Roadtrip: Going back

I was born in a little town in Germany more than 18 years ago.

I got to visit my very first home last week!

My parents used to live in Germany, serving in ministry to American teenagers on military bases through Malachi (later renamed Cadence Student Ministries). They moved to Czech in 1993, but still kept in contact with friends and attended conferences every now and then in Germany.

In 1994 they went to one of these conferences. My mom was pregnant with me at the time, and unexpectedly went into preterm labor while there, 2 1/2 months before my due date. The trip home to Czech would have been too far for her to make, so the doctors in the area insisted recommended she stay on bed-rest in Germany until at least the end of September (Mom says they actually didn't even want her to leave that hospital, but it was in northern Germany, and a long ways away from anyone they knew...dad had to sign her out of the hospital at their own "risk" to take her somewhere else).

My parents managed to make the trip down to a different town in Germany, a few hours' drive away. My brothers were born in a hospital in a neighboring town, and her doctor still worked there!

A few days later, Dad and the boys went back to Czech, because the very first church youth group was starting a few nights later at our house in Havirov as a result of the first English camp that they had just completed! Mom says it was a crazy time, but they did what they had to do.

My mom spent the next month with my Uncle Josh and Auntie Kristi in their house (they lived in Germany at that time too, serving with Malachi), on total bed-rest. She now calls it her "German vacation", though it wasn't much of a vacation at all, since she could only get up a couple of times a day, at most.

Thankfully, October 8th came, my dad and brothers had returned a few days earlier, and I was born healthy only two weeks before my due date!

All of this to say, the first home my parents brought me back to was a quaint little place where some of my parents' friends lived.

My parents actually used to live in this house, and when they left, our friends moved in to the very same apartment. Incidentally, this house was both of my brothers' first home too! Crazy how things work out like that sometimes. Even though it was no longer "their house", it still got to be my first home for 2 weeks.

What a treat to see where my parents used to live! I loved the quiet and sweet town.

And that's the long story of why I wasn't born in Czech, but in Germany, even though my family lived in Czech at the time.

I only lived there for two weeks, but at least I get to have the same birthplace as my brothers! Plus, I do really like Germany, and my family has a lot of history there, so I'm glad that I get to have a part in that.