The End!

"The train ends here. Please don't get on!"

That looked to be a fitting way to end the blog ... it is Sunday morning and the kids are drawing a map of Germany, the washer is (still) running, and we are almost done packing.  I am (still) in my PJ's and I don't think I showered yesterday!

:)

Debbie has cleaned the floors and I have cleaned the bathrooms.  The bikes from Frau Volz are in the basement for winter storage and the "Guilford Box" for Dave Dobson is going to the Yngborn's storage room with the printer after we print our boarding passes this afternoon.  

I can't say that time flew by; there were some long stretches of boredom and homesickness.  We had a number of student issues and difficulties as well (I tried to keep all of that out of the blog!).

It has certainly been a life-changing experience for all of us and I think we will all be more thankful people when we get home.  We also have a greater appreciation for those who come to America to seek refuge, etc.  It is HARD to assimilate into a culture that is different from one's own!  The folks at Friendly Hills that teach ESL ... you are awesome!  Going to the grocery store early on was a real chore!

We have learned the value of friends and of faith.  We thank all of our church body at MICC for making us welcome over the past months.  I will miss the men of the Very Early and Very Dangerous Bible Study at 6AM on Monday mornings (but I won't miss getting on the 0535 train to get there ... especially on Oktoberfest Mondays!!)

So, tomorrow the plan is to catch the taxi at 0900 for the Muenchen flughafen.  Hopefully all of our bags are underweight (I've weighed them each at least 3 times!) and we have no problems with our visas through "zoll" (customs).  US Airways 707 has a scheduled departure time of 1200 Central European Time (6AM EST).  The flight is scheduled to land at 3:40PM EST and we have to get through US Passport Control, get our bags, get through US Customs, get back through security, and get to Flight 3017 that departs to Greensboro at 5:15PM if we hope to land at 6:40PM in GSO.

Please pray that we have a safe and uneventful flight, that we all relax and sleep, and that we can land early so that getting around Philly isn't too stressful!

We look forward to seeing you all soon!

Goodbye Muenchen, hello Greensboro!

:)

Love, the Familie Brendley (formerly of Muenchen!)