Happy Thanksgiving to those in the U.S.! Wow this year disappeared while I wasn’t watching! And somehow, we’re already to the time when I pause to reflect and remember the blessings from this past year. What a perfect day for it .

In many ways, 2025 challenged me. There’s nothing like moving to a different country to upend what a person thinks she knows. Everything from doing laundry to driving or ordering food became both a struggle and an opportunity to learn and experience. In such times, perspective is everything. I wish I could say I kept a great attitude like the bunny from Zootopia, and sometimes I did, but often I found myself just tired and surly. My poor husband. He was going through the same life upheaval, and I wasn’t much help. 

It’s in hindsight that I see the good that I was just too overwhelmed to appreciate or notice at the time. 

Germany is a beautiful country. As I sit here writing, I’m looking out over the walking path and the thick trees behind my house. If you know anything about me, you know how much I love the forest. And Germany has a lot of forest. 

The fall colors have been vibrant and various. Deep ruby shows in the vines growing up the house at the end of the street. Bright yellow covers the hillsides, broken by the occasional orange or red and still lots of green. When we follow the walking path, some of the leaves are small splotches of color. Others are bigger than my hand. 

And that’s just talking about this fall. It doesn’t touch the deep, rolling green of summer or the flowers in the spring. Or the winter. I’ll talk about the Christmas Markets next year after I’ve had a chance to fully experience them, but when entire villages decorate and celebrate for weeks, I have to say, the Germans know how to keep the winter blues away. 

I could ramble about castles, museums, tunnels, and towers. I could rave about the slower pace of life and the gentle encouragement to be social. This could be a very long post. 

But there’s one thing that really stands out from this last year above the beauty of Germany and the adventure it is to live here. 

It’s a subtle thing, seen in the dance my husband and I do in the one-person kitchen while we’re cooking. Felt in the regular conversations we have about work, doctor appointments, and whatever weird thing the Writing Sidekick’s doing now. A thread woven through the small gestures. Prepping his lunch before he leaves for work or cooking my breakfast for me because the Sidekick’s sleeping on my lap. These are the everyday details that are easy to overlook, to take for granted and treat as normal. But they’re reflections of something deeper. 

And it’s always in hindsight that I see it. When we’re challenged. When we’re stretched and it’s hard to be kind. When I want to cry because somehow, my husband and I can’t seem to communicate. In the midst of it all, I know from experience that God’s working, but I can’t see it. Only afterwards can I look back and see the golden thread keeping us going and teaching us. God’s gentle hand carrying us through and, through the struggle, making us stronger. 

This isn’t the first trial my husband and I have faced, and it definitely won’t be the last. I sometimes dread them. But I also know, such trials are where we grow the most. Where our marriage becomes stronger. Because we keep trying, keep praying and trusting, we come out the other side even closer. 

I hope this is an encouragement. Struggles happen in relationships. Especially in marriages. Trust that those struggles in the end will form in you and your spouse something precious beyond description.

That’s what I’m thankful for this year. That’s how I’m blessed. And now, stronger and still growing, my husband and I can explore together and navigate the unknowns with just a tiny bit more grace.

Blessings,

P.S. December is a hiatus month for me. A time for family and reflection. May you have a wonderful Holiday Season, and I’ll see you in 2026.

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