Where things stand

First: Yesterday's school shooting here in Germany was sad and sobering. Stefan was at school and I saw it on my BBC news and rushed to click to find out where this was taking place. I find it really and truly sad that schools have become a target for such horrific events. Yesterday we prayed for the people connected to all that's going on down in the Stuttgart area. It's been said that some of the children still had pens in their hands when they were attacked, and it was a reminder once again that we never know when our time on this earth is finished. Apparently this school had some kind of overall alarm code for situations such as this, which is a blessing. Many schools do not have such a plan, and I hope this will really help push for some policy changes here in Germany. Sad that one has to prepare ahead of time for things like this.

On a happier note: Lent has been going well for both Stefan and I. We've been able to stick to our plans and continue reaching for our goals of prayer and fasting. We've nearly fallen off the wagon a few times, mainly on Fridays and Saturdays when our usual busy weekday routines are not there to keep us from actually really wanting solid food, ha ha, but we've stuck with it. I've had fun trying new things for our healthy lunches, eating on Sundays has been a treat each week, and we feel really good about it!

In those times when we've really struggled, we've said things like, "Do you think you're really getting anything out of the not-eating part of this fasting thing?" and then we're talking about it, and it's not so much about what we GET, but about what we're contributing to our dialogue with God. When we spend time in prayer during our fasting time, it's as though all that we say is written in capitals, underlined, written in bold, etc. When we say thank you, we're saying THANK YOU! and when we ask for direction, we're saying PLEASE GIVE US DIRECTION, so it's cool to feel an emphasis when you pray. Not that prayer can't have emphasis without fasting, but fasting is making prayer super intentional. This being said, if you don't make time for prayer, then fasting is just reduced to a diet thing. Honestly, those days we've not had the time for much prayer are the same days we're really struggling overall.

Other good things: I am getting things done. This was one of my goals during Lent, to work on some projects I'd been putting off. One of which was finishing my seemingly eternal 'cookbook project'. I just have to print off some labels, and then call it done. The printer situation is taking some figuring, so I'm hoping by the end of this weekend to have it done. Here's how it stands now:
Yesterday I started doing some reading in German. This has been really frustrating for me since there just hasn't been anything I felt I could really get into, I have vocabulary issues, and honestly I had a stack of english language books I'd rather have read. Stefan's mom passed along a little promotional book she picked up at a book store in her town. A publisher is advertising 5 new books it's putting out and printed the first 15 pages of each book in the pamphlet. So I read the first book-section last night. I managed pretty well, but all the blue you see are the words I don't know! These are just fluffy novels, so it's pretty easy to fill in the gaps, but it was a good challenge since I felt compelled to keep reading and 'see what happened'.

Then I had an idea. Maybe I can find a native German speaker to get one of these books (whole book) and read along with me. After each chapter I'll write a summary of what happened. This will make me read and get vocabulary exposure, but will also force me to write about something. Writing is really a big problem for me regarding grammar, so if the person reading with me has also read along, they'll know what the chapter is about and can make better corrections. I'm pretty sure I misrepresent myself in German, especially in my writing, at times. As in, maybe I say something correct, but it isn't really what I mean. So perhaps if I have a text to align my own writing with, it will require my writing to say what I mean, thereby making corrections more appropriate. Hm. Anybody interested? I have a few people in mind....