What a Week!

Sorry, but this could be long...if you are reading this though, you may not care... :)
Last week my sister got married! I am still struggling to believe it in some ways, but it is incredible and the wedding was really good! I left last Wednesday for a week in Oregon in preparation and celebration of Erin's wedding. It started with surprising the students at Mountain Park at Bannings, and even though I was hoping to get there earlier and surprise them at church, it was still fun to see them all and show up as Mustachio!
The next morning Brynna and I headed to Klamath Falls with my cousin so that we would have as much time with family as possible. The trip was good, and I somehow stayed awake the whole time...actually, thats cuz I had Mountain Dew for the first time in a few months...that stuff is so good! Anyway, everyone arrived on Thursday and we packed in to my parents house in Klamath for a few days of chaos! For those that don't know, I have 3 nephews, and a nephew and niece on the way, so in the next few months the Kroeker family is growing by 3 people (if you count Dave's addition last week of course... :) ) I'm excited for more chaotic times like that!
Friday was all about wedding preparation, and I felt pretty relaxed the whole time! Probably because everyone else was so stressed... :) I tried to help everyone relax, especially my mom and sister, but it may not have helped much... :) Anyway, Saturday was wedding day! The wedding was at 2, so obviously everyone needed to be there 4 hours early, even though it takes me 5 minutes to get ready...but I guess it wasn't about me. :) The pictures all went really well, although a few minutes into it my face was tired of smiling so much! Whoever said it takes more effort to frown than smile is lying... Next up was the wedding itself, and it all went really well! From ushers doing an incredible job, especially my 7 year old nephew Noah, to my cousin Grace running down the aisle without dropping a single flower, to singing with my brothers on stage for probably the first time ever, to my dad giving a tear-jerking give away speech (at least others cried... :) ), to Erin only crying once that I saw, and to yes's and I do's on both sides! Oh and it was only 27 minutes of standing on stage! And I helped my bonus Grandma get to her seat without falling! Yeah, good stuff all around...The reception was good, but we barely had enough time for car decorations and cake eating, but thankfully there was plenty of cake to go around later! Anyway, I am glad everything worked out and it ended up being a great time celebrating Erin and Dave's wedding! Still crazy to realize my little sister is married though... :)
The rest of the week was spent seeing friends from home and Portland, and involved a short-lived giant pass-the-pigs game, and double-date golf game with the Meed's (which I dominated... :) ), a good drive to Portland with my parents, more Kroeker chaos, and a great time thrift-storing with Brynna at the greatest thrift store ever! The only sad thing was the goodbyes I had to say.
The thing that this trip seemed to strongly show me was that I love my family. Sure the kids may go crazy, sure I may get annoyed with my siblings, sure I may not want to sit in the front row at church with my parents (they do that now, and people on stage talk to those in the front row... :) ), but I am so thankful for all of them! The constant encouragement that I have from my parents, whether they are fully comfortable with where I am or not. The ways that I can look up to my brothers as they each are about to have larger families. The ways my nephews like to jump on me with there knees out, even though they are heavier than they used to. The ways that I get to see Erin and Dave start a family of there own. The pictures of all of my extended family that could make it filling up the stage. I could not possibly thank God enough or wish for anything else! I look forward to being with them all, and seeing my new niece and nephew (the only kinds of babies I like... :) ) at Christmas!
The final goodbye was possibly the toughest, but thankfully Brynna and my flight flew out with a couple hours of each other, so we were able to go through security and everything together! Its never easy to say goodbye, but knowing I will see here in just over 2 months is exciting, and here in Hungary nonetheless! :)
The final part of the journey was probably the most stressful. I was hoping to get my temporary residence card, which allows me to be in Hungary for a year as opposed to 3 months, before I left, but it didn't come in time, so I wasn't sure if they were going to let me back in the country. I was there for 3 months and 2 days before, so I didn't know if that would be a problem. After flying to Dallas, then London, I started to get nervous. Thankfully the last flight was only 3.5 hours, but I was praying that I would calm down and trust God. When we landed and I went to turn on my phone I forgot about the pin number in order to use it. I knew the numbers but forgot the order...I had 3 tries and messed up the first 2, then prayed for a few moments and tried again, with my heart beating a bit...if I was stuck and they didn't let me threw, then that was the only chance I had to contact my OM peoples to help. Thankfully the 3rd try worked, and that helped calm me a bit. At immigration I had my papers that showed when I applied for the residence card, and was all ready to explain the situation, when the lady took the card, scanned it and stamped it, then gave it back without asking a thing! It was super nice to get through so easily, and thanks for all of those who prayed! A bonus is that I am getting my card at the post office tomorrow, so I don't have to stress like that ever again! At least not for this year... :)
Anyway, thats all...altogether it was 50+ hours of travel from Erd to Klamath Falls, but in summary, it was worth it in every way! Oh and thankyou to Dawn and Tom (Brynna's parents) for a warm bed and fruit snacks...even though I have eaten most of them already... :)