This morning I sat down on the bottom stairs of the cellar and cried about nothing. I supposed it wasn't really nothing as my tears were slowly lifting the weight off my body. My thoughts were heavy as they trickled down my cheeks, cracking, drying, eventually disappearing. I prayed to the ultimate Comforter and he lavished his wealthy supply of grace onto me. Grace is like a snowstorm of feathers. Soft, full and light.
Gereon and I turned of all the lights this evening and played hide and seek. He has a habit of sneaking up on me and scaring the living daylights out of me and my poor heart so I decided he needed a dose of his own medicine. If you can dish it you can take it! Unfortunately, my plan backfired, and he managed to be the world's best hider, forcing me to wander through the pitch black house searching for him, waiting for his scream or his hand to grab my shoulder. Somehow, a pillow fight commenced in the midst of the darkness and we had an intense duel before I had to accept defeat. I seem to have become quite the pro at accepting defeat since I have moved to Germany! I suppose a new country brings new challenges.
Jojo and I worked on her Christmas gifts this morning, which involved coloring a giant poster while listening to girly music on her stereo. We danced a bit and sang into a Nutella container. (genius idea, by the way, It smells much better than a hairbrush!) This evening she gave me a kiss and said, "I love you" before heading off to her bed. I turned back to the sink to wash some dishes and it took me a few moments to realize I was smiling. I love it when smiles sneak up on me like that. :)
Last night I was talking to a new guy in the class who moved from China to Sweden, where he lived for a year and learned some English. He has just arrived here and now is trying to learn German. I feel bad for him! Translating in his head from Chinese to English (what he knows of it) then to German is so confusing for him. At least for me, English is similarly structured to German. As we walked out of the class, I started to put my backpack on my bike when he asked me, "is that your bike?" and as I peered closer (it was pitch black by this time, so only the distant street lights were shedding a few strands of light) I noticed that it was definitely not my bike. I turned to the side to see where my bike was, and it simply was not there. This is about the point where I began to panic. The poor boy was trying to calm me down but I started pacing and thinking out loud, making another boy from my class walk over to see what was happening. Once I finally accepted that someone had stolen my bike, despite the fact that I had locked it, I turned my logic back on and called Britta. I managed to choke out the words, "I walked outside from my class and the bike is gone...I have the key and it just isn't here. I'm really freaked out." To which she immediately replied, "Okay Karly, Christoph will come and get you, don't worry." I said goodbye, and as I hung up the phone I thought about the kindness it must have taken for her to care about my safety after I just told her that her $600 bike was gone. After searching throughout the city, peering around at all the bikers, we went to the police, then I came home and apologized to Britta. When I went to my room that evening, I laid in my bed and cried as I thought of how the first thing she told me was that it wasn't my fault, as she gave me a big hug. Their grace truly came from the heart and I felt it. I am thankful beyond words and thank the Lord everyday in my prayers that I am with such an incredible family. Also, I just want to add some spice to this story...I have been sitting here in my room with my Christmas candles on and as I was writing about my bike tragedy, I heard Christoph come home from his guitar lessons and yell my name from the driveway. I looked out the window and he said, " I found the bike." I said, "wait!" then ran downstairs and opened the door, listening to him explain how the thief had not been able to undo the contraption that had locked around the spokes, so they returned it to where I had put it earlier! Crazy right? Christoph just happened to bike by my school on his way home to see if it was there, and it had indeed returned! I jumped up and down in my living room on the way back upstairs. Praise God! Oh, and good riddance to the thief who couldn't unlock the bike!
All in all, today was a day where the good outweighed the bad, despite the quantity of bad I had during the morning. Being here brings me the best and worst of times. Oh, and guess what? I found the Christian friend I have been praying for. We are planning trips already! I attended a church last Sunday that was half German, half English. The praise songs that filled the room were spoken in different languages and made me more fully comprehend the glory of God and how he created all of our languages. "Every tongue, every tribe, every nation, every land, bringing honor, bringing glory, bringing praise unto the Lamb of God!" Amen to that! The entire sermon was in English with a German translator so I really learned a lot from listening to the back and forth translating. I definitely will be returning. :) Also, I received a lovely phone call from Olga that we are officially going to Paris together this weekend! We leave from Düsseldorf on Friday evening and come home on Sunday evening. We will have a hotel to stay in, a short tour on Saturday, and all travel fares for $69!!! Needless to say, I would be crazy not to be smiling this evening.
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