Page Title

Germany
Here We Come.

My first encounter with Germany was when I
volunteered to have a foreign exchange
student from Germany stay with me for the
school year in 2010. Years ago a dear lady in
our church named Sis. Martin took in foreign
exchange students and I have always wanted
to give it a try, so I did. It was a wonderful
experience for me. Philipp is like a second
son to me. Enrolling him in school, signing
him up for Soccer, going to parent teacher
conferences, going to the reds game,
camping and everything I did with my son and
girls as they grew up made me feel young
again. {You can see Philipp and the things we

did during his stay with me in our newsletter.}
I have never been out of the states, even in the military, I was stationed state side the
four years I served, {I did however come close to going to Vietnam a few times.}
Philipp was showing me pictures of his home town in Germany and he talked with his
family on his laptop a few times and I got to know them somewhat that way.
At Christmas time I asked Philipp to invite his parents and girlfriend to be with us on
his laptop on Christmas, and they did. My children, one of my son-in-law's and 10 of my
grandchildren spent Christmas eve day with Philipp, his parents and his girlfriend on
the laptop. We all had a great time opening gifts, laughing and talking with Philipp
interpreting for us.
One evening after coming in from the office at the thrift store, Philipp asked me if I
would like to go to Germany with him for a visit. I told him as much as I would like to I
couldn't afford to. To make a long story short, the next thing I knew I had tickets for
the plane and a passport. His parents took care of everything. They said they
appreciated my taking care of Philipp for the time he spent in America going to school.
As the plain began to land in Germany I could see it was everything Philipp described
to me as he showed his pictures back home in America. It was a beautiful place.