Fall semester begins

This week the students returned to campus and fall semester classes began. It's been so nice to have the students back, to resume coffee chats and midday meals together.

Andrew spent the latter part of the summer developing an online, 10-week Church History I course and launched the class Friday night. He has about a dozen students enrolled from all over Europe, including one located here on campus. This class is right in the center of his teaching passion, and he is having an absolute blast with it. He's also working to develop the same online course for Church History II, which takes place in the spring.

In the midst of this, my dad arrived in Switzerland for the last leg of his six-week sabbatical tour of the Reformation sites across Europe. He's seen the John Wesley sites in England, the Martin Luther sites in Germany, and is now checking out Calvin and Zwingli sites in Switzerland. We were so grateful that he stopped in our part of the country to see us this past weekend, and allowed us to join him in Zurich on Saturday. We took him on a side trip Sunday after church to Appenzell, the pastoral and lush agricultural region about an hour east of us. It lies in the shadow of the Alps and is home to cheesemaking and traditional Swiss culture.

This Friday we will board a train to join Dad in Geneva and then take a quick side jaunt over to the Matterhorn before coming back next week. Being able to briefly share a bit of our lives with him, and to tag along with him on his adventures, has been something we've looked forward to for months. It's so much fun!

In other news, my grandmother -- my mom's mom -- is very ill and so I'm making plans to go home and see her for about a week in September. I'm not sure of the dates yet, but it will likely be mid to late September. I would appreciate any prayers you may think to say for my grandparents and the rest of our family during this difficult time. My grandmother, Gloria, has been a solid and committed Christian for all of her adult life. I feel so grateful to be gifted with a powerful Christian heritage, not only in both my parents' families, but also in Andrew's family. What a foundation we have beneath us to build on.