Gabriella Apple

was born to my little "brother" and his wife last night at 7:17 pm weighing in at 7.13.

There are lots of things that I've missed being here, but I have to say that my brother and his wife have done an incredible job not letting me miss their life. I was there for their wedding, and even got to spend great time with him before the wedding. And then this... sweet things. They have had no sleep, they are in a whirlwind of change and they held up the little lamb for me to see and gave me all the beautiful details. My sister in law has a thing for 7's and I loved listening to her tell me about how calm she felt in the middle of hard labor knowing that Providence was in charge and she knew that she would come on the 7's. I am so thankful.

The irony is that today I helped some of my best friends here throw a party for their 4 year old son. I woke up at 6:30 to make the cake, which I must have taken out too soon, because while I attended a birthday brunch for another friend this morning... The Magnolia Bakery recipe round cake promptly fell flat like a pancake. I pulled out the imported Betty Crocker and cursed the 3 hours of "from scratch" work I had done this morning. I snapped this shot of my favorite little girl at the party, speeding by me.

One other thing... I left my camera on the Strassenbahn this morning. Got off. Turned to my roommate and said, my camera's on there. I then threw my purse at her and took off in a dead sprint toward the tram. I almost caught it, but not quite. Flipping out and totally unsure of what to do, I turn to Sarah in horror and she said, "Stop a car, stop a car and make it take you to chase it." Which seemed logical at the time. Especially since I'm native and all... So thankfully a taxi had seen me sprinting toward the tram, picked us up and headed off to chase it down, calmly explaining in a friendly voice (as he wove the long... err... back way through the neighborhood toward where the tram runs) that trams are faster than taxis. No s*it? Needless to say we caught every red light, I kept thinking about how I paid cash and I should have made David put it on his AmEx so it would be insured, and that I was almost sure that was the first thing he was going to say to me when I told him I lost it. I thought I was going to throw up, red light, red light, red light and then the inevitable. He tells us there is no way we can catch up. So I ask him to go one more stop. He reluctantly drives forward to the next red light and says, stuck in traffic, "Schon weg." (Already gone) I look forlornly at the tram sign with times to the right and see that the M1 sign is still flashing as if it has just been there. I then say as much as I open the door and get out to sprint and find it... Except that it's sitting right in front of us, hidden by a truck. I barely make it in the door, run to where I was sitting and see a woman where the camera should have been. Hateful thoughts of greedy thieves were running through my head when she assuringly says to me, "Don't worry, someone just took it to the driver. It's here. Don't worry." At which point my thoughts seamlessly switched over to how much I love Berlin and how that would never happen in any other city.

I hope you are amused and entertained. And know, when you look at this picture, it was taken with a deep thankfulness for the apparatus, but also with a heart full of dreams and prayers for my precious new niece; Who before I know it will be riding around at some little boys birthday party like this precious girl was, and I hope that the world that she grows up in is one that is ever improving. And one where she knows the unconditional love of the arms around her. And one where she knows that her crazy Aunt in Berlin wept the day she was born, in deep gratefulness for her precious and healthy arrival, and also with an ache from being so far away from her. I pray that the love I feel in this moment only grows stronger and that she lives in the comfort of that all of her days.