Another Week Gone By

I'm thankful another week has gone by, which means we are that much closer to some wonderful men coming home. I'm excited for all of them, but really just focused on one of them! I'm so glad when each weekend shows up because that means I can lower the count that much more! So exciting!!

This week hasn't been too eventful. I haven't taken anything picture worthy or really even worthy to talk about. But I have to talk about something!! I spent lots of time at school, subbing and filing papers! I taught in 1st and 5th grade. Let's just say, that after being in both grades, I know that God made me to be an upper elementary teacher. I'm not a fan of the constant "my finger hurts," "I'm hungry," "I need a band-aid." Instead, I absolutely love having the older kids, holding actual conversations with them, and being able to have some fun. When I tried to have fun and joke with the first graders they would go wild. If I said something sarcastic, they would take me seriously. The older kids understand me much better. I bet some of my love for the fifth grade class had to do that those were my fourth graders last year. They knew me, so we were able to have a good time! This week I'm already scheduled for art and the same fifth grade class. I'm really excited for both of them!

In my "spare time", I've been doing a lot of research for our block leave trip. Jay gets a month off and we are going to use it to travel to some really cool destinations. I have booked us on a safari in Kenya and Tansania. I'm so excited for it!! It will be a true safari, with us sleeping under the stars and cooking all of our own meals. We will cross many miles of open land, hoping to see lots of animals. It's a good thing I will have a fantastic photographer (Jay) with me to get some great pictures. All these books....

We've been looking for another warm place to go. We'll have a couple weeks left once we get home from Africa. It may be our last opportunity to take a long trip, so we want to make the most of it. We finally decided to stay in Crete and travel to all the Greek Islands. It won't be the warmest place, but it's the best we can do during the winter. It will still be great! We won't be laying on the beach in swin suits, but we will get to see some amazing views of the islands. I can't wait for December to come around. But before that happens, I need a man to come home and a family to come visit!! Lots to look forward to!!

On another note... the weather around here has been absolutely wonderful. We are definitely in the midst of fall. It has been down in the 30's in the morning, but then warms up to the 60's during the day. The leaves are just starting to turn. This could be my favorite part about Germany. I absolutely love it here in the fall. My favorite thing to do is go for a walk and admire how awesome God's creation is. He made it all so perfect. The past two nights as I have sat in my living room, I have watched these float by....

The weather has been so perfect for them. Riding in a hot air balloon has been a dream of mine for a long time! Before I die, I sure hope I have the opportunity to be soaring in the sky. We looked into going up in one while in Tanzania, but it would cost $500 a person. We thought we could probably find a cheaper option somewhere else. Someday....

Hope everyone has a great week!! Enjoy these beautiful days!!!