THE BANANA MUSEUM

WE ARE HERE!!!!!!! Our flight went well or shoud I say as well as can be expected. 8 hours in a tinz seat it a little rough on the rear end! Henrik and Edith were there waiting when we arrived an we then took off for Sierksdorf. Hamburg was so beautiful. Even looking at it from the airplane you could tell you were in a foreign country. After we arrived in Sierksdorf we went straight to the Banana Festival. We were so lucky to experience such a wonderful event. I am quite sure there are not many people who have ever been to a banana festival. I will have to write more later because we are getting ready to go visit Henrik's school.



This is when Edith won the plate decorating contest in Sierksdorf. It was really nice. She won a trophy, a banana bag and a recipe book. Below is the new mayor of the town presenting Edith with her trophy.

Well, finally after waiting for one year the day has arrived. We are so thankful for this opportunity. It is definitely a trip sent from God. John and I are totally aware that this wonderful experience would not be happening without His blessings and Divine Intervention. Last year we knew we really wanted to go visit our boys. We prayed about it and to be honest it did not seem possible. We always seem to have so many money problems and in fact, have had very hard times this past year. Need I mention, the car burning up, the next car being totaled after owning it for one month, the basement flooding and the pipes bursting after freezing while we were out of town for a week during Christmas and the list goes on. Through all this it is amazing how God has pulled us through and shown us His wonderful BLESSINGS AND GRACE. Miraculously, we were able to place 10 students in homes through EF. I truly believe that to be a miracle. He put just the right people there when we needed them to open up their homes to these precious teenagers. Thanks to all our friends who became parents this year, (some for the first time) and made this possible for us. Through EF we earn points and we can spend them on things such as travel. It takes quite a few points to go on a trip. It just seemed impossible to earn enough points to go to Indiana let alone across the world. I couldn't believe it but when the awards catalog came out I saw EF was offering a special if you were flying into or out of Austria. I couldn't believe it. Out of all the places in the World, God was giving us a deal we could afford and sending us to the place we wanted to go. To God Be The Glory!!! He is an AMAZING GOD!!

This picture was taken at Union Baptist Church. Matthew had preached a wonderful sermon that day and then had planned to propose to Courtney after the service. It was perfect. Courtney was surprised and we all had a great time watching this wonderful event.

Thomas- We can't wait to see you!! Thomas is our son from Austria. We are hoping to go to Salzberg (I'm not sure how to spell it) to see where they made the Sound of Music. John made Thomas watch that movie while he was here. He hadn't ever seen it before even though it was filmed in Austria. We have found that most of our students don't know about it. I don't think he was very impressed~~

Flo and Mark- These two became very close when Mark moved back home in March. This picture was taken at the airport the day Flo left. A very sad day for us. It is always hard for the host parents to give up their kids. It is bearable as long as they stay in touch.
This is one of my favorite pictures of Flo. I took it at an Alpacca farm in the fall. I think it would make a great coke commercial.

I love this picture. It was taken at Shakertown on June 3, 2008. This Shaker performer could really sing and dance. At the end of her performance she spun around and around all the while looking towards Heaven. Her dress blew out as she spun around. I was so happy I caught the whole affect. Going to Shakertown was a wonderful experience. I may put some more pictures on this blog. about my TAH group and all the places we went. The trip to Shakertown was a culmination of four years with a group of 28 teachers/educators. Each teacher was chosen to participate in a 3 year grant, which turned into 4 super years of learning and having fun . It is very difficult to say it is over and to say good by to all the nice people I met in this group. When we signed up we didn't know each other but have all formed lasting friendships and great networking groupsl The Teaching American History (TAH) grant has taken us places and given us teaching resources we could never have afforded. It has been a truly wonderful experience.

Henrik's New Car

European Soccer Games

This is an update on the soccer games in Europe. Henrik said Germany beat Portugal the other day. He went someplace to watch the game on a big screen. He said it was great. Everyone was so excited. After they won the game they all got in their cars and drove around blowing their horns and waving their flags. He had a great time. The next game is on Wednesday but I am not sure who Germany will be playing. Henrik also asked me about what I meant when I said he would be doing "service". I told him I would straighten that out. He will be working his "real job" I think in a few weeks. He will have to write more and let me know exactly what his "real job" will be. I'm hoping we can figure out how to add comments to this blog. Smiles!! Guten Nacht (at least when I write it I don't say "good naked".

Henrik

Henrik is our first exchange student and the one we have waited the longest to see again. We will be visiting his house first. This picture was taken of him and John at Thanksgiving when we went to Patti and Rich's house. Henrik has graduated now and will go on to do his service. Can't wait to see you Hennie!!

Flo's call

This picture was taken at Metamora, Indiana.

It was so good to hear from Flo yesterday. He called on SKYPE. Everything was going well in Germany and he was happy because Germany beat Austria in the soccer tournaments. (sorry Thomas). I asked Flo what we would be doing when we got to his house. He said "Why don't you let me surprise you?" I thought that sounded pretty good. We will be kept in suspense. Flo's family will be going to Bavaria during the week we are at Henrik's. That sounds fun. I think that is where the "cuckoo clocks" are made.
We are going to go to church tonight to hear a group of young people from Uganda. That should be nice. I guess I better close. I'll be writing again soon. Nita

Thomas and his family

This picture was taken at the Hatcher's the night we first met the Hasenzagl family. Thomas is the tall guy on the left side next to me. I wonder if he has grown this year?

We are sooooo excited. We will be leaving in about 12 days from now. We can not wait to see our boys and meet our extended family. There are so many things we need to get done around here before we leave but at least Mark will be here to make sure everything at the house is ok. It has been really nice to have him around.
I had an email yesterday from Edith Markmann *(Henrik's mom) and she said John and I both had one wish for someplace we want to go and some kind of German food we want to eat. We really just want to see them and that's the main thing. They live near the Baltic Sea so I'm sure we will really enjoy the beach. Henrik wrote this morning and said the soccer games were going on over there now and they were going to play Austria tonight. That will mean our German boys, Henrik and Flo will be up against our Austrian boy, Thomas. May the best team win.
I just checked online today and the American dollar was at $1.53 for every Euro. That is so depressing but at least it has went down a few pennies recently.
I will close for now. I am trying to get this site up and running. I want to write on it and send some pictures back for people to see since we will be there for almost a month. Blessing! Nita