Apples and Walks

Our little apple tree in the front yard was drooping, weighed down by heavy apples. So, we harvested them to lighten its burden a little bit. It is still droopy. Fall then winter will come, the leaves will fall and then the branches will harden. It will be an ugly little tree for a while, but next spring it will blossom and in summer it will give us delicious fruit again. For now, getting closer to the end of summer, we will peel the apples and make some apple strudel and give it to our neighbors, for surely they have laughed at our poor little droopy tree for several months now.

I have loved the chance to experience seasons once more in my life. After living in Arizona for so long, I had forgotten about them...and I had also forgotten what life lessons the seasons can teach. For me, the summer has taught me to enjoy the beautiful days because surely cold and rainy ones will come. One might never think, especially someone from Arizona, that a summer could be cold, but I assure you that we have worn coats on more than one occasion since summer began. Sometimes I live in the "summers of life", days with little rain and long periods of daylight and I ignorantly believe that the rain will never come. If I knew for a fact that it would never rain, I would not enjoy the beautiful, clear blue days. So, once again, seasons have taught me that if there were not opposition in all things, there would be no joy.

After 2 weeks, this handsome fellow is finally headed back to work after a lung infection (unspecified). He spent 2 weeks at home with us and, though he is still coughing like a smoker, he is returning to "real life". He starts teaching early morning seminary next week and also recently was asked to teach 2 times a month in Elders Quorum. Between the 2 of us, we have 14 people/families to visit each month for visiting and home teaching. And then of course my calling in the ward keeps me a little busy. We love our ward and we love to help others, and we know that it will bring only blessings to us...even if we are in a mental institution when its all over. ;)



Here we are, 4 of the 6 American women in our Düsseldorf Ward. Together, the 6 of us contribute 19 of the 30 or so primary children. We had a fun summer BBQ at the church the other day, complete with steaks, face painting and water balloons! Fun!

This is Rachel--a single, recently engaged girl that we put up in our house for 3 weeks. The girls really loved her and she helped us out a lot. She's back in the motherland now!


Our 80's rocker-look alike. This little girl loves to go and wash her hair in the guest bathroom and she came out one day looking so darn hilarious. She is just so hygenic. Now if only we could get her to stop drawing on walls and ripping pages out of library books!!



Crew of children on our block. Kaitlyn is frequently on the street or running from house to house with them. Its been great for her...she has fun and her German is progressing well .