Whoa, that kind of went by so fast. What, wait. Half a year without a single blog entry... truly sorry but not sorry. It only means we are busy bees, living a live given and gifted to us with mighty and full force ahead!!!
So by now we got used to poop, pretty comfortable with breastfeeding in public and our NOW toddler eating stuff from the floor while we watch him and sip our wine. He does not do that very often anymore now though and prefers a plate. And a banana. Amos. Oh Amos. Good Lord, help us to help him to survive his toddler years of putting stuff into his mouth inside and outside the house, climbing onto everything, bringing even more chaos into our life by carrying thing A that belongs to point A to point B where it does not belong, putting tiny things into different containers, taking out stuff from the cupboards, throwing stuff into the toilet if he gets the chance to find an open toilet seat, taking out the trash and playing with it, and putting his toys into the trash bins, taking out every single toy in the house out multiple times a day, throwing tantrums and screaming on top of his voice when his and our opinions differ, and, lastly, having to live with parents and a sister who are not perfect. Oh, those smiles. Those cute, little, dangerous smiles. Sweeping us away with them and stealing and melting our hearts with his two-teeth laughter. This little person, walking on his tiny legs and feet so confidently and proud, and loving to jump on the couch and the trampoline, and walking even faster when he sees mom or dad close by. Hugging us, kissing us, cuddling with us, playing with us. Loving us and trusting us the way we are. Completely without holding anything back. What a love.
Get some kids and you will never have to buy a TV. Or go to the gym. Oh, some days are sooo so hard. Working and parenting as a modern mom? A LIE! No way I am getting a second job now because I already have the most important job in the world! No really, this parenting thing is like a fast forward training for our personality. They should start showing how hard it is to raise a child instead of talking about how babies are made. Best contraception ever for them teenagers!
Anway, so what have we been up to since NOVEMBER 2017? We celebrated Junias fourth birthday first of all. What a witty and smart girl she is. Full of energy and laughter and crazy ideas and role playing Fireman Sam and father, mother, baby. Full of creativity! It was her first birthday with guests. And a homemade Peppa pig cake (never ever doing fondant cakes ever even though it tasted pretty good!!!). A scavenger hunt. Italian pizza that they could customize for their taste buds. Christmas. A dry, snowless, mild winter. Memories kind of blurry because lack of sleep for the past year. Sorry. But wait, I just remembered I did not mention successfully getting my drivers license at the second attempt on August 31st! And two days later we drove across Germany to a wedding (Vicki) so I was testing out my driver abilities for the first time on a long road trip. We had to drive back on the night of the wedding unfortunately because Harry's school had the opening service the day after on Sunday. And because Harry was so tired I drove almost all the way back (about six hours or so I think with one break in between). I am so thankful that we arrived home safely because I was also quite tired from the exciting day.
Somehow spring rolled around the corner and in April we dedicated our children to the Lord in church. Then we went to Lyon to visit Harrys brother, son and pregnant wife. The trip was very nice. We loved the air, the friendly people, the relaxed atmosphere and the old town and buildings. It was very nice to have a sneak peak into my sister and brother in laws life and their adorable french apartment. Tres chick! Or something like that. Amos had his first fever and at the end of the trip Junia got very sick and spent a whole week in bed with fever. So that left an unpleasant taste behind. But we were happy to see our children healthy and well again.
In June we had the annual Mueller family gathering, which was nice but also filled with some (overdue) conflict. And now, things are finally slowing down a bit while the school year is coming to an end. It sounds like nothing ever happened in our life but most of our weekends and weeks were packed! Oh, I forgot to mention that while we were partially in Berlin and later in Lyon we had a refugee family of seven people staying with us. That was quite turbulent but also very fun. Let me tell you about their story. So we met them in December 2017 after they just arrived from Sweden to Germany. We went to a church gathering that we usually don't go to and here they were. My bold Harry immediately started a conversation and we spontaneously invited them over for lunch and our regular church service. They are Kurds from a Middle eastern country and converted Christians, got to know the Lord after some people prayed for their eldest son, who was suicidal because of some very bad nightmares he had every day. He was six at that time. After they prayed for him he never had those nightmares again. So they got curious and the father, and later the whole family started to attend church. The father had a dream where Jesus revealed himself and told him to follow him, to "come, just come to me". They got baptized in Sweden. Unfortunately, the translator during the asylum application was Muslim and their application got rejected twice. This meant they had to go back to their home country. And straight into their graves probably. So they left and went to Germany. The applied for asylum here as well but because of the Dublin agreement it got rejected. So Harry, alongside others put a lot of energy into a church asylum. You may ask, what the heck is that? So, because legally church ground does not belong to the state they can give anyone asylum on their premises. There are no official laws for it but the state respects it, even though they can send the police to the front door anytime. After a certain time period the Dublin agreement is no longer in effect and the family will be allowed to apply for asylum in Germany. So now they are in an empty parsonage until the end of July. Until then, the parents are not allowed to leave the house. Which is why people have to buy the groceries and so on. The family is now very dear to our hearts and we truly hope and pray they can stay within this area when they register officially again because there are so many people here now who know and support them. This is a big prayer request! There are also some health concerns for the mother, who has a thyroid issue. Well, and of course, that they may be build up in faith that everything is in Gods hands. Their thoughts about the past and the future are buzzing in their heads and anxiety and fear want to spread their wings. On Monday, we are heading to Berlin where Harry is having an appointment with a potential new lawyer who may guide us through the asylum process. Pray that he will work hard and honest with his best intentions to help the family, and that we may find a good translator who is not going to translate wrong things because they are converts. And, finally, pray for a positive answer to their application!
In a few day we will be heading out to Croatia for some vacation, family visits and checking out the country and different Christian ministries and churches since this will be the ultimate place we are heading for full time ministry within the next years. Need your fighting in prayer for that time as well!!! I am longing to bring the gospel to my non believing family but need prayer for good opportunities to start meaningful conversations.
Good is good! All the time! And all the time, He is good!!!
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PICTURESPICTURESPICTURES: http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/CoffeeTimeWithTheMuellers/library/August%202017-June%202018
(Password is the town we used to live in Canada!)
