What's been going on

My Friends and Family,

It has been quite the week and month at that, but life is coming along very well. It's been almost a week since arriving back in Germany and it feels like a month has passed (in a good way). being back here has been very natural and inviting. The people that I met here in my brief visit before have been very encouraging and loving in regards to Mom's passing, my return to Kandern, and in bringing Dad back with me. I've felt very blessed from God and from everyone these past few months. I may have said that before, but it is very true. Although Mom has passed and everything else happening, God has provided fully for myself and my family, and I believe through Him, you and many others have been an amazing support system in many ways. Thank you again.

My time at home was wonderful for what it was for, being able to spend time with friends and family and to remember Mom. A lot of great and lasting memories were made in those few weeks I was back, but oh so great they were. For instance, getting memorial tattoos for my mom, Kristal's idea and Steph, Kristal, Chris and I each got one. I believe that each of our tattoos, which are different, are very befitting to our own character and to Mom. Check the pictures for details. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2302846&id=11518107&l=ef1caae485 Secondly, again all the time with my family and my "family". Friends in our family are closer than blood, spending time with them was great. Third, "Man Day". If you were there you know what I mean, if you weren't...next time. My best friends picked a day to unwind, relax from all that has been happening, spend time together before I left again, and for some camaraderie. In a nutshell we played much disc golf, mucked around in the mud, faced a Tsunami, and maimed an animal. Pretty good day, oh and saw an ewok. Overall my time home was great.

Now onto Germany stuff. My Dad and I left Portland Tuesday morning and arrived in Kandern, Germany Wednesday afternoon. Travel went pretty well. We shared a flight from Portland to San Francisco, then caught separate flights to Frankfurt. At Frankfurt I was going to meet up with Dad once I arrived, but my phone wasn't working. So I wandered around were I figured he should have been and lo-and-behold I found him, and if you don't know Frankfurt is a pretty good sized airport. We rechecked his bags, went through security again and caught our flight to Basel/Mulhouse. Rick Holladay was waiting for us and off to the Art Factory we went. We immediately started some work. First of all we're working on a bathroom in the apartment upstairs. Doing some framing, plumbing, electrical, floor heat, and then some tile work. Great project and Dad seems to be loving it here. We spent most of Saturday at the Hornbach (European Home Depot) and got most of our supplies and will continue work tomorrow morning. We've also installed a bath tub for Mary Beth in her bathroom and I've been getting some design ideas for some furniture out of some scrap wood they have here.

We spent some time on Saturday night with a couple in town and played Settlers of Catan with them. First time I had played with 6 people at once. Lots of fun. Today we went to church at G5 and then went to Riquewihr in France. Beautiful town with cobblestones paths and some great architecture. Cold day, but clear and managed to stop snowing for the time being. It snowed a few inches here the last couple days. I'll post some pictures of Riquewihr soon. Rick and Mary Beth have been great hosts and it has been a great time so far. Dad is thinking of extending his stay a few days to help finish the bathroom project and maybe we can get some others finished too.

Please be praying for safety while we're working, great relationships all around, restful sleep, and for the opportunity to see what God has in store in the lives of myself, Dad, Rick and Mary Beth and the Art Factory.

Feel free to ask me anything about what's going on or any other questions, it's great hearing from people.

Blessings,

Tyler