Long time, no post!

I'm baaaaack!

(And I am shocked that it has been almost three weeks since I was last on the blog!)

My trip to Germany went really well. The meetings were inspiring and informative, and it was so nice to catch up with friends and colleagues that I hadn't seen in years as well as to make a few new friends. But I was happy and very ready to get back home to my 3 favorite people...I had missed them so much.

Since coming home, there hasn't been a dull moment. In addition to busy days, we have had some pretty big stuff on our minds. I won't go into too much detail on the blog yet, but I'll give you a little hint as to what has been consuming us: it is something big and sturdy with four walls and a roof and it costs a lot of money.

(Any one able to figure that one out? :-))

These are exciting but very nerve-wracking days for us!

Not a moment in this process goes by when we aren't reminded that we are desperately in need of wisdom and guidance from our Heavenly Father. I am so thankful that we can trust Him with every single detail of this process, and that we can rest in knowing that He is fully in control and knows what is best for our family.

In closing, here are some pictures from Emma's "Valentine's Day Girl Party." In January, she had the fun idea to invite some friends and relatives (only girls, of course) to a party on Valentine's Day evening. We had a wonderful time with great-aunts, a grandma, some aunties, a cousin, and a few special friends as we celebrated friendship!

Sign made by Emma and one of her aunties.

Thank you so much, Anne, for taking all of these pictures with my camera!

The first course...

Here is one example of the beautiful, handmade cards that Emma (and I) were given. I have married into such an artistic family.

The dessert table...

The little girls had fun making a craft...

...that Grandma Esther sent to us in the mail!

And I will stop now before this gets so long that no one wants to read it. :-)

(Hopefully it won't be three more weeks until I post again!)

-Sarah- 

Late Sunday night

Whew, what a week it has been.

Busy days, full evenings, late nights.

And suddenly it is February! (How did that happen?!?!)

I'm leaving tomorrow morning for a week of meetings in Germany. I have mixed feelings about this trip...in one way I am really looking forward to the meetings, feeling like a professional adult, and seeing friends and co-workers from around Europe. But at the same time I am not happy about leaving Markus and the kids. (Nor am I that crazy about the flying...)

But my bags are packed and my Kindle is loaded up with a pile of new books. (I just spent the last hour trying to decide on a couple of new books and then I stumbled upon all the free books and went nuts downloading everything and anything of interest. And then Markus called me an electronic book hoarder. Ouch.) :-)

And now it is waaaay past our bedtime. I've been trying to post a few pictures from the last week, but something is wrong with the uploader-thingy and I'm going to give up.

Good night everyone, and a happy week to all of you!

-Sarah-