Life on the Vine

For work Tom has traveled to Riga, Latvia a couple times.  The company that he has been doing security consulting work for since October is building the new U.S. Embassy there.  In April I took a long weekend and flew up to visit.  Tom had been in Riga for almost two weeks when I got there.  After the weekend we flew home together. The CIA World Factbook states that the name "Latvia" originates from the ancient Latgalians, one of four eastern Baltic tribes that formed the ethnic core of the Latvian people (8th-12th centuries AD).  The region subsequently came under the control of Germans, Poles, Swedes, and finally, Russians.  While a Latvian republic emerged following World War I, it was annexed by the USSR in 1940 - an action never recognized by the US and many other countries.  Latvia reestablished its independence in 1991 following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Tom was staying at the Elefant Hotel, which is less than a mile away from...

As promised I'm going to share some of my photos from our day trip to Venice from Vicenza over the long Memorial Day weekend. First, to set the stage, here is some information about Venice with help from my Rick Steves "Italy" book.  Venice is comprised of 100 islands connected together by 400 bridges.  The city was founded in a lagoon 1,500 years.  During the Middle Ages the city was an important go-between for East-West trade and became very important and wealthy.  The city's importance dwindled with the discovery of America and other routes to the Orient.  The wealth accumulated prior to this decline funded continued high living and partying into the 17th and 18th centuries.  When the bones of Saint Mark were smuggled into the city in AD 828, Venice gained religious importance and it's most important square is called Piazza San Marco. Today, tourism is the city's life blood. To get to Venice we took the train from Vicenza.  It was a pretty qui...

A couple weeks ago Tom asked what I wanted to do over the long Memorial Day weekend. Shortly after we moved to Germany we learned that one of Tom's old Army buddies, Tony, and his family are currently living in Vicenza, Italy. It had been 15 years since they last saw each other. I suggested we travel down to visit, figuring it would be a good first trip to Italy. After confirming with Tony that they would be home and were open to company, we made our plans to drive down Friday and come home Monday. We decided to drive, taking two different routes. Going down we drove through Switzerland and Liechtenstein, coming into Italy north of Milan and then driving east across northern Italy. Coming back we drove through Austria, heading north from Verona and driving through Bavaria. Both routes involved driving through the Alps and we had everything from sunshine to rain to snow. Here are some pictures from the drive. Is it what you envision when you think of the Alps and E...

I originally wrote this blog for Far Reaching Ministries but I thought it was worth posting on my own blog too. Before moving to Stuttgart, Germany my husband and I attended Calvary Chapel O’Fallon in St. Louis, Missouri, and it was there that we learned about Far Reaching Ministries and the selfless service of Wes and Vicky Bentley.  I think anyone who has a chance to meet Wes or Vicky and hears about the ministry can’t help but be touched by their work in Africa and the beauty of the believers there – pure joy and faith!  We have been supporting and following the ministry for close to five years now.  My husband Tom traveled to the Sudan in September 2005 for a mission trip with our pastor Lorn Dunn, who taught the book of Leviticus at the chaplains’ school.  While there Tom taught on a Sunday morning, ministered to the chaplains, visited soldiers at a local military camp and supported women's ministry outreach efforts.  It was at our church's women's ...