~ Bountiful Blessings ~

~ Bountiful Blessings ~

Today was the day we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with our family of brothers and sisters in Christ here in Switzerland. We do hope and pray that your Thanksgiving day was a time shared with your loved ones. Giving thanks for God's bountiful blessings!

In our next blog entry we will share with you our pictures of our Thanksgiving feast!

Blessing in a Box...part two

~ Blessing in a box....part two ~

On Tuesday, November 25 I had written in our blog site about the "Blessing in a box". What we did not know at the time when I had written about it, was the Bible that was in the box was not given to us by Trace's parents (we had assumed that, since it was in the box of all of the other things they mailed to us, along with the Bible). We have come to find out that this English/French Bible was mailed to Trace's parents from our friends back home in PA! We THANK YOU dear friends for this wonderful gift!! We can't expess enough how much we appreciate it and I (Karen) have been reading from it each day, ever since we received it!!

Blessing in a box.....

Blessing in a box....

Before we arrived in Switzerland, we planned out carefully what are the things that we most needed to bring that would fit in five suitcases, two carry-on bags and two computer back-packs. We had to decide which books we would like to read (maybe even for the second or third time). I decided I would take my study Bible, since it has so many notes that I have written over the years through out the margins from varies sermons that I have heard to Bible studies I have taken. However, it dawned on me that I had not brought along a purse or a pocket size Bible, that fits easily into my purse. So, I have been contemplating; do I order a small Bible via "on-line" through the Christian book store or do I look and buy a small French Bible here in Switzerland?

Today, we received in the mail two boxes filled with wonderful surprises; some delicious food items (especially the Oreo cookies), others are necessities (that are not always easy for us to buy here). As we continued to dig down through one of the boxes, I could not believe what I saw......The New Testament Psalms and Proverbs in both English and French (written side by side) and the size....yes, you guessed it, it's purse size ~ exactly the size I was imagining. A blessing in a box!! God provides even our smallest needs. God is so good!

We THANK YOU so very much Dad and Mom for the "care packages"!!

~ Picture of the Week ~

~ Picture of the Week ~

This picture was taken some time during this past summer as we were walking through a small village in Switzerland.

~ Thanksgiving ~

~ Thanksgiving ~

With the Thanksgiving holiday just around the corner, you may be wondering what we are doing for Thanksgiving this year?

We have been invited to share a Thanksgiving feast being lovingly prepared by a dear friend of ours in Switzerland. She has warmly welcomed a total of five missionaries (all from the USA) who are all studying the French language at Inlingua and a dear friend to her home after school on Friday, November 28. We are extremely grateful for her thoughtfulness, compassion and Christian love extended to all of us. So, we will be enjoying; turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and the best of course....pumpkin pie! Most importantly, we will be with family, our brothers and sisters in Christ. Giving thanks for His goodness.

Not your typical vaccinations....

Not your typical vaccinations...

Today, we began our vaccinations for Rabies. We will have a total of three vaccines for Rabies over the next month. This is one of the last vaccinations that we needed before arriving in Africa. The doctor we are going to is one who specializes in Tropical Medicine. This doctor had also given us wonderful council about the prevention of Malaria; what medicine we will need to take and what is the best way to treat our mosquito nets prior to arriving in Africa ~ to help prevent us from getting Malaria.

Picture of the Week

~ Picture of the Week ~

This building is found in a quiet little place in the center of Neuchatel. On has to go through a small little walk way in order to find it.

~ Picture of the week ~

~ Picture of the week ~

A recipe for disaster?

A recipe for disaster?

Last week, I decided to bake my favorite dessert given to me by my mother called Cherry Kuchen, I thought it would be nice to take it in to share with our classmates and our professors. The next day, one of the students in our class said that he loved the dessert so much that he would like the recipe. This student said it would not be a problem for me to write it in English, just as long as I can explain it in French. So, over the week-end I wrote out the recipe in English and on Monday morning I explain how to make it in French to him.

The next day, this student came into to class telling us that he had made the Kuchen. I of course asked "so, how did it go?", he said to my surprise " it tasted different and it looked different, the cake had raised much more than mine", unlike the way mine was made, it does not raise much at all. As we began to speak to each other in French about it and how he was making the cake, he said that he had really mixed, mixed and mixed the batter with an electric hand mixer! Oh dear, well that explains it then, I had left out that one little detail. Any time I make this Cherry Kuchen dessert, I only hand mix it! We all had a great laugh about it.

Prayer for the Day

~ Prayer for the Day ~

Loving God,

Make me more and more aware daily

opportunities to encourage others,

Open my eyes and my heart to the lives

of family, friends and strangers

who I can encourage.

Winter Wonderland

~ Winter Wonderland ~

Last Thursday (October 30) was our first snow fall ~ it was a winter wonderland. Although it did not last very long, the very next day it was completly gone. However, I'm sure there is more to follow!

This picture was taken just as we step out of our apartment door.

Santa Lucia!

Santa Lucia Restaurant
in Zurich, Switzerland

Karen enjoying her delicious pasta!

Trace's dish of lasagna ~ absolutely delicious!

Recently, Trace and I had been given an extremely gracious gift from our home church; Jefferson Center Presbyterian Church (JCPC). They had a special collection on our behave, so that we could go and enjoy a savory cup of coffee somewhere and enjoy an evening of dinning out in Switzerland ~ what a real treat! We are so very grateful for such a special and thoughtful gift and thanks to their gift we will be able to enjoy several dinners out (a great time as well to utilize our French language skills)! We THANK YOU all at JCPC with our most grateful hearts!

While we were on a recent visit to the city of Zurich (thanks to friends of ours in Switzerland who gave us a gift of a train ticket good 2 people to travel any where in Switzerland for a 24 hour period), we decided to enjoy our first dinner there.

As we walked the streets of Zurich, we would walk by many, many restaurants....hmm, what did we feel like eating? Walking by Santa Lucia Restaurant caught my eye, we stopped and looked at the menu that was displayed outside....this is the place!...they have LASAGNA!

Trace's dish of lasagna was absolutely delicious, he savored each fork full. My pasta dish was made with pesto, olive oil, garlic and pine nuts, another tasty dish! Our meals of course came with fresh bread and crispy fresh salads as well.

After our meal, I enjoyed sipping on a espresso, just taking in the charm and ambiance of the surroundings.

My image (through movies) of European restaurants with outside terraces is one we have seen all through out Switzerland, almost all restaurants here have them ~ and what a wonderful way to enjoy your meal as you watch the rest of the world walk by.

Picture of the Week

~ Picture of the Week ~

These stacks of rocks are found through out Switzerland. This particular stack was one that Trace and a friend of ours saw during their hike to the summit of Mt. First in Switzerland.