sunny Sunday

We are enjoying a beautiful Sunday here in Hof.

 After the wedding last weekend, guests all week, a big meeting yesterday and Papa preaching the Sunday sermon today, my parents took a well deserved afternoon nap

 then we went on a walk

 enjoyed the sunshine

and pretended to be at a fjord

almost perfect

We had a shopping afternoon today and my friend and I thought we had found the perfect winter coats (it would have even been pregnancy compatible for me), well, until we saw the price tags and all of a sudden they were not so perfect anymore...

the good thing about....

the good thing about having friends visit who know a lot of people where you live is that you get invited out a lot, so tonight a dear friend had us over for a yummy dinner and playing some games.

and a delicous panna cotta for dessert (can you see the guys starting to drool?:-))

weirdos

I really wanna hear your story if you are spending your evening with weirder people than this!

stealing

Today I am being lazy and don't post any of my own pictures but just steal some from my friend's blog, who visited us the last few days. We miss you already, Kristine!

 Kristine is one of the few people I know who can pull of those self portrait pictures where you hold out our arm as far as you can

 having a baby snuggle moment on the Charles Bridge in Prague

 only way to have a group picture - photograph a reflecting surface

and another one from at the wedding

Thai food

Had a lovely evening at my sister's place, cooking (and eating!) Thai food together and playing Phase 10.

 entertaining also for my nephew who got to watch the cook 

and learn about geography

wedding - a day late

There was no way I was gonna post on the blog when we got home from the wedding yesterday, so therefore, here come some pictures a day late...

proud Mama and son

eager groom waiting for his bride

here she comes - so beautiful

getting married outside - very romantic and very cold :-)

you may now kiss my sister (her brother married them)

the ring bearer waiting for his big entrance (he fell flat on his face while walking to the front)

 my awesome, gorgeous sister

happy parents

 guests from afar - future co-workers :-)?

such a cool location with lots of detailed decoration

roses made of serviettes

 wedding cake

Prag - Praha - Prague

We went on a day trip to Prague today!

 had awesome lunch in town square

 view from the castle

the famous Charlesbridge

preparing, decorating, picking up

Today we went to the wedding location and started decorating the place. They have chosen an old barn at a museum and have put so much thought into the very detailed decorations, it will look so wonderful on Saturday.

Now we are off to pick up our three friends, who are coming for the wedding, from the airport - so excited!

 only flavor to be added and candles to be lit...

 Oma, sister and both Mamas being very diligent

he did not exactly follow the health and safety rules, but he gets the job done :-)

...

a busy sunday

Today was quite a busy sunday, not particularly for German standards, but definitely for a Norwegian who is still in culture shock and has to listen to A LOT of German all day long.

We had a lovely sunday service in the morning (church starts at 9.30 am, big shock!) and lunch with the whole church afterwards, then we were invited to a garden BBQ party in the afternoon and in the evening we went to our youth group where I had a talk about Daniel and then we played some games after that.

Don't get me wrong, we both love being part of all of these activities, but for my poor husband it does get a bit much at the end of the day, especially because he has to sit in school in less than 10 hours.

Well, those are the pleasures of moving to another country, adjusting to a different speed of life and getting to know another culture and language. I remember that I was tired all the time for the first months in Norway, so I think it is very normal for Erlend to feel the same way now. We would appreciate your prayers, that Erlend would be able to get through this first phase and that I would be a good help and support to him, especially as a busy week lies ahead. Thank you!

 lots of good food...

... all day long...maybe that is also a reason for the tiredness? :-) 

favorite section

Erlend still loves going to the supermarket here because to him everything is soooo cheap (and compared to Norwegian prices - IT IS!)

his favorite section - the one with all the meat! (jealous, Markus? :-))

pick me up lunch

When Erlend comes home from school every day he is usually pretty tired. Who can blame him, he has to think about German grammar all morning, that would make everybodies head spin.

So todays picture is of one of the things that cheer him up when he comes home...

...a big lunch

It's a...

We went to our first ultrasound appointment in Germany today and found out a few interesting things. We were thrilled to hear that it will be, and I quote "most likely a girl" end of quote.
We were also told that the due date is earlier than we first thought, so it looks like the baby will come in the last week of January!

We are so thankful for what looks like a very normal and healthy baby as our doctors said. Praise the Lord!

Here, as requested, a bump picture

Nominativ, Akkusativ, Dativ und Genitiv

Erlend is having a hard time with grammar these days and to be honest so do I. I have no (as in NOOOOUUUU) idea about German grammar, so we were VERY happy when Flori, our very soon to be sister in law, took some time today to explain the basics of the pit of quick sand that is German grammar to a very desperate Norwegian (and his German wife). Danke Flori!

scared - it won't be an easy few months

I really do understand him, because I remember these times

game night

Enjoying game night at with my parents (just missing Oma in our round of 'usual suspects').

Hauskreis

Today one of the home groups we attend met at our place and we talked about prayer, specifically the prayer in Daniel chapter 9. It was so nice to talk about God's word together, share prayer requests and just hang out. We are looking forward to being part of that group over the next year.

no home group with out snacks and drinks :-)

Paperwork sucks

1.Schultag

We have a tradition in Germany that I have not seen practiced in any other country and it is called the "Schultüte". It is basically a cone-shaped bag that every first grader gets on his or her first day at school. Usually it is filled with sweets and school supplies.

Since Erlend started his Germany course today, my sister Chrissi and me made him his very own Schultüte. He loved it!
We would appreciate your prayers for him over the next months as he joined an advanced course. It will be a lot of hard work to catch up on all the grammar which was already taught in the basic course (for which Erlend is too advanced and which would only start again in January). Since studying grammar is to Erlend what going to the dentist is to most people, you can see why he needs all the prayer he can get.

 Proud Erlend in front of our landlord's very cool garage door

What was in the Schultüte

Mexican

We went to my favorite restaurant in the Hofer area today and had some awesome Mexican food. The restaurant is located very close to the boarder to the Czech republic so we went over to fuel up our car which Erlend thought was a totally blog-worthy fact and I did not see anything special in it... hello, cross-cultural marriage :-).

 we went with our favorite "we will be married in 3 weeks" couple :-)

Erlend and Fips desperately searching for the meat in the fajita while despising the vegetables :-)

it is official

Today Erlend and I moved officially to Hof. I have to say it was a lot easier than me moving to Norway and we are so thankful for how well it went today at all the official offices we had to go to.

Praise the Lord!

I was thinking what kind of picture I could post, but I guess, a picture of the number we had to draw to get in line and wait there for several hours today would not be too interesting, so I thought I would post pictures of the beautiful town we will be living in. I know it does not have a beach or mountains, but it is in general very hard to compete with the beauty of the nature of Norway. Nonetheless we think that  Hof still has its charms, we even have a lake :-).

 our coat of arms

 in German this is called the "Rathaus", even though there are usually no animals inside - 

it is just city hall

our "Untreusee" - literally translated it means Unfaithful lake