Jet lag

Jet lag
Originally uploaded by sraabs.

After five days back in Europe we are all starting to get back into the swing of things - although it IS still vacation! Some are still having a bit of trouble getting up in the morning, but that will change as soon as school starts on Monday (not that anyone will be less tired, just that they will have to wake up).

I have also now loaded the pictures from Texas for those of you who would like to see them. Thanks again for all the care, love and prayers while we traveled and visited. What a wonderful family we have in God!

Safe and sound

Today we received our luggage! It is fun to get everything together, open up all the bags and remember what we forgot we had brought back with us. But I am getting ahead of myself - we are home safe and sound! We made it home Saturday after a long day of flying and driving, stayed awake until about 9 p.m. and pretty much made it through Sunday as normal.

Our flight from Minnesota over Philadelphia was delayed. This meant that we barely made our transfer for the flight to Frankfurt - but we DID make it! That flight was great: pleasant service, good food (they even had metal silverware!) and long enough to get a little sleep in (although we didn't). Once in Frankfurt we saw what we had expected - our luggage had not made the transfer. Now, we had planned to be picked up by a brother in the church using our car and a trailer, knowing that we would have lots of luggage. Now the trailer wasn't necessary, but I couldn't cancel it. Still, now the airline would send all our luggage on to our house, saving us the trouble.

So our bags arrived today, mostly without any damage and containing all of our things. Which is a good thing, since we had taken quite a few of our clothes with us (or at least the important parts). In the meantime our wait for our ride from Franfurt meant that we stayed awake on Saturday, Sunday brought a wonderful homecoming with our church family in Maastricht (and Scott already started rehearsing again with Listen Up!) and we can sleep in our own beds again. God takes such good care of us! It is wonderful to live with Him. Thanks for your prayers for our trip.

Imagine that!

For the last week we have been in Abilene, Texas - temperatures in the high 90's, so you stay inside. Sean has gotten to practice with a soccer team twice, putting up with the inability to breath in order to get some soccer in. And then it started to rain! Yesterday dropped a good 5 inches (12 cm) in a few hours in this place that barely has gutters since it hardly ever rains. Suddenly the city discovers how many creeks run through the city, how many roads become rivers, and how hard it is to get from one side of town to the other. Imagine not coming to work because it rained (those of you living in Europe)!

This means that I may not get to go discgolfing today. So far we have golfed in every city we stayed in. Stephan and I went the other day here in Abilene, too, so that's okay. It has been great to be able to get out of the house, get a little exercise and see the cities we are in. We usually go quite early (to avoid the heat). Today we planned to play in a mini-tournament, but hole 13 had a water hazard and is now probably UNDER water. We'll see - the play is in the afternoon, things can clear up quite quickly in Texas.

In the meantime we are talking about the different schools we have seen along the way. It is hard for us to imagine that Stephan will soon be gone from home. We want him to have some good opportunities and have visited a few Christian universities here in the States. As we have said goodbye to people along the way of our furlough ("See you in three years."), we realized that Stephan will not be with us the next time. Imagine that!

Southern Cal sights

Furlough stage 5 part 2

One of the things most of our supporters want for us is that we get some time to look around, do some vacation type things, chill out. This isn’t always possible – we also want to see a lot of people who we haven’t seen in so many years. But as in the other States we have visited, here in California the church family took good care of us. The boys were hooked into the youth group almost right away and had a great time. Sunday afternoon they went eating visiting, played guitar hero and were just plain goofy together. Later in the week was a youth evening at the Jablonskis. The end of our stay in California was closed off with a visit to Universal Studios with our home family (Kerry, Marisol, Zoey and Tiger). But that was just the guys – Shirley and Scott had other plans.

One of the days that the guys were off having fun, Shirley and Scott headed off to Santa Monica. That evening they would be able to visit with a wonderful church family in “beautiful donwtown Burbank”, but before getting there they decided to do some sightseeing. Scott even got stuck in an Apple store (now how could that happen, I wonder?). So we saw Warner Brothers, Disney Studios, the place where Nickleodeon and Cartoon Network are made and the Santa Monica pier (with PCH running next to it).

The last full day in California was reserved for a visit to San Diego for Scott and Shirley. Scott’s sister-in-law and nephew live just 2 hours from Long Beach, so we jumped in the car and headed down. Although we only had a few hours together, it was great to see Pricila and Matthew again. It is always good to see family and to be able to renew those bonds each time we are in the States. A great meal together (we get to eat out so much while we are here!) and some good conversation gave us a little more for the next few years (though not nearly enough!).

Thanks again to all those who made this financially possible (support, shared cars, putting us up – putting up with us, feeding us). God can do so much through so many – it is wonderful!

California Cool, part 1

Furlough stage 5

Flying in over Los Angeles, we all got that California feeling:
“Look at all those pools!”
“Did you see the ocean?”
“Okay, the 405 to the 5, or was it the 10? Traffic looks pretty good.”
We were met by David Cron with his familiar smile and welcoming heart. Then we went out to the palm trees of southern California. We were wondering what this stay would be like since we were staying with a family we had never really met before – Kerry and Marisol Jablonski and their two kids, Zoey and Tiger. But we have always been warmly welcomed by our brothers and sisters in Christ and this was no different. Isn’t it great to be part of this family!!

As we walked into the Jablonski home and through the kitchen to the back yard Sean asked, “Am I dead, cause this sure looks like heaven.” Palm trees, banana trees, a pool with waterfalls all welcomed us in. Even better, Kerry and Marisol opened their hearts as well as their home to us. We have been so blessed with the families we have stayed with at each stop – all of them truly making us feel at home while being in their home. This house and family was no different. The first evening included some time for the boys in the pool and the hot-tub, and then off for a really good nights sleep.

One of the things the church in Long Beach wanted us to be able to do while here was to relax. Naturally there were many families who wanted to see us again (and who we wanted to visit) and there were those who wanted to hear about the work, but the idea was also to get plenty of down time. Our first week was a perfect example of this. We were able to go over to the Cron’s house and eat some great home-made pizza while visiting about the work and our lives together. During the day we had plenty of time to lounge around the pool, sit in the cool pool house working on emails or go garage-saling (that sounds interesting – can you imagine a sailing a garage?).

One of the nice things about staying with the Jablonskis was that they allowed us to be part of their family whiel there. They ahd planned a wedding reception for Kerry’s brother and new bride and we were able to help set up and take part. It was a wonderful evening of family and fun (check out the hula dancers and cake pictures on the flickr site). We were so honored to be able to expereince this together with them. The boys even got to earn some extra spending money and gain some experience serving as waiters during the reception.

Which brings us to shopping. Since we were worried earlier in the trip about how many bags we could fit in the rental car, we kept purchases to a minimum – even though we usually plan on buying some things while in the States (shoes, jeans, towels are usually cheaper here). So far we had found a few things at garage sales and had crammed them into spaces in our current luggage. Butu now we could expand a bit – and we did. Sean was especially happy to find soccer shoes (football shoes) at a MUCH better price than at home, while Scott got some shorts (he had packed at the last minute and didn’t have any warm weather clothes). This would of course mean repacking with wisdom, but we were ready for that.

While here we have also spent plenty of time with the church family. Scott preached on Sunday morning and the boys headed off with the youth group Sunday afternoon and evening (check out some of those pictures as well). But we also had plenty of time swimming in the pool, visiting downtown Long Beach, getting to know the kittens in the house, and just relaxing with this church family.

Next time I will talk about the rest of the time in California (San Diego, Santa Monica, Universal studios and beautiful downtown Burbank).

Goodbye California, Hello Texas!

We are now down in Texas after an exciting exit from Los Angeles. Our flight from LAX was at 6:40 a.m. and we thought that 1 hour before time would be enough - we JUST made it on the plane!
We arrived in DFW, rented a car (by now it had to be a small SUV, since we have grown to 5 big bags) and drove out to Abilene. It is great to see that some things don't change that much - everything is still where we left it three years ago in Abilene :-)
We will put up the update on our time in California in a few days, along with all the new pictures. Thanks again for all the prayers and for the communication while we have been traveling!

Luggage swap and birthday bash (stage4, part 2)

During this leg of our trip we have had a rental car (picked up in Minneapolis and to be dropped off in Denver). This car was quite nice (air-conditioning, satellite radio etc), but the trunk was just big enough for the suitcases we had, with one sitting between the boys. But we came planning on returning with more suitcases than at the beginning. This is one opportunity to purchase some well-needed clothes and shoes for growing boys. But as long as we were using the car, we could not expand our luggage. Now we were in Colorado, however, some of that shopping could begin (although more may be done in California and Texas). So Shirley and Yumiko had a great time looking for garage sales, going to the stores and looking around.

- the flour war at Kamp Koinonia -

One of the highlights of the Colorado visit was the day up at Kamp Koinonia. Scott’s search for Jesus began many, many years ago at this camp (though not this campground). And many of the things that he now incorporates into his camp weeks in Belgium had their origin at this camp. So it was a sort of homecoming for him. He and the boys arrived in time to take part in the flour war and later that evening helped with and took part in the Jewel Hunt. In between Scott sang with his ‘brother’ Bret and reunited with the old ‘Four on the Floor’ – a quarrtet formed more than 25 years ago. Amazingly, the songs came out pretty well! What a joy to see old friends and experience new places all at the same time!

The end of our time in Colorado Springs was another highlight in this trip. Scott celebrated his birthday with almost all of the siblings (his brother Mike was still in Indiana). Scott’s brother, Marc, has a birthday a few days after Scott’s, so it was a double birthday with all of the siblings and almost all of the nieces and nephews present. Scott’s sister, Barb, hosted everyone and helped organize the whole thing. Plenty of guitar playing, reminiscing, laughing and getting to know one another. It is great to have family!



Before we left Colorado, we did a few interesting things: Scott went shooting with his brother John (John had recently bought a Romanian AK-74 and wanted to try it out), we all drove up to Denver and visited with Scott’s second family (Ron and Jean Carter and the Carter clan present) and spent some good time with Scott’s older brother Chris and his wife Lynette. It is amazing how good and filled two days can be! We were so thankful for all the time with so many people we love so dearly.


We finished up the CO leg by spending several hours in the airport in Denver with Bret. The car had to be returned by 10 and our flight left at 4 p.m., so we had plenty of time to talk about movies, books and the future. Then it was through security (shoes off, don’t forget to take the fluids out of your carry-on) and off to California!

Rocky mountain high (stage 4, part 1)

Colorado gave varying welcome messages to each of us. The first was that we should have tanked up in Nebraska! This went together with the other thought that Sean had: “Where are all the people?” After leaving Ogallala (yes, that’s a real name) and turning southwards to Colorado, there is literally nothing (okay, not literally, otherwise we couldn’t be driving, breathing, etc), just vast amounts of open country with not a house or mark of humanity in sight (other than the road we were on). So when we needed gas and a gas station finally showed up – well they could ask just about anything they wanted for gas, couldn’t they? But in the end we got to Denver, passed along the airport and drove down to Colorado Springs where Pikes Peak welcomed us.
Sean: “Now where is Pikes Peak?”
Scott: “The big one shrouded in cloud at the top over there.”
Sean: “I thought it was bigger.”
Scott: (a bit flustered, this is ‘his’ mountain) “Yeah, it’s only 14,000 feet.”
Sean: (a few minutes later) “WHICH one is it?”
Scott: “See those black mountains? Look past those to the clouds. The mountained crowned by the clouds is Pikes Peak.”
Sean: (with a sudden recognition) “Oh! Is that the peak! I thought it was one of those black mountains in front.”

Our ‘task’ in Colorado Springs was to relax and spend time with family. Scott was going to speak up at Kamp Koinonia, but other than that there were no obligations. We settled in to the well-ordered cave at John and Yumiko Raab’s house and just sat back. John and Yumiko have a house with a lovely basement, nice and cool on the warm days. They give us the basement to ourselves – the boys in one room, the adults in the other bedroom. What a luxury! But even more is just being able to sit with everyone in the livingroom and enjoy the conversation, the laughing, the time together. No matter what happens, we know we are family.

The day after our arrival Scott went with his brother John to get John’s kids who were up at camp. Kamp Koinonia is up in the Colorado mountains just southwest of Denver (Sedalia for those who know the area). In addition to seeing the kids, Scott got to see several people he had not seen for many years (one from about 30 years ago!) and got a tour of this facility with its 140 acres. The following week Scott would come up with the boys to spend a day here at camp – that would be a treat!

One of the things we love about traveling and that we have mentioned everywhere we go is that we get to see all of our brothers and sisters in Christ in so many different places. It is so good to know and experience that as Christians we have family everywhere! A Sunday morning is such a wonderful time – even if you don’t know the people and are just meeting them. But we were coming home to this congregation. It was great to see so many who are supporting us in so many ways. Thank you Father for such a wonderful way of helping us, linking us together, making us one.

Shirley's family

Shirley's family
Originally uploaded by sraabs.

Come meet Shirley's family - check out these pictures of our visit to Nebraska. We weren't able to meet everyone, but it was great to spend time with those we could.

Iowa pictures

In Muscatine
Originally uploaded by sraabs.

I have finally gotten some of the pictures uploaded from our time in Iowa and Indiana. Click on this picture to go to our photo site and check those out.
I hope to get the pictures from Nebraska and Colorado loaded very soon. We are so thankful for all the family and friends who are sharing so much of their time and themselves with us. What a blessing you all are!