Men wear flannel

Hmmm, i think this is where so e clever remark comes as to why i am writing now and not last week.... Or last month ;)

But i think my head is somewhat tired due to a series of new lifestyles.

I think often about home. About pine trees.. How they smell. About how its -20 there and not even freezing here and how somehow i am not satisfied with that. About skating again. About walking downtown there and seeing people i know or grew up with. I think about the hills and conquering them. About all the tourists who come through the hills every year. I think about my dearest ones who are closer than family. About the adventures, laughs and dinners together.

I have been very blessed in my life. Have had a good number of changes and have always know that through it all, there's a bigger picture at large.

I suppose the title "men wear flannel" was mainly a thought regarding a photos kathy took of me and samson where i fit him into his very first flannel shirt... And then enlargenend to the memories of good times with sam and us hiking in our manly flannels.... And countless other thoughts where these holzfäller uniforms showed that our beards are legit and endeavours many.

But i must say that i think God may just use that to confirm my heart and start something new.
I'm talking about men meeting together and being manly in a spiritual way....

Interested? Just ask me...

Kathy has been meeting more with the other moms and there children creating somewhat of a childrens' church...

Samson is amazing. For proof, either visit us, skype with us or look at the photo(s) below.

I wish you all His many blessings and pray for His will in your lives.


much love and thanks for the prayers and thoughts,

boyce

s.a.b.

i rolled over to my night stand thinking... no way that it is already time to get up. the alarm on my broken watch went off for the fourth time and i still had just as little amount of motivation for getting as the hour before when i reset the alarm that i could go to work an hour later. 

at the time i had no idea what all would happen that day. my thoughts were... get myself out of bed. make a delicious starbucks coffee leaving enough for kathy when she got up. then i would eventually brush my teeth after a couple bowls of cereal leaving me just enough time to hop on the bike riding the 4 km to the train station catching my train in the nick of time and again relaxing on the ride to kempten.

after my alarm went off, i knew that kathy was awake due to her moving around and her soft voice telling me that she has slight labor pains.

i looked at her thinking.... ok, just normal pains. the appointment is still a good 2 and a half weeks away. no sweat.... she decided to bath to see if the pains stopped, me catching a quick photo of her before she hopped in. after that didn't do anything and we counted a steady 3 minutes between pains, we grabbed some things and drove to the hospital thinking and expecting them to send us home and me headed a little late to work. 

instead, within 2 hours of our visit, at 12:16pm Samson Anton Boyce came into the world.

much love!

only once have i loved and missed someone so much and yet have only just met them.

Bigger, newer and better smelling

Listening to yet again 'the album leaf' as i bike through a very german village we now call our home... It occurs to me where i am....
But why are we where we are?

Is it just me who continuously gets caught up in his own affairs and frequently must be reminded that he is part of something larger.....?

We moved last weekend to kathys home village. It s a blessing to be out of the old small and somewhat earthly smelling apartment where we were to the newer, larger and better smelling one where we have a bedroom we can move around in, a wc thats in the apartment and a garden where our child can run around and let his imagination and dreams be lived out in fullest form...

But why are we where we are?

Around the middle of october last year, we were approached from different people to consider raising or help to raise the church in kathys home village. With kathy hearing the words of this assignment just minutes before the first person approached her, we took allowed the thoughts to tickle our imagination of what God might be doing.
After somewhat of a long search and wait, we found and now occupy the apartment described above (the bigger, newer and better smelling one). Now, as we start a life that never ended here, we wonder what is to happen here....
We have already experienced opposition throughout the last few months or better said since we started this new path. But as He is faithful, we been shown again and again that something is trying to lead us away from where we are now.

Please keep us in prayer:
That we will hear His voice in chaos.
That we use His strength to overcome evil.
That we stay close together on the battlefield.
That we follow His call on our lives, even here and in "everyday life".

Thank you all for the prayers, encouragement and friendships!!! We don't won't to do this without you!

Much love, israel, kathy and the lil one yet to come (around mid july to cure the curiosity of most)

6 countries to get home

We packed everything together before we went out into the rain. The tent was soaked, and after taking the sleeping bags and mats to the car, we rolled the wet tent together as best and loose as we could.
The trip was over..... and it was only the second day being there.....  
I can't say it was a joyful day of driving back home, buuuuuuuut it was great to see how happy kathy was to see that i was already home. We couldn't stop smiling :)
as for my climbing mate.... i hope we make up soon.
Now my tent is drying in the sun.... Still wet....
Dissappointed at the series of events but at the same time learning hard facts about life and myself, it is good to be home and writing this blog after such a long time of no updated.
I really should be ashamed for taking so long to write again....but with the action lately, there's no wonder that i have had neither time nor a want to take the remaining energy to write.....and our baby isn't even born yet :)

We are moving back to benningen, kathys home town. Both of us are excited for our new home and another new season. There are the obvious difficulties and forsure unseen ones to come... But with His grace we are going to look for the joy in the process.
Kathy is almost done working. One more month. Then somewhere in july, we'll witness the joy of a lifetime :)

Well, surprisingly i am already out of things to say, or at least forgot everything else....

How are you?!

May God, the same God who brings rain and sunshine, the same God who creates life and yet can take it away, may this God cover you with His joy, love and protection wherever you are and whatever you are doing!

Much love,
israel

Not from barbara...

I read from a good author something about memories.

Not like the song from streisand... This is where kathy starts singing the song from cats...

No, more like the things we so often forget but are actually worth remembering.
The things that have made us who we are.. Of course we see the results either way, but they are usually due to a person, a laugh or lots of tears....

The author wrote about a friend who carries a notebook around with him and anytime he remembers something, he writes it down. :)

What if we remembered everything?

I've wondered, what if i remembered my entire childhood? Would i be different? Would those i grew up with be different?

I've considered and even started writing memories down in hope of remembering more... but stopped after the first entry. True be, if i wrote everything i remembered as it submerges to the front... There'd be a lot of work..... and i think a large number of them would bring more than just smiles and giggles.

What if it is a huge way to healing?

What if we should do this?

The pen companies would see an increase im sales... for anyone into stocks, here's an investment!

Maybe we'd all be wholer people. Good at forgiving and remembering all the grace we were shown...




Hmmmm




Much love

New roles

Its always been too long since i wrote last time... Sometimes truer, and sometimes less.

Though there is only a couple of to write as much as i can, i am pleased to write at all.

The best news is that we are now parents!!!! Though the little one is still chillen in the womb, we are already learning to take on our new and exciting rolls as parents. May God help us!

Now i must go back to work but will spill more on the digital sheet again soon.

Much love!

snow storms, cp and burning wishes

it is so neat to read blogs from others that it inspires me to write as well.
i have thought that my/our lives have been rather eventlos in the last weeks or months but realize that that is not true in the slightest! so no more putting off writing but instead sending this invitation to a new season of prayer, work and excitment.

Me:

i have now been at exxpozed for a month and a half already. the unemployment days ended finally at the end of september and life started moving rapidly since then. exxpozed is a mountain sport store a half hour south of memmingen where we live. i get to take the train everyday and spend loads of time just thinking, praying and reading. i am almost done reading a german book i started a couple years ago. haha.

at the end of october was my birthday and thus my birthday trek!!! we were 9 people on the first day, 6 camped the first night then we were 2 for the second day and night til sunday when we went back to civilisation. the entire action was a blessing in disguise. a couple weeks before it, God spoke to my heart that we are to pray for Allgäu (the region of southern germany where we live.) So the second day, the two of us (a new friend and i) climbed up two different glorious peaks and praise God up there as well as prayed for Allgäu. it was amazing. the day started out rainy as the others hiked back down and we dressed up for the occassion and started off! by the time we were on the first peak the sun was smiling down on us and upon reaching the second one we were basking in His glorious sun rays.

sunday morning around 2 a.m. it rained and didn't let up. it stopped again as we got up around 7 and started again as we finished breakfast around 8. then the rain turned to ice and the ice turned to snow and the wind got stronger and stronger.

we were in a snow storm.

as we considered our options and packed our bags we filmed our adventure and eventually took down our inner tent before exposing ourselves to the extremities and hiked back down. praise God for getting us down but more so for the amazing time it was up there!

in the last couple weeks i have been teaching more english conversation. that has been a blessing as i have been able to build relationships and help others learn my mother language. fun stuff!

other than that, i have been working a lot and the season has been changing into the cold and wet one we have all been silently waiting for (and maybe regretting too.)

kathy:

about the same time that God told me about the prayer trekking (better said, reminded), Kathy was told about investing in the sister church located in her home village. it was so strong on her heart and after the church service, a man came to her and asked if she would be interest in coming to a service there.

this church was, as she was a child, full of life and cram packed with people celebrating a living God. now, there is a total of around 8 older people who attend it.

since that sunday, this wish to build the church up again has been burning on her heart and we invited you all to pray with us as to how it is to come about.

other than that, please keep her health in prayer too. she is doing well, but health problems keep creeping up and we believe it is more spiritual than just physical.


thank you for taking part in this life with us and are excited to see what is yet to come.
stand strong with faith and love and keep us posted on your life adventures as well!

much love,
israel and kathy