Intertwined

I love this banner which hangs in our church in Kandern.  It represents relationship to me.  Relationship has become especially important since we moved to Germany.   Putting distance between our family and close friends has been the most difficult part of our transition.  No matter how much we love those with whom we now live and work, they cannot take the place of folks we have left behind.

But every day I live in this place I marvel at the relationship-the intertwining-of lives with ours.

Our host couple we met last year.  She is the former roommate of our friend who recruited us; her husband graduated from high school in Papua New Guinea with a young woman we housed ten years ago.  That young woman and her sister taught Smitty and I about Third Culture Kids and the difficulties of leaving family overseas to attend college in the US.

One fourth grader at BFA Elementary School is the cousin of some dear friends in the US.

The BFA Elementary School secretary, born in Romania, reminds me of befriending an immigrant Romanian family many years ago.  The secretary and her family have lived in Switzerland, my birthplace, and, most recently, in Eldoret, Kenya, the town not far from where we served in 2007.

The missionary of the month for Black Forest Fellowship works at Rift Valley Academy, Kenya, also close to the village in which we were stationed, and a school we considered applying to.

The man who led our PreField Training (in New York) visited Kandern last week.

Our German teacher's long-time friend is the woman we meet each morning on our walks.  Her two dogs remind us of our dogs, Lady and Sparkle.   She creates pottery, something our daughter-in-law loves.

Each Sunday, when the worship leader plays piano, we are reminded of a good friend, our daughter's piano teacher.

Every Sunday morning, although miles from our home in the US, we sing many of the same worship songs and remember years of celebrating our relationship to Christ at Bethany.  Today we sang, "Your Grace is enough."  And it is.  Enough to connect us all, invisibly intertwining our hearts and lives, regardless of our distance from one another.

Connected-related-associated-in touch with-linked.  Much as we miss our loved ones in California we are solidly intertwined with each and every one.  And making new connections every day!