See you later Grandpa Dick and Winter in Weimar

It has been such a long time since our last post. Sunday night I wrote this post, but since then there have been some major events. This morning (Tuesday) Grandpa Dick finally got to meet Jesus face to face. It has been a slow decline over the last 4 years. We remember back in December 2007 praying that Grandpa would live long enough to meet Stanley. Well, God answered that prayer and he got to meet Holly as well. When we left for Germany we knew that we very well could be saying good bye to him this side of Heaven. Because we serve a Mighty God, we have hope and assurance that death is not the end of Grandpa Dick, because he loved and served Jesus with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength. Now he gets to love and serve Jesus with Him. What an honor! We still have a purpose here on earth, so we want to continue to serve Jesus here in Germany, but oh what a day when we get to see our Savior face to face as well. On that day we will get to see Grandpa Dick again. But now he is without any pain or suffering. So please be praying for those of us still here on earth. That we will remember what Grandpa was all about, and that we'll love Jesus even more as we move through this transition.

So, now here is the post that we previously had written.

Work has been super busy, which keeps me from having the extra time to write blog posts. But now it is winter break. That’s right, we have a week off during the first full week of February. I think it used to be called ski week, or something like that. It is a much needed break, especially after Semester 1 final ended. This evening we were going through photos and realized how much has happened over the past month. There is no way that I’ll be able to do it justice, but here are some highlights. I’ll start with most recent things, and then work my way back to our last post.

This week we are going to do a stay-cation. We will stay in Weimar and explore it as if we were on vacation. We will take the time to do extra special activities, and to cherish the little moments. Like dancing in the living room before dinner, take an extra walk as a family, or have a picnic on the living room floor instead of normal dinner. You get the idea. So far it has been wonderful.

Tuesday:

I got to take Stanley to Kindergarten in -17° C weather. It was fun seeing what Heather does every day. Relaxing afternoon with a trip to the library. In the evening Heather and I finally got to watch Blind Side which we got from Steve and Sue back in October!

Monday:

We woke up to -15° C weather, and thought, "What a great day for a swim!" So we went to the local INDOOR pool to go swimming! Well, first Heather made Parfaits for breakfast. The pool was great, we played with the kids in the kiddie pool for over an hour. They loved the little slide into the water, especially Holly. She would come down and then go right back to the slide over and over and over again. We had to teach her to walk so she didn't slip and fall. Holly and I got to take naps, while Heather entertained our non-napping 3 year old. That evening, we got to have dinner with our friends the Meichsners, and afterwards Heather had a fun girls night with a few ladies from church. I enjoyed some Pepsi and a Milka bar while watching field of Dreams auf Deutsch (with English subtitles).

Weekend:

Heather let me sleep in on Saturday! She made an amazing Quiche that we ate when I woke up at 8:30 am. Went to the store to prepare for our Stay-cation, and Holly got a new potty training seat! Kids and I played at the park in the afternoon (it was -10° C). The next morning we went to Church (this week is marriage week) and then went to Munzer Kebap for lunch, and they served us some special OJ for the kids, and amazing Green Apple Tea for Heather and I. Before naps Holly successfully went potty on the toilet for the first time! Took a family walk after naps, and got to walk on a frozen pond for the first time in our lives! The Weimarhalle reflecting pool was completely frozen over. After our walk, we had a special picnic dinner in the living room. The kids loved it! We’ll keep you posted on our future Stay-cation outings.

Here is a couple of videos of the frozen pond.

First Snow! We finally had our first real snow on the 28^th of January! We’ve had a few flurries here and there these past couple months, but nothing significant that stuck around. Friday the 27th it started to snow, and I joked with my students about whether or not it would continue. I even took a poll in one class and only 5 of the 13 thought it would still be snowing by the end of class. Well it was, but it was only a “misty” snow. Well it continued all day Saturday and we probably got about 4 to 5 centimeters (just under 2 inches). Plus on Saturday, I was helping our friends the Meichsners move! So I got to be out in the snow most of the day. Since then, temperatures have been well below freezing. Life is different when the weather gets cold, or wet, or ugly, but you still have to go out in it. We take a bus that gets us close to church (still over a half mile walk there), but then we walk well over a mile to get home after church. Today it was -11°C.

For those of you who haven’t been watching the news, we’ve had a cold snap here in Europe for the past couple of weeks. It started about the 26^th of January, and then got colder and colder and colder. The lowest it got in Weimar was -22°C last Friday (that’s -7°F), and yet I was still going to work, walking to and from the bus stops, and Heather was taking Stanley to Kindergarten. On January 20^th, the students from our school walked nearly 2 km in a snow downpour. You would never see that in America, we don’t expect people to walk anywhere, especially in th snow. I have not had the courage to go for a run in this cold, but I finally got myself out the door Saturday night (Feb 4^th). It was -13°C, and I was wearing spandex and running pants, long sleeve running shirt, hooded sweatshirt, windbreaker jacket, and warm running vest, warm hat, two pairs of gloves, and facemask. I had to curl my hands into a fist in my gloves because my fingers were freezing and my facemask only helped for the first 3 miles, the next 5.5 miles were with it just as a neck warmer. When I returned, my hooded sweatshirt rim was a rim of ice, and I had icicles on my eyelashes. But it was really neat, because it was nearly a full moon so I didn’t need my head lamp because the snow reflected the moonlight to light up Goethe Park.

Before the cold hit, we did have a chance to get out as a family on January 14^th. Heather had a great idea to go for a family run/bike. I pushed the kids in the jogging stroller, and heather rde her bike. We had a great time going out into the country. Heather was amazed at the beauty of the countryside here. She kept saying,

“Wow, we’re living in Europe! I can’t believe the beauty of the land. I feel like I’m in a Jane Austin movie.”

My reply was,

“Yes, now you know one of the reasons I love running out here so much!”

We hope to be able to do that more, once the weather gets warmer. Heather was a trooper, we went 10 miles, and for someone who does not bike often especially not for long distances, she was able to keep up very well.

We’ve also had fun moments here and there with our kids. Laughter, silliness, sweet tender times. Of course there are moments of frustration and “you just did what!” But we’re trying to have a sense of humor in it all.

Some other things we’ve been up to. Heather has been continuing to amaze me with her craftiness. She has refurbished a jacket she was given. She has sewn Stanley and Holly each a circle scarf. She has sewn a baby blanket and bedding for Holly’s doll. She is quite the seamstress. Stanley is still enjoying Kindergarten, and continues to use more German phrases in his daily life. Holly is becoming more and more talkative and we’re seeing more of her personality. She is a tough little cookie. The other day she was playing in our laundry basket, and tipped herself over. In trying to compensate, she banged her lip against the side that was coming up, knocking her back to the floor. She came up crying with a bloody lip. Well when Stanley went for the laundry basket 15 seconds later, Holly immediately stopped crying and went back to the laundry basket licking her bloody lip. She was not going to be phased by a little fall. But she is also sensitive and sad when Stanley gets in trouble, and wants to go cheer him up. It is so fun watching our kids become best friends. Moments like these are the ones that you hold on to, when things are not so rosy.

Here are a couple of videos of our kids. Warning, only us and grandparents will probably truely appreciate these. :-)

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