack as long as it could be carried up and down stairs, so for this trip we packed a little bit easier. However, I was regretting this decision as we trudged through the cobblestone streets trying to find our Air B&B hosts restaurant where we were to meet him and be led over to our apartment. It was a hidden little restaurant that definitely oozed charm and our host was immediately bubbling over with welcome arms just as one would imagine an Italian restaurant owner to be. We had to wait on his associate to come and take us to our place so we decided to go ahead and eat while we waited after our long travel weary day. We had pizza of course! Americans in Italy – what else would we order?

When our co-host arrived she led us through the streets some more to our apartment. It was down a narrow cobblestone street that was beautiful and old and charming, again ,just as one would imagine Italy – as long as you looked up above the first floor. There is something about Europe and spray paint! If it stands still it gets vandalized. I’m not sure what the source of pent up anger is in these unseen vandals, but they strike everywhere! Not being used to this in small town America, I just tried to suppress the hitch in my spirit and look up.

Once we were settled in our apartment we hit the streets for the evening. First stop – gelato!! Yum this stuff is so amazing and addicting. We were all immediately hooked. Since we had arrived in town later than we had expected due to the train delays, we strolled around and did a little bit of souvenir shopping and just looked around at the local neighborhood sights in the dark of the evening. This made for a packed day to come, so we tried not to stay out too late.

The next morning we awoke early and hit the local bakery for breakfast and coffee then off to catch our hop-on hop-off tour bus. We decided to splurge on this kind of touring since we had very little time to hit the highlights of Rome. Actually we met a couple on our first leg of the tour that chuckled at us as they told us they were in Rome for a week! They did give us this wonderful tip though, that when going to the colosseum we should get in the ticket line for the Palatine Hill as it was a much shorter line and included both places. We had hit Rome in the perfect week we found out as it was some sort of cultural week and most of the museums and city highlights were free! We were excited about this and as it turned out, this proved to work greatly in our favor later.

However, our first stop was actually the Vatican the one place we did have to pay to visit – go figure. I know – why would a Baptist minister and his family visit the central headquarters of the catholic church? Well, we found out that we were not alone in the impression that it was a must see. I truly just wanted to get right to the Sistine chapel to see Michelangelo’s great masterpiece. However, the Vatican museum that you had to go through in order to get to the Sistine Chapel, holds one of the worlds largest treasure troves of artwork! Some, of course didn’t trip my trigger and we were able to zip through some areas that pertained directly to popes and other such catholic notions. But, seeing works of Bernini, Raphael and other great and notable artists was surreal. In one hall they have tapestries that are larger than my house. Hangings that depict stories from the Bible like the sighting of Christ on the road to Emmaus. This was one of my favorites. I’ve often heard the illustration that we, as humans, don’t see the workings of God from the same vantage point that he does, much as a child sitting at the feet of a mother who is weaving a tapestry only sees the underside that looks like a chaotic mess. But, turn that tapestry over and you see how all of the separate threads and knots and colors were woven together to form an entire masterpiece! Until now I had only envisioned small tapestry works that, though pretty, are nothing compared to these hanging in the Vatican. As we finally entered the Sistine chapel I could hardly believe we were there looking at the real thing that I had only seen in textbooks and artbooks until now. However, in all truth, it was crowded in there as they make sure that everyone shoves in to see. Also, though it is a chapel and peopleare supposed to be reverent and quiet, it was loud! Keep in mind we were visiting Rome in the low season, I cannot imagine being there when the “real” crowds come. On top of this, our son, Jarod was just up to his limit in trying to divert his eyes from naked statues and paintings. When we first booked our tickets for this tour we were given specific instructions on what to wear as far as shoulders and knees being covered. Jarod, I believe, was the first to point out the hypocrisy of this rule, poor 12 year old Baptist boy! 😊 We weren’t allowed to take any pictures in the Chapel, but if we could, I think one of my favorites would have been of a random fellow American who wore a t-shirt that said “Ya’ll need Jesus!” So very appropriate. I will probably say this again in my recounts of these 3 months in Europe, but it’s hard to explain well, the mix of awe and of sadness and burden to visit these centuries old cathedrals that are awesome works of architecture and art, but lack the truth of the Gospel thereby leading people astray for centuries on paths of frustration and meaninglessness leaving them as empty as if they hadn’t believed in God at all. Many stand only as works of art and architecture never holding services or ministering to people’s souls.

1 Timothy 2:5⁵For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

After this we traipsed back through the web of vendors that line the streets and bridges to our bus stop. As wonderful as Rome is, unfortunately you cannot get to any monument, or museum in the entire city without being accosted by selfie stick street sellers. They shove one in your face and when you say no, another comes up behind him and does the same thing – ugh!

I think I’ve maybe mentioned this before, but we are shallow tourists. Enjoying and delighting in seeing sights from movies or books. Some of the sights we had in mind for this trip had to do with the 1950s Gregory Peck / Audrey Hepburn movie Roman Holiday. So we recounted some of the places we had seen in this movie. The Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain were nothing like the movies. Of course we expected this, so there was no shock. But, again, look at the crowd on those steps in the off season! I’m not sure the steps themselves could even be seen in the summer.

The Spanish Steps
Trevi Fountain

As we made our way through town, we finally made it to the Colosseum only to find out that it was closing time and we couldn’t get in! This was when we had to really do a spirit check. The kids put on the bravest “that’s ok” faces they could muster they really did. But Lynn and I saw through it and felt the pain of knowing this was quite possibly a once in a lifetime trip and we missed the biggest attraction there! It stung – badly.

We walked on seeing some more sights along the way and were rewarded with the Circus Maximus where the emperor would watch the chariot races as well as another “Roman Holiday” sight – the mouth of truth. The legend says that if you put your hand into the mouth and someone asks you a question you had better answer honestly or else risk losing the hand.

The Mouth of Truth: Thankfully they all walked away fully intact!

By this time the bus tours had stopped running and we found ourselves at the opposite side of Rome from our apartment. We began our walk back which we never regretted as it is in these long winding walks that you really come across the sights you may not have seen otherwise. We were able to view the Palpatine hill ruins from an entirely different vantage point that we accidentally stumbled upon when we took a wrong turn. I was excited to see ruins of actual aqueducts in several different areas.

Funny story time: I’m not artistic – I’m an appreciator. So in highschool when they offered an art appreciation class my senior year I took it! One of the art forms we were appreciating one day were aquaducts. Well, somehow in all of my schooling I hadn’t ever given a second thought to what an aquaduct was or what it looked like. When the teacher started to describe them I was dumbfounded and made him slow down and totally describe these to me. He was frustrated I’m sure at my ignorance, but with a little rolling of the eyes he introduced me to something I had from then on wanted to see with my own eyes. Yay to that wish coming true!

Look Mr. Weaver- I finally saw a real live aqueduct!

Then we were able to visit the tomb of the unknown soldier which was quite impressive.

As we walked, we devised a plan to get up early the next morning and take a taxi down to the colosseum and try to get first in line to get inside. Then we’d take a taxi back to the apartment and then to the train station to catch our next train out of town. Satisfied with our plan, we walked on and decided to eat dinner at our Air B&B hosts restaurant again.

When we finally made it to the apartment that night we heard a ruckous down the street. It looked like a fight was taking place and there were at least a half dozen people involved. I sort of whispered to Lynn to hurry up with getting the door into the building unlocked. When I heard a bottle break and yelling pick up in volume, I was definitely whisper yelling “get in the door get in the door!” My family was amused at my panic.

After a nights rest, we awoke early and headed out the door to hail a cab. Well, it’s not as easy in Rome as in New York to do this. We kept trying and trying. It was all the more difiicult since we were a family of five. European cars or so opposite of the huge trucks and suvs of Oklahoma. Anyway, we finally found one and down we went. However, this obviously isn’t that unique of a plan. We got our tickets fast enough and thought we were doing great until we got to the line for ticket holders to get into the Colosseum. It was over an hour long and we did not have that kind of time.

Another kind of business you find around these monuments is the last minute tour that will promise to get you into the place in under 10 minutes. Since we didn’t have to pay for the tickets, Lynn went ahead and paid for this tour 50 euro. However, the minutes kept ticking away. We frantically kept checking our watches and phones. We had explained our dilemma to the man when we first gave him the money so he knew we were on a tight schedule. When he took us over to the group with the English speaking tour, the tour guide was as slow as molasses. Lynn talked to him and said “Look, we have a train to catch, so we basically are just paying to get in with you and ditch you is that alright?” to which the self impressed tour guide was not sympathetic. Lynn reexplained to the original man who sold us this “tour” He finally seemed to understand that we weren’t kidding and tried to hustle us up in the line. Security is tight at many historical landmarks these days and there was no way to get around security. My arm got worn out from my constant jerk upwards to catch a glimpse of my watch. When we finally made it through we were down to 5 minutes to enjoy the entire Colosseum! We literally ran through snapping pictures with all of our phones willy nilly and stopping only to take a quick family selfie. We were yelling to each other “touch a column touch a column!” and we literally were running our hands down the walls and toppled columns as we ran through. I was in a panic at the time, but know I would look back on this laughing.

We then had trouble again, trying to get a taxi cab and when we finally got one, he refused to stay down in front of our apartment so we could grab our luggage and get to the train station. We ended up having to wheel our luggage again through the streets of Rome trying to catch our train. In the end after running through the streets, entering the wrong part of the train station and booking it over the cobblestones– we missed the train.

This was heartbreaking to me because it meant we had to pay for the next train and it would cost another 50 euro! So all in all, we got the 5 minute 100euro tour of the historic Roman Colosseum. Ah Roma – Gorgeous, Historic, Awe Inspiring, unforgettable, and exhausting😊!

This made our next stop all the more delightful!

Rome certainly wasn’t built in a day, but the Schuylers toured it in a day (and some change).

Daily Musings, Parenting, Travel, Uncategorized

Italy Here We Come: Germany week 6

Posted on April 11, 2019April 13, 2019 by jenschuyler

Week 6 was one of the longest weeks of my life and it will most likely take multiple posts to cover it. Often when people refer to something as the longest of their life it is in a negative aspect, but this one was a whole mix of adventure that just makes me smile when I look back on it.

Our German church family at our Valentine’s Day Dinner.

We started off the week with church, of course. We went early so that I could drop off thefamily and drive over to the children’s hospital to see my friend Marina and Baby Ben whose finger had been crushed. Visitors were not allowed up to this point and I wanted to try and be an encouragement to her. This, I might add,was the first time I had driven in downtown Mannheim. Often Mannheim is described as an easy city to get around because of how it is sectioned off into blocks. However, this isn’t the case with the entire city, only the very central part. Of course the hospital was on the outskirts of this area where the roads literally go in all directions and diagonals.

A little background on me, I’m not one of those useful minister’s wives who can sing or play piano. However, I have always been an asset to my husband’s ministry in that I’m pretty good with directions and navigating. We’ve been to numerous large cities, NewYork, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Los Angeles etc. The only one, up to this point where I have gotten totally turned around is Houston, which is awful! Now I can add another – Mannheim. I am so thankful for GPS systems in newer cars! Seriously, I couldn’t have done Europe 20 years ago people!

So, here I was trying to listen to this GPS tell me where to go when I noticed a car to my right and a motorcycle who are both motioning to me like I’m crazy. Then it dawned on me, I was totally in the wrong lane where oncoming traffic would be approaching any second. Funny thing was, neither the car nor the motorcyclist would move to let me over – go figure! When I finally got myself settled in the right lane, I made it to the hospital parking lot. As I pulled in the guard in the booth, who spoke impeccable English, asked what business I had there. I let him know I was there to visit a friend and their child. He frankly told me that I was in the wrong parking lot and that it was only for people bringing their own children into the hospital. I promptly apologized and asked for directions to the proper lot. Instead. he found it easier to let me know that he would let me in, but that I’d better read the signs well or else I would be charged 200 euro! He informed me that not knowing German would not help me in the matter and just not to be stupid in my parking (his actual words!) So, with some trepidations I drove on down into the parking lot and found a spot that didn’t seem to have any ominous signs around it and went in for a visit.

Baby Ben was in very good spirits and getting along so well even though his little hand was all bound up! Truly, he is such a happy contagious little fella. Marina seemed to be doing well too, as much as a momma can who has been stuck in the hospital with her little one for days. We had a great visit and I returned to the church only 20 minutes late – a success under thecircumstances.

That night after service we had our monthly pizza fellowship where my friend Asha, who is a British young woman working as a nanny in Germany, made me some actual British scones! I make scones for Lynn’s Sunday School class back home in the states, so it was fun to try an authentic recipe, which was outstanding and yes – I gotthe recipe! She was so pleased that I put the jam on first and then the cream as I guess this order of toppings is debated throughout the UK from village to village. Thank you, Asha!

Our big plan for the week started on Tuesday. We really wanted to fit in a trip to Italy while we were in Europe. This was a little bit complicated as we had a Bible Study every Tuesday night which kind of breaks up the week and the time for travel. However, we were undaunted by this challenge and came up with a masterplan to work around our limitations.

One thing Americans think of when they think of Europe is rail travel. In theory it sounds like an easy and obvious way to travel. However, it is a littlebit puzzle-like to fit the plans together. For instance we hear of night trains that will whisk you off to your destination while you sleep! Sounds great in theory, but the problem is getting to the night train. Our closest one that went to Italy was in Munich. The problem was that we couldn’t get to Munich in time to catch that train. So, instead we had to piece together an overnight trip that turned into a grand adventure. Another, weird thing about rail travel is that they sell you on rail passes, but that doesn’t necessarily get you everywhere you want to go. More than likely any large trip you take will entail purchasing reservations on the trains you want to catch. So after piecing together your route, you then have to add together all the reservation costs. It takes hours in the planning for a family our size, and I never did find where anyone would help. This would be a great job – being a train travel puzzle solver.

Midnight at the train station – Before the adventure began.

Our original grand plan was to get home from Bible study about 8:45-9:00, sleep for a couple of hours then head to the train station to catch our first train at midnight. This first train really only took us right back up to the Mannheim train station, but we wanted to park the car for free and where someone could watch it for us. Lynn is discipling a man every week who can’t get out because of health conditions. His apartment looks right over the parking area where we left the car, so that worked out nicely. Anyway, our train from Mannheim didn’t actually leave until 3:30 in the morning (I know!Crazy right!?) So we planned to just hang out in the terminal area until then. Here’s where the adventure started to unhinge. When we arrived in Mannheim, we were greeted with the realization that they actually close the inside of the building from midnight until 4:30am! We were faced with having to wait for 3 hours outside in the freezing cold! We tried to huddle up against the doorway out of the wind where an elderly couple were doing the same thing. It didn’t help – at all. After a few minutes of this we got on our phones looking for an all-night coffee shop or something that might beopen. No coffee shops were open unfortunately. I told Lynn that maybe we could just go to a hotel and sit in their lobby for a little while. He eventually went up and around to the street view and the elderly man followed. A few extremely long minutes later he reappeared and said that there was a doner (shawarma type place) open across the street from the train station and maybe we could go over there and buy some food and sit a bit. This seemed like a good plan so off we went wheeling our luggage behind us.

Mannheim Train Station – in the day when it’s open!

Immediately when we walked in, I knew this was not going to be a good experience. The place was crowded with people, smoke, and a whole sketchy atmosphere. A couple of things to note here: 1. It was the week of Fasching,which is like Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It’s a carnival time of partying the week before Ash Wednesday for the Catholics. Most of the country celebrates this time with raucous parties and dressing up in costumes, similar to what people do at Halloween time in America. 2. Germany doesn’t have the same kind of anti-smoking-in-public-places laws that the U.S. has. So there we sat in the smoke-filled room with people in costumes coming and going. It was quite the education for our family in social anthropology as we watched people like Pirate man with his two devil ladies on his arms coming in to get a late night/morning snack. Lynn ordered a couple of doners, but we weren’t exactly hungry, and the atmosphere was killing the appetite as well. I noticed the elderly couple did the same as us, but only stayed about a half an hour before leaving. I’m not sure where they went or maybe they had an earlier train than us. I saw a single young woman come in wheeling her luggage behind and my first thought was “wow, that seems kind of dangerous for her to be out in the middle of the night with luggage by herself. She must be a student and/or avid traveler.”I couldn’t help but overhear her talking on her phone in English – she was American. After finishing her middle of the night meal she retreated into the bathroom which was only inches from my chair where it sounded like she was sick. On my left were a couple of men who were playing on the slot machines. They were there for the entirety of the night/morning while we were there. We didn’t see any of them win anything, but the coins kept going in as the cigarettes kept getting lit. Then walked in a blond girl with a funky haircut and leather jacket. She reminded me of some kind of 80s punk star or something and she was twitching like crazy as she ate her doner. I’m pretty sure it was a tweaking kind of twitch from drugs. It definitely wasn’t normal and as she finished, I noticed her reach into her purse and grab a pill from a folded-up piece of foil and pop it in. Pretty soon one of the slot machine men noticed her and bought her a drink and well, let’s say they left for awhile. Meanwhile, the young woman in the bathroom was concerning me as she had been in there for over 30 minutes. I was thinking all kinds of mom thoughts,like was she ill? Was she doing drugs? Did I hear crying? Did someone follow her in there? Is she even alive? I was about to go investigate like Angela Lansbury from “Murder She Wrote”, when I finally saw her come out of the bathroom and I whispered a prayer of thanks and relief to God that she was ok. Or at least seemed ok. Throughout our loitering we noticed cars pull up and deals (probably illegal) go down. I was stuck between feeling awful that my kids were getting this kind of exposure to just not even caring because at least it was warm. I was so happy to see 3:00 show up on my clock.

When we got over to the station, we hardly even cared that we were in the cold again, we were all a little bit traumatized and glad to be out of the doner place. It’s funny what perspective can do for an attitude. We heard an announcement over the speakers, but it was all German, so we didn’t understand a word. When we saw 3:30 come and go without a train, we asked a man who was there in the cold with us what the announcement was saying. He informed us that our train was going to be an hour late! I looked at Lynn and said, “I can’t go back over to that doner place! Please don’t take us back over there.” Which was a silly thing to plead as he wasn’t about to take us back over there. However, that left us on the freezing cold platform in the dark cold night to wait.

We all tried to find our own way to cope. Jarod curled up on a bench and tried to just get into a tight ball like an armadillo. The girls sort of did the same on the other side of the bench. Lynn and I literally closed ourselves into a phone booth (yes, they still have some of the old time looking Superman-changing telephone booths over here). The gentleman who had let us know about the delay took a double look at us and just smiled and shook his head. We were desperate and didn’t care. Yes, it is beginning to sound redundant, but it literally was one of the longest hours of my life.

When the train finally arrived, we were delighted to be in the warmth. Then I realized that my seat next to the window had some sort of air vent that was blowing cold air that I couldn’t control. I was swept back in time when we would go on youth activities with the teens at church on our big MCI touring bus and it would blow cold air at your face all night. However, it wasn’t quite as bad as being out on that train platform, so I curled up and just tried to sleep.

Our traveling adventure wasn’t over yet though. We had two more train changes before we would make it to Rome, so I had to set a timer on my phone so as not to sleep through our stops. Because of the first train’s delay, it had a domino affect on all the other trains for the day and we had to keep getting in lines to get our reservations exchanged. I will say that throughout Switzerland, the train station personnel are very helpful when travelers find themselves in these situations. Thankfully the rest of the day’s travels went relatively smoothly thanks to them. We rested and took in the picturesque landscapes like going around Lake Lucerne Switzerland and pleasant people that we got to meet like the American widow who had moved to Europe for a change of scenery after losing her husband. She was encouraging and helpful with tips and warnings for our time in Rome.

Beautiful Lake Lucerne, Switzerland

Speaking of Rome – well, I’ll write about that adventure inmy next post…

Associate/Youth Pastor's Wife, Travel, Uncategorized

New Friends and Local Places: Germany Weeks 4 & 5

Posted on April 7, 2019April 7, 2019 by jenschuyler

On the fourth and fifth weeks of our time in Germany we stayed close to home (feels a little bit odd to use that reference) with the exception of just a couple of day trips around the area. It was nice to get our homeschooling in and have a little bit of a routine around the house. Lynn worked upstairs in Bro. Walters office area getting sermons prepared for Sundays, working on the Bible Study and trying to work ahead for when we returned to the states.

The kids were able to get lessons in and even get ahead a little bit in their lesson schedules. Meanwhile, I was still plugging away at trying to learn my way around the grocery store and run a house in a foreign country. We were also able to do some outreach and passing out invitations to the church with some tracts.

It’s a little bit hard, with the language barrier to start good conversations unless we can come across someone who speaks English very well. Passing out these tracts is about the best we can do in this area. We’re just praying that the Lord will use it to further his kingdom some way.

So, keeping it real here, my Sanguine/Melancholy personality has struggled a little bit with the German people as a group. When I go to the store or anywhere publicly it is with some anxiety. People, in general, don’t smile or wave or even sometimes acknowledge your presence. I’ve even been hit with carts at the grocery store when I’ve paused in front of a freezer section too long. Of course there are exceptions to this every now and again. However, coming from Oklahoma, where people wave from their car if they don’t even know you or neighbors smile and wave as they are out in their yards, it seems very cold and stoic over here. My personal bent is to smile and wave at people and they just think I’m plumb crazy here in Germany. I don’t think it’s a meanness, but it sure does make me sad and certainly matches the mood of the area on the cold, gray, and cloudy winter days.

Some have explained to us that where Americans tend to be friendly on the outset publicly, they are perceived as superficial by the German people because their friendship seems to be fleeting when needs arise. Whereas, the German people may seem unapproachable, but once you make friends here, they are loyal, real friends who will be there for you in good times and bad. Of course, both of these viewpoints are gross generalizations of both people groups, but I can see where they may think these thoughts, though I would hope it wouldn’t be true of me as an American. And yes, it did make me a bit self-conscious for a while as my personality isn’t going to change just because I’m here, but I’ll let God sort that out in people’s minds.

However, one of the blessings of being in a mission work for the length of time we are here is that we get a chance to make some new friendships. In spite of my above statements about the Germans as a whole, the people of Rhein River Baptist Church have been so welcoming to our family, and in these weeks in particular we were able to get to know two familys a bit better and spend some time with them.

Our first outing was to Luisenpark in Mannheim with Evan and Katarina (Kat) and their two kids Robert and Addy. Apparently, every winter Mannheim puts on something called Winter Lights each night at the park through the end of February. I like this idea rather than just having Christmas lights through December. It kind of makes January and February less dreary. We met at 3:00 at the park and when I say park I mean a large scale kind of park. In Ponca City, our parks are on the small side, maybe a walking path, definitely a playground area, or even a splash pad, but this was not like that at all. I add this because I wore the wrong shoes! I was thinking something like, “Oh a nice little park with a few lights and maybe a duck pond or something – ballet flats will do.” Uh – nope! More like walking for mileS and yes the “s” is capitalized. My Rheumatoid Arthritis was not very happy with me and my joints afterward, but it was so worth it! This park was amazing!! There were, of course play areas for the kids, several giant chess sets, a bit of a zoo, storks roaming around, gardens, a Chinese tea house and just miles and miles of beautiful picnic, walking and play area. We ate at the restaurant on the property as the sun went down and then walked it all again to see the winter lights.

These were just breathtaking. Even better was the company. Evan and Kat are really special people. He is American and she a Russian/German. They had great stories and history to give us as we walked and chatted. She told me how her family were part of a group of Germans who had lived in Russia for a time. They had a community just on the border that was all German speaking. I had never heard of this before. They both have a love for the Lord that seems genuine and sincere and growing. We so appreciated them taking the time to show us this wonderful place and educate us a bit on Germany and its people. In a day and age when time is so valuable, we appreciated them using the greater part of a day to get to know us and host us.

A few days later we went to Speyer, one of the oldest cities in Germany founded by the Romans. We were hosted for the day by Rene and Marina and their three kiddos, Leah, Timmy and Baby Ben. Rene and Marina are both German and this was Rene’s hometown.

This town was A-mazing! It had that old European feel to it with people out and about everywhere! Lots of little shops and a town clocktower which is actually called the Old Gate that was part of the city gate in medieval times. It is about 180 feet high and was built somewhere between 1230 and 1250. I couldn’t help but to feel compelled to touch it as we passed under the archway – to feel the history that it contained in some way.

Rene and Marina walked us all over the town visiting old churches. Old is a relative term here as one of them was “only”100 years old which would be very old in my American experience. However, they also showed us the Dreifaltigkeitskirche (and no, I cannot even begin to pronunciate this!) which was built in the early 1700s as a part of the protestant movement. When he was a child, Rene’s church family met in this church building for a while.

Then, to beat both of those, is the Speyer Cathedral which was founded in 1030! As you walk around this cathedral you can see the difference in stonework as it has been through many war times and has needed repairs through the ages.

We ended the day with the most amazing food at a local Greek restaurant called Korfu. My mouth is watering just remembering this meal!

More importantly we got to know Rene and Marina on a more personal level and consider them new friends as well. As a matter of fact, later that week their baby, Ben had an accident in the home and crushed his little pointer finger. It was scary for all as we prayed for them to be able to save his finger. They had to do a surgery to try to save it and now, some 5 weeks later it’s doing so much better, but he still has to jump through some hoops before we know if the finger is saved. He was the cutest little patient in the hospital though, and still had the ability to give us all a smile!

Getting to know all of these church members better has been a blessing to our family. We came to be a blessing to them, but, per usual and praise be to God, the opposite is true.

Associate/Youth Pastor's Wife, My Interests, Travel, Uncategorized

A Fairytale Valentines Week: Germany Week 3

Posted on March 20, 2019March 20, 2019 by jenschuyler

On our third week in Germany we were starting feel a little bit more comfortable in our surroundings. This is when we decided it would be a good time to venture out on our first rail trip. It was the week of Valentines Day and my birthday, so I had the perfect place in mind Hohenschwangau! Yes, it is a mouthful. This is located in the southern part of Germany in the Bavarian Alps region. What I specifically wanted to do was visit the Neuschwanstein Castle – yes, also a mouthful. (Honestly, I don’t know how German kids pass their spelling tests!) This castle is famous to Americans because it was Walt Disney’s inspiration for Cinderella’s castle at the one and only Disney World in Orlando, Florida. It’s famous to Germans because of its mysterious builder King Ludwig II who died before finishing the castle.

We left on Wednesday morning of this week after our Tuesday midweek Bible Study. We were so excited to actually take the train somewhere! (I will insert here that I am not a great photographer. I realize this is not a good quality in someone who keeps a blog. However, I get caught up in the moment so much, that I just end up taking it all in through my eyes and forgetting to pull out my camera or pulling it out too late, but I think I got some good shots by which to remember this fabulous trek.) The train is nice to take because it saves energy mostly. It can still be long because of all of the stops along the way, but nobody had to drive or navigate us so that we all arrived ready to enjoy.

At the rail station
Personal Gardens Kept by Townspeople
Views Along the Rail Line
Change of scenery in just a matter of hours!

I thought maybe that we would have to cancel the trip. Lynn woke up with a mysterious pain in his elbow in the night. When he awoke in the morning it was red and swollen. By the time we arrived at our destination, the picturesque town of Füssen, it was huge, red, swollen and excruciating to touch! So, though we enjoyed the trip down, he was constantly reminded of his pain with each movement. We decided that maybe we should find the apothecary and they could direct us to a clinic or something. Thankfully, the lady at the apothecary could speak enough English to tell us where we needed to go, but her English was broken enough that we misunderstood some of the directions. We ended up walking around in the freezing night looking for this clinic! When we finally found it the Dr. there was stupefied as to what the cause was. She said they could do a blood test, but that would require him to stay in the hospital overnight – not something we wanted to do. She didn’t see any reason to believe that it was an infection and thought maybe it was gout. However, she wasn’t completely sure, as this doesn’t usually show in the elbow in a man of Lynn’s health. She basically gave us ibuprofen and sent us on our way. It has since gone down, but we’re putting it on a list of things to check out when we return to the States.

Since we were on foot for this trip, we decided that we should have the hospital call us a couple of taxis to get back to our Airbnb apartment. Lynn, Katie and Jarod went in the first and Megan and I took the second car. We had quite a scare as he drove as if we were in some kind of high-speed car chase! Then he dropped us off a block from our apartment. Since he couldn’t or wouldn’t speak English we just laughed and walked the rest of the way back.

In the morning we made our way on the bus over to Hohenschwangau to see the castles. Yes, Ludwig II’s father also built a castle in the town which was a beautiful tour as well. Here are some pics outside of that castle.

It was finally time to get up the hill to take our tour. This was the exciting part of our day. The castle sits up on top of a hill. A hill that takes over 30 minutes to walk! There is the option of a bus that can take people part way up the hill, but since it had snowed recently the bus was not running. We decided to go with option three – a horse drawn carriage that would take us up part way. However, the line was so long for the carriage that we missed our allotted time. Thankfully, Lynn talked to the people at the castle and they allowed us to go on the next English-speaking tour. It really was a marvelous experience to see these beautiful castles! Like we stepped into a fairytale land. We were able to linger around and take some fun pics outside of the castle. On our carriage ride back down the hill we squeezed in with a group of Asian ladies who seemed to be having a fun time. I noticed the woman beside me was trying to take a selfie, so I kept ducking out of the way until she finally let me know that she was trying to take the selfie with me! Then they all started taking pics of our family! They spoke little English but were able to tell us they were from Korea. After a slight pause they clarified “SOUTH Korea!” When we saw the same group of ladies in a store down in the town, one of them approached Jarod and rubbed his face! Guess they thought he was as cute as his momma thinks he is 😊.

Our carriage up to the castle
Katie & Megan try Apple Strudel
In the beautiful town of Fussen
At our Airbnb

After our castle tours, we boarded the train again and headed for Innsbruck Austria. It was only a three-hour train ride away and we thought it would be a great experience to get to see a little part of another country. We weren’t going to have much time for exploring as we needed to get back to Mannheim for Church on Sunday. So, we decided to take the cable car from the middle of town up into the mountains. Before we went on this trip, I made sure that we all had new hats, gloves, coats and boots. I was ready for snow and mountains. What I was not ready for were the breathtaking views and the warm air! It was amazing to be surrounded by so much snow but not feel frigid. Check out some of our views at 7,400 feet above sea level!

Looking down on the city of Innsbruck, Austria

Coming from Oklahoma we had never been skiing (well, the girls have tried out skiing in Nebraska, but, well…). We didn’t try here either. However, we had a blast watching these crazy risk takers! We watched some of them tackle the slopes that were at a 70degree angle down. One lady that rode the cable car up was at least 70 years old and said she had been skiing this area for 14 years. At the next stop down from the summit was a landing area where most of the skiers hung out with a restaurant and beach chairs set up on a deck looking down the mountain. At this point we watched the ski jumpers doing their thing making my heart skip a beat each time one came over the hill.

We took the cable car down another to another stop where we at lunch at a little Alpine café. The whole area had kind of an American beach town vibe with skiers instead of surfers. I was so grateful for the experience.

The Alpine Cafe
Innsbruck, Austria

Each week we’ve learned new things on this journey of ours. One thing we learned on Friday evening as we traveled home was that the Friday night trains are crowded and that means you stand or sit wherever you can if there are no seats open. So, we ended up sitting. This wasn’t too bad until the train came to a halt before we even reached Stuttgart. An announcement came on over the speaker, but we couldn’t understand as it was all in German with no translation follow up. After about 20 minutes like this Lynn finally asked some of the men around him if any spoke English and if they could tell us what’s going on. One young man said, “Something was blocking the tracks.” This is when another man approached and let Lynn know that was a kind of “code” for a suicide occurred on the train tracks. Apparently, this isn’t a rare thing in Germany as there are hundreds of suicides on the train tracks every year delaying trains countrywide. I’ve read since, that the number has even thought to be upwards of about 800 per year. Goodness, what a horrific thought! As we waited for the next hour and a half, Lynn kept talking to the man who had shared that information with him. Giving him as much of the gospel as he could as the man was clearly an atheist. However, he was very congenial and they both enjoyed talking with one another so extensively. We have prayed for this man since then. Praying that God would open his eyes and convict him of his need for salvation. It was a terrible cause for delay, but a divine appointment indeed for one man.

We finally made it home much later than expected, but thankfully we had Saturday to sleep in and recuperate. We’re still getting used to the different schedule of the church over here. There is only one service on Sundays, and it is at 4:00 pm. We hardly know what to do with ourselves on Sunday mornings, so we’ve been having our own family time of listening to sermons from our home Church’s App so that we can keep up with what our own Pastor is preaching back home. It’s been a sweet time of fellowship for us. Just to keep it real though, I may struggle a little bit when we return, and I can’t have Sunday morning church in my pjs. “

Associate/Youth Pastor's Wife, My Interests, Travel, Uncategorized

First Impressions: Germany Week 1

Posted on March 3, 2019March 3, 2019 by jenschuyler

Exhaustion thy name is jet-lag! I cannot recall when I have been more physically tired in my life than upon the day we landed in Germany. We flew out on Monday Jan. 28^th at noon from Oklahoma. We landed at 8am Jan. 29^th in Frankfurt, Germany. However, to us it was more like 1am! The Clarks met us at the airport to help us get our rental car and settled into our apartment for the week. They encouraged us to NOT give in to the overwhelming desire to take a nap, but one by one we fell prey to this debilitating fatigue. I believe someone could have performed surgery on any one of us without the threat of our awakening. Truly this was awkward in many ways. For one, we have never been to their home in Germany. I was hoping my kids, as well as Lynn and I would give a polite and warming first impression. But the luring weariness, just controlled us all. Here I was excited to be in a new country and see my friends’ home for the first time and I simply laid out on her sofa and fell asleep! When I awoke looking for Lynn, I went up to their third floor bedroom/office to find Bro. Walter studying at his desk while my husband was practically passed out across their bed! I didn’t remember having this feeling when we went to Romania a few years ago, but it was the real deal now.

Our random greeter at the rental apartment we stayed in the first week.

That first evening we went to the Bible Study that they hold on Tuesday nights at the church. We were all nervous but also excited to meet everyone. Bro. Walter did a good job leading the Bible discussion, but I must be honest – I cannot even remember what the discussion was as the room was spinning while I struggled to stay awake. At one point I thought I was falling out of my chair! My only hope is that I was able to keep my eyelids open enough that nobody would notice!

After dinner we went to a family’s home that were members of the church. When they can, they hold a prayer meeting on Thursday evenings. We were impressed with their sincerity and openness with the prayer time for their personal needs as well as the church needs. They were all very welcoming and we enjoyed the fellowship after our prayer time. This is where we were introduced to all that the Google Translator App can do!

The view from our little apartment. Yay for snow! Boo for parking, only allowed on one side of the street and usually full. We had to do a lot of walking that week.

Driving was an intimidating concept to say the least. Only Lynn was on the rental as a driver since we would only have this vehicle for the first week until the Clarks left for the States. However, as I observed and learned the rules of the road along with him, I was overwhelmed. There aren’t any stop signs over here, just turnabouts. This is a good thing in my opinion as it keeps the traffic flowing. However, there are many more pedestrians and bicycles than what we ever see in the States. Our family joke has been repeating Bro. Walter when he told Lynn, “Watch out for the bikes and pedestrians. They really frown upon hitting them over here.” As if they don’t frown upon that back home. But we understood what he meant, they have rights over here and are in more abundance over here than at home in Oklahoma. So added to the observation of the driver is the roundabout rules, the yielding rules to the side roads on your right and the bikes and walkers. This doesn’t even touch on the Autobahn and all the rules of that road. you can practically feel the breeze as cars speed by at warp speed. Believe me there are no problems with people dawdling in the left lane around here!

This guy was hanging on the wall at the Schnitzel restaurant making me feel guilty throughout my meal.

Schnitzel: Walter and Dalene took Lynn and I into Heidelberg on night three. By now, we were still tired, but able to function like normal humans. This is where we tried Schnitzel for the first time. Basically it’s chicken fried pork cutlet with any of 101 sauces over it. The atmosphere was great, the company was great, the conversation totally enjoyable. The schnitzel -meh. I think it will have to grow on me. I guess I have 100 more options to try before my final verdict, but so far, I do not care what Julie Andrews says, this is NOT one of my favorite things. We walked around Heidelberg that evening and totally enjoyed the old European flair of this amazing city. The castle was lit up above us on the hill and was awe inspiring to behold! Lynn and I both felt like we were at an amusement park in the States that was built to look like we were in an old European city …but, no, it was real!

Heidelberg at night! The castle is so pretty all lit up!

This leads me to my next impression:

Grocery Shopping: Dalene took the girls and I into town to grocery shop on Friday. We started with the bottle recycling area.

Fun times recycling plastic bottles! Seriously, we need this back in the States.

Side note: Germany is green extreme! This is not a criticism, it’s an admirable thing. The garbage isn’t even near the same as they recycle everything they can, so there are four trash bins, paper/plastic, compostable, glass, and then the “everything else” bin. As good a thing as it is, I’ll admit, I suffered from a paralyzing fear of putting something in the wrong trash bin for the first week or so.

Basic run of the mill garbage cans in Germany. Can you see why I got nervous?

Anyway, we were walked through the steps of taking plastic bottles to recycle so we could get credit on our groceries. This wasn’t much different than when I was a little girl and we would take in our glass pop bottles to get dimes at the grocery store. We were at the store for a couple of hours I’m sure as Dalene showed me the differences and how to find the things I’m used to finding. This proved to be one of my biggest culture hurdles at first when I tried this on my own and felt lost and rushed. Thankfully, that church members who introduced us to the camera feature on the Google Translate App saved my life as a shopper! I can scan the shelves at the store and translate items so as to choose the right one. It’s not 100%, but it sure is a life saver! It still takes me a couple of hours to grocery shop, but some of that is my own dilly dallying around the store.

How Cool is this grocery cart feature! There’s a little extra shelf that flips out when needed. I could also see myself using this as a step stool #shortgirlproblems. As you can see all stores work like Aldi back in the States. You have to put a coin in to get your cart and you get it back when you return the cart. You also have to bring your own grocery bags/baskets or buy them from the store.

Bratwurst (brot vurst): On Saturday of our first week, we went with the Clarks into downtown Mannheim. It’s a bustling large city like most I’ve been to, so the size wasn’t too unfamiliar. Of course it mixes the old with the new as some parts of the city or buildings are older than our own country! It was here we tried our first pretzel on the street – oh so delicious! Then, for our first real German bratwurst. Of course I didn’t get pics because I was too busy stuffy my face. This too was delicious and large! It was a delightful day navigating around this large metropolitan area. Our favorite part was the marketplace that had stands with fresh cheeses, olives, flowers and the list goes on. It was abuzz with people everywhere. It was unfamiliar with the language barrier and trying to navigate a large city, but we felt at ease having the Clarks with us as guides.

Money: We fast learned that people in Germany do most of their transacting with cash only. Even Burger King! This wouldn’t have been a big problem but that even though we had gone to our bank before ever leaving the U.S. to make sure our ATM card would work, we still ran into problems. After a few emails with our bank’s fraud dept. things were set straight and we were able to access our accounts and navigate on our own without having to constantly trade money with our friends.

Rhein River Baptist Church: Mannheim Germany

Church: The whole reason we are here! We went with the Clarks in the morning to a service of another missionary in town who holds his services all in German. It was a good service, well as much as we could get out of it. We did feel our novice status here as we were observers more than participators in the service.

However, in the afternoon at the service with the church for which we came to help, we were able to feel more at ease. They share the same building as the church that holds the morning service, but minister to an entirely different demographic of people. Rhein River Baptist Church is made up of an international group who all speak English due to their diverse backgrounds. There are people from Brazil, Russia, the U.S., England and Africa all in one little body of believers. I love this diversity as it feels like a glimpse of Heaven to me! Sometimes, in day to day life we get caught up with our own little part of the world and forget that we have brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world! I find it such an energizing feeling when I am able to meet people like this! Of course this is also a relieving detail since Lynn doesn’t have to learn an entirely different language or work through an interpreter for this short 3-month stint as filling the pulpit.

Since it was also the first Sunday of the month, they have a time of pizza and fellowship after the service. This was an enjoyable chance to get to know some of the members and chat for a while.

The Clark family. Our favorite Germany missionaries.

We felt like we were getting our land legs as the jet lag was subsiding and we were learning new things each and every day. That one week felt like an entire month, but we were in for more as we approached the time of the Clarks leaving us for the States…

Good articles to read!, My Interests, Parenting

A Summer of Weddings Part II

Posted on August 2, 2013 by jenschuyler

Ok, so it’s been a year – yes a full year since my summer of weddings. That summer turned into a year and six weddings later with a 7th on the way. I’m not sure how this all came about, but for now I’m going with it. For memory’s sake though, I’d like to look at wedding number two from last summer. My second wedding happened to be the wedding of our Pastor’s second son. This was the day of Sam Waterloo and Sarah Graham.

Back when 2nd man and I first came to OK, I taught 5th/6th grades at the local Christian school. That’s when I first experienced Sam Waterloo. The quirky, ultra-polite, pleaser son in the Waterloo clan. He was a treasure for sure. The school shut down as he was going into 6th grade and I was soon to have our first child, so I home schooled Sam that next year. I’m pretty sure it was the most excruciating year for this people pleasing kid who had to sit through the hormonal pitfalls that accompany new moms. I remember someone coming to the door one day and I had to put Katie down somewhere. “Here Sam, can you hold her a minute?” I asked quickly. His response went something like, “uh, uh, ooh, oh, um…” “nevermind Sam.” I put the crying child in her bassinet and went on with business.

Well, long gone are the days of hesitation. I like to think I maybe pushed him to a brink that brought out some boldness. Oh, it was many years later until he finally achieved manly boldness, but I played a small part and that makes me smile. Sam went through highschool and college being one of those guys that everyone likes. You really can’t not like him. He’s just sweet, kind and genuinely loves the Lord. Right after highschool he decided to pursue Sarah Graham. She was a beautiful, smart and sophisticated young woman who also went through our youth department. (I don’t excel in any of those qualities, so all the credit there must go to her parents – wish I could’ve been a better influence.) Anyway, they were going to separate colleges and the pressure of long distance accompanied by other factors put a stall on the relationship, so they called it off almost as quickly as it had begun, much to the chagrin of Sam’s mother. Through those years she didn’t give up hope though both of them seemed to be moving on with life. She was almost as in love with Sarah as Sam had been in a weird mother-picking her daughter-in-law kinda way. Well, her praying payed off and they found themselves reuniting after college. It’s more their story to tell, but lets just say that this friendly, unassuming youth pastor has a bold, “I wanna marry you” “you gotta be mine” side. Gives me chills really.

So, again, I found myself honored to be a part of their wedding. This one was a vintage wedding filled with nostalgic memories and literary nods. They chose to do the “first sight” picture before the wedding. The wedding party and I were all bawling at the back of the sanctuary windows as she handed him a box of letters she had written throughout her teen years to her future husband. Many in which she had pictured Sam as their receiver.

In the ceremony they had taken a large photo of the two of them and made it into a puzzle. They had asked several people (2nd man and I included) to place a piece of the puzzle on an easle while Pastor read a letter they had written about how each person or couple represented inluences in their lives be it friendship, spiritual leadership, etc. It was truly moving. Then Sarah walked down the aisle to the music played in Jane Austin’s Sense and Sensibility (which is so cool since that whole story includes the love story of a friendly unassuming clergyman and a young woman who tries to handle things right and it looks like they won’t make it and then they do…((breathe)) ok I’ll stop walking you through it now.)

Anyway, I had so much fun with this one. We rented chairs, set up lacy tablecloths, and made the church gym into a retro picnic feel with an ice cream bar and glass bottles of pop. It was a sweet affair all the way around including the extra hundred people we weren’t quite prepared for (but that’s a memory we won’t delve into here).

The work was hard, the pressure high, but the honor was out of this world!

Decorating, My Interests

A Summer of Weddings Part 1: Jonno and Esther

Posted on August 14, 2012February 2, 2013 by jenschuyler

So, finally, here is the explanation of where I’ve been all summer. Well, actually it’s going to take a couple of posts (so bear with me). I was honored last January to be asked by the lovely Esther Welbourne to help plan her wedding to Jonathan Waterloo. Jonathan (or Jonno as we call him) is our pastor’s oldest son and went clear through our youth department since the first year we came to Oklahoma. Phlegmatic to the bone with a sense of humor that makes everyone smile when he walks in the room, Jonno is very dear to our hearts. When he brought Esther into our lives we were thrilled and quite frankly unbelieving that he would find such a beautiful girl who is absolutely perfect for him. Always one to enjoy decorating AND spending other peoples’ money, I jumped at the chance! We had so much fun with planning, shopping trips to Tulsa and work nights putting flowers together. Esther loves purple Calla lilies, so there was our inspiration from which everything else fell into place. I’d love to tell you that I personally assembled all beauties in this post, but, I’d be a liar. Thankfully, there were a host of ladies and friends who were willing and honored to jump in and help, without whom none of this would have actually become reality. Below, I’d like to just comment and go through my thoughts on various aspects of wedding planning…a job I won’t be doing full time anytime soon.

My first surprising heart change came with the concept of the “first sight” photos that are gaining in popularity as a modern tradition. I’ve always been a firm believer in the groom no seeing the bride until she walks down the aisle. Not that I’m superstitious, I’ve just always enjoyed seeing the reaction of the groom! However, it is true that in all practicality, this creates a time issue for picture taking between ceremony and reception. Yet, the romantic in me just has never been able to give up the dream…until I see pictures like this

1st sight, Esther coming up behind. Don’t you love all of the “peekers” out in the foyer?

Now, how isn’t that one of the best reactions of a groom turning around to see his bride! Oh, Jonno I love when you get all sappy. This was truly a sweet semi-private moment for the two of them and still didn’t seem to take anything away from the ceremony. As a matter of fact, I wonder if he felt more comfortable giving the full reaction than if he knew all eyes were on him.

They chose to show a video before the ceremony and then came the moment of truth. Now look at that picture. Tulle and lights sigh…..Who wouldn’t want to walk down that aisle?

So this picture is purely for selfish reasons. Can you say “best looking groomsman ever?!!” Yes, 2nd man was a groomsman in his second “former teen” wedding. That’s not me as a bridesmaid, but I like her and she’s another pastor’s wife so it’s OK.

Next, lets talk aisle runners. My thoughts? Ditch the whole idea….NIGHTMARE! Ever see an usher sweat? Well, this will drive him to it.

The ceremony was precious. I’ll admit I missed most of it, because I had to run down and get the reception ready. However, when pastor (father of the groom remember)cried during this reading the whole wedding became an instant success in the eyes of every guest there.

Esther is nicknamed princess, because she’s beautiful and sweet and into the bling, hence the gorgeous tiara! We tried to bling up the unity candle display for her as much as possible. We glued purple and black ribbon with borders of diamond mesh. We then wove purple ribbon through some tulle to make a cloud like surround.

The beauty of this wedding was found in the detail. Esther has a great eye for detail and thus wanted to make sure special attention was paid to every aspect of her wedding day from the moment guests entered the church. We had fun making some special features for the lobby. My personal favorite were the trees. I’m planning to post a separate explanation of the making of these trees in a blog post to come. However, for now suffice it to say they were stunning! Four tree branches about six foot high concreted into coffee cans, were painted and glittered. We strung beads and glued purple hydrangea blossoms for a sweet effect, and put two on each side of the foyer where guests entered. This made a path to the guest book area that was decorated with tulle, lights, calla lilies and a large portrait of the couple.

On the hallway wall leading to the reception area I had my flower lady, Betty, create a heart with an arrow out of purple mini carnations and foam core board. I think it turned out absolutely lovely.

One of the unfortunate results of Baptist weddings that do not include dancing or drinking alcohol is that people rarely hang out for very long. Esther really desired to have her guests relaxed and mingling. She totally wanted to enjoy everyone and wanted to create a relaxing atmosphere. We chose to do this through both the lighting and by playing music in the background. Guess what…it worked! It was by far the longest reception I’ve ever attended at a wedding at our church. The whole room seemed to be buzzing with guests eating and mingling. Wahoo!

We set up a table of family pictures and an engagement album for guests to enjoy as they arrived. The food tables and the head table were adorned with flowing tulle and lights with mirrors for a reflected glow. (I’ll take a moment to say here that from a wedding planner’s standpoint I’m disappointed that I didn’t get more pictures than this, but oh well).

Our round tables had white tablecloths with black tops. The centerpieces were simple with mirrors and lots of candles. We used white calla lilies and turned water and wine glasses upside down for candle holders with purple carnations inside. Inside the vases were water beads and submersible LED lights.