Day 2: Köln

Today was our lazy day.

It. Was. Lovely.

I read little bits of all of these books:

If by Amy Carmichael

7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Something like Lifestyle Evangelism by Jerry Bridges...or maybe that was Trusting God

With Christ in the school of Prayer, Andrew Murray

and all of The Liberty of Obedience by Elisabeth Elliot.

We went to a lovely park and walked around the lake and then I read while Karlien did 2 more laps.

We walked back and stopped at McDonald's on the way because it was a nice halfway point and Karlien was actually craving chicken nuggets.

Church was cool--I could understand the songs and then he preached in English. :) I'm not really good at estimating how many people were there because I was in the living room and it overflowed to the kitchen. But probably 20-30.

Then we all chilled out, as is necessary after the best church services.

The two adorable children of one of the other church plant couples (one a Buckeye and one a German) played with my hair, and it got brushed as much in that hour as it has total in about the last 6 months. (I may or may not have intentionally left my hairbrush in the trash in Dresden because I don't need it and I don't see a need for it in my future. Feel free to try to convince me otherwise, but I want picture proof that my hair needs it. ;) They were ADORABLE and so well-behaved. I love love LOVE watching parents and children interact--especially ones who are trying to raise their kids according to Biblical principles. Lovely.

And then we got Italian Eis--SPAGHETTI EIS!-- and watched "The Boys are Back" which was a good movie. Now I'm going to take a shower and go to bed and take on Köln part two tomorrow!

Family, I miss you so keep writing on your blogs (PLEASE!) and I'm sad that our time here is going fast but really happy that it makes it so much faster to get home! On the first morning at breakfast when we said we'd been here for 11 weeks, Lori said "Well that's enough to get homesick" and I said, "Ehhh..." and Karlien said, "Katie, you're homesick, admit it." I just pace myself--I don't get "homesick" until 2 weeks before I'm going to be back, only I timed it a bit wrong and made it 2 weeks before leaving Dresden. And I don't get sad homesick, I just get really really excited to see you all. :) I miss my Kent family too--don't feel left out now. I'm looking forward to the sense of community and fitting into a lovely group. :-)

BUT we have another half of Köln sightseeing to do, and then a couple days in Bruge (which, Abby, is not equal to Brugge in Germany but Brugg in Belgium ;) and then a couple days in Amsterdam! :-D And then home! hurrah!

Should PROBABLY brush my teeth. Sleep=good. And the pillows are lovely and a mattress on the floor is better than a ..."real" bed that's harder.

Sooooooooooo...good night dear readers!

And pray that I don't get sick--I don't know if it's tiredness or dehydration or Karlien's cold, but my throat's a little ehn. Just make the noise and you'll know what I mean. ;)

Bis bald! (Until soon!)