Fun "old" friends!!

Together again after a long time of being on different continents. Still making life long memories together!

So sad I don't have any pictures from the airport. We were too busy hugging all the wonderful people who came to welcome us home!! But, we do have pics of famLee ice blocking, meeting two of the three new little people in our fam, and making new memories!!

Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland!! Vielen vielen dank fur Alles!!

Hello Washington!

parking in Aachen

Can you say "Tight Parking?" This is an elevator for cars. Ours was coming up from below.

We were told to see all that we could see before we left the country so we took a train ride to Dresden then Prague (Praha). The weather cooperated and we felt like kids running around - except our legs and feet couldn't go nearly as far as we wanted to. We figured out the train schedules and found our way around the cities on foot. When we went the wrong way we always found something else to explore or made a new friend when we asked for help. The top two pics and the first left pic are in Prag. Massive city with a huge public transit system and most people don't speak English or German - we were way out of our comfort zone. The other 3 are in Dresden at the Zwinger and Opera House - gorgeous and amazing. We still got phone calls - he looks a little too happy saying we were out of town. It was a fabulous few days!

Our fabulous YSAs! We'll see you all soon!! We can't say good bye.

Most weeks we can say - WOW what a week that was. This week was no different, even more so! The week started with picking up the Browns at the airport as they were headed back to the States. First, of course, the men had to cram all of their luggage into our little car, very entertaining. In Heidelberg we found this little shop full of our scarf pattern (it's amazing all of the places we have found this pattern). And we walked and we walked and we walked. Nancy wants us to think she is praying but she is sound asleep in one of the churches we toured. We took a wonderful little tram ride up a mountain, toured a castle and enjoyed a fabulous view. Then, all too soon, it was time to take them back to the airport. We had such a great time! A few hours after we said good bye to them we said hello to the parents of one of our fabulous missionaries who had come to pick him up to take home. Then back to Jena and Thursday Night Institute - it was stifling hot! We ended the week at our favorite restaurant with some great people and our favorite waitress. She knew it was a good bye dinner for us so she presented me with a gift - a menu decorated with napkin flowers! She's darling! Dinner always has to be followed by Eis at our neighborhood ice cream shop - the scoops they give us are always twice as big as the ones they seem to give everyone else. No wonder we keep going back! They'll have to roll us off the airplane in a couple of weeks if this keeps up.

One last Italian dinner with our friends. One last trip to Wurzberg and Rothenberg to enjoy the sights and sounds. One last trip to the Freiberg Temple with some great friends and finding new great places in Freiberg. We found one of Duane's mission companions from 43 years ago in the Freiberg Temple. It was a wonderful reunion. Duane thought he recognized him and he was right. Tom came to our wedding 42 years ago and gave us salt and pepper shakers for a wedding gift - weird that I remember that. They haven't seen each other for 42 years. It was fun to visit with him and his wife before they headed East and we headed West.

 

It has begun. We are counting down - the last big Home Evening, the last time in Erfurt doing apartment checks and enjoying the beautiful Erfurterdom and square, the last time in Coburg and the Veste scenery, the last Zone Training, hopefully not the last walk along the river but hopefully the flood is over, not the last time to enjoy our view off our balcony or shopping in the market square, our first and last "Night at the Museums" with our "girls," and a sad good bye to these wonderful Saints who have taught us so much about faith, strength, and endurance.

Oh, what a day!! We had German class (I taught), Home Evening with brots and 21 YSAs from 7 different countries in our apartment and it was a blast!! A house (or apartment) never feels like home until you've had a party - we feel at home in this new apartment.  It has finally quit raining for the time being and we were treated with a beautiful sunset out our balcony. A great ending to a fun filled day!!