"I will look unto the hills; from whence cometh my help?" And so the Psalmist asks the question. Of course the answer is the "Lord, the maker of Heaven and Earth." This afternoon as we looked out our window we could see that Psalm in action. Dark clouds were roiling over the hills to the NW of us. Surely some kind of nasty storm was going to hit even as the late afternoon sun shown brightly on those same hills. Soon the clouds thickened more and we watched what looked like snow crawl down the hill into the valley and begin ascending our own hills. It was not snow but hail. Suddenly the hail was bigger and then after a few second lull even bigger hail stones began to fall. The clouds rolled on and again the hills were bathed in the setting sun. As gasoline became $7.60 a gallon yesterday and the dollar hit another record low we also had to ask where our help comes from. The Psalmist knew; our help comes from the One who is in control of all things even currencies. "Thank you Father that you are in control. Help us to truly believe."

Record lows for the U.S. dollar...record highs for oil...stock market drops...wow, what a distressing past few weeks. Since we arrived in Europe the dollar has fallen precipitously, oil has skyrocketed, and now we get to pay around $7.00 a gallon for diesel for our car! What a privilege! But, when I begin to fret, feel sorry for ourselves, or lose sleep about this, I am quietly reminded by the Father that He is in control and that we are exactly where He wants us to be: we cannot control the dollar, we cannot control oil prices, we cannot control stock markets; and even if we/I could we/I would be sure to mess it up badly. So, it is a good thing that God controls these things and even though we would desire and beg for a stronger dollar and cheaper oil, the situation now causes us to depend completely on our Father and not on our cleverness. Yes, we must watch our expenses carefully and guard against frivolous spending, but it is God that controls the overall picture.
This is another posting from $7 a gallon Austria!!

Last days with our parents, siblings, and cousins at Christmas and New Years. We miss them so much.

Finally

Aren't we glad it wasn't flight #666!
Hi Friends,

We are able to finally update the "blog" page a bit. Reading a compilation of the "Zits" comic strip this is something that I should be doing at least every five minutes and include all of the marvelously bizarre things my parents say and do. Well, since I would be the parent in question, it just "ain't gonna happen!!"
We are back in Europe, in Austria, under a roof, and awaiting our first trip back to Serbia. We had planned three different times to go down in February, including a trip to Montenegro. Container problems prevented those trips from happening. But perhaps it was also God's way of keeping us out of harms way during the demonstrations in Serbia before and after Kosovo declared it's independance from Serbia. Those wounds remain with the Serbs and run deep and painful. Kosovo is the spiritual/ancestral/historical birthplace of the Serbian people centuries and centuries ago and to simply have it yanked away is very hard for them to undertand or accept. I guess to put into a perspective our American friends might relate to would be the originial 13 Colonies or the Boston or Philadelphia metro areas suddenly declaring independance

and all of the sites that are a part of our American heritage and ancestory would now be in a foreign country. Just keep praying for the people and government officials in Serbia and Kosovo.

We continue to marvel at the ways God shows us that He indeed wants us back in Europe. Though it was and is so hard to have part of our family in the States as well as our moms and dads and siblings, we know we are supposed to be here, and look forward to getting back into ministry in the Balkans. Our container arrived the end of February and we were excited to see it roll up. Now we are awaiting one more move to permanent housing and we can begin to unpack! Katie and Nicholas are enjoying school and being back in real school after a semester of home schooling. They have renewed acquaintances with a handful of friends that still remain from several years ago, and are also making new friends. Jan is volunteering at the school several days a week and is enjoying being a part of the kids' school life.

Lord willing we travel to Serbia during Holy Week and renew our friendships and acquaintances there. We are looking forward to being there and spending time with our CEF colleagues for times of meeting and prayer.

OK, the blogging is done for now. Let us hear from you!