Good Things Are Happening

As the title says, good things have been happening!  This past weekend, Jesse and I got to take a trip to Luxembourg & we dashed over to Belgium to go to Bastogne.  We didn't have our camera, so all of our pictures were taken on Jesse's iPhone.  So the quality's not spectacular.

We left Friday morning to drive 2 hours up to Diekirch, Luxembourg.  When we got there, we went to the National Museum of Historical Vehicles.  Jesse LOVED it!  Here are a few reasons why!

And there are TONS more pictures.  They can all be seen on Jesse's facebook :)

After the car museum, we went the the National Museum of Military history there in Diekirch.  This was really neat.  It was FULL of artifacts from WWII, both German and American.  But let me tell you, it was kind of surreal to both of us to walk in and see an actual, authentic, German military uniform.  You've seen them in movies, pictures, but this was a REAL one that someone actually wore during the war...  That was just...  strange...

German officers uniform

SS symbol on uniform

The museum was great.  We really enjoyed it, and we could have taken MUCH more time to tour it than we did.  If anyone ever finds themselves in the area, I definitely recommend this museum.  The Luxembourg people truly love Americans.  They have signs that talk about Americans being their liberators, and they won't forget.  Here are a few more pictures from the museum.

Soldiers cooking and visiting with Luxembourg family

SS flag decorated with American military patches, was given to a commander

A soldier made a flag showing all of the places he went in the war to his parents.  At the bottom it says "From Jesse".

"Greetings to Adolf"

A howitzer they named "Calamity Jane"!

German Panzer tank

There are SO many more.  I encourage you to go to Jesse's facebook page and take a look!

After the Military museum, we had some lunch and then drove 10 minutes over to Vianden, Luxembourg, where we stayed the night.  Vianden is a very quaint town.  Our hotel was more like a restaurant that happened to have rooms over it.  But it was cute!  And it was right in the middle of town. A short walk to wherever we wanted to go!

After checking in to our hotel, we walked up to the Vianden Castle.  And, like all castles, it was uphill... But it was very pretty.  This castle was neat, because it has been refurbished.  They even have different rooms set up to give you an idea of what it was like.

Vianden Castle

This castle was built right into the rock.  No need to lay a foundation if you have a natural sturdy one already there!

Steps right next to the rock foundation

Built right into the rock

There are a few places of the castle where they left it in ruins.  It was neat to see the contrast.

Me in front of the restored tower, and partially preserved wall that's left.

Jesse in front of a partial tower.

After leaving the castle, we headed over the the chairlift.  Yep, a chairlift, like what you get on when skiing.  They have one there that takes you up to look over the city.  It's really pretty up there!  And there's a little restaurant where we had a coffee!  Yum!

The chairlift we were riding

Vianden from above

Vianden Castle from above

After the chairlift, we walked around, took pictures, went back to the hotel to change and freshen up, then went to dinner.  Here are some pictures from our walk.

The river that runs through Vianden.

The bridge

Cutest little town, and so clean!

That night we ate at a restaurant that was right on the river.  It was really cool.  We thoroughly enjoyed it.  Plus we had a little chat with the 2 older couples that were sitting at the tables next to us!  They were British!  Here's a picture of our restaurant from the bridge.  We had a table right on the water!

The restaurant we ate at for dinner.

The next morning we had breakfast at our hotel, then headed 30 minutes to Clerveax, Luxembourg.  We stopped here to go to the Battle of the Bulge Museum.  This museum was pretty neat, although we liked the National Military Museum more.  But this was pretty good.  It was dedicated completely to the Battle of the Bulge, although there were some newspaper articles and pictures from the Nurnberg trials.  Here are a couple of pictures from that museum.

Battle of the Bulge Museum

German SS medals and pins

German SS Military uniforms

American Military uniforms

What's really neat about these uniforms, is that each uniform was donated to the museum from a specific person.  The mannequin represents that person, and it has their names on the plaques.

After the Battle of the Bulge Museum, we drove 30 minutes over to Belgium to go to Bastogne.

Welcome to Belgium!

We went to the Bastogne Historical Center.  Unfortunately, we were not able to take pictures inside.  But we did get pictures of the Memorial that is there.  It was built to honor all Americans for defending and liberating Bastogne.  The Historical Center, and the memorial are both in the shape of a star!

Bastogne Historical Center

Tank outside the Historical Center

The plaque says,
"May this eagle always symbolize the sacrifices and heroism
of the 101st Airborne Division and all of its attached units.
December 1944-January 1945
The City and the Citizens of Bastogne

The Memorial

Every state is listed around it.  Texas!!!

All of the Military units that had a part in the battle are listed.

We did not get to go on the walk to see the bullet holes in the trees and such (partly because we didn't know where it was, partly because we didn't have much time).  But we really want to go back in the winter time when there's snow on the ground to really get a feel for it.  And apparently they have a march, or something around the time of when the battle took place.  That would be neat to see!

Well that was our trip!  We really enjoyed it.  And we realized that that was the first trip we've taken, just the two of us, since we've been here!

In other news, we drove back on Saturday, and then Sunday had our first potluck at our house!  It went really well and worked out nicely!  Since we moved our evening worship service up to 2:30, the timing was great!  The men had their monthly business meeting after the afternoon service, giving the women time to run home and get their meals!  We had lots of delicious food, fun, and laughter!  We are truly blessed.

Also, we had our first Ladies' Bible study over at our house on Tuesday.  We are starting a study on women in the genealogy of Christ.  The first lesson just dealt with genealogies; the importance of them in  Biblical times, and Jesus' genealogy.  It's very "faith building", as Amanda put it, to read how perfect God's plan was/is, and to see how it all worked out according to His promises.  I look forward to the future lessons where we will study the individual women!

And last, but not least, tonight is my first cake decorating class!  I'm really looking forward to it.  My friend Amanda is taking the class with me, so it should be a lot of fun.  And our husbands are excited because that means 3 hours of un-interupted racquet ball time!  haha

One more thing, we had a couple of visitors on Sunday morning.  One was a German lady who told us she was looking for a church and really liked the "American churches".  She kept going on and on about how much she liked the songs we sang and the "simplicity" of our service.  Please pray that we will be able to keep in touch with her and bring the gospel to her!

I know it was long.  If you read all the way through, you deserve a medal!  But that's the update on us.  We love and miss everyone back home!  Keep praying for us as we pray for you!