Back to "Normalcy"

It is funny how "normal" changes. A year ago "normal" was very different than it is now. Here in Germany we just finished our first week back after Christmas break. Classes, lesson planning, kindergarten, church, shopping, running, bloody noses, sweet kids, crazy kids-all those things that make up normal life for us.

Work is work. I'm enjoying the classes, but teaching is always stressful. End of Semester 1 is only 2 weeks away, so I'm getting last tests, quizzes, and assignments in before the end. A difference here is that End of Semester 1, beginning of Semester 2 is a lot more fluid as far as content because classes don't change, and you don't really have end of Semester 1 exams. However, the end of Semester 2 exams are huge. Commuting to work is also different, Bus or Bike. I bought a rain cover for my backpack this last week, so that now gives me the freedom to ride to work even if it is raining. On Friday I did that, and then after work it was absolutely beautiful. Speaking of weather, it has been a lot like Oregon recently, wet and hovering around mid to upper 30's. No snow. We even have the wind to remind us of the Eastern winds we'd get from the Gorge!

Stanley is back at Kindergarten after Christmas break and he's still enjoying it. Heather tried taking him there earlier (8:30 instead of 9am 'til noon), but that was too long for him, so we'll stick with 3 hours a day , which feels really good. Heather's routine involves catching the 8:50 bus, and drop Stanley off around 9 am, and then she goes and tries to catch the 9:33 bus to bring her back home. She and Holly will go to a park, do some shopping, or just play at home, before they have to catch the 11:50 bus to be back at Kindergarten to pick up Stanley at noon. Even though it is alot of bus riding, Heather likes it because it forces her to get outside. During the second week of Christmas Break I saw how easy it was to not go outside if you don't have to. In Germany, going outside is very important. In America we fault on staying inside too much and not getting enough fresh air.

Rice cakes with Peanut Butter and Raisin faces was a special "Daddy snack".

Church is still the best thing for us with all the support that we get from the Christian community. (Church is not the building or the service, church is believers learning together to live like Christ and reaching out in His name.) We started our English Speaking "Growth Group" or "Haus Kreis" (Home Circle) on Wednesday. We only had 2 other people there (Olga and Jele "Yay-la"), but we only announced that we were going to meet on New Years, and there were alot of people not at church that morning. We had a great time of fellowship, and during our time of prayer Heather and I prayed in English, Jele prayed in German, and Olga prayed in Russian (she's originally from Belarus). How Awesome.

Shopping still has its difficulties, although I will say that Heather is becoming very proficient with her German food vocab. We have to go to the store two to three times a week because we can only carry so much at one time. One neat thing that I think stores in America should do is that when you get a shopping cart you have to put a Euro coin in as a deposit. You get it back when you return the cart and connect it to the one in front. This makes certain people don't leave stray carts all over the place.

The kids watching a movie together and playing their shaker eggs with the music. They are becoming great friends!

Our kids have been doing really well recently. We are all healthy, and active. Stanley still struggles with bloody noses. We actually spent nearly an hour with him Thursday night trying to get him to calm down and get his nose to stop bleeding. He's three and a half and Holly is one and a half so they struggle with whining and complaining, but we're trying to work with them on that and there are some really sweet moments with them. Holly's Thank you "Muh muh" (short sounds-as in "Danke") when it is unprompted is adorable. Stanley sharing his last bite of cookie with me was a warrior moment. And we love it when he says, "Mommy, (or Daddy) I love you" when he looks at us. We're trying to teach him about being a tender warrior. One who looks after the needs of others, who is strong but not a bully. So whenever we see him do something kind or selfless we call it a warrior moment. The kids also love to play together. Stanley will help his sister, and Holly loves to try and explore new things. One of her favorite things now is stacking the large Melissa and Doug blocks Nana brought from America. Holly can build a tower that is almost as tall as her. She also learned how to open the doors yesterday and is practicing that skill often. And yesterday Heather was surprised when going it to get Holly up from her nap, opened the door to the walk-in closet (dark and quiet away from Mr. Noisy) and Holly was standing in front of the pack and play. That was a surprise! Stanley is super active, joyful and a little bit crazy and he loves to play outside. In his quiet moments he loves to watch his BOZ movie that he got for Christmas.

Here is a picture of Stanley's favorite game right now. Acting out Bible Stories. In this picture we are walking around Jericho. We also play David and Goliath, "We Three Kings of are" and Baby Jesus, Jonah, and Joseph.

Stanley just woke up from his nap and I asked him what he likes about living in Germany. His unprompted answer was "I like sleeping in our house." What do you mean Stanley? "I like that we don't have to sleep in our Hauptbahnhof house anymore." We are very thankful for our new home. Our dishwasher went out this week so we're back to washing dishes by hand, but our first home in Germany really helped us to be thankful for where we are now. Thanks for taking the time to read this. We hope all is well for you. We would love to get a little snippet on how life is for you right now.

I think that's a wrap for tonight. (Now it's almost 11 pm and Scott still has a lot of work to do for school tomorrow. -Heather the Editor)