Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany.

Here is the thing about living in Europe. There are days, many of them in fact, that just aren't glamorous. Most days are filled with daily routines. Eating, sleeping, cooking, cleaning, essentially the same life for most stay-at-home moms around the world. It is easy for the mundane to take over, for the bleak winter days to lead to complaining about the size of the apartment or other trivial matters. (When really we should just be happy to have a roof over our heads at all, right? Preaching to myself here. Moving on.)

 And then there are days that we get a bit of a break from the routine.
    

Days were every. single. detail. just seems beautiful.




Moments when I feel like I have to pinch myself because I just can't believe that we are here. Europe. Germany. Rothenburg.



Moments where I watch my Kaleb run up and down stairs of an enormous church in a walled city and think "he has experienced more at age two than many do in a lifetime."



Not that he will remember it. But, we will always have these photos. And stories to tell.



Stories of when we packed up the car and drove longer than expected to get to a beautiful city to explore for the day.



Rothenburg ob der Tauber- you had us at hello.



Lured us into every single nook and cranny, begging us to meander through your cobblestone streets and alleyways.






Made us stop and reflect. To make memories- as a family.



















There are so many places in this world to explore. We just have to be intentional about finding them and also be willing to get lost in order to explore. The end result is worth it. Every time.

My love affair.

... with latte macchiatos.

There is just something that I love about drinking coffee in Europe. Perhaps it is because I have less that demands my attention while I am here, so I don't feel guilty pausing to watch the world go by. Perhaps it is because of the sheer volume of cafes that invite me to spend my afternoon with them. Perhaps it is because they serve them in glass rather than paper, and you can see the separation of the espresso, milk, and foam. Or, perhaps it is due to the taste... the lattes have less sugar and more espresso. Whatever the reason, I was happy to sit in a cute little cafe the other day and savor a latte macchiato. My loving husband captured a photo of the moment. I told you I wasn't taking things for granted any longer!

Clearly this isn't a great picture. (I specifically requested no flash, as not to draw attention to me acting like a "tourist".) But, I love that when you look closely, you will see that I am actually smiling while drinking. That may or may not be staged, I really don't remember. But I like to think that it was just the paparazzi capturing a picture of me and my love affair with European... lattes. :)

I am ridiculous.

Dear family and friends,

Well, let it be known. I am ridiculous. I just spent at least an hour trying to come up with a clever name for our new blog, only to come up with the url: "tureks.blogspot.com" How original. I thought to myself, who is our audience? Well, probably just family and friends. What will they remember? Well, I suppose they will at least remember our last name. So, there is it. No more procrastination. I finally just did it. I entered the lame name for our blog and pressed "continue."

So, welcome. Welcome to our life. We haven't been great at updating you through e-mails, but hopefully we will do better at keeping up with you through this median. Sometimes life here seems to change daily. Other times it seems as though life here is just "normal," and it is easy to get caught up in day to day living without watching the world interact around us.

We (or rather I) will attempt to allow you to see this little slice of the world through our own eyes and experiences. Sometimes life here seems glamorous, other times it is intimidating, and yet in brief moments it seems overwhelming. For the most part though, we are truly enjoying the opportunity we have to adjust to new cultures while meeting people from all over the world. Indeed, we are blessed in our experiences.

Much love,
The Tureks ;)

P.S. My runner-up name was "lifeofabasketballwife". John thought it was lame. And, perhaps it was. Now that I think about it, it probably would have led readers to believe that I married a basketball.