Heading Home

Well folks, it's hard to imagine but we are at the end of our travels. Will and I are currently in Frankfurt Germany getting ready to take a morning flight back to the states. Will and I are eager to see our families and get back to our own bed. We'll be writing a reflection piece later over the next few days, and then that will be it!

Thanks for all of the prayers that are getting us safely home.

Love and blessings to you all,

Lauren & Will

Mikey Mike

1.) Canal Tour
2.) "Hamburger Night" at Johanna's with super friends.
3.) Beach day (we are hiding out from the people with very little clothing, or none at all!)
4.) We're happy Mike is here!

It's been a very restful few days here, and Will and I are starting to say things like "next week this time we'll be doing ________in Philly!". It's amazing that we're really starting to wind things down here and I'm not sure we could have picked a more perfect place to stop before we head home.

Tomorrow we might head over to Sweden, just because it's so close. We're trying to cram as much cool stuff in as we can before we leave.

Well look who it is!

Will's brother Mike, after working in Turkey and Saudia Arabia, came up to Denmark to surprise Will. Mike will be staying with us for the last few days of our trip. He is the first family member we have seen in 5 months, and it felt good to get our arms around him.

Will's pics of some local architecture.

The top two pictures are of housing developments, the round one is my favorite. The third picture is of the royal library and the last picture is of an office building.

Vacation Blogging

So Will and I admitted to each other that it's starting to feel kind of strange blogging about how easy and wonderful life is right now. We went from "it's 115 degrees today and I'm lugging around art supplies to 3 different sites, doing 5 different projects" to "today we sat in a garden and ate pastries". Not to say we aren't totally enjoying ourselves, because we certainly are;-), but maybe there's just a tiny bit of guilt knowing that so many never get a day off and here we are blogging about our days of lazy luxury. Is this culture shock?

I've also been thinking about how before India I was acutely aware that I lived life as though I was the main character in my own movie, and everyone else supported my story. But in India, it felt like I was a character in a much larger film, things were happening to me, I had less control and therefore couldn't always predict an outcome. IT feels good to be coming home with this new feeling and it's been something I've been longing for, for a while. I wanted this to be my next area of growth, and I'm very glad that this experience has shaken me out of my own little world into the greater earth, and plan, that God has created and given me the privilege to be a part of.

Fredericksborg Castle

Yesterday Toni took us to the local castle called Fredericksborg. After seeing so much modern Danish design, it was pretty incredible to see such an ornate place. Here is a quick description.

History of the Castle
"Christian IV’s magnificent Renaissance Castle was built in the beginning of the 17th century. The king was deeply attached to the place and he often used it as a residence. In the following centuries the castle provided the setting for important ceremonial events, first and foremost the anointing of absolute monarchs.

In 1859 a devastating fire broke out and destroyed some of the castle exterior and large parts of the interior. The founder of the Carlsberg Breweries J.C. Jacobsen played an important role in the extensive restoration work. It was his idea that the castle should since then accommodate a Museum of National History. The museum was founded in 1878 and it is today regarded as a national monument of great historical importance."- www.fredericksborgmuseet.dk

We got really lucky and the choir was practicing in the chapel while we visited, sending beautiful harmonies through the halls.

Lousiana Denmark

Toni, Will's host mom, took we kids out to a modern art museum near their house in Hillerod called Louisiana. They had a green architecture exhibit going on that Will was really excited about. I was excited to see a familiar artists work outside near the water and a wonderful kids art area. To see more about the museum and it's exhibit click here.