Thanksgiving Weekend

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend, despite missing my most favorite man in the world! I went with my friend Elizabeth to Belgium, to visit some of her friends. We stayed with a girl that works the same position in SHAPE that Elizabeth does here. It was great to have a free and comfy place to stay! On Thursday, we spent the day with Tim and Angie, a couple that leads Club Beyond in Belgium. There were 9 adults and two little one running around, so it was a good crowd to mingle with. We had a wonderful meal, watched the movie Elf, and played a couple games! It was such a great day! I felt so blessed to have met all those people that day and still have the feeling that I was with family. I was with God's family!! Here are a few pictures of the day.

Something ironic... this family was from Iowa. I think that made it feel even more like home! They knew all about farm life! When the little boy heard us talking about Iowa, he ran to his room. He came out with his Hawkeyes cap and a football! He rubbed it in my face that he was a Hawkeye fan! Even in Belgium, I can't get away from it!!

On Friday, Megan (the girl we stayed with), Elizabeth, and I traveled to Mons. It was only 20 minutes away. It was a cute little town! We did some shopping and walked around to see the buildings! We also tried out a true Belgium waffle and frites! The waffles were absolutely amazing!! I loved them and could have eaten a lot more!! That night, we tried out a restaurant in town. Then we went home and watched "slept through" a movie! It feldt so wonderful to be able to stop and relax! I haven't done that in awhile.

Elizabeth, taking a break from shopping!

On Saturday, we went on to post and went to the German Christmas market that was going on. It was inside, so Elizabeth and I were sadly not impressed. After experiencing a true German Christmas market, nothing can compare! That afternoon, we took a train ride to Brussels. The city is absolutely beautiful, especially the city square. I was in awe! They had it all set up for Christmas. I would have loved to spend more time there, but it was getting dark on it, so we took the train back home. That night was another movie!

Belgium's well known chocolate! Never even tried it!

Sunday morning we went to chapel on SHAPE. Megan was leading worship and Tim (the guy's house who we had Thanksgiving with) did the sermon, so it was great to be there. After that, it was time to head for home! It was almost a six hour drive. Elizabeth and I took turns driving to make it not so bad for one of us. We rented a car to get there and ended up driving a brand spanking new BWM. It was 6 miles on it when we got in the car in Schweinfurt. I was the first to drive it and I have to admit I was scared out of my mind. I had quite a grip on the stearing wheel. By the trip home, I was used to it. I hit a max of 110 mph and decided that was fast enough for me! The car could have done a lot more, but I was good with that!

It was a fantastic weekend! The only thing that could have made it better was having Jay with me! But, I guess I better get used to being on my own! I'm just so thankful I have such good friends to do things with!

I talked to Jay on the phone last night and I said I haven't had time to miss him yet. I haven't been home a single night since he left. Last night was going to be my first night along and a friend called to come have supper with her. I'm actually looking forward to a night alone. I've been going hard lately! Jay was glad to hear that I wasn't sulking because of his absense!

The most interesting part of Belgium.... it was street lights EVERYWHERE. They seem to be every 50 meters. Germany doesn't have street lights, so it was very obvious when we drove over the border that we were in Belgium. The lights started to give us a headache because they were so bright and we weren't used to them! We've heard a few different stories on why they have so many lights, but don't know what's true.