Pottenstein--Little Swiss!

We will be going to Pottenstein next Saturday (Oct. 18th) to enjoy all the leaves changing color. This is a great little town with lots to do (castle with museum, cave with 1-hour guided tours, alpine slide down the hills, and lots of hiking). It should be beautiful next weekend with the leaves changing so bring a lunch or some money to buy lunch. We can hike to the castle or you can park near it if you don't want to hike. The museum is 4.50 Euros for adults and 2.50 Euros for kids. The alpine slide is 2.00 Euros per ride.

So meet us on Saturday at 1000 in the parking lot at the Graf Chapel (we will be in the dark blue 9-passenger VW van--its pretty hard to miss us!). We will caravan from there as it is about a 45 minute drive. Here is an English website I found about Pottenstein.

Call with questions or email (Cell: 0151 5467 8686 or briankleager@yahoo.com)

We hope to see you there!

First Day of School

Owen's Backpack!


Owen and Brian with our friend's son Daniel.


Jacob crawling over the gators at Playmobil Land!


On their way to school!

German Definitions

shrank \shrəŋk\ noun: Closets used in Germany to store clothes and dishes. They are not built into the house. Unlike other civilized nations, Germans take these closets with them when they move. The end result is that they probably don't fit in their new house and whoever moves into their old house probably doesn't have any to fit either. Problems arise when foriegners move into Germany without shranks.

shrank fatigue \shrəŋk fə-ˈtēg\ adj: The condition foriegners experience in Germany after looking for, buying, transporting, and assembling shranks. Extreme fatigue sets in after driving home one hour from the store and discovering the shrank in the box is not the one you requested. It is too small. After recovery, one may then return to the store, exchange shrank, and verify the box is the correct size. Hospitalization might be required if after returning home again, with the correct sized box, one discovers it is the wrong color...

The Rest of Jacob's Birthday

The Boys at Playmobil Land! The last picture is Jacob, Toby, and Jesse whose parents run a Hospitality House 90 minutes from us.

Read the post below for the first part of Jacob's birthday...

Jacob was indeed treated like royalty the whole day at school. Later the teacher let him pick two other kids and they went out in the hall. They then called them back in and Jacob got seated in a special chair (he described it like a king's chair). All the kids had palm-branches or something like that that they waved as he came in. That night he got to choose what we ate for dinner: Mac and Cheese! And he requested a carrot cake which Aimee had made.

Today (Saturday) we met some friends and their kids who run a Hospitality House about 90 minutes from us at Playmobil Land. It is a theme park that is just like the Playmobil toys and all the activities are like the toys. Large pirate ships, castles, slides, etc. to play on. The boys had a blast.

And we finally have internet up and running so more pictures will be added frequently. However, it is 11:20 PM and I am off to bed...

Jacob the Birthday Konig (King)!

Aimee dropped Jacob off at school today (his 6th birthday) and when he walked in all the kids came and surrounded him and were calling him the birthday boy! The teacher then sat him down and he started making a crown that he gets to wear all day. He was all smiles. He has been telling us for the past two weeks about what they do when it is your birthday and I think he had a lot of anticipation for it. And now that it is all coming true for him is very special. They are making him feel like royalty all day long. We are excited to pick him up at 1:15 and hear more about it. We will give a full update later.

(Unfortunately, still no internet at the house. But we will update his birthday events soon! Check back.)

Brian

Our Stuff Has Arrived!

We were told that our container with furniture would arrive on Tuesday at 3:00 and that we would have three hours to unload it. We were thus surprised when it showed upt at 1:30 because none of our friends were there yet to help unpack! However, the truck driver said we could still have it until 6:00 to unpack. And to our surprise, we had more people than anticipated show up to help. We had 15 people there and it went very smooth. Aimee made them all brats for dinner and many stuck around to help put together beds and arrange furniture. By the time Aimee and I went to bed, our bed was put together and even had sheets on it (thanks to Sharon finding them in a box!). The only challenge was finding the bolts and hardware for the boys' bunkbed. I found them the next morning and while in the middle of putting it together, a friend showed-up unannounced because he figured we could use some more help! It was perfect timing. We got the bunkbeds up, my office rearranged, and a few other odds and ends done before we both had to go. The boys slept well last night (Owen's first in the bunkbed as he had been in a crib until we left Denver. He feels like a "big boy" now.).

And a few of you have asked about the boys' school situation (a big concern for us before we left). They are both in Kindergarten and there was no problem getting them in, although Jacob did get one of the last spots in his class. This is what we had been hoping and praying for (God continues to bless and bless). Jacob is in the oldest class and Owen is in the youngest. Both boys go three days a week from 8-12:15 and on the other two days Jacob goes from 8-1:15 and stays for lunch. They are both adjusting well to their classes and their teachers are great.

Hopefully the internet gets turned on at the hosue today! If so, I will try to get pictures posted in the next couple of days.

God's Blessings

As Aimee and I reflect back on the past month, we cannot help but give thanks to God for His incredible blessings. Our last days in Denver were a whirlwind but we really got to experience the love of all our family and friends as they saw us off. And now that we are getting settled here in Graf, we again are experiencing the love of God through His people. We have been blessed to have multiple friends from our Army-days living here who have let us live in their house, eat their food, borrow anything, and help us out in anyway possible. Plus we have met so many people through the Chapel that have blessed us in similar ways. A few examples:
• One family loaned us their van until we found one to buy.
• When our air-mattress sprung a leak, the next day a friend brought cots for the boys to sleep on.
• We were given lamps after we forgot that Germans take all their lights when they move out of a house!
• Several families have brought toys for the boys to play with.
• And maybe most importantly, we were given a coffee pot!!!

In all this the most amazing blessing has been God’s people. I was reminded of this as I read 2 Corinthians 9 this morning:

“You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God or the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers of you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (verses 11-15)

We cannot tell you how many times over the past few weeks that we have given thanks to God for the generosity of his people. God has used them in so many ways and they have been faithful to serve Him and us through their actions. Just yesterday a chaplain’s wife said that she wanted to put together an old-fashioned “pounding” for us. I had never heard of this but it is basically when a bunch of people buy stuff to fill a new neighbor’s pantry and shelves and help stock the new house. This will be amazing in itself and she asked if we had a deepfreeze to store it all in. We said that we didn’t and she replied, “We will trust God to provide” and in the meantime can just get stuff for your cupboards. That night we had some people come by to bring us a big rug and they asked what was on our list of needs. We told them about needing a washer and dryer and the challenge of getting a larger sized American set. After hearing this they replied, “Well how about a freezer, you will probably need one of those too. We would like to give you a freezer.” Aimee immediately got tears in her eyes and we told them of the conversation we had that morning with the chaplain’s wife. It truly is amazing to see how God uses the generosity of his people. And similar to Paul’s expression to the Corinthians, we praise God for the generosity of so many people in sharing with us. And in our prayers for them our hearts continue to go out to them because of the surpassing grace God has given us.

And God’s grace has not only been extended to us in the generosity of their giving stuff, but also in the giving of their love. We have felt so welcomed, wanted, and loved. People have taken us out to eat, had us in their homes for meals, helped us paint nine rooms in our house, laughed with us, cried with us, and genuinely been our friends. We are so grateful for the many people who have extended the love of God to us.

I look forward to posting more about what God does in the coming days. A couple ways you can be praying for us in the meantime:
1. Praise God with us for all the above blessings. And pray for His blessings as we continue to develop these relationships and build new ones.
2. Pray for the people God would have come to our house. One brigade will be deploying in a couple of months so pray for our ministry to the families that stay behind.
3. Pray for Aimee and I to “start-well.” Seasoned Hospitality House directors have advised us that we are beginning a marathon and not a sprint and that we would be wise to pace ourselves at the start. Pray that we would indeed do this as our personalities like to jump feet-first into things.
4. Our 40 foot container with our furniture arrives tomorrow (Tuesday). Pray that we will have enough people to unload it as it will come during the workday. And pray for us in the coming weeks as we unpack boxes. We feel like we just finished packing them!

Thanks for all your prayers, love, and support. Check back in a few days as we should have internet service in our house by the 19th and shortly thereafter we hope to have some pictures up on our here.

P.S. As I just looked back over this I realized I had barely mentioned our boys! Jacob and Owen are doing great. They are both in German Kindergarten (similar to our pre-school). Jacob is in the oldest class and Owen is in the youngest class. They both love it and are doing well. I asked them as I dropped them off one day last week to each learn a new German word for me. Jacob is picking up a lot of words and when I asked Owen if he learned any he said, “bitte and danke.” “Please and thank you.” They both keep us laughing a lot and have really enjoyed “camping-in” (Jacob’s description) at our new house. They are making new friends and Jacob even started practicing with a local soccer team last week!

Two Weeks and Counting

Two weeks from today we will arrive in Germany! Our household goods are packed and on their way to a ship in Seattle!? They should arrive in Germany around early to mid-September. Here are a few more pictures of our new house!

A Tree House For The Boys
Our New Town: Eschenbach
The Front Of The House On A Sunny Day!

Hosptiality House Eschenbach!

God has provided a house for a new Hospitaltiy House! I wish any of you could have journeyed with me to look for a house so that you could have seen the provision of God. So many details worked together to connect me with this house that I can't help but thank God for the way He brought it all together. The house is going to work great for this ministry and we are excited to move there in August! It is located in the town of Eschenbach and is only 5-10 minutes from the Army Post at Grafenwoehr.
A few special features on the house:
1. A room in the basement the size of a two-car garage we can use for ministry events.
2. A good-sized kitchen for lots of cooking!
3. A porch that will be wonderful to hang-out with people on.
4. A yard big enough for fun activites such as volleyball, croquet, etc.
5. A beautiful garden.
6. And Jacob's favorite: a tree house!!

There are many more big and little features that make this house great for sharing our lives and the gospel with the military at Graf! We thank God for how He has provided. Here are a couple of pictures:

Peaceful Waiting

I was praying for some friends this morning as they had requested I do. They had asked for me to pray that the Lord would give them peace as they wait on Him to provide for the specific things they are in need of. Without going into the specifics here, I realized that these two things are hard for our culture. Having peace and waiting. And somehow they really go hand in hand. It is hard to wait in a culture that is fast paced, always on the go, and looking for solutions to anything that doesn't happen quickly. And when we are forced to wait we have trouble experiencing peace in these situations. Just think about the last time you had to wait in a long line. Were you constantly watching the other lines to see which one was moving the fastest? Or think about the last time you sat in traffic. Did you have a sense of peace about having to wait? If you're anything like me, you have little peace because you are watching the other lanes so that you can strategically move back and forth and weave your way through the traffic jam!

Fortunately, God helps us in both of these things. His word speaks to both waiting and having peace. Isaiah 40:28-31 says the following:

"Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired.
His understanding is inscrutable.
He gives strength to the aweary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power.
Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary."

Some versions use the word "hope" instead of "wait." I think if we had the confident expectation in the Lord that biblical hope exudes then we would be able to better wait on Him. And then we would be able to better experience the peace that is talked about in Philippians 4:6-7

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Maybe it all comes down to our trust in God. The more we trust His good character and nature the more we can wait patiently with the confident expectation that He is going to do what is best for us. And as we wait for this we will experience His peace that truly does surpass all comprehension. It is my prayer for you reading this, as it was for my friends this morning, that as you wait on God that you will experience the greatness of His peace.

Remembering

God has taught us that it is good to remember. He even instituted special celebrations and ceremonies to help us remember things. For example, He told the Hebrews to remember the God who delivered them from Egypt, He established the Passover celebration to remember God's deliverance, and we still celebrate The Lord's Supper as a remembrance of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So it is good to remember.

Memorial Day is a day for remembering. I would encourage you to pause and remember the soldiers who gave their lives in service to their country. As you remember them, pray for their families and friends. Pray for the soldiers who were with them, who were commanding them, who were trying to protect and save them. They too will have a difficult day remembering their brothers in arms who died while serving next to them.

While it is good to remember it may also hurt to remember. But often the pain is deep because of how special the person was to us. Remember him or her for that and thank God for the special times you were blessed to have with that person.

Brennan Manning and the Kleagers!

A TWO FOR ONE SPECIAL JUST FOR YOU!
On Sunday May 18th we will be sharing at Greenwood Community Church about our ministry with Cadence International. We will show a brief video during each service and then will host a lunch at 12:30 (following the final service). We would love for anyone to join us to learn more about what we will be doing as we serve U.S. soldiers and their families stationed at Grafenwoehr, Germany.

Service times are: 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00.

As a bonus item, Brennan Manning will be preaching at all three services! Manning is an acclaimed author and speaker. You can learn more about him at his website.