The Rest of our American Vacation

The month of July just flew by and now we find ourselves back in Weimar gearing up for another school year. We had a great time in America but it sure was a whirlwind of activity and events. I (Scott) will try to touch on some major highlights of our trip.

You can click here to see our web-album from this summer.

Traveling both directions went well considering we're traveling 9 time zones with three kids ages 5, 3, and 7 months. For the most part they all slept for most of the flights. Going to America seemed to be the easiest. Less bags, 3 hour fun train ride, long haul 10 hour flight and a short hopper to PDX. We did "lose" a bag on the way there. When we arrived in Seattle our bag didn't show up, and after waiting and waiting we eventually had to just go catch our flight to Portland. When we arrived in Portland we were then missing an additional 2 bags, but when we went to the lost luggage section those bags were already there (that's how long it takes to get a family of 5 off the plane and to baggage claim). Our lost bag however was not there, so we waited in line to make a claim. As we waited we overhead a conversation about picking up the wrong bag in Seattle, sure enough a 19 year old boy from Germany had checked our bag through in Seattle instead of his. So our bag was not lost after all!

On the way back we had a ridiculously long layover (8 hours) in Vancouver. At first we were going to get out of the airport, but we were told of some play areas in the airport, a park just outside of the airport, and a nursing and napping room in the airport. After getting lunch Stuart and Heather got to take a nap in the baby room while I watched Stanley and Holly play at one of the play areas. After naps we went outside to check out the park which was just a small wooded path, but it gave us some good fresh air. Then we got to wait in line to check in (get our seats) which took well over an hour and we showed up 3 and a half hours before departure. By the time we got through security and got a bite to eat we were off to Germany. Again our kids slept well for the most part on the plane. Stanley had some trouble when it was time to go to sleep about 3 hours into the flight and he put up a fight but soon conked. About an hour later he woke up completely delusional, saying mean things, wanting water, not wanting water, wanting to be ignored, not wanting to be ignored. I ended up holding him and walking the isles for a while trying to get him to calm down. After about 20 minutes he did calm down and he soon fell asleep again and slept most of the flight. Meanwhile a lady on the plane seemed to have a similar problem as Stanley. She sounded crazy and yelling things like "I just want to sleep, let me go to sleep." She got a little physical with some of the flight attendants and in the end they decided to get her off the plane and drop her off in Iceland. So mid-flight we had an unexpected stop in Iceland. It took about an hour to land, escort her off, refuel and get back in the air, but it was definitely a first for us. The airport we landed in Keflavik seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Just flat land and nothing. Looking at a map later, it actually is fairly close to the capital of Iceland Ryekjavik, but from our side of the plane we never saw it. The rest of the flight went well, caught a train in Frankfurt (which was super late) and we needed our routine help getting all of our bags onto the train in time, and then our long 3 hour ride back to Weimar. When you are super tired that 3 hour ride sure seems longer then when it is the first leg of the journey. Heather was wise enough to ask our friends Nadine and Peter to help us from the train station back home. We had 6 VERY heavy bags plus carry-ons and a stroller so the help was very necessary. Thank you Nadine and Peter!

Now on to our time in America. Our first 10 days in America we were at my parent's home (Overby's) however they were in Slovenia. We were all sad about not having them there, but at the same time it was a huge blessing to just be able to be our little family in the evenings and mornings. Some of our highlights were enjoying meals with Cinda and her new husband Ron (Grandpa Ron), enjoying a dinner with Grandma Bettie, Grandpa Stan, Grandma Carlene, and Auntie Joyce, and hanging out with the Knapps, Pietzolds, Carys, and other friends from our old Bible Study group. Heather also had a girl's night which she loved and turned out to be a surprise baby shower for her and another friend. I got to hang out with Ben Schaffer one night. We also enjoyed dinner with the Hatch family and also the McKenzies. Obviously we were very busy during those 10 days but at the same time we weren't constantly on and we could go back to my parent's house and just be there as a family.This provided us our much-needed decompression time.

One of our "exciting" evenings involved Heather coming home from the girl's night (baby shower) and I was watching a movie. When she got home we found the kitchen floor crawling with maggots! Some cat food that was left outside was mistakenly thrown away in the inside garbage can leaving the maggots to multiply. I had even thought about taking the garbage out early that evening. We spent the rest of the night cleaning up the disgusting little creatures. Fortunately we walked in when we did so they did not have time to spread throughout the house. Needless to say our dreams that night were not pleasant, and we never want to go through that again.

When my parents came back July 10th we were so excited to see them, and time seemed to speed up. I like to describe how busy we were in that I borrowed about 10 movies from Ben Schaffer early in the month. Throughout the course of the month I got to watch 1.5 of them. All of which were before July 13th.

We got to enjoy a wonderful Seminar at Good Shepherd "Life in the Vine" about abiding in Christ and keeping our focus on Him. We were also commissioned by Good Shepherd and dedicated Stuart all that same weekend. To wrap that weekend off we had a sharing time where we invited friends over to hear about what God is doing in Weimar. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend that afternoon of fellowship and sharing. We are so blessed to come from such a great church and feel so supported by everyone's prayers and encouraging words.

The following week we took a trip to Independence to see the Smuckers, Kenagys, and Deborah Barber. It was a fun time of fellowship with dear friends. That night we spent the night at the Smuckers, who had graciously let us use their car all month even when it was an inconvenience for them. Unfortunately on that trip we had forgotten Stanley's blanket and it made for a rough night. The next day we went to the AC Gilbert Discovery Village center in Salem with Matt and their girls, and then we headed back to Gresham. We filled the rest of the week with going through stuff that we left in America two years ago. That was a difficult task deciding what to get rid of, what to put back in storage, and what to take with us to Germany. Looking back at our calendar it is amazing how much time we spent on that task.

Our third weekend we had a marvelous time at the beach for an Overby family reunion and "cousin camp." We had all 6 of the Overby clan with our respective spouses and kids plus grandparents and more. Let me try to list everyone. Grandma Bettie, Grandma Carlene and Grandpa Stan, Steve, Sue, Sjana and Brian MacSwan with Hunter, Makenna, and Karis, Scott and Heather with Stanley, Holly and Stuart, Soren and Sarah, Seth, Uncle Dave and Aunt Sharon, Sharon's mom Darcy, and Cousin Lita. If you weren't keeping count that was a total of 22 people. It was definitely a rich and focused time together. I was unfortunately sick the first night, but as I lay in bed I was able to listen to Stanley and Hunter play together. What will always stick in my mind is Stanley saying to Hunter, "We're friends." Hunter's response was, "No...we're cousins which is even better." Later I heard that Hunter told Sjana, "That was the best week of my life." It is a shame they can't see each other more often, but having that long weekend of real focused time is a really great alternative. The two boys played lots of Legos together, and the three girls played lots of "Kitties" and "House." It was a great time with family, and we were all very sad to say good-bye. As an added bonus, using an instruction book from my mom, I completed my first Rubik cube ever. Most of my family's reaction was, "You've never completed one before?"

When we returned from the beach, Heather's sister Beth and her family were returning from Mexico, so that last week we were able to enjoy some time with them in Hillsboro and in Welches. The kids all loved playing together. Again, it's sad that we haven't seen them in such a long time and it will be another 2 years until we get to see them again. But we're also thankful for the time we had. Thomas and I had a fun adventure together that first day trying to get a fire pit so we could all roast marshmallows. It took us most of the afternoon after buying one, then finding another for half the price and having to return the original. But it was worth it. And having Papa Gene come enjoy dinner with his kids and all his grandchildren was also very special. Unfortunately that night Stanley had another one of his night terrors which put a damper on the whole time since we were all "sleeping" in the same room. Then a couple of days later in Welches we had fun at Wildwood park and then at the reception for Ron and Cinda at the cabin in Welches. It was great to see lots of mountain people we haven't seen in a long time. We also got to see Papa Gene early that day and he had some heavy machine's set up that Gavin got to operate by himself and Stanley got to ride with Papa Gene. That night we had a family sleepover at the cabin and Stanley and I enjoyed sleeping out in the bunkhouse. The best day with them had to be our trip to Trillium Lake on July 29th. We had so much fun playing in the water and being together. We didn't want it to end. The kids played in the water, we went out on a raft, Gene brought Oysters that I got to enjoy for the first time ever (and a row boat too), and we all just hung out. It definitely was a good way to end our American vacation. On the way back down the mountain we even stopped at Dairy Queen for some Blizzards.

Our final day was filled with packing. Grandma Sue and Nana offered to take the big kids to the zoo and give us the space we needed to just focus on our job of getting ready to leave. It was a very long day and we didn't end up going to bed until almost 1 am. However, as my mom pointed out, we were much more organized and further along than when we originally moved to Germany.

Now we are back in Germany and getting back into the routine of things. We have all recovered from jet-lag and are back to relatively normal sleep patterns. And then the school year begins. I go back to work tomorrow (August 14th), and then students start August 21st. Among those students will be our Stanley who is starting Early Primary (American Kindergarten). We're excited for this new season of having school aged kids, but at the same time nervous for our little boy being gone all day.

I think this is a good place to end right now. Thank you for taking the time to read our blog. We have more pictures than we can fit in a blog so you can see our web album here. We are so thankful for our trip to America, and we're thankful for the exciting Odyssey God has us on! We love you all!

Our American Vacation

After two years in Germany we get to go visit America this summer. Our trip has only begun, but here are some pictures of our time so far. Click on the link and you can view our web album.

Click here to see our web album

Happy May! Our long winter finally ended and Spring has arrived. It took a long time this year to warm up. It didn't get above freezing until April 8th, and the snow lingered around until April 12th. A lot has happened these past 3 months and while we will not be able to share everything, here are a few highlights.

February

We started off the month making a trip to Berlin to get Stuart his US Citzenship, Passport, and Social Security Card. Fortunately Stanley and Holly were able to stay with Nadine and Susanne respectfully. Thank you Nadine and Susanne! We were able to stay with Tobias and Jessy which was such a blessing. The trip was successful and it was neat and interesting being back on US soil interacting with Americans at the Embassy. 

The day after we returned home from Berlin (only a one night trip), I had to go back to work. My paternity leave was two months long and it was amazing how quickly those two months flew by. It was nice going back to work and seeing my students and coworkers, but the pace of being home is hard to beat. It wasn't all that bad though. After 8 work days after going back I was off for Winter Break! In Germany we get two weeks for fall break, two weeks for Christmas, one week for Winter, and two weeks for Easter Break. The trade-off is that Summer is "only" 6 weeks compared to 10 in America.

Before Winter Break however we had Valentine's Day. A nice thing in Germany is that Valentine's Day does not get the hype that it does in America so there are no expectations. We did make and deliver some Valentine's cards for some of our friends' children. Heather then prepared an amazing Valentine's Day dinner. Wow, it was delicious.

During Winter Break we were blessed to have Grandma Sue travel from Oregon to spend almost two weeks with us! Before Stuart was born we decided it would be good for her to come out some time after I went back to work. That way she could help out with the big kids when Heather needed her most. What a great time. We did an everyone's birthday party for all our spring birthday's coming up. We put up streamers and balloons and played pin the heart on the map. Stanley and Holly absolutely loved it. With her here, the weather also turned very cold and wintery. It would stay that way all the way until the beginning of April!

Click here to view more pictures from February

March

Grandma Sue left the beginning of March, but she left the snow with us. The temperature never got much higher than 0 Celsius. Occasionally the snow would begin to melt and it would look like Spring was on it's way, but then another snow storm would hit. Every time we would say, "there's the last snow of the season!" We probably said that 5 or 6 times. Despite the cold, we were still able to get out and get some fresh air. 

We did have some surprise visitors the first weekend of March. We follow Josiah Venture (JV) on Facebook, and Heather saw one day that there were some JV staff on a vision trip in Leipzig making contacts and dreaming about future ministry opportunities there. We have worked with JV many times with English Camps in Czech and Slovenia. We have always had a heart for the work JV does, and here they are in our backyard. We were able to contact the staff and they made a spontaneous trip out to Weimar (about 1.5 hours driving). They joined us for dinner and we got to talk to them about their vision for Leipzig and East Germany. We think it would be really neat to do an English Camp with our church here in Weimar and maybe some day we might become JV staff ourselves. We'll just have to wait and see what God has for us.

After my Winter Break, I had four crazy weeks at work, and then I got another two weeks off for Easter Break! Again, since it was so cold we couldn't really get out all that much, but we did what we could. By the time Easter rolled around it felt more like Christmas than Easter. A friend told us that they were singing "Easter Carols" on the Radio. The week leading up to Easter we were able to do some really cool things with our Hauskreis (Bible Study Group literally translated "House Circle"). On Monday we did a Seder meal recognizing the Jewish Traditions for the Passover Meal but also seeing the symbolism with Christ and His death on the cross. On Friday we watched The Passion. Such a heavy movie, but gives us better perspective of the price Jesus paid. 

Between those two activities we also celebrated Holly's Third Birthday. Heather did a Rainbow Theme with colored plates, cups, cupcakes, balloons, and other fun decorations. We had the Meichsners over for her birthday and had a fun time with our friends and honoring our precious little girl. Although she is not so little anymore!

To See more pictures from March Click here

April

Finally the weather turned nicer and spring started to arrive. Although it went from Freezing to Cold and Wet before things started to warm up. Holly's birthday in March marks the beginning of Birthday Month. We celebrated our friend Susanne's Birthday the second of April. Her amazing husband Erik had a day filled with fun planned, and we had the honor of being part of that by having cake and ice cream at our house. Heather made a bulletin board for Susanne which turned our really great.

After Susanne's Birthday came Stanley's 5th birthday on April 12th. Stanley wanted a Lego Birthday so that is exactly what Heather did. She made some incredible Lego Head Pops (Marshmallows dipped in White Chocolate dyed yellow), Lego Man Coloring pages, and an amazing Lego Pinata. Since the Pinata is a Mexican tradition (not Spanish) many of our friends here had no idea what one was. It was fun to see the kids realize what they got to do and boy did they have a blast whacking that Pinata. Now, we don't have baseball bats here (although we could buy them if we wanted to), so instead we used our wooden swords! What a fun European Twist on the activity. 

Two days after Stanley's Birthday was my birthday. This year it was my big 3-0! For my birthday Heather had 30 presents, nothing huge but lots of fun little things. Her big surprise came that night when I though that the Meichsners were going to come over to play games. Instead it was 10 friends coming over for a surprise birthday party! She invited friends from church, hauskreis, and work. Thank you Erik, Peter, Marcus, Peter, Johannes, Mariam, Jason, Kirstin, Herman, and Marie for making it a special evening. We played Bunko, enjoyed an Ice Cream Cake, and good fellowship. It was a fun evening and a great birthday.

Another fun thing that started in April was a weekly Date Night! Our friend Elizabeth who is from Boston and working on her PhD has been able come over Wednesday Nights after the kids go to bed so Heather and I are able to get out for a couple of hours. It has been wonderful. Unlike in America, after 8 pm pretty much everything is closed with the exception of some cafes. The theater is open, but since all movies are in German (we live in Germany duh) we really get to be out together and just walk, talk and maybe enjoy an appetizer or dessert at a cafe. Thank you Elizabeth for being willing to do this.

Click here to see more photos from April

May

Now that it is May the weather has turned gorgeous. This year Heather got to enjoy the incredible Flea Market on May 1st. It is hundreds of booths that cover the huge plaza near our house. I went for a run that morning and at 5:30 people were setting up and others were already wandering through looking at the merchandise. Heather was able to make it out there by 8, and by 9:30 it was packed. Last year I made the mistake of trying to get the stroller through the crowd at around 10 am.

May also brings Heather's birthday and this year for her 30th she decided to throw herself a party and invite some of her mommy friends over. Of course with her creativity it was an incredible success and such a fun birthday for her. 

So there you have a little update in our lives. Stanley and Holly have been great big siblings to little Stuart and it is fun to see their love and attention to him. Of course they are 5 and 3 which means high energy, plenty of conflict, and tons of laughter. We are trusting in the Lord with raising them correctly, but we sometimes wonder if we're doing it right.

We would love to hear from you. We hope you are doing well, and for our friends in America, we hope to see you this summer.

New Years Update

A new year is here and our family has grown! Stuart Paul Overby made his arrival on December 6^th 2012. He was just over 7 pounds (3200 grams) and was just over 20 inches (51 cm). One of the neat things about his arrival was that his birthday is on St. Nikolas Tag. The day St. Nicolas visits everyone's home and puts treats in their boots. It's a day not commonly celebrated in America, but very popular in Germany. When getting birth certificates and such we had many comments regarding his birthday being on St. Nikolas Tag.

At this point there is so much to update I thought that what would be the most fun for you is to focus more on photos and less on words. So here are a bunch of pictures with captions. Enjoy!

November saw Cinda arrive in hopes to be here for Stuart's birth. He didn't arrive in time, but we still enjoyed our time with Nana.

We were so excited for the arrival of Nana!

Christmas came early with Nana. The gal on the couch with Stanley and Holly is Meg. She is an intern at our church and she comes from Texas

Out in the park on the bikes with Nana.

Holly loves to help in the kitchen.

Picking up the kids from Kindergarten.

Daddy and his little girl.

A very pregnant Mommy and her Thankful Tree. 

The bassinet is what Stuart slept in for the first month.

Making brownies with Mommy.

Three generations of girls!

Stanley learned how to ride a pedal bike in November, and Holly learned how to ride a running bike!

In December we said goodbye to Cinda and hello to Stuart! We had our first Christmas as a family of 5 and our first Christmas without any extended family. Fortunately we have great friends here in Germany and we had a wonderful time as our familial unit.

 Bundling up to go out.

New "copycat" pajamas from Aunt Beth.

Holly trying on Daddy's Santa Hat.

 Our little tree.

Daddy's helpers.

 More help from my helpers.

Decorating the tree.

One of the things we love about Germany. While some people in America are trying to get Nativity's out of public places, here is one prominently placed at the Christmas Market.

Going to the hospital to have a baby. 12 days after his due date.
He didn't arrive until day 13 post due date.

Heather's helpers and also her two best friends. Nadine and Susanne. Both of them recently had their third babies (who are both boys). We don't know what we would have done without them! 

Lots of waiting and lots of monitoring.

Welcoming a new baby into our arms. 

Holding my new son.

Our St. Nicolas Tag Baby. He even got a chocolate St. Nicolas. 

His siblings helped him eat it!

Stuart Paul Overby. Heather nicknamed him "Grandpa" during those first weeks.

Checking out their new brother.

Who wants to hold their new brother?

This is how we roll to and from the hospital to visit Heather and Stuart.

This was the weather outside the day Stuart came home.

Don't make me go outside!
(For those of you who noticed, the answer is "yes" there is no chest clip on the carseat. They don't do chest clips in Germany, as a matter of fact they are illegal here. Go figure.)

Welcome Home! 

Our first family picture as a family of 5!

A fun video Grandma Sue and Grandpa Steve showed us!

Going outside to get some energy out.  

Playing with their new brother.

My beautiful family

Weimar Christmas Market (Weihnachtsmarkt)

At the Christmas Market they had ice skating. 

The kids loved to watch the ice skaters.

Langos. An elephant ear but instead of sugar, garlic sauce and cheese.

 

Holly and Stanley had a Christmas Pageant at Kindergarten.

Stanley was Joseph.

Tea and Kekse (cookies) afterwards

In Germany a midwife comes to you for baby check-ups. 

Here she is weighing Stuart.

Our 3 wonderful kids. 

One day I made some K'nex glasses that the kids loved.

Sleeping kids. (Holly's head is at the foot of the bed.)

 

Stuart compared to my new running shoes.

One of our family presents was a keyboard. The kids love playing it.

Our Christmas Pageant

For our friend Erik's birthday I invited him and another friend (Peter) over to play Settlers of Catan. We played three games and each of us won one.

 The kids loved to rearrange our nativity set. 

Here everyone is looking out the window with sheep on their heads.

Christmas Day!

The kids loved making gingerbread houses!

We had some snow in December, around Stuart's birth and maybe a week following. But in January we had our big freeze. It was well below zero (mid to low 20's Fahrenheit) for two weeks with snow the whole time. I took two months off work after Stuart's birth so I was able to spend this time with family. (The way German Paternity leave works is you have to take a minimum of 2 months and up to 1 year)

Here we are at Kaleb, it's sort of like a thrift store ran by the Diakonie organization. The lady holding Stuart loves Heather (and our family) and is always so welcoming to us when we stop in. (they are only open Wednesday afternoons from 4 to 6)

Enjoying some tummy time.

 

Getting ready to go out.

  

 Thank you cousins Hunter, Makenna, and Karis for the Playdough!

Stanley and I got to go out on a Daddy Stanley Date Ice Skating!

 

Thank you to everyone who sent us cards!

There you have it. November, December and January in pictures. Thank you for thinking of us and keeping us in your prayers.