Eurotrip: Germany, Belgium, Holland

We visited our good friends Josh and Sara Bell and their spunky kid Charlie in Germany (AF base in Rammstein). We had so much fun hanging out with them! They graciously allowed us to come and go as we pleased and use their home as our base during our whole trip. Here are a FRACTION of the fun pics from the trip!

WE LOVE AUTOBAHN

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today, Luke was passenger in a horrific car accident. The driver lost control of the car and mid-spin, it slammed into a tree, crushing the car into Luke. Natural human instinct caused Luke to attempt to struggle free. Thankfully, the Lord had his watchful eye and sent a man to calm Luke. Had it not been for that man, Luke could have bled to death in his struggle. Luke's condition was so critical, the hospital had to perform multiple operations before the family even arrived. He sustained 3 breaks in his leg, his pelvis was completely severed in 2 pieces, broken jaw (crushed on one side), nerve trauma in the shoulder, broken ribs, broken nose, pelvic nerve trauma, lacerations in his lungs, and some minor internal bleeding. No brain trauma.

With trauma like this, we know his body will physically never be the same. His pelvis could not heal 100% evenly so he has a permanent limp, his jaw was also not able to heal evenly (even though he had his jaw wired shut), he is awaiting teeth implants and is working hard to recover the year the accident set him back.

I know Luke would give anything to reverse the accident, but he has proven a remarkable trust in the Lord and acceptance with full joy. His attitude has truly been one that would glorify the Lord. What an encouragement he is to me. I thank God for the resilience and the strength he has given Luke, so that he can continue to be a light to all those who know him or will ever meet him.

We praise God for sparing Luke for our sake, so that we may be blessed. A miraculous survival, 5 successful surgeries, 2 custom shoes, a few fake teeth (and a partridge in a pear tree) and one year later, we are still shouting for joy at the wonders of our mighty God’s hand. The Lord does not have to prove His might, nor does He need to make himself known, but how wonderful it is when He allows us the opportunity to see Him at work!

Thank you all for your prayers, support, love, cards, food, games and flowers that you provided while Luke was in the hospital. You all were a great encouragement to us and the entire Keith family.

We are rejoicing with our whole hearts.

Loving the life that God has given us,
Luke and Faith Keith

Oh taste and see that the Lord is good:

Valentines: No Boring "Feet" of Love

The whole weekend was a huge surprise to Faith.

Friday night began with dinner at Dallas Fish Market (exquisite food by the 4 star chefs and excellent service)

....followed by a spectacular Valentine's "POPS" show by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at the Myerson. The DSO performed love songs through the decades beginning in the 1920's. World Renown vocalist Daniel Narducci performed several of the songs with the orchestra. It was enchanting.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

SkyDiving!!!

Saturday was the big surprise...over 11,000 feet of fun....

Click here to watch our videos!

Luke's Jump

Faith's Jump

MARGNIFICENT FUN! Greatest thrill ever! The most incredible rush of adrenaline...so far.

[Love] pronunciation: \'ləv\

Yesterday as I was talking with the Lord, I suddenly was overcome with realization and began praising the Lord…my husband loves [action word] me so fiercely and unconditionally that I truly feel so undeserving. He is constantly proving his love in big and small ways. His love takes on different shapes as he learns more about me and how I receive messages of love. As I was thanking the Lord for my husband and confessing my feelings of feeling so unworthy of such a great gift that God gave me, I realized….God is using Luke to give me a glimpse of His OWN love for me. WOW…I was floored….I mean….Luke’s love and actions of love knocks me off my feet, so I can only imagine the wondrous love our Father has for us. Awesome.

Faith

The Progressive Dinner date night

Date night happens every week like clock work, but is by no means monotonous. We try to shake things up here and there to keep it interesting. This one was a fun twist to a typical "Dinner date".

We started out at this [fairly] new restaurant, Bengal Coast. A pan-asian (mostly Indian) cuisine. The food was subtle, yet packed with colorful, exotic flavors. Our chef, Neval, brought out our hot sauce and it was flaming - use with care. The ambiance was a fun compromise of romantic and city life. Yellow and orange lighting created a subtle glow for a romantic dinner, but well lit enough to work as a great meeting place for groups. Indoor palm trees were a perfect touch to the center of the floor. We spent a lot of time here just talking and enjoying the music. The appetizers we ordered were just about wearing off (Luke was getting hungry again) when we finally asked for our check. We left a great tip for the waiter's time - we hoped it would make him feel better for waiting on an alcohol-free and no-entree table.

















Next we traversed across the street to good ol' TxLC (Texas Land and Cattle) for our entrees. Luke ordered the most delicious, melt-in-your mouth smoked sirloin. I ordered a bowl of tortilla soup, but not before our AMAZING waiter brought me 8 oz of the smoked sirloin to "taste test". I am not a steak (or meat) lover, but WOW!!! If only for that sirloin, all my chances of becoming a vegetarian just went out the window....Sorry Mrs. Lisa... We enjoyed more chatting and solving of the world's problems. Ahhh what a beautiful night.





Satisfied, we walked back across the street and around the corner to Paciugo - Italian ice cream!! MMmm delightful! The lady who served our ice cream was Italian, so it made the experience so much more fun. As we enjoyed our itty-bitty cups of ice cream, we started planning our next international trip. I mean, how can you eat Italian ice cream and not get the urge to travel? Well...we already have a trip to Asia in the fall, so Europe maybe?...















For those of you in the Dallas area - you should check out Bengal Coast, even if only for the experience. For those of you who do not like curry or Indian spiced foods (or meat), I think you will still find a few items on the menu to your liking. Before the night began, we both expressed our distaste for Indian food (but we wanted to give it one more shot). This restaurant changed our minds.

Loving the adventure that is life...
The Krazies

Keith Workshop

This year we decided to make our gifts. We started out with grand plans, but as soon as we started the "smallest" project, we realized our scheme was far beyond "over ambition".

Turns out we were only able to make small somethings for everyone.

The Keith Christmas was tonight, so this post only exposes already unwrapped gifts.

For each couple (Mom and Dad, Mel and Bill, Joelle and Jared+baby judah) we made pajama pants. The guys got "hobo" pants, and the girls all received monkey pants. They were a blast. Pajama pants supposedly are extremely easy and low cost. But we managed to make them more expensive than you can buy them AND we spent about 1.2 hours per pant! HA!

The 2nd part of the gift was a menagerie of fine chocolate barks that we made in our home kitchen - what fun! We made dark chocolate almond joy bark, white chocolate peppermint bark, mint chocolate bark and milk chocolate smore's bark. Our whole house smelled of warm chocolates and creamy vanilla from the candle on our bar.

The whole experience was awesome - it was a great way for us to spend a lot of time together and it was amazing working on projects together.

For your viewing pleasure, here are a few pics of the disaster, nay, the fun!

Luke Away = Restless and Rowdy

Faith says...

Here I go again...I must be bored...I got the sudden urge to buy a new kayak, which was quickly overtaken by the desire to go diving paired with the purchase of jet skiis...which was overtaken by my desire to purchase a dirt bike...which was surpassed by my urge to get that mountain bike I've been wanting for a while....Then I remembered my skateboard...and the cello...

Not sure where to start but I'm ready to go mud fight someone, or back pack for the weekend, or SOMETHING! ...maybe my husband needs to hurry up and get back from his business trip!