Aria and Nina with their sweet Oma and Opa
Oma and Opa with all of their 7 grandchildren!
Here we are, all together! David's Oma and Opa also got in on the picture. (You can click on the picture to make it bigger.)
I am so very thankful for the second family I have been blessed with by marrying David!
David and I just finished packing the last suitcase... what a relief! We decided to take only three suitcases with us, due to the fact that three is a lot easier than four to look after. Also, the little taxi cars that will be awaiting us at our final destination are not quite big enough to hold 4 suitcases, and we don't feel it would be safe to split up and take 2 taxis. So, we stuffed everything we could into those three dependable suitcases of ours. Of course, we are going to have to pay some overweight, but we feel like we've done the best that we could. Aria's little backpack is full of fun toys, stickers, colored pencils, and paper that will hopefully keep her and her little sister entertained through all the upcoming travels.
Tomorrow morning we will be leaving for the airport, and hope to arrive in Moscow in the evening. Of course, good-byes are never fun to say, and we have truly had such a wonderful time here in Germany, of which we are so thankful! Yet, we also believe that it is time to 'get back at it'! :D
We are SO thankful for how He worked everything out for us to receive our visas in time! (They arrived just yesterday morning!) We did have a little 'glitch' in the whole visa process. To make a long story short, they had changed the rules for American citizens. Instead of taking the normal 3 days (which is what it takes for German citizens), it now takes 10 days to get a visa. Well, David pleaded with them, and we thought a LOT about it, and here, they gave me a visa in 3 days too! So, we are absolutely thrilled it all worked out, and consider it a definite showing of His power, for sure!
Oh, and then there is our poor little Aria! (Who knows what will be next?!?!) She has been taking an antibiotic for her recent ear infection for the last week. Well, yesterday morning, I was shocked when I looked at her and noticed that her face and arms were completely red! What in the world was going on?!?! At first we thought she was having an allergic reaction, as she had just eaten a bunch of sour berries from Oma's little garden. Yet this morning, we noticed that it was getting worse, and her legs, feet and stomache were also now red. What to do?!?! After spending the morning with our family group, all four of us went to the 'emergency' children's doctor to check it out. The doctor told us that she is having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic that she has been taking. The redness should go away in 3-4 days. Yet, then we thought... will they let us through the border checks at the airport when they see Aria? Perhaps they will think she has some contagious illness? So, the doctor wrote up a paper, explaining that she is just having an allergic reaction, that we can pass onto those at the border checks. Hopefully they won't even notice (yet, it's kinda hard not too)!
Next post will be from Asia! :D Thanks for your thoughts everyone! (We need them!!!)