New Friends

A few weeks ago I got an email from a lady who found my blog.  Her and her husband are debating on whether or not to move to Germany.  She said that my faith really stood out to her and she wanted to know if her and her husband could meet me and Collin for coffee or dinner.  After talking with Collin we decided that would be fun and a great opportunity to share with others who are considering doing what we did.

They flew to Germany from a town outside of Chicago on Sunday.  Then drove 1.5 hours to meet us for dinner in Heidelberg.  I asked my friend, Jane, to watch Caden for us.  This is the second time she's watched him and she put him to bed both times.  What a blessing!  And this all happened at her house, wow!  None of his grandparents have been able to put him to sleep.  In fact, besides us, she's the only other person. 

Anyway, we met Anna and Paul who are around our ages.  They came to check out Paul's company over here and see what they thought of Germany.  They got married a year ago and would love to have children.  So I shared my experience of having a child in Germany, which was fantastic, and the pros and cons of living overseas.  I told her there will be lots of excitement and joy but also plenty of dark days as well.  Reality sets in when your husband goes off to work the first day and you're stuck at a hotel and say to him as he's walking out the door, "what am I going to do all day?"  Then you explore the city and can't find anyone who will speak English to you and say to yourself, "what have we done?!"  With time you'll learn some of the language, make friends and adjust.  By living overseas, you'll also have opportunities to travel and see things you never would have if you didn't take the leap over the ocean.

We really enjoyed our time with Anna and Paul and hope to get to know them better in the future through email and phone calls.  One great thing about being a Christian is you can find friends almost everywhere you go.  We'll be praying for you, Paul and Anna.

We invited them over to see our house after we ate dinner.  German houses are different than most American homes.