Bria's 7th Birthday

Make a Smilebox slideshow Bria had a great birthday yesterday. Her party was a blast! Lots of friends, presents, food and CAKE! Happy 7th Birthday my sweet Bria girl!

Aqueduct

One of my favorite things in Lisboa is the aqueduct. I really can't explain why, I just think it is so unique. It stretches across two hills of the city, its huge and for the time it was built it was a major engineering accomplishment. It is a piece of the old city, beautiful and full of history.
I love driving under it, being able to see how huge and old it is.
Today, on our way home from a birthday party, in a part of town we had not yet been in we got to drive under a different part. It was a smaller part near the end of one side. It just renewed my fascination with the aqueduct.
Our afternoon was great... big girls had a birthday party, we had no idea where it was so some friends let us follow them. Somehow we have found the most wonderful group of new friends (somehow... we know how, GOD!) They let us join in their events, conversations...lives and they are always kind to us and our girls and patient with us as we learn the language and culture.
We have past our grace period now where people talk slowly and make sure we understand what they are saying... Now they speak full speed and expect us to understand, keep up and respond. It is GREAT! I can not think of a better motivation to keep learning and progressing in the language. I look forward to the day when I can not only keep up with all that is being said but can jump in and say whatever is it I want to say.
And if you know me you know I have plenty to say!:)

Fixed Car Anxiety

As many of you know I had a little fender bender in July. No one was hurt, thank goodness! And although you never want things like this to happen, I was glad it happened when it did and not sooner. It was actually a fear of mine during our first few months here... that I would get in an accident and not be able to communicate well enough to handle the situation. So I was glad it happened after a over a year of language. I successfully navigated filling out the paperwork and explaining to the other driver that we did have insurance.
Anyways, I didn't think the damage was that big of a deal, just a bent license plate and some dents on the front, but the car place said different and so last week we got the car "fixed."
Yeah, it is all taken care of... yeah! But now I am again afraid to drive. Well not afraid just worried about a car accident again. Now the car looks brand new, no dents, no scratches... perfect. And here, well... driving is a little crazy, parking is a lot tight and there are these crazy parking guys who scratch your car if you don't give them change. Aggghhh, it is a dangerous world out there for the newly fixed, brand new looking car.... anxiety!
Now don't worry I will get over it... most likely the call of IKEA or H&M will soon beckon me loud enough that I will forget my anxiety and drive again. And I am sure someday, somehow a new scratch or dent will come... I am just hoping next time it won't be my fault!

Bom

I realize that this might be showing off just a little bit but oh well... This certificate is a BIG deal to me! It represents 10 months of my life. 10 months really hard work! It means that I passed the B1 language level of Portuguese with a BOM. I didn't even just pass it I got a BOM which means GOOD!

I was extremely nervous about this exam. I do NOT like taking tests but God really gave me a calm and clear head that day. The significance for us now is that we are out of full time language stuff and can start "working." We will always continue to work on the language and we still have pass the next level sometime in the future. But for now we can relax and learn in less formal ways.

Oh and I say WE because Mark has the same certificate with the same score as me:)

Okay I am done showing off for now... time to go do something with my accomplishment!

Field Trip with Vera

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Munich, the Final Day

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After K-town we headed back to Munich to fly home. We spent the afternoon down on the Marienplatz in Munich, we saw the Hofbrauhaus, watched the Glockenspiel chime, ate crepes and smoothies and then went back to the hotel to crash and get ready to fly the next day.

It was an amazing trip! We got to see so many new things, relaxing, be surrounded by incredible natural beauty, visit old memories and make new ones. And by the end...we couldn't wait to get back to Lisboa!!! Back to our apartment, friends, a language we can mostly understand, our beaches... the list goes on:)

Oh Memories!

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After France we went back into Germany to visit the city where we lived when Mark and I first got married and where Sahara was born. It was such a sweet couple of days. Our little village of Rodenbach is just like we left it...ice cream shop, bakery, pretty window boxes and Polish Pottery store. And our old house... now painted a light yellow but still with beautiful flowers everywhere. The best part of the trip was seeing Mrs. Muller, she was our landlady and we lived right above her. She was always sweet and helpful, not to mention her amazing desserts she would often make us, but most of all she just loved Sahara. We showed up at her door and as she opened the door she said, "I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!" We got to spend and afternoon chatting with her, her granddaughter, her daughter and newest grandson. It was wonderful! Her daughter, Christiana, is a doctor and was a big comfort to us when Sahara was sick as a baby. We got to go see her brand new clinic built mostly by her husband. It was just a precious day walking down memory lane!

We visited lots of our old favorite spots and we went on a hunt for our favorite restaurant. With Christiana's help we finally found it and it was every bit as good as we remembered. It is Italian and the lady that owns it actually remembered us, crazy after 8 years! Yes, we really did go there that often:) Not only was (is) the food amazing but when Sahara was a baby the owners teenage girls were the waitresses and they would carry Sahara around for us while we ate... date night!

It was so fun for Mark and I to walk down memory lane... newly wed, first baby.... travels, visitors. Ahhh, all those sweet memories!