Jutta's 60th Birthday Celebration

Happy 60th Birthday! Jutta celebrated with all of her siblings her 60th birthday on May 1st. Jutta has 9 brothers and sisters, with spouses and children. The family stayed in the church lodge over the weekend and enjoyed fellowshiping together -grilling, hiking, table tennis, volleyball and Kups (a sweedish game)The family took a hike up into the Hartz mountains to enjoy ice-cream at a mountain restaraunt. We hiked along the stream which makes its decent over large stones in the shade of the evergreen tress.
A view of the valley below where the town of Wernigerode lays (Raphael's home town). David and Anke's baby, Elizabeth, has already begun to wobble and walk.Picnicing on the way. A break at the mountian restraunt gives little tummies renewed energy. Elizabeth is busy making so many squeels and sounds.

We enjoyed sitting out in the sun beside the church lodge (otherwise you found yourself getting cold in the shade).
Ulrike has six more weeks before she gives birth to a baby boy.

Proud Papa Christoph (Ulrike's husband) loves his daughter Helena. She is so cute and loves Raphael. She already has several pet names for him: aphaie and raphieline. She's always asking where he is and she loves to play with him (a special honor, because she is very particular with who she trusts).


Martin is playing a game of Kups with Friedrich (his grandson) and his nieces. Friedrich is the son of Sebastian and Maria, Raphael's oldest brother.
Cousins, Aunts and Uncles. The little baby standing is Elizabeth. She is learning her first steps.

Christoph sporting a very lovely "Helena" hat.
Elizabeth and Raphael. He's a natural!
Raps fields are scattered along the country side surrounding Wernigerode. It is an incredible sight to see, large yellow carpets contrasting to the deep blue sky. (I am standing normally.)

Raphael's dog Ordash

Easter Vacation

Raphael and I were wondering what we should do with our long Easter vacation. (I had Fri. and Mon. off from work) Friday rolled around and we still didn't have plans. The weather was predicted to be perfect and Europe was yet to be explored so we decided to take a road trip. Why not enjoy God's beautiful creation, and we are so close to many majestic sights. Including Bodensee (the largest lake in Germany with the Alps as a backdrop)

So Saturday morning came quick in the midst of our last minute planning. In fact, we had a lot of trouble trying to rent a car (Easter is a busy season for travelers). We managed to book the cheapest smallest car in two hours only to find that the car rental company didn't have any small cars available. "Would you be interested in this upgrade?" as we peered out to see this SUV sitting in the lot. "SURE" we could hardly contain our excitement. (We had toyed with the idea of renting a larger car, in the hopes that we could sleep in it and save money, but renting large is extremely expensive).

And so for our measly economy car rental price we ended up with a driving hotel. We bought a double size air mattress and took our blankets and pillows and our portable campsite was ready in minutes.
Our first destination was the Bodensee. We spent the day walking around on a small island there and took a paddle boat ride to catch the sun and view.

Of course we enjoyed some ice cream - Spaghetti ice - the ice cream looks like noodles with strawberry sauce and white chocolate chunks which looked like Parmesan. Yummy!

Up by the light house by the island's small harbor. You can take a ferry across the lake to Switzerland. That evening we drove around the lake and slept in, what we realized the next morning, a park. We were greeted the next morning with bicyclists and joggers passing by.


We traveled to Zurich and ambled our way through the old streets admiring the architecture. We stopped in a cathedral to enjoy some Easter music.

Back into the countryside, this time headed to the Black Forest in Germany. We made our way to a small lake that Raphael's father recommended called Titisee.

We slept in the parking lot by the lake, and found the temperatures to be a bit on the frosty side. We woke up very early in the morning and had to defrost ourselves. We drove our bed around and caught the sun rising over the lake. By day two we were feeling like we needed some freshening-up, so we did a little bathing in sub temp. mountain water. Raphael is much more brave when it comes to cold water. I caught him here shaving his face.

I would love to have stream inside my bathroom, especially if it has temperature control. The country side in the Black Forest is breath-taking.

We returned to Titisee and again enjoyed another paddle boat ride. (Doesn't this remind you of a Bob Ross painting?)



By early afternoon we were ready to see something new and decided to make a visit to France. It blows my mind that everything is so close. I never dreamed of a spur of the moment trip into France.
Along the way driving through the countryside.

A short stop to have a picnic and enjoy the sunshine in some farmer's cow field.
Below is a little French village (which use to be a fort). This is the center square. The rest of the town and surrounding walls are in the shape of a star.

Along the Rhine River, on the French side.

We had a glorious 3 day adventure.

Birthday of Maria (Raphael's sister-in-law)

"Uncle Raphael" keeping his nephews in-line.

"Cafe trinken" or literal translation "coffee drinking". Tea time with 3 birthday kuchen (cakes). From left to right: grandfather of Maria, Martin (Raphael's dad), Jutta (Raphael's mom) Lousia (our niece), Maria (sister-in-law), Carl (our nephew) Sebastian (Raphael's brother), Friedrich (our nephew), Raphael.

Day trip to Berlin

Berliner Dom - a cathedral on Museum Island
While spending a week vacation with Raphael's parents in Wernigerode, we decided to take a day trip to Berlin. Neither one of us had never really visited the city before. We planned our sightseeing route in the car on the way there using a tour book I had purchased 3 years ago. At one point we thought we would both be living, working and studying in Berlin instead of Munich.

Brandenburger Tor
The bomb-damaged Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche. The church is now an empty shell.
Potsdamer Platz - once again a busy hub of city life. The war almost completely destroyed this area. In 1992 reconstruction began to restore the square's life and it has now become an ultra modern business and financial district.
The Reichstag - the German Parliament building.

Up on the roof of the German Parliament building enjoying the 365 degree view. Never would have been able to do something like this in the states on top of the capital building.

Raphael and I enjoyed a rickshaw ride through the city. Our cyclist gave us a mini tour as he pushed his way along the busy streets. He also knew no fear - demanding his right-of-way through busy intersections or confronting jeering pedestrians on a sidewalk detour. Raphael and I had to giggle in the back.

Checkpoint Charlie-

the border crossing between the American and Soviet sectors during the Cold War.

One of the last remaining sections of the Berlin wall. It was once protected to the east by land mines and was known as the "Anti-Fascist Protection Wall." It was 95 miles long. This is the sight where the SS headquarters stood and the group of buildings where the decisions about the Germanization of the occupied territories were made, as well as plans on the genocide of European Jews.
After Wold War II, the buildings were pulled down. All that remains are the cellars that were once torture cells. An exhibitions is mounted there documenting Nazi crimes.
This line of stones cuts through streets and sidewalks outlining the once East Berlin. Once the Berlin Wall stood here 13 feet high with a "death zone" patrolled by guards with dogs. We are so thankful that this dividing line is no longer a reality. Our life together would not have been possible under these circumstances.

Marriage Weekend

March 2,2007 (6 months after the wedding)

As a wedding present, we received a marriage weekend from Raphael's brothers and sister. We enjoyed the weekend and the opportunity to learn more about each other and how to grow a healthy, loving marriage. I think we have a good start. Nothing is sweeter and better than to be able to pray with your husband!

Bike Tour

Raphael and I had cabin fever and needed to get out of the house. The sun was shining and it was the first real warm day since sometime back in fall. Spontaneously we decided to ride our bikes to a town south of Munich. I had always heard that this town is very picturesque and I thought it would be fun to explore it. And the ride would be along the beautiful river Isar.
You can faintly see the Alps on the horizon. This was a fun an exciting discovery after literally climbing up a 20 something percent grade to get to this plateau. After 3 1/2 hours and a few detours, we finally made it to our destination...only to realize that I had already been there. (oops -didn't realize that on the church retreat we had gone here to see its Christmas market) But it was still lovely, and we pigged out on a variety of kuchen (cakes) at a local coffee shop before trekking back home.

Work Place

Here is my desk at the office. I share a room with another young girl who sits across from me. My boss sits in the room next door. Pretty simple and bare.