We found this great little castle driving home one day. We took a wrong turn out of the city (Duane said he did it intentionally) and we found this wonderful little place. It even has a moat.

Looking out our bedroom window at sunset. Gorgeous, right?

This was in front of us driving down the street and we thought it was cute. We have a baby girl due in a few weeks and I finished her quilt just in time. Hopefully it will make it to her house before she does.

 This flower arrangement looks like Melanie made it, right? Through the marvels of technology she told me how to make these flowers into a lovely centerpiece. I wonder if Megan could walk Duane through cutting my hair?     Spring in central Jena. Gorgeous weather.

International Home Evening. Because there are so many countries represented in this great group of people they decided they needed to share some of their heritage. They did power point presentations and brought something to eat that represented their country. We had fabulous cold cucumber soup, Irish Stew, Guatemalan Stew (sorry Pedro, I don't remember what you called it), and other delicious things! It all tasted wonderful and the presentations were amazing. What represented USA you ask? Chocolate chip cookies and McRibs of course! Not only are these kids fun, they are creative and fabulous cooks!!

 Walking out our front door into the middle of campus has become a very busy place. Students are spending more time outdoors and there is more bike and foot traffic. One gorgeous day we took a walk past the busyness of the platz. We only had to go about 3 blocks to find this old Lutheran Church from about the late 1700s and the cemetery that surrounds it. You know how much I love cemeteries. I took tons of pictures! This is just one small corner.

Just up the street from the church is a magnificent botanical garden. Can you see the fish? Are these pirhana? The sign said they were. It was so nice to walk through the gardens and witness such a variety of amazing plants - large and small!

This wonderful gentleman taught Sunday School this Sunday. He was talking about the sacredness of the holy scriptures and how they have evolved from the original scripts. He showed us this Bible from 1752 and compared several verses from this bible with current scripture. It brought to mind - We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly! The mother of this darling family is my translator when I speak in Sacrament Meeting. She is so fun to work with and her kids are absolute dolls. We may have been a little irreverent this week but we had a good time giving my talk!

It was a wonderful Mothers' Day week. We drove to a city 1 1/2 hours away to welcome a new missionary couple. The city is far away from other missionaries and the branch is very small. It was wonderful to meet them and help them get settled in. The next day we drove to another small town to deliver some beds. I wish I had a picture so you'll have to imagine - two boxes going from almost the front windshield to the back window (about 4" x 10" x 8'), two rolled up mattresses, two elders and us in an Opel. It was too crowded to get a picture. Everything was delivered safe and sound, laughing all the way. We also got to go to the Freiberg Temple again. It was packed. It was fun to see people from Jena and from the States. Plants were given to the Mothers and mothers to be at church and the elders came to our apartment to call home and use computers to Skype. So of course they made me dinner while they were here! Their mothers should be proud! I got to talk to 4 of my kids and all 12 grandkids and got messages from my other two.

I got to talk to this little bundle of chubbiness. He was born two weeks after we left so I got to hug him as much as Skype would allow. At church Duane was asked (we were both asked but I couldn't do it without crying) to tell a story about our mothers. He made my mother sound like a circus act and his mother a saint but it was perfect. I'm sure he told the stories our mothers wanted shared. A couple of other people also told hilarious stories about their mothers so it was not a sad time like it sometimes is. It was a wonderful Mothers' Day!! 

My foot is much better today. I have walked as little as possible, taken ibuprofen, lots of water and iced it. We think we have figured out what happened. Because of the delicious food in Germany and not wanting to not eat it I have decided I needed more exercise to compensate for the additional calories. .So.....everyday for the last month I run down 8 flights of stairs trying to beat the elevator that Duane is riding in with our stuff. He can hear me clomp, clomp, clomping down the 24 stairs on each flight of stairs that wrap around the elevator and offers encouragement as he goes by. I run down 2 or 3 times a day and run up the last two flights when we come home. I bought new shoes about two weeks ago that are very comfortable but do not have the support of my worn out shoes. After some research it looks like I have "Turf Toe." Usually football players get it from running on turf instead of grass. I got tennis elbow from making loom hats and now I have turf toe from running stairs. Who knew I was so athletic!!

This was part of our week. Love visits with the Elders, love watching these yellow fields get even brighter, love driving through the forest (this may have been a footpath, oops) and not love having a hurt foot! We absolutely love what we are doing. The youth are fantastic, enthusiastic, caring and driven to be positive assets to society. They are also hearty eaters and will eat anything (almost) put in front of them. It is such an honor and privilege to be here.