Catching up . . .

So, the obvious thing to say when you haven't posted to your blog for over a year is
"so much has happened!"

And it's really true!

The last time I posted we were living in a rented apartment Germany, working with Club Beyond, just the two of us, loving Jesus and Europe and life and each other.

The last thirteen months have been stuffed with CHANGE and full of NEW! (Although the loving Jesus and life and each other part is still the same ;D)

I've been going through my journals recently, and realizing that I have not been good at chronicling our adventures here - and they have been plentiful! God is good, and we have had a ton of fun in the six-ish years that we have been married! We're in the middle of another unexpected transition, and we're so thankful that although we don't know what the future holds, we know Who holds the future! (Thank you, Jesus!)

Anyway . . . all that to say this:

I'm going to be writing up a bunch of our adventures and posting them here.
Sporadically.
Because that's how we do.
So, stay tuned!

His,

P.S. ~ One of our favorite additions to the life of adventure is the sweet little mutt in between us in that pic in the sidebar, she's pretty cute and has brought a lot of joy to our home :)

October 2012 Newsletter

October 2012 Newsletter

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His,

July 2012 Newsletter

July 2012 Newsletter

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If you have any questions, or if you would like to receive our newsletters in hard copy, please shoot us an e-mail at hossandkatylin{at}gmail{dot}com

His,

May 2012 Newsletter

May 2012 Newsletter

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If you have any questions, or if you would like to receive our newsletters in hard copy, please shoot us an e-mail at hossandkatylin{at}gmail{dot}com

His,

March 2012 Newsletter

March 2012 Newsletter

To see this newsletter on the Scribd website, click the link at the top of the post :)

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His,

I am a bad blogger . . .

I love blogging.

I really do.

Well, I like the idea of blogging.

And I like trolling for "blog inspiration."

I just have no blogging groove.

But I do love this blog. I love everything about ~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Fridays, and I have a pretty amazing life, and TONS of stories to tell. I just need to get back on the horse.

Baby steps.

Awesome stuff from the past ten days:

*Spectacular 7 (minus 3 :( ) reunion Pancakes & Pajamas Party at our place was pretty fantastic. (The Spectacular Seven was the name of my small group at Winter Blitz).

*Getting to hang out with one of my favorite high school students, "K" for nearly the entire weekend :)

*Amazing prayer breakfast on post with a lot of wonderful officers and chaplains!

Some stuff I'm looking forward to, and that I might blog about in the future:

*Going to Colorado - We have our Youth For Christ MidWinter conference in Denver this week, so we fly tomorrow morning! Also super excited that we get to see family and friends who conveniently live very close by, and CRAZY excited about our extended layover to visit Mike & Julia in SC! :)

*The Whole30 - After we get home, Austin and I will be embarking on a nutritional adventure of epic proportions! Click here for all the details.

*The In-Laws are coming! And I'm super excited (really!)!!! Austin's parents are scheduled to come and visit us in May, and they already have plane tickets and passports, so it's really happening! We have a pretty awesome couple of weeks mapped out while they're here, and we are so excited for them to see where we live all the way across the ocean!

Well, that's life in a nutshell for now.

Later,

December 2011 Newsletter

December 2011 Newsletter

To see this newsletter on the Scribd website, click the link at the top of the post :)

If you would like to become a part of our support team, please visit www.yfc.org/give. There are several different ways to give which you can select by clicking on the appropriate link. When you get to the "Donation Information" section, please be sure that you select "VanWyk, Austin & Katy" from the "Designation" drop-down menu.

If you have any questions, or if you would like to receive our newsletters in hard copy, please shoot us an e-mail at hossandkatylin{at}gmail{dot}com

His,

June 2011 Newsletter

June Newsletter

To see this newsletter on the Scribd website, click the link at the top of the post :)

If you would like to become a part of our support team, please visit www.yfc.org/give. There are several different ways to give which you can select by clicking on the appropriate link. When you get to the "Donation Information" section, please be sure that you select "VanWyk, Austin & Katy" from the "Designation" drop-down menu.

If you have any questions, or if you would like to receive our newsletters in hard copy, please shoot us an e-mail at hossandkatylin{at}gmail{dot}com

His,

March 2011 Newsletter

March Newsletter

To see this newsletter on the Scribd website, click the link at the top of the post :)

If you would like to become a part of our support team, please visit www.yfc.org/give. There are several different ways to give which you can select by clicking on the appropriate link. When you get to the "Donation Information" section, please be sure that you select "VanWyk, Austin & Katy" from the "Designation" drop-down menu.

If you have any questions, or if you would like to receive our newsletters in hard copy, please shoot us an e-mail at hossandkatylin{at}gmail{dot}com

His,

Tuesday Evening Randomness

I can't seem to come up with a coherent post to save my life, so here are some of the many thoughts I've been batting around.

Summer in Germany is much different than I expected. It is HOT...and it has been HOT for several weeks already! I don't really know what I expected, but I just don't think of hot weather when I think of Germany as a "concept." I know, that's weird! It also stays light much later than I anticipated. It's 10:15pm right now and it has only been dark for about half an hour.

I met an amazing, godly woman this week. Her name is Maria Anne Hirschmann, better known as Hansi. She spoke at chapel on Sunday morning, and again this morning at PWOC. Click here to read her bio and see her ministry website. She is a former Nazi youth leader who came to Christ after WWII. She has an incredible story, and I would definitely recommend her book. One thing she said that really stuck with me today was when she was talking about living in fear. She quoted 2 Timothy 1:7 which says "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." (NKJV) And she said, "The power is the power of the Holy Spirit, God is love, and a sound mind is the mind of Christ." That was just really profound to me. I also love her attitude towards the United States, and towards freedom! She believes that God is keeping her alive to tell her story as one of the few remaining witnesses to the atrocities of WWII, and she has the greatest sense of humor!

Saturday will be the second 5K run that we participate in here on post. I'm by no means a fierce competitor in this "race." In fact, I use the word "race" very loosely. We mostly go for the fun and as long as I beat my previous time, I'm a happy camper. And no, I will not at this time reveal my personal best - it's slightly embarrassing ;) I will hopefully have some fun pictures of Austin's costume next week! (No, it is not a costume race, but he and our friend mike put the "fun" in "fun run" by going in costume!)

This month we will hit our six month mark of living in Germany and working with Club Beyond. It has been a crazy, wild ride, but God is so good to us, and it has been incredible to see Him at work here!

Hope you're having a great week!

His,

Just the facts . . .

Hello blog land!

I've missed you! Really, I have! I know I have been sporadic at best and MIA at worst for most of the last year, but not without good cause! I'm working on a series of post to explain my absence and everything that occurred between right now and December-ish of 2009 (wow, that's a long time), but for now I thought I'd get everyone up to speed with the who's, what's, why's & wherefore's :)

1. I'm still Katy Lin, still married to my crazy, amazing, handsome hubby Austin.

2. We live in Germany now.

3. We are missionaries with Club Beyond/Military Community Youth Ministries. Austin is working as associate staff, and I'm the International office admin at their international service center.

4. God is good.

Hope you're all doing well! Chat at ya again soon!

Book Review: Zion Covenant Series by Bodie Thoene

I am steaming through the rest of this series, and I am LOVING it! I don't have quotes from these three since they had to be returned to the library, but I am constantly impressed by how well-researched and well-written they have all been!

Munich Signature (Zion Covenant)

You know how with some series the first and maybe even the second books are really good, and then it seems like the author is just dragging the story lines along to keep making money from a popular series? That is soooooooo not the case with the Zion Covenant Series! Each installment in this series that I have read thus far has been incredible enough to stand on its own besides the fact that it is a piece of this captivating sextet that Bodie and Brock Thoene have created!

The other amazing facet of this series is the mastery with which Thoene weaves together many separate, but similar story-lines together without them becoming convaluted or overly simplified! I have also found that often books with several characters involved in multiple escapades, I am very interested in one or two of the characters while I find myself bored by the others. With these books, the unfolding of each of the dramas swept me along so spellbindingly that "I'm just going to read one chapter," turned into, "I can't believe it's already two o'clock in the morning!"

Jerusalem Interlude

I have read many books about the history of this time period, but there is something about reading the accurate historic portrayals of important events intertwined with the emotional personal stories of the specific characters that gives such amazing perspective to the gravity of the situations.

I also love the way that Thoene envelops each thread of the story with the main characters love of Christ that compels them to act on behalf of the downtrodden and disenfranchised, those deemed unworthy, untouchable and subhuman by the powers of the day. That same love that empowers them to take a stand when the majority of the world was choosing to turn a blind eye to the atrocities being committed against God's chosen people.

Danzig Passage

This is an inspiring and challenging series that makes you think about what is truly important in this life, and in eternity. I hope you get a chance to read them, and that you enjoy them as much as I have! If you've already read this series, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Leave me a comment and let me know, but please don't tell me how the last book, Warsaw Requiem, ends - I haven't finished that one yet!

Have a great Monday everyone!