The Beautiful Botanical Gardens

The family visited the Botanical Gardens this weekend and it was beautiful, just like the rest of Munich. We got caught in the rain, but it hardly stopped us. Zeljko wants us all to learn how to enjoy the rain, so we tried, but it was cold, cold, cold! We had hot chocolate and coffee at the cafe to warm up. The boys enjoyed getting to run around and rough house a little while Nevena and I admired scenery. Another beautiful day!

Andrija wanted to wear a costume cowboy hat and it was so cute! He said it was Texas, just like me! I tried to get him to say Howdy, but he didn't get it haha. Andrija and Luka are palying by this pond in one of the houses and Andrija almost got his hand chomped off by a giant fish (no lie!). It was scary!

Nevena, Andrija, Luka, and myself not letting the rain get us down.

Luka and Andrija are playing in the back ground haha

So this weekend was really fun, but this week is going to be difficult. Zeljko is getting knee surgery today. Please be praying for him and his recovery process. Luka and Andrija really look up to him and it will be hard to not be as able to play with them. Thanks y'all!

A Blast from the Past

I got to visit with Lauren and Ashley Wieland when they stopped in Munich on their back packing trip through Europe. Lauren and Ashley lived down the street from my family when we were younger. Lauren and I used to bike to school together in the 5th grade, and Ashley is friends with my older brothers. Lauren and I had kept up as we got older, and we got to visit and catch up in Cedar Park one night before both of our European trips. So we were lucky enough to coordinate a plan to see Munich together! We had a lot of fun! We went on a bike tour through the City Center, the English Gardens, stopped for lunch at a beer garden, and saw a few other places. We drank wine in the park as classical music played in the background just before getting semi caught in the rain. We had a lovely day! Thanks Lauren and Ashley! It was great to spend the day with friends! Hope the rest of your trip is incredible!

Me, Lauren and Ashley!

At Cafe Tambosi

On our bike tour by the beer garden - we weren't planning on taking a bike tour or I wouldn't have worn a dress. Ooops.

I just thought this cafe building was so cool so I had to take a lonsome picture by it :)

The Reason Why

It just occurred to me that I never blogged about why I have moved to Germany... So here it is, 10 posts later. I am an Aupair in Munich, Germany for those of you who did not know. I just graduated from the amazing TAMU in May and decided to take a year off. I plan to return back to the United States by next fall in hopes of attending nursing school. I will stay in Germany at least until this December, but it may be longer; stay posted :) I wanted to live abroad because of curiousity and to experience the presence and guidance of the Lord in an entirely new way. How I stumbled upon the idea of being an Aupair I will never really know. I never thought I would be bold enough to do this, and that's why I know there is a big reason why I am here. I was a busy little girl throughout college and I loved it, but I knew I could not keep living at that fast paced. My desire was to change the pace and place of my life with a new challenge of my faith. And I had to work with children! Had to! Had to because, children are the Light of the world. So here I am, and eagerly I welcome this once in a life time opportunity. I am constantly smiling and feeling thankful to God. I had so much encouragment from family and friends to come to the decision to AuPair. However, it was several months before I took action. I was timid in this process but prayer gave me confidence. The Lord's plan was much bigger than mine though, and His time was, of course, perfect. He brought me together with this beautiful family and He knows all the wonderful things we will be able to teach each other during this time. To Him I am thankful.

In the Heart of Texas

Hello sweet family and friends :) thank you so much for the kind and encouraging words, prayers, thoughts, and love! I am enjoying sharing all of these experiences with you back home. All of the lovely messages I have been getting have been so wonderful. I feel so encouraged and supported by yall to make the most of this incredible adventure the good Lord has taken me on. Please continue to send me your wisdom and smiles. I love it! I hope you can learn something from my experiences and I can learn from you as well.

How we can stay in touch:

Skype: sarabeth526 - I would love to skype!!!

Email: sbfarst@gmail.com

SMS: PingChat! - everyone get this so we can text! This is a free text message application you can and should all dowbload for free! Search for PingChat! - the ultimate cross platform messenger - in the app store (I know most of you have iPhones) and then search for me - sbfarst. It's free anywhere in the world beace it works over the internet and not your service provider. so you should get it :)

I hope you all know how special you to me! Love, SB

A New Communion for the same Lord

I got to go with the family to church today. I loved it! We were able to walk from their house which I liked a lot too. The service was in German, but thankfully Nevena tried to quietly translate as much as she could for me. There were about 50 people in the congregation and afterwards everyone stayed after to talk and have coffee. It was very quaint and different than what I'm used to, but very good different. It was good to meet some of their friends. We had communion all together and it was a humbling experience to not know what the pastor was saying but to understand the purpose and the celebration of the remembrance of what Christ did for us all.  It was a comforting thing to know that even though I cannot yet speak this language, we all can gather in fellowship and community to the same, the one and only, All Mighty God. It is fun to hear the Lord's prayer in German; and one of my favorite things is to hear Andrija and Luka praying in German. It is a very sweet reminder of the loving power Christ brought into the whole world and why He gave himself as an offering. Today was a very sweet day.

After church we went on a bike tour as they say; we just took a bike ride over to a near by small lake and played for a bit before it started raining. The temperature dropped literally 8 degrees C in an hour when we were biking. Outings like that are a very popular thing for everyone to do on the weekends. My advice: Americans should do that more - if we could stand to be outside for longer than an hour in Texas. I know in Texas we hang out at the lake sometimes, but not like this. It was just beautiful!

Just Enjoying the Day

Yesterday, the family took me on a tour through Munich! And WOW oh WOW!! Munich is just beautiful! I can't describe how great the day was so I hope these pictures say it for me:

Rathaus am Marienplatz. Thankful for a beautiful day!

The Odeonsplatz and Lion, that "makes all of your dreams come true." That is the famous story about these lions that line the side walk. You rub their paw and make a wish.

Hofgarten near Cafe Tambosi. Just Lovely.

And I finally got to go to a beer garden! And it was so good! This is Zeljko and I cheers-ing; or in Germany, they say "Prost!"

Nuernberg Castle in Munich

Andrija and I eating Windbeutel. It was very yummy which you probably guessed.

With Luka :) He has the last of his ice cream cone in his mouth.

Walking around at the castle. Everything is very green here - it's beautiful!

This is Thomas Church in the City Center. Oh it was just gorgeous. I had never seen such beautiful architecture in real life - only from text books and pictures. The church was partially destroyed in WWII so it was remodeled. There were a few statues of the Apostles that were partially ruined from the war, but still somewhat intacted, so it was incredible to see these.

So the day was wonderful! I could not stop smiling all day :) There are Cafes on every street coner so it was my favorite thing when we got to just sit and relax and enjoy the day - that was also Zelkjo's favorite saying. And we did! Munich is an amazing city. I cannot wait for more visits to the city center!

Happy Birthday to My Wonderful Mother!

Thank you for being so amazing and always taking care of me. I have leanred alot from you and I am thankful for you :) I miss you! I am sending you love and happy birthday wishes from halfway around the world!

Check List

So, let's see... what have I done so far...
- learned how to drive a stick shift. Check. (Well still learning.. stalled out in the middle of the street a few a times, still alive.)
- opened a German bank account. Check.
- have a German cell phone. Check.
- step 1 of gettig a work visa. Check.
- power walked through the country side at sunset. Beautiful Check. Haha and this was not the American way of power walking with just your arms. Nevena and I used poles that looked like ski poles; I was embarassed at first but then I got used to it.
- grocery shopping with Nevena. Check.
- eaten yummy food. Check.
- unpacked. Check.
- watched gymnastics practice. Check.
- have no clue what people are saying in real life and on TV. Check and Check.
- realized how cold it is here. Check.
- wake up every morning awestruck. Check.

To do:
- beer garden
- castle
- learn to speak German
- see Harry Potter
- and more and more


I hope y'all like this silly update :) we have done so much in these past few days and I am enjoying myself a lot! and tomorrow, we tour Munich! I promise to post pictures.

We Jumped Right into Things

We literally did! The second we walked through the door of their house the boys had to show me their trampoline! It was a very fun welcom haha. The family picked me up from the airport and met me with big hugs and smiles :) The little boys were so thoughtful and gave me flowers and balloons! We had a lovely meal together outside that night after playing on the trampoline.

My adrenaline from excitment is helping me fight off my jet lag so far. I hope it keeps up with me.

And so today is my first full day in Germany! And today is an extra special day because it is Luka's Birthday! The Birthday Boy requested to have a Wasser (water) Party! I am very excited to be able to  celebrate with the family.

What else to say?... besides that this is incredible... I am so thankful to be here.

The only thing left to do is to trust.

The Perfect Good Byes

It was so special being home for a part of the summer. I haven't spent that much time at home since high school really. It was so great to spend time with all of my high school friends. Y'all are crazy! Well we all can be a little crazy but I love y'all! Thanks for making my birthday so special :)

I also got to spend time at camp allen during senior high week. It was great to be back there but will always be a bitter sweet visit because of the place in my heart for camp. No other experience can compare with my time And the people there.

And Spending time at the beach was a great reward after my crazy to do list schedule was completed.

And of course all of the festivities for the Vial wedding! To Christie and Brian Vial: I am so happy for y'all and wish y'all the best of luck; even though you won't need it because y'all have a bond with Christ and He got y'all to this place. Thanks for sharing everything with us! Your wedding brought our fun friends together to celebrate on many occasions and it was wonderful :) and, your reception was a blast!! My feet still hurt from dancing all night! I wish I had a picture to post! To be followed...

So pretty much I have some awesome friends and family that will be continuously prayed for and thought of and missed. Thanks for the memories and I can't wait to share new ones with your all. I love you all!

How to pack a suitcase

Don't ask me. I have always been the "what if?" packer but I really thought I would be able to down size for this move. Well old habits die hard. I was all ready to go at the Houston airport until I check my giant bags. Of course they weighed too much so I got on my knees and started taking anything I could out. Good start SB... But my wonderful mother helped me out and I made it through. I was very glad to say good bye to my dear sweet friends at the airport too :) they're pretty awesome! I'm now in the London airport waiting to head to Munich!

After conquering that nine hour flight through a 6 hour time difference, we raced the sun and made it here to the london airport by 7:30 this morning. Praise the Lord! I'm very excited to face to face meet my new German family in just a few hours!