I don't know what makes one week harder to cope with than others, but this week has been such a challenging week. However, the Lord keeps teaching us and opening up doors for us, literally, in some cases.
Last Sunday, we got home from church to find that we could not get into our house because our other pair of house keys was inside...in the door. We tried for a while with no results and then finally realized we needed to pray. Almost immediately after we said the prayer, Ben put the key in, pushed the door, and we were in. We were just glad we didn't have to break yet another window!

I managed to lose my wallet...but I knew I'd find it because we always find things that we lose. After tearing through our whole house, I still couldn't find it. Later that day,though, I got a call from a man asking for me--but by my full name. Nobody here knows me by that name--except someone looking at my drivers license. Turns out, this man lived right by the doctors office that I had gone to the day before and found it on the street. EHH?? On the street?? Thank goodness for honest people. Everything was in my wallet. Again, I was amazed at the Lord's mercy and humbled at His time table. I so often want things to be found or fixed right away. Many times there's a lesson to learn.

A few highlights from our week:

We spent Saturday afternoon at the AquaZoo and the girls enjoyed seeing the penguins and sealions. Afterwards we went to a park and had some frenchfries.

We were pleased to finally get our freezer down the narrow curvy stairs to the basement--thanks to our friendly, helpful landlord, Andy. Ben and I tried to do it the night he brought it home and I about sent it down the stairs on top of him--but since he's so cute, I decided that smashing him wouldn't be a good idea.

For family night, we assembled a fort in the laundry room out of wardrobe boxes from our move. Ben even cut windows that opened and shut. Kaitlyn has since decorated it with crayons. Sometimes all a kid needs is a good box to play in, right?

I have a very understanding and "in-tune" husband. He has noticed my difficulty lately with the girls and so he took a day off work and encouraged me to get away for the day and come home whenever I wanted. Once I got over feeling totally guilty, I planned some activities and then I was outta there. I drove about an hour and a half south through some very beautiful countryside. There are some parts of Germany that are kind of bland, old and industrial--but once you get outside of the city, there are open fields and small towns dotted with church steeples and pitched roofs. I arrived at the Landschafts Museum which sat atop a hill and, while feeling very cold and wearing heeled boots on cobblestone, took a 1 hour walking tour through historical villages and homes. It was a very calm and peaceful day for me.

Then I came upon an exhibition building with these freaky wax people inside, depicting life of a German family in the 19th century--having tea of course.

I felt like Will Smith in Legacy as I approached one scene of a wife and child saying goodbye to their husband and father who was going off to fight in the war. Their feelings were so tangible and their expressions so life-like...I wanted to ask them how hard it was to say goodbye.

My next stop was the movie theater in Koln (Cologne) where I finally got to see Twilight. I quite enjoyed it and left secretly hoping that Ben was really a vampire.

But then I realized that I have something much better--a husband who makes sacrifices and knows my needs. A husband who had the kids in bed and the dishes done when I got home. And I do get to have him forever.