See Ya Later

I think that one of my favorite things about our trip to Germany was watching Isaiah interact with his grandparents.  He had so much fun playing with them.  They had so much fun seeing in person all the new things that he can do.  I think that he definitely remembered them from when we left the States.  I look forward to watching Isaiah's relationships with all his grandparents develop in the years to come.

Here are some of the pictures from when we said goodbye at the Berlin airport.  I hope you're not bored with all my Berlin pics; these were just too sweet to not post.  Thanks for humoring me. :)

Project Big 3-0 Declared Success!

So, as you've seen, our time in Germany was great!  We got to spend time with my parents, watch Isaiah enjoy them, eat some good food (some food was better than others), see some historical sites, rest a little bit and celebrate my 30th birthday.

Yep, that's right, I'm 30.  It hasn't seemed to effect me really, turning 30 that is.  I guess the old saying "age is a state of mind" might be somewhat true.  My mind is so confused these days that I can't remember how old I am.

When I was 5 my mother turned 30, and her birthday happened to be on a Sunday that year.  Apparently I was really excited about this because I told EVERYONE that I saw that my mom was "The Big 3-0".  For some reason she didn't seem to appreciate that very much.  Well, this year was finally her year of payback.  She and my sweet father wanted to make sure that as many people as possible knew that this birthday was "The Big 3-0" for me, which actually had some pretty pleasant results.

Every time I went into my parents room in Berlin, I found cards on their bed addressed to me!  Yes, every single time!  I think I received over 50 birthday cards--that's got to be some kind of record!  I even got a card from the Jr. Girls and an entire 3rd grade class at my old school!  And on my actual birthday Mama pulls out presents!  I felt overwhelmed all week with the knowledge that so many people were thinking about me and wanted me to know that they were thinking of me.  I always knew that my church family and other NC family is incredibly special and thoughtful and caring.  I've been the recipient of that wonderful care in the past.  But this time knowing that so many people cared about making my birthday special even when I was so far away...well, I feel humbled and thankful and amazed!  I love the body of Christ!  I love that distance and time cannot prevent us from showing love to each other because we have received such great love from Him!

I am inadequate to properly thank everyone who sent me cards and greetings and well-wishes on my birthday.  I wish that I could give every single person a great big hug, but well, a few thousand miles kind of makes that impossible.  I am incredibly grateful, though for the love that has been given to me, and I plan on giving as many of those hugs this summer that I can!  You are in my prayers as we serve our great God in the places that He has called us to be!

Pictures From our Last Day

Our last day in Berlin was a wonderful ending to a wonderful week.  It was also our only day without rain!  We enjoyed walking around without umbrellas and taking tons of more pictures.  It was also my birthday.  Being able to spend my birthday with my parents was extra special.  There were also tons of surprises, which deserve their own post.

Here are most of the pictures from our last day.  There are actually still a few on my camera because for some reason I can't find the card reader!  Hopefully soon I can share the sweet pictures of Isaiah saying goodbye to his grandparents.

Pictures from Day Five--LegoLand!

This was the morning that I got to spend just with my mom and Isaiah.  After a relaxing morning we joined the boys for lunch and then LegoLand!  We all had a fabulous time playing and watching everyone else play--tons and tons of fun!  There were so many pictures from this event alone, that I didn't take the time to put them in any particular order.  I think, though that you get the idea of the fun that we had.

Pictures from Day Four

As you might have read we really enjoyed our day in Wittenburg!  Here are the pictures from our time in that beautiful little city.  Who knows, maybe we'll get to go back sometime on October 31 for one of the anniversaries of Luther's nailing the 95 Theses to the doors of Castle Church!

Pictures from Day Three

Thomas and I had a wonderful date while Grandma and Grandpa had fun with Isaiah!  We had some Dunkin' Donuts and toured the Berliner Dom and just enjoyed walking around before we found a little restaurant for authentic German food!

I think that Grandma and Grandpa and Isaiah had just as much fun as we did!

Berlin Day Two Slide Show

Here are all the pictures from Day Two when we took the bus tour and went up in the TV Tower, one of the tallest structures in Europe.

Isaiah was quite a trooper the whole trip. The last picture of him crying was really unusual. He was so tired and wanted my camera (like his daddy, he loves all things electronic). Overall, he did an amazing job without any regular naps for a week! I was very proud of him.

More pictures from our first day in Berlin

There are so many pictures that I'd like to share (hundreds, actually!) that I thought I'd do it a few days at a time so as not to spend too much time on the computer and not to overload you my wonderful friends.

Berlin-Day Five

We were ready for some "Girl Time"! Monday morning, Mama and I set off with Isaiah for our own time of wandering around, shopping, eating and just having good ol' girl time. We navigated our way on the U-bohn all by ourselves, found a great little coffee shop then hit the stores! We're not big shoppers really, but just being able to look around a store WITH MY MOM and say what things we thought were cute or not so cute and what was too expensive, and all that good girly stuff was so much fun!

We did meet up with the guys for lunch, which was also fun, of course; but I really am thankful for that special time just with Mama. There's nothing quite like having your mama all to yourself after 6 months, well, with Isaiah, too, of course.

After lunch we all headed for LegoLand. There are not sufficient words to describe how much fun we all had at LegoLand. Isaiah got to see his first movie in a theater setting, which he loved! He laughed through the whole thing. Actually he pretty much laughed through the whole afternoon. We spent about 3 hours playing and playing and playing with legos. They had these wonderful great big legos that were just right for Isaiah. They were in these great big pits, almost like a ball pit, and he just crawled around in among the legos and played and played. All of us built things, so I'm not really sure who had the most fun! If you're ever going to go to Berlin, then LegoLand is a must see!

Isaiah enjoying the great big Legos, and us enjoying watching him

Wondering where Isaiah gets his look of concentration?

Berlin-Day Four

Our day in Wittenburg was definitely a wonderful experience.  To realize that we were in the place where the Reformation began was almost overwhelming!  We were able to sit in on part of a service in the church that Luther pastored in Wittenburg.  (Sadly, I don't think Luther would be very pleased with the state of things currently, but at one time the gospel was clearly proclaimed from that pulpit.)

This is the church where Luther was pastor and first questioning some of the Catholic church practices

Here are Isaiah and Thomas by the pulpit in Luther's church

We saw the spot where the original doors hung on which Luther nailed his now famous 95 theses.  The original doors burned down several hundred years ago, and they were replaced with bronze doors on which are carved the 95 theses.

How thankful we are to God for opening Luther's heart and mind and protecting him with faithful German princes so that the gospel could spread rapidly over Germany and then Europe and then to our own home country.  And to think that now we are a part of spreading that gospel even further around the world! 

I think you could say that Isaiah enjoyed his day in Wittenburg and all the time with his grandparents 

Berlin-Day Three

This morning greeted us with downpours, but we didn't let that rain on our parade!  Before our trip, I had asked Mom if she and Dad would mind watching Isaiah for a few hours, so Thomas and I could have a date.   I really had to twist her arm, but she agreed! (a little sarcasm, perhaps?)

Thomas and I enjoyed most of the day together, just the two of us.  We rode the U-bohn, Berlin's metro system, and we discovered that it is possible for a metro to go quickly and smoothly and quietly all at the same time while also not smelling terrible--who'd have thought?  We were really impressed with the Berliner Dom (pictured above left), a Protestant Evangelical Lutheran cathedral constructed for Wilhelm II (I think those facts are accurate).  One ironic thing about this cathedral that Thomas pointed out to me was the fact that there are statues of Zwingli and Calvin and a few other reformers, all of whom were vehemently opposed to any icons or pictures in churches!

Despite the rain we walked around a good bit to see the Brandenburg Gate and the memorial for the Holocaust victims, which is one of the most interesting memorials I've ever seen. (pictured below right)

  

Wanting to get some authentic German food, we hopped back on the U-bohn and rode a litt

le bit out of the downtown area before finding a nice quiet spot with really good schniztel!  Then it was back to the hotel just in time to hear all about Isaiah's time with Grandma and Grandpa before putting him to bed.  While the time with Thomas was wonderful, I have to admit that even during those few hours, I really missed the Little Man (and I think Thomas did, too!).  I'm thankful though that he could have such a great time with his grandparents.

Tomorrow we have a special treat:  A trip to Wittenburg where Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church!

Berlin-Day Two

For our second day in Berlin, we decided to get an overview by taking a "hop on-hop off" bus tour and by going to the top of the TV tower, one of the tallest structures in Europe.  See the difference in the European and Soviet architecture was interesting to Thomas and me.  The difference is quite striking!

We did a lot of riding, so there aren't tons of pictures from the day, which I'm sure will change today, but here are a few of my favorites:

Isaiah has been going full steam, and he finally surrendered while we were on the bus tour.

Isaiah, Grandma, Grandpa and me in front of a government building

The 3 of us on the observation area of the TV Tower getting a beautiful view of the city

3 generations (also in the TV Tower)

Berlin-Day One

After a mad dash to the airport in St. Petersburg traffic, a confusing security procedure in the St. P airport, an uneventful flight and waiting in a long line for passport control to enter Germany, we finally got to give and receive some long overdue hugs!  Isaiah traveled like a pro, entering his 4th country in less than 2 years.  My parents had arrived earlier in the day, which meant that they already knew the ropes and could guide us through the public transportation to get to our hotel.

I can't explain the feelings that I had when I first saw my mama and daddy!  Yes, I cried, but they were definitely tears of joy!  And Isaiah's recent shyness when around different people wasn't an issue at all!  He loved on Grandma and Grandpa right away.

We enjoyed our first day, taking it easy and visiting nearby Checkpoint Charlie.  Our first souvenirs were Checkpoint Charlie stamps in our passports from a guard with tons of personality, who spoke at least 6 languages.  We educated ourselves at the Checkpoint Charlie museum where we learned about the many brave people who risked their lives to escape and to help other people escape from East Germany.

To finish off my parent' first day of their first European experience, we ate dinner at a Mexican Italian restaurant!  I just find that quite amusing.

Our second day we hope to get an overview of the city on a bus tour, and then hopefully we'll know some other places we'd like to see more closely.

Mama has passed on tons of hugs and birthday surprises from friends back home, with more to come, she says.  We love and miss you all--if only you could fit in checked luggage!

Little Man traveling well!  (praise God for an uncrowded airplane!)

The guard who stamped our passports--quite a character!

Thomas "on both sides" (where the wall used to be)

Here we are at the remaining Berlin Wall