The morning that changed our lives.

It was a sunny, autumn Sunday morning here in Hagen, Germany. The date, November 22, 2009, still stands starred and circled in my calendar. I was hoping that it might be the day our lives would change forever.

Although we weren't officially "trying," as in charting and the whole works, we were leaving the conception of our little one in God's hands. Praying that He would open and close my womb according to His will. After going over countless scenarios in my head as to with month would work best, I finally gave up and realized I was trying to control a situation that I really don't have control over.

So, we woke up that morning, already planning to go to brunch. I conveniently planted the idea in John's head thinking that perhaps I would take a test and it would be a good way to celebrate. I struggled that morning though... do I just take the test or take the test with him? We had taken tests together before, and the let down after the build up was just more intensified.

I followed the directions, and hid the test so John wouldn't find it while he used the bathroom to get ready. Those minutes seemed like hours. I quickly got dressed and went back in to check the results. And.... there were TWO lines. I couldn't believe it. I was in shock. I almost ran out and told John immediately. Instead I spent the next minutes shaking with excitement and frantically writing up a card to give to John to open.

As we were getting ready to leave I asked him to go shut off the television, then I ran into our bedroom and laid the card inside of a Pampers wipe box that we conveniently already had. He came in, still confused and opened up the box to find the card and the test inside.

It took a couple of seconds to register, and then he exclaimed, "You're pregnant?!?!"

I responded with a quick "YES!" I think he said, "Are you serious?" And I said, "YES!" as he gave me a hug and a kiss. And then we took this picture:


Not a great picture, but I still love how it captures our little moment and all the emotions that ran along with it. Too excited to do a retake, off to brunch we went.

Downtown the Christmas market was set up, but not open. Inside the restaurant we took our sweet time, sampling nearly everything on the buffet line and dreaming about our future. A children's play area was nearby and I kept glancing over imagining our little one playing at the little table.



And one last picture of the proud dad-to-be, apparently captured before he had a chance to smile.

Our Exciting News! :)

We've waited long enough to spill the beans, and thus won't wait another second to share that....

We are expecting a baby this July! We are so thankful that God has blessed us with a little one, and it has already been fun to watch him or her grow via our ultrasounds. Every time we see Baby Turek on the screen we can't help but to fall more and more in love.

The first trimester has been tough on me, hence the lack of blog posts. I have been very sick, usually throwing up an average of three times a day. It will all be worth it in the end though. :) And, it also reassures me that everything is healthy and probably progressing as it should.

We have had fun dreaming of our future, and all the changes that are in store. Yes, we will continue to come overseas, Lord willing. We don't anticipate an easy adjustment, but know that it will come and that God won't give us more than we can handle.

The baby is currently due to enter the world on July 25th. Of course, we know that little ones have their timing of when they will decide to come! It might be difficult on the flip side, trying to get birth certificates and passports in time, but we trust that God is in control and His timing is always better than our own!

I will do more updates in the days to come, now that I can share our good news with the world. :)

They say a picture says a thousand words, so I'll leave you with this. Our little one at 14 weeks, 2 days. Of course we are biased, but we think he or she is pretty cute. :)

First snow fall.

Okay, I am playing catch up now that I FINALLY found my camera cord. My sincere apologies. We got our first snow wall a week before Christmas, making everything all the more cozy and seemingly peaceful. Although I was hopeful for a white Christmas, most of it melted before the day arrived. Nonetheless, it did help get me in the Christmas spirit!

View outside our kitchen window:


Outside our bedroom window, looking down the street:

Mystery of the Sirens... Case Solved!

The sirens went off again the other night, only this time it was late evening instead of the middle of the night. I immediately got on Skype and started typing away to some friends in the city to see if they could hear them as well.

Much to my dismay, no one else could hear the sirens. When I considered how loud they were for us, I just assumed they were broadcast throughout the entire area. Apparently I was wrong. I still didn't have my problem solved. John guessed it had something to do with the impending storm, but that wouldn't explain why they sounded in the middle of the night a while back.

So, my mystery was still just that... a mystery. Until a German friend responded and gave me an answer! Apparently the sirens go off in your area when there is a fire. I don't remember hearing any fire engines racing by, but perhaps I was so intent on the sirens and the racing of my own heart that I didn't listen for anything else.

Case solved. Now my imagination can rest.

Do a little dance...

I was so excited this morning... I finally found the cord that connects my camera to my computer! Apparently, in my attempt at being organized I removed it from our pile of cords and put it in the camera case so I could always find it. Well, that didn't work out too well. I've been looking for the darn thing for weeks.

John left yesterday for a road game, so finding the cord was on my mental to do list. Other than that you can find me parked on the couch or in bed reading away on my Kindle. My good friend Emily convinced me to start the Twilight series, and so I've been sucked in.

We were supposed to get a huge snow storm this weekend, thus my decision to stay home instead of going to the game. The predictions started out at 50 cm. Last we heard it was between 20-40 cm. The weather forecasters here must not be too precise, that is quite the range! Well, we only ended up with maybe ten cm? They were telling everyone to get enough food to last through Monday. Of course we heeded the warnings, Mr. Turek would NOT be a happy camper without any food!

As for me, I should probably get a few things done before being sucked into the next book in the series. Oh how I love that I can order books on my Kindle and they will arrive in a matter of moments. How did I live without such luxuries?