So I'm just on the computer here for a few minutes in the hotel lobby on my way to find a grocery store, but thought I'd post a short note.  Actually, I had intended to just do a status update on Facebook but the web browser on this hotel computer is not firing on all cylinders, so I'm doing this instead.  At least this way I'll end up sharing much more, and my mom will get to read it too ;-).

I'm totally digging the Euro-American Family Retreat so far.  We had smooth travel from Kharkov to Kiev to Frankfurt yesterday, then transitioned to a rental car and made it to Rothenburg ob Der Tauber, Germany.  Got to see a few very familiar faces before bed last night, and we're getting to know some great folks today that we're just meeting for the first time.  This (so far) has included some native European church leaders from Germany and Romania, as well as several neat American missionary families whose ages and stages of life are similar to our own -- families working in Austria, Italy, and Romania.  There are also some really neat folks here who are stationed in Germany with the military, or who were stationed in Germany in the past and for whom this retreat became so meaningful that they still come back to it even though they no longer live in Europe.  We're the only representatives of our team here this year, and didn't expect there would be anyone else from Ukraine, but were delighted to get to meet two Ukrainians who traveled all the way here for this as well.

We got to hear and participate in a couple of good lessons this morning, including an excellent study given by Mike Armour, the leader of Eastern European Mission, about the meaning and uniqueness of Christ's incarnation/manifestation to us as a human being.  It was laden with fascinating and relevant historical and linguistic insights and, had there been any price for admission to this retreat, that lesson by itself would have been worth the price of it. I also found myself getting a little teary and borderline choked-up in some of the singing this morning; anyone who knows me well will know that's about as emotional as I get, so that says something.

There is a great program of kids' classes here too, and Malachi and Silas had such a wonderful time in their class this morning.  They are enjoying playing with the other kids here that are around their ages, give or take, and there are a good number of kids. 

Anyway, it's only half-way through the first full day here so we'll see what else comes of it; we're looking forward to more.   

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