home?

This is m first entry writing from Europa in the Brede house on Schieggstraße, to be exact, in Bayern, Germany (Bavaria). It is beautiful and their house is one of the many restored houses that have been here since the early 1900s. All these specific houses have been protected by law from being torn down, snf I think it's lovely because it preserves the quality of this region's history. While very grand and picturesque, they are all very different, with a lot of character and architectural design. No one seems to like thick, heavy curtains, and most houses don't really bother with them at all in this neighborhood. People feel very safe and Claudia (the mother in the family) even urged me to go on a solitarz walk right as the sun was going down..but I was far from alone by any means. There were quite a few women walking home by themselves carrying bags and purses. The eight year old boy Niclas even takes his scooter to school by himself every day! Hauke (the father) was explaining how safe things were and how many police officers are always patrolling and pulling people over for random breathalizer tests. Hauke had even been pulled over for one of these routine checks the other night.

When I first got off the plane I began speaking with a man from Costa Rica and we had a great conversation in Spanish. Turns out he travels here often for business and gave me his business card. I wasnt planning on phoning him, but it was so good to speak a common language like Spanish is so strange a place to me as Germany! I also met a woman who had moved from the States to a town an hour outside of Munchen and she gave me her business card and told me to call her if I wanted to go to the Hospel life Centre one day. It definitely made me feel more comfortable meeting people and gave me confidence in mz ability to do so here in Europe now.

I know this is all jumbled up, but I just dont know how to put my thoughts straight yet! When I first saw the lights of Ireland after we had been a few hourse over the North Atlantic, my heart became so full as to bursting with the uncanny realization that this was it: the land I had dreamed of visiting so often over the years. It was a place where all the history that I adore took place and the richness of this continent touched my heart for a bried spot in my life and I was perfectly overwhelmed. My eyes see things but my heart cannot believe it yet. and with each hour that psses, I pray it becomes a reality for me within my dream, and that I realize this truly is my life. I cannot express all the emotions that I have right now in my soul, and I am so happy and content with just being alive here in this breathtaking city.

I know this year is going to be life changing, and I welcome every new wind of blessing and trial that is in the near future. "Call unto me and I will show you great and mighty things which thou knowest not" (Jeremiah 33:3).