Alpen Blumen aka Alpine Flowers & Praise

A few of "die Blumen" pic's I took. And apparently I missed a bunch more by not taking the last hike down the Maennlichen peak with Mom, John and Bart back into Wengen (may I add, their knees really felt the switchbacks when they were done - 3 hrs later!). But the girls were done with the hiking and we enjoyed a FREE, YES FREE ride down down the mountain in the aerial cable. Transportation in der Schweiz is NEVER free - although it is extremely clean, efficient, economical (for here) and on time - so maybe the gentleman thought I was cute or maybe the girls were cute or we looked tired - doesn't matter, I GOT A FREE RIDE!!! This is vs a FREI ride.

Little Deutsch lesson for you: Frei in Deutsch (D) is translated 'free' in Engl. (E). BUT, they use it a little differently. I learned real quick that 'frei' means 'available' not 'free of charge/cost.' When you see 'frei' on the parking garages (including my local supermarket), it means there are available or 'free' spaces to be had - they are still going to charge you for parking there! It catches you off guard sometimes. Translations cannot always be taken literally - Like the other day - we are walking up the path to one of the Lauterbrunnen Falls and I tell the girls "We'd better get moving or Daddy's going to beat us." The Italian lady nearby whipped her head around and stared! I realized she probably had enough E to understand what I said but took the 'beat' literally. And like when I told our Swiss neighbor "Kendra is in the toilet (word for bathroom here)" - confused her 3 year old son who thought Kendra was literally in the toilet vs on.

Enough of that - PRAISES - Thanks to those of you who have prayed for Bart's Mom, Barb. She is recovering well and feeling good aside from normal surgery healing. They will determine later whether any radiation is needed but from what we know now, prognosis is good.
And I just got an email from my Mom at the hotel in Muerren and she said they got back safely from their climb - Yeah! Makes me feel a whole lot better.
And for those of you who are willing - Pray for my sister Kris and husb. Jason as they finish out their last 2 weeks in Australia, return to the States via Deb's in HI and continue to seek out the next place they are called to serve. Kris has been sick and is recovering and they will be guiding the Outreach team from So Cal on their own (another story) so they could use some lifting up. You can check up on them via the handy link on this blogpage.

You can check Deb's too (Tafisi's) BUT there have been no new pic's of my adorable nephews and neice for AGES so I don't know that it's worth it :). Maybe when Kris gets there we'll get new pic's!!!!! I shouldn't try to guilt her this way - after all, she has 3 kiddos, 3 yrs and under, 1 full time job, 2 flexible, part-time, money making hobbies, a husband and OH YES, is completing her Bachelors this Fall (CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!) so that she can start her MBA in Jan. So I guess I'll give her a pass on posting new pic's to the blog, gracious big sister that I am.