A whole new world...

We visited our friends, the Pauls, on Friday. They have two boys, and the toys to match! Fiona was in heaven! That's her riding Scott's motorcycle with his Papa, Neal. Scott is about 5 weeks older than Fiona. Sean, Scott's brother, and 1 1/2 years old, is about Fiona's size.

They are very early risers. This is also how I felt, having gotten up at 6:30 on a Saturday morning. We were all up and waiting for Neal to get back from his firefighter sift at 8.

How you doin'?

Fiona at our tumbling group. She built a house with a boy and they each wanted a small house that only one person could fit in. I'm not sure I convinced them that it was only cool to have a house for one person if you are that one person, but his dad laughed.

Our friend Christian stopped by for a visit this week. I didn't cook for him, but swear I can!

And Fiona needed a little "mama time", so we made a princess crown. I drew the princesses myself, just kidding. She wore it very proudly to preschool today and everyone thought it was her birthday. I guess that's what they do when it's your birthday, the little twirp tricked me.

Wallking with friends...

We went to visit our good friends, Christin and Joy, on Wednesday and took the girls to a Café.

We had a grand time and it made me think how very symbolic taking a walk with friends is. This is how we are to live, hand in hand through life. Sharing in the laughter, stumbling blocks and traffic. Watching out for one another and maybe speaking a stern word. Jesus showed us how, he didn't shy away from building deep relationships, though he knew he wouldn't be here long. On the contrary, the deeper the relationship, the more of our lives shared, the more likely it is that the investment reaps eternal reward.

So go on a walk and see where it takes you.

Our weekend...

Found this adorable hat, which she, of course, refuses to wear. Anyway, we're going grocery shopping.

René came to visit for the weekend. Brett met him the youth Easter retreat a few years back and when we saw him in Augsburg over New Year's, he said he'd like to come for a visit. And so he did.

Then we had our small group meeting with the Johnsen's and this is Fiona making a joyful noise!!

Then Björn came to visit on his way to England. We've known him for a while and were glad to catch up with him a bit.

And on our way to breakfast with Björn, Antonia and her mom (from Fiona's preschool) stopped by to see if she could stay with us while she went to the doctor. And then she came up for some coffee afterwards.

All in all it was a great weekend of sharing lives and building relationships, but one after which you need a weekend.

What's up?

This is Brett, looking very professional, at the youth retreat he spoke at in February.

This is Fiona dressed up for "Fasching". I have not been able to investigate this holiday properly and so can tell you absolutely nothing about it except that Fiona dressed up as a fairy the week before last. They had a very big party at preschool and it was fun.

This is my little frog, green is a hard color to get off skin. She still has a hulk-tone to her. Fiona was practicing sleeping when we picked her up from Kindergarten today. They are having a "slumber" party at the preschool this friday and talked about where everyone would sleep.