On the night of Friday, December 18th, I woke to the sound of my parents saying my name softly, as they handed me a cell phone and explained that it was Jason. I wasn’t fully awake as I said hello and looked up confusedly at my mom and dad; MiKela, my sister, began to stir beside me in the bed. Jason said that he and his brother, Ryan, were robbed at gunpoint at 11:00 that night in the parking lot of Ryan’s apartment. Jason had been with Ryan at work that night, and helped him close the laundromat. They then drove their separate cars to Ryan and Cassey’s apartment, where Jason would spend the night with them. Jason parked in the visitor’s parking, across the lot, grabbed his belongings, and then headed over to where Ryan had parked, just a few yards from his home. Jason and Ryan were talking as two men approached Jason from behind and asked him for the time. One of the men cocked his gun and demanded Jason’s and Ryan’s wallets and cell phones. Jason’s cell phone was in his messenger bag, and as he was reaching to take it out, the robber said to give him the entire bag. The second man snatched the items as the first kept his gun pointed at them. As soon as they had departed, Jason and Ryan went inside and called 911. The police recovered their wallets that night, on the ground of the parking lot. The robbers must have thrown them aside after seeing they contained no cash. Besides Ryan and Jason’s cell phones, they stole Jason’s Patagonia messenger bag, which contained our white Macbook, our iPod, Jason’s debit card, and a few other personal items. Just two days later, on Sunday, Ryan and Cassey’s apartment was broken into while they were at work. Jason stopped by their apartment that day to pick up his laundry, and when he tried to open the front door, it was bolted shut from the inside and the robbery was in progress. The robbers got away through the back door, but because of Jason’s timely interruption, they were not able to steal all that they had planned. Unfortunately, they did get away with all of Ryan’s handheld gaming equipment, but thankfully did not have time to take the laptops, dvd’s, or any other items.
We are all upset that our belongings were stolen, but more than that, we are thankful that Ryan and Jason are safe. Ryan, Cassey, and their two little ones, Sam and Ben, are moving from their current home immediately. We are sad to learn in this way that location can make all the difference between living in fear or safety in Dallas. Please keep us all in your prayers as we look for a good neighborhood to call home here in Dallas. After living in small cities like Flagstaff and Prescott, we are not used to the dangers associated with living in this huge metroplex.
Because our nice laptop was stolen, it will be a few more weeks before I am able to edit any of the current photos I want to share with you all. Thank goodness, we have an external hard drive set up with Time Machine, which contains an exact copy of the laptop’s content (though we’ve never had to test it out, *fingers crossed*).
And now, in honor of the last day of 2009, I have compiled a little mosaic that sums up our past year of traveling and living in Europe. Click on the mosaic to head to my flickr page, where you can see a caption and a full version of each photo. Jason and I wish a happy and blessed New Year to all!!!

This row of trees is visible from our hotel room’s window, and I just love how the early morning sunlight shines through them on a clear day.  So, one day last week, I decided to bring my camera out with me to take a few shots.  It was soooo cold outside, and had been this cold since I’d arrived in Dallas a few days earlier.  There were even little icicles hanging from the shrubs, and ice droplets all over the grass.

This past weekend, the weather reached highs in the low 70’s!  It is crazy to feel a change of 30 degrees from one day to the next.  On Sunday we spent the afternoon at White Rock Lake.  Jason and I love the outdoors, so it was incredibly refreshing to find a lake with a designated bike and walking path.

And here is a shot of my handsome hubby.  If you look close, you can even see me in his glasses!
I’m flying to Arizona tonight to spend a week with my family.  Jason will be driving to meet me on the 23rd, and then we will head to Flagstaff for a couple days.  Merry Christmas all!!!

In November, Tyler, Antje, and I took a day trip to Heidelberg.  This beautiful city is just an hour away from Wiesbaden.  Here, we are standing on the Alter Brücke, or Old Bridge, a pedestrian crossing over the Neckar river that runs through Heidelberg.  The second photo below is a view of the Heidelberg Castle from the bridge.  Old buildings such as these undergo restoration often, hence the scaffolding on the left side.

We then made our way to the Heiliggeistkirche, and paid a Euro each to walk to the top of the church’s tower.  Here is a view of the church from the second story as we made our way to the tower.

And here is the beautiful view we enjoyed from the tower.  Again, you can see the Old Bridge crossing over the river.  I love the warm, reddish-orange color of most rooftops in Germany.  The second shot below was taken from the other side of the tower.  The tall red building is the Hotel Ritter, which was built in 1592.

Next, we walked up the very steep hill to the castle.  Here is a shot of the castle from the courtyard.  Underneath that staircase to the right is a doorway, which leads to the Deutsches Apotheken Museum, or the German Pharmacy Museum.  It was neat to see all the old bottles, jars, and wooden drawers that were once used.

Here is the view of the historical city center from the castle.  The tall church below is the Heiliggeistkirche, and to the right is, of course, the Old Bridge!  The sun decided to peek through the clouds for a bit, which brightened the landscape.

I really enjoyed our day spent in Heidelberg, and will have to go back there with Jason.  In fact, I was so eager to go that I forgot to bring an extra battery for my camera.  To my dismay, the little screen on top of the camera showed that my poor battery could die at any moment.  This uncertainty had both a positive and negative effect for me that day.  Because I kept the camera off most of the time to conserve the battery, I know that there are photos I did not capture that I surely would have otherwise.  On the good side, I took each photo as if it was the very last I could take of Heidelberg.

I am in Dallas, sitting in the hotel room that Jason and I shall call home for one more month.  Surprisingly the current weather is very similar to Germany–drizzly, cold, and grey– but I’ve heard that Dallas weather changes quickly.  The flight took about 10 1/2 hours, but really didn’t feel so long.  In addition to dozing off, reading, listening to music, and watching “Elf” and “Legally Blonde,” I also edited a few photos.  The first three were taken in downtown Wiesbaden–the second and third inside of the Marktkirche.  The first shot is of an old-fashioned Briefkasten, or mailbox, which are spread throughout the city.  All outgoing mail must be brought to one of these boxes–the more modern ones are yellow–as items are not picked up from personal mailboxes at each house or apartment.  The leafy photo was taken on my way to work one morning as a potential, but not chosen, photo of the day.
More photos coming soon–I’m not sure what of just yet, but there’s always something!

Seventy days.  SEVENTY.  I can’t believe it’s been that many days since I said a tearful goodbye to Jason at the airport.  Before these past weeks, we’d never spent more than a couple days apart, and I hope to keep it that way from now on.  I also can’t believe that I’ve taken a photo every day for these past seventy days.  Today’s photo, of the Theodor-Heuss Brücke–also seen here–is the last of my photo-a-day series.  It has been so much fun to document my last couple months in Germany this way.  Click here to view all seventy days of photos on my flickr page.  It is fun to look back at them as a complete group.
I still have some Heidelberg photos and miscellaneous shots around Wiesbaden to go through and post.  And though I will not be in Germany, I will continue to photograph life as I see it and post many photos to the blog, so check back often!!

I played around with the timer on my camera this afternoon as I took one last walk through the gardens.  With our apartment just across the street, Jason and I have enjoyed walking through here often.  Click here to see more photos that we have both taken in this lovely setting.

Here is another Christmas Market photo for you all!  This shot is from the market in Rüdesheim.  If you remember, Tyler, Jason, and I rode our bikes to this lovely little town along the Rhein.  Each Christmas Market creates their own set of mugs to serve the Glühwein (sweet, spiced wine served hot) in.  You pay an extra two euro for the mug when you buy your drink.  Then, you may choose to keep the mug or bring it back in exchange for your euro.  Because I think they are so neat, I decided to keep my mug; plus, they make great (and useful) mementos!

Today was officially my last day of work.  After we closed down the bank for the day, Suzana, Claudia, and I drove over the bridge to Mainz.  Claudia was looking for a certain item, and we ended up passing through the Mainzer Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) on our way to the store.  We walked through quickly, but I just had to grab a shot of all the beautiful lights.  Christmas markets in Germany are so festive and fun.  Tyler, Antje, and I are going to visit a couple, including this one, before I leave Sunday.