Frankfurt Christmas Market

We had Friday off of work to celebrate Thanksgiving, so we decided to go to Birmingham's Frankfurt Christmas Market. It is the largest authentic German Christmas market outside of Germany and Austria with over 2 million visitors a year. There are over 180 stalls to see offering crafts, ornaments, candles, toys, jewelry, German food, and more. We also had a bit of shopping to do, so we took the train to the city in the early afternoon.

We had a great time walking from stall to stall seeing what there was to offer. We didn't buy anything (besides food) this time, but we are planning to go back once the term ends in a couple of weeks. We walked around for hours and got grilled sausages for dinner. They were delicious. Mike found the Haribo stalls and had trouble choosing only one of the treats they had to offer. He picked peach rings and they were quite good. I got a skewer of chocolate covered strawberries with a grape on top. YUM!! And then we bought a box of Berliners to take home with us for the weekend. A Berliner is a type of pastry that is basically a doughnut with filling. We got a few chocolate, one cinnamon, and one mint and they all had chocolate filling. The ones that we have eaten so far are soooooo good.

We picked up a few more things that we needed in the kitchen and headed home for the night. It was a fun and relaxing day! PS - Go Jackets!!

Some of the stalls behind me.

German sausages, yum!

Happy Christmas Birmingham!

Our tasty Berliners!

Thankful

One of the many reasons that I love Thanksgiving is the opportunity it provides to think about being thankful. Often times life passes so quickly that we forget that we have so much to be thankful for. Living in a country that does not celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving makes me realize this even more. While we can't be with our loved ones today, enjoying each other's company and eating Thanksgiving feasts, we can still be very thankful. And in the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are some of the many things that we are thankful for:

Our families and friends that we miss so very much. The amazing place called Canvas that is impacting so many lives, including ours. Our supporters that make it possible for us to be here. New friends in England that have made us feel so welcome. Skype for making us feel just a little bit closer to home. Sunny mornings and the dawn of a new day. The freedom to believe in a God that is so much bigger than our lives. Water to drink, food to eat, and a bed to sleep in at night. And the hope of the future and what it might bring.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Know that we miss you and love you!

Thanksgiving Canvas Style!

Thursday night we had Thanksgiving at Canvas and it was wonderful! We put out long tables and decorated with Fall-type decorations. Everyone dressed up and students began arriving at 7pm. We had appetizers in the back room and everyone gathered there while waiting to eat dinner. Once everyone sat down, we served them a traditional Thanksgiving meal including turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, and more! Many students had been to Thanksgiving at Canvas last year, but there were loads of new students as well! We watched a short video on the meaning of Thanksgiving and had a few students share what they were thankful for. Then we served apple pie and everyone hung out until late. It was a great opportunity to meet students and talk about what we are thankful for. Friday morning after our staff meeting, we cleaned up the Thanksgiving decorations and put up the Christmas decorations! We have three weeks left in the term and we wanted to celebrate Christmas for as long as possible! Here are some photos from Thanksgiving:

Ready for the celebration to begin!

Listening to a student talk about what she is thankful for.

Me and a student named Hannah after dinner.

Just some of the dishes that Mike and friends washed...

Mike is back!

Just wanted to let everyone know that Mikie got back on Saturday around lunch. He was exhausted and sick, but after almost 12 hours of sleep last he is doing much better. (We both are!) Shout out to Ben Gibbs for getting Mike a buddy pass. He got first class both ways and did not have any trouble getting a seat on either flight. Yesterday we did some painting and finally got our Wii hooked up. We accidentally blew out our power cord and had to buy a new one on Amazon. At least the Wii didn't get blown up! We also installed some much needed coat racks and mirrors in our flat. It is definitely feeling like home now.

Today was an exciting day for me because I went on a hunt for a nice frying pan with a lid and I found one. We only had a really small one from IKEA that didn't have a lid and it was so difficult to cook with. I had had enough of trying to make it work, so I went to a few stores around Selly Oak and found a perfect pan. And the best part is that is was 1/2 off! So it only cost us 15GBP instead of 30. And I used it tonight to cook chicken carbonara and it was amazing. The little things in life. :)

In other news, the Globalscope Germany team is visiting us this week. They arrived this afternoon and we were able to hang out with some of them for a while. Chris Coleman joined us for dinner and we played Mikie's new game, Agricola. It is so good to see friends from college. And even better because they are living a similar life to us and understand what it is like to work in campus ministry in a foreign country. So we are really looking forward to spending time with the whole team this week. We have another busy week ahead and Thanksgiving Dinner at Canvas is on Thursday night and we are quite excited!

This Week @ Canvas

Time sure is flying by over here in England, as I'm sure it is everywhere. It has been another busy week at Canvas. Mike flew home for the week to be with his family for his grandma's funeral and is getting back Saturday afternoon. We have had three GTCCF interns visiting for the week and next week the Globalscope Germany team arrives to visit. So things are staying quite busy and people are coming and going like crazy! It is fun to have friends visit and experience Canvas!

Events have happened as usual this week. Open Mic Nite was really cool this week including musicians, spoken poetry, and a Stomp-type of band that got everyone in the room involved. So fun. Tuesday Night we made chicken casserole and Nathan talked about grace. And tonight we are making carrot and coriander soup and I'm hoping to play some Taboo! Here are some pics from events this week at Canvas!

The Canvas House ready for Open Mic Nite

The crazy stomp type band that played at Open Mic

Leah and I serving chicken casserole on Tuesday Night

Tuesday night jam song

Students eating dinner: (from left) Matt, Matt, Owen, Becky, Charlotte, and Carl

Around the World is a hit in England!

Every Tuesday, Nathan and a bunch of guys clean up the kitchen listening to country music

Busy in England

We can't believe that November is already upon us. It is getting dark and cold very early here in England and Christmas decorations are already out in stores. We spent all of last weekend working on our flat. We wall papered, finished flooring, painted, and painted some more. Our living room and bedroom are both done! And we have ordered a couch from IKEA to arrive next week. All that's left is painting the bathroom and wall papering and painting the kitchen. It has been lots of work in the beginning, but really worth it to make this place home for us.

This week has kept us quite busy! On Tuesday, we obtained a UK bank account at Lloyds TSB complete with checks and a debit card. Tuesday Night at Canvas was awesome this week. Loads of students came and we ate an Italian pasta bake. Natalie (staff member) interviewed Pete (student at Canvas) about his life and faith journey and it went really well. Tonight we are going to get some Mexican food with some students and I can't wait. We are told that it is one of the best Mexican places around, but not to get our hopes up because it isn't that great compared to what we are used to. Totally worth a shot though! In America we have a Mexican restaurant on every corner, in England there is an Indian restaurant on every corner. The Indian dish of choice is called curry and is very popular here. Somehow lots of the Mexican food here ends up tasting like curry. Still good though.

I wanted to share a few photos of the Canvas House, so check them out:

The outside of Canvas.

The main room where events happen.

The cafe room.

The game room.

Canvas staff photos.

Weekly Canvas events.

PS - Shout out to my sister, Laura! It was her 23rd birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday!! :)