Paul is officially gone for a 12 month deployment to Iraq. He left the night before Thanksgiving day. We're very happy that a couple of weeks before he left, I had the honor of putting on his new 1st LT rank. Congrats to you Paul!

Here's an excerpt from an email I've sent out to family and friends:

Paul's doing good, just tonight I talked with him on the phone for about 20 minutes and he said his days are going by fast! Today was his first day to officially take lead on his responsibilities as the BDOC (base defense operations center) officer. He said all is going well. One of his prayer requests was that he is able to get 4-8 more guys added to his platoon because they seem to be spread thin between manning the towers, manning the front gate and coordinating safety check interactions with TCNs (third country nationals) and the nationals working on the FOB (forward operating base). Don't you just love the Army and it's ACRONYMS (capitalized letters that make the Army feel better about themselves). Hehe. A little FYI, the base where he is in Al Iskandyriah is called Kalsu, apparently named after a football player from Buffalo, NY who died fighting in Vietnam, because the first unit stationed at this FOB back in 2003 was from Buffalo, NY. Paul should be there until November of next year.

Paul's APO address is:

Smith, Paul, S

HHC 172nd Support Battalion

APO, AE 09312

Just wanted to let you know, I will be gone for the next 5 days down to Baumholder, Germany where I am getting certified in Infant Massage to be able to teach it to the moms I work with. Plus it gives me 52 continuing education units for my RN license! Yippee But you can always call me if you feel like it:

011 49 9721 646 9712

I do not remember if I told you this or not, but if you dial this number and I'm home, I usually answer and then call you right back, since we have set up a plan for free calls to the states from our home phone. Plus my skype username is heidi.smith.99 and Paul's skype username is paul.smith.99. As soon as Paul gets internet up and running in his CHU (containerized housing unit) he should be able to use skype video.

I can hardly believe I will get to see you all in about a month and a half. I'm flying into San Antonio on January 26th and staying with my parents for a couple of days; then the plan is for me to spend the weekend with Tris and Miss Liss, drive over to Dallas and visit Grandma Mills and the fam there, drive down to La Vernia to see my Grandparents and family there, and drive down to Corpus the Wednesday before the wedding; Debbie said she and Joel will be flying in on that Wednesday as well, so maybe Lisa and I can just drive to the airport on Wednesday and pick you all up! I'll stay in Corpus for a couple days after the wedding to visit family and friends there, then leave the Monday after Lisa's wedding back up to San Antone to stay with my parents for 3 days before I fly back to Germany on Thursday the 12th of February.

Thanks for taking the time to get all the way down here to the end of this long, run-on sentence of a novel :)

Love you much,

Heidi

The Sixth Month Mark

We've officially been out of the states for six months now. This is the longest I've ever been away from my family in my whole life. Speaking of the length of my life...I am now a quarter of a century old...I like saying that...it makes me feel well seasoned in life. :) Paul and I are the same age until September 16th when he celebrates his 26th b-day.

Paul's coming home tomorrow!!!!! I'm so so SO excited to see him. It's been almost 2 months to the day since he left for his field training. These past two months of separation have been a time of growth and practice for us. What do I do when I get in a fender bender and my husband is not around? What do I do when I need to change a light bulb out of reach, or the computer goes kaput, or I need to find a solution to squeaky brakes or a leak in the car? What happens when I'm unable to talk with Paul for a week or more? All of these questions are important; it's necessary to prepare, especially for a time when my husband will be gone for a whole year; but to have these thoughts crowding up my brain, running around up there like little foxes trying to ruin the vineyard (Song of Solomon 2:15), this is not right. The resounding answer to all of my foxes has been to shoo them away with TRUST. I cannot boast in tomorrow, the future is unknown to myself, and I long to be able to fully rely on God...to responsibly, and joyfully value the present (Jeremiah 10:23, Psalm 142:3).

On a joyful note, last weekend, I went to Austria with my friend Missy to go white water rafting, canyoning, and hiking. :) We had such an adventurous time and conquered some of our fears of jumping off high rocks and splashing through freezing water (wetsuits were helpful for that).

The Fender Bender

I will just put this right out there: I was at fault in this fender bender

I was on a main road that had been detoured to a teeny road because of a local fest, and the cars were packed up on either side of me, I was thinking I had narrowly missed scrapping this one parked car when I actually heard a scrape...ew...not good. So instead of stopping and causing a major back up on the detour road that was already jam packed, I thought I would drive up to a clear spot where I could pull over, park and walk back...well…thirty minutes later...when I returned after going on a little Heidi detour, the car was gone. So I went into the store the car had been parked in front of, I attempted to communicate with the older German woman who spoke no english and finally we just decided to call the polizei...everything worked out with them, they took down my info and told me they had received no reports and would call me if anyone reported it. Then the military police showed up and said they would have to charge me with a hit and run...but thankfully we got that worked out and I wasn't charged with a hit and run. In the middle of all this, I called Paul crying and asking him what in the world I'm supposed to do in a foreign country fender-bender, and of course he was very calm and patient and compassionate towards me even when I was crying and telling him how badly I needed him here with me. Later I called him back and apologized for being inconsiderate of his circumstances and thanked him for his loving help.

So if my lesson in trusting the Lord was a pass or fail, I'd have to say I failed; but I hope to never walk out of a situation like the one above without having a growth spurt. Some of the things I learned from this incident were, no amount of crying or asking 'why' makes the problem go away...this can actually make things more difficult and take longer. So next time I'm in a fender bender on a crowded street in front of a shop, I've got to stay calm, stop the car and trust. :) Sounds so easy...Lord give me the strength to trust.

Psalm 73:26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever

Highlights

Wow! It's almost been a month since I've updated everyone. Hopefully I won't be a once-a-month updater, but if it happens, it happens. :) Here's a highlight of what's up with us:

• Paul left Wednesday July 9th for Grafenwoehr and the field

• Thursday July 10th I began my volunteer nursing position at the Schweinfurt US Army Garrison Health Clinic 8-5

• Friday July 18th I received a call from the Women Infant Children (WIC) program to be interviewed for a position over there

• Saturday July 19th I went on a Main Riverboat evening cruise with my Katy whose husband Rob works in the same unit as Paul (our Aggie friends :))
• Sunday July 20th Paul is glad for the chance to stop work for a couple of hours to go to the chapel today

• Monday and Tuesday July 21 & 22 I volunteered at the WIC center to check out their program

• Wednesday July 23 I rode a train down to Munich to meet up with my friend from HPU, Cassie
• Thursday July 24 I slept in because I missed my original train home from Munich on Wednesday and got home at 1:30 AM

• Paul is working on getting settled in at the field, he's responsible for much of the movement of large vehicles and supplies to Graf from Schweinfurt and has been pulling 6AM-12AM days for a week now

• Friday July 25th I received notification that the WIC center had decided to go through with hiring the original dietician they had been considering instead of me; also the temporary nurse manager at the health clinic called and said they may have a position for me, but to wait for a phone call from hiring offices

• Friday evening Barbara, whom I met through BSF in Corpus Christi TX, drove over to Schweinfurt from Ansbach Germany, where she visits every summer with her three year old daughter Katlin to visit me for the weekend
• Saturday July 26 Paul finds out he's been assigned to a new position as possible XO of the HHC and definitely the DHA officer (detainee holding area - pretty much prisoners of war area) for the upcoming deployment

• Monday and Tuesday this week again were at the health clinic with the rest of the week dedicated to a trip to Innsbruck Austria with my Katy to see Cassie and Kalie (friends from Howard Payne)

• Wednesday July 30th Katy and I found out our hubbies were coming home for a 48 hour R&R so we quickly had to cancel our Innsbruck travel plans for the weekend

• Thursday I putted around because I had not signed up for hours to volunteer the latter part of this week at the health clinic...mostly did grocery shopping and tidying of the house

• Friday I got in a fender bender...will give more details...later

• Paul was out on the range most of this week, shooting big guns and giving orders for others to shoot big guns

• Saturday (Today) hung out with Missy...we had a good ol' time driving and singing and laughing and taking fun pictures

Over the past month or so, I have been thankful for many things:

• For the restful time we had celebrating our 4 year anniversary before Paul left (thanks for prayers). Garmisch and Edelweiss and the castles were fabulous. I love my husband and I'm so thankful for the man God has given me, I don't ever want to take him for granted.

• For the growth opportunity that Paul and I see in this time that we are apart. The attitude checks, relying on the Father, reaching out to others and not being an island unto ourselves when Paul and I are unable to communicate, building relationships with those around us, loving people to Christ, trusting in God's timing, going with the flow, etc, we can never grow enough in these basic areas...Father keep us learning!

• For the practice that this time is giving us to prepare for the upcoming deployment. I realize the Army life is where we've been called; this is our mission field and I can't deny the fact that deployments are part of that life; this may be the best way to connect with people on a deeper level and allow Christ to work, even though it's not fun to be apart

• For my new friend Katy. She and I met by coincidence (or not) in the parking lot at the PX almost a month ago, found out our husbands work together and the rest is history; I am so thankful for the nights we've spent watching Gilmore Girls, talking about being army wives, the Lord, bible studies, and life

• For Missy's return from her 1 month trip to the States. Missy and I met a couple of months earlier at the end of May at a worship practice for Protestant Women of the Chapel. When she returned at the beginning of July, we fell back into our routine of talking and singing together and praying for each other. She is such an encouragement to me as a sister in Christ. Her walk with the Lord challenges me and I am thankful for this friend

• For Barbara's visit. Barbara is now living only an hour and a half away from me near Ansbach. She and I were so happy to catch up with each other and connect our Texas and Germany worlds. The best part about her visit was finding out that my pastor here in Schweinfurt also preaches a sermon earlier on Sunday mornings only 7 minutes from where Barbara lives...so this Sunday we get to hear the same sermon even though we're apart :)

• For Paul coming home for 48 hours! I love mein Mann and I sure have missed him. This was a pleasant surprise to find out he would be home with me, can hardly wait to hug him!

Piece of Cake...I Mean Pie

Cherry Pie...check! That's the first time I've made a homemade cherry pie from fresh handpicked cherries. First of all, does anyone know what quick cooking tapioca is? The commisary didn't have any, although most of the cherry pie recipes I looked up called for that specific ingredient, so it seems to be popular when it comes to making cherry pies. I also went to a Lidl, which is a German version of Circle K + HEB...couldn't find the stuff there either. I ended up using cornstarch, and so far, so good.

This past weekend we were planning on going to a Mozart fest in Wurzburg, but when we showed up on time (at least by the website's schedule) the nice German man in a tux at the front gate told us the show had started 45 minutes before. In seeing the tux clad fellow, we realized this was not as casual as we had heard; I was wearing a long skirt and flops and Paul was in jeans and flops (typical Corpus Christian wear). But thankfully we had planned on buying tickets at the door, so we didn't lose anything. We decided to return home, albeit, a little disappointed because the fest is over for this year. Instead we entertained ourselves with something a notch or two below the greatness of Mozart, we watched The Fiddler on the Roof :)...to life, to life, l'chaim!

In other news, for the past couple of days, Paul has so skillfully been hanging pictures up around our home. Below is a lovely display in our bedroom created by my Paul Stephen.




This weekend is mine and Paul's last weekend together before he goes to the field with his company for 45 days of training exercises in preparation for the winter deployment. Be praying for us that our weekend is one of companionship and restfulness. We will be celebrating our four year anniversary this weekend (1 month early) as well as my 25th birthday because Paul will not return until early-mid September...just in time for the celebration of his 26th birthday.

I am thankful for new friends and travel prospects that have popped up recently, and also a job opportunity in the making. Both will help during the absence of Paul...I will miss you my love.


The story of the job opportunity. A couple of weeks back, I submitted my resume through the civilian personnel online (CPOL) and it is currently under review by the people who are responsible for hiring me as a nurse at the health clinic. From what I understand, this hiring process can take up to 2 months, so in the mean time, I'll be completing orientation/volunteering on a full time basis. My prayers regarding this subject are: if this is the job my Father has planned for me, that He would make it clear and evident, or otherwise simply take the matter completely out of my hands. I can be so impatient, and life gets confusing when I step forward in my own timing. I think I know where I'm going but I have no clue. May our steps in all aspects of our lives be directed by the One who sees much further down the road.

A man's steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way? It is a trap for a man to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider his vows.

Proverbs 20: 24-25

Until next time...adieu.

We Walked in Fields of Gold

Today we went for some much needed shopping to Europeanize our bicycles and to buy a kirschentkerner (cherry pitter tool). You know those cool little bells, not the honky-donkey bike horns but the little round metal bells that go "br-r-ri-i-ing br-r-ri-i-ing!" when you push the little button, those are the kind of bells we got our bikes. We also have to get mud flaps for our tires because it's wet here most of the year and, if I plan on riding my bike everywhere as much as I hope to, I'll need those mud flaps. We then proceeded to lose ourselves riding on some bicycle trails, although Paul says we were never lost, and we had a blast exploring the area surrounding the town of Sennfeld nearby our Gochsheim. Truly, we never did have any problems getting home, so I'm glad Paul knew where he was the whole time, or at least the direction in which to go, and I am thankful for the opportunity to practice joyful trust :)

There are wheat fields everywhere right now and as we looked out over them on our ride home this afternoon, I couldn't help but think how literally they looked like "fields of gold" as described in that classic folk song. We parked our bikes on the side of the bike trail at a brown bench and decided to take a walk among the fields. I was looking at the complexity of the wheat up close, and it doesn't even look gold, it's just straw colored with all these sheaths and dry, pokey, sticky pieces on it. It reminded me of the 'Desiring God' blog we read about the mystery of God...the closer we get to knowing Him, the more we see there is to mystify us! Even though it takes a while to get through the outer shuck, the wheat tastes pretty good, we tried some a couple weeks back when Eric and Lisa Becton were here visiting.

Well, when we got home earlier this afternoon, we decided to use our new kirschentkerner to de-pit the fresh 20 lbs of cherries we picked last weekend in Wurzburg. I'm hoping to make some preserves, but I never have before, so we'll see what happens...but of course a cherry pie must ensue.

Ah, so (as the Germans say) this evening we are off to a Mozart Fest in the Hofgarten at the Residence, which some call the Versailles of Germany.

May we continue to have the perseverance to keep peeling and picking away the layers, to "taste and see that the Lord is good!" Psalm 34:8

Much love to all!

Heidi

To The Ends of the Earth

But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you…Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your (spiritual) descendants from the east, and gather you from the west; I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' and to the south, 'Do not keep them back! Bring My sons from afar, and My daughters from the ends of the earth; everyone who is called by My Name, whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.




Isaiah 43:1-7




Hello Family and Friends. I have started a blog. With this Smith homepage known as the Smith Haus, I desire to do a couple of things. One, open up our lives to you and share the power and the presence of God. Two, in keeping up with the blogging generation, I've found this is a simplistic solution to informing family and friends of our updates, news, and happenings while being so far from home. To pretty much sum it up....I'm jumping on the blogspot band wagon!




I've chosen the name 'to the ends of the earth' for this post because of the verse up above. We are called by His name to love others, to make such friendships and live out such lives that exude Christ and bring others to Him. My prayer for me and Paul, and for all who come to know Christ, is this, "Whatever it takes Lord, may we always be passionately pursuing You and Your glory."



So I begin a blog about the life of the Smith Familie as we, by His grace, pursue a joyful life that loves, and lives.



"To live is Christ, to die is gain..." Philippians 1:21