The most beautiful zoo!

It took us about eight months to finally make it to the zoo, but when we did, we chose the perfect day. The weather was beautiful & matched the beauty of the Berlin zoo!! Holy cow, I didn't know I could love a zoo so much.

I was still in my "be super excited everything is green again" mood and the leaves, tulips, and flowers were making me extra happy.

Everything was so serene. We kept commenting how American it felt (due to the quiet and open spaces). The quietness and open sky made it easy to forget we were still in the middle of Berlin's city.

When Logan hit 20 pounds, he graduated from the front of the baby carrier to the back! Handled it like a champ and had fun riding on Dad's back.

We got SO close to the animals. There were hardly any fences. Just dirt moats separating us from the animals. Could've reached out and touched these guys!

Did I mention how pretty it was?? We crossed this bridge on the way to see the baby kangaroos. :') They were soooo cute.

It was a perfect morning. Got our steps in, saw about every animal we could, and enjoyed all of that zoo beauty. I'm definitely getting a pass next season when we come back!!

In the strength of the Lord

 I had one of those Sundays where the thoughts from church have stayed with me and I received some revelation. I don't want to lose what's in my mind so here I am writing it down. 

A brother in Sacrament Meeting told a story of his family's farm in Idaho when he was six years old. The bishop had asked the ward members to pay double the amount they typically would for fast offerings. The promise was made that they wouldn't go without what the offerings are used for - food. 

The father lost his job and they needed a way to feed their family. They had an acre garden that was to be their source of food. The garden was planted on time and soon grew with a great harvest. A 20 minute hail storm turned around the state of the garden and everything was ripped to shreds. 

The next Sunday, while the mother was home from church she began to pray for a way to feed her family. She knew God had made them a promise since they paid fast offerings. 

She had the impression that Heavenly Father couldn't fix what had happened to their garden, but He could make seeds grow if they were replanted. 

Even though it was late in the season, the family went to work, removing and replanting the acre garden. Miraculously, the garden grew and the harvest was greater than had ever been before in years past. The physical harvest supported their family that year. The spiritual harvest and testimony has lasted a lifetime. 

What stuck with me is the testimony of the mother: God can't repair what has been done, but He can make planted seeds to grow. They went to work and saw the miracles. 

Fast forward to the next hour in Sunday School. One of the prompts from the Come Follow Me lesson said this:

The question, "What does it mean to you to go forth 'in the strength of the Lord'"? stood out to me. I thought of the previous story and how the family had to "go forth" first to see the miracles. 

It was brought to my mind the last time I went to the temple. As I sat in the celestial room, I was reminded of how the Lord had strengthened me in the last six months as we moved to Germany and Logan was born. Before moving to Germany, we had prepared and done all that we could logistically to be ready for our move. It was time to actually go and go forth. After we went, the Lord strengthened us. 

It was a tender insight that really made an imprint on my mind and heart. Jesus Christ will ALWAYS be there to strengthen us. But first, we must go forth in faith and repentance. 

A few weeks ago, I was talking to Mom on the phone. I told her I wanted to learn more about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how I could use it more every day. At the end of the call, the sister missionaries had buzzed our doorbell and randomly stopped by for a visit. First time that's ever happened! 

At the end of the visit I asked them my question and if they had any study suggestions for learning more about Christ's Atonement. 

The referred me to this talk, which has helped me immensely. I'm still studying and learning from it. Here's a thought from it that I've loved studying.

A garden was planted, the stripling warriors went to war, Nephi began building a ship, I moved to Germany. For the Lord to strengthen us, we have to go. 

Grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who hears my prayers and answers them. 

Cute sisters who came to visit. <3

Well done my Wildcat

After sacrament meeting on Sunday, I was talking to a friend when I turned and glanced into the foyer. My eyes stayed in the foyer and it took my brain a second to realize I was looking at Coach Bolton from High School Musical. 

I pointed at him for longer than is socially normal and said, "We need to go get a picture with him." It was the randomest encounter. 

Bart was there with some family members for a small HSM reunion that he had been invited to. They happened to stop by the church & we got some pictures together! His brother, Adam, is also in a few movies we like. 

It was funny and surreal being star struck in that way. I told Bart what a huge fan Justin was and how he would die if he knew that I was talking to him. He asked for my phone and made Justin a nice video. 

Justin, who was at his shootaround, saw the video and made it to the church in pretty good timing to meet Coach Bolton - I mean, pick us up. ;) 

Normally, Justin would prefer to keep to himself and wait in the car since he was in his basketball clothes. This was an exception and I won't forget him walking full speed into the Relief Society room after Sunday School to meet him haha. 

Made his 2024 year! 

Justin happened to have a crazy, once in a lifetime alley-oop dunk that got a lot of attention online. 

Coach Bolton responded, "LETS GOOOOOO!!! We should have gone!! Well done my Wildcat." 2025 year made. Ha!

I don't think I'll ever forget that random, funny encounter. 

For the Experience

A unanimous decision has been made that Gazzo is our new favorite restaurant. Partly for the food, partly for the experience. 

Cute hole-in-the-wall place!

I asked for straws when our drinks came out and they do it right! No plastic. No paper. PASTA. Yes, we sipped our lemonade through pasta. & I want to do all of my drinks this way now haha.

Spicy salami & lemon zucchini garlic. I'll have to tell my vegetarian friends!

It was recommended by friends that we try the ice cream. Made from buffalo milk with the yummiest shortbread bites + olive oil drizzled on top. I might go tomorrow and just order the ice cream. It was good!!

Companheiras na Alemanha

I've been blessed to have some pretty amazing friends throughout my life. Examples to me in so many ways who share my same values. One of the places I made these friends was on my mission. 

Lizzie and Madi have been some of my biggest supporters and role models since May 2019, when we met in preparation for Brazil!! We've shared lots of funny memories, refining experiences, and they're like sisters to me.

Days before we came home from Brazil. & yes, I am on my tippy toes haha.

During the "intermission". When we were home March 2020, before Madi and Lizzie were reassigned due to COVID-19.

With our husbands (who we probably thought about every day on the mission ;) !!

You wouldn't believe how excited I was when I found out Madi was coming to see us for a few days.

But first, look at this cute boy in front of these flowers that smelled sooooo good.

Madi (thankfully!!) made it to Berlin after a crazy travel day. 

I swear she's superwoman and the time change hardly seemed to affect her. She jumped right in & I loved watching her meet Logan. <3 

Missionaries and members would confuse us often in the Visitors' Center, calling me Sister Tenney and her Sister Rowley. I loved it! 

We took her to one of our favorite outdoor dinner restaurants & got some fancy German drinks. :') All lemonade is carbonated here and this is where I learned to love it haha.

We forgot Logan's life jacket so the rowboats were off limits... Ha!

Madi also witnessed a pretty big milestone and insisted Logan have his picture taken with his first completed jar of baby food. Lucky boy, snacking on potatoes and carrots!

The blossoms had passed peak blooming time, but there were a few holding on at East Gallery. 

So grateful for seasons and that everything has greened up again! It really is so beautiful. All of our visitors who came in the grey winter months need to come again haha.

Came across a random live concert. Life feels like it's slower paced here. Maybe it's from the tourists sightseeing around. Maybe it's in the Germans blood. Either way, I like the slow pace and love living here now. 

We went to Rausch Schokoladenhaus and saw the Brandenburg Gate 2.0 (made out of chocolate!), along with these yummy pieces. 

Pistachio, Bienenstich, Maracuja, and a crispy crumble something... I can't remember but they were super tasty. 

The only frog you'll ever see me kissing!

Bath time with this little sweetie. He's so big & long. Once he starts crawling, all of those baby rolls are going to fade and I'll be pretty sad. 

Justin was nice to take "Logan duty" so we could run out and do things here without our extra buddy. One of those stops was the Victory Column. One of my favorite parts of Berlin! 285 steps to the top for a pretty beautiful 360 degree view of Tiergarten Park.

It was such a fun week and I'm so grateful for Madi's friendship and that she would come out and visit us.  She's incredibly thoughtful and I just love being around her. 

She also shared the viral cookie croissant reel with us... Perfect treat for a cozy day! Or any day really. Mmmmmm.

A Casual Berlin Week: April 3-10

This whole blog is just a big journal of what we've been experiencing. I'm so grateful for this record of our lives! I'll get asked here and there, like anyone, what I do all day with my time. 

I don't know how to answer because I don't have too many routine events set, besides Logan's naps. Yet, each week is full of good, random things. Plan, say "yes", and go outside. Your week will fill up & you'll be happier (in my opinion). 

So here we go, April 3-10, 2024.

Happened to walk by a random Asian market. It looked crowded, dirty, and smelly from the outside and was just that on the inside too haha. I grabbed an aloe vera drink because I thought I liked them, as well as some frozen custard buns!! We steamed those on the stove and they tasted like nothing but somehow gross... Don't think we'll go back there but it was a funny memory!! 

The blue boxes on the left are passionfruit/lime Oreos!

Logan started to really show an interest in food & wanted to drink whatever we were drinking in the moment. We went to IKEA and bought his baby highchair!!

Little (big) Bean. <3 Cute, cute outfit from Alexa. 

Met one of my dear Brazilian sisters for lunch! Timna works a block from our apartment so we got to get some yummy food during her break. 

She, and so many other friends in our ward are the biggest help with Logan. I think she held him the whole time during this lunch date other than this picture. It's nice for me to relax and not have to have the mental load of taking care of him alone every time I leave the house. 

I look forward to 1:30 PM every Monday afternoon. Cute Hermana Rowley calls Justin and I as soon as she wakes up. I love talking to Courtlyn and hearing about the miracles she's experiencing in Ecuador. God is good & Jesus Christ is leading his church today!

If you go to IKEA to buy a highchair, you can't leave without a chicken hotdog and Italian ice!

A couple of weeks before my birthday, Justin suggested I get a Kindle. It caught me off guard but I couldn't drop the idea so that was my bday gift. I LOVE reading but don't think I've read more than five books since I graduated college. 

Not super convenient to take the train or car to our Berlin library, where the English selection is limited. 

I have loved having my kindle and have read five books in the last month. Makes my reading heart happy. :') You'll be surprised what you have time for when you prioritize it!

GENERAL CONFERENCE! It was perfect and amazing as always. This was during the first session, during the sustaining of the General Authorities. I was overcome with gratitude and the Holy Ghost as I sustained the leaders of the Church. They really are men and women called of God. 

Since we're eight hours ahead of MST, we watch the first four sessions on Saturday and Sunday, finishing the last session throughout the next week when we have time.  

Dodo copycat sandwiches for our lunch intermission: Baguette, turkey, mozzerella, toasted. Microwave bbq sauce and grape jelly for dipping. Mmmmm.

The Berlin Half Marathon was this week. Back in January I really wanted to run it. I was way too late trying to sign up and all of the spots were taken. It was a good thing because my body couldn't have handled nursing Logan, training, and still recovering from his birth. 

Next year!! 

So inspiring to watch all of the different runners. Each with their own story of how they got to where they were that day. & iconic that the finish line is at Brandenburg Gate! No matter how many times I walk through the gate, it takes my breath away each time. It's amazing!!

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom the next day so we got out to Teltow and took them all in. Japan gifted over 9,000 cherry blossom trees to Germany in the 1990s after the Cold War ended. They're scattered throughout the country and we loved spotting them around Berlin.

Another batch of date bark. Hehe my mouth is watering. Dates, peanut butter, chocolate with coconut oil, and raspberries. Layer, freeze, and enjoy!! 

Baby boy is getting so big!

& interactive. 

A walk through the cemetery near our apartment. 

The highlight of this week was hanging out with these guys. Maddy and Hunter headed back to the States the day after our game night. Their semester went quick! I can't believe they're home already. 

We get Sara and Joe here for a couple more years and I'm so grateful for them and their friendship! 

Nothing like some Italian food and Ripple to follow.

A good week. <3 Every week is truly good. We're blessed to fill them with lots of good stuff.