Bahn Oma

You can prepare and prepare and prepare and still get nowhere.

Eric and I were ready: we were going to do it! I had a conference in Wiesbaden, and I was going to make it on time. This might sound like an easy task for all my American friends. You live in Oberursel, and Wiesbaden is only 30 minutes away at most. Well we are *trying* to fully embrace the German lifestyle and culture... which means using the public transportation system. This was our first time leaving Oberursel on a time frame to get somewhere. We mapped out the walk to the bus station, then figured out all the bus transfers, and plotted the last walk to get to the conference location. We woke up early, and we're out the door on time! This is a big task with a 4, 3, and 1 year old! We walked and made it to our first bus stop on time and then got on our second bus on time. The second ride was bumpy, and we made some wrong turns because it was the driver's first day, but we did it! 2 walks and 3 buses later, we made it to my conference.... only to realize we were a week early--the conference is not until next weekend!

Our motto for our time in Germany is "God leads the way." After all the obstacles and road blocks that happened before we got here, we decided once we were here that we would just try to go where He leads and not allow our frustrations to overcome us. And that is exactly what we did. We made a day out of Wiesbaden. We visited the city square, listened to the most beautiful church bells, heard parts of an organ concert, watched about 8 couples take wedding pictures, walked around a lovely market, and saw the world's largest cookoo clock! It was a day that could not have turned out better if it was planned.

But THEN, came the trip home. Like so many people in life, we were so focused on our destination of the conference that we did not consider all the possibilities outside of the conference. We did not think beyond that destination. How were we to get home? Something we all desire after a fun but long day. Something we need when we are tired. Something that brings comfort when we are sad. Something that feels secure. But how were we going to get home? We had not planned to walk and explore so much. We did not know where the bus stops were or when the busses would come, but we knew we were ONLY 30 minutes from home and 2 hours via public transportation from home. With confidence we walked to the nearest bus station and got a plan together. We would bus from that station to the train station, and from the train station we would switch trains once, and boom we are home! 

We get to the train station with plenty of time so we walk around, explore, and enjoy. We load the train: the boys are so excited this train is "rot" (German for red) and supposed to be faster. As we are on the train we notice it's not going as fast as we thought it should... the conductor comes on the speaker and whispers something that sounds important in German, but with little kids talking it was impossible to hear. We look over and a sweet woman tells us the train is skipping some stops and we will be at Frankfurt (our connection) at the original estimated time. We get to Frankfurt and switch to our new train, but it's not going. The conductor gets on and very quickly everyone starts getting upset, and they groan and mumble and drown out the important announcement. We realize the train is out of service for the rest of the day. That's ok at this point. We are frustrated but feeling confident in our travel skills so we go to a familiar train we had taken just two days prior... WHICH WAS NOT RUNNING AT ALL THIS WEEKEND! Even with my broken German I knew what the sign said. How were we supposed to get home? The buses have too many random stops to figure out quickly with agitated toddlers, so we look at the route of another train that has similar stops to where we need to go and figured out a stop we could connect with our original train. So we get on optimistically. 1, 2, 3...4 stops later the train comes to complete stop and the screen reads "everyone off please." This train was done. We needed to make it to at least stop 5 or 6 but it was done? What were we to do? Everyone walks to a bus marked "U1 transfer." Wonderful! This is the bus we need to be on. Finally we felt like we had gotten it figured out *again*. But then we noticed it was going the opposite direction of where we needed to go or had been traveling. Eric tries talking to the driver but he doesn't know German or English. We are shocked and overwhelmed. We try figuring it out. Eric figures out the way to another train station in Frankfurt that has the train we need that is actually running, so we get on another bus, even as all the locals we had been talking to told us not to. As we are getting on, the stroller gets stuck in some bicycles and I fall into my seat (not hurt luckily), and a gentle hand taps my shoulder to make sure I am ok. My German understanding is improving but that's on a good day. We are 3.5 hours into what feels like an endless trip. I am unable to communicate my gratitude beyond "alles gut" and "dankeshön" to the kind person. She smiles and we begin having a half German, half English conversation together. She had just experienced all we had been through as well. We had such a lovely conversation that left me feeling refreshed! Her stop came, and I thought we were supposed to get off the same stop, but the bus screen said we had one more to go. I look out the window and she waves to the bus sign--that was our stop but the doors were closed! After what felt like eternity, the driver let us off. She and I continued to talk about the joys of life and how to approach each situation as an adventure because you don't know where it will lead you or whom you will meet. She talked with the boys so kindly. This might seem small but the encounter left our family feeling so refreshed. We found our train and made it back to Oberursel. Our home for a year.

Although this is our home for now, and we will have many more homes in the future, today was a good reminder that we are always striving to get home. We should always take the obstacles with an attitude of gratitude. We might not have the straight shot bus, the connection might put us in a different path, and we might feel like no one is able to help us, but we can always thank our heavenly Father for giving us the gift of an eternal home, a home that has been prepared for us. The verse we have always based our relationship on is Proverbs 16:9: "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." We might know where we want to go and think we have the best plan mapped out, but God is and will always establish our steps to get there. 

I am grateful for my helpmate who is such an encouragement to embrace the unknown, my wonderful but wild children who remind me everyday that you can enjoy wherever you are, and the Oma who was so kind and uplifting to our family during our crazy adventure. Today did not go as planned. We made such beautiful memories and then had moments of utter confusion and feelings lost. The three things I learned from the day though:

1) You can plan so thoroughly and still not have it figured out.

2) Enjoy the fun moments and savor them.

3) Even when the paths come to what feels like a devastating stop there is another path that can be more fruitful.

4) Always bring more snacks than you think you need.