More KIBA and a Little Pankow

We started Thursday just like every other day of KIBA: dancing and mumbling singing along with the (German!) KIBA songs. Evie was in her favorite place.

 

 

These wonderful ladies were a HUGE help for us Americans who knew very little German. They helped translate what the kids were saying to us as well as what was going on in our morning and mid-day meetings.

 

 

Evie spent Thursday looking at books in her stroller. She's still working on her English.

 

 

Caleb was solo in his class on Thursday because Sam was "home" sick. (I forgot to mention in my last post that Wednesday night started a contagion of sickness that lasted nearly two weeks! Thankfully the bug only lasted about 24 hours, but it hit thirteen of the fourteen members of the Phillips and Starkey families whether they were in Berlin or not). During this day's class, Caleb got to share about his experience when the tornado hit their home a few years ago. Germany doesn't have tornadoes so the kids were all curious about what it was like.

 

 

Sarah and Sam {not pictured here} were able to join us for the second half of the day, which I was really happy about. Both because Sam was feeling better and because Sarah and I were in charge of that day's craft and I didn't want to fly solo.

 

We planned to have the kids make groggers {noise-makers traditionally used during Purim fest}. While the story of Esther is read, the children shake their groggers any time Haman's name is mentioned. It's a clever way to keep the kids engaged.

 

 

This is the first completed grogger.

 

 

Although Sam was feeling well enough to be at KIBA, he opted to stay back and be creative with the moms instead of heading to the park for baseball with the dads.

 

 

Gloria, who was part of the team from MN that ran the first KIBA, was an awesome help with the kids. She helped teach the oldest group of KIBA kids in the morning and then did a lot of translating for Brian and Sean in the afternoons at the park.

 

 

As we headed home that day, I noticed that the walk was beginning to feel familiar and the things I'd noticed the first few days were becoming the "new normal." So I snapped a few shots of our way home in order to reset my vision.

 

Pankow: from KIBA to "home"

 

 

 

 

 

Just like Pankow became familiar, I think it's easy to get familiar with every day life and to lose the alertness that God wants us to have. It's so easy for me to focus on my daily tasks {cooking, cleaning, reading, snuggling, tickling, disciplining...} and forget that God has me doing these things for a bigger purpose, I just need to reset my vision in order to see that He's asking me to serve and love and teach my family so that He may be glorified. I need to remain alert to the Spirit's prompting so that I don't miss the beautiful details in my children and lose appreciation for the privilege I have to be home with them.