Just a few shots of our week in Frankfurt. We brought home third place! Go Eagles! Off to Nice in a matter of hours so must get some zzzzz's.
I love these girls! Thanks for helping me get here to meet them! : )
kb

I always hate to begin a letter, post, or email with an apology, but I am doing so here today. Sorry for not being in better touch over the past few weeks. I am on my way to Frankfurt, Germany tomorrow in the early a.m. for our big end of the season tournament for softball. We would equate it to a state tournament, I suppose. We call is ISST's, or International Schools Sports Tournament. Our hopes are high that we can come back with the title! : )

I will and can only be brief about the past couple of week's happenings... I can tell you that relationships with girls are deepening at a rate that only the Lord can explain. I am blessed to say that I have great friendships with several of the girls on the team, and I am having opportunity to be challenged, to be strengthened, and to become more and more reliant on the Lord's wisdom to show me next steps to take in certain situations. I feel overwhelmed at times and completely humbled to be placed into such life issues as those I have encountered as of late. If you think of it, would you pray for my continued boldness, wisdom, and follow through? Thank you. I assure you that the Lord is being faithful in circumstance and is using me to be his vessel. I am sure that He is doing the work, and I am only the vessel.

I am traveling to Nice, France to see my mom and two aunts almost immediately upon my return from Germany. I will be home in Londontown for the entire month of June, and I promise to work harder on giving you more detail and update. Thanks for being my friends, for being faithful to pray, and for your continued support in so many ways!! I cannot wait to see you this summer! I will be in the states in July. I will send an email update with dates soon!
Cheers!
kb

Munich equals beautiful. I know that I have spoken many times about visiting Munich, but up until this last trip I had only been to the airport in Munich and then promptly caught a train to Starnberg. I got a proper view of Munich this time around.

I have posted a few visuals of my few days in Germany last week. Liesl, me, and Adam in the English Garden standing in front of a very cold river; Taryn, me, Julie, Liz, Liesl, and Michael at the biergarten near the Chinese Tower; a maypole in on of the "platz"es; Liz, Liesl, Taryn, and me with the Glockenspeil in the distance; a German guy surfing, yes, surfing on a river in the English Garden.

Munich is pretty in a different way than England is pretty. The foliage in Munich reminds me of North Carolina or Arkansas...a bit more of a natural, unmanicured green beauty.

ASL Eagles in the huddle on Sunday at our all-day London rec league tournament...

We came in 2nd. I even got to play a little 3rd base. If you look close, you can see me in uniform with them. Just thought you might like to see the girls. They crack me up and delight my days as of late. More soon...

Off to Munich for the rest of the week for our last bit of training. Cheers until next week!

Ever felt like you have too much to do to pray? And then, "something" inside tells you, "You have too much to do NOT to pray!" Yeah. Life overwhelms me and I get tossed to and fro oftentimes, like I am trying to swim in an ocean. As I think about this imagery, which by the way, scares me even more since I don't have a love for the water, I feel beaten down, tired, helpless, and worried. The next thought tells me that the Lord calmed the storm "immediately" when the disciples asked for help (Mt. 8.23-27). I am thankful for that "something" that lives in me that quickly jerks me out of my desperation doggie-paddle. More often than not, I try to do what I can to fix a situation, brainstorm, make phone calls, make lists... My first inclination is to "do", to "problem-solve", to "work harder" to come up with an answer. I know these tendencies like the back of my hand. I carry them with me like luggage from one place to another. I functioned this way in Arkansas as much as I do now in London. A wise friend of mine who lives in Guatemala on YL staff told me months before I set off for Londi: "No matter where you go, you take yourself with you." Yep. Confirmed. I find a lot of comfort in that statement, actually. I also find a lot of frustration and aggravation. What comes after those negative thoughts and emotion about myself?...a thought of a passage in Romans 9 that I remember reading one day in college while sitting by Lake DeGray during a necessary afternoon getaway (I spent a lot of time there.), "But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? 'Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' " I beat myself up for not being gifted in certain areas, for not being able to do certain things well that seem so easy for others. I struggle to ask for help, not wanting to burden or make presumption. I suppose I had figured out how not to struggle there would be no need for Jesus, yeah? Yeah.
I have learned that being alone for long stretches of time intensifies these predispostions to be so independent and self-sufficient. I will say that I feel good about having begun to take steps toward decreasing the alone time as of late. I am doing all I can at a measured pace to begin to build a bit more community. You can pray for that quest, if you think of it. You can also pray that I would not swim so rigourously, that I would wade out bit by bit, and that I would cry out for help when I need it "being fully persuaded that [had] power to do what he [has] promised".

Word/phrase of the week: "unlucky!" Clearly, we all know what this word means. However, it is a true testament to the politeness of the English in my opinion when you hear it on the "pitch" (field) of various sport competions. We (our ASL team, and even I got to play a little 3rd base) played in a London women's league sball tournament yesterday, and I heard it frequently when someone overthrew the ball or threw a poor pitch. I have heard it on the football pitch (soccer field), as well, when someone misses a goal kick..."Oh, unlucky!" Makes me smile.