Hallo! Grusse aus Deutschland!

(Hello! Greetings from Germany!)

Our journey has begun.  

Well, I suppose it began several weeks ago when we started planning and packing, but I can tell you now that nothing could really prepare us (maybe some other magical family, but not this one!) for the journey and adjustment it takes to move 3 girls halfway around the world.  We still have smiles on our faces, but as I write this on Saturday evening, with the girls all in bed, I am exhausted and ready for bed myself.

I don't look quite as peppy as I did when we were at the airport in Seattle, getting ready for this journey...

You may have seen a few facebook posts between then and now, but here's what our "halfway" adjusted family looked like this evening after a stroll around the neighborhood, just before dinner.  The girls LOVE playing in the sandpit/playground, literally right outside our front door.  We live in a 3 bedroom apartment (more info on that to come later) in northeast Munich.  We hear and see lots of families in the other apartments around us and there are plenty of little play areas to explore.  I've even seen several men wearing lederhosen.  Yes, they actually wear them around casually.  And here, I thought it was for "dress up." Ha!

To be honest, I'm not so sure I'm going to love having the sand play area right in front of us.  Couldn't it be something less messy, like grass or something? :)  

Below are the munchkins, on our front step.  There are 3 separate apartments in our main entrance. The girls cracked me up because the second they stepped through the community front door, they took they shoes off.  But we still had to go up 1/2 flight of stairs to get to OUR front door!  We've had to remind them several times already... at least we've got them trained to remove their shoes, right? :)
(If you don't already have our address and you'd like it, let me know.  I can send it to you.  The girls would LOVE to get mail in our new mailbox.)

When Valerie woke up from her nap yesterday, I asked her if she remembered where we were.  She said, "Of course.  Deutschland."  As if we could be anywhere else in the world!  I suppose she's right and her tone of voice said it all.  We are right where we are suppose to be.  Right where the Lord has placed us, though I'm not exactly sure of all that we'll learn, how we will grow, or what/how our perspectives will be changed.  But one thing is for certain, there's no going back and we're embracing the changes.
We may not know the language, but we can communicate a lot with a smile.
We may not understand all of the culture, but we can be polite.
And as Kate says, we may not have a car, but we can walk.  AND we have a STROLLER!
Eventually, we'll figure out the tram/bus system so that we can get around a little further afield.  But for this weekend, we're happy to explore our neighborhood!

Auf Wiedersehen.  Gute Nacht!

(Goodbye.  Good night!)