Fill in the blank Friday

1. My favorite feeling in all the world is being surrounded by the ones I love and getting hugs


2. My favorite smell is  clean bedsheets (they have such a calming, soothing effect on me)

 3. My favorite taste is Did I mention that I love Ben&Jerry's? That or the noodle casserol Henny and I make.


4.The most beautiful thing I've ever seen was Cape Town. Heaven is a place on earth. Sad thing that so many people are still poor there.


5. The best sound ever is our church praising God through songs. You can feel the trust and gratitude.

6. A smell that reminds me of my childhood is chlorine and the way I smelled after a long day in our garden (just being honest)

7. My favorite of all the senses is sight. Seeing beautiful things like people' s sile, our beautiful nature or simply all the things you can see during a day out are amazing.

Life update

I'm finally done with my undergraduate paper. 80 pages pure bla. But I'm proud. I never thought I could talk that much (about something boring like this). So, if you have questions about how to communicate correctly, ask me!

I guess I never really announced it, but in seven weeks Mr. Hendrik and myself are going to board a plane and escape the cold. I already spent two Christmases in the sun in my teenage years and I needed another one. Hendrik wanted to go to Africa for quite a while to see lions. He is kind of obsessed with them. He may or may not smuggle a stuffed aninmal lion into our bed. I have a pink pig called Pinky. But I disgress. So, the day Hendrik left the clinic we walked into a travel agency and booked a holiday in Kenya. Ok, I admit it is a bit extravagant since we are both students. But we deserve it. Anybody does. But we really do after the s..t we had to deal with during the last year. So we will spent 10 days in a great hotel at one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. We will come home on December 26 and continue our Christmas festivities in the cold and make everybody jealous with our tan.

From the hotel's web page :)

I wrote my final (!!!) exam in Biology. I thought the day would never come. Now I "only" need to take the big exams in spring and  I.am. done. Can you believe it? I am going to graduate and be offically a teacher. A real one. I might faint!

Afterwards I have the whole summer off until I can start teaching in November. A totally foreign concept to me. During the last summers I wrote papers nobody was really interested in (if they just were honest). So I thought I might save the world ... or fulfill a life long dream and finally visiting the country of burgers, soda and Mr Bush. As always I decided to be egoistic so I chose to fulfill my dream. I have been wanting to go since I was thirteen. Back then I told everybody that I would move to New York after high school. But then I realized that you have to pay millions to rent a walk in closet and decided to stay. No, in all honesty, I just realized how much I loved my family and friends :) But I still NEED to go. So before I become a real grown up with a real job I am going to see the states. I have wanted to be a counsellor at a summer camp. So I spent all morning yesterday filling out endless forms. They want to know everything. I kept waiting for them to ask me my bra size and and to hand in my budgies report card. But then they called me to tell me how freaking amazing I was because I am so well qualified I am. I must have exagerated quite a bit about my swimming, tennis and running skills. Basicly they told me my chances are pretty high!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm excited! No, that is an understatement: I am pumped! I want to go right now and I cannot wait. Can't summer be there already?

So to sum it up: In 2013 I am
 a) going to graduate from university
 b) fullfill one of my biggest dream and spent several months in the USA
c) start my first real job
and to have enough energy for this amazing year I will end the chaotic year of 2012 in th sun with the man I love most.

Now, I have to ask my professors to write me letters of recommendation and watch out that I do not actually believe what they will write about me!

Woha!

Anne goes to America

I believe

I believe:

- in God

- in family

- in friendship

- the good in people

- the power of smiles

- in the refreshing power of good, honest conversations. So many times I went into a conversation with the feeling that nothing makes sense. Afterwards I felt so much better just because we talked about it.

- in sleeping in late. One of my biggest hobbies.

- in snuggles

 - in eating ice- cream in the middle of the night (Thank you Henny for another box of Ben& Jerry's) Ok, basicly ice- cream at any time of the day.

-  in the laughter

- running/swimming till my lungs beg for mercy. My kind of medicine. Works for anything.

- lazy sundays. Not always possible, but it certainly helps.

- being childish once in a while. Magic!

- not taking things to serious (still working on that)

- love at first sight (experienced it)

- singing while driving. I got A LOT of weird stares from that.

- reading and forgetting the world around you while doing so

- working hard at times to achieve goals

- that dreams come true

- ignoring problems sometimes and just wait. It will work out.

- in eating good meals and never dieting because you deprive yourself of so much (ok, I admit. I've got it easy)

- taking time to be alone once in a while


What do you believe in? I'd love to find out.

Dwelling on a problem is like worshipping it

Life has been a mix of everything lately. Hendrik is home again and while he was in the clinic he found a church he likes. It's an international church so everything is in English which I love of course. The people are very friendly and really try to make you feel welcome. In the beginning they asked us a lot of questions and it was quite nice to talk to them because they seemed to be truly interested in us. They also were the first church related people in a long time that did not look at us as if we had grown a third eye when we mentioned that we lived together while not being married. The downside of this new church is that it is near Frankfurt which means we have to travel an hour and a half by train and subway to get there. Still, I'm glad we found it.
Yesterday we had a bible study meeting and we were talking about hope. Hope is a big word for me. I am usually positive and (try to) believe in the good in everything. As you might know I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in May. While I do not have any stomach cramps I still need to take the f...king cortison (I hate to use this word, but it is truly appropriate word here). Cortison made me completely loose my appetite, causes pain in my joints and also causes cramps in my legs. I had the hope to get of it, but the last blood test showed  that my colon is inflamed again so we have sto start all over again. :( On Tuesday I was in so much dispair. I hated my life and all the illnesses. It took me years to recover from leukemia and the last year with all the Hendrik drama was enogh in itself so I thought I deserved a break. Obviously, it goes on. Back to the topic of hope and tuedsday. During the bible study we learned that dwelling on the problem is like worshipping it which in my case seemed so true. Lately, I have spent far too much time thinking about my illness instead of counting my blessings of which there are many. Somehow this alone changed something in me. Also there is this story in the bible where Jesus tells Peter to walk on the water. First he is able to, but when starts to see the waves he begins to drown. So this means that the moment we loose trust, we begin to drown. I feel like I lately have been loosing trust in Gods plan for me. Today I am back on track and truly happy.

Sorry, for this bible lesson. This is not my usual subject, but needed to remember this.