May & June 2008: 2 Continents, HUGE Answer to Prayer, VBS, JBU & ESPN!

From one of my many bike rides along the Main River... eat your heart out!

Even though air travel isn't as fun as it used to be, it is still so worthwhile to continue to invest in JBU's GERMAN STUDIES PROGRAM. Our undergraduate Dean, Rick Ostrander, and I enjoy our team work (Rick teaches European Art History and I teach Evangelical Theology; Rick loves details and itineraries, and I love to tag along; Rick keeps us on schedule and I help him slow down when I can--except on the Autobahn; Rick is really a brilliant Fulbright scholar and I'm just a teacher; we both really love students, learning and the Lord.) Rick's talented wife Lonnie (piano performance extraordinaire) and Breck, my talented & beloved husband (great pastor and fluent in German) each come for two weeks to coordinate life for the team (groceries, cooking, bank runs, and laundry!).

When Breck came two weeks into the trip (on our "free weekend" when the Students headed on their own to Prague, Paris, and Munich) we headed to our last "Luther site", Eisleben where Luther was born and where he died. On the way we went to the site just North of Erfurt where Luther's life changed during a thunderstorm. Here's Breck at the marker that commemorates the event!Breck and I love being a part of "The German Studies" program. It's a blast with 13 students who are bright and eager to learn, who are hungry to grow in their relationship with Christ, and nearly all experiencing "overseas" for the first time.
We stay three weeks in Wurzburg and take day trips (The pictures above are from Wurzburg, Bamberg, Rothenburg, Eisenach & Wartburg Castle, Volkach, Nurnberg, & Heidelberg.) We also go to the Stadel Art Museum in Frankfurt.

After the first three weeks, we spend one week at Schloss Mittersill in Austria (a lovely 12th century castle overlooking the village--halfway between Salzburg and Innsbruck. On the way to Austria, we spend a half day just outside of Munich in Dachau concentration Camp site--a very life-changing time for many of the students. During the week in Austria, we go to Salzburg for a day (the night before we watch the Sound of Music and sing all the songs and have a blast), we spend a day hiking in the Alps (Kitzbuhlhorn--where one student broke her leg this year, had to have surgery and spent four days in the hospital! If you are going to break your leg, however, this is the place to do it--it's a ski capital par excellence!), we have final exams and a party to celebrate the month together.

During our third week in Germany, the biggest thrill came when Dayton called us to tell us he was hired as an Assistant Professor of Art at Trinity Christian College just outside Chicago! We couldn't be more happy--what a blessing he will be to his students and his school. When I got on the phone, the first thing I said was, "Hello, Professor Castleman, this is your Mama --we're colleagues!" What a blessing! Breck went to Dayton's graduation with his MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago just two weeks before this news. Just a joyous occasion. AND Karen expects to be dancing with Hubbard Street by the end of this summer or early fall--answers to prayer all around!
Camp Nona & Pop-pops will happen this July---from Memphis to Chicago to Arkansas to Gulfport, we're taking Tyler, Eben and Anna on a "Cousins Extravaganza"!! Can't wait! We launch Camp on July 7th with Breck's birthday!
In August, I am taking Tyler with me to Reno to meet Kellie and surprise my Mom with a visit. Don't tell her. She still owns a rotary phone, won't touch a microwave let alone a computer, so this blog announcement is safe--mums the word!
Well, that's it for now...Tonight is the last night of Vacation Bible School. The kids are "Surfin' the Scriptures" this year and I'm teaching the adults who come the Sermon on the Mount. (While the kids are "at the beach", I'm headed up another mountain!--there is a theme in this blog!)

And all of this to say, what a joy to be IN HIS GLAD SERVICE....still.