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!
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