Spirit Day and Middle School Fall Party

The Liel kids all dressed up for "Spirit Day" with the theme "Colors"




Goldi-locks and the three bears: Karen, Kate, Ira, and Joyce.







Our RA, Lauren, and Priscilla (the Cat in the Hat).

Senior Class Trip

Sue and I were asked to leave the dorm for a week and help with the senior class on their class trip to Italy. Sue has been helping to lead up this trip for the past three years, and I have been twice. It was great to get back to Italy and speaking Italian again and great to spend this special time with the senior class, particularly those we know who are Liel dorm alumni!

Sorry for the tourist picture!

Sue in her element: trying to strike us a deal to get in to the Vatican Museum.

Sue with two of our Liel dorm alumni: Trevor and Sara.

Bob and Daniel.

Sue and Ted looking for a good restaurant for some of the staff to eat lunch at.

Sue and Kjersti, another one of our Liel girls!

One of the highlights of the trip was seeing the students sharing their faith and caring for one another.

One student (Daniel seen above above with Bob at the Coleseum) led another student, Mark, to faith in Christ. Two days later he was baptised here in the Terrenian Sea (across the street from the hotel where we stayed).

Another Liel guy, Ross, having been transformed!

Sue dancing with Ross in a Piazza in Venice with Ross.

Liel Dorm Field Trip to Lake Titisee

Titisee is a beautiful little village in the Black Forest about an hour NW of us. It has a lake where you can rent paddle boats, hiking trails, and shops that sell German souvenires (even one that claims to have over 1000 cukoo clocks.

Hiking down to the lake to have a picnic:


The boys in our dorm: Luke, A.J., Josh, Marshall, and G.I. (Se Eun)



Paddle boat fun!

September Highlights

Joshua enjoying our picnic lunch.



Luke, Laura, and Marshall playing croquet.



Our computer and music room (A.J. & Marshall).



Breakfast in our sunny dining room (meet the whole gang!).



Sue in the Kitchen making chocolate chips!

A surprise welcome for Sue's birthday. Sue and I came home from our day off and found our apartment TeePeed, with confetti scattered everywhere, and our bathroom filled with balloons.

Game Night! Ira and Sue playing Jenga.

Bob and Laura

Ira and G.I.

Marshall (or is that Irkle?) and Josh.

First Day of School

Loading the kids up in the vans for their first day of school.




Opening ceremony. Seated here in this section of the auditorium are the BFA staff who are working in the 8 dormatories:


The hardest part of the first day of school for the dorm students is saying goodbye to to mom and dad and younger siblings.

New Beginnings at the Liel Dorm

Surprize! Yes, after 5 years of serving at the Black Forest Academy in various roles, the Lord has led us to take on the role as dorm parents. The Liel dorm is located about 6 kilometers from the main campus of BFA. It is a currently a middle school dorm for 10 international students who attend BFA. Our kids names are Lora, Josh, G.I. , A.J. Luke, Kaelah, Kate, Ira, Priscilla, and Joyce. Oh, and yes there is Marshall our son. Our Resident Assistant's name is Lauren (seen with Sue and I below).

Bob's Brief Visit to the USA

Bob made a quick visit to the USA this summer to spend time with his mom and family in New Jersey. He got to spend time with his brother Blair, wife Victoria, and Zachary (their son). He also spent time with his dad, mom, and his sister Janet's family in NJ as well. A friend from the Hawthorne Gospel Church let Bob use his old 87 Cadalac to get around with. It was a great car. Bob also got to spend some time with Alison who was working at our home church in Elverson, PA, and with Hannah who was working at Camp Sankanac. They came up with him to visit Bob's mom one weekend at the Jersey shore. Bob was able to spend time with friends at our the Community Evangelical Free Church in Elverson as well. A special treat was seeing some of our Italian friends from Camp Maranatha, guys who had married American girls from Camp Sankanac, who had come to visit with family in PA.

Boys Passage to Manhood

Bob and seven dads organized a "Boys Passage to Manhood" overnight camp out for their sons. Their goal was to create a special father - son time through which they could speak into their sons lives about issues crucial to being Christian men. This event also provided a reference point in their lives when their dads acknowledged them as men.

We met at the local German High School and Hiked 45 minutes to our campsite.






It had rained for over a week, and more was predicted, so we brought some dry wood.



We stopped at a fork in the road for one of the dads to speak to our sons about the importance of making wise decisions.



Our arrival at camp!

A beautiful spot with a small cabin, or Hutte in German, with some grassy area around it to pitch tents.

Of course we brought our pocket knives!

Recognize this handsome dude?




We organized various team building initiatives to communicate truth to our sons.

Here there was a mine field of mouse and rat traps. Each boy was to pass through the mine field blind folded, and was to proceed by listening to his father's voice.

There were also distracting and annoying voices too, with intent to mislead....



It was a fun time in the Black Forest! God blessed us with holding off the rain.

Dogs and ho-bo dinners for supper.


Smores!


Night sounds and an organized time around the campfire when each dad shared something from his heart to the boys.


A night game of Capture the Flag!

Real Coo-coo birds woke us up in the morning, starting around 5:30am, and kept it up for the next few hours! It was beautiful.
Breakfast followed.










A time of worship followed by a message from Vince Purpero, a missionary with Campus Crusade who came up to speak for us that morning.







Team building - problem solving initiatives:
Tie an overhand knot.


Helping one another out of the "electric fenced" zone.



Boys crossing over into manhood.


Hammering in a point of reference (Spike) in time.

And leaving a personalized sign (initials in a beech tree's bark) to be revisited sometime in years to come.



There was also a time when each son read a letter written to him by his dad which acknowledged his transition into manhood along with words of appreciation and encouragement. Bob also invited his friend and colleague Brad Winslow to come along to be our photographer who took these great pictures. Although hardly twenty four hours, this was a time which our boys (now young men) will remember and look back to in the years ahead. We look forward to creating more events like these to continue speaking into the lives of our sons. Be encouraged to do the same with your sons and daughters as well!