AUNT TERI VISITS SALEM

The sweet little winery that we went to visit Saturday afternoon.
The beautiful landscape outside of Salem.
It is so nice to spend a relaxing Saturday together as husband and wife!
David and Teri reading the sheet that explains each wine and the elements that compose the wine.

Cooking Marathon 2009!


This weekend we were so blessed to have David’s Aunt Teri come and stay with us here in Salem. Teri took the train down from Seattle and arrived late Friday night. We didn’t stay awake too long, because we had a busy Saturday planned out for the three of us.

Saturday after coffee and chatting in the morning we headed to Costco, Roth’s (the local grocer) and then home to put away our groceries. Then we headed straight out into the cold, but LOVELY sunshine, and headed to the Witness Tree Vineyard outside of Salem. It was such a wonderful afternoon spent tasting wines and visiting together. The landscape around us was stunning and beautiful and we enjoyed great conversation and great wines.

After our time at the vineyard we headed home and began our COOKING MARATHON 2009. Teri and I love to cook together and I love learning new things from her in the kitchen, so we spent the evening cooking and laughing and taking on way too many recipes—but we enjoyed every moment of it!

Sunday morning was a whirlwind of brunch and some shopping and it was all done in the GORGEOUS Oregon sunshine! We put Teri back on train to head back to Seattle, David went to the library and I went home to do the laundry and some more applications.

We loved having our first guest come and stay with us in Salem, and our door and our extra bed is turned down for whomever wants to come next!

TRANSITIONS

When we returned to Portland after our very long flight, we were greeted by my parents. It was so wonderful of them to drive us to Salem so we could sign our lease and see our new apartment.

Afterwards we headed to Eugene and went straight to Papa's Pizza (our favorite place in the world) where we met Darin and Laura and the boys, Alisa and Rick and Elijah, and even my brother David. We were able to truly enjoy our time together before the world started to get fuzzy and we had to head to bed (at 7pm).

Our time over the next week was a whirl wind of meeting with friends and family, driving to Seattle for New Year's with friends and a visit to our Aunt Teri. We then came back to Salem and met Walt (David's Dad) and my brothers for the big move into our new place. It only took five hours because of the fantastic helpers we had and one week later we have just two boxes left to put away.

We are living in South Salem this time around, and we are making our apartment (which is a bit older than the last one) our very own and it is fun to see our things that we had so dearly missed for the past four months.

Please know that we have a two bedroom apartment for one reason, and one reason only...WE WANT TO SEE YOU! Please know that if you are in Salem, you are welcome to join us and you always have a warm bed.

Please keep us in your prayers as we head into this next chapter of our lives. David will take 14 credits this spring and then he will prepare for taking the Oregon Bar which is in July. I am looking for a teaching position and will sub in the area until something opens up.

We are transitioning back from the life that we were leading and loving and we look forward to catching up with each of you. Thank you for following along with our journey and please know that we are going to keep the blog going--it is a great way to stay in touch and keep our lives connected with others.

Happy New Year.

My brothers taking a break from moving our things into our new apartment.

CHRISTMAS and BERLIN

Kris, Walt, and Caitlin at the Hamburg Christmas Markets.

Our lovely Christmas Eve hosts, with Aunt Helga and Caitlin.
Putting the turkey into the oven...it fit....barely.
David carving our Christmas turkey.
Waiting for the early morning train.
Walt and Caitlin and I went to the concentration camp outside of Berlin. It was an amazing experience and the information and the buildings were beautifully presented so that we were able to learn so much in a short period of time.
A Berlin Christmas Market in the square with identical churches.
A piece of the Berlin Wall.
David in Berlin
David and Kris spent the day seeing things around Berlin while Walt and Caitlin and I were at the concentration camp,



After our fantastic Christmas Eve at Nadia's parents home, and then a yummy Christmas dinner at our apartment, we headed to Berlin. The history was incredible and the things that we learned was truly unique.

THE FOX FAMILY IN HAMBURG

Last weekend we celebrated the winter with a party for the people that I babysit for and some of their friends from Poland. We had a wonderful time and the kids, Noa and Noel, even stayed awake for a long night of fun. It was a very fun way to relax and enjoy the company of the people I have been working with for the 4 months we have been in Hamburg.

The champagne was flowing on Thursday because David finished his classes and finals from Bucerius Law School. On Friday I had my last work day with the kids but we are so thankful that we will get to see them one more time on the 28th. On Friday evening the Fox family arrived bleary eyed and overwhelmed with the bustling from the airport, the subway, the people and the language. After a short night’s sleep, the five of us packed up and left Hamburg on a train heading to Nuremberg.

We spent Saturday and Sunday looking at the Christmas Market (the largest and most authentic market in Germany) and going to a very interesting museum and on Monday we enjoyed the castle and took a train back to Hamburg. We are now here in our home, quite snug and cozy in our tiny little apartment, sharing the sights and the daily routine that we have enjoyed for 4 months with David’s family.

With only 7 days before we return we are overwhelmed with a sense of loss over leaving this life and the relationships that we have made for ourselves as well as having a sense of excitement at returning to our life in Salem.

We have been so blessed to find an apartment in Salem (yay for Craig’s List), so we are reassured that when we return the transition will be just that much easier. David is all registered for the spring semester, his LAST semester of Law School and the job hunt is on for me in the Salem-Keizer school district.

We will continue to pray for each of you in your time off from school, work, and life and we hope that your travels, time with your families, and holiday festivities are richly blessed and filled with an abundance of joy and laughter.

We will fill you in on our Christmas adventures with the Fox family here in Hamburg and our weekend that we will all spend in Berlin before returning to the States on the 29th.