Vacation and move

Hello everyone!

There we are, living in our new home decorated with beautiful full, half full and empty boxes all over the place! :-) We are having lots of fun unpacking them and finding out what`s inside.. (In most cases, they are labeled but it still is often a surprise what exactly appears. It almost feels like sinterklaas ( of Christmas ) sometimes:-)

Lukas had a week off, which we gratefully spend on this `boxes project` in trying to make our new home look more cosy. We decided not to pack stuff (because then, unpacking and packing at the same time didn`t make so much sense plus the weather didn`t help) and to camping for a couple of days. Since living in our new app. for the first week Felt like a vacationhome - we made lots of fun trips and just returned to our vacation home at night to rest.
We love our new home and are absolutely thankful for all the help we received packing and moving. My best friend from holland came with my mom and Jan-Peter to help me pack the heavy stuff. Jan-Peter has proved to be our muscle man and carried around somuch full, overloaded boxes in one day that I thought he would fall down somewhere in between, but he didn`t. They were great.
Then on the day of the actual move, we had a Lucerne-priesthood team down our 8stairs, who carried everything down in a chain so amazingly fast that I almost couldn`t follow nor believe it with my own eyes.

With two busses (one from Lukas`s brother and the other from my work), lukas and I each drove one to our new home in kanton Bern.
There awaited us a new priesthood-brother team, that builded another chain into our new appartment.
Without the huge help from everyone, we would not have made it. Thank you all soo much!

Last week, we spent one day making a 3-lake-trip on a boat starting in Biel/Bienne. I even got a foot-massage on the boat! The weather was gorgious and the city we left the boat ( Morat/ Murten / Mont Vully) was worth spending some time..

We also spend our first ! anniversery visiting the Temple, making a trip and taking a wonderful walk. I can`t believe we have been married for 1 year now.. It feels like yesterday and we enjoy eachothers company and love eachother more everyday...

After one year Lucerne, I am so curious what adventures and blessings are awaiting us here in Kanton Bern... I am positive that it will at least be as fantastic as the past year... !

Finally we had (made) time to cut lukas`s hair. There is a before- and after picture:-) Expecially for Josien: His exam-beard became his `vacation-beard` now.. :-)

Moving...

For everyone who`s interested in what our new appartment looks like... : The first 1/3rd part is moved! Next Saturday, part 2.. to be continued....;-)

1-0!!

They won!!!! Against all expectations... it was indeed a tough match, but - they - won! And made my day! I even wore my orange unox- hat and we wore our jackets at the market. It wasn`t that cold, it was even entertaining selling these packagas of food, and we did pretty good selling them.. even if I say so myself..
Ofcourse we forgat to take a picture at the stand, but we took one afterwards at home.
This is what we looked like:



























And this is the product Lukas`s sister is selling:
http://www.huebner-bio-line.com/Willkommen_bei_Huebner_Bio_Line.html
As a present, we got a couple of meals of our favorite kind from lukas`s sister: Linzen mit curry-kokonut taste.. hmmmmm! Ready in 10 minutes.Just add water, wonderful!

At this bio market, we bought the best snack I EVER had: Dried (getrocknete) Mango/Kokos (kokonut?) from Ghana, Africa. (Somuch for BIO and going for products grown near by, from the Region! Haha) But it was soooo good. We just ate the last bit: looked like this:













And then, last but not least..
If you live here 1 year, you have to have your drivers license exchanged into a Swiss licence. Bye bye Dutch license! They took it too!!:-( It would have been expired soon anyways.. So... this is my 3rd drivers license. They have cool swiss crosses reflected by the light ! Bling bling!

Josien must be having a baby really soon now.. By chance I found this old picture of the cutest drooler in the world.. Jared in August 2007.. I can`t wait for the next cute drooler to come into this world! Goodluck Josien!

Hup, Holland, Hup

Today, Holland is playing! I`m curious how they will do against Japan.. It`s gonna be a tough game..
Also, today, in the pooooring rain, we will go help out Lukas`s youngest sister selling this healthy bioline product (really healthy, fast, just add water, ready to eat in 15 minutes- packages of rice, linzen, corn, etc. spiced really wonderfull and all for 10 frances a package- am I not a good seller?) - at a market (yes outside!) but we are waring our orange t-shirts and we will make the most of it... I will try to make a rainy-goodmooded picture of us!

These last 2 weeks I have been busy doing lots of things but especially filling out the taxes-papers from holland still. Appears if you immigrate there is 96 (PLUS the a, b, c, d, sometimes it goes till j, k and n!!!) questions to fill out. Each with a gigantic `read the instructions before filling out maybe you don`t have to fill it out` explanation to them. It made me really crazy. I made a picture of me after doing this tax-thing the whole day. Yes. Pretty CrAzY!!! BUT, with a little help from Josien and from the tax-phone that I called toooo often (ofcourse there is a loooong waiting time that makes one more frustrated), (not to speak of when the employees that are supposed to KNOW and be able to help you go: `Ohw.. yeah.. that is indeed a very good question.. hmm.. wait a second.. let me read that first..`---- More annoying music!!!!!---- And then when he`s back: `Yes. Its like this...: Then I go: But what if... then he goes.. `Yes.. hmmm. Right.. Wait a second I`not sure.... hmmm good question again`. `I GUESS you`re right.. `I: But what if.. cause it says there.. `Ohw. yeah.. I suppose that.... ` WHAAGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Thanks, that helped a lot.
BUT, it -thank goodness- is really, almost done now. Almost time to celebrate..

Now that the tulip season is almost over, and since doesn`t seem to stop raining today, I thought I`d put some pic`s in that I found and made last year, driving back from work. Pretty close to home, I drove by these amazing tulip fields.
Also, some sunny pic`s of the Magnolia, my favorite tree, and the Iris, my favorite flower. Pretty pretty huh??

I`ll put some Orange T-shirt-pictures and our market-selling-experience-story up next time!

Have a great weekend!

Föhn wind... & APPARTMENT!

Here in Switserland they have something called `Föhn`. Not a blowdryer, because that is exactly the same word, but you will regularly here them say, look, `there`s a Föhn again.`
When that is the case, the mountains surrounding Lucerne appear so close all of a sudden, like they are right there on your doorstep. I always feel like taking a walk and after 100 meter I can step right up to the mountain! (Where for real, they are many km. away).
Anyways, this föne wind brings often very warm temperatures, and it caused last night to be the first `tropical night` in Lucerne. (above 20 degrees celcius)
If I would have know, I would have slept outside.. But maybe that is not such a good idea here.. I remember we used to do it at home, on top of meters of fresh harvested, packed up straw. What a great vieuw we had, stars everywhere...

I am going to miss the mountains here, we have such a beautiful vieuw almost all the time.. But Bern will bring us new adventures.. We actually looked at an appartment we really liked last week (3 rooms, big living room, smaller kitchen, 1st floor, AND... A BALCONY!!! jeaah. A really old building, but the inside renovated 2 years ago. Really pretty. It is a really bad picture, but this is what it looks like from the outside: http://www.immoscout24.ch/IS24Web/_V2/Detail.aspx?cat=1&type=1&realty=1&extended=0&tab=0&city=Aarberg&searchtext=Aarberg&country=1&page=1&total=20&wl=1&lng=de&objectid=1758839&index=9 We have prayed that it will become ours.. Ill keep you posted.

Last saturday Lukas and I had a fun time at the `Sempachersee`. They call it a `sea` here but it is a little.. hmm pond? But bigger than a pond. He rode me there in my wheelchair, and we had a releaxing time and enjoyed the vieuws. We tried to take a picture of a beautiful `duc` that was ducking down, to appear again about 20 meters from where he went down. Each time he was right in front of us, and had my camera in action, he quickly dissapeared again. That happend like 6 or 7 times, it was like he was playing a game with us! Lukas managed to take a pic of him a little farther off.
The weather was really nice, we staied there until about 9 pm, Lukas was studying (that`s his `prüfungsbard or exambeard`, so he calles it:-) and I was embroidering??. That is a new hobby and I`m not sure if I spelled that right! But it has to do with a needle and some cotton threads. :-) It `s really releaxing. All you do is make lots and lots of crosses over and over again:-) May sound boring but to me it is fantasticly therapeutic and releaxing. But I think I already said that. :)

OH MY GOODNESS...
OKEY. That is a prayer answered right there!
The guy we would rent our new appartment from, just called me as I am writing this post. Tells me he has 2 other families wanting our appartment.
He just said: I would like to give it to you guys, and will send you the paperwork.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Even though it is free from today on, and even though we need it in 2 months. (So that is 2 months of rent-money gone for him.. Wow.
I can`t believe my ears and am so happy that I am jumping for freude!! But not really cause that would not be good for the meniscus!!!!!!!!! But my heart is!!
Wow. THANK YOU Heavenly Father!!!!

So wanted to share that happy news!!
Pictures asap!

Have a great one!
I sure will!!
:-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-)))))))))))))))