My Birthday at Neuswanstein

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Our meeting ended on my birthday so we spent the morning riding a bus with all our friends back into Munich so that we could pick up our rental car to start our family vacation. It was a lot of fun and, of course, someone pointed out that it was my bday so I got a loud Happy Birthday song sung. We had lunch at the airport with friends and then headed back the direction we had come to see the castle.

I have wanted to see this castle since we moved to Germany 10 years ago. It just never worked out when we lived there. I was SO excited we were getting another chance to go see it. Neuschwanstein was no disappointment, it is beautiful set up high in the mountains. I had no idea that the area surrounding it would be so amazing as well. Mountains all around, cute little Germany villages with pretty window boxes full of flowers, crystal clear lakes... just beautiful!

After walking around, playing in the lake and settling into our cute hotel we drove about 5 minutes into a nearby town for dinner. Mark and I had been craving donner kebab, which had been one of our favorite things to eat when we lived in Germany, so we were on a hunt. Right by where we parked was a big fruit stand with the biggest raspberries I had ever seen. So we loaded up on fresh raspberries, blackberries and blueberries....oh they were so yummy! Better than a birthday cake by far! After we enjoyed that snack we walked down the street and found a great donner kebab cafe... it was everything we remembered.

Then it was back to the hotel to get some rest for the next day when we go up the mountain to see the castle up close. Oh yeah and after the kids where asleep I ended my fabulous birthday by breaking into my stash of Baby Ruth candy bars that a friend had given me as a present. Just perfect:)

I'm Back...

Well friends, it has been a little while, sorry but we have been busy, the good kind of busy:) We have been gone for 2 weeks and just arrived home late last night. The first week was at a meeting with the others workers from Western Europe and the second week was FAMILY VACATION! I didn't get a lot of pics from the first week but I will post a few good ones and then I will do a day by day of the vacation.

Here we go....
Our meeting was called WE Celebrate and was in beautiful Bavaria, Germany. Mark and I had meetings, worship time, small group sessions and speakers from the States. It was great and so refreshing, it has been awhile since we have had the chance to do all that in English. While we were busy with all that (from 9am-9pm everyday) the girls got to do VBS, yeah!!! Boomerang Express, the girls loved it and especially loved being with friends ALL day long.

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10 years

10 years!

Today Mark and I have been married 10 years, hard to believe. In some ways it went fast and it other ways it seem like we have been married forever. Honestly the day we got married I never once thought of 10 years in the future, never. 10 years seemed like such a LONG time... I imagined 1 year and maybe a few times 5 years but 10...never.

Never imagined that we would celebrate being married 10 years with 3 little girls, living in Portugal... many jobs, a degree, sickness, happiness, laughs, goodbyes and hellos. With all that has happened in the last 10 I can't wait to see what the next 10 will bring!

What else can I say...

More soon...it's mine turn to hold baby Selah! :)

1 year in Portugal!!!

Yesterday was our one year anniversary of living in Portugal. I think this year has been the fastest year of any in my life.

It was a good year, a year of firsts, a year of learning, adjusting, adapting... I never could have imagined a year ago what our life would look like now.

I was excited to get here but I had no idea how much I was going to LOVE life for our family here in Lisboa.

I couldn't have imagined the amazing people we were going to meet...friendly, warm, honest people. They let us attempt to speak their language, take us to try their foods, invite us to their parties and homes... they let us share life with them...they don't have to but they do.

I knew we were going to learn the language but honestly I didn't let my mind think about what that meant until we were in class the first day. Language learning has been one of the hardest, most humbling experiences I have ever had and also the most fun and rewarding challenges I have ever taken on. And, even though we are done with full time language study, we realize that we are going to be language learners for the rest of our lives.

I like so much about the culture and people that we live in. I want to be HERE! I don't wish to be anywhere else don't really miss anyWHERE. Now friends, don't take that personally! I miss people, miss friends and family very very much. I just really want all of you to come here, to see our new city, home...life! Really, really want each of you to come see this amazing place!

I could go on and on about why I love it here...food, weather, being in the city, the shopping, the BEACH!

I am so thankful that God is allowing us to be a part of His plan here in Portugal. I pray that this next year we won't get in His way... that we will be faithful, bold and attentive! I pray that our 2nd year will be even better than the 1st!

Fado

We have been wanting to go to a Fado house since before we arrived in Portugal. It was complicated because they usually cost a lot, don't start until 9pm or later and go really late. But a couple weeks ago we finally got a chance to go.

It was a tiny house out by the coast, the price was decent and Caroline offered to keep the girls. Not only did she offer to keep our girls but she kept our friends 3 kiddos as well so that we could all go together.

We dressed up and headed out at about 8:30pm to meet up with the group we were joining. Dinner was so good! It was all cooked on a open fire that was in the little room we were sitting in. One of my favorite parts was that after we ate the cooks and servers were also the singers.

Now I have always been a night person and I really thought I could stay up with the best of them...not here. At about 12:30 there was a break from the fado for dessert and cafes... I will admit I was starting to fade so I had a cafe- a very strong one- to keep going but by 1:30 that just wasn't working.

The fado singing was so fun, but they turned the lights down, it was warm... it was 1:30 in the morning! So when a few people got up to leave we joined them and headed home (the other group was actually leaving to go to a party, haha). Maybe next year we can add a couple more hours to our late night fado adventures!

Mark and MG

Me and Christi

I am not sure if you have seen MG and Christi yet but you have seen their little girl, Lily. Lily and Tirza LOVE each other, they have the same little attitude so they are adorable together!

We called this guy Ralph Lauren, he was one of the fadistas. His outfit cracked us up, we are pretty sure he heard that Americans were coming to dinner that night and pulled out this outfit just for us:)

It was such a fun night! Good food, great company and beautiful singing!

Kidzania

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Our trip to Kidzania was a BLAST!

We spent the entire day there and the girls still didn't get enough.

It was funny because you could really see each of their personalities in their own little kid world. Sahara spent, spent, spent her money and only got jobs when she had to for money. We think she did the race cars 4 or 5 times. Once she was patient enough to wait for her turn she really liked the baby nurse job.

Bria was all about earning money, she loved doing the jobs and getting paid in the end. She left at the end of the day with a wad of kidzoos cash!

Tirza's favorite was making her own McDonald's cheeseburger. The girl can put away a burger and she couldn't have been more excited about making her own! She waiting in line, by herself, for about 20 minutes. That and getting her nails and make-up done and watching a play were the highlights of her day. I was surprised how well she did on her own, most places the parents aren't allowed in with the kids, once she got the hang of it she was off.

It was a good way to use birthday money, everyone had a fun day! The girls are begging to go again... we told them to save their money or wait until the next birthdays:)

Now we are on our final counting until the DeLaughter's arrive...10 days!!!